Matthew Hicks

NEW YORK—Vowing to make RSS friendly to the everyday Web user, an MSN executive demonstrated upcoming services on Wednesday that build syndication feeds into the messaging alerts, a Windows screen saver and Web search. During a keynote at the Syndicate Conference here, MSN Director Phil Holden said that Microsoft Corps Internet division is taking RSS […]

Google is expected to announce a personalized home-page service on Thursday as part of an all-day press event at its campus in Mountain View, Calif., according to presentation slides leaked onto the Web. The service, which appears to be scheduled to be available from the Google Labs site, would allow users to create their own […]

NEW YORK—Google expanded its test program for RSS advertising to a broad set of publishers Tuesday as it seeks to gain an ad foothold in syndication feeds. During the Syndicate Conference here, a Google executive launched the public beta of AdSense for feeds. The program extends to RSS and Atom feeds the popular pay-per-click ads […]

NEW YORK—RSS aggregator NewsGator Technologies Inc. has acquired the company behind FeedDemon, one of the most popular desktop news readers for Windows. Denver-based NewsGator plans to announce its purchase of Bradbury Software LLC on Tuesday during the opening day of the Syndicate Conference here. Terms of the stock and cash deal were not disclosed. The […]

Microsoft Corp. is moving its MSN desktop search application out of beta on Monday and laying out plans to extend the software to enterprises later this year. In the applications full version, Microsofts MSN division is emphasizing its ties with the Windows operating system. The application is being renamed the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows […]

A messaging company behind software for delivering real-time event information is turning its attention to the enterprise management of RSS and syndication feeds. KnowNow Inc. on Monday announced server software that aggregates RSS feeds and builds subscription and access controls into the delivery of feeds. The Palo Alto, Calif., companys introduction comes a day ahead […]

Google has kept a controversial Web-linking feature in the full version of its browser-based toolbar released on Thursday. When Google first released Google Toolbar 3 three months ago, it faced a storm of criticism from Webmasters and publishers who were upset about a feature called AutoLink. AutoLink can turn a Web pages references to addresses […]

Building onto its mobile and social-networking technologies, Google has bought the two-person startup company Dodgeball.com. Google Inc., which confirmed the acquisition Wednesday, is providing no details about why it purchased Dodgeball.com or how the startups service will fit with Googles services. Financial terms also were not disclosed. Dodgeball.com offers a service that merges social-networking techniques […]

America Online is moving into the Web-based e-mail market on Wednesday by tying e-mail into its popular AOL Instant Messenger service. Called AIM Mail, the service marks AOLs latest attempt to reposition itself as a broad portal rather than a subscriber-based service. It also will compete more directly against Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Corp.s MSN division […]

Microsoft has acquired a messaging startup known for a real-time alerting service that taps into instant-messaging networks and RSS feeds. Microsoft Corp.s MSN division has purchased MessageCast Inc., an MSN spokeswoman confirmed. MSN is expected to formally announce the acquisition Wednesday night. Since 2003, MSN has used MessageCasts technology as part of the MSN Alerts […]