Author Ken Auletta searches for the Google story (AP)

AP - "Googled: The End of the World as We Know It" (The Penguin Press, 336 pages, $25.95), by Ken Auletta. Google is best understood in terms of billions. Three billion searches are conducted daily on the site. Company revenues last year exceeded $22 billion. It spent $1.76 billion for YouTube and $3.2 billion for the digital ad company DoubleClick.

Chinese site to steer users to legit music source (AP)
AP - A music service that plans to offer free song downloads said Monday that China's largest search engine will send users to the service in a deal that could cut online music piracy.

Microsoft CEO sees Yahoo partnership outside U.S. (Reuters)

Reuters - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday the company's search engine partnership with Yahoo would not be limited to the U.S. but would be introduced around the world, once it gets regulatory approval.

Is Google Dashboard Really Transparent or a PR Stunt? (NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - A new product that gives users a new level of insight into what the world's biggest search engine knows about them was launched Thursday. Google Dashboard lets users see reports on the data Google has collected on them.

MSN Offers Public Sneak Peek at New Look (PC World)
PC World - Microsoft is set to give its MSN portal a major upgrade, freshening up the popular destination with a new look and with social networking hooks such as integrated Facebook and Twitter feeds. This is no minor change, but a bold departure from MSN's previous presentation. Microsoft says that the main purposes of the update are to declutter the MSN homepage and to refresh its outdated look.

Google's 3Q lobbying costs eclipse $1 million (AP)
AP - Google Inc.'s quarterly lobbying expenses eclipsed $1 million for the first time during the summer as the company tried to build on its dominance of Internet search and expand into other markets.

Yahoo Beats out Google on O2 Germany (PC World)
PC World - Yahoo said it has replaced Google as the search provider on O2 Germany's mobile portal, continuing the battle among search providers for placement on mobile phones.

Yahoo teams with OneRiot on real-time search (Reuters)

Reuters - Yahoo Inc, looking to match rivals in providing up-to-the-minute Internet search results, is running tests with several real-time search partners, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Google Dashboard Lets Users Review Collected Data (NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - On Thursday, Google launched a new feature that aims to silence privacy advocates who have criticized the search industry's data-collection and storage practices. If the initiative appeases the critics, other search engines could move to adopt similar strategies.

Google voice search learns Chinese (AFP)

AFP - Google's voice search tool now understands Chinese. The Internet giant announced on Monday that users of Nokia S60 series mobile phones could now search the Internet using voice commands in Mandarin Chinese.