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Facebook, looking for ways to bolster its advertising capabilities, is in talks to buy Microsoft's Atlas advertising platform, according to reports.

Microsoft's Atlas Solutions is an ad-serving product that helps advertisers buy and manage ads. The software giant acquired the business as part of its $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive in 2007, which was Microsoft's largest acquisition to date. News of the talks was first reported by All Things Digital.

Spokespeople for Facebook and Microsoft both declined to comment.

Microsoft, which ended up writing off most of the acquisition cost, has reportedly been trying to sell Atlas … Read more

Having posted a smattering of Facebook-oriented deals in the past, let me preface this one by saying I'm aware many of you don't use Facebook. Or don't like Facebook. You're sick and tired of companies trying to market to you on Facebook. You don't think companies should require a Facebook account in exchange for a coupon or credit or giveaway. Facebook? Barf!

So, yeah, I get that. Just thought I'd save you a little comment-section grouse time.

If, on the other hand, you like easy savings and don't hold Facebook in the same … Read more

Wielding both wealth and influence, Bill Gates is the world's fourth most powerful person, as ranked by Forbes.

Rising to fourth place from fifth last year, Gates was cited by Forbes for his vast fortune. The Microsoft co-founder is worth $65 billion even after donating more than $28 billion toward various causes.

But it's also his mission and his influence that make Gates a powerful man.

As co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he's been on a quest to stamp out a variety of diseases around the world. As Forbes notes, Gates estimates that the … Read more

The turf battle between Instagram and Twitter shows the sites have the wrong priorities, said Matt Mullenweg, founder of Automattic and its WordPress.com blogging service.

There's a danger when a company focuses too much on its own properties and pleasing its own advertisers at the expense of giving its users what they need, Mullenweg said here at the LeWeb 2012 show. Those problems are what's afflicted microblogging site Twitter and photo-sharing service Instagram, which Facebook recently acquired.

Twitter has been restricting access to third-party tweeting software and limiting access that third-party companies such as Instagram get to … Read more

While Google+ has been a relatively quiet corner of the Web, the site has definitely attracted some close-knit groups. Photographers, in particular, have gravitated to the site, finding it an effective way to share their work with a large, receptive audience.

Now Google is introducing a feature that the company hopes will spur more groups to make Google+ their social network of choice. Google+ Communities, which will integrate group functions into the social network, are rolling out across the site today.

"We see Google+ Communities as the next logical step for groups of people that have already formed on … Read more

Facebook has decided to do away with the word "subscribe" and replace it with "follow." The reason? Apparently people were confused by what the "subscribe" button meant.

Stealing a page -- or rather, a word -- from Twitter? Perhaps. But Facebook isn't talking about that, naturally. Instead, in a statement, the company said that it's making the change across the site because "we found as a term it resonates better with people on the service." Which means, of course, that Facebook thinks "follow" will lead to more...subscribers. … Read more

It seems that every couple months, rumors heat up about Apple releasing a Pandora rival. But this time, analysts give a rough time frame of 2013 for "iRadio," which they say will be "vastly superior" to Pandora.

What could Apple's streaming-music service offer that would make it superior to any of the other services that are out there right now? Let us know in the comments!

Also this week, a Facebook rumor gets debunked in around 48 hours, and Asus might be cooking up another low-cost tablet, but we're too into watching TV to … Read more

Nero continues its collective approach to multimedia with a newly refreshed approach to photo sharing. NeroKwik (not to be confused with Kwik Media from Nero 12) is Nero's latest solution to the ever-increasing challenge and fragmentary nature of keeping and sharing photos.

The NeroKwik app for Android ties your photos from sources like tablets, PCs, and social-networking services together to create a unified album. That means users can now access their photos all in one spot and eliminate the need to juggle multiple services and devices to view albums.

Rather than just spitting out photos indiscriminately, NeroKwik displays your … Read more

Ever since Instagram got a new friend in Facebook, the popular photo-sharing service has, slowly but surely, been distancing itself from its old pal Twitter.

Today's news is that Instagram photos no longer display correctly in Twitter. This is because Instagram has disabled its integration with Twitter Cards in favor of links that direct Twitter users directly to Instagram.com.

"This is an evolution of where we want links to our content to go," Instagram's Kevin Systrom said of the change on stage at the LeWeb conference in Paris.

Instagram has been busy beefing up its Web presence, … Read more