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Free software is always better right? Not always. We'll help you decide when it's right to pay and give you some of our favorite free and open-source software picks.

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U.S. paid search rose 26.9 percent year over year in the third quarter, despite weakness in the economy and markets, according to a report released Tuesday by SearchIgnite.

But while paid search increased overall by double digits during the quarter, retail advertisers increased their search spending by a modest 1.5 percent.

And more surprisingly, retailers significantly scaled back their paid search advertising for the month of September, resulting in a 10 percent drop in year-over-year retail advertising spending compared with September 2007. The decline occurred despite a slight increase in click-through conversion rates and the average value … Read more

ContentNext Media, which operates PaidContent.org, announced Friday that it was acquired by Guardian News & Media (GNM), in a move to bolster the parent company of Guardian's B2B division and give it a U.S. presence.

Under the deal, PaidContent.org will become part of the Guardian Professional group division of GNM's parent company, Guardian Media Group. ContentNext, which sells news and analysis to media, entertainment, and technology executives, will remain a standalone business as part of GNM.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

According to a PaidContent.org blog, the company was planning another funding round when … Read more

Multiply, a social network that has done a fine job of flying under the radar since its 2005 launch, has announced a new paid-account program that focuses on media storage. Called a "digital scrapbook," this premium feature will cost $19.95 annually.

Members who opt in to the "digital scrapbook" program will be able to store high-resolution photos, as well as videos up to 20 minutes long. They will also be able to surf the site without ads.

Multiply has also launched a tool that automatically uploads photos and videos to a private "locker," … Read more

Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang made the rounds on Capital Hill on Wednesday, in an effort to dispel antitrust concerns surrounding its search advertising deal with Google.

During his one-day visit, Yang met with Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., who chairs the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee.

Kohl has previously expressed concerns that the deal between two technology search rivals could affect competition and have ramifications for advertisers and consumers. He noted the antitrust subcommittee plans to investigate the competitive and privacy implications of the deal.

Sen. Joe Barton of the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee also weighed in on the … Read more

Google's U.S. paid click-through rate posted a strong performance in the month of April, while Yahoo and Microsoft gave up ground, according to figures released late Wednesday by ComScore.

Google's paid click-through rate climbed 20 percent in April, compared with year ago figures, marking its best performance since November, according to a research note by Ben Schachter, a UBS analyst.

Yahoo, meanwhile, saw a year-over-year decline of 4 percent and Microsoft's MSN saw a drop of 9 percent.

And on the click-through rate, which takes the total number of searches divided by the sponsored clicks, Google'… Read more

ComScore, an analyst firm left holding the bag when Google's financial performance far exceeded analyst expectations, scrambled Friday to reconcile its pessimistic statistics with reality.

At the heart of the matter is a key Google advertising performance measurement called paid clicks--the number of times Web searchers clicked on one of the ads Google shows alongside search results. On Tuesday, ComScore reported Google's paid clicks grew 1.8 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to the same period in 2008. But on Thursday, Google said the growth actually was 20 percent.

The gap prompted Google Chief Executive Eric … Read more

Google topped pessimistic Wall Street profit expectations Thursday, reporting a net income increase of 31 percent to $1.31 billion for its most recent quarter.

Excluding various items, that meant earnings per share of $4.84, well above the $4.52 expected on average by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue, which benefited an "immaterial" amount from the acquisition of DoubleClick, was $5.2 billion in the quarter ended March 31, compared with $3.7 billion for the same period a year earlier, the company said.

Excluding $1.49 billion in partner commissions called traffic acquisition costs, Google'… Read more

If this concept ever becomes a reality, it should come with a public-service warning along the lines of those gambling-addiction 800 numbers posted at casino ATMs. Because anyone who considers getting one must have a severe workaholism problem, not to mention a dire need for fashion intervention.

German designer Henning Kunow touts the "Hip Office" (get it?) as an ergonomic way to do work on a laptop, attaching it to a fiberglass belt around your waist. Judging by the photos on OhGizmo, it can even allow you to blissfully tap away while sitting, standing, or even walking.

Still, … Read more