MANILA, Philippines — Yahoo! has recently launched the beta version of a fresh social networking site recognized as Mash, which is by-invitation only for now. The fresh service was it seems that leaked by error by a Yahoo! employee while it was yet in alpha phase that simply means that it was hypothetical to only be tested inside within the company.

Student group of seven from Western Michigan University are participating in the Google Contest called Build Your Campus in 3-D. This team comes in the top list of 30 from 350 entries across United States and Canada. It would further be incorporated by Google Earth – Geographic Giant. The fruits of the student’s job will be shown in a presentation to WMU Board of Trustees at its 10:45 a.m. meeting Friday, Sept. 14, in Room 157 of the Bernhard Center.

The nationalized Chinese partner of MSN, Microsoft’s online services set, desires to sell its fortune in the China-based joint venture, state press reported lately. Shanghai Alliance Investment that established the Shanghai MSN Network Communications joint venture with Microsoft during May 2005 is hunting for buyers of its venture, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. “Alliance Investment opened to approach possible buyers last month,” the report said, citing a basis close to Alliance Investment. Both parties have 50 percent of the venture.

According to the latest report from Business Week, Apple is planning to join Google and bid on wireless spectrum in a forthcoming FCC auction that would held on Jan. 16. The winner will be honored with the rights to use the spectrum, which analog TV broadcasters are handing back to the government in 2009, given their permission to move digital television. Named as “beachfront property” by the Federal Communications Commission, it’s the final wrap of wireless spectrum probable to become obtainable, which would have the attributes required for a new mainstream broadband network.

Yahoo in its hottest move to strengthen its marketing muscle, Yahoo Inc. would now sell most of the flaunt advertising for England’s leading online social network, Bebo. The partnership, planned to be declared this week in London, extends Yahoo’s efforts to improve advertising income from other Web sites as well its own and snap out of a financial huff, which has sapped its stock and stunned up its management.

Increasingly admired social networking sites like Bebo and the market leaders MySpace.com and Facebook.com are continually contributing to the Sunnyvale-based Yahoo’s challenges in selling advertising on its own site.

The search engine gigantic has recently tied up with IT consultancy and outsourcing CaGemini to aim customers with its range of desktop applications. CapGemine already runs the desktop of more than a million corporate employees, will offer its customers with “Google Applications” such as mail, calendar, word processing and spreadsheets. CapGemini is also a partner of Microsoft for its new Vista operating system and would continue to use Microsoft products with the added feature of Google Apps. It has already installed Google Apps for the first major corporate customer.

Microsoft is now expecting that a line of new products from intermediary vendors would help push its Windows Media Center stage during the holiday season. The company touted future set-top boxes from companies such as Linksys, D-Link and Niveus Media labeled Extenders for Windows Media Center. The tools would permit for streaming of media text to TV sets from Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate PCs.

Now with Google map, whenever you draw a line, you would see the present distance as you move the mouse and add new points. It further displays the info window when you completely click on the line. This feature is by now got good number of attention from outdoor fans such as Free Geography Tools and Team Geared Up have taken a very positive note on it. But the feature is not yet been introduced in Google Earth, and it’s also partial to expressing distances in miles.

Google promised to be more violent in its recently-unexposed universal search effort in hopes of offering users with a consistent search result experience.

Google, stated users of the company’s search engine would see a boost in the regularity of search results, which comprise various kinds of links, like Web pages, video clips, images, news articles, and as well the maps. In addition to improving universal search, Google requires to do better in helping users devise and refine queries in addition to improving its modified search service that takes into account user’s past queries to tailor search results accordingly.

With the rapid growing suite of mobile applications and services, Google (GOOG) has recently applied for a patent for a mobile payments service, which would permit the users to make payments at retail shops using their mobile phones. Using text messages, the system call “GPay” would confirm payments, debit the purchaser’s account, and credit the seller’s account.

At first it was filed in February 2006, but request was made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office only last week. Google by now has an online payment system called Google Checkout, opened last year. In May it released the mobile version of Google Checkout, which actually works only for online purchases.