DigitMemo.com

Google has confirmed that the recent update to its “visible PageRank” system is an effort to crackdown on sites trying to rig this closely-watched web popularity contest.

Over the weekend, Google search engine guru Matt Cutts told Search Engine Journal that the company is intent on punishing web publishers that attempt to sell their PageRank currency to other sites.

A site with a high PageRank can often boost the rank of a less-popular site simply by linking to it. As a result, popular sites will often provide such links in exchange for cash. And Google doesn’t like that.

Click for more on Google explains PageRank tweak »

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer saying Google reads customer email as part of a failed bid to drive ad-based revenue.

The software giant’s chief made the remarks during a discussion about consumer software revenue models, and Ballmer used the dialogue as an entry point to take his shot at Google. The video is available to watch via the web site Mydeo.com. Ballmer made his remarks after an audience member asked him if an advertising model could support software business in the future. The CEO said a combination of models - - commercial and ad-paid - - would go forward.

Click for more on Microsoft: Google Reads Your Mail »

Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick is being reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and was the subject of a Senate hearing on Thursday

Google Thursday defended its planned acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick, even as a Microsoft-funded think tank, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, released a report arguing against the deal.

Click for more on Google Fights To Save DoubleClick Deal; Microsoft Fights To Kill It »