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The buzz around realtime search of social networks has mostly surrounded Twitter and Facebook. Collecta, OneRiot and the search giants, including Microsoft, Google and Yahoo all tap into Twitter (and Facebook too) to capture the realtime stream of content. But MySpace is also getting into the game, recently releasing a set of real-time APIs that both OneRiot and Google will be tapping into to provide content from the social network. Today, real-time search engine Collecta has launched a search platform that offers a real-time view into MySpace.

Beyond talking about how fast it was growing, one of the hottest topics surrounding Twitter in 2009 was “how does it make money?” Perhaps that was the wrong question to be asking, though, because as it turns out, Twitter already makes money.

GM said Monday it had hired Chris Liddell, the chief financial officer of Microsoft, as its new finance chief, filling a key position with the automaker's highest-profile hire since its July bankruptcy.

Microsoft has released a mobile version of Bing on the App Store that works on the iPhone and iPod touch.

The European Union said today that it is dropping antitrust charges against Microsoft Corp. after the company agreed to give users a choice of up to 12 web browsers besides Internet Explorer.

Mini music label Blue Destiny Records has sued both Google and Microsoft for allegedly "facilitating and enabling" the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs.

Across the universe of gadgets, few things inspire more angst and buyer's remorse than computers.

Microsoft and News Corp. have held discussions about a partnership that could result in News Corp. removing its newspaper content from Google's search engine while continuing to feature it on Microsoft's online properties.

Microsoft should once again release its next mainstream version of Windows about three years after the last, a roadmap obtained this week reveals. The schedule has the major revision, tentatively titled "Windows 8," launching in 2012 or about three years after Windows 7.

Office 2010 is due in a few months, but the beta release is available now. It has interface changes, bug fixes, one secret new feature – and although it's still a long way from being finished, it shows much more clearly than the technical preview what you'll be waiting for.