Quoted: Google and some of the Web’s leading social networks are teaming up to take on the new kid on the block — Facebook.

On Thursday, an alliance of companies led by Google plans to begin introducing a common set of standards to allow software developers to write programs for Google’s social network, Orkut, as well as others, including LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo and Ning.

Quoted: Google Inc. will introduce a spreadsheet program Tuesday, continuing the Internet search leader's expansion into territory long dominated by Microsoft Corp.

Quoted: The company is adding a new tool to make it easier to share information through its online search engine and enabling users to download mini-applications, or "widgets," designed to become fixtures on a computer screen. The co-op feature also allows users to alert Google about their specific interests, like movies, restaurants and celebrity gossip, so information related to those topics appears near the top of the results page whenever they make a relevant search request. With the co-op service, users with a personal Google login will be able to label Web pages so the information can be easily found by other people, including friends, family and co-workers.

Quoted: How the Microsoft-Google confrontation plays out could shape the future of competition in computing and how people use information technology. Do the pitched corporate battles of the past shed any light on how this one might turn out?

Quoted: With traffic to online map sites growing at a rapid pace, the map portals are looking to cash in — and they're not the only ones who stand to benefit.