The latest round of page rank scoring by Google has hit many good web sites very hard, in that the bigger list of A level blogs, and big blog companies like Weblogs.inc have seen a sharp decrease in their page ranks. This is leading to speculation that some of these sites will soon be joining the Web 2.0 dead pool, or have to reduce staff via layoffs.

Datamonitor predicts that social networking sites will level off around the world in the year 2012. They also predict that the plateau will hit even sooner in the US. In the meantime, global active memberships in social networking sites are growing.

Within 24 to 48 hours was the prediction an hour or so ago, but inside sources say the deal is done and Microsoft sealed it. Numbers have not yet been released*, but Microsoft has apparently beat out Google for a stake in Facebook and will continue to serve advertising.

The New York Post is bold in its prediction that Facebook will announce which suitor will win its hand in marriage, in the next 48 hours.

Expect to see plenty of free shipping offers this holiday season, the most common shipping promotion will be free shipping with conditions, according to the 2007 eHoliday study conducted by BizRate Research for Shop.org and Shopzilla.

Eye doctors should ready themselves for a flood of patients; Google Earth and Google Maps have just received yet another huge update that’s sure to have users squinting at their monitors all day and late into the night.

After sufficient sound and fury from Verizon’s camp filing suit against the Federal Communications Commission to overturn rules governing a block of 700 MHz wireless spectrum, the telecom has dismissed its suit.

Google has partnered with the Nielsen Company to help the search engine better understand the demographics of those who view its Google TV Ads, reports the NYT.

The multi-year deal will start of small, but will likely grow as Google expands beyond the rather limited network of just 13 million viewers provided by its partner DISH Network.

There’s nothing like a good giant fight, and two giants are reportedly going at it over an advertising deal and stake in Facebook. Though Google has been known to win its giant fights with Microsoft, one source says Microsoft might overbid just to keep the rocketing social network away from Google.

CareerBuilder is expanding its popular Monk-e-Mail to mobile phones. Over 100 million Monk-e-mails have been sent since its launch in 2006.

When you see a document riddled with typos and spelling errors, you may come to think of its author as sloppy or even stupid, but you’ll still be able to understand him.  A search engine, on the other hand, could balk at such mistakes.  Microsoft is trying to address this issue with two new features for Live Search.