BUSINESSWEEK - Techbeat on August 19

Short answer: No. Not even close. Not for a long time, anyway.

Posted by: Rob Hof

Short answer: No. Not even close. Not for a long time, anyway.

But it’s sure trying hard, and it would be dangerous for anyone to write off Microsoft. Its determination was on display today at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s senior VP of search, portal, and advertising platform group, told the crowd that he sees searchers moving from merely typing keywords into Google to getting tasks done.

Not coincidentally, getting tasks done is essentially Microsoft’s main business, so that sounds a little too convenient. But in fact, searchers are already doing that to varying degrees. Nardella cited an interesting figure: About half the queries on Microsoft’s Live Search site are part of search sessions that extend over 30 minutes.

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CNNMoney - Last Updated: August 20, 2008: 4:26 PM EDT

Fishermen, loggers and pilots saw the most deaths in 2007, but total workplace fatalities were actually down 6%.

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Fishing, flying and logging were the three most dangerous jobs in America in 2007. These occupations reported higher death rates than any others, according to a report out Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Total workplace fatalities dropped in the United States during 2007. More troubling is the fact that the number of murders in the workplace jumped substantially.

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BUSINESSWEEK - Technology August 19, 2008, 10:45PM EST

The online auction giant, hoping to boost inventory and revive growth, will imitate Amazon and court users who sell at fixed prices

by Catherine Holahan

The Amazon effect is getting deeper at eBay. The e-commerce giant that built its business around online auctions is stepping up an overhaul aimed at getting more users to sell items at fixed costs. On Aug. 20, eBay (EBAY) will announce plans to slash the upfront fees it charges to list sale items by as much as 75%, while increasing its final sales commission.

The goal is to make it easier to list items for a set, “buy-it-now” price on eBay. That, in turn, would increase the inventory of items for sale and—eBay hopes—attract more buyers seeking the Web’s limitless selection and the convenience of one-click shopping. “We think that this is the biggest, most fundamental change we have made,” says Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay’s global marketplaces business.
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Sillicon Alley Insider - Michael Learmonth | August 19, 2008 5:50 PM

Tough to be anyone but Google (GOOG) in search. Google gained a share point from June to July, moving from 59% to 60% of all search queries, according to Nielsen Online.

It came at the expense of MSN, which lost more than two percentage points of market share from month to month, going from 14.1% of searches to 11.9%. So if Microsoft’s “Cashback” search engine shopping gimmick actually helped boost search share in May and June, its impact seems to be dropping.

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CNNMoney - Environment + Technology, August 19, 2008, 2:42 pm

By Todd Woody

Google on Tuesday took the drilling debate in a different direction - announcing that Google.org is investing nearly $11 million in technology to expand the nation’s geothermal reserves. That’s more than the U.S. government is spending on geothermal projects this year.

Traditional geothermal power plants, like those built by Calpine (CPN) in Northern California, sit atop reserves of naturally occurring steam or hot water that can be tapped to drive electricity-generating turbines. So-called Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS,  hope to tap geothermal energy in any location by drilling deep underground to fracture “hot rocks” and then pump them with water to create steam that can be used in a power plant. The great potential, of course, would be to liberate the Midwest and South from their dependence on coal-fired power plants.

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BUSINESSWEEK - Auto News August 18, 2008, 4:57PM EST

by Sam Livingstone

The Lexus IS-F is a significant new design for one core reason: it introduces a performance sub-brand parallel to that of the M-cars from BMW, AMG from Mercedes-Benz, and the S and RS sub-brands from Audi. This then is Lexus making a logical next step to further encroach on the established German premium brands.

BMW originated the premium brands’ performance sub-brand with the ‘M for Motorsport’ M3 of 1986 (the M1 supercar of 1978 preceded that, but was a singular model, not a performance derivative). Now they are on their fourth generation M3 and M5. Though the ‘M for Motorsport’ moniker is now perhaps more ‘M for marketing’, M-cars still have a focus on lightweight track-orientated performance.

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