The news is a boost to investor Carl Icahn and his backers who are seeking to elect a new board at Yahoo’s stockholder meeting on 1st August.

Microsoft’s announcement is the latest twist in the protracted negotations between the two companies, which ground to a halt in May after Yahoo’s rejection of Microsoft’s $47.5 billion takeover offer.

According to an open letter from Icahn, the financier has been in regular contact with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer over the course of last week as he seeks to push through the deal.

“This is the first concrete confirmation we have that Microsoft is willing to come back to the table,” commented Ben Schachter of analyst UBS.

The news of Microsoft’s continuing interest has seen Yahoo shares rise 12 percent.

It gives Icahn a much stronger hand going into the shareholder vote. It significantly raises his profile and his likelihood for success.” added Schachter.

The exisiting Yahoo board, headed by CEO and founder Jerry Yang, is seen as the major stumbling block to a deal, with the suggestion that they are particularly Anti-Microsoft and have done all they can to stave of the takeover attempt - recently agreeing to an advertising deal with rivals Google.

Microsoft CEO Ballmer has spoken of his concerns that Yahoo’s leaders could sabotage efforts to agree a merger and that there was a risk of the existing board “mismanaging” Yahoo during the regulatory approval process.

Speaking at a recent conference, News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch expressed his doubts that a deal could ever be struck between Microsoft and Yahoo.

“There won’t be a deal. There’s bad personal feelings,” said Murdoch, adding “In six months, [Microsoft] will walk away,”

If the current Yahoo management are replaced with a slate of board members more receptive to a Microsoft deal, a Yahoo-Microsoft tie-up would appear far more likely.

To help this become reality, Icahn has some influential backing among Yahoo’s investors, notably Yahoo’s largest shareholder Capital Research, who have announced they may vote against the incumbent board in a proxy fight.

Unsurprisingly, Yahoo has responded by saying that an Icahn-led takeover deal would not be in the best interests of Yahoo.

“If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately,” the company stated.

UK campaign group Privacy International are concerned that it will break data protection laws; despite Google’s efforts to protect personal privacy.

There are fears that as Google’s specially equipped vehicles capture images of UK streets, they will also record the faces of passers-by, potentially infringing their rights to privacy.

Despite Google’s assurances that personal images will be removed on request and that automatic face blurring technology will be used to detect and obscure faces, several rights groups are not convinced.

“In our view they need a person’s consent if they make use of a person’s face for commercial ends,” said Simon Davis of Privacy International.

The group has now written to Google requesting details of its proposed face blurring algorithm and has threatened to ask the Information Commissioner to suspend any UK service unless they receive a satisfactory reply within 7 days.

“We’ve spoken to Google in the past about this and received a snide response telling us to look more closely at their blogs [and] that the technology is not ready to be deployed.”

Although Street View has caused controversy in the United States, the practice of photographing people in American cities without express consent is legal; unlike in Europe where privacy laws are more stringent.

“It’s time for the company to take responsibility for its actions and to do the right thing.” added Davis.

In turn, Google has responded by saying that it complies fully with local laws in all of the markets in which it operates.

Google Street View has yet to launch in the UK, though continues its roll-out across the United States, Australia, France and Italy.

Juniper’s study indicates that 577 million people now use mobile internet services; and predict that the figure will exceed 1.7 billion by 2013.

The increase is put down to a heightened demand for mobile access to Web 2.0 services and wider takeup of 3G technology.

Many Web 2.0 properties, which tend to focus on user collaboration and social networking, have made mobile access a key part of their offering, blurring the line between the traditional and mobile web. For example, popular networking sites such as Twitter allow users to update their profiles either via mobile web access or by SMS text message.

Juniper speculate that the changes in how people are using mobile internet access will fundamentally change the market, removing the power of mobile service providers to control the content subscribers are exposed to.

�??The mobile web 2.0 market is still nascent and business models remain in a state of flux, so there is still time for players to establish fruitful partnerships that build on their strengths and are reciprocally beneficial. The window of opportunity, however, is closing,” explained Ian Chard, analyst for Jupiter Research.

Mobile internet access is particularly popular in China, where fixed broadband connections are not as prevalent in homes as in Europe and North America. The report indicates this region will be the largest market by 2013, with an estimated 416 million users.

The increased competition is likely to mean that many Web 2.0 applications will need to be provided either at a low, flat rate or free of charge, forcing the industry to reevaluate their revenue streams.