With “Experts,” Klout Wants to Make Influence Matter in Online Q&A

A bigger play toward consumers could make you care more about your Klout score.
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News Byte

Yahoo, Microsoft Renew Search Ad Deal

Yahoo and Microsoft have extended a deal that guarantees revenue for each search a Yahoo user makes using Microsoft’s Bing engine. The deal was initially struck in late 2009, was renewed again in 2011 and expired on March 31 of this year. The new deal — CEO Marissa Mayer’s first with Microsoft — kicked in April 1 and goes for another 12 months; Yahoo disclosed the pact in an SEC filing today.

News Byte

Klout Hooks Deeper Into Bing and Instagram Data

Social media influence scoring startup Klout announced Thursday that it will more fully integrate users’ Instagram and Microsoft Bing accounts. Instagram influence will now be factored into a user’s overall Klout score. Bing accounts are able to be connected, but the data will be considered in Klout scores in the future. In the past, the company connected to a number of other accounts to measure social influence, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

How Search Is Evolving — Finally! — Beyond Caveman Queries

The stilted language of searching is becoming more human. Some call it “conversational search.”
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Groupon Surging After Analyst Becomes Bullish on New Products

Can it transition successfully away from its email-driven daily deals business?
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News Byte

Zynga Game Vets Raise $1.4 Million to Start Bee Cave Games

Bee Cave Games has raised $1.4 million in funding to build casino games. The Austin, Texas, company was founded by Erik Bethke, Nimai Malle and Jeremy Strauser, all of whom worked at Zynga on games, including Mafia Wars, Texas Hold’em Poker and Bingo. The round was funded in part by its own employees and from publicly held Glu Mobile. The company’s first game, Blackjack Casino, is in private beta on Facebook, and there are mobile versions under development.

Coming Soon to Yahoo: Ads From Google

These are display ads, not search ads. And there’s probably not that much money involved right now. But it’s an interesting start.
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Forget Photo-Sharing; DabKick Is All About Photo-Showing

DabKick today publicly launches a set of tools to help people share pictures with each other remotely — live.
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Microsoft Says Don’t Get Scroogled This Holiday Season, but Bing Is Not So Scot-Free

Bing zings: “Don’t get Scroogled this holiday season.”
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Voices

Signs You’re on the Computer Too Much (Comic)

Here is the latest comic from our Joy of Tech friends at Geek Culture, Nitrozac and Snaggy. Joy of Tech appears three times a week in the Voices section of this site.
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SEO Start-Up Conductor Raises $20 Million