According to Search Engine Watch Microsoft’s acquisition of Vexel has accelerated its progress in the competition with Google and Yahoo! over maps. The company specialises in real-time, location-specific information and MS could, for example, offer waiting times in popular restaurants or petrol prices.

According to The 360 blog Google and eBay are competing to build an ad platform for offline ads. A consortium of some of the biggest television advertisers in the US are looking to test the platform which the blog is branding the “ADSDAQ”. I quote: “These top advertisers hope to replace the television upfront system, in which advertisers must bid on a year’s worth of broadcast spots each May and June, with a rear-round electronic exchange. Ultimately, they believe all media should be bought and sold through an ADSDAQ. In the short term, they hope to start with less critical buys.”

There a new AJAX front end at AlltheWeb called Livesearch. It’s similar to Google Suggest but does a bit more.

Project Bronx is the code name for a secretive Microsoft initiative that some, including eWeek, are suggesting will aim to bring Microsoft Office functionality to mobiles and PDAs.

Microsoft has been invited to join the OpenAJAX group, but will they join? On past form, no…

Forrester’s Charlene Li’s does a side-by-side comparison of Yahoo! Tech and Cnet which contains some interesting insights into modern content delivery.

Daily Mail Group’s buying spree continues. Via PaidContent.org

If you’ve got 20 minutes and you haven’t seen it already, take a look at Stephen Colbert’s speech at the Whitehouse Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington. The speech was very funny and close to the bone and achieves the impossible – you end up almost feeling sorry for George Bush. There is even a website called Thank You Stephen Colbert in honour of this bravura performance.

PaidContent.org reports that AOL is cutting 1,300 jobs in its call centres in response to falling demand for telephone support – it seems AOL customers are becoming better at helping themselves when they have problems.

The annual Webby Awards winners have been announced. Among those honoured are The Gorillaz (Webby Artist of the Year), Flickr (Best Navigation/Structure) and Google Earth (Best Visual Design/Function). The annual awards are the “Oscars” of the online world.