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Viacom and Google have agreed to keep the personal information of YouTube users private, even as Viacom gears up for the next stage of litigation in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Google. Google will provide user data to Viacom, but redact information that can be used to make personal identifications. The agreement was forged after Judge Louis Stanton ruled that Google had to hand over the personal viewing records of YouTube visitors — including login IDs, the videos they watched, and the time they watched them.

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Google, Viacom Hammer Out Privacy Terms in YouTube Case

Things are looking rocky for Yahoo after the latest round in its back-and-forth battle with Microsoft. The war of words took an ugly turn when Yahoo announced over the weekend that it had received and rejected a new Microsoft offer for a search-only purchase. Now, Microsoft is telling its side of the story, and one thing’s for sure: The two tales definitely don’t match up. Yahoo painted a picture of an unreasonable offer with a 24-hour deadline and no room for negotiation. Its statement described a scenario in which Yahoo’s leadership would be replaced.

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Microsoft Begs to Differ

AOL on Tuesday launched new sites on personal finance and photography as part of its bid to grow advertising opportunities by serving niche audiences. The new WalletPop expands on an existing site of the same name by adding alerts on the latest deals and moneysaving tips, along with answers to reader-submitted questions. Pixcetera, meanwhile, is devoted to high-quality professional photography. Like many other niche sites AOL has launched, WalletPop and Pixcetera play down the AOL brand, which has long been associated with dial-up Internet access for the masses.

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AOL Spreads Ad Wings With Personal Finance, Photog Sites

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console will be able to stream thousands of movies over the Internet, thanks to a deal announced Monday with Netflix that highlights the way gaming devices are expanding into all-purpose home-entertainment hubs. The arrangement, revealed at the E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles, will let Netflix subscribers stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Xbox consoles for viewing on television sets, beginning this fall. Xbox had movies and shows available for download before, but only half as many.

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Netflix, Xbox Converge to Conquer the Living Room

Business travel is a major expense, ranking third on corporate budgets behind personnel and IT. The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates U.S. business travel spending at $179 billion, followed by second-ranked Japan at $64 billion. Besides the increasing financial expense of air travel and its human wear-and-tear, businesses’ concerns about its environmental costs are also driving faster and wider adoption of videoconferencing, according to executives at Eyenetwork, a UK-based pioneer in Europe’s videoconferencing market.

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The Spread of Telepresence Tech, Part 2: Ramping Up