BusinessWeek looks at the new efforts by Yahoo and MSN to try and take market share away from Google’s paid search business.

They look at Yahoo’s “Pananma” initiative, which we disclosed a couple of weeks back. They also look at whether adCenter’s demographic targeting will be enough to win it some of the multi-billion dollar pie.

However, analysts aren’t expecting Google to see much impact from Yahoo’s and MSN’s efforts.

…expect Google to continue gaining share even after its rivals adjust, albeit at a slower pace. One big reason: Even after overhauling their search ad mechanics, Yahoo and MSN won’t come close to matching Google’s total number of advertisers. Analysts believe Google has north of 400,000 ad clients, twice as many as Yahoo.

BusinessWeek suggests Google may look to acquire China-based Sina, a rapidly growing media portal.

With its online ad business projected to grow 30% to 35% annually for the next three years, Sina is a “very attractive target” for Google, says Jane Hsieh of investment firm Clay Finlay…Google wants to gain a larger foothold in China, she says, and is “considering Sina as a buyout.”

Sina offers services such as news, entertainment, and other content targeting people of Chinese descent.

LiewCF has decided to show Google how their new Google.cn logo should look. Very cool!

Via Nathan.

It seems that big business are not the only ones interested in tracking online blogs, the CIA has launched an initiative to track the blogosphere.

As OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin told The Washington Times, “A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we’re getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to … people putting information on there that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

I’m always looking for new readers, so, early next week, I’ll be revealing the secret location of Osama Bin Laden, showing your where Sadam Hussein keeps his nuclear weapons and reveal all about Area 51. – that should get the spooks driving up my visitor count.

Over at the Yahoo blog, comes news that translation service Babel Fish has received a makeover, complete with a host of new features.

Rand points to a new article from the Washington Post’s Leslie Walker. She looks at how improve your “Google juice” by using “search-massage consultants” but warns us to be careful of the “search-engine police”.

Google has released Google Sketchup, the recently acquired 3D modeling software and making it available for free (except for concerned residents of San Francisco, who don’t like free stuff from Google).

As Nathan explains…

The free version lets you create 3D models of “houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects – even space ships�, detailing and texturing as necessary. All your work can be placed in Google Earth and shared, as well as posted to Google’s 3D Warehouse. You can also grab anything from the Warehouse and edit it, giving you a great base to start from.

More via the Google blog.