It may be all conjecture, but serious speculation is going on that Microsoft is getting ready to rebrand its Live Search service. Leading to the rumors is that Microsoft recently took control of a domain Kumo.com that could become the new Live Search.

Google is pushing the limits of speech recognition technology with the latest update to its mobile search application for the Apple iPhone device.

Microsoft has done a deal with Sun where its search toolbar is distributed with the Java runtime. The deal only applies to US Internet Explorer users who download the JRE. Previously Sun distributed the Google toolbar with Java.

Ask.com, one of the leading search engines builds on the history of online search innovation with powerful new technologies and user experience enhancements. Ask.com, an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq:IACI), today unveiled a new version of its site that includes significant relevance, user interface, and speed enhancements.

Before I go out and feed the geese on my pond in Harrods Creek, I wanted to offer several unsolicited comments about Microsoft, Cuil, and search.

The new search engine Cuil (Cuil.com) will surely make many headlines. Cuil aims to be the most challenging competition to Google and provides new look to search engines. The news about Cuil is big today, but it will become bigger as in the upcoming days bloggers will start writing making comparisons between Cuild and Google, Yahoo and MSN. It will be interesting to see how Cuil will monetize and how advertisers will react to Cuil.

Can't buy the company? Can't buy the search technology? Well, how about buying the talent? Wednesday Microsoft placed a full-page ad for "search jobs" in (gasp!) an honest-to-goodness hard copy paper, The San Jose Mercury-News. Despite the ubiquity of the San Francisco Chronicle, for Silicon Valley, the Merc is the paper.

Carl Icahn may not take the hint. But yesterday Yahoo! said any potential deal with Microsoft was off, and Yahoo! announced a non-exclusive ad deal with Google, which should increase Yahoo!'s revenue.

As I had posted couple of days back to watch out for a MSN toolbar update soon, and here it is, a new version of MSN Toolbar is available.

With Microsoft recently issuing a statement, on Yahoo deal "...that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! ...".

Microsoft has launched a service called "Live Search Cashback." The program is linked to Microsoft's acquisition of Jellyfish.com last year, a cash back site similar to eBates, where rebates of varying percentages are given for purchases clicked-through from the site. This probably explains why the cash back portion of Jellyfish has been down of late and is down again today.

comScore's Ranking of the Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for April indicates that for the first time, Google has overtaken Yahoo as the most-visited website in the U.S.