Yahoo Patent Theory
Industry gadfly John Dvorak is advancing a theory culled from the blogosphere that Microsoft wants Yahoo for some all-important patent or another that would give it an edge in cloud computing, SaaS and portable search advertising.

Google Launches Knol
Google has launched Knol, its monetized Wikipedia rival in which contributors will be identified and any copy changes have to be approved by the authors who’ll get a piece of the AdSense take. There are supposed be multiple articles on the same subject and a rating system.

How Did That Happen?
Com.score says Microsoft’s share of US search rose in June and Google’s didn’t; Google’s fell. The tracker gave Google 61.5%, of the market, down from 61.8% in May and said Microsoft did 9.2%, up from 8.5%. Both AOL and Ask were down.

Google’s Reportedly Buying Digg
Google is buying Digg.com for $200 million for Google News, according to TechCrunch, which thinks they may have signed a letter of intent. Rumors dating back a few months claimed Microsoft and Google were competing over who would carry off the prize. Microsoft has an ad deal with Digg that will go the way of all flesh if Google prevails.

Appirio Funded
Appirio, the two-year-old start-up with products and professional services using software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) from Google and salesforce.com that are supposed to jumpstart enterprises on the on-demand path, has gotten a $5.6 million B round from Sequoia Capital, the VC behind Google, Yahoo, LinkIn and PayPal. Appirio’s widgetry is also supposed to connect the Amazon, Google and salesforce clouds. It got a $1.1 million A round from salesforce.com and angels.

Nettop: No Margin
“It is a product that essentially has no margin.” – Paul Moore, Fujitsu’s senior director of mobile product management, on the so-called nettop in the New York Times.

Apple’s MobileMe Bombs
Apple’s first flirtation with the Cloud has turned stormy. The Wall Street Journal’s great and powerful technology critic Walt Mossberg, a known Apple devotee, has panned its $99-a-year corporate-style synchronization service as unreliable. MobileMe, which includes 20GB of online storage, web-based apps and an online photo gallery, is supposed to synch people’s e-mail, contacts, calendars and bookmarks across Windows computers as well as Mac, iPhones and iPods. Mossberg says it’s problem-ridden and “ragged.”