Facebook vs. Google: It's on in search

Facebook's new "graph search" is the beginning of a long-term attempt to strike at Google's most lucrative product.

FORTUNE -- When Google unveiled free word processing and spreadsheet apps back in 2007, the company wasn't trying to immediately topple Microsoft's Office suite. After all, Google's apps were―and still are―inferior to powerful programs like Word and Excel. But their launch was the beginning of a long-term campaign to nibble away at one MORE

What Google's win means

In one important aspect, Google will not be Microsoft redux.

FORTUNE -- When I asked Larry Page in November about claims that Google manipulated search results to favor its own services at the expense of rivals, he gave me a lengthy answer that more or less pooh-poohed the allegations:

"The way we think about it is that our customer is our end-user. People are really trying to get some information and get MORE

The future according to Google's Larry Page

Google CEO Larry Page envisions a future in which computers plan your vacations, drive your cars, and anticipate your whims. Audacious? Maybe. But Page's dreams have a way of coming true.

Note: On Jan 3, as Fortune published this article, the Federal Trade Commission ended its investigation of Google's search practices saying it found no evidence that the company manipulated search results in violation of antitrust laws. The European Commission and MORE

Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

The Facebook founder spreads the wealth.

FORTUNE -- Mark Zuckerberg donated Facebook shares worth $500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a non-profit organization that works with donors to allocate funds according to their interests. The gift is the largest ever received by the foundation, which finances projects locally and around the world, and Zuckerberg said he planned to focus his giving in health and education.

Zuckerberg announced the gift in MORE

Fortune Exclusive: Larry Page on Google

The press-shy Google CEO talks about mobile computing, his tussles with Apple -- and the future of search.

FORTUNE -- Last month, Larry Page sat down with Fortune Senior Writer Miguel Helft for a lengthy interview for a forthcoming Fortune magazine article. It was only Page's second wide-ranging conversation with a print publication since becoming CEO of Google in April 2011. The 70-minute discussion covered, among other things, Page's take on MORE

Can junk food be unjunked?

Unreal Brands, a Boston-based company with millions in backing from renowned tech investor Khosla Ventures and others, wants to find out.

FORTUNE -- Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are fans. So are Matt Damon, John Legend, and Jack Dorsey, the tech entrepreneur of Square and Twitter fame. Later this week, you may get a chance to find out what all these celebs are fussing about.

As you sift through your kids' Halloween MORE

Two reasons Facebook is turning it around

Spectacular mobile and ad growth is pulling the company out of the doll-drums.

FORTUNE -- Did Facebook go public at the worst possible time? Buyers and sellers in the IPO will answer that question differently, of course. But there's little doubt that Facebook went public when uncertainty about its business prospects was near its peak.

Tech investors typically bet on growth and this Spring, Facebook's (FB) growth rate was falling off a MORE

The truth about Google's horrible, no good, very bad day

The premature release of disappointing earnings wasn't the only slip-up made by the search giant.

FORTUNE -- Did you hear about Google's premature announcement? No, not the mid-morning earnings release, hours ahead of schedule, which sent Google shares plummeting 9% before trading had to be halted on the Nasdaq.

On Thursday Google (GOOG) suffered from another untimely leak. As I sat inside Google's San Francisco office listening to a presentation on the MORE

After long silence, Google's Page speaks

While the Google CEO has been active inside the company, he hasn't participated in a public event in some time.

FORTUNE -- In his first public appearance in months, Larry Page, Google's co-founder and chief executive, said Tuesday that he hoped that ongoing conversations with regulators in the United States and Europe would help the company avoid a showdown over antitrust concerns.

Recent reports have suggested that the Federal Trade Commission may MORE

Keith Krach: A dot-com CEO returns

Ariba's co-founder is back - and he's trying to change the way you sign on the dotted line.

FORTUNE -- It's a boast you don't hear too often from CEOs: "I'm doing it for sport." Yet that's precisely what Keith Krach says drove him last year to become chief executive of DocuSign, a company that offers electronic-signature technology for transactions and document verification. "I never thought I'd go back and do MORE