Microsoft Corp made an unexpected bid to buy struggling Internet icon Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in cash and stock late Thursday, raising a new effort to challenge the dominance of search-engine giant Google Inc.

By PBS News Hour

Political analyst and professor Mike Cornfield discusses the online strategies that campaigns are using for the upcoming presidential election.

In an effort to take advantage of the "explosive rise in broadband use and online advertising," Time Warner's Internet arm, AOL, plans to offer free e-mail and other services as it moves away from its dial-up Internet service and cuts…