As the web reels over the news of the Yahoo Microsoft partnership, Twitter quietly enhances its own search service. On Tuesday, Twitter ramped up this search engine function, which now allows users to query current tweets to find out what is happening in the Twittersphere.

As a search engine, Twitter is a more valuable tool. In fact, some might argue that Twitter is more useful as a search engine than as a tweeting forum. For one, users can search Twitter in real-time. I did a quick search for “Microsoft and Yahoo,” and immediately came up with ten Tweets that occurred in the last thirty seconds. I would say that’s real-time.

Another upside to the Twitter search engine is that it’s open to the general public. One does not need to sign up or sign in to Twitter in order to take advantage of the helpful search function. That’s a good thing, since ‘the general public’ may not be part of Twitter. Or, if they’re like me they signed up on Twitter, didn’t use it, forgot their username, and now are part of the shockingly large number of seldom-tweeters.

Behind the search engine function is a history of Twitter’s acquisition of Summize, a Twitter search engine. As one of the multitude of Twitter piggy-backers, Summize hit upon an idea that Twitter thought was nearly as smart as their own—give people the ability to read Tweets that are happening right now. Marrying the search function with the Twitter main page is the perfect solution to a better facility for search-and-tweet action.

Beyond just a cool tool, the founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, says that this is about making Twitter a bit more user-friendly: “Helping people access Twitter in more relevant and useful ways upon first introduction lowers the barrier to accessing the value Twitter has to offer, and presents the service more consistently with how it has evolved.” In other words, people who visit will be more likely to join and use. That’s the goal at least.

The new format helps out. At the top of Twitter’s newly redesigned home page is a can’t-miss-it invitation to “share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” The search box is labeled, “See what people are saying about…” If people are drawing a blank and don’t know what to search for, Twitter invites you to check out their popular topics by the minute, day, and week.

But how valuable is reading someone else’s stream-of-consciousness? Few are devoted to the actual value of reading another’s description of their breakfast, tweeted moments ago. However, judging by our addiction to blogs, Facebook status updates, and constant Tweeting, it is rather entertaining to check out this kind of real-time information on friends and celebrities. Besides, as the New York Times insightfully pointed out, it gives us the opportunity “to peer into the world’s collective brain.” Surely there is value in that.

The tech light sabers clash, this time between long-time rivals Google and Microsoft over office applications. The Microsoft Office developers pledge their customers with a new Microsoft Office 2010 that will render Google Docs an impotent relic of the past.

“Humbug,” says Google.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling on a federal court to reject bogus copyright claims in a ringtone royalty battle that could raise costs for consumers and put their rights at risk.

As part of a ploy to squeeze more money out of mobile phone companies, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has told a federal court that each time a phone rings in a public place, the phone user has violated copyright law.

ASCAP argues, phone carriers must pay additional royalties or face legal liability for contributing to what they claim is cell phone users’ copyright infringement. In an amicus brief filed Wednesday, EFF points out that copyright law does not reach public performances “without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage.”

“This is an outlandish argument from ASCAP,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann.

“Are the millions of people who have bought ringtones breaking the law if they forget to silence their phones in a restaurant? Under this reasoning from ASCAP, it would be a copyright violation for you to play your car radio with the window down!”

ASCAP has responded by saying that it does not plan to charge mobile phone users, just mobile phone service providers. No doubt that cost would be passed along to mobile phone users.

“Because it is legal for consumers to play music in public, it’s also legal for my mobile phone carrier to sell me a ringtone and a phone to do it,” said von Lohmann. “Otherwise it would be illegal to sell all kinds of technologies that help us enjoy our fair use, first sale, and other copyright privileges.”