Microsoft reportedly is gearing up for a hostile acquisition of Yahoo, with a formal announcement possible Friday. Yahoo could begin carrying Google ads within a week, making it more difficult for Microsoft to take over Yahoo.IBM outlined plans for an online applications marketplace that will let businesses browse and purchase apps from potentially thousands of ISVs. Researchers have discovered a complex spamming scheme that uses a backdoor called Edunet to hijack users’ PCs in order to send junk mail via university and military systems. Sun blames its third-quarter revenue drop on a weak U.S. economy and costs of the MySQL acquisition, and plans to cut as many as 2,500 jobs over the next three months. Technology Industry