Following on from its acquisition of mobile software developer SPB at the end of November, Yandex is making one more move to increase its ubiquity among the growing number of smartphone users in the country: the search giant is reportedly planning to launch search apps for Apple’s iOS devices by…

Women’s fashion and lifestyle e-newsletter and deals network DailyCandy is unveiling its first foray into broadband video through its partnership with its Comcast/NBC (NSDQ: CMCSA) Universal sibling LX.TV. The first show the two will work on is 1st Look, which will be focused around its daily deals showcase.

A famed spammer’s long career in the business looks like it’s coming to a close, and could end with a prison sentence. Sanford Wallace—long ago dubbed “Spamford” Wallace—has been the bane of social networks like Facebook and MySpace for years, but last week he turned himself in to the FBI.…

James Murdoch’s testimony on phone hacking is getting called into question by those who were closest to the situation at the time: that could have a huge impact on his position at the company if proven to be true. But it wasn’t the only big development today in the News…

When the New York Times first began talking about creating a metered paywall for its website last year, the company was quick to note that social media links would be exempt in order to keep the traffic flowing. Hoping to get a better sense of who shares links and why,…

Some of the stories people are talking about this morning:»  YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG) On The Verge Of A Big Movie Upgrade? (paidContent) »  St. Louis Post Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) said it would refinance more than $1 billion of debt with two new classes of notes and by…

E-mail marketer ExactTarget has raised $30 million in new funding, which it says it will use to “fund key acquisitions, enter new global markets, (and) expand its operations.” The company has already made some notable acquisitions since raising $70 million in a funding round in May 2009, including picking up…

RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) has been previewing and talking up its new PlayBook tablet for months already, with demonstrations shepherded by the likes of its CEOs and other executives. But those steps forward have also been met with a number of knocks. Now, on the day that RIM prepares for a…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is updating the ads that are embedded in users’ Gmail messages, promising a more “relevant” experience. The move comes amid stepped up challenges to Gmail’s dominance as a free e-mail service, which are coming from Facebook, AOL (NYSE: AOL) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). While those companies’ moves…

Heavily-backed e-mail startup Goodmail Systems is shutting down. The company, which had raised more than $45 million in venture capital backing and at one point was led by prominent digital media executive Peter Horan, decided to close up shop after a sale to an unspecified company fell through, according to…

Some of the stories people are talking about this morning:»  The Newspaper Guild of New York, which represents Newsweek edit staffers, has given its assent to merger between the magazine IAC’s Daily Beast. [Release] »  Granted, it was noteworthy that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) handily beat analysts’ Q4 estimates. But the…

When it comes to law-enforcement investigations, the government has long treated e-mail differently than telephone and postal communications. Government authorities routinely can obtain people’s personal e-mails with a simple subpoena—while they are still required to get a warrant to tap people’s phones or read their snail-mail. But thanks to a…

AOL’s latest acquisition is designed to help build out an area that was mostly neglected for years: it’s e-mail service. The company has bought Unblab for an undisclosed amount. In a blog post (via Techcrunch), founder and sole full-time staffer Eli Holder says that he’ll be working on AOL’s new…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has been straying far afield from its primary identity as the leading search engine for some time. But it’s hard to separate that view. Chrystia Freeland, editor-at-large for Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI), opened up her Paley Center International Council conference Q&A with Nikesh Arora, Google’s president, global…

Facebook has just wrapped up the press conference announcing its new e-mail product—billed as a “Gmail killer.” Mark Zuckerberg hit the stage right on time and began with some personal research he’s done about the use and disuse of e-mail. About 350 million people are actively using messaging on Facebook,…

It’s now apparently an open secret that Facebook will launch some sort of e-mail service at an event Monday. TechCrunch, which had reported for months that Facebook was working on a “full featured webmail product,” says it’s being called a “Gmail killer.” But will it have any legs? There’s good…

Coinstar confirmed its intent to transition Redbox into online streaming next year but is still in negotiations to find the right partner, the company said in its third-quarter earnings call Thursday. But the king of kiosks really should get cracking given the way Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) and others are gaining…

Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), which had said a major revamp of Yahoo Mail was on the way, is now rolling out the new look. The company boasts that its e-mail service has been “rebuilt from the ground up” and is now two times faster than the previous version. New features include…

Jay Penske’s Mail.com Media Corp., which has been busily buying up media sites, is selling its Mail.com e-mail business to German internet firm United Internet Group. The sale means Mail.com Media Corp.—which will soon be getting a new name—will now primarily be made up of the media sites it has…