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DMW Daily, May 18, 2009

Top Stories
o Report: Facebook Raising $150M to Buy Employees' Shares
o Craigslist Faces Criminal Probe in S.C. Over Erotic Ads
o Report: Google Received 64% of Search Market in April
o Electronic Arts' "The Sims 3" Leaked to P2P Ahead of Release
o Napster Offers Unlimited Streaming, 5 MP3s for $5 per Month
o Acacia Wins $6.6 Million Patent Verdict Against Yahoo
o Scribd Debuts Digital Publishing Service for Writers
o Video-on-Demand Firms TVN, Avail Media Agree to Merger
o Online Ad Firm DoubleVerify Launches With $3.5 Million
Opinion & Analysis
o Mark Cuban: How Twitter and Facebook Now Compete with Google
o Nolan Bushnell @ LA Games: The Bloom is Off the Rose for Physical Media
Briefly Noted
o Wolfram Alpha Debuts Web "Computation Engine"
o Walmart Testing Used Video Game Trade-in Kiosks
o Bid4Spots Launches Web Marketplace for Cable TV Ads
o Writers Top $1 Million in Earnings on Web Marketplace Helium
o Rolling Stone Teams With 505 Games on "Drum King" Game
o Activision Details Skateboard Controller for "Tony Hawk: RIDE"
 Top Stories
o Report: Facebook Raising $150M to Buy Employees' Shares 
Palo Alto, Calif. - Online social network Facebook is close to raising $150 million that it intends to use to buy out several hundred employees' shares in the company, VentureBeat reported. [more..]
o Craigslist Faces Criminal Probe in S.C. Over Erotic Ads 
San Francisco - The Attorney General for the state of South Carolina has launched criminal investigation of Craigslist, after the site failed to remove alleged ads for prostitution and graphic pornography by Friday, according to reports. [more..]
o Report: Google Received 64% of Search Market in April 
Reston, Va. - Internet audience measurement firm ComScore released its monthly analysis of the U.S. search market on Monday, that shows Americans conducted 14.8 billion searches in April, a 3% gain over March. [more..]
o Electronic Arts' "The Sims 3" Leaked to P2P Ahead of Release 
Redwood City, Calif. - Video game publisher Electronic Arts' upcoming sequel "The Sims 3," not due for release for another two weeks, has been leaked onto file-sharing networks, according to published reports. [more..]
o Napster Offers Unlimited Streaming, 5 MP3s for $5 per Month 
Los Angeles - Digital music service Napster on Monday introduced a new subscription plan that offers unlimited streaming of songs from its library of seven million tracks, plus five MP3 downloads, for $5 per month.
[more..]
o Acacia Wins $6.6 Million Patent Verdict Against Yahoo 
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Acacia Research, a developer and acquirer of intellectual property, announced on Monday that it has won a $6.6 million verdict in its patent infringement lawsuit against Yahoo. [more..]
o Scribd Debuts Digital Publishing Service for Writers 
San Francisco - Scribd, a website that lets users share text documents, on Monday launched a new service that lets publishers charge for their documents, and keep 80% of the revenue, The New York Times reported. [more..]
o Video-on-Demand Firms TVN, Avail Media Agree to Merger 
Sherman Oaks, Calif. - TVN Entertainment, a provider of video-on-demand programming and delivery services, announced on Monday that it has agreed to merge with Avail Media, an independent aggregator and provider of linear content. [more..]
o Online Ad Firm DoubleVerify Launches With $3.5 Million 
New York - DoubleVerify, a provider of online advertising verification technology, on Monday announced its launch with $3.5 million in first round financing, led by Blumberg Capital. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Mark Cuban: How Twitter and Facebook Now Compete with Google 
Things change. We are seeing a change in our referral logs right now. That could translate into systemic change in user behavior and business opportunity, blogs Mark Cuban. [more..]
o Nolan Bushnell @ LA Games: The Bloom is Off the Rose for Physical Media 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o Wolfram Alpha Debuts Web "Computation Engine" 
Champaign, Ill. - Wolfram Alpha on Monday launched a public test of its new Web "computation engine," which purports to combine a search engine with computational power to provide more detailed search results. [more..]
o Walmart Testing Used Video Game Trade-in Kiosks 
Los Angeles - Retail giant Walmart has partnered with kiosk vendor e-Play to test a line of automated video game trade-in kiosks in the Northeastern U.S., Kotaku reported. [more..]
o Bid4Spots Launches Web Marketplace for Cable TV Ads 
Encino, Calif. - Bid4Spots, the provider of an online marketpace for unsold radio and TV commercial airtime, on Monday launched a new space for cable TV advertising that can target ads down to the neighborhood. [more..]
o Writers Top $1 Million in Earnings on Web Marketplace Helium 
Andover, Mass. - Helium.com, an online marketplace for writers, announced on Monday that its writers have exceeded $1 million in total earnings, more than half of which was generated over the last six months. [more..]
o Rolling Stone Teams With 505 Games on "Drum King" Game 
Los Angeles - Rolling Stone magazine has partnered with "Cooking Mama" game developer 505 Games on a new music-based title called "Drum King," Variety reports. [more..]
o Activision Details Skateboard Controller for "Tony Hawk: RIDE" 
Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision said on Monday that it will introduce a new motion-sensing skateboard controller accessory for its forthcoming "Tony Hawk: RIDE" game. [more..]