Google’s Nest division is reportedly eyeing “connected” camera-maker Dropcam. As The Information report, the effort ties into Google’s broader home-security ambitions. That said, “The status of any talks between Google and Dropcam, which makes a $150 camera that streams footage to phones and computers, isn’t clear.” Apple, meanwhile, is developing its own connected-home strategy. 

Working toward its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable, Comcast is "fielding one of the biggest lobbying teams ever seen in Washington," adding "seven lobbying firms to its roster since first proposing the deal earlier this year, and... adopting a posture of overwhelming force to try to win approval from federal regulators," writes Megan R. Wilson.

French start-up TVTY just took another $4.5 million from Partech Ventures, and 360 Capital Partners, among other investors. “TVTY provides an API for advertising companies to bridge the gap between TV campaigns or events and web ads,” TechCrunch reports. “In other words, if you want to launch an advertising campaign on an ad network, video pre-roll ads, search ads and more, you can time the launch depending on what’s happening on the TV.” 

As you get ready for this weekend's "Mad Men" episode, the last for this year, you might want to check out Jen Chaney's witty list of 10 "crackpot" theories (Don as D.B. Cooper, famous for hijacking a plane in 1971?) as well as more likely guesses (power struggle at the agency?) on what will happen at 10 p.m. Sunday night on AMC. We love the comments, too -- from a prediction that Bob Benson and Sal (remember him?) will meet at the gay-historic Stonewall Riots, to this comment about showrunner Matt Weiner's anti-spoiler addiction: "As you all look for themes, …

Having seen better days, e-tailer Fab.com is cutting about a third of its global workforce, or as many as 90 employees. Worse yet, “All of the cuts will occur at the company’s New York headquarters, which is believed to house somewhere between 120 and 150 employees,” Re/Code reports. The plan is to “trim costs as it shifts resources to focus more on designing and developing products under its own brand name.” 

On the road to their merger, Time Warner Cable and Comcast scored badly pn The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI): a 60 out of 100 for Comcast, "down -5% from last year, while Time Warner Cable is even worse: sitting at 56, its lowest score to date, and down -7%," which makes customers for the two companies "the most dissatisfied... among subscription TV and ISP services," writes Chris Ariens. “It’s a concern whenever two poor-performing service providers combine operations,” says the ACSI director. Um, yeah.

ABC is set to win its first May sweep period in 14 years, first in the ratings "on each of the final five weeks of the TV season," writes Lisa De Moraes.

The New York Times is testing a new tool that recommends stories based on their popularity on Twitter. Dubbed Vellum, “The feature teases out the links shared by people you follow and ranks them by frequency,” Capital New York reports. Developed by The New York Times R&D lab, Vellum “flips the Twitter model, treating the links as primary and the commentary as secondary,” according to NYTimes Labs creative director Alexis Lloyd. 

So over search, top content platforms are growing increasingly obsessed with discovery services. Take Netflix, which is now promising to master personalized recommendations. “Our vision is, you won’t see a grid and you won’t see a sea of titles,” Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said this week, as TechCrunch reports. Rather, “presenting viewers with just three or four [tailored] choices is ‘a powerful possibility.’” 

Political publication National Journal is eliminating comments sections for most of its digital content for non-members. “For every smart argument, there’s a round of ad hominem attacks—not just fierce partisan feuding, but the worst kind of abusive, racist, and sexist name-calling imaginable," writes the pub's editor in chief.