Though YouTube doesn’t call itself a music hub (unlike some social networks), its impact on the category is immense. Leveraging that position, the Google unit just debuted the ability to sell merchandise, tickets and more via the site. “Through a feature called the Merch Store, YouTube partners will be able to sell artist merchandise, digital downloads, concert tickets and other experiences to fans and visitors,” TechCrunch reports. “YouTube has long been the path to fame and fortune for many a budding musician --- Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, Antoine Dobson, and so on,” writes Vator News. “But …

Really, Hulu? Really?! After openly shopping itself around for months, the video venture has gone and taken itself off the block. "Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process," Hulu management explained in a blog post published late Thursday. "Our focus now rests solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for Hulu." For one, “Netflix's recent missteps … have widened the playing field,” writes CNNMoney.com. “Unhappy Netflix customers are hunting for …

Still soft on the idea of a Yahoo merger, AOL head Tim Armstrong has reportedly been selling shareholders on the idea for weeks.  As sources tell Reuters, Armstrong is convinced that a sale to Yahoo would amount to $1.5 billion in “cost savings,” i.e., layoffs on scale that would make previous cuts at both companies look tame by comparison.  “While Yahoo's own strategic review has bumped AOL to the back burner for many on Wall Street, Armstrong is still trying to drum up shareholder support for a deal with Yahoo, presenting it as an alternative to going it alone as …

A Stanford University grad student is sounding the alarm on Web privacy -- or lack thereof. Many Web sites, a new study of warns, send users’ personal information to third parties after they sign up for newsletters, change settings, or take other ostensibly harmless actions.   "Your Web browsing, past, present, and future, is now associated with your identity," Stanford University grad student Jonathan Mayer writes in his report. All told, the study shows that 45% of the top 185 U.S. Web sites transmit identifying details about their visitors to at least four outside Web sites. “The data transmitted …

Mobile devices now make up 6.8% of all US Web traffic, with Apple's iOS representing a 58.5% share of all mobile traffic, according to a new report from comScore. Marking another watershed moment, the iPad now accounts for more Web traffic than iPhones, comScore finds.Among iOS users, the iPad now accounts for 46.8% of all traffic generated, compared the 42.6% generated by iPhones. “The mobile revolution is underway, and it behooves those who make Web content to get onboard,” exclaims ReadWriteWeb. Meanwhile, “Apple's iPad now accounts for 97.2 percent of all tablet-originating Web traffic, driving home the …

Yahoo -- reportedly the first company to court Hulu -- is now reportedly no longer bidding for the video venture. According to a Wall Street Journal story, Yahoo simply ran short on time and resources as it prepares to restructure, and potentially sell its own company. “Yahoo was the first company said to be interested in buying Hulu, back in June, but wanted four or five years' worth of exclusive streaming rights from the company, while Hulu only wanted to offer two years of exclusive rights,” Business Insider reports. “Since then, Yahoo has fired its CEO …

Buying the troubled company time and options, Yahoo is reportedly close to unloading its stake in Yahoo Japan. Sources tell the Financial Times that Yahoo's 35% stake in the business -- which has a total market value of about $19 billion and net cash of $20 billion -- is an "asset the company could dispose of relatively quickly, simplifying its strategic alternatives." Strategic alternatives, in this case, likely means selling what remains of Yahoo to the most fit bidder. "The move to sell its stake in Yahoo Japan ... is seen as a way to streamline a potential …

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Microsoft is reportedly considering a bid for Yahoo. "Microsoft joins a host of other companies looking at Yahoo, which has a market value of about $20 billion and is readying financial pitch books for potential buyers," Reuters reports, citing sources. Microsoft, however, is unique in that it already engaged in what Reuters calls "a bitter and unsuccessful fight" for Yahoo back in 2008. The Next Web  wonders why, after using some creative arithmetic to conclude that Microsoft saved itself billions by not picking up Yahoo on …

Still not using Google+? Then consider yourself in good company, as it appears Google management hardly uses the social network itself. According to calculations by blogger Michael DeGusta, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have posted publicly on Google+ just 22 times, while executive Chairman Eric Schmidt doesn't even have a Google+ account. "Management caring deeply about their company's products and using them every day is almost always a prerequisite of making great products," DeGusta writes. Problem is that "only 3 of the 12 people listed on the Google Management Team page have ever made a …

In a deal that would make Yahoo a truly multinational corporation, private-equity firm Silver Lake, China’s Alibaba Group, and Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies are reportedly considering a joint bid for the wandering Web portal.“The group contacted Yahoo and its advisers in recent weeks to inform them of a possible offer,” Bloomberg reports, citing sources. “The discussions are still at an early stage and it’s not certain that the group will agree to make a bid.” “Alibaba’s Jack Ma last week said he is ‘very, very interested’ in Yahoo, which recently told employees that it has …