In an effort to reach young listeners with risque marketing messages at the same time it avoids FCC decency rules, condom maker Durex has purchased product placement advertising in podcasts.

A minor and his parents have filed a $10 million lawsuit against Yahoo Inc. and a man who once operated a Yahoo Groups site where members traded child pornography. The lawsuit, filed on May 9 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, charged that Yahoo breached its duties by allowing co-defendant Mark Bates and others to share child pornography on a site, called Candyman, that Bates created and moderated via the Yahoo Groups service.

The Federal Trade Commission began seeking comment yesterday on proposed changes to the rules enacted under the CAN-SPAM anti-spam legislation, including one that would require e-mailers to comply more quickly with opt-out requests.

Google has acquired mobile social networking firm dodgeball.com in a move that could help the search player deliver location-based advertising on cell phones. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly filed suit on Wednesday against an Internet spam ring operating near Boston, using information obtained by Microsoft Corp. in its fight against unsolicited e-mail touting everything from miracle drugs to get-rich-quick schemes.

When Yahoo acquired Musicmatch last September, it was clear the company wanted a larger piece of the digital music market. But with Wednesday's launch of Yahoo Music Unlimited, the company's digital music subscription service, some wondered where Musicmatch -- which Yahoo acquired for $160 million -- fit into Yahoo's music plans. The two services offer similar ways to find and buy songs.

Motorola, the No. 2 cell phone marketer, awarded the digital and relationship marketing portion of its estimated $100 million global account to FCBi, part of Interpublic Group of Cos.' Foote Cone & Belding, executives familiar with the situation said.

Online search firm FindWhat.com Inc. said Thursday that a judge declared a mistrial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict in its patent dispute with Yahoo Inc.'s Overture Services unit.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates sees mobile phones overtaking MP3s as the top choice of portable music player, and views the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player as unsustainable, he told a German newspaper. "As good as Apple may be, I don't believe the success of the iPod is sustainable in the long run," he said in an interview published in Thursday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

America Online will begin offering a free e-mail service on Wednesday tied to its popular instant messaging service, ahead of a big relaunch of its free AOL.com Web site later this year.