Mobile ad awareness has accelerated. A record four in 10 Americans, or 104 million people, recalled seeing an ad on their mobile device between July and September, according to the Limbo-GfK Technology Advertising report. "Brands are doing more with mobile, spending more," said Rob Lawson, founder of Limbo, a mobile social networking community. "Only two years ago they didn't see it as a channel where they would see ads. Now they are increasingly aware." Text messaging was by far the most commonly recalled ad format, with 60% of Americans reporting having seen a text ad over the three …

Google last week settled a controversial copyright case, agreeing to pay tens of millions in licensing fees to authors and publishers. Far from signifying that Google is caving into the interests of copyright holders, the move illustrates that Google is comfortable to settle such claims out of court. However, before the court approves such a settlement, it has to consider the deal's anti-competitive effects. When Google began its Book Search project in 2002, it faced a pivotal question: do we pay for the right to scan books in libraries or do we go ahead and scan them first and …

A new study from a British think tank says that managers shouldn't stop their staff from using sites like MySpace and Facebook, as social networking helps employees build closer links to colleagues and customers. The report from Demos' Peter Bradwell claims that online social networking helps foster productivity, innovation and democratic working environments. However, despite the benefits, Bradwell said companies should also implement practical guidelines for non-work usage of social networks. "Bans on Facebook or YouTube are in any case almost impossible to enforce; firms may as well try to put a time limit on the numbers of minutes allowed …