Time Inc. is building a vertical ad network that will allow advertisers to make targeted buys across its properties, according to Ad Age. Called Time Axcess, the new package combination of inventory and targeting abilities lags the debut of similar vertical networks by rival media owners like Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Conde Nast by more than a year. But Ad Age says Time Axcess will offer "impressive scale" with the company's own well-known properties, including People.com, which attracted 13 million uniques in March, according to research firm Compete, and Time.com, which attracted 4.8 million uniques and SportsIllustrated.com, which received …

Those who download music illegally over peer-to-peer file sharing networks also happen to be the biggest consumers of legal music, according to a new study by the BI Norwegian School of Management. The study examined the music downloading habits of more than 1,900 Internet users over the age of 15 and found that those who download illegal music are significantly more likely to purchase music than the average user. The BI study found that those between 15 and 20 are more likely to buy paid downloads than CDs, although most still purchased at least one CD in the last six …

Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo about search and advertising possibilities are getting "hot and heavy," sources tell Kara Swisher, even though "exactly how hot and how heavy does depend on which side you are talking to." She says Yahoo is playing it quite a bit cooler than Microsoft, which is "aggressively interested in striking a deal." All in all, Swisher says, a deal could come sooner than some expect. According to several sources, Charles Songhurst, a Microsoft M&A strategy exec, and digital head Qi Lu were spotted in Silicon Valley talking with Yahoo execs. Swisher has also reported that CEO …

Last week was "massive" for Twitter, according to TechCrunch. The Kutcher/CNN race to a million on top of Oprah showcasing the service on Friday, likely was the biggest week ever for the service. The week before the Kutcher/CNN race, Kutcher's Twitter page got about 176,000 page views, according to Compete. Last week, his page views rose to an incredible 3.2 million. In the same time span, CNNbrk (the account racing Kutcher) went from 61,000 page views to over 900,000. And Oprah, the latecomer, went from 5,000 page views (before she ran the account), to over 980,000 -- which is perhaps …

Hulu, the joint online video venture from NBC Universal and News Corp., is developing software for Apple's App Store, Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer reports. The app will be available in a few months and is supposedly "as excellent as Hulu's Web site." It will reportedly work over both Wi-Fi and 3G. As Frommer notes, this won't be the first Web video app for the iPhone, "but it could be the best," he says. "Hulu's tech and design teams have demonstrated themselves as the best in the Web video industry, as everyone is now trying to emulate them." There is …

YouTube is embarking on the first phase of a redesign that will clearly separate professionally produced video from the user-generated clips that make up a majority of the content on the video sharing site. Among the changes noted by ClickZ are two new navigational tabs, marked "shows" and "subscriptions" that will appear on the YouTube masthead. The site is also dropping its "community" tab, which included contests, events and groups. The changes are all about making the site more advertiser-friendly by increasing the amount of inventory available for in-stream ads. Advertisers participating in the Google TV Ads program will be …

Following last week's outcome in the Pirate Bay trial, conspiracy theories surfaced on the Web accusing big content providers of manipulating the guilty verdict handed down to the file-sharing directory's four co-founders. Ars Technica's Nate Anderson dismisses such theories, wondering instead why anyone was surprised at the outcome."When looked at in context, the Swedish decision isn't particularly shocking, and in fact would have been far more unusual had it gone in favor of a site that trafficked widely in torrents of illegal content, ran its own tracker, called itself 'The Pirate Bay,' refused to take down links to infringing content, …

Ask.com is bringing back Jeeves, the fictional butler who was dropped from the Ask brand in 2006 as the search engine focused on gaining market share away from search leader Google. The company tells BBC that Jeeves' return comes in response to "user demand," denying that the move is part of a last-ditch effort to gain ground in search. "We have seen a growth of 20% this year, so we are not struggling," said Managing Director Cesar Mascaraque. "Our aim is to give our users the answers they need for the lives they lead and Jeeves's role is to give …