Blame Google's purchase of YouTube for the failure of the online video market to sustain itself, Mark Cuban said at the D: All Things Digital event on Wednesday. The problem, Cuban said, is that in purchasing YouTube, Google focused on ubiquity rather than making money. "This is a company that is literally subsidizing the bandwidth for the world," Cuban said, noting that it's particularly risky, too, especially if someone were ever to find a better search business model than Google. Cuban noted that the online video industry still doesn't have any advertising standards, among other shortcomings. "I …

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Michael Jones, Google's chief technology advocate, claims that, "The mobile phone is for the next decade what the computer has been for the last two or three. As such, he argues that the whole experience of the Web will become more personal; it's something that kids will grow up with, as every device will have Web connectivity. "It's pretty clear that the Internet is something special," Jones said. "The Internet is sort of like the connective tissue of the global mind. It brings the thoughts of everybody around the …

Facebook on Tuesday confirmed a $200 million investment from Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies that values the company at $10 billion, which is exactly one third less than the valuation assigned to the social network after Microsoft's purchased 1.6% of the company in 2007. DST is buying $200 million in preferred stock, gaining a 1.96% stake in the company. The Russian firm also plans to buy at least $100 million of Facebook common stock, and in a deal that would let Facebook employees sell their shares in the company. This would let employees make money from their stock options without …

Sources tell TechCrunch that a final decision will be made about an AOL spinoff at Time Warner's board meeting on Thursday. Last month, the media giant said it was preparing to spin off the beleaguered Web company, followed by an IPO soon thereafter. The sources said the decision was a "done deal", but Michael Arrington notes that question marks hang over the fate of AOL's dial-up business, which continues to decay. Today, AOL's dial-up business has 6.9 million subscribers; at its peak, AOL had 26.7 million subscribers. Even so, Arrington reckons that AOL's subscription business is still …

Don't be fooled: Facebook's not really worth $10 billion. At least, that's the refrain from many Web pundits following the $200 million investment in the company by Russian technology outfit Digital Sky Technologies. Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget notes that the claim is valid, too, because DST bought preferred stock, not common stock, which means that Facebook's common valuation remains below $10 billion. Even so, Blodget says that too much emphasis on Facebook's real valuation downplays the significance of CEO Mark Zuckerberg managing to pull together another huge round of financing for a relatively small share of …

On stage at the D: All Things Digital conference in San Diego, Twitter's co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams said the rapidly growing social media company would eventually charge commercial users a fee for some of its services, although it's still unclear about which ones, the AP reported Wednesday. "There will be a moment when you can fill out a form or something and give us money," Williams said. We're working on it right now." However, the AP noted that after nearly one hour of questioning, Williams and Stone gave no clear indication of Twitter's business model. …