A new report from the Federal Communications Commission Finds that cost is the biggest barrier to broadband adoption. The study divides the 35% of U.S. adults who don't have broadband access into four groups. The Digitally Distant make up 10% of the population and are those who simply don't want to be online. The Digital Hopefuls account for 8% and want to have access but lack the resources to do so. Many in this group don't have computers. There's also the Digitally Uncomfortable, at 7%, who have computers and the means to get …

When Google announced Monday that it was converting DoubleClick DART and Google Ad Manager into a system with the goal for display ads what the Mountain View, Calif. company did for search, reactions ranged from "ho-hum" to "let's get ready to rumble." The control and feedback that Google can offer will no doubt make the revamped systems formidible. "Similar work on search ads has made many a millionaire at Google, and the company believes it can give display advertisers the same amount of precision and analytical tools that are available for text advertisers," writes CNet.

In another sign of the mobile applications market heating up, PocketGear has acquired smartphone app provider Handango to create a mobile content marketplace with more than 140,000 titles combined. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The merged company will continue to operate under the PocketGear name and Handango will become part of PocketGear's network of direct-to-consumer storefronts including SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com. PocketGear and Handango together have generated more than 400 million in mobile application revenues to date from customers in 175 countries and powers mobile storefronts for more than 40 partners, including …

Wild Tangent a gaming ad network has announced an effort it hopes will inject social and casual gaming -- from FramVille to massively multiplayer online games -- with added revenue streams. The ad platform, dubbed BrandBoost allows gamers, instead of using virtual currency to gain access to games, opt to view an ad instead. "With this new platform, WildTangent joins the many casual game companies that are doing a two-step to cash in on the enormously successful social games market, writes VentureBeat, which also says the platform will help brand advertisers who have already embraced casual gaming, …

Russian super-investor and Digital Sky Technologies head Yuri Milner says he's got over $1 billion set aside for social startups over the next five years. "We monitor close to 50 companies globally that can be potential investment opportunities," Milner tell BusinessWeek. Milner said he expects to announce at least one deal by midyear. Last year, he shelled out $200 million for an almost 2% stake in Facebook. In December, meanwhile, Digital Sky Technologies led a round of funding in social gaming site Zynga. According BusinessWeek, Digital Sky prefers small stakes in large, established social media companies that …

Reply.com, a provider of online business leads, would like very much to raise $60 million in an IPO, according to an SEC filing. Reply focuses on locally-targeted and category-specific consumers on a cost-per-click or cost-per-lead basis. To date, Reply has raised upwards of $30 million in venture funding, including $4.5 million in a third round from ATEL Ventures in October 2007. As paidContent notes, Reply joins a growing list of digital firms eying IPOs. The company claims to have turned a profit for the first time last year, generating $34.3 million in revenue. Other investors include Outlook …

All in an effort to distinguish itself from Facebook, MySpace has come up with new product strategy under the slogan "Discover and be Discovered." "This will be their differentiating factor from Facebook, execs told employees at an all hands meeting last Thursday," sources tell TechCrunch. The strategic shift comes on the heels of CEO Owen Van Natta's removal, and the subsequent promotions of Mikes Jones and Jason Hirschhorn to co-presidents. According to sources, parent company News Corp's Digital Chief Jon Miller said Van Natta "wasn't moving fast enough and that there was too much conflict among the …

Hoping to spur the sale of digital content, Apple is experimenting with the price at which is sells TV episodes on iTunes. Not surprisingly, the major networks are a little unnerved. "Television production is expensive, and the networks are wary of selling shows for less," writes The New York Times. "They are equally wary of harming their far more lucrative deals with affiliates and cable distributors, who may feel threatened by online storefronts like Apple's." At the same, the Times notes, the networks are keenly aware of the some 125 million consumers with iTunes accounts, and effect …

Google has upgraded its ad serving platforms for publishers by combining its own Google Ad Manager and Doubleclick's DART system. MediaMemo's translation: The search giant is done remaking DoubleClick in its own image. As such, "Get ready for big stuff." "The upgraded [DoubleClick for Publishers] combines Google's technology and infrastructure with DoubleClick's display advertising and ad serving experience," says Google. Also of note, MediaMemo suggests that ad technology firm The Rubicon Project was likely aware of Google's plans when it made an "oblique" announcement last week, which was "more less an attack on Google." Rubicon on Friday …

If Google News' aggregated vision for news consumption unsettled publishers, then what AOL has in mind is sure to send them clear over the edge. Rather than investigative journalism awards or even circulation, "Judicious use of Web-analytics software is a hallmark of what AOL senior vice-president Marty Moe calls the 'newsroom of the future,' a large and growing news gathering operation at the heart of AOL's turnaround effort," BusinessWeek writes. AOL raised eyebrows back in November when it announced plans to begin partly automating its online news reporting process. Under the auspices …