BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is shopping for a mobile ad network, sources tell The Wall Street Journal, which attributes the move to "pressure in the increasingly competitive wireless market." According to sources, the device maker has held talks with Baltimore-based mobile ad network Millennial Media about a potential acquisition, though the discussions stalled over disagreements regarding the value of Millennial, which serves advertisements on its own network of mobile Web sites. The Journal suggests that Millennial has been emboldened by the recent sale prices fetched by rivals AdMob and Quattro Wireless, and was asking for between $400 million …

Aware of consumers' increasing security demands, Intel has agreed to buy security software maker McAfee for $7.7 billion. "The pact is the latest in a steady stream of technology deals, including Dell's $1.3 billion purchase of storage company 3PAR earlier this week," Reuters reports. Marking it biggest acquisition to date, Intel has agreed pay $48 per share in cash for McAfee. The price represents a 60% premium to McAfee's Wednesday closing price -- a level company executives defended as within the range of other large software and security deals, according to Reuters. "The McAfee deal, which caught some analysts …

As expected, Facebook on Wednesday introduced Places -- its answer to location-based social networking. "The addition of so-called location services ... opens new revenue opportunities for the company, but also presents it with delicate privacy challenges," reports Reuters. According to The New York Times, the service "could help the company tap local and small-business advertisers and sharpen its competition with Google." "With its trove of user location data, Facebook has the power to enable new classes of location-powered applications to reach the mass market for the first time, driving significant value to …

Tell News Corp. and Microsoft to take a number. TheWrap.com has christened Apple, Google, and Facebook as "the new villains of new media." Shedding their status as "white nights," these three tech giants are beginning to behave like the multi-billion-dollar corporations they are, and, as a result, their images are taking a "shellacking." As tech writer Nicholas Carr tells The Wrap: "These companies have wrapped themselves in a lot of the idealism surrounding the web, but their business realities are beginning to be in conflict with the rhetoric they use to promote themselves." Following the glitch-riddled iPhone 4 launch, …

Ding dong, "The Web is dead," posit Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff in this month's Wired Magazine. Taking its place are Web apps, TV platforms like the Xbox, and computer services that exist outside the browser like Skype. Together, those Web alternatives represent "the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they're rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives... The fact that it's easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend." In the same issue, Wired's editor …

Starcom MediaVest has struck a deal with production company BermanBraun to spend north of $100 million in advertising across a slew of entertainment sites. The New York Times calls the four-year deal "a potential turning point for Hollywood's efforts to tap digital advertising dollars. To date, The Times notes, "advertisers have placed small bets on untested digital ideas from Hollywood." Starcom, which is part of the Publicis Groupe, represents some of world's foremost advertisers including, including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart. "For BermanBraun, the deal is huge," writes …

Google TV -- which aims to let viewers bypass broadcast networks and cable channels in their pursuit of TV shows and movies -- is making Hollywood a little uneasy. "The prospect of Google getting into television frightens many in Hollywood, who worry that Silicon Valley will upend the entertainment industry just like the Internet ravaged the music and newspaper industries," reports The Los Angeles Times. "By bringing the Web directly to the living room TV, entertainment industry executives fear Google TV will encourage consumers to ditch their $70 monthly cable and satellite subscriptions in favor of watching …

How does this year's incoming class of college freshmen feel about email? E-what? Though most are familiar with the communication channel, few use it because they consider it "too slow," according to the Mindset List -- a list of information about incoming freshmen compiled every year by administrators at Wisconsin's Beloit College. Also, while most claim to know what a wristwatch is, few actually own one, and many have "never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day." Further illustrating our culture's growing dependence on digital devices, few freshman entering college this year …

Microsoft this week said Ted Cahall was joining the company as a corporate vice president for MSN. Cahall previously served as chief technology officer and executive vice president at AOL. Meanwhile, Marc Davis, formerly "chief scientist" at Invention Arts, is joining Microsoft as a partner architect to work on vision and technology strategy for the Online Services division. Davis previously did research work at the MIT Media Lab, Yahoo, University of California Berkeley and Interval Research. Cahall is replacing Microsoft Corporate Vice President Erik Jorgensen, who will now focus on leading engineering for mobile and mapping in …

With the help of Verizon and gadget maker HTC, Google reportedly plans to release a Chrome OS tablet on Black Friday, November 26. So says Download Squad, citing unnamed sources. "What better day to have a shiny new tablet in the cabinet at Verizon kiosks and stores all over the country?" asks the tech blog. "You can bet Google's Chrome OS tablet will be heavily subsidized, and I'd go so far as to say it will be substantially cheaper than the iPad -- if not totally free -- with a Verizon data contract. Along with wish list …