Look for Apple to announce a new subscription plan for newspapers, says MercuryNews.com. "The Cupertino company has agreed to provide an opt-in function for subscribers to allow Apple to share with publishers their information, which includes vital data that news organizations use to attract advertisers, industry sources say." Roger Fidler, head of digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, tells the paper that Apple will likely take a 30% cut of all subscriptions sold through the company's online App Store, and up to 40% of the ad revenue from publications' apps. Publishers "want the data of their …

Representing a critical moment for the micro-blogging platform, Twitter just unveiled its first major redesign to a select group of users. What do industry influencers think? "It's essentially a version of the sleek new Twitter iPad app, but optimized for the Web," writes Mashable. "The new experience is rich and nicely contained ... The new Twitter.com essentially rolls up all the best features from all the best desktop and Web clients and repurposes them for mainstream use." "It helps them on two fronts: bringing in more brand marketers and newbies," writes blogger …

Last week, Google debuted its Instant search feature, which dynamically refreshes search results (within the search box itself) as users enter search terms. (Did we mention this has to do with search?) As Computerworld notes, the new service presents three key issues: "The way publishers optimize their pages to rank in Google results; the way marketers pick and bid on keywords for search ad campaigns; and the way end users articulate queries and review results." In tests, Google found that while consumers are typing their search queries, they tend to be focused on the search box, Othar Hansson, a …

Are IPO-destined startups an endangered species? So says Robert Ackerman Jr., founder of Allegis Capital. "The ecosystem that allowed young companies to go public has been destroyed," Ackerman tells the San Francisco Chronicle. "The market for initial public offerings remains badly broken in the aftermath of the financial panic of 2008, but its malaise began even earlier," reports SFGate.com. A report co-authored by David Weild of the GrantThornton accounting firm traces the current IPO slump to market and regulatory developments over the past decade. According to the National Venture Capital Association, 38 VC-backed companies have gone public this year …

TechCrunch's MG Siegler contemplates the whole 'Death of RSS' media meme, which is presently one of his favorite industry "echo-chamber" debates. "What's most interesting lately is how for every one person that busts out the death of RSS meme, a dozen people seem to pop up with posts that refute it," he notes. Yet, "If RSS is doing just fine, shouldn't that be self-evident? Why do we need so many posts pointing out just how not dead RSS is?" For his part, Siegler doesn't think RSS -- on its own -- is a consumer-friendly technology, although it does provide …

AOL head Tim Armstrong is on a mission to reshape the face of the Web (We thought that was Facebook's job) and he's looking for broad inspiration from the fashion world, artist Chuck Close, and, of course, the Jonas Brothers. "Our properties and sites and the company itself will start to represent more of what you see in the runway world -- the creativity and the perfection," Armstrong tells DailyFrontRow.com. "It's what we want at AOL: a well-designed and styled version of the Internet ... That's why we're working with some of the most creative people on the planet …

Marking the end of an era, Microsoft's Bing has passed Yahoo to become the number two search engine in the U.S., Nielsen is reporting. Not surprisingly, Bing's growth has come largely at Yahoo's expense, Nielsen tells Search Engine Land's Greg Sterling. "The other numbers ... argue that it's too early to anoint Bing as the confirmed number two. But that would appear to be its trajectory." "In terms of a year-over-year comparison ... Yahoo has seen a small but steady decline, going from a 16% share to 13.1% (a delta drop of 2.9% …

Verizon Wireless has launched its own app marketplace -- dubbed V Cast Apps -- which some are speculating could compete directly against Google's Android app market. "Many users with Android phones on Verizon might already notice a V CAST Apps tab under the official Android Market, but we are told the new V CAST Apps will be its own full-blown app store," reports AndroidAndMe.com. "We are a little bit confused by this news because Google has played favorites with Verizon, and I can't imagine that Google welcomes a competing app store to the official Android Market." According …

AOL plans to buy software/app maker Thing Labs, multiple sources tell TechCrunch. Earlier this year, rumor was that Foursquare was eying the maker of the popular Twitter / Facebook app Brizzly. "An all-cash deal is likely being finalized as we speak," writes TechCrunch. "This deal will send Thing Labs' seven employees to AOL, though it's not yet clear what will happen to the Brizzly product itself." Brizzly and its spin-off products -- Brizzly for iPhone, Brizzly Picnics, Brizzly Guide -- is considered one of the best third-party tools for using Twitter. For instance, it let users compile lists of …

The Awl's Mat Honan sits down with Josh Simpson -- an L.A.-based comedian who upended BP's multimillion-dollar marketing strategy with a single twitter account -- @BPGlobalPR -- and some helpful contributors. Since May, Simpson and a team of about 15 have been sending out messages about the Gulf oil spill to Twitter. The parody account took on the persona of an inept and insensitive pr pro working at BP -- "and it viciously skewered BP's messaging attempts from behind a veil of anonymity." Said Simpson: "I was literally taking a whiz when I had this idea: How could I …