Google had better hope the Justice Department takes its time deciding whether to challenge the search giant's planned acquisition of ITA Software. Why? Because once it does, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering subjecting Google to a broad antitrust investigation related to its search dominance, sources tell Bloomberg. "An FTC investigation of Google ... 'could be on par' with the scope of the Justice Department's probe of Microsoft a decade ago," Keith Hylton, an antitrust law professor at Boston University School of Law tells Bloomberg. Google "could fight the FTC, but that's going to cost a lot …

Group buying service LivingSocial is having a good week. On the heels of raising between $400 million-to-$500 million, the Groupon rival is reportedly adding Neil Ashe, former president of CBS Interactive, to its board of directors. "What's more, sources said the company is now on track to book more than $1 billion in revenues this year, which is double the conservative figure the company reported only four months ago," reports eWeek. Sources tell eWeek that Ashe's role at LivingSocial is strictly as a board member, and will not be taking a managerial role. Having left CBS in December, …

Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether certain smartphone applications, including Pandora, illegally obtained or transmitted information about users without their knowledge. On Monday, the online music service said it received a subpoena related to a federal grand-jury investigation of information-sharing practices by smartphone applications. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Pandora said it had been informed it is "not a specific target of the investigation." Beyond Pandora, "The criminal investigation is examining whether the app makers fully described to users the types of data they collected and why they needed the information -- such as a user's …

In a major shock to Google's system, product chief Jonathan Rosenberg says he plans to leave the company in a matter of months. Mercury News calls it "the most significant change in years in the makeup of the company's tightknit senior management" -- not to mention poorly timed given that Larry Page hasn't even had time to settle in as CEO.  "Monday was Larry Page's first day back as Google's chief executive, and the management shake-up at the top has already begun," writes The New York Times' Bits blog. Not only did Rosenberg build the …

With or without Google, prominent academics tell The New York Times that the Web will eventually get its universal library. Dubbed the Digital Public Library of America, the new effort counts a long list of heavyweights among its supporters, including librarians from major universities and officials from the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Robert Darnton, director of the Harvard University Library, recently praised the project in an opinion article in The New York Times. "People feel energized," he says. "This is an opportunity for those of us who care about creating a noncommercial public digital library …

To promote its iPhone user interface theme, Toyota is reportedly running ads on alternative iOS app-store and software repository Cydia. With the buy, Toyota is trying to target the "millions of people who jailbreak their iOS gadgets," according to 9to5mac.com, which describes Cydia as "the unofficial store for unsanctioned third-party programms [sic] which can be installed on jailbroken iPhones, iPods and iPads." OS jailbreaking is a process that allows devices running Apple's iOS operating system to access additional features by removing limitations imposed by Apple. Bigger picture, "It's a sign that at least some big advertisers are taking …

If only on paper, Interpublic appears to be profiting from social networking more than any other ad group. In 2006, when Facebook was valued somewhere between $1 billion to $2 billion, Interpublic took a small stake in the company for less than $5 million. Sources tell the Financial Times that Interpublic took just under a half percent, which, at a valuation of $50 billion, would put the investment at about $200 million. "In recent weeks, however, Facebook has been valued at up to $85bn on the secondary market," FT.com points out -- which would value Interpublic's stake at closer …

Implausible though it may seem, one-in-five kids in kindergarten through second grade now own a cellphone, according to new study cited by ReadWriteWeb. Nearly 30% of third through fifth graders now own their own phones, compared to just over 50% of middle schoolers. Meanwhile, 34% of middle school students -- and 44% of high school students -- now have smartphones, according to the study of nearly 300,000 students, 43,000 parents, 35,000 teachers, 2,000 librarians and 3,500 administrators by national nonprofit Project Tomorrow. What's more, a clear majority of parents surveyed -- 67% -- said that they were willing to …

In a move that doesn't bode well for AOL's broader content strategy, sports site SB Nation plans to launch a tech news site helmed by outgoing Engadget editor-in-chief Josh Topolsky. Making the move possible is Jim Bankoff, chairman and CEO of SB Nation, and the former AOL exec responsible for bring Engadget into the Web portal's fold in 2005. Along with Topolsky, Bankoff  "has grabbed eight staffers who had left the huge tech site amid tensions recently," reports BoomTown. Under the headline, "Engadget Defection Exposes AOL's Major Weakness," GigaOm writes that Topolsky took issue with the …

Michael Brown, a Facebook corporate development manager who recently left the company, reportedly purchased Facebook stock on secondary markets -- "which Facebook considers insider trading and grounds for immediate termination," TechCrunch reports. Some sources says the trade was related to knowledge of the Goldman Sachs investment that valued the company at $50 billion, while others said the trade was made well before the Goldman deal, and "it was just a naive mistake," according to TechCrunch. Either way, the revelation could have far reaching consequences "by bringing even more SEC scrutiny onto rampant secondary trading in non-public start-ups like …