On Monday, when Wal-Mart announced the acquisition of search technology firm Kosmix, financial terms were not disclosed. Now, citing sources, BoomTown's Kara Swisher is reporting that the deal set Wal-Mart back about $300 million. "Wal-Mart did not disclose terms of the deal, which is focused on building out its social and mobile e-commerce offerings," writes Swisher. "The price for Kosmix is a pricey one to do so, but traditional retailers need to jump into the digital market now dominated by app-happy, smartphone-wielding customers." Prior to Wal-Mart's move, Kosmix had raised more than $55 million from the likes of …

The New York Times pays a visit to MySpace co-founder Christopher T. DeWolfe, and his latest project: MindJolt, a profitable gaming start-up with more than $20 million in revenue and 20 million monthly users. Just last week, MindJolt acquired two game companies, Social Gaming Network and Hallpass Media -- "effectively doubling its staff to 80 and adding mobile games to its stable of Web offerings," according to NYT. Coming full circle, "DeWolfe, who is considered to be one of the many bidders weighing a purchase of Myspace," NYT writes, citing a single source. Bigger picture, "The deals diversify us …

Stateside, Google just debuted a new Map Maker feature, which lets anyone map out a local business, school and other location of interest. "Google Map Maker in the U.S. comes as the search engine is fortifying its local business search and advertising services," eWeek notes. Google first launched Google Map Maker in 2008, but is only now making it available domestically. "You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker, you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map," said Google Map Maker Tech Lead Lalitesh Katragadda and Product Manager …

HBO says its streaming video service is on its way to the Apple iPad, Apple iPhone and Android-based devices. "Get every episode of every season of your favorite HBO shows, plus hit movies and much more," explains an HBO video posted on YouTube. "All free to HBO subscribers and all streaming on your iPad, laptop, or smartphone wherever you are." HBO didn't say whether subscribers will be able to connect to HBO Go over 3G, but considering the company is promoting the service "wherever you are," CNet considers it a likely feature. HBO Go has been available since …

Following top-level turnovers and broader strategy concerns, Twitter is in advanced talks to buy Tweetdeck for about $50 million, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The Register calls the reported acquisition price "small change to prevent the client turning into a competitor." Indeed, "Twitter may be trying to pull the rug out from under a potential new direct competitor," seconds Computerworld. "TweetDeck competes directly with Twitter's Web and mobile clients." Tweetdeck, which is used to view and manage tweets, appeals to Twitter "as it looks to add tools …

Putting Google's entire future at risk, returning CEO Larry Page clearly set the wrong tone with Wall Street last week. During a post-earnings conference call, "Page came on the line for a few minutes, expressed his optimism in the company, then signed off without entertaining questions on a stunning 54% cost spike," Reuters reports. That performance, writes Reuters, "set the tone for a strained relationship with Wall Street that could haunt [Page] for years." Furthermore, Page "risks alienating a powerful investor constituency that will be crucial to his efforts to ensure Google remains at the top of its …

Amid a strong domestic resurgence, online media spending will show an 18.7% gain this year, according to a new forecast from Interpublic Group's Magna Global. As paidContent notes, "The advances are driven by growth in display, as well as online video and mobile." But, while, Paid Search is expected to remain strong, direct response ad spending will struggle. "The segment, which includes Internet yellow pages, paid search, lead generation, directories, and direct mail will be slightly better than flat with an 0.8 percent increase in 2011," paidContent points out. As a result, the direct online segment will underperform traditional …

Due to over-optimism and unforeseen challenges, retailers are being forced to rethink their mobile strategies, reports The New York Times. First and foremost, merchants are learning that they can't skimp on their mobile platforms. By mid-2010, according Acquity Group numbers cited by The Times, just 12% of the top 500 United States online retailers had sites compatible with mobile browsers, while just 7% had apps. "Now retailers are rapidly realizing they no longer have a choice, because customers expect to be able to shop on their phones and want the experience to be as good or better than …

Gannett Co. on Monday said revenue from its digital division, which includes employment site CareerBuilder, was up 12.1% during the first quarter of the year. Digital revenue from across the company rose 12.4% and accounted for a fifth of its total revenue, reports The Wall Street Journal. "Gannett, which publishes USA Today, among a host of other newspapers, continued to benefit from cost cuts and revenue growth at its digital operations, which it has been highlighting as an emerging force in the company's financial performance," WSJ reports. Overall, however, Gannett's earnings fell 23% largely due to …

Despite reports to the contrary, Demand Media insists that Google's latest algorithm change has had no material impact on its business.  In a statement, the eHow.com owner said: "Certain third parties that have published reports attempting to estimate the effect of recent search engine algorithm changes made by Google on traffic to [Demand's] owned and operated Web sites have significantly overstated the negative impact of those changes on traffic to eHow.com." Demand has declined to "give specific details about the impact of Google's attempt to clean up its search results by tweaking its algorithms to cut out poorly …