Talk about an intimate relationship. According to a new survey from Ericsson, 35% of Android and iPhone owners in the U.S. use mobile apps like Facebook before even getting out of bed. As Network World points out, the most popular in-bed activity is accessing social networks, and the most popular application is Facebook. In total, Facebook has over 250 million active users accessing the site through their mobile devices, according to its own statistics. Smartphone vendors are trying to capitalize on that success with tighter Facebook integration, in an effort to differentiate their products, reports Network World, citing …

Like Amazon before it, Google just debuted a cloud-based music player without support from the music industry. The search giant still hopes to bring top labels on-board, but, judging by the sentiment at an industry conference this week, it's got some serious fence-mending ahead. "People are pissed," a major record label source tells The Hollywood Reporter. Indeed, "The reaction from the more veteran music industry attendees is simply anger," The Hollywood Reporter writes. "And the tone of Google's comments--essentially blaming the labels for not being able to reach a deal--didn't help." Earlier this week, Jamie Rosenberg, …

Oh, the irony. A Boston software developer is reportedly getting his day in court to argue for a cut of the Winklevoss twins' $65-million settlement with Facebook. In a lawsuit, the developer contends that he and his former company were blocked from receiving any money in the Winklevoss twins' 2008 settlement with Facebook through actions taken by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, their company ConnectU, and their law firm. The National Law Journal has the full story, but you'll need a subscription. According to The Los Angeles Times, the software developer claims in his suit that he formed the …

In a regulatory filing released this week, Google said it was setting aside $500 million to potentially resolve a case with the Justice Department. Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal now has learned that the case was a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations that Google made hundreds of millions by accepting ads from illegal online pharmacies. "The federal investigation has examined whether Google knowingly accepted ads from online pharmacies, based in Canada and elsewhere, that violated U.S. laws," WSJ reports. Google gave few details in its filing about the probe this week, only saying …

Hulu and its owners are reportedly close to a new deal that would keep programs from NBC, Fox and ABC on the site. "An agreement to extend the content licenses that owners News Corp., Disney and NBCUniversal [sic] signed two years ago should be in place within a week," reports MediaMemo, citing people familiar with the discussions. "It looks like Hulu will remain a strong force in the streaming content wars," WebProNews writes. That said, "Though the terms of the new deal may not affect the normal viewer, they make shake up things for the companies …

WebMediaBrands has acquired rival online media publisher Inside Network for $14 million in cash and stock, reports VentureBeat. A publicly trade company, WebMediaBrands sees the deal as part of its expansion into social media, according to Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network. "Smith tells VentureBeat that Inside Network's full team of six full-time employees will join WebMediaBrands. That staff includes former VentureBeat writers Eric Eldon and Kim-Mai Cutler. Eldon is editor of Inside Network's news sites, such as Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games. Cutler, meanwhile, is lead writer for Inside Mobile Apps. "Smith said that …

CBSNews.com is about to debut a live, weekly Webcast that "fills the gap as a broadcast show for the Internet generation," host and executive producer Shira Lazar tells Lost Remote. "What's Trending," so called, is designed take the concept of community-driven content to a new level. "It's not just a show with a social strategy added on to it -- it's powered by the community and social media," according to Lazar. The show's blog and social media accounts -- on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube -- are already up and running, focusing on news stories trending in social media. …

Sure to surprise many a media analyst and privacy advocate, a full 50% of users who subscribe to magazines on iTunes knowingly agree to share their names, email addresses and Zip codes with app developers. So says Eddy Cue, Apple's VP of Internet services, reports Forbes' Jeff Bercovici. "It turns out that the publishers' fear that Apple's policies would deny them the consumer data they need to do business was unfounded. As often as not, to get the customer's email's name and email address, all you have to do is ask." What's more, according to Forbes, this discovery …

Eyeing expansion, daily-deal platform provider Group Commerce has raised an additional $10 million just two months after coming out of stealth mode. The New York-based company, founded by former Google and DoubleClick executives David Rosenblatt, Jonty Kelt and Andrew Glenn, has now raised a total of $18.5 million. "The topline is that things are going really well," Kelt tells eMoney. "We wanted to accelerate what we were doing." This latest round came from current investors, including Spark Capital, Carmel Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures and Bob Pittman, the founder of MTV Networks and now chairman of media and entertainment platforms …

In a scandal sure to wound its social status -- if not its bottom line -- Facebook has admitted to hiring a PR firm to plant negative stories about its chief Web rival Google.  "Confronted with evidence, a Facebook spokesman last night confirmed that Facebook hired [WPP-owned PR firm Burson-Marsteller], citing two reasons," The Daily Beast reports. "First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google's attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service.""The explosive revelation -- which …