Google is reportedly in negotiations with the major record labels to expand its cloud music service, and open an MP3 store. “It would most likely be connected to Google’s existing cloud service, Music Beta, which lets people back up their songs on remote servers and stream them to mobile phones and other devices,” The New York Times reports, citing numerous music execs. Apple is expected to debut its latest cloud music program, iTunes Match, this coming June, and then launch the service in October. NYT suggests that Google is trying to beat Apple to the punch, but it is unclear …

Based on interviews with investors and entrepreneurs, The Wall Street Journal suggests that venture capital is drying up for tech start-ups. The timing of the story is curious, as it comes on the heels of a report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association, which found that 52 venture capital firms raised $1.72 billion during the third quarter, representing a 53% decrease in dollar commitments. That represented the lowest level in eight years, GeekWire.com noted earlier this week. “The quarter’s low fundraising numbers are reflective of ongoing challenges within the venture capital exit markets,” Mark Heesen, president of the …

Apple has reportedly been meeting with movie studios to finalize deals that would let consumers buy movies through iTunes, and the access them on any Apple device via the cloud. “Apple is preparing to put movies in the cloud, entering a market in which it may be both competitor and ally to a similar offering backed by most Hollywood studios,” The Los Angeles Times reports. That similar offering is Ultraviolet -- a multi-studio venture that promises to give consumers digital cloud copies of movies when they buy the DVD or Blu-ray disc first. Ultraviolet purchases via the Web, without discs, …

In other Google news, the IRS is reportedly auditing how the search giant avoided federal income taxes by shifting profit into offshore subsidiaries. “The agency is bringing more than typical scrutiny to how the company valued software rights and other intellectual property it licensed abroad,” reports Bloomberg Businessweek, citing a source. The IRS has apparently requested information from Google about its offshore deals after three acquisitions, including its $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube. By transferring these kinds of rights overseas, Google has been able to attribute earnings to foreign units that pay lower taxes, Bloomberg News reported a year ago. …

In the run-up to Google’s third-quarter earnings later today, analysts are expressing concerns about the Motorola Mobility acquisition, as well as increasing competition from Facebook. “When Google announces its third-quarter earnings on Thursday it faces two large questions,” writes ZDNet. “First, Google can provide insight to the broader economy based on what industries are advertising. And the second item revolves around integrating Motorola Mobility, the hit on profit margins and distractions.” The Motorola Mobility acquisition isn’t expected to be completed for months, but, partly as a result of the deal, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster expects operating margins for 2012 …

Save for an all-out management mutiny, this is the last thing RIM needed right now. Alas, the troubled company’s BlackBerry devices suffered their third day of service disruption on Wednesday, while the issue has now spread to North America. “RIM advised clients of an outage in the Americas and said it was working to restore services as customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India continued to suffer patchy email and no access to browsing and messaging,” Reuters reports, noting that this is all happening just two days before rival Apple's new iPhone 4S goes on sale. RBC analysts …

Telecommunications company Neustar on Tuesday agreed to buy privately owned Targusinfo for about $650 million in cash, in what Computerworld calls “a bid to expand its real-time information and analytics services.” Both Neustar and Targusinfo manage databases that let companies find, connect and authenticate users across Internet and voice networks, whether fixed-line, cable or mobile, Neustar CEO Lisa Hook explained in a blog post. “The most public part of Targusinfo's offerings is its caller ID service, which provides 178 million identifications per day,” Computerworld notes. “But the company also offers a whole host of other solutions based on its database …

For anyone who’s keeping score, Amazon put up some stellar numbers September. The company’s domestic pageviews were up 26% in September -- and 19% in the third quarter -- versus a year ago, reports Business Insider, citing new data from comScore. Unique visitors in the United States also grew 25% year-over-year to 79 million. “That's a big improvement in all three categories compared with the first two quarters of 2011,” BI remarks. In a significant research note, Citi analyst Mark Maheny points out that Amazon's pageviews and uniques have a strong historical correlation with revenue growth in North America. Amazon …

Spelling trouble for Google and other personal location trackers, Apple just debuted a Find My Friends app, which lets users locate contacts on a world map, share their own location, and manage temporary sharing settings. “The app is provided as a universal download … supporting both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad,” 9to5Mac reports. “It requires iOS 5 or later (due later today) and a free iCloud account.” According to Apple: “Find My Friends allows you to easily location your friends and family from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch … Once your friend accepts using the …

Still no word on a sustainable business model, but Twitter is reportedly one step closer to gaining control over the word “tweet.” James Eliason, CEO of Twittad, tells The Wall Street Journal that Twitter has agreed to drop a lawsuit it filed against his company last month -- which sought to kill Twittad’s registered trademark of the word “tweet” -- and, in return, Twittad would transfer its registered trademark of “tweet” to Twitter. Eliason wouldn’t say whether Twitter paid Twittad, citing a confidentiality agreement between the companies. “We’ve arrived at a resolution with Twittad that recognizes consistent use of Tweet …