Some 37.1% of consumers use smartphones and 19.4% use tablets when shopping locally, according to BIA/Kelsey Consumer Commerce Monitor. The study reveals that 33% of tablet users and 40.3% of smartphone users utilize them at least once daily when shopping locally. To reach them, small-and-medium-size businesses spend just 5% of their total ad budget in mobile advertising across text messages, mobile search, mobile apps, mobile banners, mobile deals, and all other forms of mobile advertising. Rebecca Weingartner tells us more.

Reports suggest YouTube will block indie artists who don't sign up for the new offering after the site rolls out its ad-free streaming music service. The media site reports that YouTube has signed deals with the major labels and threatens to block artists from using the entire YouTube platform, free or paid, when not agreeing to the terms of service.

Looking for a social engine like Smashfuse, Social Searcher, and yes, Topsy? Drew Hendricks gives reasons why these and other social search engines can save marketers time. He believes these engines excel at tracking publicly available user information, making it easier to find things among social sites rather than use one of the big three.

comScore has released a list of the top 50 properties for May 2014 in the U.S. based on desktop Web activity. Google Sites ranked No. 1 on desktop, with 190.3 million unique visitors, while AddThis topped the Ad Focus ranking with a U.S. Internet reach of 98%. Yahoo sites came in at No. 2, while Microsoft, Facebook and AOl rounded out the top five.  

Microsoft gives developers a peek into the next version of Internet Explorer by launching the Developer Channel. Developers can download Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 SP1. Microsoft hopes the preview will help developers create new functions. The developer package runs independently from the user's copy of IE on the desktop, allowing programmers to test the browser's features without disrupting any functions in use.

Microsoft and Google never reveal patent licensing agreements unless ordered by a court of law, but documents posted on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce Web site detail the full range of patents and agreements. The list includes 310 Microsoft patents and patent applications used in Android licensing agreements.

Denise Lee Yohn explains why having a brand strategy ensures that a company's internal team aligns around the same goals and helps determine how to differentiate products to win loyal customers. She believes it may be tempting to focus solely on products and services, but entrepreneurs need to think twice skipping over the brand strategy. Here's why.

More marketers have stepped up to figure out how to work with UI, UX and technical designs to build Web pages or sites and mobile apps. Lately, Matt Owen has spent some of his free time building apps. He has learned the difference between skeuomorphic and flat design -- two design approaches. Sounds a little geeky, but marketers now need to know this stuff. Owen explains both from a marketer's -- rather than design developer's -- point of view.

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann made his first appearance at Cannes, delivering a keynote Monday with the message that Pinterest, not Google, is the destination where people go to answer questions and search for creative inspiration. He referred to Google as the the Dewey Decimal system historically used by libraries to help people find books, and compared Pinterest as a visual search engine to find something unexpected or inspiring.

Google will apparently announce at its Google I/O conference a move into the health data market with Google Fit, per Forbes. The service will perform similar to Apple's HealthKit, aggregating data from fitness trackers and apps on the user's device. HealthKit will become Apple's framework for wearables and health apps.