Yahoo has announced an expanded partnership with Samsung that will put the Web portal on millions of the manufacturer’s devices, including those running Samsung bada and Android. Through the global partnership starting May 20, Samsung phones will come pre-loaded with one or more key Yahoo properties including: Mail, Messenger, Flickr, News, Finance and Weather globally starting May 20. Read more here.

Shepard Fairey, the artist probably best known for his iconic Hope Obama posters, couldn't talk about the lawsuit with AP surrounding that image still dragging at a talk on Sunday at the Brooklyn Museum, but he did shed some light on the origins of his other most famous image: that of the wrestler Andre the Giant. And, to hear Fairey tell it, it's a wonder movie director John Carpenter hasn't also hit him with copyright lawsuit. Fairey considers his experiment with a newspaper photo of Andre the Giant -- an inherently …

If only for the moment, dedicated turn-by-turn GPS navigators like Garmin and TomTom can breathe a sigh of relief. Google is denying rumors that it plans to introduce its free turn-by-turn GPS navigation service to iPhone users anytime soon. Reports surfaced on Thursday quoting a Google executive speaking about plans to bring such a service to other mobile platforms during a London press conference. Denying the reports, a Google spokesperson tells PCWorld: “We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come …

Twitter on Friday announced the acquisition of a small Seattle-based wireless technology company named Cloudhopper. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s sure to be tiny. In a blog post, Twitter says it’s been working with Cloudhopper for eight months. The top microblogging platform also now claims to process upwards of a billion SMS tweets per month – a number that continues to grow exponentially around the world. Twitter says the deal will help it “further grow and scale our SMS service,â€� while allowing it “to connect directly to mobile carrier networks in countries all over the …

From Facebook to Foursquare, The New York Times looks at the new culture of information sharing, and the companies betting their success on consumers’ willingness to go along for the (sure to be bumpy) ride. “A wave of Web start-ups aims to help people indulge their urge to divulge,â€� writes reporter Brad Stone. “These start-ups are exploiting a mood of online openness, despite possible hidden dangers.â€� Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, tells Stone: “People are not necessarily thinking about how long this information will stick around, or how it could …

Google has acquired Agnilux, an early-stage mobile start-up, but the real story begins with the employees. Well, maybe. Companies typically buy other companies for their employee talent, customer base or technology. MediaPost doesn't have insight into the reason for the acquisition, but according to Mobiledia, the San Jose, Calif.-based startup employees some of those who once designed custom silicon chips--A4 processor on the iPad and next-generation iPhone HD device--at PA Semiconductor. The likelihood of Google building chips stands at about zero, but a person familiar with the situation suggests the Internet giant bought the company, not for silicon talent …

In an interview with eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson, Facebook's head of global ad sales discusses the ad imlications of the social network's new Open Graph initiative that lets Facebook users see what friends have liked and read on sites across the Web via a new set of social plug-ins for publishers. Murphy confirms that whenever someone hits that "Like" button on any site, that information goes into their profile and can be used by marketers to target advertising within Facebook. While he says Facebook has no plans to launch an ad network based on Open Graph, this is …

A new study by Havas Digital's mobile marketing arm Mobext and research firm Cadio comes to the astonishing conclusion that opt-in GPS tracking can deliver a trove of valuable consumer and competitive insights. Well, yeah, if a marketer is tracking your every move they're going to learn a few things about your lifestyle and buying habits. The study involved mobile users in Chicago, New York and Boston who agreed to share location information every 10 minutes over a two-week period starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving last year. What did they find out? Half the people that frequent Starbucks also …

San Francisco-based media shop Mediasmith has named of John Cate executive vice president-general manager. Cate who joins Mediasmith’s executive committee, joins from executive president-general manager at Aegis Group’s Carat unit. Mediasmith Founder-CEO David Smith said the addition of Cate, “Effectively opens up a new era for Mediasmith, and he alluded to “many exciting announcements� in the next several months.