Filed under: Video, Web services, Google, Social Software
Google to buy YouTube--today?
The rumored Google-YouTube acquisition we talked about last week might imminent--perhaps as imminent as later today, according to the New York Times' DealBook blog. DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin writes, "Barring a last-minute snag in the talks, the boards of both Google and YouTube were scheduled to hold separate board meetings on Monday to approve the deal, with an announcement possible after the close of regular trading." Michael Arrington's scoop about the merger talks last week reportedly accelerated the schedule for Google's negotiators, who feared a third party swooping in and disrupting the $1.6 billion deal.In related news, YouTube struck some major media deals today, inking agreements with CBS, Vivendi's Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG. CBS, which already runs its own Innertube video site, will have a branded channel on YouTube starting next month featuring short-form content. The Vivendi deal will put thousands of the record label's music videos online, much like the Warner Music deal reached last month. Likewise, Sony BMG has agreed to put some of its videos online. All three media companies will be sharing advertising revenue with YouTube and allowing Vivendi and Sony BMG will be allowing YouTube users to incorporate the music video content into their own videos.
It's a foregone conclusion that video games are the next big medium for advertising, and ads in games have already become pretty commononplace. Most people will put up with them, despite the fact that they already paid a forty bucks or more for the game. But what about when the ads start connecting to the ad agency's servers over the Internet to tell them about your playing habits? As 
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
