I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER....AMAZON TRIED TO BUY RIM

Based on a new Reuters report, Amazon was hot-to-trot on the idea of buying RIM, but those desires seemingly cooled after the BlackBerry maker decided that it'd rather "fix its problems on its own." Wildly enough, the report states that an investment bank was hired earlier this summer "to review a potential merger with RIM," but no formal offer was ever extended.

Of course, it's not atypical to hear of Amazon buying unusual assets -- it's snapped up everything from a touchscreen startup to a UK-based movie streaming and rental service -- and sources have affirmed that "other kinds of commercial partnerships" could still be in the cards. In fact, the two are rumored to be actively discussing ways to "expand their commercial ties, which currently include a service launched last year to make Amazon's music catalog available to some BlackBerry users."

RUMOR: VODAFONE TO BUY RIM

Shares of Research In Motion stock are popping for the second day in a row on rumors that the company may be looking for a buyer. RIM’s stock was up as much as 14% on Wednesday morning as mysteriously sourced rumors suggested U.K. carrier Vodafone is considering an acquisition. Investors see RIM quickly running out of cash — the vendor burned through more than half of its $2.9 billion in cash during the second fiscal quarter alone — and analysts still aren’t convinced management can right the ship. Some still see promise in RIM’s upcoming QNX lineup however, and the company could certainly hold tremendous value for a potential buyer. Market rumors last week suggested that RIM was pulling the plug on the BlackBerry PlayBook and its tablet efforts in general, but RIM broke character and quickly put the rumors to bed. With the company’s stock on the rise, we doubt RIM will dispel this new round of rumors even if they prove to be inaccurate.

GOOGLE BUYS ZAGAT

Long before Yelp, there was Zagat, a point-based restaurant rating guide, compiled from the best (or worst, depending) crowdsourced reviews. Today, Google has acquired the brand and plans to integrate Zagat's now expanded shopping, eating, drinking and hotel tips into both search and maps. For gastronomes, travelers and locals, that means crowdsourced tips for superb noms and activity recommendations from around the world.

RUMOR: SAMSUNG BUYING HP PC BUSINESS

According to a new report from DigiTimes, Samsung may be eyeing a purchase of HP’s PC division, which would catapult the South Korea-based electronics giant past Dell and into the No. 1 PC vendor spot globally. The report states that Samsung is currently meeting with various leading manufacturers including Quanta and Compal to investigate outsourcing the production of its own netbook computers. Samsung has held similar meetings in the past to no avail, but anonymous source tell DigiTimes that the company may be particularly motivated this time around as it negotiates a deal to take over HP’s PC business and free up space to build the machines in its own factories.

GOOGLE BUYING MOTOROLA MOBILITY

Google has announced it is acquiring handset maker Motorola Mobility for $40 per share or $12.5 billion. Google will making Motorola Mobility a "dedicated Android partner" to "enhance competition in mobile computing" and "supercharge the Android ecosystem." Google CEO Larry Page said "Motorola Mobility's total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers."

The acquisition also give Google access to Motorola Mobility's treasure chest of patents which it can use to help defend itself against lawsuits.

Motorola Mobility has been a strong Android partner to Google and launched the flagship Droid lineup for Verizon. Google will continue to operate its new toy as a separate business and not morph it into an in-house hardware wing.

HTC ACQUIRES S3 GRAPHICS AND ITS PATENT PORTFOLIO

HTC announced today it'll purchase S3 Graphics and its patent portfolio from VIA for a cool $300 million, giving the smartphone maker 265 new weapons in its IP arsenal. Also part of the deal is a perpetual license to the patents' former owner, so that the chipset manufacturer can keep cranking out silicon without fear of legal reprisal.

GO DADDY SOLD TO KKR AND SILVER LAKE

The Go Daddy Group, the controversial giant of Internet address registration companies, said Friday that it would sell itself to a group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake.

While the company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, the buyers are paying about $2.25 billion, according to people briefed on the matter.

In Go Daddy, the investor group — which also includes Technology Crossover Ventures as a minority partner — will buy the biggest domain name registrar in the world. The company manages more than 48 million domain names and has nearly 9.4 million customers.

When Go Daddy sought to go public in 2006, the company reported $139.8 million in revenue and conceded that it had consecutive annual losses. Since then, however, it has built up its business significantly: It reported $1.1 billion in sales for its most recent fiscal year.

RUMOR: YAHOO LOOKING TO ACQUIRE HULU

According to the LA Times, Yahoo Inc. recently approached Hulu to discuss a possible acquisition of the popular online video service, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. Hulu, whose owners include media giants News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp., has been struggling to find a balance between the desires of consumers to watch shows free online and its owners' interest in protecting the value of their programming. Late last year, it launched a paid subscription service to complement its free offerings.

Although there has been interest in the company, it remains unclear whether its owners have any desire to sell. Hulu has not taken any traditional steps associated with a sale such as retaining an investment bank to field offers. However, it is currently undergoing a restructuring that would give Chief Executive Jason Kilar and his executive team greater autonomy while imposing new rules on the availability of television content.

On Tuesday afternoon, word of the unsolicited offer spread and was subsequently confirmed by people close to the company. It is not known whether the offer came from Yahoo or another entity. Spokespersons for Yahoo, Hulu, News Corp. and Comcast declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

GOOGLE BUYS POSTRANK SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS COMPANY

Google has acquired PostRank, a Web company that measures the effects of social networking on online content. The announcement was made on PostRank's blog. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal appears to be an indication of the effects of social media on Google's long-term strategy, if not its immediate business. PostRank (a play on Google's own PageRank term) measures how many comments, bookmarks, tweets, and other social interactions a given piece of content generates, exactly the type of analytics a Web giant needs as it slowly grows its own social strategy.

So far, Google seems to be orienting itself around +1 icon and social search, as it slowly evolves a presence in social networking.

YAHOO BUYS ADVERTISING PLATFORM 5TO1 FOR $28 MILLION

Yahoo has just announced that it will be acquiring advertising platform 5to1 for $28 million.

5to1 first launched in September 2009, and raised around $13 million in various rounds of funding. The startup is an online advertising alliance consisting of major media publishers. Built on a proprietary publisher-controlled platform, 5to1 offers advertisers premium inventory at mass scale.

Yahoo says that the acquisition of 5to1 will enable allow the company “to build upon its publisher partnerships and expand its premium inventory.” 5to1 works with more than 20 premium publishers. The 5to1 team will be joining Yahoo as part of the Ad Marketplaces group.

RUMOR: NOKIA IN TALKS TO SELL PHONE BUSINESS TO MICROSOFT

According to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, Nokia is set to begin discussing the possibility selling its cell phone business to Microsoft. According to the blogger, who has a proven track record of disseminating accurate intel, the negotiations will begin next week and the results will not immediately be made public.

If the two giants do work out a sale, however, it could close before the end of 2011. According to Murtazin, “both companies are in a big hurry.” The idea seems like a bit of a stretch, but some believed Nokia CEO Stephen Elop was brought on board for this very reason — an idea that seemed far fetched at the time.

And let’s not forget, Nokia was founded in the 1800s as a paper company and it shifted gears several times before building its first cell phone, so a change in direction would certainly be in line with the company’s heritage.

MICROSOFT BUYS SKYPE FOR $8.5 BILLION

Microsoft Corp plans to buy Internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion in its biggest-ever acquisition, placing a rich bet on mobile and the Internet to try to best rivals such as Google Inc.

In a deal that took about a month from offer to signing, the software company outbid Google and Facebook, which sources said offered to partner or buy Skype for $3 billion to $4 billion. They planned to use the provider of Internet telephone services to keep users glued to their online communities.

Microsoft's interest in the money-losing, but popular service highlights a need to gain new customers for its Windows and Office software. Skype has 145 million users on average each month and has gained favor among small business users.

LEAKED: TWITTER BUYS TWEETDECK FOR $50 MILLION

According to source speaking to TechCrunch, Twitter purchased the popular third-party client TweetDeck for between $40 and $50 million on Monday. The Wall Street Journal originally reported that Twitter was in “advanced talks” to purchase TweetDeck – a 15 person company – back in April. Sources speaking to TechCrunch said that Twitter made the purchase in an effort to stop Uber Media, another third party company with a handful of Twitter applications across multiple platforms, from buying TweetDeck first. Neither company has officially announced the acquisition, yet.

YOUTUBE FOUNDERS BUY DELICIOUS FROM YAHOO

YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have agreed to purchase Delicious from Yahoo. Hurley and Chen’s company, AVOS, will be the new owner of the service, and Yahoo has promised to keep Delicious up and working until about July, when user information is then turned over to AVOS. What AVOS plans to do with Delicious is up in the air, but it’s doubtful they’ll make many changes immediately. Yahoo says they’ll turn over public and private bookmarks and user information to AVOS when the change is complete and AVOS will re-launch Delicious shortly after.

Users who don’t want their data moved or shared with another party will have the ability to opt out. Yahoo will present each user with AVOS’ terms of service prior to the changeover, and users who don’t agree will not be able to access their bookmarks or use the service, but AVOS won’t have access to their data either.

DISH NETWORK WINS AUCTION FOR BLOCKBUSTER

Back in September, Blockbuster announced that they would file for bankruptcy protection. Since then, corporate executives weighed their options to try and save the company from the dustbin, but finally reserved themselves to putting it up for sale in the hopes that another company would buy it at auction. This morning those hopes came true: Dish Network stepped in to buy the company for a total of $228 million in cash.

It’s unlikely that Dish Network is interested in Blockbuster’s chain of 1,700 video rental stores and retail locations: it’s almost certain that Dish really wants to get their hands on Blockbuster’s kiosk business, streaming video services, DVD mailing services, and their agreements with movie studios and television networks that produce its most watched and rented content. It’s still very likely that many, if not all, of Blockbuster’s neighborhood rental stores will close.

Whether or not Dish Network sees fit to prop up Blockbuster’s retail business remains to be seen, but it’s clear that they’re not the most valuable part of the deal. It’s far more likely that Dish Network will tie in its own satellite television services with Blockbuster streaming packages. For example, new Dish Network customers may see promotions and discounts if they sign up for Blockbuster streaming or disc by mail rentals. By contrast, current Blockbuster subscribers may be prompted to switch to Dish Network for their traditional TV services, if they have them.

Additionally, Blockbuster has made a significant push in recent years towards the mobile space, entering partnerships with a number of smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers to bundle their streaming video apps on new devices. Dish Network could also leverage those agreements to bring mobile television and streaming video to users much like Comcast does with its Xfinity TV mobile apps without having to build the apps themselves.

Ultimately, Dish Network’s acquisition of Blockbuster – if approved by the federal bankruptcy court handling the deal – could give the company a leg up against competitors like RedBox, which doesn’t have a traditional TV service to fight Dish Network with, and Netflix, which doesn’t offer either traditional TV or kiosks.

GOOGLE ACQUIRES SAYNOW

SayNow, a voice messaging company, has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum reported TechCrunch. SayNow’s platform facilitates voice messaging between individuals or groups, and the company provides access to its services through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android and iPhone applications. The start-up claims to have over 15 million people currently using SayNow apps and services, which include SayNow Phone, SayNow Broadcast, Big Call and Chit Chat. While details surrounding Google’s intentions for the platform are unclear at this time, the company’s services will ultimately be folded into Google Voice according to SayNow founders Ujjwal Singh and Nikhyl Singhal.

SKYPE PURCHASES QIK FOR $100 MILLION

Skype has bought QIK for $100 million according to Business Insider. QIK is similar to Skype but for mobile phones and tablets. By buying QIK, Skype will allow users of these devices to video chat in addition to the ability to send and receive video mail. Qik users can also record video with their mobile phone and have it instantly uploaded to the web or, if they choose, video can be viewed as it is recording offering mobile phone users the unique ability to stream live video.