Since updating its look last fall, iVillage has been tinkering at the edges, adding three new channels around celebrities, food and even astrology. Now, it’s working to expand its health and wellness content amid a wave of competition from other female-focused websites. The NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) site has unveiled…

In the second set of documents released today from Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against Google (NSDQ: GOOG) over YouTube’s posting of its copyrighted works, e-mails among the video site’s three primary founders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawad Karim, demonstrate the debates the trio had over how to handle unauthorized…

The NYTCo’s local content efforts are getting a quick boost from hyperlocal newswire Fwix. In a sense, the deal with Fwix can buttress the NYTimes.com’s New York metro area blogs program, The Local, which it began last year. The deal enables the distribution of Fwix’s technology and hyperlocal content across…

Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) has hinted for several months that it would be buying more companies and it’s finally made an acquisition—buying up social sports startup Citizen Sports, which it says will compliment Yahoo Sports, the top sports site in the U.S. And, indeed, the move immediately gives Yahoo clout in…

Second Porch, which lets users find and list available vacation homes via a Facebook app, has raised $1 million in a first round of funding. The company’s pitch: Because all of its vacation home listings are on Facebook, users are able to rent or trade with people they “know and…

MocoSpace, a social network that is primarily accessed on the phone, has reached 11 million users. While that may pale in comparison to the 100 million people using Facebook on cellphones, it easily surpasses the 560,000 using Foursquare. However, it is more in line with the 500,000 users that MocoSpace…

AOL (NYSE: AOL) practically added two new sites a month last year as part of its goal to reach 100 sites under its MediaGlow content group. While the content strategy has lately rested on building up its freelance content site Seed.com, AOL still plans to roll out more verticals. The…

Popular online golf game World Golf Tour has raised $10 million in a third round of funding, which the company says demonstrates that “investors believe online sports to be a big growth area.” Have to say, however, that it’s been rare lately to see stand-alone game sites like World Golf…

Social gaming startup Playdom is putting this past fall’s $43 million funding round to quick work lately. The San Francisco company is investing $5 million in Argentina-based social gamer MetroGames as part of the South American company’s first round. The investment comes a barely two weeks after Playdom acquired Offbeat…

While Google (NSDQ: GOOG) continues work on reaching its $1 billion in display revenue goal, the latest blip in the search giant’s strategy involves getting more smaller marketers to use in-video ad overlays on YouTube. In a blog post, concedes that most small spenders don’t have access to the tools…

CrowdGather, which owns a network of community forums, is buying up FreeForums.org, for $1 million in cash and stock (An SEC filing shows that FreeForums’ owner, Phil Santoro, is getting $600,000 in cash, as well as $400,000 in CrowdGather stock and additional compensation based on traffic). The three-year-old site lets…

Watching Twitter CEO Ev Williams on stage at South by Southwest Interactive is a reminder that it’s still a work in progress—and watching people trying to cram into the overflow keynote was a reminder of just how much is expected. Ditto watching the steady stream leave as the interview by…

Weedle, a site that lets users find people who have specific skills and also pitch their own, has raised $4 million in funding. On Weedle, users create short profiles for free complete with their background, as well as the service they’re providing. They can also “vouch” for other members. Weedle…

Gina Bianchini, the long-time head (and co-founder) of build-your-own social network service Ning, is resigning; she’s joining Ning backer Andreesen Horowitz as an executive in residence. In a blog post, Ning Chairman Marc Andreessen emphasizes that the resignation is Bianchini’s decision and that “nothing else is changing” at the startup.…

Latitude, Foursquare. There’s no shortage of mobile social location candidates stepping up. Now GeoSentric’s GyPSii of Holland has raised a further $11 million funding for its effort - bringing its total to $40 million. The disclosure came in GyPSii’s announcement of a new Twitter app, Tweetsii, that puts tweets first,…

Hunch, the year-old decision-making site, has raised $12 million in a second round of funding led by Khosla Ventures. Co-founder Caterina Fake—who also founded (and sold) Flickr—provides details on her blog, saying that while the company had enough cash to last almost another year, “there was a lot of enthusiasm…

The lawyers at United Online-owned Classmates.com are busy; the social networking site is paying up to $9.5 million, along with $1.3 million in legal fees, to settle a class action lawsuit charging that it violated members’ privacy rights. TechFlash—which first reported the settlement—says the site sent free subscribers promotional e-mails…

Twitter client HootSuite, which recently raised $1.9 million in funding, has now made an acquisition, buying up Android app developer Swift App. HootSuite says that Swift App was behind the development of HootSuite’s own Android app, which was released last week. The company says the acquisition “means quicker development for…

MSNBC is continuing to try make better use of social media as a distribution tool with a small effort that ties its @BreakingNews Twitter account to a dedicated Facebook page. It’s not clear how much Facebook fans want real-time news mixed with their friends’ status updates—as opposed to following @BreakingNews…