Less than a month ago, a rumor indicated that YouTube would begin paying celebrities big money in order to create custom content. Now, a piece of the organization's Hollywood-related plans seems to be falling into place, as YouTube's hired a key Paramount Pictures exec. At Paramount, Alex Carloss held the title "EVP & GM, WW Distribution." At YouTube, he'll be a member of the content acquisition team, according to Peter Kafka , who broke the story.

Fair warning: not much came of earlier rumors about this same possibility, and an identical outcome is possible this time. But there's word that Facebook and Skype are )again( in talks about introducing a video chat feature on the social network. Bloomberg , which is the source of the latest rumor, reported over the weekend, "Facebook Inc., the world's biggest social-networking company,

"It's just a little bit; it doesn't matter" is a common thought. People say it to themselves all the time before purchasing or eating something. And now Google's said it with respect to Picasa storage space, giving members a lot more leeway in terms of how many pictures and videos they can upload. The previous way Google handled storage caps was simple: Picasa users all had one gigabyte of free storage, and everything they uploaded,

The handful of investors who are able to get their hands on Twitter shares continue to have the utmost faith in the company. Another private market auction has taken place, and this time, eager supporters placed bids high enough to push Twitter's valuation to $7.7 billion. To put that in perspective: AOL's market cap is about $2.1 billion right now, and IAC's market cap is closer to $3.2 billion. Meanwhile, Yahoo's market cap is $22.4 billion,

Last week, the official Android Developer Channel published an impressive video showing the rate of Android device activations on a global scale. Now, courtesy of a different source, there's a clip giving a little more perspective, comparing the rise of Android to the growth of the human population. Credit goes to Greek tech blog Pestaolo for creating the clip. It's not quite as effects-intensive as Google's version,

PyCon - the largest annual conference related to the Python programming language - is almost here, and Google wants everyone to get excited about it. The company made clear today that it will have a significant presence there and considers Python an important language. Indeed, Google's actually one of two diamond-level sponsors of the event )the other's QNX Software Systems(, and Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, is employed by the search giant.

A new Best Buy commercial for its "Buy Back" program features consumers getting confused, frustrated, and angry as their new gadgets are quickly made obsolete. To ensure something similar doesn't happen to Android developers, Google's released an anti-fragmentation library. Developing an Android app wasn't that complicated in the beginning. There were just one or two versions of Android to deal with, and not too many different smartphone screen sizes to worry about.

Early reviews of Google's Cr-48 notebooks were, as you may remember, not encouraging. They seemed to indicate that the machines made better coasters than computing devices for anyone who already owned a laptop. Google's now addressed some problems with a new release of Chrome OS, however. Part of the change involves Chrome 10 effectively hitting Chrome OS. That means users should see improved Javascript performance, improved security,

Today's workday may be another tough eight hours for AOL employees. CEO Tim Armstrong himself has confirmed that more layoffs will occur due to the acquisition of the Huffington Post, and while the timing remains uncertain, tensions are sure to run high as rumors suggest people could start losing their jobs any time. To first discuss who's supposed to be safe: employees of Engadget and TechCrunch should all be left alone,

Developers with any amount of ability when it comes to creating Android apps may want to start thinking about how to bring PayPal into the equation. Today, the third PayPal X Developer Challenge kicked off, and PayPal's established some significant cash prizes for the top three participants. To cut to the chase: the first place prize is $25,000, second place is $15,000, and third place is $10,000. Also, this is a high-profile contest,

People who make a serious amount of money using AdSense )or at least wish they did( will now better be able to keep track of their earnings while on the move. Today, Google introduced the beta version of an AdSense interface designed specifically to complement mobile devices. We'll admit that this change might not have been in high demand. On a national level, not many people even know what AdSense is, never mind possess an interest in checking it every ten minutes.

One day after a well-met iPad 2 announcement, it's a solid bet that the iPhone 5 team at Apple just received orders to work a good deal harder. New stats from Nielsen indicate that, in terms of U.S. smartphone market share, iOS has fallen behind Android. As the figure below shows, Nielsen believes Android secured a market share of 29 percent during a two-month period ending January 11th. That puts it just ahead of Apple's and RIM's offerings, which are tied at 27 percent,

Tech companies poach each other's employees on a regular basis; a week rarely goes by without something alone the lines of a Yahoo-to-Google or Zynga-to-Twitter transfer occurring. Only it seems Microsoft's getting more than a little tired of losing employees to Facebook, and may unleash a few lawyers in an effort to keep one person from changing sides. Kara Swisher , who broke news of this possibility late yesterday, reported,

When Google introduced mobile editing in Google Docs last year, many people applauded. Lots of people probably didn't, though, considering the advance was English-only and left out folks all over the world. Now Google's addressing that issue with the ability to edit documents in 44 more languages. Of course, to be honest, this may not yet affect many individuals. Google Docs has had enough trouble catching on with English-speaking Americans,

Games make people happy. They also, as anyone who's seen a guy glued to a controller or a mob the morning of a major release can attest, make people willing to sacrifice lots of time and money. Google may be onto something, then, as the search giant today launched a site called Google Game Developer Central.

Months ahead of the actual wedding date, the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton has generated all sorts of media attention and page views, with people all over the world taking an interest. And now Google's right in the midst of it, as the search giant's been picked to host the official Royal Wedding website. The site's live at www.officialroyalwedding2011.org , and at the bottom of every page, you'll find the brief message, "Powered by Google App Engine,

To avoid any sense of false hype-building, we'll admit right now: Softbank has already denied any involvement. But rumor has it that Yahoo is in discussions to sell its stake in Yahoo Japan to Softbank, and a whole lot of people are hoping that's the case. Yahoo Japan is, if you'll recall, not exactly the Yahoo most Americans know. Yahoo only owns 33 percent of the organization, while Softbank controls a 42 percent stake.

Chalk up another win for Google Apps. Fairview Cadillac, a real estate firm with 1,800 employees and a portfolio worth over $19 billion, is switching to it, and an exec has gone on the record outlining the forecast monetary savings and other benefits. Scot Adams, SVP and CIO at Cadillac Fairview, wrote today on the Official Google Enterprise Blog , "Prior to switching to Google Apps, we had been providing IBM Lotus Notes for about $190 per user per year,

Google and/or users of some of the company's many products may soon be a little safer. A company called Zynamics announced today that it's been acquired by Google, and Zynamics specializes in reverse engineering tools and vulnerability research. The Zynamics site is pretty bare, but here's a little bit of info for you: the company was founded in 2004, and is based in Bochum, Germany, with another office in Barcelona, Spain.

Prior to its launch, more than a few prominent bloggers predicted that Hulu would fail, and it was dubbed "Clown Co." in certain circles. Now, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has forecast that his organization will earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million in ad revenue this year. Mike Shields reported following a keynote at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, "Hulu is on pace to haul in half a billion dollars in ad revenue in 2011, according to CEO Jason Kilar.