How does this fit into the context of the Comcast-Tivo (TIVO) and Comcast-Yahoo (YHOO) deals? It is conceivable that SmartZone will be accessible from the Comcast-Tivo box in order to check email and voicemail from your TV. One could imagine adding shows to the SmartZone calendar to be recorded at a later date or emailing clips of recorded shows directly from the set-top box.

A list of recent M&A in the sector is below. But first, here are the single folks still waiting to be scooped up:

I have heard from a credible source that CNET also provides the back-end e-commerce infrastructure for DPReview.com (although I do not see any mention of CNET on their site... perhaps CNET provides the comparison shopping lists). Now that Amazon has acquired the site, I would expect that infrastructure contract to switch from CNET to AMZN in order to drive more digital camera sales at AMZN.

Here are the quick details:

All cable operators are required to begin distributing CableCard-ready set top boxes beginning July 1. These boxes will have a slot available to insert a CableCard, which will enable channel selection and scrambling technology. The consortium is intended to promote the compatibility of alternative set-top boxes, making consumer options more widespread. TIVO has embraced the CableCard concept and has already launched the Series 3, a CableCard based HD-DVR.

Feedback 2.0 enhances eBay's current rating system by adding more detail (the current system is nearly worthless because so many sellers have 98%+positive feedback). Buyers can now rate sellers on four criteria: item description, communications, shipping time, and shipping/handling charges. Each category gets a 1-to-5 rating, and the average score is displayed on the seller's Feedback page. The goal is to drive traffic from bad sellers to good sellers and help all sellers improve.

The system was tested for 2 months in 8 global markets prior to last week's U.S. launch. In the tests, 70-75% of buyers left detailed seller ratings, and overall conversion rates increased (conversion for sellers with ratings below 3 declined).

The Leaders: Omniture, HBX (WebSideStory), WebTrends, CoreMetrics

Yahoo partnered with St. Miniver Ltd., a gaming network operator from Gibraltar, to join the International Poker Network [IPN] operated by Boss Media AB, a Swedish software provider. IPN consists of 21 different poker sites with a large presence in continental Europe. The site is live here.

How does this fit into the context of the Comcast-Tivo (TIVO) and Comcast-Yahoo (YHOO) deals? It is conceivable that SmartZone will be accessible from the Comcast-Tivo box in order to check email and voicemail from your TV. One could imagine adding shows to the SmartZone calendar to be recorded at a later date or emailing clips of recorded shows directly from the set-top box.

As a simple example, if a buyer in the test searches for "red size 12 shoes," instead of looking just for listings with the words "red," "size," "12," and "shoes," the search engine will find all of the items in the shoe category that are size 12 in the color red. In the end, the buyer should see more relevant items. Plus they'll see a new way to narrow their listings results according to important details such as size, color, type, etc.

This is a BIG deal for eBay. They are finally improving their core search experience. eBay created a new search technology a few years ago codenamed Magellan and they used it as the search engine for eBay Express. While Magellan helps to find exactly what you search for, the eBay Auctions search technology embraces the concept of ‘finding new things’ and will often return complimentary items.

I received a Moo card the other day from a friend who used a photo of himself kite-surfing. It was creative and memorable.... way better than your average boring business card. I immediately wanted my own.

I imagine this type of network would be a hybrid 3G/Wifi/VOIP network. Skype could combine its enormous VOIP user base and with Yahoo Messenger's large instant messenger user base to up-sell wireless phone and broadband service. They could effectively bypass the broadband providers to connect directly to some of their end users.

The comments come just ahead of licensing and contractual deadlines with the major labels, a group that is searching for avenues to improve online music sales. Theoretically, subscription-based approaches have the potential to generate stronger revenue streams, though market performance has been lukewarm. The space currently corals less than two million subscribers, in part because of a consumer preference for track ownership, instead of rental. "People want to own their music," Jobs said.

Peck says sellers get higher ASPs and ROI at Amazon (AMZN) and (GOOG) GOOG but they sell on EBAY because of the huge volume, which gives them purchasing power in their overall inventory. I think EBAY needs to drive a better buying experience to maintain the volume. The EBAY demo using Adobe (ADBE) Apollo was a much better user interface and could result in a better experience.

Henry Blodget comments:

I own the stock and would therefore be happy if Bob were right, but the above logic sounds pretty flimsy. eBay used to have no competition. Now it has a lot of it. Following on Jason's "interface" comments, eBay's still feels clunky and amateurish--almost as though the company is trying to maintain the informality and fun of its Pez-dispenser days while actually selling Mercedeses. I'd still be in favor of an eBay-Amazon merger (Amazon's strengths match up well with eBay's weaknesses), but I gather Meg and Jeff hate each other.

Scoble:

JJ: An MLS for commercial real estate seems like an interesting concept but valuation is somewhat high and the real estate market is not that attractive right now.

Think Equity: It happened. iPod revenues reversed a 17-quarter trend and posted minus 1%y/y growth. With prospects and the inevitability of slowing iPod momentum, they took AAPL shares down 28% to a calendar year low of $50.67 in mid July from year-ago levels. After all, investors had become accustomed to 11 quarters of triple-digit iPod unit growth and it was difficult to fathom an Apple without them. With iPods at 'only' 32% of revenues in 2Q, the real earnings power generator stepped forward. Apple is a CPU share gain story, and this is driving margin expansion. Raising target to $130.

Jason Jones's Take: Something is going on here. This is the second time I have heard about FTC inquiries into lead gen. If this accelerates it could potentially be bad for VCLK, TRFX, TRAD.LL, Rakuten/Linkshare, APTM, and the companies most reliant on lead gen (VG, NFLX, the online education companies). This is worth digging into in more detail. I don't think that AQNT has meaningful exposure to the affiliate marketing or lead gen space so it should be insulated from this issue (although it could probably be brought down with the group if this snowballs).