ComScore (NSDQ: SCOR) says it is acquiring Amsterdam-based web measurement firm Nedstat for $36.7 million in a move designed to improve how it monitors websites using its Unified Digital Measurement platform.

With U.S. military operations in Iraq being wound down, there will likely be a lot of servicepeople coming home on to the civilian jobs market. Business publisher United Business Media (LSE: UBM) says it’s buying Astoud, a virtual careers fair company whose Milicruit recruitment service puts job-seeking troops in a…

AOL (NYSE: AOL) is buying Rally Up, a startup behind a social networking app for the iPhone and iPad that lets users share their locations with select friends. The app pitches itself as a social network for “people that actually should know your location,” such as family members and close…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) continues to buy up social-related firms in preparation for the launch of the new social networking effort it has under way. Its latest acquisition is mobile game startup SocialDeck, which is behind several very-addicting mobile games, including Shake & Spell, a spelling game that users can simultaneously…

Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of travel search technology provider ITA Software isn’t ready for take off quite yet; Google says the Department of Justice wants more information about the acquisition before giving the deal its OK.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) continues to pick up talent—and to add to its tech ability to compete with Facebook—by acq-hiring. The latest: buying social search startup Angstro and hiring its highly respected co-founder Rohit Khare to work on its social net Google Me. Khare started the company in 2006 with investor…

Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) is in the process of acquiring ExtendMedia, a company that specializes in managing online video content. The space has seen some consolidation lately and with the growth of mobile video, the rate of acquisitions is likely to increase rapidly. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. Cisco…

China e-commerce site Alibaba has acquired eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) auction management provider Auctiva. This is the Hong Kong company’s second U.S.-based purchase in less than two months. In June, Alibaba bought Vendio, another eBay auction manager based in San Mateo, CA. Both deals are part of Alibaba’s plans to invest…

News Corp.‘s MySpace (NSDQ: NWS) has finalized a deal to buy certain, unspecified assets of social messaging platform Threadbox. Venturebeat had reported last month that a deal was in the works, although Threadbox wouldn’t talk about it then.

Russian internet investor Digital Sky Technologies’ online buy-up is continuing ahead of its possible 2011 IPO. It’s acquiring the 20 percent of social network Odnoklassniki.ru it does not already own from founder Albert Popkov, Vedomosti reports (via Quintura).

Tencent, the Chinese internet company behind IM service and portal QQ, has bought up Comsenz, a Google-backed company which is behind the Discuz online discussion board platform, which is extremely popular in China, among other community products. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) had invested $1 million in Comsenz two years ago. It’s…

This one is a slight variation on a current trend… Euro RSCG 4D Discovery, the analytics arm of Havas agency network of Euro RSCG Worldwide, has acquired full-service interactive ad firm Congruent Media. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Most of the deals in the online ad world the last…

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has bought up heavily-backed comparison shopping site Like.com, in what is likely a bid to bulk up its product search results. Like.com, which was established six years ago as Riya, aggregates items for sale from various sites around the web; it’s best known for letting users look…

Federated Media Publishing has acquired the core technology belonging to semantic search provider TextDigger. The sum was not disclosed. As part of the deal, FM will absorb TextDigger’s technology and will bring on several of its staffers, including CEO Tim Musgrove. In turn, TextDigger, sans its semantic technology and the…

Facebook has confirmed that it has bought up Hot Potato, a startup behind a service that lets users communicate about activities they are doing at a given moment. On Hot Potato, users list what activity they are doing and then see others who are doing the same thing and can…

In an eye-catching report earlier this week, New York investment bank Peachtree Media Advisors said there had been a surge in digital media deal-making during the first half of the year; the volume of transactions was up 68 percent, the bank said, while their total dollar value more than doubled.…

Very heavily-backed online textbook rental service Chegg has made what is apparently its first acquisition: college course planning site CourseRank. CourseRank, which was founded at Stanford as a class project three years ago and has since expanded to 175 colleges, features a planner which students can use to organize their…

Beauty-based online media company Total Beauty Media has bought up LimeLife, which is behind the women-focused lifestyle site and mobile property of the same name. Total Beauty CFO Jordan Posell tells us the deal is part of his company’s strategy to go after other verticals that its advertisers are also…

Social gaming giant Zynga has made yet another acquisition, buying up social game company Conduit Labs. Conduit Labs is behind several popular Facebook titles, including Music Pets and Super Dance. The startup’s initial project was a virtual world called Loudcrowd—which let users interact by dancing, flirting and suggesting tracks for…