Redbox, the successful video rental retailer that uses DVD kiosks instead of retail or mail for distribution, is looking to expand to the web in an effort to better compete with Netflix. Redbox operates over 24,000 DVD dispensers and is now the largest division of Coinstar.

Redbox Plots Web Strategy in Challenge to Netflix – Bloomberg.

Google Images has a new look as of last week. The new interface organizes images more in a more compact way and allows users to hover over them for more info. The page that is presented after the click now shows the image in a lightbox with the originating web page in the background.

Official Google Blog: Ooh! Ahh! Google Images presents a nicer way to surf the visual web.

Stealth start up Flipboard, fresh off a $10.5M investment round, is getting a lot of attention for its recently launched social magazine app for the Apple iPad. The app compiles articles, photos and other content from your network of Facebook friends and Twitter followers to create a personalized magazine.

Flipboard CEO Mike McCue Talks About Stealth “Social Magazine” Start-Up | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD.

Trada, a Search Engine Marketing enabler, has raised $5.75 million from various sources including Google Ventures. Trada uses a crowd sourcing to make the job of creating SEM campaigns easier.

Trada Raises $5.75M From Google Ventures To Crowdsource Search Engine Marketing.

According to TechCrunch, Disney is in late stage negotiations to acquire Playdom. The game developer is just coming off its own acquisition of Hive7.

Disney About To Acquire Playdom.

Snapfish has acquired video sharing site Motionbox. Snapfish, which is owned by HP, will integrate Motionbox into its own home video service.

HP’s Snapfish Buys Video Sharing Site Motionbox | paidContent.

Adsmarket, a performance-based affiliate network, has raised $17 million from Viola Private Equity. Viola will own 21% of Adsmarket, putting the pre-money valuation at $80 million.

Performance-based Online Advertising Company Adsmarket Raises $17 Million.

Twitter is reporting that the company is handling 800 million queries per day, up 33% from their last public report in April. By comparison, comScore reporting that Yahoo did 9.4 billion queries in December.

Twitter search queries up 33 percent from April to 800 million per day | VentureBeat.

Game developer, Playdom, recently acquired Hive7, a social game startup. According to TechCrunch, Playdom paid at least $850,000 for Hive7.

Update: Playdom Paid At Least $850,000 For Hive7.

Bing captured 10% of the search market in June, up 7% over May. Google still has a commanding lead with 72% (down 1%) and Yahoo stayed the same at 14%.

Bing share of searches increases 7 percent for June 2010.