Media giant Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) reported third-quarter earnings this morning and issued a stronger outlook. During the quarter, earnings dropped 38%, thanks to declines at its AOL division (parent of BloggingStocks) and publishing segments.

Excluding items, TWX's earnings checked in at 61 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by 8 cents per share. Quarterly revenue slipped 6% to $7.1 billion, matching the consensus estimate. Looking ahead, TWX forecast adjusted earnings of at least $2.05 per share. This forecast is higher than the $1.98 per share the company issued earlier and the $2.02 per share that the Street expects.

The mayhem in the media industry continues. The Wall Street Journal, a News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) property, is closing its Boston bureau and sending nine employees into the wind. The newswire and MarketWatch operations are going to stay open in Boston, however, with no headcount impact.

The Journal doesn't have any plans to close other offices, according to a memo by managing editor Robert Thomson: "there are no plans, nascent or otherwise, to close any other U.S. or international bureau." The WSJ will still support an "investigative function" in Boston, but the New York-based Money and Investing team will cover Boston's mutual fund industry, which boasts such heavy hitters as Fidelity.

At the same time, magazine company Time Inc., owned by Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is looking to cut $100 million in expenses, and layoffs will undoubtedly figure into the equation. The company that owns Time, Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated – and falls under the same umbrella as AOL, which owns BloggingStocks – is feeling the squeeze of a media recession that's even worse than the regular recession we've all been battling for what feels like decades.

Your e-mail account is a goldmine. Technology companies push hard to keep your data secure, but there are plenty of scumbags out there who always seem to find a new way to gain an edge over the guys in white hats. Phishers, in particular, are eager to find new ways to profit from your identity and information, and they're getting some new tricks.

Phishing scam activity was quiet at the beginning of this year, according to a report in USA Today, but these attacks surged 200% from May through September, says the X-Force team at IBM (NYSE: IBM). Webmail, social media and gaming accounts are their primary targets. E-mail access, in particular, is highly sought after, since they can be use to push out spam ... while bypassing filters.

These "virgin" e-mail accounts command top dollar: a digital criminal can pick up as much as $2 for a clean account from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Live, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Gmail, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) YahooMail or AOL (NYSE: TWX). This is more than twice the amount typically paid for a stolen credit card account, according to Fred Rica, principal in the security practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Many webmail users actually do half the criminals' job for them, with 33% using just one password online and 48% using only a handful.

Sergey Brin claims that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) didn't try to buy Twitter. The co-founder of the search engine giant made a surprise appearance at Web 2.0 Thursday, where organizer John Battelle asked point blank if he'd made a move for the popular microblogging website.

Of course, Brin revealed his fluency in corporate speak, continuing, "But if companies approach us we definitely consider any opportunities to buy," according to Reuters. A denial doesn't always mean a denial, especially if there were agreements to keep negotiations confidential.

Eventually, Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) will just be Warner Brothers, HBO, and Turner Networks, says Gordon Crawford, managing director of The Capital Group.

Why does this guy's opinion matter? Well, his company is Time Warner's biggest shareholder. He sees the coming divestiture of AOL (to which BloggingStocks belongs) as part of a broader effort that will eventually include the sale of its print division.

Twitter's much-hyped $100 million round of financing closed Friday, cementing the company's (illiquid) value at $1 billion, though Twitter itself would not confirm the amount. T. Rowe Price and Insight Venture Partners participated in the deal, as expected, which is believed to be a precursor to an eventual liquidity event -- such as an IPO or acquisition.

In a way, it feels like 1999, where you have investors rushing to invest in high-profile companies, despite the absence of revenue models. Yet, Twitter may not be as bad off as the traditional folks think, especially if the goal is an acquisition. The company does say that it's pursuing revenue via corporate accounts. But, it's been saying this for a while, and we haven't seen anything yet. Also, it's leaving open the possibility of running ads on the site, though this wouldn't happen within the next three months.

Last week it was announced that the long-anticipated separation of AOL from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is set to happen before the end of the year -- then what?

If all goes well, AOL will set its own course sustaining what's left of its internet prominence, after falling from what was once internet dominance before its merger with TWX, and the continuous contraction of its dial-up subscriptions.

AOL still attracts more than 100 million Internet users to its online content portal, which includes BloggingStocks, so the adventure will continue. And, an AD-venture it is sure to be.

The same is true for Time Warner, the world's largest media conglomerate with operations spanning film, television, cable TV, and publishing. It will have an AD-venture of its own.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is recently trading at $23.57 in pre-open trading, above its close of $23. TWX announced plans to separate AOL from TWX in a tax free transaction. TWX June option implied volatility is at 48; July is at 46; below its 26-week average of 56, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options (CBOE: VIX) at 32.36; 10-day moving average is 31.31.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), a web portal whose colleagues include Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, reported Q1 numbers after the bell on Tuesday. According to an earnings preview done by colleague Mark Fightmaster, Wall Street was counting on something along the lines of 8 cents per share. Well, on a non-GAAP basis, Yahoo! earned 15 cents per share. Not bad.

Unfortunately, Yahoo! made three pennies more on the same adjusted basis in last year's similar quarter. Furthermore, revenues, adjusted for currency effects, dropped 8%. Oh, and one more thing. Free cash flow decreased over 60%.

The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is set to report Q1 earnings on Tuesday, April 21. Don't expect a profit. In fact, I wouldn't expect much of anything. After all, we are talking about a company that makes its money off newsprint. Sad as it might be to say, newspapers are fast becoming dinosaurs in the age of digital information.

According to this source, analysts think that the New York Times will lose about $0.04 per share. That's really bad, considering that the same source says that the company was profitable in the year-ago frame, generating $0.09 per share. It isn't surprising though, is it? Not only has the recession destroyed advertising growth in all forms of media, but newspapers simply aren't looked to anymore as the first source of news. The Internet has disrupted that reputation for good.

Google (NYSE: GOOG), the internet search engine that just about everyone uses, and a leader in its sector, one that includes Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, reported Q1 earnings after the bell on Thursday. Google beat the analysts.

According to my earnings preview, Wall Street was looking for $4.92 per share (some news reports indicated that $4.93 was the number to look for). Well, on an adjusted basis, Google delivered $5.16 per share.

Search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), whose colleagues include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, will be reporting first-quarter earnings today after the market closes up shop. The market isn't expecting a lot of growth, with estimates pegging Google's earnings at $4.92 per share, only eight pennies more than the previous year's results.

Google, however, went beyond Wall Street's calls in the last two quarters. Considering the fact that the stock has had a run-up the last few months, I expect that the market is looking for good things from the tech company. I think there's a good chance we'll see a beat.

Heading into the week's end, we find that the ground under Wall Street has shifted a little. For at least one week this year, investors have looked at the glass as half full, lending some support to a story I posted earlier in the week: Is the stock market spring loaded? Could it move 3,000 points higher now?

Given that there was plenty of bad news, and some of the good news was suspect, I think investors simply decided "it is better to light one small candle than curse the darkness."

Tim Armstrong is the new chief executive of AOL, a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and parent of BloggingStocks. Armstrong, a senior VP at Google (you can read the press release here) replaces Randy Falco, who joined AOL in November, 2006. Also leaving AOL is President Ron Grant.

Time Warner shares initially traded down in after hours trading following the announcement, but were leveling off by 6:30. The stock closed at $8.32 today, a gain of 5%, and at 7pm was at $8.31.

Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is hearing a margin call of sorts from Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Google, which bought a 5% stake in AOL years ago for a cool billion, would like AOL's parent company to buy back this stake. Currently, Google's estimated stake is valued at under $300 million. In other words, Google will be the loser in this deal.