FTC to probe more online ad deals
The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly expanded its probe into proposed mergers in the Internet advertising space. The agency now plans to review Microsoft's proposed $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive as well as a deal by Yahoo to buy up a remaining 80% stake in Right Media. The FTC has already been looking into Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion bid for online ad company DoubleClick. The DoubleClick deal has drawn a formal investigation by the FTC, involving extensive document requests and interviews that could last months, the Journal reported. The two new probes could also become as involved, the report said, citing lawyers familiar with the cases. A Microsoft spokesman told the Journal that the company is "cooperating fully" with the FTC, other than to say the Right Media deal requires regulatory clearance. Microsoft actively encouraged regulators to probe the antitrust implications of the Google merger with DoubleClick soon after it was announced. Microsoft's concern is that a combined company would control too much of the online advertising market. While Google dominates the Internet search market and has benefited from inserting advertisements into user search queries, DoubleClick specializes in graphical advertisements such as banner ads.

EBay reports progress against fraud
The online auction giant eBay wants the world to know that it is trying to clean up its site. In January, the 12-year-old company announced what it characterized as a significant shift in its philosophy toward protecting eBay members from fraud. Instead of a more hands-off approach that emphasized giving members the tools to make their own choices, it rolled out new efforts to combat the sale of counterfeit items and revised its feedback system to give buyers and sellers more information about each other. At the annual three-day eBay Live conference for its members, beginning Thursday in Boston, the company planned to discuss the progress of those efforts for the first time. The results appear promising. The company will report a 60% decline in the number of complaints from luxury goods makers that counterfeits of their products are being sold on the site. It also says that in the last four months it has banished tens of thousands of sellers from its auction marketplace who did not meet new, elevated standards. But many of its efforts have also fallen short. Other companies whose products are not yet protected by the new anti-counterfeiting measures still complain about piracy on eBay, and some longtime sellers grumble that they are left in the dark about changes to the complex ecosystem on which they depend. "Whenever you do things on eBay, you never necessarily get 100 percent of people happy with you," said Meg Whitman, the chief executive of eBay, during an interview last week.

Bad Signals on Apple TV
Apple TV is part of a new category of products called "digital media adapters." These connect consumers' computer networks with their living room entertainment systems. Although many analysts believe that's the wave of the future, there's been little demand for the adapters. That's because the gadgets are often difficult to set up, have limited features and appeal to only a small number of consumers. Apple TV has been in stores for just two months, but there are already signs it may join the Lisa and the G4 Cube on the computer maker's list of flops. There are no sales figures yet, but demand seems tepid based on anecdotal reports. Reviews of the once widely anticipated product have been mixed at best. Perhaps most telling, at the D: All Things Digital conference last week, CEO Steve Jobs seemed to be trying to lower expectations for the device, calling the company's Apple TV effort a "hobby." That's in stark contrast to his appearance at Macworld in January, when he indicated the Apple TV would be one of four key businesses for Apple, joining the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. "The reason I call it a hobby is because a lot of people have tried and failed to, you know, make that a business," Jobs said last week. A big problem for the Apple TV is that it hasn't completely overcome the problems of similar gadgets, unlike the way the iPod revolutionized the MP3 player market, analysts say. Because it requires a network, a broadband connection and a digital television, it has a limited audience right now, they say. Even for consumers who meet those requirements, there's arguably no compelling reason to buy an Apple TV or one of its rivals yet, they say.

MPAA, RIAA Create Yet Another Lobbying Group
At some point, you have to just wonder if the folks running the MPAA and the RIAA are just collectively pulling everyone's leg. If it wasn't such a huge waste of taxpayer money while also limiting the economic possibilities of this country, it would almost be funny. Remember just last month that the RIAA and MPAA were leading the charge with yet another new lobbying organization called the Copyright Alliance? That was amusing enough, since the RIAA and MPAA already had plenty of clout -- and their main purpose was lobbying anyway. However, apparently they still don't think it's enough. There's now another new organization called the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. Of course, it's being headed up by the RIAA and the MPAA, along with the National Assn. of Manufacturers and the pharmaceuticals industry -- two other groups that apparently don't already have enough lobbying clout. This new group is pushing for an intellectual property czar, who will work directly from the White House to crack down on IP violations. As Boing Boing points out, this new group certainly isn't going to shy away from ridiculous and totally unsupportable statements about why it needs stronger copyright laws.

Doctors Want to Classify Videogame Addiction As Mental Disorder
An American Medical Association committee recently took steps to classify videogame addiction as a mental disorder. After nearly a year of studying the issue, an AMA committee concluded, in a 10-page report, that excessive videogame playing leads to what it describes as "social dysfunction/disruption." As a result, the AMA panel "strongly encourages the consideration and inclusion of "Internet/videogame addiction" as a formal diagnostic disorder in the upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV," according to the report. In the same report, the AMA panel also suggests videogame playing be limited to less than two hours a day, and the Centers for Disease Control and the National Science Foundation conduct additional research into the long-term effects of videogame playing on people under the age of 18. An AMA policy-making body will take the recommendations into account when it meets later this month. The findings, and the recommendations, are more fuel for the heated debate about the impact of long-term videogaming, especially among teenagers. A growing number of medical professionals believe videogame addiction is indeed a mental illness, but producers of videogames and consoles say the worries are overblown. For example, a 2005 study by the Entertainment Software Association, whose members account for 90% of all the videogames sold, concluded there is no causal relationship between videogame violence and aggression.

NATO plans action against cyberattacks
NATO defence ministers agreed on Thursday that fast action is needed to tackle the threat of cyberattacks on key internet sites after Estonia suffered a wave of assaults on its computer networks last month. "There was sentiment round the table that urgent work is needed to enhance the ability to protect information systems of critical importance," Nato spokesman James Appathurai told a news conference at a two-day meeting in Brussels. The attacks on Estonia "were sustained, co-ordinated and focused. They had clear national security and economic implications," he said. "That will be the subject of work here." Estonia suffered an onslaught of cyberattacks on private and government internet sites, peaking in May, after a decision to move a Soviet-era statue from a square in Tallinn prompted outrage from Russian nationals in Estonia and a diplomatic row with Moscow. The attacks appear to have stemmed initially from Russia, though the Kremlin denied it was behind them. Network specialists said the attacks consisted of a barrage of clicks on a given website, leading to overload. Some sites faced up to 1,000 clicks a second, compared with a normal level of 1,000 to 1,500 clicks a day.

China taking on U.S. in cyber arms race
China is seeking to unseat the United States as the dominant power in cyberspace, a U.S. Air Force general leading a new push in this area said. "They're the only nation that has been quite that blatant about saying, 'We're looking to do that,"' 8th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Robert Elder told reporters. Elder is to head a new three-star cyber command being set up at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, already home to about 25,000 military personnel involved in everything from electronic warfare to network defense. The command's focus is to control the cyber domain, critical to everything from communications to surveillance to infrastructure security. "We have peer competitors right now in terms of doing computer network attack ... and I believe we're going to be able to ratchet up our capability," Elder said. "We're going to go way ahead." The Defense Department said in its annual report on China's military power last month that China regarded computer network operations -- attacks, defense and exploitation -- as critical to achieving "electromagnetic dominance" early in a conflict. China's People's Liberation Army has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks, the Pentagon said. China also was investing in electronic countermeasures and defenses against electronic attack, including infrared decoys, angle reflectors and false-target generators, it said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the U.S. report as "brutal interference" in China's internal affairs and insisted Beijing's military preparations were purely defensive. Elder described the bulk of current alleged Chinese cyber-operations as industrial espionage aimed at stealing trade secrets to save years of high-tech development. He attributed the espionage to a mix of criminals, hackers and "nation-state" forces. Virtually all potential U.S. foes also were scanning U.S. networks for trade and defense secrets, he added.

Zimbabwe's bugging bill condemned
Zimbabwe's internet providers have strongly condemned the bill passed this week to allow the government to monitor e-mails and other communications. They say they would not be able to afford the expensive monitoring equipment, which the bill says they can be forced to install. The government says it is similar to anti-terror laws in the UK and US. But internet providers argue it is a violation of human rights and privacy and "another act of oppression". Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association (Zispa) said that the changes he had suggested to the proposed bill had all been ignored. If the Interception of Communications Bill is passed by the Senate, seen as a formality, the government will be able to monitor e-mails, telephone calls, the internet and postal communications. China is apparently providing Zimbabwe with some of its web-monitoring technology. The telephone calls of government critics are often monitored already. Correspondents say Zimbabweans could use an encrypted overseas-based web-mail to get round the new law.

Jet engine tested at 10 times speed of sound
An experimental jet engine has been successfully tested at speeds of up to 6,835 miles per hour, or 10 times the speed of sound, during trials in Australia's outback, defense scientists said on Friday. The experimental scramjet engine is an air-breathing supersonic combustion engine being developed by Australian and U.S. defense scientists that researchers hope will lead to super-high speed flight. Scientists from Australia's defense Science and Technology Organization and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), used a conventional rocket to launch the scramjet high above the Woomera test site. The engine was then tested as it reached speeds of Mach 10. Scramjets need a rocket to propel the vehicle to high-speed before the engine can take over. They also need to operate in the thin atmosphere far above the altitude of commercial airliners.

Breast implant website condemned
A website where women can raise cash for breast implants using personal photos is unsafe and degrading, say UK cosmetic surgeons. The implants are paid for by male "benefactors" who, for a fee, can access the women's personal profiles, pictures and contact details. Myfreeimplants claims any woman over 18 is eligible to join for surgery. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) says this is frightening and potentially dangerous. It is urging women not to use the service, after learning of UK women who have joined the US website. The website says women can use aliases, but insists that they include photos of themselves, which it says is "one of the key components towards achieving your goals." Once women have uploaded their personal details, which should include a list of their physical attributes, such as hair and eye colour, the website says women can have a one-on-one chat online with benefactors and sell them "personal items or gifts and more..." One British woman listed on the website who calls herself Morgan claims to have raised £3,700 from benefactors for her E-cup surgery.

Average user rating

   (0 vote)