Use Of Identity Theft Tactic On Rise
Cnet
Keylogging, a tactic used by identity thieves to record passwords, credit card info and other text entries, is on the rise. The number of keylogger variants is expected to increase 65 percent over last year, reaching nearly 6,200 in total, according to research firm iDefense. Keyloggers track keystrokes on infected computers and use the info collected to steal user names and credit card numbers. Often spread by organized cybercrime rings, keyloggers can slip past firewalls and antivirus software by exploiting the weak defenses of Web browsers.
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Local Retailers Benefit From Web, Too
NY Times
Aside from generating huge sales for big online retailers like Amazon and auctioneers like eBay, the Web is also helping smaller retailers sell their niche products. The New York Times profiles a small-town retailer whose Web site enables it to move inventory much more quickly. This fosters innovation in product development and diversification among sales floor offerings, but it also--crucially--lets customers know that they should come back often, as new inventory is constantly being brought in. The store profiled in the article is precisely the kind of small-town retailer local search providers want to lure online. Most of the marketing dollars spent on local search are coming from big retail chains, but the pulse of local search will--ideally, one day--be retailers like these. The onus is on interactive yellow pages and other search providers to reach out to local store owners who can inevitably move more products with a greater Web presence.
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Are Celebrities Breaking The Law By Endorsing Online Gambling?
NY Times
Internet gambling companies, which are illegal in the United States, are starting to use celebrity endorsers. Some, including Jesse Ventura, a wrestling personality and former governor of Minnesota, say they're doing it to put pressure on the U.S. government to legalize online gambling on U.S. shores. The problem for online gambling companies is that they bring unlicensed gambling to the United States. American owners of such companies are basically exiled from the country for doing so. In recent months, several celebrities, including model Brooke Burke, actor Tom Arnold, and former NFL quarterback Jim Kelly, have signed deals to promote online gambling sites. Legal experts say these celebrities are breaking the law by assisting in the operation of foreign companies that are conducting illegal business domestically. Last year, Clear Channel, Google, Yahoo! and other major U.S. corporations agreed to stop selling ads to online gambling sites after an investigation by a federal prosecutor.
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Analytics Providers Respond to Free Google Product
ClickZ
How do analytics providers feel about Google's entry into their territory? This week, the online advertising powerhouse said it will be offering its AdWords customers free data about where, when, and how people go to the Web sites in its index. Analytics providers gave ClickZ a decidedly mixed reaction, but the consensus was that Google will not wipe out high-end analytics providers because they can still offer richer data than Google about specific site performance, but lower-end guys will start dropping one by one. Still others think Google's entry into analytics will expand the category by lifting awareness for providers and forcing them to offer more comprehensive data.
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Yahoo, AOL and MSN: Sorry, We're Sold Out
WSJ (paid subscription required)
The front pages of major Web portals have been sold out of their prime real estate for months and even years on end. Ad buyers are complaining that bookings on Yahoo, AOL, and MSN are placed so far in advance their campaigns run the risk of no longer being relevant once the time comes to post the ads. This kind of supply issue inevitably leads to huge rate increases on prime real estate. "It's starting to get into Super Bowl territory," one buyer says. Indeed: MSN is now charging up to $1 million for a 24-hour spot on its home page, Yahoo said prices increased by double digits in the third quarter over last year, and AOL said prices are up 20 percent since January for prime units. Good things for the $12-billion-and-rising Internet ad market? Certainly, but still, 96 percent of spending online goes to the top 50 Web companies.
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Murdoch Discusses News Corp.'s Digital Future
The Hollywood Reporter
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, media visionary and News Corp. King Rupert Murdoch discusses how his massive corporation is molding itself to the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. Murdoch, 74, calls the Internet "the most fundamental change in my lifetime and for hundreds of years," because it empowers everyone to consume and create whatever they want. He says MySpace.com, News Corp.'s recent acquisition, is the quintessential example of this phenomenon, and that the company will now be uniquely focused on ways to reach consumers via the Web. Advertising, he says, will "absolutely" be the business model for content providers, not paid subscription--except in special circumstances--and ordinary people will continue to find ways of generating transactions on sites and getting a share of the business.
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Analyst: Google Base to Unseat eBay, Craigslist
Internet Retailer
Google Base, a service that allows users to post and make searchable anything from recipes to help wanted ads, goes live in beta form today, triggering what Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy says will be a new era for buying and selling things online. Google Base, he says will be even easier and more efficient than Craigslist or eBay, which is complicated by a time-consuming listing process and vast numbers of international sellers who take too long to deliver products. Rashtchy says "ecommerce 3.0"--powered by Google, of course--will connect buyers and sellers on an even more local level by leveraging its e-mail, satellite mapping and shopping services. Craigslist, which certainly connects local buyers and sellers, lacks the fundamental search technology to connect even greater numbers of people locally.
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