• social media Gartner Analyst: 'Cold Winds' Blowing On Web 2.0 Companies by Mark Walsh

    Gartner Research Vice President Andrew Frank said in a blog Thursday that the time has come for social media companies to demonstrate they actually can make money. "A cold wind's begun to blow on web 2.0 startups, especially those whose business models run along the lines of building a large and loyal audience and then monetizing it with advertising," said Frank. As a result, companies that until now have been buoyed by rapid audience growth and high-octane buzz are pulling out the stops to generate ad revenue. ...Read the whole story

  • online publishing Law Firm's Case Against Blockshopper Allowed To Continue by Wendy Davis

    A federal judge Thursday refused to dismiss a case brought by the law firm Jones Day against online publisher Blockshopper.com, accusing it of trademark infringement for having linked to the law firm. But in a partial victory for the local real estate news company, the judge, John Darrah of Chicago, said that the lawsuit could only go forward against Blockshopper and not company principals Brian Timpone and Edward Weinhaus. ...Read the whole story

  • search Semantic Search Likely To Increase Paid Link Profits by Laurie Sullivan

    Google, Microsoft and Yahoo might dominate the search market, but a host of niche players have begun to emerge that hope to turn those little sponsored links at the top and along the sides of search queries into big profits. There's no denying that pay-per-click links need a boost. Only 20% of the 325 people participating in a recent search survey said they occasionally click on sponsored links, according to Piper Jaffray Managing Director Gene Munster, who moderated the panel "Searching for the Future" at the Global Internet Summit 2008 in Laguna Beach, Calif., earlier this week. ...Read the whole story

  • video Digitalsmiths Gets $12 Million In Financing by Gavin O'Malley

    Intent on boosting its presence within the white-label video technology space, Digitalsmiths has closed a second round of financing worth $12 million. The round was led by .406 Ventures, and included existing investors The Aurora Funds and Chrysalis Ventures -- the two of which helped the startup raise $6 million last year. ...Read the whole story

  • gaming Digital Rights Groups Argue For Domain Owners Free Speech Rights by Wendy Davis

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other digital rights groups are asking a Kentucky appeals court to overturn a judge's recent decision allowing the state to seize domain names of online gambling sites. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed this week, the groups argue that the judge's ruling violates the domain owners' freedom of speech rights under the first amendment. ...Read the whole story

The Kid's Alright by George Simpson

The U.K. Office of Communications apparently reported that 65% of kids ages 8 to 11 had Internet access at home in 2007. ("Hey Tommy, how'd ... ...More

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