Hackers launched attacks on online banner advertisements last week with a range of worms based on My Doom and Bofra.

On Monday, a squad of around 15 independent bloggers will begin inserting mentions of Marqui's hosted communications management services into their blogs for money. The bloggers will get $800 a month to mention Marqui with a link once a week in their blogs and post its emblem on a page. They'll get an additional $50 per qualified sales lead they send to Marqui.

IBM, Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. on Monday revealed their plans for the powerful new "Cell" processor the three are jointly producing to run next-generation computers, game consoles and televisions.

With the major elections now behind us, we can once again concentrate on getting back to business. In Canada, we don't even have Hockey to distract us this year. Here are a few gardening tips to help you prepare for marketing your business online in 2005.

Online marketing magazine Reveries announced the release of a study on spam clutter and permission-based email marketing that found 45 percent of marketers view spam clutter as a "huge" problem.

Databases and search engines provide instantaneous access to endless information about anyone or anything, but the search results often include as many misses as hits. To generate more-relevant answers, organizations including the federal government are using topic maps to index their data.

Within the cult of Google, no victory is too small to celebrate. Or to publicize. Echoing the giddiest days of the dot-com boom, small companies are issuing press releases that trumpet any affirmation they get from online superstar Google Inc., even if it's just a bump in the Web search titan's rankings.

Security experts are watching out for attacks that burrow through two new flaws, warning that the vulnerabilities are a bigger threat because of people's reliance on the targeted software.

Jeff Thompson may be afraid of heights, but he appears to be at home on the 81st-floor terrace of the Empire State Building. Overlooking the 1,000-foot drop, Mr. Thompson said he saw the entire New York metropolitan area as the battleground where his company, TowerStream, will challenge phone companies for high-speed Internet business customers by delivering fast, cheap service without digging up streets to install cables.

Philadelphia's advertising community has a major player on its hands. Refinery, a Hatboro-based agency specializing in interactive advertising, has had impressive growth in the past year.