Publishers of newspapers and magazines like to corral readers when they're young. If you can shape kids' info-seeking habits when they're in their teens or twenties, so the thinking goes, you'll nab them for life. Because brand loyalty isn't just about offering the best product for the best price, as it is with, say, minivans or socket wrenches. It's also about image: Are you a New York Times guy or a Washington Post aficionado? Do you read The Wall Street Journal, The Economist or Fortune? Do you subscribe to Newsweek or Time? Is Wired more than the way you feel …

A reality show or soap opera on your mobile phone? This is the vision of top telecoms firms as they hope that from 2006 consumers will sign up for new phones that can receive digital television signals.

When America Online launched a new ad campaign posing the question "Want a better Internet?" executives figured they would get an answer. They just didn't think it would come from a competitor.

Small businesses that already use direct mail for marketing are likely to try online marketing in the future, according to a new study. The Kelsey Group, a Princeton, NJ-based consultancy, concluded that small businesses using direct mail likely will find online marketing attractive because it allows a transparent view of the return they get from their marketing spending.

Napster and Blockbuster Online entered a co-marketing deal to package their music and movie services together in a "Digital Duo" gift card. The card, which will be available in time for the holidays, costs $20 and is available at RadioShack retail outlets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Time Warner Inc. are nearing agreement on a deal in which the media giant would pay about $750 million to settle wide-ranging allegations of accounting irregularities at Dulles-based America Online Inc.

A California-based pornographer said on Monday it has sued Google Inc., alleging that its leading Internet search engines are illegally allowing people to view hijacked versions of its nude photos and to access its Web site with stolen passwords.

Online advertising spend is on the verge of overtaking radio as the fourth biggest medium, according to the report by Opera.

The number of Americans using fast Internet connections doubled from 2001 through late 2003, still below some expectations and especially low among minority groups and people in rural areas, according to a report by the Bush administration.

A year ago, America Online canceled a deal with Sportsline.com to introduce its own sports site with original columnists, a daily video program of sports highlights and a national call-in show on AOL's online radio service. It was all part of the company's broad effort to rebuild its vast online service in hopes of slowing the steady decline of subscribers.