Google may have found a way to make money from its still-in-beta News service without alienating publishers, as indicated by a patent application on file with the USPTO. If Google could pull off what it outlines in that broad patent application, it may open new revenue streams to publishers of print, CD and DVD media, while broadening its own revenue base.

Yahoo Inc. said on Thursday it will begin testing a free desktop search service in early January, following rivals hoping to extend the reach of wildly profitable search-related advertising.

Online music service Napster on Thursday said it reached a deal to enter the ringtone market with mobile content publisher Dwango Wireless. The "Napster Mobile" service will offer wireless customers access to ringtones, using an integrated technology extending from the PC to mobile devices.

The Direct Marketing Association canceled its conference devoted to interactive marketing yesterday, choosing to incorporate the show into larger ones touching on Internet marketing issues.

Media.Com, the digital arm of MediaCom, has become the first agency to sign up to a new benchmarking system to monitor the effectiveness of online ads.

When bombs went off in Jakarta, Indonesia, in September, CNN.com readers weren't the first to know. Instead, members of Flickr, an online photo service, were among the very earliest to see pictures of what had happened. "There were photos on Flickr before even any news stories," said Caterina Fake, a Flickr co-founder. "Within the hour, three Flickr users who happened to be in Jakarta had uploaded photos."

E-commerce, financial services and ISP players have banded together to fight phishing by forming a group called Digital PhishNet. The alliance brings together industry stakeholders and the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), allowing the parties to more easily share information about phishing attacks.

A huge spending bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday could create a new hot job-growth sector: chief privacy officers. Every federal agency, regardless of size or function, will have to hire a chief privacy officer and employ an outside auditing firm biennially to ensure compliance with the nation's privacy laws, according to a little-noticed provision.

The UK Web site of Amazon.com is launching a DVD rental service, the online retailer's first foray into a market that was pioneered by U.S.-based Netflix.

The rebound of the online advertising market has brought about a simultaneous revival of the online ad network. Conducive Corp. yesterday became the newest online ad network business. The New York company, which powers a merchant paid listings program for eBay, unveiled a direct response ad network called adMarketplace that shows graphical ads tied to Web page content. Conducive is working with about 60 publishers, including some in the travel, dating and finance areas.