The $12 billion online gambling industry should be sweating, following the approval by a U.S. House Committee of a bill aimed at stopping businesses from accepting credit cards and other forms of payment for illegal gambling. The bill would prohibit gambling businesses from accepting credit cards, checks, wire transfers and electronic funds in any online wager made or received in any location where such a bet is illegal by federal or state law. If this legislation should pass, it could cripple the offshore gambling industry, which many Americans use to place bets on sporting events and the like. The law …

Media Life speaks with Simmons Co. CEO Bill Engel about how to market to Generation Y, outlining ways marketers need to adjust their approach to capture the attention of the easily diverted next generation. Engel says the concept of time loses meaning with Gen Y, meaning that Gen Y-ers, through constant multitasking, can squeeze 31 hours out of a single day. Their facility with multitasking has also enabled them to tune out marketing messages, putting a premium on marketing initiatives that actually engage them and force them to act. Engel says that while many marketers are able to engage …

Kevin Maney, USA Today's tech columnist, riffs on the idea that more choice equals more happiness. Last year, at the annual PC Forum, tech leaders lauded the idea of "the long tail," which means a business can offer almost endless choice through the Internet. But the tech gurus at this year's conference have done an about-face on the idea that more choice is always better. One of the keynoters, an author of a book called The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More, got on stage and said that while more choice may lead people to find exactly what they …

Cnet Networks has started running ad units embedded with Really Simple Syndication feeds, allowing advertisers to display real-time information to Web users. E! Entertainment television is the first advertiser to use the tool, which Cnet says it will make available for all Interactive Advertising Bureau ad units on 15 of the Web sites in its network. E!'s ad reads "What do you want to know about Hollywood?" and then displays headlines on a ticker at the bottom of the ad. Users can click on the actual stories that scroll across the bottom, which opens a new window to the story …

The Wall Street Journal Online is in the midst of its first significant home-page redesign since 2002, adding personalization features, among other things. Just as Yahoo enables consumers to pick and choose the news and entertainment content relevant to them, the Journal is now letting its customers create My Online Journal, a user home page designed for easy scanning that lets them choose which sections of the online paper as well as news on specific companies or indices they'll receive on the front page. Previously, the online Journal offered personalized news appearing in the lower right of the home page, …

Google's purchase of Writely sent Search Engine Watch editor Danny Sullivan over the edge. He says that once he saw the news, he was immediately moved to write down the 25 things he loves and hates most about the search giant. Here we're going to focus on the things he hates, but you are more than welcome to go to Search Engine Watch yourself to get Sullivan's balanced view. First, he asks how Google continue moving in new directions "when there is so much stuff they haven't finished, gotten right, or [still] need to fix." Among his gripes: Inaccurate Web …

The fall of Enron and the rise of Web measurement has led to a new era of financial accountability that spreads across several business sectors. However, the need for more accountability comes at a poor time for media companies, which are faced with the uncertainty of shifting consumer media patterns and the emergence of digital technology. In a world with no precedent, how does a media company establish financial expectations, user metrics, advertising and subscription fees and content value? Trial and error? Improvisation? Well, yes, says the Hollywood Reporter's Diane Mermigas. Media companies who sit back and do nothing will …

Agencies don't want to have to go to search marketing specialists anymore, says The New York Times. This isn't exactly a secret, but recent activity underscores the desire for ad shops to offer search services internally, rather than requiring their clients to hire yet another agency. OgilvyOne Worldwide is the latest big agency  to step up its search efforts, having formed a new unit dedicated to SEM, NeoSearch@Ogilvy, which will be part of Neo-@Ogilvy, the agency's month-old direct marketing media division. The big agencies may be a little slow to react to the red-hot search sector, which accounted for nearly …

How does a word processing program redefine the Web? Well, for one thing, it's free. For another, it infuses static Web pages with added power, speed, and networking features desktop applications deny users. With Writely, people can collaborate, and groups can work together on documents, making changes that appear in real time without the need to reload a page. These kinds of innovations, which boost efficiency and productivity, are fueling the second coming of Internet businesses, what Business Week calls Web 2.0. Companies like Google, which just scooped up Writely, and Yahoo, which bought social bookmarking site del.icio.us. a few …

Apple may not be able to continue shoring up the digital content market after all, according to a Reuters report. France is trying to push through a law that would force California-based Apple Computer to open its iTunes online music store to other digital media players. Currently, only Apple's line of iPods is able to download content from iTunes, due to Apple's digital rights management, which restricts competitors' products from communicating with its music store. Under a law that is expected to be voted into the French parliament this week, consumers would be allowed to legally use software to convert …