So News Corporation stock is trading at a near 52 week high, up 20 percent in 2006 to about $20 per share. No doubt the buoyancy in the News Corp. camp these days is thanks in part to the resounding success that was the company's acquisition of MySpace parent Intermix nearly a year ago. But, as CNNMioney columnist Paul La Monica says, "it's premature to think that MySpace will turn News Corp. into the next Google or Yahoo." As huge an impact as MySpace has on the lives of some 70 million teens and 20-somethings, it's not nearly the revenue …

New consoles, new players, and better online functionality are all set to spark an online gaming explosion around the globe that could hit $13 billion by 2011, according to a new 750-page (wow) report from video game researchers at DFC Intelligence. During this period, DFC expects North America to overtake Asia as the leader in online gaming. Healthy growth expectations are always nice--and to a certain extent, realistic--but $10 billion in five years? How/why? DFC says through higher PC penetration, increased broadband adoption in new parts of the world, and Internet-enabled video game consoles (the three biggies will all have …

Let me clear my throat: Business Week, the journal that did more caning of the disastrous Vonage IPO than any other, is now suggesting the VoIP provider could be a "buy." One of the worst initial public offerings in years (and one of the worst-timed), Vonage saw its stock driven down 30 percent to $12 per share since trading began May 23. To add insult to injury, the company got in an ugly dispute with customers who didn't want to pay for shares reserved for them at $17 each (the initial offering price). Even so, the article says, "most every …

The World Cup starts tomorrow, and if you're not excited--or at least a little intrigued--by what is by far the world's most important sports event, then I feel sorry for you. Yes, we diehard soccer fans tend to be a little pushy about our love of the sport. However, if as marketers you're not in some way trying to capitalize on the hugeness of the event or the diehard-ness of its fans, then you're not doing your job. ClickZ talks about the most prominent online players for Germany 2006. Yahoo, one of the global tournament's principal sponsors, is hosting …

Google founder Sergey Brin, on a trip to Washington to encourage lawmakers to support Internet neutrality, had a lot to say about censorship and privacy on the Web. He acknowledged that Google has compromised its principles by censoring content in China--but ultimately, he said, the company feels it's more useful to be there and provide the Chinese people with access to most of its information--"and perhaps make more of a difference" rather than not be there at all. According to the human rights group Reporters Without Borders, Google's main search engine--which is fed from U.S. Web servers--is no longer accessible …

First Google, then Microsoft, and now AOL. AOL's paying subscribers will now have something else to look when they read their e-mail: banner ads. According to an AOL spokesperson, the move is designed "to increase the delivery mechanisms of its online ad inventory." Hmm--perhaps it's also about gaining incremental ad revenue? Anyway, the practice of showing ads in free Webmail is becoming standard now that both Google and Microsoft are showing ads on their e-mail services. Fee-based e-mail accounts don't often show ads, as the absence is largely thought to be one of the benefits of being a paying subscriber. …

Tech start-ups before investments are receiving the highest valuations since the dot-com boom, as venture capitalists look to infuse the next Google or YouTube with large amounts of cash. According to a new study cited by the Financial Times this week, the median value of a pre-investment start-up was $18.6 million in the first quarter--up from $3 million last year. That's the highest since Q4 2000, when the median value of such companies (with far flimsier advertising strategies) was $23 million. The report says venture capitalists are keeping a particularly keen eye fixed on communications, Internet, and health care start-ups. …

A recent Lehman Brothers report called Yahoo Answers, the Web portal's new user-generated question-and-answer program, a "source of differentiation within the company's search capabilities" that could have a positive long-term impact on Yahoo's position in search. The report said Answers could attract incremental users and increase the amount of time people spend on Yahoo's sites, thus creating more opportunities to sell display ads and sponsored links. Douglas Anmuth, the analyst who wrote the report, said Yahoo Answers gives the company an advantage over so-called "knowledge search," or search based on collective user knowledge--and thus has an edge over rival Google's …

You knew this was coming: today, TiVo will start making broadband video clips available on its digital video recording service. Subscribers get access to video clips from the NBA, the New York Times Co., the female-oriented portal iVillage Inc., and others through a service called TiVoCast, which becomes available at no added charge. TiVo execs said they expect the service to be successful because people prefer seeing video content on their larger television sets. Sure, it's a nice feature--but it's not enough for people to choose TiVo over a bundled DVR from their local cable provider. Web video can be …

Wikis and social networks are redefining the way content is created and consumed. For those that don't know, wikis are community Web sites containing information that is produced and edited by anyone, for everyone. Not surprisingly, the Internet majors are interested in expanding into these areas, and possibly fusing the two. Marketwatch columnist Bambi Francisco discusses the efforts of Google and Yahoo, as well as a slew of wiki startups, looking to build on the best of user-generated services like Wikipedia, About.com, and of course, News Corp. phenomenon MySpace. Consumer-generated media is certainly red hot--call it the new reality TV--and …