Google has unveiled Google Checkout, a service that would save consumers' financial information so they could purchase items from Web sites more quickly. Analysts believe the new service could be a boon for online merchants, encouraging consumers to make impulsive buys. The roster of participating merchants continues to grow, and consumers are urged to sign up. Surveys suggest that some 50 percent of consumers are too concerned with credit fraud to make purchases online. Secure payment alternatives, like eBay's PayPal and Bill Me Later, have helped assuage some of those fears. Google Checkout is more like a personal online wallet. …

The annual meeting of the world's media powers in Idaho (of all places) has been taken by storm by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the founders of YouTube, according to the Associated Press. This could prove to be a very important week indeed for the likes of YouTube and other young media companies, as the spotlight in Idaho this year is placed squarely on young innovators, according to the Associated Press "There is a big wave of video coming online and these (media) guys want to work with us to stay relevant in this changing marketplace," Hurley told AP. Other …

In many respects, Friendster started all this social networking business. Others just got better at it. No matter, Friendster may actually have a "patent" secret weapon in its corner, writes Business Week. On June 27 the company was issued a patent referring to a "system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks." That may sound pretty vague, but it certainly sounds similar to the underpinnings of the likes of MySpace and Facebook. The company filed for the patent in June 2003. It's unclear now how Friendster plans to use …

Most of the Web's biggest firms, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and IAC/InterActive Corp., who are themselves rivals in various ways, sent a joint letter yesterday to every Senator hoping to get stronger Net neutrality language added to a telecommunications bill before it reaches the full Senate. Among other things, the letter says, "absent strong network neutrality provisions, consumers will no longer have the freedom to choose content from thousands of sources on the open Internet." The companies are hoping to guarantee that Net neutrality is preserved under law rather than at the discretion of the Federal Communications Commission; a previous …

Soccer's World Cup was a big play on the Web, but streaming video failed to score with fans in the U.S. Chinese Web sites offering streaming video and play-by-play in various languages were abundant, but shoddy quality and a lack of English commentary, meant most U.S. users were forced to keep refreshing a browser at work while reading a text play-by-play. For users with certain ISPs, ESPN offered 360, a streaming video service, but aside from Verizon, most major ISPs didn't carry the service. "I would have happily paid to get a video feed of the game," said one fan. …

What, exactly, is going to turn AOL around? John Batelle talks to company CEO Jonathan Miller about his proposal to the Time Warner board about reshaping the future of the once-mighty Internet service provider and Web portal. For years, Time Warner stock buckled under the dead weight of its partner-turned-subsidiary, on whose worth "Wall Street placed a big, fat zero" says Battelle. In 2002, media veteran Jonathan Miller was brought in to save the flagging company; so far that hasn't happened, but Miller's new proposal could spur things in the right direction, though skepticism remains high. For years, Miller admits, …

You'd think that of all the technology companies in the world, Google would be able to verify whether real users or automated programs are clicking on its ads. Network click fraud, the biggest risk to Google's $6 billion a year business, occurs when a site hosts Google AdSense ads, and the publisher runs a program to repeatedly click on the ads. That's easy enough for Google to spot, so clever fraudsters have turned to simulating IP addresses, and installing Trojan horses on other people's computers to generate fake clicks. The other kind of click fraud is competitive; it occurs …

News Corp. is putting millions of dollars behind a TV and online public campaign promoting Internet safety. The TV spots feature Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on the Fox drama "24." The 20-second ad urges parents to go to CommonSense.com, a site run by a nonprofit that reviews media and entertainment for parents. "On TV Jack Bauer has 24 hours to make the world safe. In real life it only takes a few minutes to do the same for our kids," Sutherland says in the ad. "To protect them you don't need the latest state-of-the-art technology. You just …

Forbes.com points out how PayPal alums have gone on to found some of Silicon Valley's hottest startups since eBay took over the payment service in 2002. After the $1.5 billion sale, two former PayPal employees started viral video phenomenon YouTube, others got involved in LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, and other moved into prestigious investment firms like Clarium Capital and Sequoia Capital. "I really haven't seen so many entrepreneurs spin out of a single company before," says PayPal's former vice president of technology, Jeremy Stoppleman. It's not at all uncommon for startup founders and top executives to leave …

That head-butt in the World Cup final has swiftly become the butt of many an Internet joke. Fans across the globe may be divided about whether French star Zinedine Zidane deserves sympathy or condemnation for the act, but jokes on the Web are prevalent; some are merciless. One of the most pervasive is an interactive game in which the users control Zidane and try to head-butt as many Italian defenders as they can in the given amount of time. A score is tallied and presented to the player at the end, along with a red card. On viral video site …