The World Cup is over. Cue now a series of stories about how and why Americans hate soccer, and then another series of stories about how and why the tournament was a success in the U.S. and will continue to grow for years to come. One thing is indisputable, however: this year's soccer World Cup was a success online. According to Hitwise, FIFA's World Cup site ranked 68th out of 500,000 Web sites tracked by the traffic measurement firm for the week ending June 24th, when the U.S. played its final match against Ghana. By contrast, NBC's 2006 Winter Olympics …

In the next two weeks, AOL CEO Jonathan Miller will propose a massive overhaul of AOL's business model to Time Warner's board, with the idea of virtually killing off Internet service, its cash cow, which could lead to thousands of layoffs, price cuts for existing customers, and a halt to all related marketing. The result would be a leaner, meaner AOL that revolves around ad-supported Web-based services, and looks a lot more like Yahoo. It would be a radical move, indeed, as companies that have profitable but dying businesses tend to milk as much money from what they have …

The Economist takes a comprehensive look at our industry with its article, "The Ultimate Marketing Machine," a survey of Internet advertising. "In terms of efficiency, if not size, the advertising industry is only now starting to grow out of its century-long infancy, which might be called the Wanamaker era," it says. Department store owner Wanamaker, of course, is the man who famously said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don't know which half." He was close: The IAB estimates that advertiser waste is $112 billion a year in America, and $220 billion worldwide, …

According to Business Week, Yahoo has become one of the main benefactors of the spyware industry. The paper says that since 2003, the Web portal has indirectly supplied ads and shared millions with pop-up outfits and spyware suppliers. For additional payments, Yahoo passes along much of its considerable advertising base to other publishers and distributors. These distributors have partners like Direct Revenue, noted pop-up purveyor. The fees are shared by all partners involved. These distributor chains can be long and hard to follow, but that's exactly what spyware crusader and Web consultant Benjamin Edelman has done. He recently followed one …

As Microsoft prepares its second (or third?) entry into digital music, the trade journal Digital Trends asks, what would it take for Microsoft to kill the iPod? The answer? Three things: better design, better ease of use, and a better marketing plan. First, the specifics. Rumor has it that Microsoft's iPod killer will utilize Wi-Fi as the syncing link between its new iTunes-like service and the new device. Wi-Fi would enable Microsoft to provide streaming music--something the iPod can't do. It would also allow consumers to buy music directly from the device--as you could with a cell phone. It …

Outsell, the research firm that shined the spotlight back on click fraud this week, talks with Business Week about the possible implications of their study. While Google, Yahoo, and other search engines say they're working hard to combat click fraud, all evidence points to the contrary: Google's $90 million refund is hardly adequate, and both it and Yahoo are embroiled in other lawsuits. Meanwhile, Chuck Richard, Outsell's vice president and lead analyst, says the search companies are brazenly denying requests to reveal information about the problem. "I think they are making absolutely the wrong decision by not being as transparent …

Thursday was not a good day for eBay, as the online auctioneer announced a key executive's plan to leave the company and a financial analyst issued a report saying Google Checkout represents a bigger threat to the online company than it appears. Incidentally, the departing executive, Jeff Jordon, is the President of eBay's online payment service, PayPal--the very business Google is taking aim at with its latest initiative. Previously, Jordon led eBay's North America division from 2000 to 2004, and many analysts thought he was next in line to succeed Meg Whitman as the company's chief executive. Jordon says he's …

Fortune writer Stephanie Mehta says AOL, in green-lighting a plan to give away e-mail and other services, "has a serious case of Yahoo envy"--but it's not clear the strategy will work for them (by the way, Fortune is a Time Warner company--so go figure). First, AOL made its service more like Yahoo's by making its portal stuff free for non-subscribers. Next came the report yesterday that AOL will now give away its ISP materials like e-mail for free--to those who already get their service from somewhere else. If this proves to be true, AOL will have transformed from a subscription-based …

New York City is moving ahead with plans to install Wi-Fi networks in 10 of the city's major parks, but a municipal committee is now studying whether it should go after something bigger, like San Francisco and Philadelphia. The Economic Development Corporation study will examine whether New York really needs a metro-area Wi-Fi network, and will take an in-depth look at the legal, technical, logistical, and economic challenges associated with such a considerable undertaking. The information comes from a request for proposals released by the city on June 14, but next to no one took notice until Mayor Michael Bloomberg …

Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which opens today, is expected to be a massive hit in movie theaters--but the brand's penetration doesn't stop there: a new massively multiplayer online game called "Pirates of the Caribbean Online" is slated for release sometime next year, says The Hollywood Reporter, in addition to several different video games for different platforms. The games also tie into the "Pirates" film trilogy, according to the report. After the tremendous success of the first "Pirates" film--$654 million worldwide--Disney knew it wanted to build a long-term franchise. It deployed a team to create a whole …