After a tepid few years, the video-game industry rebounded last year. Strong December sales capped off a record year from the industry, though hardware in particular drove the industry to $12.5 billion in total sales in the U.S., according to NPD Group's sales figures. 2007 should be another burgeoning year of growth for the industry, as the new consoles from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft penetrate the market deeper, and publishers produce more and higher quality games. Even so, it was the old guard that carried the market over the crucial holiday season, partly due to the scarcity of new …

Small Web publishers are still struggling to make a profit off "hyperlocal" content. Consider the trials and tribulations of Backfence, a Web site that relies on its local users to post news about their communities in cities like San Francisco, Chicago and Washington D.C. Backfence, hoping to tap into the new trend of citizen journalism, has found the hyperlocal strategy to be tough going. What's the problem? Is the content no good? No, analysts say it's a difficult model to begin with, as the potential user base of a small community site is already limited by geographic location. …

On his blog, search specialist John Battelle says stories like today's "don't underestimate Microsoft" piece are "starting to ring a bit hollow." While that's the parting message of the newspaper's report, the meat of the article points out that the more Microsoft races after Google in its Web business, the more the search giant seems to pull ahead. Microsoft didn't exactly have a dormant 2006. In terms of Web advertising revenue, possibly. But in terms of activity, it certainly did not. Just in case you missed it, Microsoft unveiled a widely praised 3-D mapping application called Virtual Earth, three …

The use of data from user-generated content is a growing theme among marketers, and why not--the more data, the less advertising waste, right? Perhaps nothing tells a marketer more about a consumer than their social networking profiles, their friend's social networking profiles, and the content they produce. The study "Network-Based Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters via Consumer Networks," from Wharton professor Shawndra Hill and NYU Stern professor Foster Provost shows that data mined from social networks--like chat or email conversations between friends--allows companies to find more likely targets for their products and services. Who you associate with is a …

As Yahoo's user growth stalls, the Web giant is being forced to refocus its efforts on better monetization. We know that Project Panama is expected to ramp up search engine marketing sales, but what about other business sectors? "We're spending a lot of time thinking about social media at Yahoo," said Frazier Miller, director of product management at Yahoo Local. You might be wondering what those social features are exactly, since Yahoo has often been criticized in the press for its failure to enter (in any significant capacity) the burgeoning social-networking market. In its own way, …

Buying a new cell phone is a real pain. Just think of the unappealing store fronts, the confusing carrier plans, long lines on weekends and generally poor customer service. Handset makers can do nothing about this, since the carriers control the sale of handset makers' products, as well as the network they run on and the services they offer. Relinquishing this kind of control certainly doesn't sound like Apple or Steve Jobs, but that's exactly what the iPod maker is going to do when it starts selling its iPhone over the Cingular Wireless (soon to be jus AT&T) network. …

Despite tough talk yesterday, lawyers say Apple has almost no case in its defense against Cisco Systems' trademark suit over the name "iPhone." Instead, the iPod maker will most likely be forced to settle out of court--something it's gotten used to in lawsuits recently. In going to court, Apple would have to shell out a lot of money for what's a decidedly weaker position, says intellectual property attorney Greg Gabriel. For one thing, he says Cisco has owned the name for 10 years and has an existing product on the market using the name. For another, Apple was …

As expected, CBS Corp. Chief Les Moonves appeared on stage with Sling Media, maker of the Sling Box, and Linden Labs, creator of the online universe Second Life, during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show to announce two partnerships with Second Life and Google's YouTube. Many feel that partnering with two companies that appear to pose a threat to CBS' core business is either forward-thinking or aggressively stupid. Marketwatch believes the move is a very canny one. With the notable exception of Apple's digital music monopoly, looking back at the history of Big Media's blunders on the …

Video games, once the scourge of parents everywhere, may soon be introduced in the classroom as tools to better prepare children for the real world. University of Wisconsin-Madison professor David Williamson Shaffer, citing the success the U.S. military has had training its soldiers through video games and doctors have had instructed their teenage patients about cancer. Now, he wants to see schools adopt the same tactic to teach everyday activities. Why video games? Because juggling different technologies has become a daily requirement in the work force, Shaffer says. He is the author of the book "How Computer …

Here's how not to screw up MySpace, the News Corp. online social networking sensation with nearly 200 million registered users worldwide: don't "Fox-ify" it, said Peter Chernin, the Web site's president and chief operating officer. What does that mean? News Corp. owns Fox News, the right-wing news channel that's often accused of being sensationalized and overtly biased. If News Corp. brought that kind of ethic to MySpace, Chernin says its users would abandon the site in droves. Instead, Chernin, speaking in Las Vegas, said the corporation's stance with regard to MySpace would remain decidedly hands-off, except when the …