NebuAd, it seems, is going down. One day after the resignation of CEO Bob Dykes, behavioral targeting firm NebuAd suspended plans to deploy its controversial advertising technology. The departure of Dykes, which was widely reported yesterday, came on the heels of several Internet companies suspending or canceling their trial of the Web firm's deep-packet inspection technology, which had caused concern in Washington. In an email, NebuAd spokeswoman Janet McGraw said the company supported those "who have put their trial deployments on hold so that Congress can spend additional time addressing the privacy issues and policies associated with online behavioral advertising." …

Venture capitalist Jeremy Liew claims that Facebook will make about $35 million from the sale of virtual gifts this year, equating to roughly 10% of the social networking giant's revenue. This is just an estimate, of course, as Facebook is a private company with financial details that aren't easily scrutinized. That said, it has been widely reported that the company will make roughly $300-$350 million this year. The San Jose Mercury News first reported Liew's analysis, which the paper says he came up with by crunching Facebook's available data over the last several weeks. Earlier in the year, Liew pegged …

Why did it take Google so long to build a Web browser, Wired's Steven Levy asks? CEO Eric Schmidt responds: "When I joined Google in 2001, Larry and Sergey immediately said, 'We should build our own browser.' And I said no." Schmidt said no because the timing wasn't right. "I did not believe that the company was strong enough to withstand a browser war," he says. "It was important that our strategic aspirations be relatively under the radar." Instead, Google shifted its focus to working on improvements to Firefox, the open source browser from the Mozilla Foundation. The search giant …

Every time Washington Post writer Rachel Beckman logged into her Facebook home page, an ad showing a bulging stomach would appear with the headline "Muffin Top?" After a while, Beckman began to notice, and she posted the following status update: "Rachel doesn't appreciate her Facebook page telling her that she has a muffin top." Facebook, for those who don't know, targets advertising based on the information users provide in their profiles. And they provide a lot of information, such as birthday, relationship status, personal habits, and hobbies. As Beckman points out, the basic goal of product advertising is to shame …