In his keynote speech at the Media & Money Conference in New York City on Tuesday, Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin let loose with some boastful predictions about the future of his media company-something you don't hear a lot of these days. Karmazin claimed his company was perfectly suited to weather-even thrive in-the economic downturn. "I think it's very clear that we will be the most successful company in the audio entertainment industry," he said. "I know certainly, as ranked by revenue, we'll be there soon. Now we just need to grow our free cash flow and demonstrate …

Ever visit BankofDAmerica.com? How about Wekepedia.com? Like all of us, you've almost certainly fouled up a URL or two in your day, taking you to the site of a "typo squatter." And like the rest of us, you've inadvertently put money in Google's pocket by doing so. A new report from Harvard University professor Ben Edelman says Google is profiting from millions of typo-squatting Web sites that earn advertising from Google's Adsense program. "This is one of the unsavory ways we all end up paying Google," Edelman says in an interview. "Users don't have to write Google a check …

YouTube will never be confused with a pure search engine, but with the power of owner Google behind it, it should come as no surprise that it is excelling at the function of search itself. In fact, the video sharing site is now technically the No. 2 search site on the Web, recently surpassing Yahoo. So it should also come as no surprise that Google is taking advantage of the development to try and make some money. YouTube now features text-based search ads precisely like the ones that turned Google into a phenomenon. Users who search YouTube receive paid …

Another day, another social network launching online. But this one is different--at least for Meredith Corp., owner of titles such as Better Homes and Gardens and Parents. The site, MixingBowl.com, represents the company's first attempt to launch a content site that focuses on a topic--in this case food--but is not associated with any existing print title. The site, slated for a November launch, provides a place for cooking enthusiasts to share recipes and thoughts on food. It will also allow marketers to "get closer to consumers" by starting their own groups, essentially becoming just another user. "With the …

Bad news for anyone tired of listening to others people's music blasting through a distant set of earbuds on the subway each morning: A new study from the European Commission states that MP3 players pose a minimal risk to hearing loss. So turn that volume up! Still, the report was not without warning. After declaring that earphones "produce minimal risk of hearing impairment for the majority of PMP [personal music player] users," the study said there was an exception for those who listened at the highest volumes. It found that 5-10% of PMP users "are at high risk of …

Google has lost two lawsuits in Germany over its use of copyrighted images as search thumbnails. Google's preview of a picture by German photographer Michael Bernhard violated his copyrights, ruled a court in Hamburg, and Thomas Horn, who holds the copyrights on some comics that were displayed in Google search results, won a second case. Google argued that the tiny size and resolution of the thumbnail images that appear when users perform a search protected them from copyright infringement. But the court said such things didn't matter. "It doesn't matter that thumbnails are much smaller than original pictures and …

Marketers have long struggled to measure their ads across media platforms, particularly as those platforms have multiplied exponentially in recent years. The Wall Street Journal today writes about one firm that has devised a unique solution to do it: monitor what ads a consumer hears throughout the day through his or her cell phone. The firm, a small media research company called Integrated Media Measurement, implants a chip on the cell phones of its nearly 5,000 panelists that listens all day long--regardless of whether the phone is in use--and recognizes designated ads or TV shows within range. IMMI panelists …

In case you weren't already spending enough time on YouTube, CBS is now running full-length TV shows on the video-sharing Web site. The move is the latest recent attempt by the Google-owned site to boost advertising revenue, along with post-roll ads on some videos and a new system that allows users to purchase items featured in videos. A mix of archive CBS shows, including "Star Trek," "Young and the Restless" and "Beverly Hills 90210," will now be available in full-length episodes of 20 minutes to 48 minutes. The site also said it was in talks with other networks to forge …