One more reason not to let your kids play video games: Computer security professionals overseas say an alarming number of teenagers--some as young as 11 years old--are showing an interest in cyber crime after getting their start searching for cheat codes for their favorite video games. These teens are popping up in communities and forums where criminals swap stolen credit card info or other stolen data. "I see kids of 11 and 12 sharing credit card details and asking for hacks," said Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Security. Some also look for exploits and virus code that …

Unless it is able to buy all of Yahoo--or at least its search business--by 2010, Microsoft will be forced to get out of the advertising business entirely, according to analysts at Cowen and Company. "None of Microsoft's online initiatives have gained traction and we do not believe the company's current strategy will result in a change in the status quo," said the analysts. "We estimate that the OSB unit will have a 7-8% drag on Microsoft's earnings in FY2009. As the economy slows, we believe pressure will increase on the company to focus on profitable initiatives." Microsoft claims it is …

Even the most dedicated online shoppers have begun to pull back on spending, leaving online retailers in a bind as they enter the holiday season. Their solution? Pick up the pace on annoying e-mail solicitations. Merry Christmas! Sending out e-mail blasts announcing sales or discounts is an easy, cost-effective way to generate some more site traffic, with an average cost of only $2 per every thousand e-mails. The Direct Marketers Association estimates that marketers reap $45.06 in return on investment for every dollar they spend on e-mail campaigns. That compares with $7.28 for catalogs and $15.55 for direct mail pieces. …

Marketers of every stripe are asking themselves how to advertise on social networks these days. But a new study suggests they would be better off putting their efforts into blog ads, as blogs hold more influence over purchasing decisions than social networks. According to Jupiter Research, 25% of blog readers say they trust ads on a blog, compared to 19% who trust ads on social networking sites. Forty percent of people reading blogs have taken action as a result of viewing an ad on a blog; of that 40%, 16% have sought out more information on a product or service; …

It has sometimes seemed in the past few years that everyone in America was launching their own ad networks, a sure sign of bad things to come. Now, the overcrowded field is starting to feel the pinch as ad sales and funding dry up, meaning many of those networks could soon disappear as quickly as they popped up. Until now, the field experienced tremendous growth thanks to a low technical barrier of entry and wide-eyed investors eager to cash in on all the money flowing to the Web. But of the 300 networks that have launched in the past few …

Let's face it: You don't spend all your time at work working. You occasionally check your personal e-mail, watch that YouTube video forwarded by your sister, maybe send a few winks on Match.com. All of which is fine, even expected. Except that your downtime Web habits are killing your poor IT department. Security specialist FaceTime Communications commissioned a survey of nearly 530 IT managers to discover the impact of such Internet activities on IT departments. About 73% of IT managers reported having had to deal with at least one Internet-related attack at work, with viruses, Trojans, and worms being …

While some suggest that social networking applications would be perfect for government agencies--the biggest companies of all--Adweek is pointing out that smaller brands are having much more success marketing themselves on sites like Facebook, whereas larger companies have struggled. One prime example is Bacon Salt, a seasoning product that makes everything taste like bacon. Before the product even existed, its soon-to-be-creator posted a MySpace devoted to his idea, then trolled through the site's data looking for--and e-mailing--anyone who mentioned bacon in their profile. The product went on to sell 600,000 units in 18 months. Aside from having a great …