The British government is looking into rating Web sites in a similar manner to the way movies are rated by the Motion Picture Association of America in the U.S. Britain's Minister For Culture Andy Burnham told The Daily Telegraph that the government was planning to negotiate age ratings for English language sites with the administration of President-elect Barack Obama. "The more we seek international solutions to this stuff -- the U.K. and the U.S. working together -- the more that an international norm will set an industry norm," Burnham said. "This is an area that is really now coming into …

Online retail sales may have held up better than expected during the holiday shopping season, but The Wall Street Journal says that this year is still likely to go down as one of the worst on record for the e-commerce sector. Online spending was down 2% year over year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with a 5.5% to 8% drop for the overall retail market, but the bigger problem was that purchases were consolidated around big retailers like Amazon, Apple and Wal-Mart, leaving smaller online retailers in the dust. A 2% drop in sales might not sound like …

It matters little what sector you're in: 2008 was a lousy year for most businesses, particularly advertising. And if you believe the forecasters, 2009 isn't supposed to be much better, either. Just last week, Barclays Capital lowered its projection for advertising in the U.S. to a negative 10% next year, with every single traditional media sector receiving a major hit. By comparison, advertising fell just 1.9% in the 1991 recession, and 6.2% in 2001. However, while Barclays and others expect the rest of advertising to get torched, online advertising is still expected to grow between 6 and 10% next year …

A few years ago, YouTube member MadV, who usually performs magic tricks wearing a mask, put up a short video showing a simple message scrawled on his hand. It read, "One World." Then he urged viewers to respond -- and respond they did, generating some 2,000 replies, making it the most responded-to video in YouTube's history. Next, MadV stitched together each of the replies, creating one "long, voiceless montage" that Wired called "quite powerful." It was a uniquely YouTube piece of art. But what exactly was it? It wasn't a documentary, it wasn't a conversation, and it wasn't really a …

TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld imagines what true social search would look like if Google and Facebook joined forces. He says that being able to search friends' thoughts, interests and activities would provide a better experience, allowing searches for restaurants, books or movies to turn up written recommendations from people you actually know, for example. Or, if planning a trip to Europe, you could easily find out which of your friends have been to the countries you're researching and could ask for advice on where to go and what to do. Of course, this all just a dream, Schonfeld reminds us, as …

Google employees like to give nicknames to their own products as well as those of their competitors'. Michael Arrington says he's heard several Googlers refer to Google Friend Connect, the search giant's new social product, as "Friendsense." Why "Friendsense"? "Because like Adsense, Google plans to use Friend Connect as a shoehorn to insert advertising onto third party Web sites," Arrington says. Friend Connect officially launched earlier this month, alongside Facebook's competing product, Facebook Connect. It allows publishers to add social features to their site by letting users sign in through a variety of social networks. Arrington notes that publishers will …

At a time when liquidity is scarce, Time Warner is being given the unique opportunity to reinvent itself, The Wall Street Journal reports, as the company prepares to spin off its cable for an expected $9 billion in cash. However, at a recent industry conference, CEO Jeff Bewkes revealed that instead of reinvesting in its existing businesses or adding new ones to its portfolio, Time Warner will use the cash windfall to reward shareholders in the form of dividend yields and strategic stock repurchasing programs. "I don't want to rule (acquisitions) out, but they have been the cause of most …