Conventional wisdom says that consumers will continue to spend on entertainment even in a recession, and many in the video game business are hoping that proves true. But in case conventional wisdom isn't enough, video game makers are pinning their hopes on a handful of expected blockbusters to carry them through the holiday season. It's not too far-fetched a theory give the parade of hits 2008 has seen so far. Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero, and the latest World of Warcraft release have all been monster hits this year, and will likely continue to sell big through the …

After years of advocating equal network access for all Web properties--the idea that no sites should be given special treatment by service providers--Google has begun approaching major cable and phone companies about creating a special "fast lane" for its sites and services, according to The Wall Street Journal. Network neutrality has long been considered a sacred principle of the Web, and Google was one of its biggest defenders. But service providers have increasingly complained that major Internet destinations should share in the costs of maintaining their networks, especially with the rise of Internet video. With Google now perhaps willing to …

The Federal Trade Commission has won a restraining order that forces a handful of companies to stop selling software that promised to rid home computers of viruses and malicious programs, but in fact did nothing. Consumers would follow pop-up ads for the software to a site where a scan was allegedly performed on their computer inevitably showing dozens of infections and software problems, and sometimes even illegal pornography--but the scans were false. Customers would then pay up to $60 to download the software, which did nothing. More than 1 million consumers are thought to have been caught up in …

A remarkable commitment to customer service has won online shoe retailer Zappos.com a slavish following in recent years among consumers and envious business executives. Never one to disappoint its public, Las-Vegas based Zappos is introducing a subscription service that offers answers from its employees for a monthly fee. UsUsers will pay $39.95 a month for the opportunity to ask anything of Zappos employees and receive an answer. The prime target for the service, according to CEO Tony Hsieh, is the management set from "The Fortune 1 million" who are looking to accelerate their business growth. "There are management consulting …

It's that time of year again, where every magazine that isn't busy producing a 10 best list for 2008 is busy producing a list of 10 predictions for 2009. This year, Advertising Age decides to combine the two, and is looking back at the predictions for 2008, and which ones failed to predict anything at all. At the top of the list is speculation that 2008 would be a huge year for Internet advertising, with forecasters predicting as late as November 2007 that it would grow by 29%. Sorry. That number now looks likely to come in somewhere around 13% …

Perhaps The McCain Campaign had a point with its TV ad comparing Barack Obama to celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. According to the two top search engines, Yahoo and Google, Spears and Obama were the two most-searched people in 2008. Also at the top were World Wrestling Entertainment, Sarah Palin, The Republican Party, Fox News, Miley Cyrus, Facebook, and iPhone. The results were different for each search engine: Spears was No. 1 on Yahoo, but failed to even register with Google. Obama was No. 1 for Google and No. 3 on Yahoo. If the results are any …