"What can we do so that we don't get regulated into oblivion in three years when it costs 10 bucks to mount a camera on a screen and everyone does it?" asks Bill Gerba, CEO, Wirespring. Self-regulation is the first line of defense. "Image recognition is starting to become huge on the mobile side," says David Weinfeld, Principal, The Preset Group. He gives the example of Google Googles. "Google realized as they began to roll out that application, that it was too good." It was able to identify people. And because of all the information Google collects on …

Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. hit $5.9 billion for the first quarter of 2010, representing a 7.5 percent increase over the same period in 2009, according to estimates released moments ago by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). They said this marks the highest first-quarter revenue level ever for the industry.

Facebook exectives will meet today at 4 p.m. Pacific time to discuss the company's approach to privacy, AllFacebook.com reports. The sit-down comes after weeks of intensifying backlash to new features on the site, including the controversial instant personalization, which shares users' data with three outside companies -- Yelp, Microsoft Docs and Pandora. Users can opt out, but consumer advocates as well as lawmakers say that Facebook shouldn't share users' data with other companies unless people have explicitly consented. All Facebook speculates that the company might either suspend instant personalization or, alternatively, make the program opt-in.

Sales at Urban Outfitters, which also owns such retail brands as Anthropologie, Free People, Leifsdottir and Terrain, says its first-quarter earnings hit a new record -- $53 million, compared with $30.8 million in the same period last year. And sales jumped 25% to $480 million, from $384.8 million a year ago. Overall, comparable store sales gained 11% at the Philadelphia-based company, with gains of 22% at Anthropologie and 25% at Free People. "We are delighted to begin the new fiscal year with a series of record-breaking results for the quarter," Glen T. Senk, CEO, says in its release. …

Revlon has named actress Kate Hudson as a global brand ambassador for its Almay division, and says she will appear in ads for both new and existing Almay products, including TV, print, in-store and internet placements. Her first print and TV campaign is scheduled to break later this year. In addition, she will represent the company in such philanthropic endeavors as the Almay Rainforest Concert, benefiting The Rainforest Foundation.--Sarah Mahoney

Today, 15% of U.S. households have standard plug-in phones but almost never use them, according to new research from the National Center for Health Statistics. What's more, "One of every four American homes (24.5 percent) had only wireless telephones (also known as cellular telephones, cellphones, or mobile phones) during the last half of 2009 -- an increase of 1.8 percentage points since the first half of 2009," reads the report. "In addition, one of every seven American homes (14.9 percent) had a land line yet received all or almost all calls on wireless telephones." As reported by Reuters, the …

In its June issue, Consumer Reports calls Apple's retail stores "the best place to buy a cell phone." As noted by 9to5Mac, that's despite the obvious yet remarkable fact that the store only carry one brand of phone. Consumer Report bases its findings on a survey of some 11,000 readers conducted last year by its National Research Center. Apple's stores got "especially high" marks for activation and check out, while, overall, the company took an 84% satisfaction rating. Relatively speaking, the big losers included Alltel and Sprint/Nextel -- each with a 74% ranking; along with T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless …

Adobe just debuted what Engadget is describing as "a pretty full-force campaign to call out Apple on its anti-Flash mission." The ads -- which happen to be running on Engadget, among other sites -- first declare: "We [heart] Apple," then add: "What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web." Oh, no they didn't! Along with the web ads, the company has also ran a full page in Thursday's Washington Post to address "the battle in which the two companies have been …

Facebook has hired Erick Tseng, formerly senior product manager on Google's Android mobile operating system, as its new head of mobile products. The company confirmed the move in a statement posted by the blog Inside Facebook, which first reported the news: "Erick has a long track record of building engaging experiences for people on mobile devices. We are thrilled to have Erick join us as Facebook continues to help build products and features that enable people to share and connect at anytime, from anywhere," it read. More than 100 million of Facebook's officially announced 400 million members …

CBS Corp. just announced its acquisition of EcoMedia, a company that "brings together public institutions and municipalities with private industry advertisers and local media to generate funding for projects to improve the environment." And to further quote from the CBS corporate release, "Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed." But the real question isn't how much, but why? The answer, says CBS chief Leslie Moonves, is to leverage the green media initiative on behalf of CBS' television, online, radio, publishing and outdoor outlets. "We want to be a catalyst for getting actual bricks-and-mortar 'greening' projects …