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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 08 Issue 21
Volume 8, Issue 21 Atari Online News, Etc. May 26, 2006
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2006
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0821 05/26/06
~ Google Tops Survey! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Operation Global Con!
~ MySpace Challenged? ~ Windows Live Mail Bugs ~ QuarkXPress 7 Ships!
~ Nintendo Wii Price Set ~ Schools MySpace Pledge ~ New 'World Cup' Worm!
~ LAPD Launches Web Log! ~ Vista Gets More Tests! ~ Webroot Unfazed!
-* ICM Renews XXX Domain Quest! *-
-* U.S. Accused of Unfair Dominance! *-
-* Mergers To Be Next Trend for Web Companies *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, here we are on the verge of the unofficial beginning of summer! It's
Memorial Day weekend - a time for the barbecue season to officially begin!
I got an early start, as I usually do. The new barbecue grill has already
been initiated, a number of times! The "monsoon" season finally ended, and
it's been really nice all week (until today, coincidentally). Many of my
previously-determined outdoor tasks are almost complete. But, then I did
something foolish and ordered a truckload of loam and bark mulch to put
down! I must be a masochist! Actually, I needed both. After having a few
trees taken down and the stumps ground down, my lawn is a real disaster.
Plenty of ground up tree stumps laying around, and deep gouges in the lawn
from the crane. The mulch is a nice touch in the gardens, and helps prevent
weeds (I hate weeding!). I started planting my flowers after weeding (ugh!)
the flower beds and turning the soil. I have my veggies, and the vegetable
gardens have been tilled and ready to go. Next, getting the pool ready to
open - perhaps this weekend, if my wife has her way. I'm also getting a
number of projects completed inside the house! Yep, this is "retirement"!
Well, I have played a little golf, and the driving range has had me busy for
a couple of days trying to figure out where my swing went bad. I think a
tune-up lesson is on the horizon.
I was going to go off on the recent stories regarding issues surrounding
MySpace, but, because it's a holiday weekend - a long holiday weekend - I'll
reserve those opinions for another week. Meanwhile, please remember to
celebrate the "beginning" of summer responsibly!! If you're going to drink,
please do not drive! The life you save could be mine.
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
[Editor's note: Due to the lack of messages on the Atari usenet groups this
past week, there will be no column this week.]
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Nintendo Sets Wii Price!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Heavenly Sword' Out!
Women Gain Prominence!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Nintendo: Wii Won't Top $250 in U.S. Market
Nintendo has announced that the price of Wii, its next-generation video
game console, will not exceed $250 in the United States or $220 (25,000
yen) in Japan.
Between the fourth quarter of 2006 and March 31, 2007, Nintendo expects to
ship 6 million Wii systems worldwide, the company said.
While the device lacks the same level of gaming power offered by
Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, its unique controller has
prompted gamers to mark it as a contender.
Nintendo first demonstrated the Wii controller to the game community this
month in Los Angeles at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
The Wii remote, which is equipped with a motion sensor in addition to the
usual controls, can be used as a direct-action implement, allowing players
to swing it like a light saber, sword or baseball bat in communication with
the game being played.
The Wii became the underdog hit of E3, despite criticism of its quirky
name, which is pronounced "we." (The device was called Revolution during
development.)
Nintendo did not release pricing and availability at that time.
During E3, Sony announced that its PS3 would be available for $599 for the
60GB hard drive version and $499 for the 20GB version. Microsoft's Xbox 360
sells for between $299 and $399, depending on options, but the company has
had problems meeting demand, frustrating both would-be customers and
Microsoft stockholders. The company announced an increase in Xbox 360
production in March.
Heavenly Sword for Playstation 3
Emotionally charged, stunningly beautiful and delivering unprecedented
dramatic character performance, Heavenly Sword showcases the power of
PlayStation 3. A dramatic tale of revenge sees Nariko, a fiery red-haired
heroine embark on a quest for vengeance against an invading King and his
army. The story builds around the ancient Heavenly Sword which once
belonged to a powerful deity. It can never be wielded by a mortal without
it draining their life-force, killing them within hours.
When the invading King (played by Andy Serkis) destroys the warrior clan
that guards the Heavenly Sword, the clan leader's daughter, Nariko, takes
up the sword in a desperate fight for survival. Nariko must now pay the
ultimate price as she embarks on one last mission of vengeance against the
King and his army before her life is finally drawn to a close.
Andy Serkis, the world's leading CG actor, famous for his roles as Gollum
in The Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong, was heavily involved in the
creative process. As well as starring in Heavenly Sword as the villain,
King Botan, Andy was a major contributor to the character development,
writing, casting, directing and performance capture for the PlayStation 3
game.
Heavenly Sword features a deep, diverse combat experience made possible by
PlayStation 3.
Key Combat Features
* The Heavenly Sword itself can Transform into Three Distinct Stances -
Players can switch between on the fly allowing players to create
their own fighting styles.
* The Combat Engine can Scale Up - From sophisticated one-on-one
encounters to one-on-many, where enemies employ intelligent
squad-based dynamics, right up to combat against battalions pushing
real-time gameplay and AI to unprecedented new levels.
* Physics-based Combat - Players can sweep debris against opponents,
kick tables to halt an oncoming surge of fighters, smash the enemy
into the scenery or throw bodies into other enemies using aftertouch
controls.
* Wide Range of Objects and Weaponry - Including multi-skewering spears
and devastatingly explosive bazookas.
* Creative in-game Cinematography - Coupled with real-time story
evolvement and amazing set-pieces makes the action feel like a
blockbuster action movie and takes combat gameplay to new heights.
Women Gain Prominence in Video Game World
Traditionally, the only women in video games were digital. Think busty,
pistol-packing Lara Croft of "Tomb Raider," or the scantily clad walking
pinups in "Grand Theft Auto."
Beyond these stereotypical male fantasies, women were all but absent from
the billion-dollar gaming industry. But that's changing, thanks to a core
female gamers who are increasing women's visibility and influence.
These women are programmers, designers, tech students and members of
all-female gaming groups that compete against guys for cash and corporate
sponsorships. And experts say the industry stands to benefit.
"For this industry to mature and move on, it has to grow beyond just that
13- to 35-year-old male demographic," said Anthony Borquez, a professor who
teaches video game production at the University of Southern California.
"From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense to engage women
more."
Besides, sisters are doing it for themselves.
Amber Dalton and twin sister Amy Brady created the PMS Clan in 2002.
Boasting international membership of nearly 500 women and girls, PMS -
which stands for Pandora's Mighty Soldiers - is a competitive group that
plays Xbox, PlayStation2 and PC games. Its members range in age from 9 to
58, Dalton said, but most are adults.
Learning about the Clan was "an epiphany" for game designer and devotee
Felicia Williams.
"Finding a community where you can say that you play games was kind of like
a confessional," said the 24-year-old New Yorker, who owns "every system
ever released." "Having a support group out there that loves what you love,
and seeing such a diverse group of successful, wonderful women is just
hugely beneficial."
Clan members compete with each other and band together in professional
tournaments. They also challenge the online harassment doled out by male
gamers. PMS Clan rules prohibit "belittling or attacking others in any way,
even in retaliation," according to its 30-page member manual.
Guys can be "vicious," said Dalton, 30.
"They say, `You must be 300 pounds with a mustache,'" she said. "They hide
behind the anonymity of (the game). Our group has a strict code of conduct.
It takes someone showing the example."
The Clan's classy manners and tournament-worthy skills caught the attention
of Microsoft.
The company hired the PMS Clan in April to represent Xbox Live. Rather than
relying on public relations pros or "booth babes" to demonstrate its new
games at May's E3 electronics expo, Xbox gave the duties to Clan members.
"They set great examples, not just for the female gamers, but for
everybody," said Aaron Greenberg, a spokesman for Xbox Live. "They're
serious. They practice. They're strict about being good to gamers."
Competitive female players also make gaming more social, he said.
Borquez, the USC professor, agreed. "They're creating unique ways of being
able to communicate in games," he said. "Before it was all trash-talking."
Microsoft isn't the only company looking to competitive female gamers to
promote products. Ubisoft, which produces games, assembled its own
women-only gaming group, the Frag Dolls, nearly two years ago.
The seven-member Frag Dolls team touts new titles and competes in
tournaments for the company, said spokesman Michael Beadle.
It was a surprise to find women who enjoyed hard-core gun-wielding games,
he said, "and a pleasant surprise that they were really good."
"You only pick up these games to be real competitive," Beadle said.
Dalton said Clan members are also competitive in sports and business. Video
games are just another outlet, she said.
Most members play about three hours a day. "Halo 2" and "Ghost Recon,"
both war games with male soldiers as main characters, are the top choices.
Role-playing games are also popular, said game designer Williams, adding
that off-putting images in games that have women "portrayed as whores" may
have kept some female players away.
Games reflect their designers, she said. But as more women enter the gaming
industry, she expects to see more positive female characters.
Borquez has already seen creative contributions from the handful of female
students in his video game classes. Their designs include sophisticated
story lines, female characters and "shopping games of course," he said.
"It's hard to have a middle-aged male trying to design a game that would
hit the interest of female gamers," he said. "For the industry to continue
to develop, there needs to be innovation from various demographics. Having
a female element is such a great added value."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Anti-Spyware Leader Unfazed by Microsoft
For millions of PC users, the privacy-snatching programs known as spyware
have been nothing but a headache as they swipe personal information, slow
systems to a crawl and crash computers. For Webroot Software Inc., the
annoying programs have been the foundation of success.
Thanks to its market-leading anti-spyware software, Spy Sweeper, sales have
soared 20-fold since 2002, and last year the privately held company raised
an eye-popping $108 million in venture capital.
Though there's little chance of spyware ever going away, Webroot is facing
a significant challenge in the coming years: Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming
Windows Vista operating system will include its own spyware-squashing
tools.
Vista could put Webroot in the same shoes as RealNetworks Inc., Netscape
Communications Corp. and others whose businesses have suffered after
Microsoft bundled more features into its ubiquitous operating system.
Still, Webroot CEO David Moll seems unfazed.
"The taking of a second-best product in this space is akin to locking half
the doors in your house," he said. "Vista will not solve the spyware
problem. It may change the vector of attack, but it will not solve this
problem. And I'll bet the company on it."
Some analysts say the company should broaden its focus - and Moll, without
divulging details, said that's in the plans.
"Ultimately they need to offer more than just an anti-spyware package,"
Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith said. "To do that, they need
access to more money, or be part of a bigger company."
Moll said he expects 20 percent revenue growth this year, while Jaquith
estimates current overall annual revenue at $75 million to $110 million.
Jaquith said an initial public offering is more likely than a buyout
because, he estimates, it could take $500 million to acquire the company -
a sum he figured few rivals would be willing to pay.
Although an initial public offering isn't imminent, Moll said, Webroot is
implementing some of the financial controls required for public companies.
Even before Vista ships to businesses later this year and to consumers in
early 2007, Webroot faces formidable competition.
Anti-spyware programs from companies like Tenebril Inc., Lavasoft AB,
McAfee Inc. and others all target the software that gets downloaded and
installed onto PCs - often without users' knowledge - to monitor keystrokes
or capture personal data and send it back to a third party.
Some of the rival programs are free, while others are included with broader
security programs. Webroot charges $29.95 for the software and a year of
updates and customer support.
Spy Sweeper, which was first released in 2003, has received strong reviews
and it had 75 percent of the U.S. retail market last year for anti-spyware,
besting both McAfee and Computer Associates International Inc., according
to the NPD Group Inc., a market research firm.
For its part, Microsoft said customers should choose spyware protection
that works best for them. In fact, Vista users will be able to turn off
Windows Defender, if they choose, said Mike Chan, senior product manager
for the anti-spyware program.
Many anti-spyware vendors set traps, or "honey pots," with algorithms that
do the screening. Webroot's differentiator is Phileas, a computer system
that actively hunts down spyware with the aim of catching new threats the
day they are released.
To spark further innovation, Webroot employees who think of ideas that earn
patents get bonuses of up to $2,000. Every so often, the company holds the
"Spyware Smackdown," a game in which researchers act as spyware writers
trying to avoid Spy Sweeper.
The company also invested $500,000 on a usability lab, in which cameras
monitor volunteers as they use Webroot's software. That research then goes
into improving the software's interface.
Webroot's efforts have paid off. Besides huge revenue growth helped by the
release of Spy Sweeper in 2003, the company has grown from about a dozen
employees to 300 in a purple-walled headquarters that look out on the Rocky
Mountains. Its conference rooms are named for dead rock stars such as Jerry
Garcia.
Though Vista raises a cloud around Webroot's continued success, the company
is no stranger to escaping threats.
The company was launched in 1997 by Steve Thomas and then-girlfriend
Kristen Talley. Thomas was a state chess champion at age 10 who landed on
an FBI watch list at age 14 after he hacked into a supercomputer at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Moll said.
After the couple's relationship soured and sales plateaued at a few million
dollars, Thomas and Talley in April 2002 hired Moll, a Duke University
dropout who once worked at a screw machine factory in Cleveland to pay his
way through night school.
At the time, Webroot sold a program for cleaning up unnecessary files on
PCs, and revenues came evenly from Internet sales, AOL's Shop Direct and
retail.
Just months after Moll joined, AOL went through a management change and
strategy shift and it shut down sales through Shop Direct. Moll, Thomas and
Talley stopped taking paychecks, but by then Webroot was developing Spy
Sweeper. The program came to market in February 2003.
More than three years later, Moll is confronted with another major
challenge.
"I really do not see consumers going out to buy a best-of-breed
anti-spyware product when they're being handed it for free," said Natalie
Lambert, a security analyst for Forrester Research Inc.
She said business customers may choose to stick with one vendor for all
security software, so offering anti-viral software would be a natural move
for Webroot.
Moll said Webroot soon will do just that.
"We don't see customers satisfied with all their vendors," he said. "That
creates tremendous opportunity for us."
500-Plus Nabbed in Global Internet Scams
Some 565 suspects were arrested in Europe and in North and South America
in a crackdown on Internet fraud dubbed "Operation Global Con," US
officials announced.
More than 2.8 million people, mainly elderly US citizens, fell victim to
the scams, suffering losses totaling more than one billion dollars, the
Justice Department said in a statement.
The operation, which began in March, targets mass-marketing scams such as
bogus lottery, prize and sweepstakes offerings; offers of nonexistent
investments; fake offers of "pre-approved" credit cards or credit-card
protection; and tax fraud schemes.
In the United States 139 suspects were arrested, with an additional 426
arrests in Canada, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Spain as well as the
help of officials in Nigeria, Britain and New Zealand, the statement read.
"Mass-market fraudsters think they can use modern technology to operate
from anywhere in the world with impunity," US Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales said at a press conference.
"These criminals use telemarketing, the Internet and mass mailings to cheat
unsuspecting people," he said.
World Cup Worm
World Cup soccer fans should be aware of a new worm being circulated by
e-mail with the German-language message "WM-Tickets" or
"Weltmeisterschaft," security vendor Sophos warned Wednesday.
The e-mail contains an attachment, which, when opened, activates the
W32/Zasran-A worm. The worm is programmed to send itself to addresses
stored in Microsoft Outlook address books and manipulate security settings
to give hackers access to other personal information stored in users' PCs.
The Zasran-A worm is the second World Cup-related virus detected in May,
with the games scheduled to kick off June 9.
On May 4, the Baden-Wuurttemberg State Bureau of Criminal Investigation
(LKA) warned of an e-mail with a link to a self-extracting Excel file that
claims to contain the game plan for the soccer tournament. The
German-language e-mail contains the message "Fussball Weltmeisterschaft
2006 in Deutschland" (2006 World Cup Soccer Tournament in Germany) and the
link "googlebook.exe."
When clicked, the link installs a Trojan horse on users' PCs. The program
appears to have originated from a server in the U.S., according to LKA
officials.
Sophos urges users to be extra vigilant against virus threats as excitement
grows over the World Cup games.
Seemingly harmless World Cup screen savers, spreadsheets, and electronic
wall charts are ideal vehicles to spread viruses and worms, according to
the company.
The World Cup has prompted viruses in the past, and will likely in the
future as well.
Ahead of the World Cup games in France in 1998, the WM97/ZMK-J virus asked
PC users to gamble on who the winner could be, and if the user didn't
choose the right team, it triggered a warhead that was capable of erasing
all data on the hard drive, according to Sophos.
Last year, the world's governing soccer body, FIFA, warned fans and others
that its name was being abused in a global phishing scam.
Several lottery companies had sent unsolicited, official-looking e-mail
around the globe, announcing that recipients had won a lottery and
requesting personal data, including bank account information, for them to
claim the prize money. The lotteries claimed to be organized on behalf of,
or in association with, FIFA as well as the German organizers of the World
Cup and their South African counterparts for the 2010 games.
U.S. Accused of Unfair Dominance in .xxx Wrestle Match
Newly released e-mails allege U.S. government officials pressured a leading
Internet authority into voting against creating a kind of red-light
district for adult Web sites.
The apparent involvement of the U.S. Department of Commerce, President
Bush's chief political operative Karl Rove and others is significant. If
true, it means the U.S. government violated terms of a complicated
arrangement it has with ICANN, the Internet authority that voted 9-5 last
week not to OK the .xxx proposal.
What ICM Registry wants is permission to distribute Web addresses that end
in .xxx to be used exclusively by adult entertainment sites.
The proposal won support from the Wired Safety & Wired Kids, the Internet
Content & Ratings Association and other child safety groups because of the
way it's expected to make it easier for authorities and parents to police
the Internet.
Detractors say it just makes it that much easier to find porn. ICANN voted
it down 9-5, after seemingly being on track to approve of the effort.
Since the ICANN vote, ICM Registry has made public e-mails, here in PDF
form, between members of the Department of Commerce, various other branches
of the federal government and ICANN. The company had asked for the
communications earlier under a Freedom of Information Act request.
After discovering many of the emails had been redacted, ICM on May 19 asked
a judge in Washington, D.C., to force the Department of Commerce to fill in
the blanks.
ICM says the e-mails show how the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
were subjected to intense pressure to intervene in some way on behalf of
the The Family Research Council, and Focus On The Family, two religious
conservative lobbyists.
NTIA members then started keeping watch as to how the .xxx proposal was
reported in the media, had drafted letters protesting the .xxx domain
addressed to ICANN, helped facilitate meetings between ICANN and concerned
groups, and otherwise "marshaled our resources at ICANN," as one NTIA
official put it in an e-mail.
As the e-mail blitz was going on, Bush's main political operative, Karl
Rove, met with James Dobson, the leader of Focus On The Family, to air his
opposition to the .xxx proposal, ICM learned through other sources.
A secret "Stop .XXX" order went in effect shortly after the meeting,
according to the documents.
This was all taking place in spite of a ban on such activities called upon
by a memorandum of understanding allowing the Department of Commerce to
work on a particular project with ICANN involving domain name servers.
"The documents released so far reveal that the United States government
exerted undue political influence on ICANN's consideration of the .xxx
domain application, and treated an independent corporation as a client
agency of the United States government despite a lack of any legitimate
authority to do so," wrote Stuart Lawley, ICM Registry president, in an
e-mail to eWEEK.
ICM Registry Renews XXX Domain Quest
ICM Registry has begun efforts to put the .xxx domain back on the agenda,
claiming that ICANN's vote to reject the domain in early May was tainted
by misinformation and U.S. government interference.
On Friday, two weeks after the ICANN board of directors cast the
nine-to-five vote rejecting the creation of a domain specifically for adult
Web sites, ICM began to pursue new options, including legal methods, to
push the plan forward.
The vote cast by the ICANN board brought to a close a six-year effort by
ICM Registry to create and operate the domain.
According to ICM, a porn-specific domain would produce a clearly
identifiable area of the Internet for purveyors of adult content, and would
therefore make it easier to prevent kids from inadvertently accessing that
material.
Having a porn domain, ICM has argued, also would help the
multibillion-dollar adult industry put an end to some of the major problems
plaguing the Internet, including porn-related spam.
As part of its plan to bring .xxx back to the table, ICM Registry has
released nearly 90 pages of documents it acquired through a Freedom of
Information Act request. The documents, ICM claims, demonstrate the highly
politicized atmosphere surrounding the discussion about the .xxx domain by
officials in the Bush administration during the summer of 2005.
In addition, the company has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Court
for the District of Columbia, seeking to force the Department of Commerce
(DoC) to provide all documents pertaining to the .xxx domain proposal along
with any documents it withheld following the DoC's response to requests
that ICM submitted in October and December of last year.
The vote two weeks ago was a 180 degree reversal for the ICANN board, which
had given the proposal preliminary approval in June 2005. ICANN postponed
making a final decision last August after U.S. government officials voiced
opposition to the plan. Another vote, scheduled for December, was deferred
once again.
The U.S. government's reaction to the plan created the perception that the
process has become politicized and had many critics questioning ICANN's
independence as a neutral, nonpolitical oversight body.
During the past six months, pressure on ICANN has increased from several
fronts, with groups opposing the domain flooding ICANN's public discussion
board with posts critical of the plan.
"The board was certainly very conscious of that [controversy] ... but the
heart of the decision today was not driven by a political consideration,"
Paul Twomey, chief executive of ICANN, was quoted by the Associated Press
as saying.
Twomey said the vote was based on whether the creation of the domain would
put the organization between the proverbial rock and a hard place,
compelling it to enforce hundreds of country-specific laws governing
pornography.
Mukul Krishna, a Frost & Sullivan analyst, said the vote showed that ICANN
was willing to stand up to pressure against those who supported the
creation of the domain. Right now, Krishna said, the issue is simply too
controversial for anyone to approve a plan such as this.
The porn industry doesn't want it and governments don't want it, Krishna
said. "ICANN doesn't want it because it doesn't have the resources," he
said. "But there are a lot of powerful special-interest groups that kept
the proposal alive for a long time."
Krishna expects that the issue will fade into the background, at least for
a few of years.
A better idea than creating a special domain for porn, according to
Krishna, would be to establish a Web site rating system analogous to the
kind used for rating movies and TV programming. "That would arguably be
less contentious than confining adult sites [to a specific part of the
Internet]," Krishna said.
AOL, Startups Emerge to Challenge MySpace
It's only natural for companies large and small to want to capture some of
the social-networking magic of MySpace.com, a Web site that has risen out
of nowhere to become the Internet's second busiest by successfully figuring
out what teens and young adults want.
AOL joined the pack this month with its own take on social networking, a
loose term for services that help users expand their circles of friends by
exploiting existing connections, rather than meeting randomly or by
keyword matches alone.
The rapid growth of MySpace and last year's purchase of its parent company
by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $580 million "definitely accelerated
something," said Greg Sterling, an industry analyst with Sterling Market
Intelligence in Oakland, Calif.
"MySpace went from being this curiosity to a cultural phenomenon," Sterling
said. "People started to think this is a really, really big opportunity."
MySpace offers a mix of features - message boards, games, Web journals -
designed to keep its youth-oriented visitors clicking on its
advertising-supported pages. The site has successfully built communities
around music, becoming the go-to place for emerging bands, and it wants to
replicate that success in film and comedy.
Driven largely by word of mouth, MySpace grew astronomically since its
launch in January 2004 and is now second in the United States among all Web
sites by total page views, behind only Yahoo Inc., according to comScore
Media Metrix.
MySpace's user base more than quadrupled to nearly 80 million over the past
year, with as many as 270,000 joining every day.
Yahoo even announced a home page redesign this week in part to fend off the
rising threat, adding recommendations and insights about cultural trends
culled from its community of 402 million users worldwide.
Others, mostly startups, are hoping to become the next-generation MySpace,
offering more-robust, easier-to-use tools or specialized features for
niches.
CollectiveX Inc. launched this month as a network for professionals and
other pre-organized groups. Famoodle started in April as a MySpace for
families. Relative newcomers Tagged Inc. and Varsity Media Group Inc.'s
Varsity World are billing themselves as safe havens for teens.
Even the British Broadcasting Corp., seeing rival News Corp.'s successes,
is revamping its Web site to incorporate more user-generated features.
The most notable of the newcomers is AOL's AIM Pages, which is building
upon its already substantial instant-messaging base of 49 million active
users worldwide. Still, MySpace's number is higher - the active subset of
registered users who logged on in March was 56 million, according to
comScore.
"MySpace is doing phenomenally well," said James Bankoff, AOL's executive
vice president for programming and products.
Nonetheless, Bankoff denied AOL was positioning AIM Pages as "a MySpace
killer." Rather, he said, the entrance by Time Warner Inc.'s Internet unit
"points to the trend of consumers wanting to express themselves in a more
powerful way."
AIM users get a page customizable with any number of drag-and-drop modules
for maps, Web journals and other features, including those from rivals like
Yahoo's Flickr photo site. By contrast, MySpace users must deal with HTML
programming code to customize.
The offering, available in a beta test mode, underscores AOL's history of
playing down innovation in favor of waiting until the masses are ready. It
wants to be easy, not necessarily first.
MySpace wasn't first, either. But it surpassed Friendster Inc. in monthly
visitors just a half-year after formally launching.
Analysts note that if Friendster can fall, so can MySpace.
"It's like the one hot bar or restaurant everybody descends upon," Sterling
said. "Then it gets cold and people leave it."
MySpace, whose press representatives said executives were unavailable for
interviews, has been continually adding features, including just recently
a test version of an instant-messaging program and the hit TV show "24" as
free and for-pay downloads.
Potential rivals insist they are doing more.
TagWorld Inc. and Freewebs Corp. let users build entire Web sites, not just
single profile pages. Both see themselves as people's hubs for music,
photos and video, while many MySpace users embed in their profile pages
digital items stored elsewhere.
A Microsoft Corp. spinoff company, though mum on specifics, plans to launch
Wallop later this year with promises of helping people better interact more
like they would in the real world.
That's also the thinking behind CollectiveX.
"CollectiveX doesn't expand or create communities," founder Clarence Wooten
said. "It empowers existing communities."
So members of pre-existing groups, such as a homeowners association, could
use CollectiveX to communicate and meet one another - but only if someone
they already know introduces them.
Groups are visible only to their members, and even within groups, a
person's friends and colleagues are described only by title, not by name.
By contrast, MySpace makes most profiles publicly viewable and users
easily reachable.
Meanwhile, some startups see MySpace as the new mass media - too big to
appeal to any one demographic group well.
Adir Levy figures that once people get married, they're no longer keen on
meeting new faces on MySpace, where about a quarter of the users are
minors. So he developed Famoodle as a site for families to connect and
expand existing relations.
"We definitely don't see us as becoming as big as MySpace, but we see
ourselves as being the MySpace for the more mature crowd," said Levy, 25,
who's getting married this year.
Others are targeting teens, the group that has turned MySpace into a
lightning rod for warnings about the dangers posed by sexual predators on
the Internet.
At Varsity World, moderators screen most writings, photos and other
materials before posting. Tagged has features - among them, a weekly
celebrity lookalike contest - likely to be seen as immature by even college
students, said its founder, Greg Tseng.
"MySpace and the industry as a whole is really in the first inning," Tseng
said.
MySpace's 80 million users is but a fraction of the estimated global online
population of 1 billion.
Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research, said users also can have
multiple profiles at multiple sites - the way they may belong to separate
school, work, neighborhood and church networks in the offline world.
But not everyone will have time to keep up. In fact, only about 60 percent
of MySpace's U.S. registered users visited the site in April, according to
calculations of data from MySpace and Nielsen/NetRatings.
"You may have four or five e-mail addresses, but you use two of them,"
Sterling said. "You're going to go to one or two places. You're not going
to go to four."
School District Creates MySpace Pledge
Before posting racy blogs on social-networking sites such as MySpace, teens
in an Illinois school district might want to think twice. The consequences
of such behavior could get them removed from extracurricular activities.
The board for Community High School District 128 voted unanimously this
week to require students participating in after-school athletics, fine
arts, and other clubs to sign a pledge agreeing that posts on the Internet
containing evidence of "illegal or inappropriate" behavior could be
justification for disciplinary action.
School officials said they will not conduct regular searches of the main
social-networking sites, but will respond to tips from other students,
parents, or community members. The new rule will go into effect at the
start of the next school year.
Located in Lake County, north of Chicago, District 128 is home to some
3,200 students, roughly 80 percent of whom participate in extracurricular
activities.
Social-networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, are wildly popular
among the 20-and-under crowd. Nearly 80 million users post personal
information, blogs, and pictures on these sites.
The Illinois school district joins a growing list of educational
institutions that either have banned the sites from school computers or
taken action against students for their posts.
Social-networking sites have even caught the attention of Congress. Rep.
Michael G. Fitzpatrick, (R-Penn.) has introduced legislation called the
Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA).
If approved, the legislation would block access to online social networks
in libraries and federally funded schools.
Mukul Krishna, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said that school
administrators need to refine their definition of "illegal or
inappropriate" posts. As the rule stands, according to Krishna, any
attempts to enforce it will more than likely see the school district
defending its actions in court.
"It could be an issue of free speech," Krishna said. "Or it could be a case
of discrimination - if a student who does not participate in
extracurricular activities is not disciplined for posting inappropriate
content."
In 1969, the Supreme Court, in Tinker v. Des Moines, ruled that public
schools can restrict students' First Amendment rights only if what they
say materially disrupts a school's operations. That ruling deals with
speech. Experts have said that it is unclear whether the same standard
applies to comments or activities posted online.
Recent lower court rulings have swung both ways. A 1998 case in Missouri
ended with a ruling that the Woodland School District wrongly disciplined
a student for posting online offensive comments about his school and
faculty members.
"I would assume that the kids who don't want to get caught will try to
outsmart the system by assuming an online identity," Krishna said. "The
school's heart seems to be in the right place, but you need more than heart
here."
Google Tops Another Search Survey
Google has come out on top of yet another survey of the search-engine
market, following the company's top rankings on recent surveys by HitWise
and Nielsen//NetRatings. Analysis firm ComScore Networks' latest rankings
report indicates that, in April, Google gained market share for the ninth
consecutive month.
The Reston, Virginia-based firm said that Google maintained its top
position by capturing 43.1 percent of all U.S. searches. Yahoo remained in
second place with 28 percent, while MSN came in third place with 12.9
percent.
"These figures are very similar to recent survey data from HitWise and
NetRatings," said Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research. "They are
also very similar to a U.S. survey Forrester Research carried out last fall
which put Google in top place for Internet searches."
The ComScore report indicates that Google's market share rose from 36.5
percent in April 2005 to 42.7 percent in March 2006, while Yahoo fell from
30.7 percent in April last year to 28 percent in March 2006.
MSN also declined, with its market share falling from 16.1 percent in April
2005 to 13.2 percent in March.
Moreover, the ComScore report revealed that new entrant MySpace.com
captured 0.6 percent of the search market in April 2006, while Ask.com saw
its market share fall from 6.1 in April 2005 to 5.9 percent in March 2006
and 5.8 percent in April.
Time Warner Network's search market share declined from 9 percent in April
2005 to 7.6 percent in March 2006 and 5.8 percent in April. America Online
is owned by Time Warner.
While Google continues to dominate the world of search, experts say that
the company cannot afford to be complacent in light of the fierce
competition for Internet users.
"It won a lot of users over the last five years, but it could easily lose
them," said Li. "Search is one of the least 'sticky' Internet applications,
which is why Google has been so busy launching new features."
Li noted that both Yahoo and Google are developing advanced search services
that are designed with better, more-personalized recommendations in mind.
"They are using different approaches," she said. "Google is adopting a
technological approach using complex search algorithms based on past
searches by a user, while Yahoo looks at its records of what other people
with similar interests are searching for."
According to NetRatings, Google was the top U.S. search engine in March
2006, with 2.9 billion searches, followed by Yahoo with 1.3 billion
searches.
While HitWise's U.S. Internet user survey also shows Google in the top spot
for searches, with a 47.4 percent share in the week ending May 13, it
reveals that Google is not doing so well when it comes to e-mail or
vertical portals.
In e-mail, Yahoo Mail was the top player in the week ending May 13 with
42.4 percent, beating Microsoft's Hotmail service that had 22.9 percent.
Google's Gmail service had a dismal 2.54 percent, according to HitWise.
The HitWise survey indicates that Yahoo also leads in vertical portals.
According to HitWise, Yahoo News had a 6.3 percent share of the news-portal
market in the week ending May 13, compared to Google News, which had just
1.49 percent.
Microsoft Starts Windows Test, Launch On Target
Microsoft Corp. launched its second major test version of the Windows Vista
operating system on Tuesday as a senior executive said he was "confident"
the company will meet its targeted release date.
The world's largest software company also said it was starting trials of
its upcoming Office 2007 business software suite and its Windows Server
system code-named "Longhorn."
The next version of Windows is called Vista and will be the first major
overhaul in five years of the operating system, which sits on 90 percent
of the world's computers and accounts for nearly a third of Microsoft's
total revenue.
The follow-up to the current Windows XP offers beefed-up security,
translucent windows for easier scrolling and can display and record
high-definition television on the computer. It also allows the user to
search for information on the PC and across the network.
Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for Vista, then pushed the
release out to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be
delayed. Microsoft set a January 2007 launch for retail consumers and it
pushed back the launch of Office 2007 to move together with Vista.
Long-time Windows chief Jim Allchin said Microsoft is confident it will
meet its launch target, even though other Windows releases have undergone
a longer gap between second test release and the start of production.
"At the top level, (this test version is) better quality than most things
we've released before," Allchin, co-president of the company's Platforms &
Services Division, said in an interview.
Earlier this month, research group Gartner Inc. said the company likely
would delay the new Windows launch by at least three months because it is
so complex. Gartner had expected Microsoft to release the second major test
version or "beta 2" of Vista during the current quarter.
"Our position has been that we believe it will ship in wide release nine
to 12 months after beta 2," said Michael Silver, research vice president
at Gartner. "We still think there are significant challenges."
Windows Vista, Office 2007 and "Longhorn" represent a set of crucial new
product releases for the company's effort to stimulate sales growth and
jump-start a stock that has underperformed every major U.S. stock index
since 2002.
"Each of these is a very important product," said Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, adding that they were
the company's "three most important products."
Allchin, who announced last year that he planned to retire once Vista was
complete, said the company is better able to track the trouble spots users
encounter within the Vista test and assign engineers to fix the bugs.
Microsoft has "thousands" of engineers working around the clock to fix
problems. Allchin said the company aims to improve Vista's compatibility
with certain applications, performance and the ability of users to upgrade
from Windows XP.
Allchin said he would not hesitate delaying the release of Vista again if
the product's quality were not up to par.
"We took a lot of pain for moving the date before, but quality will remain
the top thing. However, we feel very good about where we are at," said
Allchin.
Quark Ships QuarkXPress 7
Quark on Tuesday announced that its much anticipated page-layout
application, QuarkXPress 7, is shipping. The shipping version is not a
Universal Binary, meaning it will not run natively on Apple's new
Intel-based Macs.
During his presentation this morning in New York, Quark Senior Vice
President of Desktop Products, Jurgen Kurz, confirmed that QuarkXPress 7
is a PowerPC application. Kurz said that an Intel-native version would be
released this summer as a free update.
We think this is a significant upgrade, Richard Pasewark, senior vice
president, Sales and Marketing, told Macworld. It s where the market is
going, and as more Mac users add Intel-based Macs to their workflows, we
plan to support them. Pasewark added that the Universal Binary version has
been in beta testing since the beginning of May.
Based on the JDF standard, Quark will use what it calls the Quark Job
Jacket, which incorporates detailed workflow and prepress information
directly into a QuarkXPress project. Specifically, the Quark Job Jacket
will contain contact information, resources required, layout intent, rules,
output specifications and other information. Using this information will
prevent errors during the publication·A-A-s creation and output processes,
according to the company.
In addition to rule-based preflight capabilities to ensure that files are
output-ready at any point in the design process, QuarkXPress 7 will also
ensure that all the elements needed for production (fonts, colors, images,
etc.) are automatically embedded with the output file for PDF/X compliant
output.
Quark will also add database publishing with the use of Personalized Print
Markup Language (PPML). Using PPML all static content, multiple instances
of same static content, synchronized content and master page elements will
be recognized as reusable objects. Reusing content elements, users will
now be able to create multiple document types, sizes and media for multiple
print and Web layouts.
With the new version, Quark is offering new transparency features, giving
users control over the opacity of the elements that make up any items or
content in QuarkXPress like text, pictures, blends, boxes, frames, lines
and tables.
According to the company, QuarkXPress 7 will offer greater control over
transparency than other applications by managing opacity levels for any
color element of an object rather than on an object-by-object basis. The
transparency features will also enable the creation of dynamic, soft drop
shadows, as well as the ability to mask pictures with soft edges using
alpha channels this includes native Photoshop transparency in PSD or TIFF
format.
With the new version of QuarkXPress comes a new pricing structure. The full
version sells for $749; upgrades from version 3 and up are available for
$249. Educational pricing is also available the full educational version
costs $199, with upgrades priced at $99. Lab-pak seats cost $99, and
upgrades to Lab-packs cost $89.
This latest version introduces forward-thinking concepts and capabilities
in response to evolving market needs and customer feedback, Kurz said.
Based on the early response we ve heard from customers and the critical
acclaim QuarkXPress 7 has received from leaders in the industry, we believe
QuarkXPress 7 will revolutionize the way creative professionals work.
Quark has also extended its retail reach with this new release, with
QuarkXPress 7 available at leading mail-order retailers, as well as Apple
s retail stores. Further pricing and product information for QuarkXPress 7
is available at the company s Web site.
Quark unveiled the updated page-layout application during a press event in
New York Tuesday morning.
LAPD Launches Community Web Log
Welcome to the blogosphere, chief. And "good luck with your cesspool of
crime, disease and victimhood."
Such was top Los Angeles cop William J. Bratton's introduction to the
rough-and-tumble world of online bulletin boards following his inaugural
posting on LAPDblog.org.
Just a week old, the site makes the Los Angeles department the biggest
police force in the United States - and one of the first worldwide - to
blog.
So far, the "cesspool" post notwithstanding, Bratton's message and
responses to it have largely been positive. The site's 24,000 visitors see
announcements for department events and recycled press releases.
The point is to build public trust by improving communication - to create
an online give-and-take, even when the taking smarts.
"We want to hear feedback," said Lt. Paul Vernon, who is helping to oversee
LAPDblog.org. "We welcome them, however serious or tongue-in-cheek they
are."
As long as posts aren't profane and do not attack specific officers, they
will stay online, police promise.
In one small test of that openness, one poster jabbed Bratton for his
frequent trips: "The best thing about your blog is you can post it while
at an airport. That way no one will know you are out of town! :)"
Police from Karnataka, India, to Eden Prairie, Minn., have started blogs
and say they are happy with the results. Visitors to LAPD's blog say candor
from a historically tightlipped department will determine the site's
success.
"To say `blogging' implies having a conversation with the public," said
media critic Jeff Jarvis. "It will be very hard for them to do. What's
going to happen when there's another controversy in L.A.? Are they going
to get into deep conversation about Rodney King? I'd be surprised."
But Sean Bonner, whose online prodding helped inspire the blog's launch,
said Los Angeles police need time to get used to a new medium.
"They're all brand new to blogs," said Bonner, the Los Angeles-based
co-founder of metroblogging.com, a worldwide network of city blogs.
"They've been calling me and asking questions. They want to do it right."
Internet Searches: Librarians Do It Better
Cancer patients seeking timely, accurate, unbiased information on the
Internet about a disease and its treatment might do well to enlist the help
of a professional librarian.
According to a study reported today at the Medical Library Association's
annual meeting in Phoenix, cancer patients are more likely to find what
they are looking for with a librarian-mediated search instead of "going it
alone."
Over the last five years, Ruti Volk, a professional librarian and manager
of the Patient Education Resource Center (PERC) at the University of
Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues have done about 2,100
searches for cancer patients. After each mediated-search, patients are
asked to complete an evaluation on the information provided to them.
Results from 513 evaluations revealed several interesting findings, Volk
noted in an interview with Reuters Health. "One of the most interesting
was that 65 percent of patients said they were not able to obtain the
information that we sent to them from any other source. They were not able
to get it by themselves by using the Internet; they didn't get it from a
healthcare provider or from a cancer organization."
An additional 30 percent of PERC visitors said the librarian provided some
new information. Only 4 percent said they found all the same information
on their own.
"This demonstrates," said Volk, "that even though the information is
supposedly so accessible and everything is on the web, people still need
the help of a professional to find information that is relevant to them
that is current and accurate and authoritative."
Librarians have access to resources sometimes unavailable to the public
such as subscription-based databases. But the biggest advantage, Volk said,
is expertise in searching. "I do this every day, I should do it better than
other people," she said.
Most comprehensive cancer centers have patient resource centers, but not
all of them are staffed by trained librarians skilled in finding pertinent
healthcare information, Volk also noted.
"If people want to gain an in-depth understanding of their condition or
they have a complex question, it is wise to enlist the help of a
professional librarian," she said.
Bugs Push Windows Live Mail Beta Back
Microsoft last week acknowledged problems with its most recent beta release
of Windows Live Mail, the company's revamp of the Hotmail hosted e-mail
service.
Live Mail has been restored to an earlier release because of bugs with the
newest version, M6, wrote Ben Poon, a program manager with Windows Live
Mail, on a company blog. The Russian-language version is also affected.
"We'll bring that right back, too," he wrote.
Firefox browser users, however, will see the "Classic Hotmail" interface
for now because of the rollback, he wrote.
Microsoft planned to add support for Firefox in the M6 release.
Microsoft plans several changes in the M6 version, including extending from
30 days to 120 days the time allotted from when an account expires after it
isn't used.
Other features include overall faster performance, signature support, and
color-scheme changes.
Users have reported various bugs in the beta version on Microsoft's
Windows Live Mail blog. Some users who signed up for the beta release
reported troubles with switching back to the older version.
Microsoft has cautioned beta version users that it's still resolving
problems.
Flaw Found in Symantec AntiVirus
Researchers at eEye Digital Security have discovered a serious flaw in
Symantec's enterprise antivirus software that could be used by hackers to
create a self-replicating "worm" attack against Symantec users.
Because Symantec has not yet confirmed the existence of the problem, much
less patched it, eEye is offering few details on the vulnerability, which
was first disclosed late Wednesday.
"This is definitely a wormable flaw," said Mike Puterbaugh, eEye's vice
president of marketing. "It does allow you to take remote control of the
system."
Similar to viruses, worms are able to spread from computer to computer, and
past attacks such as 2003's Blaster and Slammer worms were widespread.
Symantec is evaluating eEye's claims and "if necessary, will provide a
prompt response and solution," a Symantec spokesman said Thursday.
EEye Chief Hacking Officer Marc Maiffret believes that it will take
Symantec a "month or two" to patch the problem. "The vulnerability is
pretty straightforward for them to identify within their code," he said.
Version 10 and greater of Symantec's enterprise antivirus software is
affected by the flaw, but the company's consumer products do not have the
bug, Maiffret said.
This is not the first flaw to be reported in Symantec's security products,
which have increasingly come under the scrutiny of hackers and security
researchers over the past year. Last December, researcher Alex Wheeler
discovered a flaw in Symantec's Antivirus Library that could allow remote
attackers to gain control of systems that used Symantec's products.
In October a critical flaw was found in the company's Scan Engine software.
House Judiciary Passes Internet Access Measure
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation aimed
at preventing high-speed Internet network providers from discriminating
against unaffiliated services, content and applications.
Content providers like Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have
expressed concerns that they would be forced to pay Internet service
providers extra to ensure consumers can access their content.
The measure, approved by a vote of 20-13, would amend U.S. antitrust law.
It would also counter a rival bill from another House committee that wants
to encourage network providers to preserve consumers' ability to freely
surf the Internet instead of adopting stricter rules.
"The lack of competition in the broadband marketplace presents a clear
incentive for providers to leverage dominant market power over the
broadband bottleneck to pre-select, favor or prioritize Internet content
over their networks," said Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner of
Wisconsin.
Mergers May Be Next Trend for Big Internet Companies
Speculation is rife on Wall Street that a big Internet deal or alliance is
in the works, with Google, Yahoo, eBay or Microsoft as possible partners -
and a Yahoo-eBay partnership seen as most likely.
"A partnership or merger between eBay and Yahoo! is the most strategically
feasible," a report authored by analyst Imran Khan and the JP Morgan
Internet team said on Monday.
"A combined company would have the leading position in auctions,
communications, payments, graphical advertising, audience reach, and
geographic breadth," the report said.
Silicon Valley insiders, high-tech bankers and financial analysts are
giving new credence to potential merger deals, which fly in the face of
common wisdom that the Internet's rapid growth has always outweighed the
logic of consolidation.
But Internet growth is slowing and competition among the biggest companies
- Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc. and Microsoft Corp. - is intensifying.
EBay stock is down 30 percent on the year. Yahoo is off 20 percent and
Google down 10 percent.
Google, which nearly doubled its revenues last year, is expected to grow
62 percent this year. EBay is seen growing 30 percent, down from 50 percent
two years ago, and Yahoo's growth is slowing at a similar pace.
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said the company works very closely with all the
major Web search providers - Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, but he declined
to comment on any potential Yahoo tie-up.
EBay is one of the world's biggest buyers of Web search terms. It manages
a portfolio of 15 million keywords on different search sites aimed at
wooing bidders.
"We don't comment on rumors and speculation," Durzy said. "We are talking
to Yahoo and other companies all the time as part of our normal course of
business."
The 56-page JP Morgan report weighs other scenarios, including the
possibility that Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Internet unit would strike a
partnership with Yahoo. Google is viewed as likely to sit out big mergers
and continue to go it alone, Imran argues, a view that many Wall Street
analysts share.
Investors worry that gains by these companies are likely to come at the
expense of one another, rather than through Internet expansion, driving
shares down this year.
Microsoft shares are off 12 percent so far in 2006, hit by product delays
as well as a recent move by the company to step up investment to better
compete with Google and Yahoo.
Market share gains by Google are most frequently said to be driving the
talk of partnerships or mergers.
On May 3, the Wall Street Journal newspaper carried a story that
Microsoft's MSN unit was planning a stop-Google strategy by seeking to buy
a stake in Yahoo.
Last week, Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel confirmed that his company
had been approached by Microsoft to buy a piece of Yahoo's search business.
He ruled out a deal for what he viewed as a centerpiece of Yahoo's strategy
to sell Web advertising.
"I will not sell a piece of search - it is like selling your right arm
while keeping your left; it does not make any sense," Semel said in a
public forum in New York last week where he was interviewed by The New
Yorker magazine writer Ken Auletta.
He dismissed an outright merger between Microsoft and Yahoo, saying, "That
conversation has never come up."
"For me the most interesting alignment would be putting together Yahoo and
eBay," said analyst Scott Devitt of brokerage Stifel Nicolaus, but he
cautioned: "These things tend to be discussed often and rarely occur."
The strengths of Yahoo and eBay are seen as complementary, with Yahoo in
media and eBay in
e-commerce. Yahoo's foreign strength is in Asia and
eBay's is in Europe.
The most compelling scenario is an alliance where eBay uses Yahoo search to
drive consumers to eBay auctions, Devitt said.
In return, Yahoo could take advantage of assets such as eBay's PayPal
online payments franchise and the vast Skype Web telephone audience that
eBay has acquired, he said.
EBay must tread carefully, however, so that it does not cut off ties to
Google. As the world leader in Web search, eBay depends on Google search
referrals for an increasing amount of its audience.
"I don't particularly find eBay in a position of power," Devitt said. "EBay
needs its relationship with Google."
=~=~=~=
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