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CNET: Yahoo Plans Text Ad Service to Compete with Google

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 5:36am.
San Francisco -- Yahoo is developing a self-service, text-based online advertising service for Web publishers to compete with Google's AdSense offering, sources familiar with the plan told CNET News.com. The two companies already compete in the market to provide text-based search ads to larger publishers, but Google currently dominates the market for smaller publishers with its self-service AdSense network. Competition in the market to provide such ads to publishers -- which only charge advertisers when Web searchers click on an ad -- could result in publishers receiving a larger share of overall ad revenue. Although Google does not provide itemized AdSense performance, the company's total syndicated search revenues accounted for 48% of its $3.1 billion in revenues for 2004.
tags: Yahoo | CNET | Google | Competition | Text Ad |

Warner Music Group Files for $750 Million IPO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:29am.
detailed its plans in an SEC filing for an initial public offering that aims to raise up to $750 million. The company was purchased from Time Warner last year for $2.6 billion by a group of investors, led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. Warner Music plans to use proceeds from the IPO both to repay company debt and for general corporate purposes. The company's labels, including Warner, Elektra and Atlantic, are home to over 38,000 recording artists; Warner Music's worldwide sales rose 1% in 2004 to $32 billion.

Apple Wins Subpoena of Records from Trade Secrets Publisher

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:24am.
San Francisco -- A federal judge ruled on Friday that Apple can subpoena the records of a Mac enthusiast site that published details of an unreleased Apple product, in a case being watched as both a test of both trade secret laws and the rights of bloggers to keep confidential sources like journalists. Apple subpoenaed the online records of PowerPage in an effort to unmask the source of a leak of internal product information that was published online; the company is also separately suing a different site (Think Secret) for soliciting the trade secrets that it published. "Unlike the whistleblower who discloses a health, safety or welfare hazard affecting all, or the government employee who reveals mismanagement or worse by our public officials, (the enthusiast sites) are doing nothing more than feeding the public's insatiable desire for information," Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James P. Kleinberg wrote, in his ruling. The judge did not address whether bloggers should be granted the right to keep confidential sources, but his ruling did seemingly strengthen the rights of companies seeking redress against publishers of their trade secrets. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented defendant and PowerPage publisher Jason O'Grady, said it will appeal the ruling.
tags: Apple |

Nintendo Details "Revolution" GameCube Console Successor

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:17am.
San Francisco -- Japanese video games firm Nintendo this week announced details of its next-generation GameCube console successor, codenamed "Revolution," revealing that the new device will offer both Wi-Fi capabilities and, for the first time, backward compatibility with current game titles for the GameCube. The Revolution will run on a processing chip developed by IBM -- codenamed "Broadway" -- and a graphics chip created by ATI Technologies. Both Microsoft's and Sony's next-generation consoles will also run on chips at least co-developed by IBM, while Sony will use an Nvidia graphics chip and Microsoft will switch from Nvidia to ATI for the next Xbox graphics chip. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata also said that the company plans to launch a Wi-Fi service for its Nintendo DS handheld game later this year, adding that worldwide DS shipments have now surpassed 4 million units.
tags: Nintendo | Revolution | GameCube Console Successor |

Report: U.S. Video Game Sales Up 13% in February

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:12am.
Los Angeles -- U.S. video game sales were up 13% for the month of February, bolstered by the release of Sony's "Gran Turismo 4" and continued strong sales for Take-Two's "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," according to data from market research firm NPD Group. Analysts citing NPD data said that "Gran Turismo 4" was the top-selling title during the month, followed by Electronic Arts' "NBA Street Vol. 3" and Take-Two's "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." In terms of console sales, Sony's PlayStation 2 outsold both the Xbox and GameCube in February, and has now sold over 1 million units to date this year.
tags: Sales | Report | U.S. Video Game |

Judge Dismisses Some Marvel Claims Against NCsoft Over "City of Heroes"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:08am.
Los Angeles -- A federal judge in Los Angeles this week dismissed several of comic book publisher Marvel's trademark and copyright infringement claims against video game publisher NCsoft and Cryptic Studios, which created the "City of Heroes" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. The game allows users to create their own superhero characters with various traits and powers, who then interact with one another in an online environment. Marvel's suit against NCsoft and Cryptic alleges that these user-created characters are stolen from its own stable of comic book superheroes, which includes Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner has dismissed more than half of Marvel's claims, including those that alleged direct trademark infringement by defendants and liability for infringement by players of "City of Heroes." In addition, it was revealed that Marvel staffers actually created some of the purported "City of Heroes" user characters submitted as evidence of infringement. The trial will now move forward on copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement claims that survived the motion to dismiss.
tags: NCsoft | City of Heroes | Judge | Marvel Claims |

Xfire Countersues Yahoo Over Video Game IM Patents

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 4:02am.
Menlo Park, Calif. -- Xfire, a developer of instant messaging and social networking tools for online games, announced that it has filed a countersuit against Yahoo, which sued Xfire claiming a former Yahoo employee now at Xfire developed products that infringe Yahoo patents. In its suit, Xfire asks the court to dismiss Yahoo's complaint, and also alleges that Yahoo's action is a ploy to shut Xfire down or gain favorable licensing terms for its in-game instant messaging technology. The company is also seeking unspecified damages from Yahoo.
tags: Yahoo | Xfire | Video Game IM Patents |

Report: IPTV Will Generate $7.2 Billion, 25.3 Million Subscribers by 2008

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 3:55am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Worldwide subscribers to IPTV services, which deliver TV, video-on-demand and other video services over broadband networks, will grow from 1.9 million in 2004 to 25.3 million in 2008, according to a report from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Multimedia Research Group (MRG). Associated revenue growth is forecasted to rise from $635 million in 2004 to $7.2 billion in 2008. The firm cited plans by SBC and BellSouth to deploy large IPTV networks in the U.S., as well as Verizon's plans to use IPTV to offer video-on-demand to its subscribers. Abroad, the deployment of IPTV video-on-demand by China Telecom, and continued subscriber growth for established IPTV providers Free in France, PCCW in Hong Kong and FastWeb in Italy will also contribute to the rapid growth of the IPTV market, MRG said.
tags: Video | Marketing | Broadband | Reports | Subscribers | Metrics | IPTV | Revenue | MRG |

Wisconsin Gov. Proposes "iPod Tax" for Online Digital Music Sales

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 3:51am.
San Francisco -- Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed that the state begin collecting taxes on digital music and other content sold online, an idea that Republican lawmakers in the state have said they will block, CNET News.com reported. Already in South Dakota and Utah, consumers who do not voluntarily pay a couple extra cents in "use tax" above the $0.99 cost of a digital music download are technically breaking the law. Such laws usually only require online retailers like Apple to collect the tax if they have a physical presence in the state of purchase. In practice, neither South Dakota nor Utah pursue individuals for evading their use taxes. "It's an issue of tax equity...If you go into a Main Street business and purchase a CD, you are paying tax," Wisconsin Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jessica Iverson told News.com. "Even if it does pass, it's unlikely that there would be much compliance," Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Jensen, who is working to defeat the proposal, told News.com.
tags: Internet | iPod Tax | Wisconsin Gov | Online Digital Music Sales |

Games Firm Zone4Play Acquires Interactive TV Developer MiXTV

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 3:49am.
Wilmington, Del. -- Zone4Play, a developer of games for interactive TV and other platforms, announced on Friday that it has acquired the outstanding minority interest in MiXTV, a developer of text message-based interactive TV applications. Zone4Play has now completed a full acquisition of the company from Israel-based NetFun Ltd., with whom it founded the company in June 2004. Under the deal, Delaware-based Zone4Play will acquire rights to MiXTV's broadcast SMS-TV interactive fixed-odds betting channel, which will launch on The Poker Channel next month. Zone4Play added that MiXTV is also in negotiations to sign additional broadcast carriage agreements in the U.K.
tags: Deals | Zone4Play | MiXTV |

Number of DSL Lines Worldwide Increased 60% in 2004

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 11, 2005 - 3:44am.
London -- According to the latest figures from market analysis firm PointTopic, the number of DSL lines worldwide increased to more than 96.9 million in 2004, a remarkable 60% increase compared to 2003. This marked an absolute increase of more than 35 million lines last year. China extended its lead as the world's top DSL country, boasting 17.1 million lines. China also added more than 4.4 million lines in the second half of 2004 alone, nearly twice as many lines added by the U.S., which came in second on PointTopic's report. Japan came in third place, adding nearly 1.3 million lines to bring its total to about 13.3 million. Europe also recorded strong growth, with France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. all adding more than 1 million DSL lines last year. France fared the best of the lot, adding more than 1.6 million lines to take its total to nearly 6.3 million. In fact, PointTopic said France would likely overtake Germany (6.7 million lines) in fifth place sometime this year
tags: Worldwide | DSL Lines | Increased |