Archive for May 15th, 2008

YouTube tool details video demographics

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

YouTube now lets those who have uploaded videos see details about the types of people watching them.

The company has added a demographics section to an analytics tool called Insight that YouTube released in March.

Insight now has a “demographics tab that displays view count information broken down by age …

Yahoo beckons coders to gussy up search results

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Yahoo on Thursday will take one of its first big steps to make its site a more vital part of the Internet.

The company will offer developer tools to let programmers start using SearchMonkey, technology to make search results more elaborate and, the company hopes, more useful. SearchMonkey lets programmers …

EU official concerned about Google imagery

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Google Street View would raise problems if brought to Europe, an official with the European Union’s data protection agency said Thursday.

Google Street View now blurs some faces in Manhattan.

Google Street View now blurs some faces in Manhattan.

(Credit: Google)

“Making pictures everywhere is certainly going to create some problems,” EU Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx said …

Icahn loads Yahoo proxy slate with Mark Cuban, other biggies

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

This post was updated at 9:30 a.m. PDT with Microsoft’s comment and portions of Icahn’s letter.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is leaning on such high-profile tech names as Mark Cuban in his effort to unseat Yahoo’s current board at its annual shareholders meeting and to …

Amazon to collect N.Y. sales tax; Overstock drops out

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

New York’s expansive new online sales-tax requirements are drawing mixed responses from major e-tailers that haven’t previously collected such fees in the Empire State.

Despite a pending lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality, Amazon.com has said on its Web site that it still plans to abide by …

Is weak dollar fueling high-end audio export boom?

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Back in the day, we built great cars and the best TVs. And our advanced engineering was the envy of the world.

That was a long time ago. Today “world-class” design and manufacturing is mostly sent off-shore to Europe and Asia. American companies market and distribute products made somewhere else. …

Icahn launches Yahoo proxy fight, may boost stake by $2.5 billion

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn on Thursday formally announced that he is launching a proxy fight and has formed a 10-member slate in an effort to unseat Yahoo’s current board at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on July 3.

Icahn, who stated he has acquired roughly 59 million …

CBS to buy CNET Networks

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

CBS has agreed to acquire CNET Networks in a deal valued at $1.8 billion, the companies said Thursday.

The purchase price comes to $11.50 per share, representing a 44 percent premium over Wednesday’s closing price of $7.95.

The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 …

Nintendo loses Wii controller patent suit

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Updated at 6:27 a.m. with more details about the case.

Nintendo has been ordered to pay $21 million to a Texas company in a suit involving patents used in technology behind the company’s Wii and GameCube systems, the Associated Press reported.

Anascape, a Lufkin, Texas-based company, sued …

Alienware: Game PCs need more than faster chips

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Fast silicon is hitting a wall in game PCs, according to Alienware, which is looking for ways to boost game PC performance.

Parent company Dell vowed on Tuesday to pour more resources into the game PC unit and invest in “product development, design, and engineering.”

Alienware Area-51 m9750 notebook

Alienware Area-51 m9750 notebook

(Credit: