Man accused of posing as U.S. agent to Pitt, Jolie

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man was arrested on Thursday for impersonating a federal agent in what prosecutors say was an attempt to work as a security consultant for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

What is it about Brad Pitt that makes the weirdos try impersonation? First the guy pretending to be him, now someone impersonating an agent to try to work for him. Bizarre...

Americans prefer video to national parks: study

Well, duh. Sometimes I wonder who they have running studies - they seem to keep coming to obvious conclusions.

The data, based on government statistics and other sources, were taken as a proxy for interest in nature in general.

That doesn't seem quite right. I have more interest in nature in general than in national parks, if only because national parks generally require planned trips over longer distances. I'd much rather go to a local stable and rent a horse for a trail ride than drive or fly to another state to traipse through the woods. Horses are more fun. On the other hand, I don't much like the outdoors because my fair skin burns very easily, and because the mosquitoes seem to love me, and because I really hate bugs/spiders/snakes.

Researchers tested more than two dozen possible explanations for the trend and found that 98 percent of the drop in national park visits was explained by video games, movie rentals, going out to movies, Internet use and rising fuel prices.


Other possible explanations such as family income or the aging population were ruled out.

They may be oversimplifying by leaving income out of it, particularly as fuel prices were being factored in. However, I find myself wondering - why do we really need to have a study on this? Unless we can encourage the federal government to sell some of these parks to private companies? I can't imagine that all of them are in areas that would be popular for urban development, but large forests would likely be popular with the film industry, especially if they could get a better deal than what is available while the land is under federal control.

Frankly, though, I thought everyone knew our culture is obsessed with movies.

"When children choose TVs over trees, they lose touch with the physical world outside and the fundamental connection of those places to our daily lives," McCormick said.

He makes it sound as if children will never see plants again. Frankly, the biggest reason K-12 age children lose touch with the world outside is the fact that they ended outdoor recess in the school system! When I was a kid, we went outside at least once a day to play. Sometimes we played on the swings, sometimes we played soccer (and there's a story, because I had to convince the boys to let me play with them - they didn't want girls on the field), and sometimes we just ran around playing games we invented ourselves. There was sun, there was grass, and there was even a tree on the playground. If you want kids experiencing nature, you need to set aside a time to let them out and explore it on their own, without teachers hovering and telling them what to think or feel about it.

I grant there is a danger of losing touch with reality if we become too insulated within the worlds of cyberspace and audivisual recordings, but I wouldn't say the national parks were the primary way of "staying in touch." It makes a lot more sense for people to experience nature in their own backyards with gardens and pets and ponds.

Am I the only one who feels sorry for this tech?

Seriously, waiting on the phone for your own company's customer service for an HOUR? No wonder he fell asleep. The vid sounds funny, though I didn't look to see if I could find it, but firing the phone reps would have been more appropriate, I'm thinking.

Senate panel backs telco bill, no Net neutrality

But the panel narrowly rejected attempts by some lawmakers to strengthen safeguards on Internet service, which had pitted high-speed Internet, or broadband, providers such as AT&T against Internet companies like Google Inc.


In a room packed with lobbyists representing companies and consumer groups, debate raged over whether broadband providers can charge more to carry unaffiliated content or to guarantee service quality, an issue called Net neutrality.


The bill included provisions aimed at preserving consumers' ability to surf anywhere on the public Internet and use any Internet-related application, software or service, similar to a bill that passed the House of Representatives.


Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, tried to add further protections by barring discrimination of content or service based on origin, destination or ownership, but it failed to get a majority vote. The final tally was 11 to 11.


"That means for the first time we are going to have a two-tiered Internet," said Snowe, who bucked her party. "Broadband operators will be able to pick winners and losers, they will be able to choose the Web sites of their choice."


Other Republicans countered that further protections were not needed because there were no complaints about consumers being denied access to services or content. Adding rules would hobble competition, innovation and deployment, they said.


"We haven't seen anything yet that indicates there is discrimination," said Ted Stevens, chairman of the committee and an Alaska Republican. "If this amendment is adopted, this bill will never come out of conference (with the House)."


The bill would not prevent cable and telephone companies tacking on an extra charge for content that requires more Internet bandwidth than others, such as movie downloads.


The panel also approved a permanent ban on taxing Internet access and handily rejected an amendment to encourage cable providers to offer consumers the ability to pay only for the cable television channels they want, known as a la carte.

I'm so mad, I'm speechless.

Google Checkout to make debut

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc. on Thursday will launch a long-awaited service called Google Checkout, which some analysts said could help online merchants boost sales and convince them to commit more advertising money to the Web search leader.

So, today, then. I need to go surfing.

Analysts were mixed on whether the product, initially available only in the United States, puts eBay Inc.'s PayPal online payment system in Google's competitive sights.

We can only hope...

The new offering, referred to in news and analyst reports as GBuy or Google Wallet, promises online sellers an easy way to add a checkout to their sites and can be used in addition to other options such as PayPal or a merchant's own pay system.

Sounds like a step in the right direction.

In storing personal data, Google Checkout is reminiscent of Passport, Microsoft's online wallet, which bumped into security and privacy issues and failed to live up to the software titan's expectations after its launch about seven years ago.

Was that what Passport was supposed to be? I never knew; I just got irritated by Microsoft's nosy program wanting to know all kinds of stuff for no apparent reason and insisting I login with my Hotmail address just to view websites. I wasn't interested in online payment systems back then, and I still don't like the idea of logging in when there's no real reason for it. It's the same thing that bothers me about iTunes: just to browse (well, first you have to install their proprietary software >:P ), you have to create an account, and to create the account, you have to enter a credit card number, to verify who you are. When I only want to look, I don't like giving that information. If and when I decide to buy something, that's different. Even Amazon doesn't have my current credit card numbers, and I'm pretty enthusiastic about them.

While Google is popular, it angered privacy advocates with an e-mail product that delivers ads based on message content.

I didn't get that. Seriously. If you choose to use Gmail through the web interface instead of the free POP3 access, it shows AdSense ads along the side based on the text in the message you're reading. It's no more invasive than having AdSense ads on the side of a blog post - it's not memorizing your email messages; talk about a waste of memory. Given the sheer volume of email, does anyone really think they're copying and memorizing everyone's messages? That'd be like running photocopies of every postcard sent through the USPS...

Li predicted an eventual backlash as Google pushes ahead with its goal to be the world's information clearinghouse and encounters inevitable customer service problems.


"Whereas Microsoft wanted to own the desktop, Google wants the monopoly on your information," she said, noting Checkout also provides buyers with a purchase history that shows where they spend their money. "I'm concerned that they could fall into a situation where they're the next Microsoft."

First, why are customer service problems "inevitable"? A lot of companies do have them, but if they prepare for them in advance, they can resolve most things handily. There will always be a few cranky people who will never be pleased, but if they make service a priority (granted, fewer and fewer organizations do) they can avoid the worst of it.

Second, I'm getting a little tired of people throwing around the word "monopoly" just because a company does more than one thing well. Amazon stores information, too, remember? They remind me every time I visit a page for a product I've already bought once - "You bought this on (date)." Quit the fear-mongering/hate-mongering and look at it more objectively. Are they any nosier than eBay? PayPal? Amazon? Barnes & Noble?

I left Verizon Wireless over customer service problems. I left eBay/PayPal for the same reason. If Google disappoints, I can do it again, and if my personal data remains in their system against my will, I can go to the government for enforcement. There's no call for warning about falling skies just yet.

A salesman tried to fleece a money exchanger in the United Arab Emirates by using an identity card bearing the picture of Hollywood heart-throb Brad Pitt

Um, okay. Because Brad Pitt totally looks Jordanian, really. Man, crooks are stupid...

Google tests Web buying system

"It's not like PayPal at all," Schmidt said when asked about "GBuy" during a New York meeting hosted by Conde Nast's new Portfolio business magazine.


"It makes no sense for us to go into businesses that are occupied by existing leaders," he said. "We want to solve new problems in the payments space."

Why not? Given how many of us are thoroughly frustrated with Paypal and given that there is no other service doing exactly the same thing - there's more than enough room for competition. Please. Give us P2P payment options without the bullying.

"Google management is getting off on a technicality" in saying its purchasing system differs from PayPal, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan of Schmidt's remarks. "A merchant-to-consumer payments system, that's close enough."

Oh, please. If that's all it takes, then any website that allows sellers to accept payments from buyers is just like PayPal, and I'm sorry, but no. Amazon and ClickBank and all the other online merchant account services have a ways to go before they cover all the flexibility that PayPal offers. I liked PayPal, until they drove me up the wall, and now I'd give almost anything not to have to go back to them, but if Google's payment system isn't going to be a competitor, I may have to go back to PayPal anyway. Too many freelance and telecommuting jobs insist on paying via PayPal only.

In a research note last week, Rohan wrote that Google was likely to launch such a service by the end of the month, saying there was no reason it could not expand to consumer-to-consumer transactions like many PayPal payments.

When? This is what I want to see; when can this come about? If Google doesn't choose to expand to this, then it doesn't matter if there's no reason they can't; they won't.

Ebay tests Skype calls for customer service

Adding voice-calling and text messaging to the traditional e-mail-based interactions between auction participants was a prime motivation offered by eBay officials when it acquired Skype last October in a deal worth up to $4.2 billion.


Starting on June 19, sellers will be able to embed simple "Skype Me" icons alongside product listing to allow users to contact them using a new feature of eBay called "Ask a seller a question." The feature is free and designed to allow people to answer quick questions before completing specific purchases.

Interesting. I initially thought this was just about adding Skype as a method for users to contact customer service. That would be a beneficial twist for most online companies, actually: Skype, FWD, AIM, YIM, MSN, ICQ... Free communication with an actual person, instead of form email that goes who knows where or long distance phone calls (when you can actually find a phone number to call!). Don't know what legal issues would be, dealing with a business use instead of a private user, but it's time for this.

Atari posts narrower loss as cash dwindles

The money woes for Atari, which again warned there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern, come amid a move to new video game console technology that has sidelined some buyers and hampered U.S. game sales.

...

Am I the only one who didn't realize Atari was still around? I thought they folded years ago.

Newspapers fight back against online classifieds

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For the past decade, newspapers have seen their help-wanted advertising under siege from online rivals. Now, as the Internet begins to eat into automotive and real estate classifieds as well, newspapers are fighting back.

Good luck with that.

Newspapers are looking at what has happened to its lucrative help-wanted business since the late 1990s, when Web sites like Monster.com, Yahoo Inc.'s HotJobs.com, and Craigslist.org undercut prices and turned the business on its head.


Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder and the Tribune Co. responded in 2002, joining forces to form CareerBuilder.com -- now one of the leading job sites.

I don't know about you, but I have not found CareerBuilder to be all that useful. Monster, either, to be blunt. Quality-wise, I'd have to vote for Craiglist all around, though if you're just going by name-recognition and volume of ads, then yes, you can call it "one of the leading job sites." I'm an unusual case, though, I suppose; not a lot of film grads out there job searching on CareerBuilder...

One thing that is clear is that the whole classified advertising market will continue to evolve rapidly -- particularly with Web advertising-savvy tech giants Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo and eBay Inc. coming in.


But despite their heft, these Web heavyweights will be challenged to pull in profits as an ever-larger roster of rivals drives ad prices down, a situation that could play to the advantage of newspapers.


"The more fragmentation there is, the easier it is for one local player to capture a lion's share," Zollman said.

Optimistic. Competition among websites is unlikely to drive consumers back to print.