Yahoo! News: Internet News: EU, tech firms link up to protect children online (Reuters)

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EU, tech firms link up to protect children online (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 19:26 BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission joined forces with major technology firms including Apple, Facebook and Google on Thursday to improve the protection of children online. The coalition, which includes 28 companies, will develop an age-based online ratings system and aims to strengthen privacy settings. It also plans by the end of next year to make it easier to report inappropriate content. Other measures include improving parental controls and enhancing cooperation among law enforcement and hotline authorities to remove online material showing sexual abuse. "This new coalition should provide both children and parents with transparent and consistent protection tools to make the most of the online world," said Neelie Kroes, the EU commissioner who deals with digital technology policy. The formation of the coalition follows a report by the European Commission in June, which found 14 leading social networking sites, such as Facebook, inadequately protected children's profiles and data. British-based group Childnet International, which aims to protect children online, said the coalition was a good start. "We welcome this initiative and we are hopeful of what it might achieve," said Childnet International Chief Executive Will Gardner. "We are looking at a statement of purpose, this is the beginning." Many children become active online as early as seven and 38 percent of 9- to 12-year-olds have their own social networking profiles, according to EU research. Over 30 percent of children access the Internet via a mobile device and 26 percent via video game consoles. Other companies in the coalition include Apple, BSkyB, BT, Deutsche Telekom AG, Nintendo, Nokia and Orange. (Reporting By Christopher Le Coq; Editing by Rex Merrifield and Sophie Hares)

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: IPhone surpasses celebs, news as most searched on Web (Reuters)

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IPhone surpasses celebs, news as most searched on Web (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 18:00 (Reuters) – Apple's iPhone edged past major news events, celebrities and pop stars as the top searched term on the Web in 2011, according to Yahoo! The digital media company said the smartphone proved more popular than reality television celebrity Kim Kardashian, pop star Katy Perry and singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who placed in the top five. American Casey Anthony, the woman acquitted of the murder of her young daughter after a highly publicized trial, was No. 2. "This is the first time since 2002 that we have had a gadget at No.1, which is an iPhone." Vera Chan, a Web trend analyst at Yahoo!, said in a conference call announcing the results of the review now in its 10th year. "Even though the product has been around for four years it just became such a major news story," she added. PlayStation2 topped the list in 2002. Chan credited the iPhone with helping to facilitate political movements around the world and said the device embodied the vision of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who died in October. Women dominated the list, capturing six out of the top 10 spots. Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan made headlines for a brief stay in jail and court appearances for violating probation on drunken driving and theft charges captured the No. 6 spot. Actress Jennifer Aniston, a first timer on the top 10 list along with Lopez, came in eighth. In addition to the Casey Anthony trial, the Japan earthquake and Osama bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. assault in Pakistan earlier this year, were the only news stories to make the top 10. "People don't have to search for details they get in the news, and it is rare that a news story end up on the overall list," said Chan. Pop princess Britney Spears, who dominated the list in the top spot for four consecutive years, failed to make the list this year. "American Idol," which was the most search item in 2004, placed seventh. The Yahoo! list is based on aggregated visitor activity on the network and billions of consumer searches.

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: Betfair urges EU action against German gambling law (Reuters)

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Betfair urges EU action against German gambling law (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 16:34 BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British online gambling company Betfair urged EU regulators on Thursday to stop Germany from implementing a new gambling law, saying it did not comply with EU rules and that it favored state monopolies. The German sports betting market, estimated to be worth at least 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion), is monopolized by the country's 16 states. "Under these current proposals Germany's new state treaty will be out of line and out of touch with fundamental EU law," Betfair's chief legal and regulatory affairs officer Martin Cruddace said in a statement. Betfair, the world's biggest betting exchange, said the updated draft favored the incumbent state monopoly because of various provisions. It first complained to the European Commission over the issue in July. Betting companies from other EU countries previously complained that the new rules would severely hamper their activities or shut them out of the market. Several online gambling companies have taken a number of EU countries to court in a bid to break into a lucrative market with sales of 80 billion euros last year. ($1 = 0.7429 euros) (Reporting by Christopher Le Coq and Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Holmes)

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: First Superman comic sells for record $2.2 million (Reuters)

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First Superman comic sells for record $2.2 million (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 16:29 LONDON (Reuters) – A copy of the first issue of Action Comics, in which Superman was unveiled to the world, has sold in an online auction for a record $2.16 million. It cost 10 cents when it was published in 1938. The comic, featuring a picture of the "Man of Steel" lifting a car above his head as people around him flee, had been valued at just over $1 million by auction site ComicConnect.com. U.S.-based ComicConnect described it as "the most important comic book in the history of comics," and said its unusually good condition added to its value. The copy of Action Comics No. 1 was stolen from a collector in 2000 but resurfaced after an entrepreneur bought the contents of a storage unit near Los Angeles. "What makes this copy so special ... is it's the highest graded copy known to exist -- it's a 9.0 on a scale of one to 10," said Vincent Zurzolo of ComicConnect. Several reports in the United States said the owner of the comic at the time of the theft was Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, although there was no confirmation of the identity of the buyer or seller. ComicConnect held the previous record for a comic sold at auction, for a similar copy of slightly lower quality, which fetched $1.5 million in 2010. About 100 copies of Action Comics No.1 are believed to exist. (Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: IPhone surpasses celebs, news as most searched on Web (Reuters)

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IPhone surpasses celebs, news as most searched on Web (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 14:34 (Reuters) – Apple's iPhone edged past major news events, celebrities and pop stars as the top searched term on the Web in 2011, according to Yahoo! The digital media company said the smartphone proved more popular than reality television celebrity Kim Kardashian, pop star Katy Perry and singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who placed in the top five. American Casey Anthony, the woman acquitted of the murder of her young daughter after a highly publicized trial, was No. 2. "This is the first time since 2002 that we have had a gadget at No.1, which is an iPhone." Vera Chan, a Web trend analyst at Yahoo!, said in a conference call announcing the results of the review now in its 10th year. "Even though the product has been around for four years it just became such a major news story," she added. PlayStation2 topped the list in 2002. Chan credited the iPhone with helping to facilitate political movements around the world and said the device embodied the vision of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who died in October. Women dominated the list, capturing six out of the top 10 spots. Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan made headlines for a brief stay in jail and court appearances for violating probation on drunken driving and theft charges captured the No. 6 spot. Actress Jennifer Aniston, a first timer on the top 10 list along with Lopez, came in eighth. In addition to the Casey Anthony trial, the Japan earthquake and Osama bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. assault in Pakistan earlier this year, were the only news stories to make the top 10. "People don't have to search for details they get in the news, and it is rare that a news story end up on the overall list," said Chan. Pop princess Britney Spears, who dominated the list in the top spot for four consecutive years, failed to make the list this year. "American Idol," which was the most search item in 2004, placed seventh. The Yahoo! list is based on aggregated visitor activity on the network and billions of consumer searches.

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: No antitrust talks at Google meeting: EU's Almunia (Reuters)

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No antitrust talks at Google meeting: EU's Almunia (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 14:55 BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday he would meet Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt next week, adding he would not be discussing the regulator's investigation into the Internet search engine's business practices. The European Commission opened an investigation in November 2010 after nine rivals accused Google of abusing its dominant position in the market for web search services. Google said it has done nothing wrong. "This is not a meeting to discuss in detail the case being investigated by my services. Schmidt is coming for a conference and we are very keen to exchange views," EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters. Schmidt is scheduled to speak at a conference organized by the Commission on Monday December 5 at 1700 GMT. The Commission is now assessing comments from rivals and customers on Google's business practices. It has levied billions of euros in fines on companies, among them Microsoft and Intel, for breaching EU antitrust rules. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by David Hulmes)

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Yahoo! News: Internet News: Exclusive: Trulia hires PayPal executive as CFO (Reuters)

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Exclusive: Trulia hires PayPal executive as CFO (Reuters) Dec 1st 2011, 10:52 (Reuters) – Real estate website Trulia Inc said on Thursday it hired veteran finance executive and deal-maker Sean Aggarwal from eBay Inc's PayPal to help manage a business that has grown significantly in the past year. Aggarwal, formerly vice president of finance at PayPal and chief financial officer of eBay's U.S. category, is joining Trulia as the company's CFO. Trulia, backed by venture capital firms Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital, also hired Scott Darling, former general counsel of Imperva Inc, a data-security software company that went public last month. Trulia, which competes with Zillow Inc in the online real estate market, has been growing quickly despite a lackluster U.S. housing market. In the third quarter, Trulia's website averaged 16.5 million monthly unique visitors, up from 8.7 million a year earlier. Pete Flint, co-founder and chief executive of Trulia, said the company hired Aggarwal and Darling to help manage what has become a much bigger business. "We see a long-term opportunity to be an independent public company, but when that happens will be when we're ready," Flint told Reuters. "These executives have private company and public company experience -- both of those are important for Trulia." Zillow went public in July and its shares almost doubled on the first day, valuing the company at almost $1 billion. The shares have since fallen and recently traded at $22.38, just above their $20 IPO price. Zillow is currently worth just over $600 million, according to Thomson Reuters data. At PayPal, Aggarwal ran finance at several divisions, including PayPal Mobile. He also worked on eBay's recent acquisition of mobile payment company Zong and led the financial integration of Bill Me Later, which eBay acquired in 2008 for almost $1 billion. Aggarwal, who is an angel investor in Silicon Valley, was also previously director of finance at Amazon.com and PepsiCo and an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Flint said Aggarwal's deal-making experience was another draw for Trulia. The company bought Movity in late 2010, it's only acquisition to date. "We're always intrigued by other opportunities," Flint said. (Reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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