Craigslist offers prayer & support to Katrina victims
Craigslist has always created a sense of community online, more than ever since Hurricane Katrina hit the Southeast. The New Orleans Craigslist page is now filled with thoughts and prayers from well-wishers, as well as offers for things such as free temporary housing and long distance calls. Also, the Lost + Found section of the New Orleans page is packed with posts from people looking for missing loved ones. About 200 messages have been posted since midnight. “Looking for our friend, Eddie McDonough,” reads one post titled Looking for Fast Eddie. “Lived in Marrero on Gaudet Drive. Please let us know any info on him. Harvey and Pam (we used to live across the street from him) are concerned and hope he is okay. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of you in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.”

Google experiments with cross into print ad sales
Google, already a top player in the online ad industry, wants a piece of print, too. Google has begun buying ads in technology magazines and reselling those pages to small advertisers that already belong to the site’s online ad network, AdWords. The experiment is another step for Google to become a hub for ad sales and is the first big offline initiative. The ads appear in PC Magazine and Maximum PC, and a credit at the bottom of the page explains that they are “Ads by Google.” The company’s revenue rose to more than $3 billion last year. It has not said how long it will continue the experiment or how far it will be expanded if successful.

RIAA suing yet another round of file swappers
If slow and steady wins the race, the recording industry should be well on its way to a victory over file-sharers. The Recording Industry Association of America yesterday filed suits against 754 more people it says used file-sharing networks to illegally share copyrighted music. More than 14,000 suits have been filed since September 2003. The latest suits were filed in federal district courts in California, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Though the RIAA’s effort to curb illegal swapping may seem drawn out, there’s evidence that it’s working. Earlier this year the RIAA said CD sales in the United States were up 5.3 percent compared to 2003, with revenue up 2.7 percent to $10.7 billion, the first time in years that sales have risen.

MTV previews the return of  'Unplugged' online
“MTV Unplugged” is back. If you want to be the first to see it, head to your computer instead of the TV. On Sept. 23, Alicia Keys will star in the first episode of “Unplugged” in three years, but fans who log onto MTV’s Overdrive broadband channel will be able to view the show a week in advance. The performance was taped at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and features new and old songs, with guest appearances by Common, Mos Def, Damian Marley and Adam Levine of Maroon 5. An “Alicia Keys Unplugged” album will be released Oct. 11, which internet-savvy fans can sample early via MTV.com’s The Leak. MTV parent Viacom has been building up its online presence recently with such original offerings on Overdrive and Nick.com. Overdrive served some 4 million streams Sunday for the network’s annual Video Music Awards.

Urban myth disproven: Cells don't cause tumors
Dial away on your mobile without worrying you’ll get a brain tumor. According to an Institute of Cancer Research study published this week, risks for a rare benign tumor do not go up with mobile activity over a span of 10 years. There’s been an urban myth circulating for years that cells cause tumors. The ICR report confirms a Swedish study last year that found the same. In that study, 678 patients with acoustic neuroma and 3,553 who didn't have it were probed about their cell phone use.  But scientists are still concerned for children, and say it's too early to tell what the long-term effects of cell phone usage will be.