Primedia puts About.com on the sale block
Add About.com to the long list of Primedia properties that have gone up for sale. Primedia, the publishing company owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, will be accepting final bids for the internet portal today. Bidders including Google, Yahoo, The New York Times Company, America Online and AskJeeves are expected to make an offer in the $350 million to $500 million asking range. The auction that has been taking place for at least a month is being managed by Goldman Sachs. When Primedia purchased About.com in October 2000 for $430 million, it envisioned merging old and new media by bringing its many niche magazines online. But once Tom Rogers left, the company seemed to abandon that plan.  Primedia still owns some print publications but has sold several, including Seventeen, Modern Bride and American Baby, over the past two and a half years.

Paris court says Google wronged Louis Vuitton
Google recently defeated car insurance company Geico in court over a keyword search dispute. But the search engine didn’t have as much luck when it came to luxury brand Louis Vuitton. A Paris court has ruled that Google breached the Louis Vuitton trademark by displaying advertisements for Vuitton's rivals when internet users typed the Louis Vuitton name or other trademarks into the search engine. Ads for knock-off Vuitton bags would pop up in the search results, leading consumers to believe they were the real product. The court ruled that Google was guilty of false publicity and counterfeiting. Google was ordered to pay $260,000 plus costs and is considering an appeal.

Search + opinions? Ask Jeeves buys Bloglines
With the popularity of blogs on the rise, highlighting them might make search engine Ask Jeeves stronger competition for the likes of Google and Yahoo. Ask Jeeves has purchasd Bloglines, a popular blog index and internet news source. The Oakland-based company finalized the deal last week, but it will be officially announced for the first time today. Bloglines was established in 2003, and its searchable index contains nearly 285 million articles posted on blogs. It uses Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a system that takes information from designated sites and then distributes the summaries and links to users. Most of Bloglines' technology will be integrated into Ask Jeeves' existing network.

Spam switches from inbox to incoming call
Just as we are starting to get a handle on junk mail in our email inboxes, spammers have begun targeting cell phones. But this time we’re getting an earlier start on fighting the spammers. Yesterday the Federal Communications Commission published a list of web sites that send spam and unsolicited text messages to cell phones. With the help of mobile phone service carriers, the FCC compiled a list of domains. Sites on the list have 30 days to stop distributing the unwanted mail. Under anti-spam legislation signed by President Bush in 2003, spammers could be fined up to $11,000 per violation.