Revamped Time.com: More features and bigger ads
Following last weeks switch from Monday to Friday publishing, Time magazine today rolls out a revamped Time.com. The site has more breaking news, analysis and other original content to complement features brought over from the print title. The site is launching several new blogs, including one on intelligence by former CIA staffer Bob Baer, one on business by former Fortune writer Justin Fox, one on art by Time critic Richard Lacayo, and one on nerd culture by Time book critic Lev Grossman. Several Time foreign correspondents will also pen blogs. The new design is less cluttered, and there are also fewer ads, though they are larger and are positioned higher on the page. The site will begin offering pre-roll, or spots repurposed from TV that air before video clips, and mobile ads later this year. Expanded podcasts also are in the works.

Study: Social networks connect established friends
When it comes to social networking sites like MySpace, older teen girls are more likely than boys to create a profile, but boys are more likely to use the sites to actually socialize. Among girls age 15-17, 70 percent have created an online profile compared to just 57 percent of boys, the Pew Internet & American Life Project said yesterday. But the research also shows that 60 percent of boys age 15-17 use the social networking sites to make new friends compared to 46 percent of girls, and 29 percent of older boys use the sites to flirt versus 13 percent of older girls. Overall, teens use sites like Facebook and MySpace to stay in touch with existing friends more than they do to meet new ones. Pew says 55 percent of all online teens have created an online profile of some sort, and that 66 percent of them limit access to their profiles to just their friends.

Verizon Wireless promises live TV service for cells
Will the latest development in the booming mobile video market be a big boon or a big bust? Verizon Wireless, the country's second biggest cell phone provider, yesterday said it will launch a live TV service over its phones by March 31 with a network run by Qualcomm. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between telecommunications giants Vodafone and Verizon Communications, will start the service with eight channels providing entertainment, sports and comedy. Networks will include CBS, NBC, Fox and Comedy Central. Verizon Wireless hopes to expand to 20 channels by the end of the years. With regular phone calls having been commoditized and thus becoming cheaper by the day, cell phone companies are looking for new ways to lift money from customers' wallets. They've already added internet service, email, and music and video downloads to their handsets.

AmericanIdol.com streaming episodes of top show
If you have a late-running client meeting next week and forget to set your TiVo to catch the premiere of Foxs American Idol, chill out. Youll be able to catch up via AmericanIdol.com, which will stream full episodes of the show immediate following their broadcast premiere. The service is available from show producer Fremantle Media, which runs the web site and has a revenue-sharing deal set up with Fox. It may give a boost to a popular site. Last year AmericanIdol.com drew 40 million unique visitors. And for those who can't find a computer to download the first week of ear-pinching auditions, another solution: cell phone. Cingular will provide clips to viewers via mobile once every time zone in America has finished watching.