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After announcing an imminent round of layoffs last week, America Online began handing out the pink slips Tuesday. On the same day, Yahoo also laid off an unspecified number of employees from its broadcasting services division. Yahoo, which had 3,587 employees as of September, cut jobs in the Dallas, Atlanta and London offices. The company says the cuts won’t interfere with its webcasting services. Last year Yahoo laid off 660 employees. This year the company is ramping up its premium services as well as making cuts to try to offset the online advertising loss affecting just about every major internet company. AOL’s cuts will likely begin in the Netscape unit in Mountainview, Calif. The number of workers laid off could be a few hundred by the end of the week, CNN reports. America Online recently revealed that its ad sales have slumped by 40 to 50 percent this year.
Study: Child filters block more than porn
Government-mandated child protection filters used at schools and libraries may be shielding kids from more than dirty pictures. A new study by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation says that information on homosexuality, condoms and safe sex is also being blocked from many computers, especially when the strictest control filters are used. Congress requires schools that receive federal funding to use such filters; there had been a similar rule for libraries, too, but a federal court recently struck it down. Many filters, including those made by N2H2 and Websense, can be set to block either pornography or pornography and nudity, violence, swimsuits, etc. Filtering out information on dating, for example, also blocks information on safe sex and even abstinence. Planned Parenthood said it was alarmed at the findings, saying that kids need to be able to research private topics that they do not feel comfortable talking about publicly.
Phony eBay site swipes credit card #s
The Australian arm of a U.S. internet watchdog group has uncovered a scam to rip off users of the world’s largest online auction firm. A Florida-based web site called “ebayupdates.com,” offline since news of its doings broke Wednesday, has been sending out emails telling eBay customers to update their financial information on the site, which is not actually affiliated with eBay. The hoax host asks for credit card information. It’s decked out in eBay colors, and even sports the company’s logo. EBay has posted a warning on its site to customers not to provide such private information. The Asia-Pacific coordinator of Sans Institute Internet Storm Center provided a copy of the scam email to Reuters. The subject reads “Ebay billing error” (the misspelling of eBay should be the first tipoff) and goes on to say that the site is “having problems with the billing information of your account.” The first emails were distributed last Friday.
BBC Online's spending draws gov't scrutiny
The British government has targeted BBC Online for an investigation beginning in January, questioning the £100 million spent on its web site per year. Rivals have complained about BBC managers, saying they are taking advantage of their licensing fee. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will handle the inquiry, which will focus on sports and entertainment. Groups separate from the BBC complain that the site’s extensive services in those areas infringe on their commercial content. Others have complained that BBC Online hasn’t involved outside companies. BBC spending on its web site has nearly doubled since last year. The company says it will only rise 3 percent this year.
MPAA targets merchants in DVD piracy suits
If you’ve got a pirated version of “Harry Potter” sitting around, best to purge it right away or the movie studios may come after you. Tuesday the Motion Picture Association of America began a new crusade to eliminate copyright violations. The organization filed suits against individuals in eight states, alleging that they sold pirated DVDs via online auction. Although past suits have focused on pirated DVD production and technology, this is the first to target sellers. The offending parties sold everything from bootleg first-run movies still in theaters to illegal copies of regular DVDs. Such sales doubled this year. In fact, they now make up about 20 percent off all online piracy. The MPAA represents seven studios.
Honda's spokes-bot receives an upgrade
A four-foot-tall robot that appears at Honda promotional events now has the ability to understand human gestures and movement thanks to a software upgrade. “Asimo,” the company spokes-bot who also appears at showrooms and in commercials, could already recognize voices and climb stairs. The new technology helps Asimo seem more interactive. It can turn its head to follow movement and walk backward or forward. It can even recognize up to 10 preprogrammed faces thanks to the camera in its head. When it recognizes a face, it greets the person by name. Honda says the technology is so advanced that the robot “won’t follow strangers.” What Honda won’t talk about is the price. Although Asimo actually went on sale two years ago, Honda hasn’t said how much it paid. It will offer the upgraded Asimo for rental, though, for a mere $162,000 per year in Japan. Seven Japanese companies already use it.
December 12, 2002© 2002 Media Life
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