For
a price, it's Yahoo without the ads
Yahoo is contemplating offering no pop-ups, or any other ad
distractions,
for a price. CEO Terry
Semel said that businesses purchasing
subscriptions to the site could opt for an ad-free version in the future.
Yahoo was known for online advertising and saw a huge decrease in its
total revenue after the dot.com era. It plunged from $1.1 billion in 2000
to $717.4 million in 2001. But by including paid services and acquiring
Overture Services, Yahoo generated $1.6 billion in 2003. The company
offers web sites that charge a fee for “premium” versions, some of
which do not run ads. Currently Yahoo does not have enough subscription
businesses to validate offering the ad-free service and has not decided if
the entire site would be free of advertisements.
Gates:
Passwords will go the way of Pong
At the RSA Security conference in San Francisco this week,
Microsoft mogul Bill Gates said passwords don’t secure information well
enough, and people will rely less on them over time. Of course, Gates has
a little something invested in that prediction. RSA and Microsoft are
teaming up to develop a SecurID technology that can be used with Windows.
The two-factor authentication system incorporates a changing sequence of
numbers and a password or PIN. But
internally, Microsoft will be using a smart-card system. The company has
also developed tamper resistant biometric ID-card software that companies
can use along with a business card scanner and inkjet printer to create ID
cards.
Sony
invites users to shake their groove thing
EyeToy: Groove is taking dancing in front of
the TV to a new level. This spring, Sony Corp will introduce a game for
its interactive EyeToy camera. Groove allows players to shake their
booties to 28 songs by artists such as Madonna and America’s favorite
newlywed, Jessica Simpson. Motions show up as actions on the screen, and
players score points by following prompts and keeping the rhythm. More
than 3 million EyeToy cameras have been sold since their introduction last
year. Sony will be selling the camera and Groove game packaged together
for $49.99. The game alone will be $29.99.
Britain:
A broadband leader by 2008?
A new study predicts that Britain will have the most homes
in Europe with high-speed broadband internet access by 2008, an estimated
12.7 million. If Britain’s access increases by 47 percent in five years,
it will bypass Germany, currently the largest broadband market. According
to research firm ScreenDigest, in five years Germany will have 12.6
million households with broadband, France 10.8 million, Italy 7.59 million
and Spain 7.58 million. The rapid growth is attributed to the UK’s
competitive market that has resulted in lower prices. The West European
nations’ growth will be welcome news to telecommunications and cable
operators who have invested in broadband services.
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