Web content

Taking one more step into the broadcasting world, Google is planning a web-based TV service in partnership with tech giants like Intel, Logitech and Sony. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Google TV effort is in its preliminary stages.

The industry behemoths are reportedly collaborating on software that will help users navigate web-based video programming on traditional television sets. The software would offer a platform on which other developers could launch programs, the Journal reported. The technology could show up in future TVs, Blu-ray players or set-top boxes.

As Internet and television continue to converge, Google is actively testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The service reportedly runs on TV set-top boxes that host Google software and enable viewers to find shows on Dish and video on web sites like YouTube. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter who said the service will allow viewers to personalize a lineup of shows.

U.S. antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.'s proposed $750 million purchase of mobile phone marketer AdMob, the latest sign of greater government vigilance as Google tries to expand its advertising empire.

The Federal Trade Commission sought more information about the deal this week, according to a Wednesday post on Google's blog.

This so-called "second request" doesn't mean regulators intend to block Google's AdMob deal. Most other acquisitions that go through this stage end up getting approved.

You have good reason to be skeptical when someone says millions of ordinary television viewers are about to start surfing the Internet on the living room's electronic hearth.

We've heard that Web-on-your-TV convergence promise for more than a decade, with ambitious efforts to make it happen including AOL TV and WebTV Networks. Each time, the optimists have been wrong.

This year might be different.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to mandate Internet service providers to grant consumers equal access to all legal Web applications and services -- and the debate is on. What was once the battleground for wired service providers has been expanded to the flourishing wireless industry, and that spells bad news for large telecom and cable operators like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Comcast.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to mandate Internet service providers to grant consumers equal access to all legal Web applications and services -- and the debate is on. What was once the battleground for wired service providers has been expanded to the flourishing wireless industry, and that spells bad news for large telecom and cable operators like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Comcast.

Facebook ditched its Beacon program earlier this week, deciding instead to partner with Nielsen on a less-controversial vehicle to push advertising to its social-networking masses.

On Tuesday, Facebook announced a multi-year strategic alliance with Nielsen to help marketers make better use of the Internet to develop and market new products. The alliance leverages Facebook's global consumer reach with Nielsen's market-research savvy to offer marketers deeper consumer insights.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said Monday that Internet providers, including wireless, phone, cable and satellite companies, should not be allowed to block some types of content traveling over their broadband networks.

He told the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., that wireless carriers should be held to the "open Internet" rules by which home broadband providers are already abiding.

Failing to find a larger company to acquire it, Nambu Network will shut down its link shortening service. Tr.im has thousands of users and creates tens of thousands of URLs per day for social media users.

Like tinyurl, bit.ly and many other free services, tr.im converts a conventional URL to a shorter URL that redirects users to the original page. Link shortening services have been especially popular on Twitter. With a 140-character limit, URL shorteners make it more practical for members to share Web content with each other on the micro-blogging service.

Can you explain the specific areas that need to be included in a Web site to assist global trade and attract potential clients? What languages should the site display? Should I use a program that displays the site content in various languages? -- S.V., Australia