Online copyright regulations announced

Several of the world's foremost media companies have collaborated to develop a set of regulations for the use of copyrighted material online.

Wide-ranging filtering technology will be in use across the board by the end of the year, the alliance concluded. Among the companies making up the alliance are NBC, Viacom, Disney, Microsoft, Fox and MySpace. However, the internet search giant Google declined to participate.

Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive of NBC Universal, commented: "[This] announcement marks a significant step in transforming the internet from a Wild West to a popular medium that respects the rule of law. "By recognizingthe mutual benefits of a technology-based framework to control piracy, technology and content companies have laid the foundation for the lawful growth of video on the internet." The guidelines are an attempt by the media sector to stop copyrighted content being shown on video clip sites like the popular YouTube site.

New "Thank You" Web Site Launched

New "thank you" web site launched

As social networking sites become increasingly popular, internet users will soon be able to post messages of gratitude and share their experiences on a new web site. Unveiled this week, Thanks-o-meter.com provides a total of the number of "thank you" messages posted by visitors, as well as offering statistics showing which categories are the most selected.

George Garner, creator of the site, said: "I'd like it to become a catalyst for bringing attention to the positive things happening in our communities." Visitors are also able to write their own stories and attach private messages to their postings.

The growth in popularity of social networking sites was recently illustrated by figures publishhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifed by comScore which showed that in May the number of people in the US using Facebook.com reached 26.6 million. According to the company, this figure represented an 89 per cent increase on the number of unique visitors recorded during the corresponding month last year.

For information on other digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com

Yahoo! Eyes Social Networking Site

The internet giant Yahoo! is rumoured to be mulling over the purchase of the social networking site Bebo, the Daily Telegraph has claimed.

It is thought that Yahoo! could pay up to $1 billion for Bebo, which is about a quarter of the size of the world's most popular social networking site, MySpace. Last year, rumours were rife that Bebo turned down bids from both British Telecom and Viacom.

The founder of Bebo, Michael Birch, has stated in the past that he would rather float the company than sell it outright. This year has seen a rash of internet takeovers which has caused the stock of fast-growing internet companies to skyrocket. The latest takeover was by Microsoft, who last week paid $6 billion to take over the digital marketing company Aquantive.

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! are the main players in the race to acquire these lucrative companies. In April Google won a major coup by acquiring the internet advertiser DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash.

iTunes Most Recognizable

Apple's popular music downloading site iTunes was the most recognizable music brand among teenagers in the US in 2006, according to a new survey.

A full 66 percent of people aged 12 and over were aware of iTunes last year, according to the Tempo Digital Music Brandscape study from Ipso Insight. This number is up from the 57 per cent who knew about the site in 2005. Matt Kleinschmit, author of the Tempo study, said: "While iTunes' awareness gains in 2006 have been salient, many industry watchers had anticipated them."

Social networking site MySpace also had a good year in 2006, with recognition rising from 16 percent in 2005 to 54 percent last year. Napster was not so fortunate however, with its recognition declining from 79 percent in 2005 to 68 percent in 2006. The Tempo study surveyed 1,501 downloaders over the age of 12 from August 21st to 30th.

"Music continues to be a driving force behind the Internet," states Mark Weibel the EVP of Marketing for Broadband National who operates the leading comparative shopping website for broadband and other digital related products and services. "Due to the expansion of broadband Internet users can quickly download and start to enjoy music and videos."

For more information on broadband and downloadable music visit www.broadbandnational.com