Consumer content

In designing its new Places geolocation service, Facebook seems to have learned from its past privacy blunders. The new service has multiple layers of privacy control, but as with other aspects of Facebook privacy, users need to put some thought about whether and how they want to disclose their location. Facebook has also created an extra level of privacy for its under-18 users, prohibiting them from displaying their location to anyone other than their friends.

The first thing to know about Places is that it's not fully automatic. You have to "check in" or be tagged at … Read more

When Vevo launched in December, I wasn't very impressed. I wondered why the site needed to exist when it was mainly serving as a distribution point for the ever-popular YouTube.

Despite my skepticism, it has quickly become one of the most popular video properties in the United States, thanks to its large store of exclusive content. And artists and copyright owners, at least, are getting some money when their videos are distributed through Vevo, which often wasn't the case before.

Vevo on Wednesday launched its free iPhone app, which gives iPhone and iPod Touch users access to 20,… Read more

With the Google TV service set to make a fall debut, the race is on for Google to find content partners. But the company is having a tough time achieving that goal, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.

The new service, which the Web giant announced in May, will let consumers watch and search cable programming, search the Web, and view online content on a third-party device.

The first gadgets to feature Google TV are due in the not too distant future from companies including Sony, Logitech, and Dish Network. Sony, for one, plans to offer both an Internet-ready TV … Read more

Every big Web publisher, and lots of small ones, too, have tried to figure out how to crack the market for local Web ads. No one's figured it out yet.

But AOL feels good enough about Patch, its take on local, to take a minute to boast about its performance. Tim Armstrong's company is announcing that has now opened up 100 Patch outposts--digital versions of community newspapers, each staffed by a sole full-time editor and aided by a group of freelancers.

That's up from 44 at the end of the first quarter. AOL also noted it plans … Read more

Google remains the dominant player in the online-video space, according to research firm ComScore's latest market rankings.

In July, more than 143 million unique viewers watched at least one video hosted by Google--the vast majority of which, according to ComScore, were on YouTube. That figure represented a slight decline, compared with the 144 million people who watched videos in June on the company's sites. Google viewers watched more than 1.88 billion videos in July, averaging 282.7 minutes of viewing over the month.

In June, Google users played more than 1.81 billion videos and averaged 260.… Read more

Those of you who like getting nostalgic every now and then will be happy to hear that Lycos, one of the first major Web brands, has been acquired.

Daum Communications, a Korean-based search company, announced that it has sold off Lycos for $36 million to Ybrant Digital, an India-based digital marketing company. The Korea Times reported the sale early Monday.

Ybrant Digital's acquisition of Lycos included all of the company's many services, including site-builder tool Tripod, free Web host Angelfire, and people finder WhoWhere.

Lycos has a long and storied history. Founded in 1995, the site became one … Read more

Can Hulu really go public?

Yes, say sources talking to The New York Times, who imagine the video site launching an IPO "as soon as this fall."

And it's not the first time we've heard the idea: some of Hulu's network owners have been murmuring privately about an IPO for a while. My colleague Kara Swisher even got Hulu CEO Jason Kilar to acknowledge the possibility in an interview last month.

OK. But really?

For argument's sake, let's take Hulu executives at their word. They say the site will turn a profit on … Read more

Time Warner Cable is developing an iPad app that will let customers watch current programming, among other offerings.

The app, which has yet to be named or given a release date, was demoed in a YouTube video by Time Warner Cable Vice President of Web Services, Jason Gaedtke. When it's opened, the app delivers current programming for users to view in their area. They can see all the shows on now, or flip through the TV listings to see when other shows are on later.

According to Gaedtke, Time Warner Cable wants to achieve two basic goals with the … Read more

Has the market for home broadband reached a saturation point? It may have, at least according to the results of a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

After several years of solid gains, the rate of broadband adoption has slowed over the past year, according to the Home Broadband 2010 study (PDF) released Wednesday.

Among the more than 2,000 adults surveyed for the study, 66 percent now have a broadband Internet connection at home, a number not much higher than the 63 percent reported last year. Those percentages compare with 55 percent for the same period in 2008 and 47 percent in 2007.

The study discovered that 21 percent of those surveyed just don't use the Internet, citing a few different reasons. Many believe the content they'd find online wouldn't be very relevant to their lives. Some are simply not interested in jumping online. And others said they're not comfortable or savvy enough to use computers or the Internet on their own.

But those who don't have broadband access do face several challenges, according to the survey respondents. Among those questioned, many believe the lack of broadband is a major disadvantage when discovering job opportunities or gaining new career skills, getting information on health, and just learning new things to enrich or improve their lives.… Read more