It should come as no surprise that most Americans with Internet access at work do some personal Web surfing on the job. A new survey finds that half of them would rather give up their morning coffee than forgo that ability.
Maps, news and weather are the chief nonwork-related sites visited.
A quarter of employees watch or listen to streaming media at least once a week from work, and 18 percent have downloaded and stored nonwork music, photos and video clips, according to a telephone-based survey sponsored by Websense Inc., which makes software that helps companies filter and monitor Internet use.
Many companies have Internet policies that ban pornography but allow reasonable personal Internet use, such as e-mailing a doctor to schedule an appointment or buying a gift during a lunch break.
According to the survey, 61 percent of employees with Internet access have spent at least some time accessing personal sites. The average is 3.1 hours a week, compared with 12.8 hours for work-related surfing.
Zoom in on the Coke can: As advertisers and TV networks begin their annual dance to sell 30- and 60-second spots, a company has launched a service to organize the buying and selling of alternative advertising such as product placements.
NextMedium’s Embed online marketplace lets advertisers learn about opportunities to feature their products in TV shows, films, video games and even music. It also offers research conducted with Nielsen Media Research to help advertisers evaluate how effective they are.
Advertisers have been seeking new ways to reach consumers who skip TV ads with the help of digital video recorders or shun TV and film altogether for video games.
One way has been to place “Coke” cans in front of the judges on “American Idol” or to make brands part of the plot, as has been done on “The Apprentice.” Advertisers are now even placing their brands into video games, song lyrics and music videos.
Spammers bite back: Score one for the spammers.
The company behind a controversial anti-spam initiative is shutting down the service after spammers began threatening users and rendering the company’s site inaccessible.
In a statement, Blue Security Inc. said it wanted to avoid “an ever-escalating cyber war through our continued operations.”
Blue Security has been criticized by some anti-spam advocates because its Blue Frog service revolves around getting thousands of users to collectively disable the Web sites that spammers use to sell their wares.
Users add e-mail addresses to Blue Frog’s “do-not-spam” list. Before sending out a batch of messages, spammers are supposed to remove any addresses appearing on such lists.
Wired magazine hands out the hardware: Steve Jobs was a no-show to pick up an award named after him, and actor-turned-muckraker George Clooney also passed on his chance to pick up the “renegade” award at Wired magazine’s annual Rave Awards.
Still, those who saw fit to attend the downtown rooftop soiree Tuesday included some real movers and shakers.
Rob Pardo, lead designer of the wildly popular online video game “World of Warcraft,” took top honors in the gaming category. The action-packed online role-playing game has about 6 million subscribers, Pardo said.
Steve Jobs won the inaugural Steve Jobs Award, which Wired says recognizes sustained excellence and creative genius.
Clooney was among four winners of the Wired Renegade Award. Clooney, Mark Cuban, Jeff Skoll and Steven Soderbergh shared that award for their new ideas and technologies that were incorporated into filmmaking and distribution.
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