MySpace testing ads in music service
Hoping to boost revenue, MySpace Music has begun experimenting with audio advertisements that users must hear if they want to listen to music for free online.
The 30-second ads began appearing last week when users listen to songs on artist profiles, album pages, playlists and pop-out players. They expand on a trial that began in December.
The ads are impossible to avoid, unlike the visual, banner ads that can be put out of sight in background windows as users listen along while doing other Web surfing or computer work. But the audio ads are timed so that a user can listen to up to 100 songs on a playlist or to a full album with just a single interruption after the first song.
The oral pitches make online listening more like over-the-air radio, although online listeners can choose which songs they hear.
MySpace Music, a joint venture between major recording companies and News Corp., wants to boost the frequency of such ads this month before settling on how often they’ll be running.
AOL users can link with Facebook
Users of AOL’s main instant-messaging service can now chat directly with friends on Facebook.
AOL Inc. said last week that a new version of the AIM software connects with the chat function on Facebook’s Web site, letting AIM users communicate with friends who are logged on to the social network.
The AIM user still needs a Facebook account, however, and it’s the Facebook persona rather than AIM’s that appears to the friend on Facebook.
Users who download the new AIM software and link it with their Facebook profile will see their AIM buddy list include online Facebook friends in a separate section.
New York-based AOL said it was making the changes as part of ongoing efforts to improve the user experience.
Hackers wreak havoc Down Under
Hackers have shut down several Australian government Web sites as a protest against a proposed Internet filter that targets pornography and criminal sites.
The Web site for the Australian Parliament House was down for almost an hour and the Department of Communications site also experienced difficulties, the Attorney-General’s Department said in a statement.
It said Wednesday’s denial-of-service attack, which flooded the sites with bogus traffic so legitimate visitors couldn’t get through, was launched by a group calling itself only “Anonymous.” The attack mirrored one in November, also attributed to Anonymous.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported that Anonymous issued a statement saying that the attack was intended to protest the proposed filter, particularly its blocking of certain pornography sites.
Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
