Internet & Media

Four of every five adults believe access to the Internet is a fundamental right, and more than half believe it should never be regulated, according to a new survey.

In a BBC World Service poll of 27,000 adults in 26 countries, 78 percent of Internet users believed the Internet is a fundamental right--with particularly strong response in South Korea and China.

Nine in 10 adults said the Internet was a good place to learn.

Read more of "78% of adults believe Internet access a fundamental right; 50% want no regulation" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

The online retail trade in both the U.S. and Western Europe is in store for double-digit growth over the next five years, according to Forrester Research.

The U.S. online retail business is likely to grow 10 percent a year compounded annually, reaching $249 billion by 2014, according to the report "US Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014," released Monday. Online firms in Western Europe, meanwhile, are eyeing an 11 percent annual gain over the next five years, hitting 114 billion euros ($155.7 billion) by 2014, according to a second Forrester report out Monday, "Western … Read more

A vast number of people will be seated Sunday evening, desperate to hear a good joke while the movie industry pats itself on its behind.

I am sure you have your favorites. For myself, I only hope that the divinity that is Sandra Bullock wins an Oscar, as she would then complete the most coveted double of winning an Oscar and a Razzie (which she picked up in person Saturday) in the same year.

The fine folk over at Torrent Freak have their own hopes. However, they have created a wonderful prelude to the big event, far more interesting than … Read more

The smoke has risen from the chimney of the one-bedroom cave in which Conan O'Brien now lives.

For what seemed like an ungodly eternity, the former host of "The Tonight Show" was following no one on his Twitter account. While untold hordes hung on his every spare word, not one human or cat was offered the merest gaze of the ginger one's interest.

With one tweet, all has changed. For O'Brien tweeted Friday that he has decided to follow one random human and change that person's life.

The fortunate recipient of O'Brien's … Read more

Google's Street View snapshot tours of Europe could potentially come to an end, according to a high-level executive. But a company representative differed, saying that Google has no plans to stop photo shoots on that continent.

Faced with European Union demands that Google reduce the time it stores its Street View images from 12 months to 6 months, Google Chief Technology Advocate Michael Jones said this week that the company may choose not to map any new photos in Europe unless an agreement on data retention can be reached. Jones, who is also Google's former chief technologist of … Read more

Wall Street is once again fretting over Netflix.

Some analysts didn't know what to do with themselves on Tuesday when the share price of the Web's top movie rental service shot past their performance expectations. Sure, Netflix continues to return boffo earnings, but after the company's share price hit $70, some brokers took a hard look at Netflix's prospects for the future, according to a MarketWatch story by reporter Therese Poletti.

What the analysts found was a Web video-on-demand segment filling up fast with competitors. That apparently spooked analysts at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Susquehanna … Read more

The copyright fight being waged by Viacom against Google will move into a crucial stage on Friday.

According to documents filed in federal court on Thursday, both companies are expected to file motions for summary judgment--when a judge decides enough undisputed evidence exists for a ruling to be made without sending the case to trial.

In addition to Viacom and Google, a group of copyright owners that also sued Google for copyright infringement in 2007 is expected to file for summary judgment as well. What this means is that the time of taking depositions and exchanging documents is over. The … Read more

Update: Things are running a little late. It should be starting around 10:30 a.m. PST.

YouTube is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. PST Thursday and we'll be there live with photos and text updates of whatever it is.

Details are scarce at the moment, but we know for sure it won't be related to mobile phones or movies. That opens up the door for a number of things including new Test Tube features, more TV shows, and that whole live streaming thing which was rumored to be coming out sometime in 2008.

As … Read more

Roger Ebert's search to recapture his lost voice uncovered a company with a unique technology.

When the famed film critic needed to find a way to communicate after losing his voice to cancer surgery, he turned to text-to-speech (TTS) software that speaks whatever he types. But the TTS software he initially tried sounded too robotic and computerized. He wanted a voice that sounded like him. That's when he discovered CereProc, a Scottish company that builds electronic voices. Using someone's audio recordings, CereProc's technology can stitch together an entire digital voice that sounds like the actual person.… Read more