EarthLink beat analyst expectations for the first quarter of 2009 as fewer customers dumped its Internet service.

The company, which provides dial-up and broadband Internet service, said first quarter profits fell to $32.5 million, or 30 cents a share, from $51.7 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was down 24 percent to $199.1 million.

But these results beat analysts' expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters expected earnings of 27 cents a share, excluding exceptional items, on revenue of $202.4 million.

EarthLink is still losing dial-up Internet users. But it appears that rate is … Read more

Updated at 5:08 p.m. PDT with quotes from former Nationale Suisse employee.

CNET previously reported that Facebook users risk having a lower GPA. Now, according to Reuters and other sources, using the social-networking site could have another unpleasant side effect: getting you fired. At least that's what happened to a Swiss insurance worker who lost her job after surfing Facebook while out sick, her employer said Friday.

The unnamed woman said she had to be away from her monitor lying in the dark, but was then seen to be active on Facebook. Insurance company Nationale Suisse said … Read more

With testimony expected to resume Tuesday in the RealDVD case, it's unclear whether U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel will lift a restraining order against the sale of the DVD-copying technology. Still, the "Napster judge" has signaled some of her concerns about the software.

RealDVD enables users to duplicate a DVD and store the copy on a computer hard drive. RealNetworks, the company behind RealDVD, during a preliminary hearing in Patel's court on Friday, asked the judge to allow it to once again begin selling the software. The Motion Picture Association of America objects to the … Read more

Google has launched a Web page plug-in called What's Popular that can give iGoogle home page users a service similar to those offered by Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Mixx.

Google's own servers select links from YouTube and Reader and blend them with those submitted by users. The gadget shows users these links along with up and down arrows to vote approval or disapproval of the site.

Lacking in the Google feature is any way users can comment on a Web page, one of the central features of Digg and its rivals.

Rumors of Google's interest in acquiring … Read more

This post was updated at 5:53 p.m. PDT with details about an extension request of the May 5 deadline filed by seven authors.

Google said Monday it's seeking 60 more days to find authors and persuade them of what it believes are the merits of a settlement involving its online Book Search service.

The proposed settlement of the 2005 case filed by the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers involves Google's right to show information from books online--in particular "orphan" works that are still covered in copyright but that are in limbo, … Read more

Two new members have been added to the fresh lineup of MySpace's executive ranks, following the appointment of CEO Owen Van Natta last week.

Jason Hirschhorn, most recently president of Sling Media Entertainment and before that MTV Networks' chief digital officer, joins MySpace as its chief product officer. He's the second prominent MTV veteran to take on a role at the News Corp.-owned MySpace in the past year, following MySpace Music president Courtney Holt.

Hirschhorn is firmly on the digital-media and entertainment side of things, something that will invariably come into play as MySpace (ideally) restructures itself … Read more

Updated at 8:50 a.m. to include disclosure by National Consumers League that RealNetworks helped finance survey. More details at bottom of the story.

It's not just the Internet's so-called freetards who are criticizing the movie industry for stating last week that consumers are not within their rights to make backup copies of legally purchased DVDs.

Count the National Consumers League, a 100-year-old consumer watchdog group, to be among those who argue the Motion Picture Association of America is much too inflexible when it comes to blocking DVD buyers from backing up their film discs.

The issue … Read more

Cable operators and media companies are cautiously dabbling in on-demand online video, but this is one case where caution could be as dangerous as recklessness.

Recently, the nation's two largest cable operators have been talking about offering their cable lineup to subscribers online so they can view their favorite shows on their computers. And now, YouTube, the site Viacom sued for more than a $1 billion in 2007 and threatened to have shut down, is signing deals with big studios like Sony Pictures and Lionsgate, as well as TV network CBS. (CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a … Read more

Facebook plans to announce at a developer event Monday that it will open up user-contributed information to third-party developers, according to a report Sunday in The Wall Street Journal.

The move would allow developers to build applications and services that--with users' permission--access user videos, photos, notes, and comments. The move would be a significant change for the social-networking site, which had previously retained tight control over the site and how developers interact with it.

To allow developers to take advantage of the free feature, Facebook users would have to give the companies access to their data, and users' privacy settings … Read more