Google is promising a few improvements to its online ad system to help stop the spate of advertisers hawking counterfeit items.

In a blog posted yesterday, the search giant tallied the number of advertisers using AdWords at more than 1 million spread across at least 190 different countries. As a result, finding specific accounts that advertise phony products can be a challenge. Google was able to shut down around 50,000 such accounts just in the second half of 2010, but the company admits that more needs to be done.

To help stop the proliferation of fake items sold through … Read more

Google has retooled its free iPhone app with a new name, a streamlined look and feel, and an easier way to narrow your search results, helping the mobile app work more like the Web site.

With its name changed from Google Mobile App to simply Google Search, the revised app launched yesterday for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Right off the bat, Google users will notice that the screen resembles the one found on Google's Web page with a simple field in which you can type your query. Tapping a microphone icon lets you speak your query, while … Read more

White-hot movie-streaming service Netflix could be looking to become the Web version of HBO as it negotiates to acquire an original television series helmed by "The Social Network" director David Fincher and starring actor Kevin Spacey.

The talks, originally reported by Web site Deadline Hollywood, were later reported by The Wall Street Journal, which quoted unnamed sources and said the discussions were part of a larger, "behind-the-scenes" effort by Netflix to hit up Hollywood production companies for original material to entice new subscribers to its streaming service. The Journal also said Spacey's representative had confirmed … Read more

The U.S. military has blocked from its computer network several Web sites popular with military personnel, as it looks to reserve bandwidth for use in earthquake recovery efforts in Japan, according to a report.

CNN said U.S. Strategic Command had confirmed that a block had been put into place Monday on the Department of Defense's .mil computer system and that the measure pinpointed 13 Web sites because of how frequently they're accessed.

The sites are: Amazon.com, Doubleclick, eBay, Eyewonder.com, ESPN.com, Googlevideo.com, Ifilm.com, Metacafe, MTV.com, MySpace, Pandora, Streamtheworld.com, and YouTube. … Read more

Last week, you could rent a movie on Facebook. Today, you can watch a live pro baseball game on the site.

Still think Facebook can't be a big player in Web video?

You can watch the game--today it was a pre-season matchup between the Dodgers and the Rangers--for free, via Major League Baseball's page.

If you click on the image, you'll be directed off-site, where you can sign up for a (free) account and watch the game on a full screen. And maybe you'll end up liking it so much you'll end spending up to $… Read more

On a day when the stock market got creamed--at one point down more than 200 points--shares of Netflix were up more than 14 percent in early afternoon trading today. Irrational exuberance or the smart money laying bets?

Maybe a bit of both.

It turns out that Netflix, which now counts 20 million subscribers, has turned into a colossus when it comes to viewing movies on demand over the Internet. In a new study out from NPD, Netflix's share of digital movie units, either downloaded or streamed, was put at 61 percent between January and February.

Consider that the No. … Read more

The intensifying nuclear crisis in Japan is raising anxieties on both sides of the Pacific over the potential impacts of radiation exposure, and a relative dearth of official information on radiation levels is leading some to turn to crowdsourced options.

Japanese officials warned residents living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to stay indoors after a third explosion at the plant in four days, followed by elevated radiation levels around the plant, which the officials said were high enough to harm human health. Panic was reported in Tokyo, as radiation levels rose to as much as 23 times the … Read more

It's always dangerous to have an emotional relationship with a business. Businesses change, often driven by innovation. Or merely the desperate desire to make more money.

So there is something rather touching in the notion that Jon Bon Jovi--he who named a band after himself--still feels emotional about the very process of buying music. A process he believes that Steve Jobs has ruined, nay, destroyed, nay, killed.

In comments to the Sunday Times magazine (actual story is subscription only), he offered this nostalgic version of what the music business truly is: "Kids today have missed the whole experience … Read more

T-Mobile has unveiled a new data plan that gives mobile broadband users up to 10GB each month and no overage costs for a price of $85.

Launched yesterday, the new "10 GB Web access + Unlimited T-Mobile HotSpot" mobile broadband plan is designed for T-Mobile 3G or 4G cellular subscribers who hop onto the Internet via their tablets, Netbooks, and notebooks.

With overage costs sometimes giving customers a nasty surprise when the bill is due, T-Mobile is promising no overage fees. Instead, the carrier will throttle back on the data speed until the billing cycle ends for anyone who … Read more