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Justin Timberlake signs YouTube star to new record label

Looks like YouTube is bringing sexy back. Former boy band sensation and current pop star du jour Justin Timberlake has signed Esmee Denters, an 18-year-old Dutch singer who got her start by building up buzz on the ubiquitous video-sharing site, to his new record label.

Timberlake, 26, founded Tennman Records in a joint venture with Interscope Records last month; Denters is the first artist signed.

But despite her karaoke-like start, Denters is no "Numa Numa" kid--she can actually sing. She's been performing in several European countries already after gaining a fan base through videos where she sang … Read more

For Paris Hilton, 'The Prison Life' is all games

From GSN, the creative minds who brought us such enduring game classics as Kim Jong-Il: Missile Maniac, Rosie vs. Trump and Foley's Follies, comes The Prison Life: Paris, which offers players a behind-the-bars peek at the hotel heiress' life in the clink.

Orange is the new pink in this online title, in which an animated Hilton in stiletto heels, designer sunglasses and an orange jumpsuit attempts to undertake her prison duties under the watchful eye of a baton-wielding warden. "Paris is in jail and the warden has assigned her to design and build license plates. Help her with … Read more

News roundup: MMORPG economies, resignations, and music videos

BBC to broadcast in 'Second Life'. BBC's show The Money Programme will broadcast on Friday both on regular television and in the MMORPG Second Life. This episode of The Money Programme deals with with the economies that have sprung up as a result of these micropayment-filled virtual currency markets, including World of Warcraft, Lord of the RingsOnline, and Second Life. The social network has played host to several other real-life events in the past, including concerts and business meetings.

Warner to put ad-supported video archive online. Warner music is putting together a platform to deliver music videos and other … Read more

Blizzard suing 'WoW' gold sellers

World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard Entertainment has filed suit in U.S. federal court against a popular gold-selling operation for spamming players with ads for virtual gold, according to the Warcry Network and other sources.

In its post, Warcry's Razorwire blog quoted a Blizzard employee as saying, "We felt that it was important to share with the community just how serious we are in our efforts to combat (in-game gold spamming). Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization."

Blizzard spokesperson Shon Damron, in an e-mail, confirmed the lawsuit.

It'… Read more

With GreenBorder, Google gets deeper into Net security

Google's purchase of GreenBorder Technologies--a browser virtualization software company that creates a sandboxed environment for your existing Firefox or Internet Explorer browse--follows on the heels of Google announcing a blog from its nascent antimalware team. With rumors of a possible forthcoming antivirus acquisition, the Mountain View search giant has jumped into the Internet security business feet first.

Nerves must be raw at traditional security vendors Symantec and McAfee. Last year Microsoft announced its own security suite, Microsoft Windows Live Onecare, and proceeded to capture a lion's share of sales in the Internet security suite space. Now Google … Read more

Joost partners with Creative Arts Agency

Joost has announced another partnership--but this one's a little different than the seemingly endless announcements of niche TV deals that the much-hyped Web video start-up has been rolling out over the past few months. This time, Joost will be partnering with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and several international locations. Through this deal, the CAA--which represents industries from TV to theater to video games to sports--will help Joost secure more content for distribution.

In other words, it's a partnership that will optimally lead to more … Read more

Suspect named in Tacoma house-trashing incident

We all remember the story of the giveaway house in Tacoma. Somebody posted an ad on the Seattle area Craigslist inviting folks to take away whatever they could find inside an otherwise unremarkable home. The response was eager and effective. Woodwork and fixtures vanished out the door. What was left was trashed. The incident aroused much online interest.

There was some police interest as well. Tacoma police told CNET News.com there would be criminal charges filed. And now the accused hoaxer, the person who invited the world to trash, has been charged.

Police have accused Nichole M. Blackwell, 28, … Read more

An eBay for wine collectors

Half Moon Bay, Calif.--The best wines in the world aren't at Trader Joe's, it turns out. They are in some collector's cellar.

"The better the quality of the wine, the harder it is to get," said Stephen Bachmann, CEO of Vinfolio, a wine trading/collecting site at the Think Tomorrow Today conference taking place in Half Moon Bay, California this week. "The best wines that get released end up in the cellars of collectors. Private cellars have more supplies of these wines than the trade does."

Vinfolio essentially acts like an eBay … Read more

World's Fair of Virtual Worlds coming

If you've followed media reports about virtual worlds, this site among them, you might think the only one that exists is Second Life. But, of course, there are many others.

Now, Mario Gerosa, an Italian journalist, is planning to show the world just that.

He is planning to put on, next month, the first "world's fair" of virtual worlds.

The event will take place in Second Life and will give other titles, such as World of Warcraft, Entropia Universe and others, an opportunity to present themselves.

"A dragon will be in the World of Warcraft … Read more