Media

eBay axes 'Psycho' land auction

Looking for a killer land deal? Better look somewhere other than eBay.

The online auction giant recently halted an auction on land in Wisconsin that was once owned by Ed Gein, the murderer who inspired the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie "Psycho." Mike Fisher, who inherited the land from his grandfather, said the auction was halted five days into bidding after receiving only one offer, which fell far short of his $250,000 asking price for the 40-acre property.

eBay told Fisher in an e-mail that the auction violated its policy prohibiting sale of murder memorabilia. The property, where … Read more

All hail Vint Cerf and his ceremonial robes

One of the unspoken pleasures of becoming a notable world figure is the opportunity to dress up in all sorts of regional garments. How many times has Prince Charles been able to don a headdress from a far-flung corner of the Commonwealth?

And the same goes with Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet and now chief Internet evangelist at Google. A few years ago, the University of the Balearic Islands awarded Cerf an honorary degree. As part of the ceremony, Cerf was given a robe (complete with a hat of many colors and a ceremonial amulet) … Read more

MySpace video spells trouble for teens

Two teenage boys from Novato, Calif., were arrested this week after allegedly posting a video of themselves engaging in illegal acts to a page on MySpace, the wildly popular social network, according to a report from USA Today.

In the video, the two teens were allegedly seen setting off homemade firebombs and throwing them into an empty airplane hangar that was once a part of Hamilton Air Force Base, which closed in 1976, according to the report. The building endured "minimal damage," according to police investigators interviewed.

Following the arrest, the boys were released, but they may still … Read more

MSN's search engine suffers outage

MSN's search engine crashed on Thursday afternoon.

A message posted on the site read: "The service is currently unavailable. Our team is working to restore service as quickly as possible. Please try your request again later."

The reason for the outage was not disclosed. Calls to Microsoft, the site's parent company, were not immediately returned.

MSN is vying to cut into the massive lead in the search engine category held by Google.

Cliffhanger satellite navigation

Maybe my misadventures with online map directions weren't so awful after all. A satellite navigation system is sending drivers in an area of central England up a cliff. Literally.

"Drivers following the instructions of their satellite navigation systems to a village called Crackpot are being directed to the top of a 100ft cliff, it was reported," according to a news article on Yahoo. "The glitch means motorists are being sent along an unclassified track on the edge of a sheer cliff edge." The road, in North Yorkshire, is described as steep and twisty. Several vehicles … Read more

Bug off! Anti-social networks are the new thing

Who isn't sick of all the invites to join someone's network on Friendster, LinkedIn and others? So it's no surprise that some people turned their annoyance into humor, as Wired News reports on Wednesday. Thus the three new sites geared for people who are sick of being befriended: Snubster, whose frowning face logo is a spoof of Friendster's smiley face, Isolatr, which "helps you find where other people are not," and Introvertster, "an online community that prevents stupid people and friends from harrassing you online."

Reason for YouTube outage unclear

As it watches traffic mushroom, video upload site YouTube went offline for about an hour on Wednesday starting at about 10 a.m. PDT.

Company spokeswoman Julie Supan said during a phone interview that she was unaware of any problems with the site. But minutes later, the company posted a note on its front door.

"We are currently rolling out new changes to the site," the note read. "We'll be back as soon as we figure this out."

Supan didn't mention any planned construction or outage to the site during the phone interview.

Teenagers … Read more

Elle Girl mag now only online

After five years in print, Elle Girl will stop the presses and publish exclusively on the Internet to better target its audience, according to a report in Ad Age. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., its parent company, plans to publish online and mobile content to reach the teen girls of its demographic.

With the rising number of teens online, the move seems to be a no-brainer. It's further evidence that companies targeting a younger generation need to reach them where they spend most time.

YouTube receives $8 million in venture funding

Video upload site YouTube.com has received $8 million in funding from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, the companies announced Wednesday.

This latest round of funding comes five months after Sequoia invested $3.5 million into YouTube, a site that has grown rapidly by building an online community where a mixture of homemade and professionally produced video clips are presented.

"The additional capital will be used to advance the company??s rapid growth, expand sales and marketing efforts," the company said in a statement, adding that the money will also go to helping the company expand its data … Read more

Webcasting crooner signed to RCA

Sandi Thom, the singer/guitarist whose live Webcast concerts created a cult following, has been signed by the RCA Label Group.

According to Thom's Web site, the official signing was Webcast at 9 p.m. U.K. time on April 3, 2006 and was "the first Webcast signing in major record label history."

The Scottish singer/guitarist has attracted fans with her live Webcam concerts from her basement in London.

"Anyone wanting to come to the venue physically and not watch it on the Web, please note that the room capacity is a maximum of 10 … Read more