Internet News

(Newser) - A diplomatic misstep by Spain's king has rung in a $2 million windfall: A ringtone of Juan Carlos asking Hugo Chavez "Why don't you shut up?" has been downloaded about 500,000 times. Many fans are student foes of the Venezuelan president. Several versions use actors to avoid copyright issues, but one lawyer says even using the expression might violate Juan Carlos' rights, the Guardian reports. More »

(Newser) - Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is apparently going after Facebook and Google in the social-networking arena, Wired reports. Wales showed slides of his upcoming project during a speech in South Africa, and a tech blogger on hand described it as a "search/social networking hybrid" that incorporates elements of both internet powerhouses. More »

(Newser) - As broadband Internet access becomes all-pervasive, more Americans are turning from the tube to YouTube—and Madison Avenue is taking notice. The New York Times looks at the advertising industry's foray into online television, eager to get their products in front of the young, male, affluent audiences of Internet channels like Blip.TV or Blame Society. The technique is different, with product placement at the heart of the strategy. More »

(Newser) - If snail mail is going the way of the dodo, then it looks like, among teenagers, email is going the way of, well, the snail: half of all teens prefer instant messaging to old-fashioned emails; and while overall use increased six percent last year, e-missives among the "Facebook generation" dropped by eight percent, Slate reports. More »

(Newser) - They may be the most brilliantly successful—or luckiest—or both—small group of entrepreneurs in history: PayPal alumni who, like founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, left the company to create $30 billion worth of innovation: YouTube, Facebook, Slide, Yelp, Digg, investment firms, philanthropies, solar-power companies, an electric car maker and a Mars colonization plan. Fortune Magazine infiltrates the "PayPal Mafia" for clues to their success. More »

(Newser) - A media player publicly released today organizes Internet video programs and translates their feeds, centralizing your online viewing experience. Miro handily “solves a problem you didn’t know you had,” says Fortune ’s Josh Quittner. Not only can you subscribe to channels or programs from any video portal—YouTube, Blip.tv, Revver—but Miro can cope with HD feeds and join difficult BitTorrent streams. More »

(Newser) - Humor, embarrassment, obscenity, and silliness are a recipe for success in the age of YouTube. PC World clicks on the classics of a young medium: Bush and Kerry Sing "This Land Is Your Land": JibJab puts itself on the map. The Coke and Mentos Experiments: Geysers of soda set to music? Thumbs up. Back Dorm Boys: Two Chinese students passionately lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" create an instant classic. More »

(Newser) - With a new option allowing users to search for advertising pages, Facebook has crept another step closer to a search engine. Will the social networking site take the ultimate plunge in its battle against Google and roll out a full-fledged search engine? VentureBeat 's Doug Sherret explores how this engine would look and how it could succeed. More »