Internet News

(Newser) - The road to Carnegie Hall now passes through YouTube, which is borrowing a note from American Idol to give aspiring classical musicians a chance to perform on the world-famous stage. To snag a seat in the cyber-orchestra, contestants must download and perform—using a liberal interpretation of "instruments"—a composition inspired by New York's streets, BBC reports. More »

(Newser) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is living up to his chatty reputation with a 7½-hour state-of-the-city speech—on YouTube. The mayor, who is averse to speaking with the city’s board of supervisors and enamored of policy, will release the detailed address in 45-minute chunks. Why watch, wonders the Chronicle ? “The good news is no one has to,” Newsom says. “For those that don’t want to, don’t.” More »

(Newser) - Can 20th-century laws designed to stop old-school bookies put the kibosh on the multi-billion online gambling industry? Anti-gambling crusaders say they can, and they’re doing their best to prove it. Federal prosecutors have used the 1961 Wire Act to shut down several huge operations, the Washington Post reports—but critics say all the government is doing is driving companies, and their tax revenue, overseas. More »

(Newser) - We just can't seem to let Sarah Palin go. Nearly a month after the election, she continues to dominate user lookups on search engines, cable news sites, and YouTube, reports Politico. Alaska's governor ranks near the top of virtually every major search tool, including Yahoo, AOL, and Lycos, where she dominated the incoming president until just last week. “People are still searching for her in record numbers,” said a Lycos spokeswoman. “How bizarre is that?" More »

(Newser) - With spam running rampant across the net, in-boxes have become heavily armed fortresses against the unsolicited hordes. Unfortunately, we’ve overdone it, writes James McGrath Morris in the Washington Post . Morris recently discovered that spam filters would gobble up the latest issue of his newsletter, the Biographer’s Craft, because of references to "young adult" books, "hot" authors, and “nasty” lawsuits. More »

(Newser) - Lori Drew’s fate is in the hands of a California jury as the case of the “MySpace bully” goes into deliberations, Wired reports. After forceful closing arguments yesterday, the jury will decide whether the mother committed computer fraud by creating a false online identity used to bully a neighborhood teen into suicide in 2006. More »

(Newser) - Merger talks between Facebook and popular newcomer Twitter have ended without a deal, reports All Things Digital. Twitter wasn't satisfied with Facebook's offer of $500 million in stock, apparently concerned that the stock's valuation was too high, say insiders. Twitter also had concerns about how the two would integrate, and wanted to try building its revenue—currently zero—before pursuing a merger. More »