TV finds wealthier viewers on Net, study says

U.S. television networks draw a younger, wealthier and better educated audience when they run their shows over the Internet, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study by Nielsen Analytics and Scarborough Research comes as networks have increasingly made hit TV shows--including ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and NBC's "Heroes"--available for viewing through computers.

Concerns that allowing consumers to view those popular programs and others over the Internet would cut into the number of people watching them on television are unfounded, the study found.

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SAP misses targets, gives hazy outlook

SAP failed to give a 2007 outlook for closely watched license sales on Wednesday and said margins would fall as it invests in software for smaller firms, sending its shares down more than 5 percent.

The German software group, which shocked investors by announcing earlier this month that it had missed its 2006 license sales target, said it would no longer forecast license revenues due to changing sales models.

Instead of giving an outlook for software license sales--the money companies pay up front for new software, which hooks them in to maintenance and service contracts--SAP gave a forecast for software and software-related services.

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Why it's not easy being green

PALM DESERT, Calif.--Numerous technologies exist to curb energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that consumers lack the willpower to embrace them, according to at least one energy expert.

"This country only gets excited about energy when oil prices get high," Dan Arvisu, director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said during a presentation at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit taking place here. "We do have a problem with how serious we are about our energy challenges."

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Netflix posts better than expected earnings

Online DVD rental company Netflix reported lower fourth quarter net income on Wednesday but still beat Wall Street expectations and its shares rose more than 6 percent in after-hours trade.

But the company forecast 2007 revenue below estimates, and one analyst said the company's outlook factors in the impact of stiff competition from rival Blockbuster.

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Kids' TV faces new Net restrictions

CNN can promote its advertisement-laced online presence however it likes during broadcasts, but new federal rules mean TV channels like Nickelodeon that cater to children no longer enjoy the same freedom.

The Federal Communications Commission decreed that during shows geared toward children age 12 and under, cable and broadcast operators may not display addresses for Web sites that contain any links to commercial content. The rules took effect on January 2.

Never mind that recent visits to NickJr.com and Noggin.com, online properties of kid networks, turned up more advertisements for Tylenol cold medicine and Nissan minivans than for anything youth-targeted. And some child advocacy groups would argue that many kids' television shows amount to program-length commercials for the toys and edible goodies endorsed by their stars.

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Pope condemns violent games

If Jack Thompson, the self-proclaimed crusader against violent games, was looking for a powerful ally, he just found one.

Pope Benedict XVI, current head and spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, voiced his opinion on games Wednesday from the Vatican, saying that violent or sexually explicit games are a "perversion" and "repulsive."

As part of the annual papal message for World Communications Day, the theme of which was "Children and the Media: A Challenge for Education," the pope talked about the media's effect on children, paying particular attention to games and films.

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Sundance holds screening in 'Second Life' for first time

PARK CITY, Utah--Never before had Sundance Film Festival audience members been part fox, used names like "NeoConD" and "Apparatchik," or had the power to teleport away.

Marking a first for both Sundance and cyberspace, these viewers were avatars watching a feature-length festival film Monday from a screening room in the virtual world of Second Life.

"This is one for the grandkids," said Henrik Bennetsen, who helped with the presentation in Second Life as part of the Stanford Humanities Lab.

The avatars were joined by real-life festivalgoers in a wired theater that allowed for a subsequent forum in which questions were fielded from both worlds.

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Simply Hired offers content-related job listings

Not making enough money off the Google ads on your Web site? No problem. Add pay-per-click job listings.

Job classifieds search engine Simply Hired on Wednesday launched a service dubbed "Job-a-matic," which lets Web site publishers and bloggers add listings for jobs that are related to the content on their site. The site makes money every time someone clicks on a listing, receiving 30 percent of the revenue generated, said Gautam Godhwani, chief executive of Simply Hired.

Simply Hired modeled its pay-per-click system on Google's AdWords search-marketing system, in which advertisers bid on keywords in an auction and agree to pay a certain price each time their ad is clicked on.

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Toshiba eyes faster chips to win in iPhone era

Japan's Toshiba said on Wednesday it will match rival Samsung Electronics' March launch of the industry's first 2GB NAND flash chip by mass-producing a chip with as much storage a month later.

Toshiba, the world's second-largest NAND chip maker after Samsung, is eyeing an expected a surge in demand propelled by Apple's music-playing iPhone, analysts said.

The iPhone--which will come with 4GB or 8GB of NAND--has fueled hope among flash memory makers who have become weary of price falls eating away at profit margins, said Mizuho Investors Securities analyst Yuichi Ishida.

"The iPhone is testament that price falls are giving birth to new applications and new NAND demand," Ishida said.

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New York pension fund takes lead in Apple lawsuit

The New York City Employees' Retirement System said on Monday it was picked as the lead plaintiff in a shareholder lawsuit against Apple over its stock options practices.

The pension fund will spearhead the lawsuit, which contends Apple violated securities laws through its options awards to top executives, according to the fund's law firm, Grant & Eisenhofer.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of other investors in the company.

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Microsoft extends support for XP Home, XP Media Center

Would you like some extra support with that software?

That's what Microsoft is now offering buyers of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition. The company announced on Wednesday that it is adding five-year customer support for the operating systems, marking the first time that such extended service has been offered with a Microsoft consumer product.

The "extended" support, which kicks in after April 2009, will bring the two products on par with Microsoft's Windows XP Professional for businesses. Microsoft previously reserved its five-year extended support feature to only enterprise-grade products.

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Microsoft to launch Vista with human billboard

Microsoft will kick off its Windows Vista launch activities with a human billboard in downtown New York.

The Cirque du Soleil-style performance will take place at 9 a.m. Monday at the Terminal Building.

"It's a billboard. It's marketing, except that it's made by people," Mike Sievert, corporate VP for Windows told CNET News.com late Wednesday.

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HP accused of spying on Dell's printer plans

A former Hewlett-Packard executive accused by the company of stealing trade secrets is now saying that he was instructed by the company's management to spy on rival Dell.

Karl Kamb Jr., previously HP's vice president of business development and strategy, was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by HP in 2005. It alleges that onetime HP employees illegally started a rival flat-screen TV company while still working at HP and it is claiming up to $100 million in damages.

Kamb, who has denied any wrongdoing, filed a countersuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Friday, according to legal documents.

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Profit surges at eBay

Quarterly net profit at eBay rose 24 percent, aided by strength in its core auction business and by international growth, and the company said 2007 earnings would be at the high end of analysts' forecasts.

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