click

One of the best known and simplest Firefox add-ons, AdBlock Plus effectively blocks online ads from a predefined list of ad providers. You can quickly personalize that list by clicking on the AdBlock Plus "stop sign" button it installs on either your navigation toolbar or your status bar. Adblock Plus runs unobtrusively in the background, and right-clicking an ad brings up message box, through which you can easily add to the list of blocked ads. Removing an ad from the blocked list also is as simple as clicking and choosing the appropriate option. Via the same list, you … Read more

When the long-expected development of smartphones and handheld devices into primary computers reaches maturity, Google wants to make sure it occupies just as strong a position on the small screen as it does on the big one.

Google set the stage for that future Monday when it announced a $750 million all-stock deal to acquire AdMob, which is considered one of the strongest ad network providers for the mobile-computing world. It's a familiar strategy; just as Google bought DoubleClick in 2007 to blend search ad expertise with display ad expertise, so it plans to add AdMob's network of … Read more

With a new display ad exchange developed by its DoubleClick subsidiary, Google is hoping to give its one-trick pony another act.

Google has turned into one of the Internet's largest and most influential companies on the popularity of its search engine and the profitable text ads it sells alongside those search results. This business generates the vast majority of its revenue and profits and gives Google the resources to tackle a variety of other projects from Google Apps to Chrome OS to Google Books.

But like just about anything, that business can only grow so fast. Google will need … Read more

Updated September 18 at 10:40 a.m. PDT with Yahoo comment.

Having conquered the Web's text-based ad market, Google is setting its sights on graphical display ads--a market dominated by rival Yahoo.

The search giant on Thursday took the wraps off a revamped DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a public exchange that allows publishers to offer excess ad inventory they can't sell to advertisers looking for a bargain. Google said the exchange will meld DoubleClick's ad exchange with Google's own technology.

"Better technology can help make display advertising work better for all involved," Neal Mohan, … Read more

Google is set to launch a public version of the ad exchange developed by its DoubleClick unit, according to a report.

The exchange, which has been open on an invitation-only basis to certain partners, will make its formal debut in two weeks as part of the Advertising Week festivities in New York, according to Clickz. The idea is somewhat like a swap meet for display ads, allowing publishers to offer excess ad inventory they can't sell to advertisers looking for a bargain.

Google's dominance of the search engine advertising market has been fueled by text ads. In 2008, … Read more

HTC has yet to announce its Click smartphone, but images now floating around the Web reveal details about the low-priced Google Android handset. The Click, which should launch in the fourth quarter of this year, is reported to cost about $300. This would put the Click on track to being one the lowest priced Android phones available.

Check out the HTC Click photos.

The Click's design is similar to the MyTouch 3G with some minor changes. The phone is touch screen only and it features a smaller 2.8-inch display. Gone is the trackball and in its place is … Read more

5 Clicks provides users with an incredibly simple way to make screenshots. Utilizing simple controls and fast results, you will never want to go back to the Print Screen button again.

The program's interface demands users stop at the Help file, since all you are given is a five-way arrow icon with no instruction. Luckily, the five-step instructions are so simple that users will be making screen shots within minutes. The program embeds itself into your toolbar, but can be activated with a single click to its icon. When users see something onscreen they want to capture and click … Read more

BasicMouse BasicBoard BasicBrowser allows users to disable mouse and keyboard functions in order to control the computer activities of children or student users. The program also includes a special browser that gives access to only Web sites approved by the user.

The interface is fairly straightforward, with a series of check boxes that allow users to select which functions they want to change or disable. The Help file comes as a PDF and is sufficiently helpful, though it could stand to be more detailed. For a program that is marketed as a parental control, we expected more information about how … Read more

As the new owners of the Pirate Bay take over they will have to eventually change things and sell out. So Rafe has dubbed them as Cruiseship Bay. We also discuss the pyrrhic victory of RIAA over Usenet.com and Rafe and Natali hate some more on Verizon.

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10276607-93.html

Cash for Pirate Bay file-sharers http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8128551.stm

Twitter reworks following lists, adds functionality http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10276568-26.html… Read more