Following the rumors last month that MySpace was getting into the news aggregation game, MySpace News has now gone live. Built on technology developed by Newroo (which News Corp. acquired last year), MySpace news combines the aggregation functionality of Google News, with user voting similar to Digg.
From London's Times newspaper (which is also owned by News Corp.):
MySpace is going into the news business with a service that will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure.
This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape, which rely on readers to submit stories and determine their prominence.
Despite speculation to the contrary, MySpace News won't favor News Corp-owned content, and, according to the site's FAQs page, news outlets will be able to opt-out — presumably to avoid being sued, as has happened to Google News — and that sites that aren't currently featured (including blogs) can apply to be included.
As I've said previously, it's clear that with MySpace News (and previous efforts around video), News Corp. wants to make the social network a one-stop-shop, with no reason for users to go elsewhere.
MySpace is fast becoming a portal 2.0 in disguise.
Also from the Times:
It also marks the site’s ambitions to become a web portal like Yahoo!, providing its users with a front door to the internet.
MySpace Now Reports News As It Happens
Websites Ignoring Magic Cure Claims
ANDREW BRIDGES,
Many Web sites have ignored federal warnings against making unfounded health claims in promoting hormone products to treat menopause, the government said Thursday.
In letters to 34 Web sites, the Federal Trade Commission said in November 2005 it may be illegal for them to assert that their hormone products prevent or treat cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis or other health problems. The sites billed the products as natural alternatives to hormone replacement therapy.
Yet 19 of those sites still are selling the "natural" hormone creams and sprays by citing unsupported claims for the products' benefits, an FTC official told the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Many of the other Web sites reviewed have modified or removed the objectionable claims, said Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection.
She said the agency is following up with the companies that did not make such changes.
"We could have moved faster here and we should have," Harrington told Sen. Gordon Smith (news, bio, voting record) of Oregon. The committee's top Republican, Smith was the lone lawmaker present for most of the hearing.
Smith held the hearing to spur action by the FTC and Food and Drug Administration, and increase federal oversight. At issue are hormones that are custom mixed or compounded by specialized pharmacies according to a doctor's prescription.
"The FDA needs to step it up and so does the FTC," Smith told reporters.
The FDA has warned some Web sites that are selling hormone products, according to Dr. Steven Galson, the agency's drug chief.
Smith said his staff members recently bought a tub of progesterone cream from one of the 34 Web sites warned by the FTC in 2005. Advertising material from the site claims the cream increases bone mass density, prevents osteoporosis and decreases the risk of breast cancer.
"There are no studies that would support such a claim," said Dr. Jacques Rossouw, chief of the Women's Health Initiative branch in the National Institutes of Health's national heart, lung and blood institute.
Five years ago, an initiative study found that replacement hormones made by drug companies raised the risk of heart attacks, breast cancer and strokes. Research published this week offered the strongest evidence yet that the hormones can raise the risk of breast cancer and are tied to a slightly higher risk of ovarian cancer.
The 2002 findings led millions of women to the estrogen, progesterone and testosterone products sold by compounding pharmacies, which often promote their custom-made alternatives as safer and more natural.
"Hormones are hormones are hormones. The same risks apply to compounded ones as apply to FDA-approved ones," the FDA's Galson told The Associated Press before testifying. "Our position is these pharmacies are taking advantage of women, preying on their fears of menopause."
Loyd Allen, executive director of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, said compounding meets the needs of patients when off-the-shelf prescription drugs do not.
Classified Adverts Hitting All time low In US Newspapers
A sharp drop in classified advertising sales brought on by free Internet listings and a cooling real estate market helped push U.S. newspaper publishers' financial results lower in the first quarter.
Gannett Co. Inc., New York Times Co. and Journal Register Co. reported drops in revenue and profit on Thursday, while Tribune Co. and Media GeneralInc. both swung to losses from a year earlier.
"The theme here is severe, almost unprecedented declines in classified advertising, particularly real estate and auto," Benchmark Co. analyst Ed Atorino said.
The Times, Tribune and Media General posted results that beat analyst forecasts, according to Reuters Estimates, while Gannett and Journal Register narrowly missed expectations.
Newspaper shares fell in Thursday trading, with the Times taking the biggest drop at more than 2.5 percent.
Classified sales were hurt by tough economic conditions in some U.S. regions, as well as slowing home sales and winter storms, publishers said. But beyond that, the industry is still reeling from Web sites such as Craigslist.org that offer free classifieds.
Newspapers are making deals with the likes of Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Google Inc. to expand their Web advertising reach, and online sales are rising as a result. But that only accounts for 10 percent or less of total revenue.
"I don't think this is some kind of death knell," Atorino said. "The numbers were in line with some of the low expectations."
Online operations improved for most publishers. But the Times pulled back from its digital revenue growth forecast of 30 percent for 2007, citing a slower rise in ad sales.
The news comes as some Times shareholders try to get the company to eliminate a dual-class share structure that allows the Ochs-Sulzberger family to control the company's direction.
POOR WEATHER AND AUTO WOES
Gannett cited severe winter storms in parts of the United States for curtailing ad spending during the quarter as well as a weak real estate market.
"The housing cycle, and it is a cycle, will also pass, though we can't predict when," Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore told analysts on a conference call. "But when it does, we will be well positioned to capitalize on those better revenue results."
Net income fell to $210.6 million, or 90 cents a share, from $235.3 million, or 99 cents a share, last year. Revenue fell to $1.87 billion from $1.88 billion a year ago.
Pro forma ad revenue at Gannett's U.S. newspapers fell 4.8 percent, while at USA Today it fell 7.9 percent.
Journal Register cited difficult economic conditions in Michigan, where it publishes several papers, particularly as the auto industry based there overhauls its business. Ad revenue fell 6.9 percent to $86.4 million.
Tribune, which swung to a loss on special charges, said ad revenue fell 6 percent, with classified ad revenue down 14 percent. Especially hard hit were South Florida and Orlando, with real estate down 15 percent, help-wanted down 14 percent and auto revenue down 16 percent.
"Tribune's first-quarter results were largely in line with our expectations and highlight continued newspaper softness," Morgan Stanley analyst Lisa Monaco wrote in a note to clients.
Tribune is going private in an $8.2 billion deal involving Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell.
Ad revenue at the New York Times media group fell 4 percent during the quarter. Residential real estate ads dropped 8 percent due to a decline in local and national markets.
Media General, which publishes the Tampa Tribune, also saw poorer results in Florida, though its Richmond Times Dispatch paper in Virginia saw a 2.8 percent increase in revenue on higher average rates and real estate linage.
Overall Media General classified sales fell 13.8 percent.
Gannett shares fell 71 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $57.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. Journal Register shares dipped 7 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $5.84. Media General shed 57 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $38.52. New York Times dropped 66 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $23.90. Tribune declined 21 cents to $32.48.
Sphere: Related ContentYahoo Sued For Giving User Information To Chinese Government
The wife of a Yahoo user jailed in China for promoting democracy online is suing the Internet search engine company for helping Chinese officials track him down and convict him.
A suit filed in federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday by the wife of Wang Xiaoning accuses Yahoo of "aiding and abetting" torture and human rights violations by linking her husband and others to email and online comments.
Yahoo was referred to 10 times in the Chinese court verdict on September 12, 2003 that declared Wang guilty of "incitement to subvert state power" and sentenced him to a decade in prison.
"I feel very angry," Wang's wife, Yu Ling, said after a news conference on Thursday announcing the filing of the suit.
"Yahoo betrayed my husband for their business interests. They literally destroyed my family. All my husband did was express his political views."
The suit filed under the auspices of the US Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act names Chinese Internet search engine Alibaba as a defendant along with Yahoo's operations in China and Hong Kong.
The suit calls on the court to order Yahoo to stop cooperating with requests by China to identify Internet users and to pressure the government there to release Wang and others imprisoned as the result of such shared information.
Wang is also demanding cash damages to be determined at trial, according to her lead attorney, Morton Sklar of the World Organization for Human Rights.
Sphere: Related ContentNASA - Delaying Shuttle Launch Till June 8
Following the damage on the insulating foam on the external fuel tank damage during a freak hailstorm in February that left over 2600 divots, NASA will delay the launch of space shuttle Atlantis at least until June 8 so that its hail-damaged fuel tank can be repaired. Some can be repaired simply by sanding the area and others can be filled by pouring liquid foam into the dents.
Around half the divots are in clusters that require the wholesale removal of the damaged insulation and then new foam sprayed onto the tank, a job normally done by robots in a New Orleans plant rather than by technicians at Kennedy Space Center.
"What we're doing is letting the work drive the schedule, not the other way around," said Wayne Hale, manager of NASA's shuttle program.
Current progress means the repairs could be completed and the shuttle rolled out to the launch pad by May 6, but the launch window runs from June 8 to July 18. NASA officials had previously hoped to launch Atlantis in May.
The delay means astronaut Sunita Williams' stay on the space station will extend to eight months, setting a new US record in the process. "It really doesn't matter, I have lots to do up here," Williams said. If the Atlantis launch is further delayed into July, NASA will consider bringing her back on that flight rather than have her wait for the following shuttle mission as currently planned.
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