May 16, 2008
Ask.com buys reference site Lexico
Valleywag
Jackson West outlines Ask.com’s recent acquisition of Lexico, the maker of Web site, Dictionary.com.
“Lexico…has been acquired by also-ran search engine Ask.com, a unit of Barry Diller’s IAC, for an undisclosed sum. It will mean an 11 percent boost in traffic for Ask and more revenue for Lexico’s sites, as Google had cut a special deal with IAC for a higher revenue share than it would give to the likes of Dictionary.com.”
How laptops disappear
Network World
Adam Gaffin outlines from a reported incident in Boston, how notebooks really go missing.
“Boston police report that a man using his laptop at the bar of a downtown restaurant got up to use the facilities (at 1:47 a.m.). And when he returned, guess what? Yep, the laptop was missing. Fortunately for him, the three alleged thieves were even dumber than him – police say they caught them nearby with the laptop.”
Forget credit cards, scammers now want your VoIP accounts?
Techdirt
Mike Masnick writes that according to the BBC, VoIP account info is now being targeted more often than credit card data by online thieves.
“According to the BBC, scammers selling VoIP account info are now able to get higher prices than those selling credit card data. Of course, it’s not at all clear how widespread this really is. The info seems to be coming from a company trying to sell a solution to deal with this — which already makes it somewhat suspect. Also, you have to wonder how valuable VoIP account data really can be compared to credit card numbers which have much wider applicability.”