Registered domains close to 200 million

People attempting to launch a personal or business-based website may have issues trying to find a catchy name or URL that hasn't been registered already.

VeriSign said 11 million new domain names were registered in the fourth quarter of 2009, pushing the total number to 192 million at year's end.

At the end of the third quarter, there were 187 million registered domain names. That was up from 177 million at the end of 2008.

Quick math shows that sign-ups work out to be about 3.7 million new registrations per month in the fourth quarter, the company said. New websites with the .com and .net domains occured at a rate of about 2.4 million per month in the fourth quarter.

And those that have registered the name they want are keeping them at a steady pace as well, VeriSign said, as the renewal rate in the fourth quarter was 71 percent, about the same as it was in the fourth quarter of 2008.

VeriSign said about 88 percent of domain names lead to operating sites, while a quarter of domain names connect to one-page websites, and about two-thirds connect to multiple page sites.

Volvo brings the home PC to the backseat

Keeping the kids entertained on long drives by popping in a Disney DVD may not be enough for today's media-savvy youth. But with a debut at the Chicago Auto Show, the 2010 Volvo XC70 may have an answer for the "are we there yet?" age group.

The new car features what the company claimed to be the industry's "first internet connected rear seat entertainment system" with Windows XP, Wi-Fi and a 500 GB hard drive. The new system will allow even the most media-jaded of tweens to surf the web, friend someone on Facebook or download a movie or song all using a digital touchscreen.

"These technological properties are what we know appeal to the discerning electronics buyers and owners of Volvo vehicles," said Jack Lawson, Product Manager at Volvo Cars of North America.

With connectivity to the owner's home computer, the RSEi-500 - as the rear seat entertainment system is called- will also allow them to take files, movies and more with them on any trip, the company said.

Volvo joins Ford, which announced Wi-Fi capabilities for some of its future Sync-enabled cars late last year, in providing internet access for its passengers.

California considers legalizing internet gambling

California has taken initial steps toward becoming the first state to offer internet poker when the Senate Governmental Organization Committee held an informational hearing to consider the topic. While reports said that there was no pending legislation on the topic, the state's $20 billion deficit has some seriously considering the notion - especially as the committee was told that legalizing online poker could quickly become a $1.4 billion industry in California and could generate $50 million in added revenue for the state, according to the Desert Sun. Federal law currently prohibits online gambling from operating in the U.S., which - in addition to expected in-state opposition, especially from some major casino Indian tribes - led committee chair Senator Roderick Wright, to tell the Desert Sun newspaper "Clearly whatever we do will end up in court.'' Internet gaming accounted for $5.9 billion in 2008 from players in the United States and $21.0 billion from players worldwide for offshore and foreign gambling sites, according to the American Gaming Association.

Study: Teens blogging less, using Facebook more

It seems that blogging is so "over" for most teens, as they turn to social networking sites in droves, according to a recent report. According to a report in USA Today, blogging among teens and young adults has plummeted since 2006. In that year, 28 percent of teenagers from 12 to 17 and adults ages 18 to 29 were bloggers. By the fall of 2009, the numbers had dropped to 14 percent of teens and 15 percent of young adults, according to the study. But it may be a shift in social media preference that has precipitated the decline in blogging, according to the report.. "What we think is really going on here - why young people aren't doing blogs anymore - is that there's been a move from MySpace, which put blogging front and center, to Facebook, which doesn't have that," study author, Amanda Lenhart told the USA Today. Overall, the survey found that 73 percent of teens aged 12 to 17 use social networks in one form or another.

Twitter phishing attack forces password changes

Social networking site Twitter recently instructed a number of users to change passwords after a phishing scam managed to steal the private details of a number of user accounts. Twitter said that it had blocked a number of accounts of users who have fallen victim to the scam, which is designed to steal login information by constructing a fake site or email. The exact number of users affected is said to be small, although the company did not give a specific number. "As part of our ongoing efforts to monitor our user base for odd activity, we noticed a sudden surge in followers for a couple accounts in the last five days," said Del Harvey director of trust and safety at Twitter. "Given the circumstances surrounding this, we felt it was best to push out a password reset to accounts that were following these suspicious users." The site warned users that their passwords "may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter," resulting in the reset passwords. News of this attack came hot on the heels of a report from Sophos that reported social network malware rose 70 percent last year.