Girl Scouts of the USA and Microsoft Corp. have joined forces to create LMK (“let me know”)– an online safety resource where girls are the technology experts on subjects that are often best discussed at a teen-to-teen level, like cyberbullying, predators and social networking. This girl-led campaign allows girls to share their online concerns with peer “tech-perts” about the issues that affect them while raising awareness about how to help keep girls (ages 13-17) safe while surfing the Web. In addition, parents have access to a site specifically geared to their needs, equipping them with the tools necessary to understand and act on the rapidly changing world of online safety.

The campaign includes an interactive web site for girls, as well as an e-newsletter and web site for adults. Each month, the all-girl editorial board explores a different internet safety topic online and then shares what it learned in the e-newsletter, which is distributed to adults the following month. The e-newsletter and adult site are designed to provide parents with timely guidance and also serve as a tool to help families have open and honest conversations about the dangers that lurk in cyberspace.

Writing community Helium has forged a partnership with Hearst Newspapers, a division of Hearst Corporation.

Hearst Newspapers will leverage Helium’s social publishing platform to cost-effectively access premium local and lifestyle editorial content. Additionally, Hearst will employ Helium’s community debate feature to facilitate reader comments and better engage readers around the issues they are most passionate about.

Utilizing Helium’s freelance Marketplace, Hearst Newspapers will be able to identify a stable of community stringers, who are compensated for contributing articles on a variety of topics ranging from wedding planning tips and great day trips with your kids, to seasonal gardening advice and concert reviews.

Variety is offering readers non-stop access to the most compelling entertainment industry buzz via a new Variety iPhone Application and online widget.

Developed using NewsGator content syndication services and RB Searchs’ Zibb on Demand search engine, Variety can now deliver the most timely and credible news and analysis to its loyal followers whether they are at home, at work or on the road.

The Variety iPhone application is available at the iPhone App Store, and the Variety Widget is available now on Variety.com. Anyone can grab the widget and incorporate it into a web page, including Facebook, iGoogle and MyYahoo. In addition to the speed of content delivery, the new services allow users to select only the content they are interested in, whether that’s news, reviews, videos, photos or interactive tools.

Yahoo! Inc. has introduced three new targeting products for brand and performance marketers that are designed to help them reach the audiences that matter most when advertising online.

The new products include:

• Search Retargeting, which gives advertisers the ability to target display advertising based on user search activities;

• Enhanced Retargeting, which allows advertisers to deliver dynamically generated display ads across the Yahoo! network based on user activity on an advertiser’s site; and

• Enhanced Targeting capabilities for search advertising, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search.

“As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo!’s new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability,” said Michael Walrath, senior vice president, Advertising Marketplaces Group, Yahoo!.

A pending application to the New York Supreme Court seeks to force Google to divulge the identity of an anonymous blogger because of a few comments made on the Internet on one single day.

A hearing on the motion to reveal the anonymous blogger’s identity is scheduled for tomorrow. The petitioner, fashion model Liskula Cohen, alleges that references to her as a “skank” and “ho” on the website “Skanks in NYC” constitutes actionable libel under New York law and on that ground seeks to unmask the anonymous blogger.

“Despite its seemingly petty underpinnings, this case carries serious implications,” says Debra J. Guzov, co-founder of Guzov Ofsink, LLC, which is defending the anonymous blogger. “We strongly believe that if the plaintiff were to succeed in her efforts, it would move toward the erosion of our basic constitutional right to anonymous free speech.”

“Ideas are exchanged freely on the Internet in large part because participants can speak using assumed names or no name at all,” Guzov added.

How about you? What is your take on this arguments?

Publisher and developer of video games Gameloft has released its line-up of 20 games for Android-powered devices such as the T-Mobile G1. Through Android Market, Gameloft delivers “mega-games” with superior graphics and gameplay capabilities. The offerings range from Derek Jeter Pro Baseball 2009 to Oregon Trail and CSI:Miami.

“With digital distribution being the platform of the future, Android Market continues the momentum by providing new channels for consumers to find, buy and download games,” said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president, publishing, Gameloft. “We believe in the potential of Android Market, both in terms of content and accessibility. We will continue to support this platform any way we can.”

With internal development and production focused solely on digital distribution, Gameloft is ideally positioned to lead the way into the next generation of video games.

Break Media has launched All Left turns, a website for NASCAR enthusiasts. The new site will offer a fresh spin on the daily news, race analysis, driver interviews and profiles, rumors and cutting-edge commentary, all with an informed opinion and Break’s sense of humor.

All Left Turns was developed by and for NASCAR fans who crave an online community to celebrate the racers, racetracks and the fans themselves. Users will be able to live vicariously through other users as people upload photos from race-day, create fan pages and interact through forums.

Break has hired seasoned sports writer Stephen Thomas as Managing Editor to provide in-depth editorial coverage as well. Thomas has covered NASCAR for Sports Illustrated, CNNSI.com, FOXSports.com, and has written numerous articles for both ESPN The Magazine and Sporting News.

The new Web site provides Break Media additional opportunities to distribute relevant premium content to millions of unique viewers per month while simultaneously opening a new channel for advertisers to reach niche NASCAR fanatics, who worldwide spend about $3 billion on licensed products alone. All Left Turns continues to build Break Media’s network of sports sites that already feature almost 100 entertainment, gaming, lifestyle, humor, music, and technology websites.

AOL and NBC Local Media announced that local sports content from FanHouse.com is now featured across NBC Local Media sites. FanHouse local sports commentary and blog posts will be available directly on NBC Local Media sites and will include links to blog posts on FanHouse.com.

This marks the first blog syndication deal for both FanHouse and NBC Local Media and is part of the broader strategy of AOL’s MediaGlow publishing unit to extend the reach of its content across the web.

“Adding FanHouse blog content to our sites enhances our local sports commentary and analysis for true city insiders,” said Brian Buchwald, Senior Vice President, NBC Local Media. “This new partnership is another step towards delivering on our goal of providing up-to-the-minute, locally relevant content to our users from the best sources available.”

NBC Local Media features numerous daily FanHouse posts across its sites including: NBCBayArea.com, NBCChicago.com, NBCWashington.com, NBCDFW.com, NBCSanDiego.com, NBCConnecticut.com, NBCLosAngeles.com, NBCNewYork.com, and NBCPhiladelphia.com.

Buzzwire, Inc. has launched the first editorially directed and community-driven mobile site that features the best of the mobile web. The new site at m.buzzwire.com, lets users easily discover, experience, and share the most popular content on the mobile web and offers advertisers, publishers and carriers a new way to build brands, increase site traffic and increase revenue from new services.

Several publishers, including TV Guide, will incorporate the Buzzwire “Buzzie” button on their mobile sites enabling users to easily post and share their favorite mobile content to m.buzzwire.com , resulting in mobile traffic increases for Buzzwire’s publishing partners.

Anyone with a mobile phone and web access can go to m.buzzwire.com. The site features the freshest, most popular stories, sites, video, music, photos and people as determined by the mobile community, and makes them easily accessible to any user. Users can contribute content by sending a link to that content to Buzzwire by email, text message, or clicking on the “Buzzie” button on mobile web sites.

An updated analysis found that the U.S. could receive as much as $51.9 billion in federal revenue over the next decade if Internet gambling is regulated as proposed in legislation introduced by Representatives Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.). The new revenue estimates are approximately 22 percent larger than those of an earlier analysis prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2007, reflecting the increased online gambling activities of Americans despite attempts to prohibit activity through passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Representatives Frank and McDermott have expressed a commitment to re-introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would regulate the industry and ensure revenues that are currently lost to offshore gambling operators are collected and remain in the U.S. Representative Frank previously introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2046) that would establish a regulatory and enforcement framework for licensed gambling operators to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S. In March 2008, Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced a companion bill to H.R. 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 (H.R. 2607) which would tax regulated Internet gambling activities.