Yahoo chat rooms are being closed to anyone under 18. That's an announcement made today under an agreement between Yahoo and the New York State attorney general's office.

Both the state of New York and the state of Nebraska started investigations earlier this year after reports of children having unrestricted access to adult chat rooms, making children easy prey for adults of a certain persuasion. Mr. Spitzer's office told of an investigator who posed as a 14-year old girl in the Yahoo Chat area, and received 35 sexually explicit messages within 25 minutes.

According to a Yahoo spokesperson, "Yahoo is taking further steps to enhance user safety by restricting Yahoo Chat to users 18 and older and removing the Teen category. Yahoo will continue to strongly support law enforcement in their work, as well as continue to provide support for several nonprofit organizations committed to online safety."

A bank robber dressed as an Egyptian mummy staged a successful raid on a bank in Vienna.

The bandage-clad robber walked into a bank in the Austrian capital and stood in line waiting to be served.

He then passed the cashier a piece of paper saying he had a hand grenade hidden in his bandages - and demanded all the money.

He then quietly walked out with a bag filled with cash before police could arrive.

It is seen as arrogant and determined to remain the sheriff of the world wide web, regardless of whatever the rest of the world may think.

It has even lost the support of the European Union. It stands alone as the divisive battle over who runs the internet heads for a showdown at a key UN summit in Tunisia next month.

The stakes are high, with the European Commissioner responsible for the net, Viviane Reding, warning of a potential web meltdown.

"The US is absolutely isolated and that is dangerous," she said during a briefing with journalists in London.

"Imagine the Brazilians or the Chinese doing their own internet. That would be the end of the story."

Icann was to gain its independence from the Department of Commerce by September 2006. But in July the US said it would "maintain its historic role in authorising changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file".

America's determination to remain the ultimate purveyor of the internet has angered other countries which believe it is time to come up with a new way of regulating the digital traffic of the 21st century.

This was the 15th Ig Nobel Prize ceremony, and it was every bit as riotous as its predecessors. Hundreds of students fired paper airplanes toward the Sanders Theatre stage, where they landed at the feet of the real Nobel Laureates who were there to hand out the goofy awards.

There were 10 prizes this year: The Ig Nobel Prize in medicine went to Gregg Miller, inventor of Neuticles, artificial testicle replacements for neutered dogs and other animals, which come in different sizes and levels of firmness.

Another gross-out idea won this year's Ig Nobel Prize in fluid dynamics: Two European researchers calculated the pressure that builds up inside a penguin about to go potty, and reported their findings in a paper entitled "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defaecation" (.pdf).

The Ig Nobels, which are organized by the magazine Annals of Improbable Research, recognize the most bizarre and hilarious achievements in science and the arts. Annals editor Marc Abrahams says the Ig Nobels honor research that "first makes people laugh, then makes them think."

Polk Audio LCi-IP Ultra High Performance In-Wall/ In-Ceiling Loudspeakers are the world's first active Internet Protocol-ready Loudspeakers. They were created for IP networked systems such as the ground-breaking NetStreams DigiLinx system but also provide vast convenience and performance benefits when used in analog systems. Integrated digital amplifiers eliminate remote amplifiers connected via hundreds of feet of lossy, performance-robbing speaker wires.

A nice bit of Friday silliness: the BBC reports that posters for the forthcoming Wallace and Gromit spectacular The Curse of the Were-Rabbit on the south-coast island of Portland will not contain the word "rabbit" out of respect for local tradition which has it that the mere utterance of the word causes quarries to collapse entombing local workers forever in killer cement.

As the BBC explains: "Because burrowing can cause landslips in quarries, residents of Portland, Dorset, instead call the creatures underground mutton or furry things." Accordingly, the W&G publicity will carry the alternative slogan "Something bunny is going on".

Weymouth and Portland mayor Les Ames illuminates: "If the word rabbit is used in company in Portland there is generally a bit of a hush. In the olden days when quarrying was done by hand, if one of these animals was seen in the area, the quarryman would pack up and go home for the day - until the safety of the area had been reconnoitred. It is an unwritten rule in Portland that you do not use the word rabbit."

Eminem's publishers on Tuesday filed a complaint against five ringtone firms, alleging that they are using the rap star's songs as mobile phone ringtones without permission, according to the Associated Press.

Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, is no stranger to copyright actions. Last year his publishing company hit Apple Computer with a copyright infringement suit over an advert shown on MTV and on the Apple web site, which included a boy singing part of Eminem's hit "Lose Yourself". The rapper had not given his permission.

The case settled amicably in May this year, for an undisclosed sum.

The record industry may next aim its legal guns at satellite radio over a dispute involving new portable players that let listeners record and store songs, an analyst and industry sources said Wednesday.

The record industry, led by major labels such as Vivendi Universal, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group Plc and Sony BMG, believe the recording capability is a clear copyright violation and could take revenue away from paid download music services.

Illegal song trading has been blamed by the record industry for declines in sales, and labels have become increasingly aggressive in their legal battles to defend their product. Now that focus includes portable players.

"Based on recent talks with execs at record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America, we see potential spats ahead. RIAA may file a lawsuit this fall to stop a new feature for upcoming wearable satellite radios," he wrote.

Crockett said the RIAA may seek $1 billion plus in music rights fees for a new contract covering 2007 to 2012 to replace the current $80 million pact that expires in 2006.

Having already failed once to nail Brittany Chan through her mother, Candy, the Big Music cartel is now going after Britanny again, this time by herself.

She was 13 when this all started, but she's now 14 and in their latest move, the Big Four are using Matthew E. Krichbaum of Ann Arbour to demand that the US District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan appoint a Guardian ad Litem, in other words, an official legal guardian ---- which she'll definitely need with the venal and unscupulous labels trying to get her.

"Plaintiffs [read EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big Music record label cartel] initial investigation revealed that a computer in the Chan home was used to download (reproduce) and offer 829 digital music files for distribution. Plaintiffs initially filed an action against Brittany Chan’s mother, Candy Chan," says the complaint.

"Notwithstanding that her own testimony implicated her daughter, Candy Chan refused to take responsibility for her daughter and forced Plaintiffs to file this action directly against Brittany Chan even after they informed her that she had left them with no alternative."

Microsoft Corp. has broken off licensing talks with the four global music companies, raising questions about the software giant's plans to start a subscription-based music service, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

The paper reported negotiations broke down Friday over what Microsoft considered high royalty rates sought by EMI Group Plc, Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

According to several people briefed on the matter, the labels separately were seeking royalty payments of $6 to $8 per user, per month. People close to the labels say that is in line with what existing subscription-music services pay, the Journal reported.