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NEW YORK - Media conglomerate Cox Enterprises Inc., betting its future on Internet advertising as newspaper and television audiences shrink, plans to spend $300 million to buy a startup that helps Web sites pool their ad space.

The all-cash deal with Adify Corp., to be announced Tuesday, represents the latest evolution for a media company that began more than a century ago with one newspaper in Dayton, Ohio. As new technologies emerged, Cox expanded to include radio, television and cable systems across the country.

“We’re absolutely convinced at Cox that online revenue is continuing to grow,” John Dyer, Cox executive vice president for finance, told The Associated Press. “If you look at Cox’s history, we’ve not necessarily been the first into a space. … But we’ve prided ourselves in the course of history in being early investors.”

With Adify, Cox gets a technology platform that can help Web sites more successfully sell higher-priced ads targeted to specific audiences, such as parents or travel enthusiasts, keeping brand-name advertisers from fleeing to larger Internet companies like Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Marketers wishing to reach a targeted audience may find a particular media Web site lacking enough ad space to sell. Adify helps media companies form networks of Web sites around parenting, travel and other topics, allowing marketers to reach readers on dozens or hundreds of like-minded sites through a single buy.

Adify already runs several ad networks, including a lifestyles-focused one for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and a network of hundreds of independent financial blogs assembled by the online unit of Forbes Inc.

Cox is exploring its own specialty ad networks around such Web properties as cable TV’s Travel Channel, the AutoTrader.com classifieds site and the Kudzu local search portal.

Russ Fradin, who will continue to run Adify, said Cox was initially in talks with Adify to launch such networks as a regular customer. A year of discussions led to Cox deciding to buy the startup outright, he said.

Fradin said Adify would continue operating as an independent company, with Cox competitors treated as well as Cox-owned Web sites.

But he said early investors in Adify, which include General Electric Co.’s NBCUniversal and Time Warner Inc.’s investment arm, will cash out and have no direct control after the deal closes, which is expected to happen in mid-May. NBC will remain a customer, however.

Adify and its 80 or so employees will remain in San Bruno, Calif.

Competitors include Burst Media Corp., which runs an ad network for Viacom Inc., and Seevast Corp., which also has a deal with NBC — through its MSNBC.com joint venture with Microsoft Corp.

Cox, a privately held company with headquarters in Atlanta, also runs cable and high-speed Internet systems across the country, 17 daily newspapers including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 15 TV stations, and it has majority stake in about 80 radio stations in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and 16 other markets.

MUMBAI (AFP) - Indian film megastar Amitabh Bachchan has reached out to fans in cyberspace, launching a blog about his life which has triggered a flood of responses from around the world.

“The Big B,” as he is known to legions of film-lovers in movie-mad India, uses the site, blogs.bigadda.com, to share his thoughts, discuss upcoming movies and answer questions from fans.

“Adda” in Hindi means a big get-together of friends.

“The advantage of this blog is that I can express my view freely and there is no restriction to it,” the 65-year-old movie legend told AFP.

Bachchan, who launched the blog in mid-April, is following in the footsteps of other Bollywood stars such as Aamir Khan who also use the Internet to share their thoughts.

The star — whose latest film “Bhootnath,” or “Devil Uncle” — is slated for release next month, said he was not particularly Net-savvy but that friends had persuaded him to start writing.

“It gives me a chance to interact with my fans on a personal basis,” said the star, who has made more than 100 movies.

It allows “me to express myself, share and reflect my emotions, thoughts, opinions and listen to what people have to say to me.”

He also said the blog would help him rebut gossip “that keeps doing the rounds.”

The site has become an instant hit and Bachchan has been bombarded by gushing messages from fans from as far away as Poland, the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.

He has said he was getting so many messages that he needed to employ people to help him send the replies, otherwise he feared “the loss of my fingers.”

The actor got more than 500 comments from people wishing him a speedy recovery after he recently injured his hip.

One loyal fan, Rasha Zayed, wrote: “Oh my God… hope you are fine now Mr. Bachchan. I kept waiting for your entry last night… the first thing I did today was check your blog.” It was signed “with love.”

It has been more than three decades since Bachchan, the son of a Hindi poet, left his job as a freight broker in Kolkata and set off for Mumbai to pursue his dream.

He is now a familiar face in movies and on television and despite his advancing years can regularly be seen dancing to the song-and-dance routines that have made him famous.

Bachchan's blog can be visited at http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/

NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc. is outsourcing the Internet telephone functions of its instant messaging program to the startup Jajah.

Jajah will connect the calls to and from users of Yahoo Messenger and handle billing and customer care, the startup said Tuesday. Terms of the deal where not announced. No employees are moving over to Jajah.

The deal is a big score for Jajah, which has grown explosively since it was founded in 2005 in Austria. It is now based in Mountain View, Calif., and boasts 10 million customers.

Yahoo Messenger has 97 million users, but the company has not revealed how many of them use the premium Phone In and Phone Out features. While PC-to-PC calls are free, it charges 1 cent per minute for calls to U.S. phones, and higher rates for other countries. It charges $2.49 a month for a phone number that allows users to receive calls on the PC as if it where a phone. Previously, Yahoo handled the Internet calling functions itself.

Users will see no change to the service, said Jajah Chief Executive Trevor Healy. The Jajah brand may appear in some places, along with Yahoo’s.

Sabrina Ellis, vice president of Yahoo Messenger, said the partnership would help Yahoo “continue to provide an even greater communication experience” to its users.

Jajah’s main product is a service that allows users to make cheap international calls by entering two phone numbers on the Jajah Web site — their own and the number they want to call. The company calls both numbers. If the calls are answered, Jajah connects them to each other, making it a high-tech version of the long-distance calling card.

Privately held Jajah said it hopes to attract more corporate customers like Yahoo with a package of managed services for voice calls, and is talking to phone and cable companies.

“It’s the beginning of a very good strategic shift for us,” Healy said.

One of Jajah’s investors is Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent of cell carrier T-Mobile USA. Jajah also provides calling services to users of the eHarmony dating site.

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On the Net:

http://messenger.yahoo.com

http://www.jajah.com

Sony and Samsung, two of the biggest backers of the Blu-ray Disc format during its battle with rival HD DVD, are releasing new Blu-ray Disc products with the anticipation that consumers are finally ready to start upgrading to high-definition video discs.

Sony's new machines, the BDZ-A70 and BDZ-T90, are both Blu-ray Disc recorders that pack a hard-disk drive and dual-tuners for Japan's digital TV broadcasting system. The former model has a 320G byte hard disk and iLink port for hooking up to a DV camcorder while the latter a 500G byte drive but comes without the camcorder connection. Both cost ¥168,000 (US$1,608) and are available in Japan only.

Last year Sony said it would make Blu-ray Disc standard on its digital video recorders. Sony, which developed much of the technology that sits at the heart of Blu-ray Disc, is beginning to promote the format strongly after Toshiba pulled the plug on HD DVD in February.

Samsung's new player, the BD-P1500, supports “full HD” 1080p playback and accepts not only Blu-ray Disc but also DVD and CDs. In the case of DVDs it offers upconverting to 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

But it won't support BD-Live, the next major addition to the Blu-ray Disc format, out of the box. BD-Live is an interactive system that brings functions like gaming, e-commerce and new content to a Blu-ray Disc player through an Internet connection, due to be available in coming months.

The first buyers of the BD-P1500 will have to upgrade their players to support BD-Live through an Internet or USB memory drive.

The player will be available worldwide from May and will cost around US$399.

SAN FRANCISCO - The former chief financial officer of hit movie maker Pixar Animation Studios is facing a possible legal battle with securities regulators for alleged mishandling of stock options, according to documents filed Monday.

Ann Mather’s looming trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission was disclosed by Google Inc., where she is a member of the Internet search leader’s board of directors.

Google said the SEC told Mather last week that the agency’s Los Angeles staff will recommend a civil complaint be filed against her for alleged stock option abuses that occurred during her five-year stint overseeing Pixar’s books.

Emeryville-based Pixar, which was acquired by Walt Disney Co. for $7.4 billion in 2006, is among dozens of companies that once rigged stock options to give employees a better chance to make money from the rewards.

The practice, known as “backdating,” involves retroactively setting the value of a stock option grant to the recipient’s advantage. If it’s not properly disclosed, backdating options can exaggerate a company’s profits and result in an underpayment of taxes.

In a statement, Mather’s lawyer said there is no basis for legal action against her. “Ms. Mather acted diligently and responsibly at all times in her position as CFO at Pixar,” said Timothy J. Coleman of the law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf.

SEC spokeswoman Michele Wein Layne declined to comment on the agency’s case against Mather.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said the Mountain View-based company still supports Mather’s re-election to its board at its annual meeting next week. “We have the utmost confidence in Ann’s integrity as well as her abilities as a director,” Schmidt said in statement.

Mather served as Pixar’s CFO from 1999 to 2004 — a period in which the company reported about $520 million in total profits and released the hit movies “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.” She has been on Google’s board since November 2005 and currently chairs the company’s audit committee.

Disney acknowledged last year that some of Pixar’s stock options were improperly backdated, but concluded no one currently associated with the company — including former Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs — had done anything deliberately wrong. Jobs remains on Disney’s board.

Jobs also was involved in improper backdating as CEO of Apple Inc., but the iPod and computer maker cleared its leader after concluding he didn’t fully understand the accounting implications.

Apple’s former CFO, Fred Anderson, last year agreed to pay $3.5 million in fines and penalties to settle SEC charges about his alleged mishandling of stock options.

NEW YORK - You’re sitting at home online and suddenly you get an irresistible urge. You absolutely have to belt out R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” and share it with the world.

You now have that ability, thanks to the new MySpace Karaoke, to be launched Tuesday by the social networking site.

MySpace Karaoke (ksolo.myspace.com) debuts nearly two years after Fox Interactive, a division of News Corp., which owns MySpace, purchased the karaoke site kSolo.com. The combination of MySpace and kSolo allows users to upload audio recordings of them singing everything from R. Kelly to Richie Valens to their profile page.

MySpace co-founder and president Tom Anderson (known by many as the friend that comes automatically with a MySpace account) said MySpace and karaoke are a natural fit.

“It is in part because music is so popular on our site,” said Anderson. “But also because karaoke is such a fun and social thing, which is what we’re about too. It’s not as much fun to go to karaoke alone, but when you do it through the Internet or on your MySpace page, then you can share it with people.”

Recordings can be prominently displayed on one’s MySpace page and receive ratings from friends (and, presumably, fans). As of Monday afternoon, the most popular song to sing was Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”

MySpace Karaoke and kSolo — the first major karaoke site — are just two destinations of a small industry of online karaoke sites. SingShot, owned by Electronic Arts, and Bix, owned by Yahoo!, are also big names in karaoke on the Web.

And YouTube has, of course, been the largest repository of people dancing around their bedrooms and singing their favorite songs. While MySpace Karaoke doesn’t currently have a video option, Anderson says it’s in the works and that it will include a split-screen duet feature.

Users need only a microphone to sing into. MySpace Karaoke gives them the music to sing over (with vocals removed) with the lyrics scrolling across their computer screen. There are also numerous effects that users can play with to alter their recordings.

Right now, the site has between 2,000 and 3,000 songs available, all of them licensed from music publishers. The difficulty of managing those rights has been the reason for the delayed launched, Anderson said.

“It was quite difficult,” he said. “The rules and the licensing changed over time and became more complicated since MySpace is a global company. There’s different rights in different territories.”

But Anderson thinks having those rights puts MySpace at a distinct advantage.

“On MySpace, we actually filter and take down content (without licensing),” said Anderson. “At some point, YouTube is going to be forced to — or pay the rights holders because they’re breaking the law when they do that.”

As recordings have begun to pile up, there’s a wide variety of quality.

Said Anderson, “You’ll find equally horrible and equally good ones.”

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On the Net:

http://ksolo.myspace.com/

Apple's iPhone has dramatically shaken up the smartphone market — especially the leader, Research in Motion. In just the last three months of 2007, smartphone shipments shot up 60 percent from a year ago, according to industry research firm IDC. And RIM doubled sales of the Blackberry, adding 6.5 million subscribers in its last fiscal year, double the previous year.

But as the market has grown, the Blackberry's market share has dropped from 45 percent to 40 percent while the iPhone took 17.5 percent in the second half of 2007. The iPhone's “consumerization” of the smartphone market has forced RIM out of its enterprise comfort zone and into the unchartered waters of consumer marketing.

Competing Against Apple

RIM's efforts in the consumer space have largely fallen flat, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Research, in a telephone interview. “All their marketing stuff falls flat. It's not persuasive, it feels forced,” he said

Competing with Apple for consumers' wallets is a challenge. To pull it off, RIM needs to lure third-party developers, Sterling said. “If the Blackberry is able to get enough cool stuff on the device to make applications compelling to enough people, it's a hedge on iPhone's move into enterprise,” he added.

Apple's appeal to third-party developers could easily overwhelm RIM. Apple has said it will launch a new version of the iPhone software to enable third-party applications on the iPhone and the iPod touch. Apple says more than 200,000 developers are working on applications for the iPhone.

Pressure From Android

Meanwhile, Apple will roll out Outlook and Exchange integration on the iPhone, which may give it a boost in the enterprise, putting additional pressure on RIM. “Blackberry's smartphone share will continue to erode if the enterprise responds to Outlook and Exchange on the iPhone,” Sterling said.

Besides the iPhone, RIM is feeling pressure from Google's Android initiative for Internet phones. Several models are expected to be released at the end of this year and early 2009. And Nokia, which has so far failed to crack the U.S. market for smartphones, plans another attack.

Ultimately, all the talk of “Crackberry” and addiction is unlikely to help RIM. “Crackberry is all about the novelty or perhaps oppressiveness of being connected to work all the time,” Sterling said. “The experience of browsing the Internet on the Blackberry is a poor experience.” By contrast, iPhone users largely browse the Web for fun, although that could change as the enterprise adopts it.

“Blackberry's kind of the Microsoft of smartphones — it's got the market share but it doesn't have a sexy quality. The iPhone has the emotion and buzz,” Sterling said.

To compete, RIM is working on a so-called “Apple killer” — a device with a touchscreen and lines suggestive of the iPhone. But AT&T is said to have delayed its introduction of the new phone because of problems with call quality — and delays hurt RIM as a new 3G iPhone is rumored for release this year.

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Electronic Arts Inc. co-founder William “Bing” Gordon plans to help one of the nation’s top venture capital firms find promising investment opportunities in digital entertainment.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said Monday that Gordon will join the Menlo Park-based firm as a partner in June. Electronic Arts, the maker of popular video games such as “Madden NFL” and “The Sims,” is among a long list of high-tech success stories initially funded by Kleiner Perkins.

Since helping start Electronics Arts in 1982, Gordon has held several jobs with the game maker. He has been the Redwood City-based company’s chief content officer for a decade and will retain an emeritus title in the position after he joins Kleiner Perkins.

The venture capital firm’s other prominent investments include Internet search leader Google Inc., Genentech Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., AOL and Amazon.com Inc., whose board of directors includes Gordon.

Besides well-known venture capitalists like John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins partners include former Vice President Al Gore and Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is a strategic limited partner.

The Gran Turismo series continues with “Gran Turismo 5: Prologue,” a release oozing with style and computer graphic splendor, but lacking in the captivating game-play department.

I took GT5 ($39.99) for a spin on the SonyPS3, it’s lone platform for release, and treated myself to the latest in controllers. I tried the game with the new Logitech Driving Force GT (a steering wheel and pedals) and Sony’s new DualShock3, complete with 8,000-year-old vibration technology. (Sorry Sony, you earned that one by removing the rumble from the Sixaxis in favor of Wii-like motion sensors I’ve rarely used.)

On to the game. “GT5″ launches to a smooth and jazzy piano riff, instead of a Linkin Park blast or some other loudness. This grown-man approach to gaming continues throughout, and I soon realized the title is not targeted toward the white-knuckled gaming teen.

While these are not your father’s Oldsmobiles, this is your father’s video game: It’s mature, refined, technical and, I might say, a tad dull.

Yes, the graphics are gorgeous. Yes, the engines growl and purr with precision. And the force feedback on the Logitech controller as I tore through the competition was impressive. But this is an homage to the automobile — and not a nod to the pure fun that race gaming has delivered before.

As I careened around the curves behind the wheel of a 2004 Honda Integra in an early “Class C” race, the car didn’t lean or sway enough, as though the game physics hadn’t given it enough heft. Perhaps this was the most accurate representation of the real Integra, but it just didn’t feel game-like. There was something antiseptic about it.

I needed to place in the top three to snag a trophy in each Class C race in order to move on to Class B, and later Class A. Each ensuing class demands better cars, which are purchased using credits earned through high race finishes.

But I wanted damage to the vehicle as I plowed into walls and other cars. That wasn’t there in the races I played. I wanted more bumper-to-bumper clanging and the gnashing of metal. That was oddly absent. I was spun out frequently by AI opponents tapping me from behind, but it was a benign experience at best.

I sought a bit more adrenaline on the track, so I went online hunting for real opponents.

Using my winnings, I purchased a spunky little 2006 Ford Focus and a 2000 Clio Renault Sport. I clicked the “Online” option and was met with several available race options. Other drivers online popped up and we headed for the starting lineup.

This improved the gaming experience, because I trust humans to make more mistakes than the game’s AI. Most of my opponents opted for the Honda Integra, a nice blend of power and handling for the early rounds.

There were some brief glitches in a few races, where the my opponent’s cars appeared to jump and blink around a section of track, fading in and out and burning rubber. I’m not sure if it had to do with a poor host connection or a software bug, but it only happened the first night I played online — so I gave it a pass.

The online races were the most fun. There was a steady set of a dozen or so drivers online that raced the same track about 10 times in a row. If a particular driver cut me off and finished ahead of me in one race, I quickly restarted after we finished the race in hopes of a little payback in the next race with identical opponents.

There’s also a feature called “Gran Turismo TV,” an in-game online channel that delivered video content to my PS3 via download. There was a feature on the making of “GT5″ and the history of the Gran Turismo series. Another video featured a look at the new Lancer X automobile.

This is all something I call `yawn-tent’ instead of content. It’s nice that they can do it, but it wasn’t entertaining.

The Gran Turismo games are under the direction of Kazunori Yamauchi, who is featured prominently in those videos. He’s meticulous and unsmiling about the making of the game. He’s seriously into cars, so much so that he may have overlooked a crucial fact: He’s not making cars, he’s making a game and games are supposed to be fun.

This game is an accurate accomplishment and a detailed driving simulator, but I found myself waiting for the good times to break out — and they rarely did. (Big thumbs, however, up for the Logitech Driving Force GT and the DualShock3 controllers, for injecting a little life into the experience.)

Two stars out of four.

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On the Net:

http://www.granturismoworld.com/

http://www.us.playstation.com/GranTurismo/

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Television Group will relaunch the WB Network as an online video site offering original programming alongside reruns of shows such as “Friends” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to court a new generation of viewers.

TheWB.com targets 16-to-34-years-old viewers with new shows developed by writer and producer Josh Schwartz, known for “Gossip Girl” “The O.C.” and “Terminator 4″ director McG.

The launch comes as media companies struggle to court a new generation of viewers, who spend as much time watching television as they do sending text messages on cellphones and watching online videos.

Schwartz's “Gossip Girl,” for instance, has failed to generate big ratings for the CW Network, but has attracted a loyal following online. The CW Network, which once streamed full episodes of the show on the Internet, decided recently to pull it off the Internet to boost TV viewership.

Schwartz is developing a new show for TheWB.com that “takes viewers to the front of the line and behind the soundboard of a fictional Hollywood rock club,” Warner Bros said in a statement.

TheWb.com will also be distributed by Comcast Corp's video-on-demand service and its online entertainment site Fancast.com. The new site will also be available on Time Warner's AOL.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li; Editing by Andre Grenon)