All excited about putting your business on Second Life?  You might want to think again.  Nine out of ten corporate forays into virtual worlds fail within 18 months, says researcher Gartner.

Too often companies focus on the technology, rather than what their users actually need, Gartner researcher Steve Prentice says.  " Further reasons for the high failure rate include starting projects for the ‘cool’ factor or because competitors are doing it," he writes.

But Prentice isn't writing off virtual worlds altogether.  They could have a huge impact by, say, cutting down on business travel, he says.  Businesses just need to figure out how to take advantage of that potential, he say.

By Michelle Kessler
Photo: Second Life

You're searching for directions on Google Maps and want to e-mail the link to a friend. But the link has so many characters, it almost seems as long as War and Peace. So what to do?

There are a couple of services that can help you cut that link down to a manageable size.  The best known is TinyURL. This website lets you copy and paste a link, and transform it into one much shorter. For instance, here's what Google gives us for driving from downtown Los Angeles to suburb Van Nuys:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=los+angeles,+ca&daddr=van+nuys,+ca&sll=40.82895,-120.817435&sspn=15.287483,36.5625&ie=UTF8&z=12. And here's the same link, via TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/6esfav. The website is run by a Minnesotan named Kevin Gilbertson who says he's big into unicylcing and photography. We sent an e-mail to learn more about him. We'll fill you on "Gilby," as he calls himself and the site -- which boasts of over "2 billion hits per month," -- when he gets back to us.

Other sites that offer a similar service include Short URL and MetaMark.net.

Google is inviting the press to the "Googleplex," for a "Factory Tour of Search" on Monday. The discussion with several top Google execs will offer an "insider's perspective on Search," Not a reporter and want to check it out? Google says it will be webcasting the event online from 9:30 a.m. PT to 12:30 PT.

By Jefferson Graham

Photo:A Google security guard rides a vehicle in front of Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, May 7 (By Paul Sakuma, AP)

Adobe announced new features to enhance its new Photoshop Express free online photo editing program two weeks ago. But the launch was delayed by programming bugs. The new goodies went up Friday, including integration with Yahoo's popular Flickr photo site. Now, Flickr members can have their photos directly zipped to Photoshop Express for editing, and then bring them back to Flickr to show off. (You can also pull pictures from Photobucket and Facebook by signing in directly within the Photoshop Express application.)

Adobe has also tools to embed slideshows created in Photoshop Express directly to Facebook, MySpace and blogs. This is nothing new -- most video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.TV) offer this feature.  Adobe's is not notably different or striking visually.

By Jefferson Graham
Photo: Adobe

There's good news for those who broke the bank on a PlayStation 3 but don't have enough left to buy extra controllers. The Ant Commandos' $20 "Rock Commandos" is a PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 adaptor, meaning you can connect older PS2 controllers to the PS3 until you can afford to pick up new wireless gamepads.

And it's called Rock Commandos for a reason: you can also plug in guitar peripherals designed for Rock Band and Guitar Hero III; users simply flick a small switch on the adaptor to RB or GH, respectively.

The company says this universal adapter is 100% compatible with all guitar controllers and is engineered to function perfectly with every feature of these popular rhythm games.

By Marc Saltzman for USA TODAY

Several NATO nations are mad as heck at hackers and cyber trouble makers -- and are doing something about it. Estonia has announced the formation of  The Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, a cyber warfare think tank and training facility in partnership with  Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain. The US has agreed to send an observer.

The center stems directly from the distributed denial of service attack last year which shut down corporate and government networks all across Estonia last year. Seems a Russian loyalist got upset that some nervy native Estonians finally got a controversial statute symbolizing Russian colonization removed. So this hacktivist directed a botnet to foul up the IT infrastructure of the tiny nation.

The incident has proved to be a wake up call for NATO nations to put aside cultural and political differences and begin collaborating on a general defense against such attacks, says Phyllis Schneck, VP of Research Integration, Secure Computing Corp.

Schneck calls the NATO center "a terrific step forward in considering cyber consequences transcending national boundaries." But she also notes that similar collaborating in the competitive corporate world has progressed it fits and starts. The lesson: it won't be any easier in the political realm.

"Companies and nations need to get together to trade knowledge and expertise," she told me. "But all of this is rooted in trust. You need to build relationships that foster trust between governments, and that will not be an easy task."

By Byron Acohido
Photo: Phyllis Schneck

Facebook and Google can't get along, Anniston: Kindle fan, and the joys of a virtual summer job:

USA TODAY
-- GTA IV has run over its competition.
-- Our Brett Molina has taken a shine to echochrome.

BusinessWeek
-- Facebook's designers want a sleek, less-cluttered design for the site.

Wall St. Journal
-- College kids today get the big bucks for virtual summer jobs.

TechCrunch
-- Google and Facebook's issues are about control of user data.
-- It's a Rorshach test to think this, but it appears Jennifer Anniston is a Kindle fan.

C|NET
-- Georgia: Video gaming's Silicon Valley?

Valleywag
-- Digg is the best place to work for techies... because of the beer.

Google says 'happy anniversary!' to lasers today. Funky logo.

By Jess Zielinski

Verizon Wireless plans to start selling a touch-screen version of the BlackBerry in the third quarter, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the company’s plans. The device, called “Thunder,” will give Verizon an answer –- finally -- to the hugely successful Apple iPhone, sold exclusively by its arch rival, AT&T. News of the Thunder’s impending release first appeared on Boy Genius Report. The Blackberry, one of the most popular smart cellphone devices on the planet, is made by Research in Motion.

By Leslie Cauley

Photo: An existing, non-touchscreen Blackberry

Jeremiah Joseph Mondello's big mistake  was committing cyber crimes -- on U.S. soil. That put him within the reach of U.S. law enforcement. The 23-year-old Eugene, Ore. millennial faces up to 27 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for aggravated identity theft, mail fraud  and selling counterfeit software. The feds deserve kudos for taking down Mondello.  Yet, in the $100 billion-plus global cyber crime market, Mondello is a miniscule potato.

Consider how another millennial Dmitry Ivanovich Golubov, 24, of the Ukraine, has skirted incarceration, despite long topping the most wanted cyber crooks lists at the FBI and Scotland Yard.  Operating in Eastern Europe, Golubov, aka Script, has become something of a mythological figure among hackers and cyber thieves. He admits to frying thumb drives and disks in a wok, presumably to keep the data stored on those portable media from getting into the hands of cops pounding on his door. And last fall he entered politics, creating and heading up the Internet Party of Ukraine. Golubov the politician aspires to provide free computer classes and foreign-language training to citizens. Way to give back to the community, Script.

By Byron Acohido

Cooler wireless headsets, a verdict on Wii Fit from pros, and Kindle's fiery sales forecast:

USA TODAY
-- Mike Snider talks to Shigeru Miyamoto about the Wii Fit. Check out the video at the top of the story.
-- Ed Baig peers into the WorldWide Telescope.
-- CBS will buy CNET (our content partner) for $1.75B.

Wall St. Journal
-- Love the wireless headsets, but hate the geek give-away sign? New, sleeker styles are coming.

NY Times
-- Getting a verdict on Wii Fit from a yoga pro, a fitness pro, a couch potato, a mom, and a fit gamer.
-- Tips on how to making fixing your computer less like brain surgery.

TechCrunch
-- Amazon could sell $750M in Kindles by 2010.
-- Comcast is buying Plaxo so folks can share their TV/Web viewing habits.

BBC
-- A design center in London makes crime-proof products -- alarm-equipped laptop case, anyone?

Google
-- Wow: Using Google Maps API for Flash is wicked awesome.

The Register
-- What's going on with Google and Scientology?

Wired
-- If you want to sell your self-published book, just market it to Silicon Valley influentials.

And could Google and Microsoft be the U.S. vs. Russian version of the next space race?

By Jess Zielinski

Just when the computer-security field is catching up to zero day threats, along comes a new, potentially more dangerous risk: minus-day threats.Zero day threats are those which emerge and are exploited on the day of a new software release. Minus-day threats go one step further, however. They are hacking threats in which software code is cracked days, weeks -- even months -- before it is released. Granted, the idea is high concept and fairly new, but it is of growing concern to security experts.

“The larger the company and the more popular the software, the more exposed the software is to minus-day attacks,” says Amena Ali, chief marketing officer at computer-security firm Arxan Technologies.

Early releases of software are particularly susceptible to minus-day attacks, Ali says. Demo versions of games, beta releases of software and early releases of software development kits all allow hackers early access to a program's codebase, giving them a peek into its vulnerabilities.

By Jon Swartz

Several prominent venture capitalists gathered in San Jose tonight to share their predictions for the future at a dinner sponsored by the Churchill Club, a local civic group.  The predictions were all over the map -- and all intriguing.  Some of the most interesting thoughts:

Steve Jurveston, Draper Fisher Jurvetson: Baby boomers will be huge consumers of online information, and they may produce it too. Tech companies may farm out work to busy, telecommuting boomers who aren't ready to retire.

Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures: Within two years, cellphones will come with built-in projectors that project data onto a wall or piece of paper.  All cellphone data will be stored on a behind-the-scenes computer networks.  When you lose your phone, you can go to any store, buy a new one, and instantly retrieve all your information.

Josh Kopelman, First Round Capital: The venture capital market will undergo a shake-out. Expectations for incredible returns are too high. VCs will be forced to re-think their model of making most of their money on a few huge IPOs.

Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners: The shift to smart cellphones will be hugely important, and will clobber cellphone makers who aren't prepared for it. Nokia, Apple, Blackberry-maker Research In Motion, and Palm will be fine. (McNamee is a Palm investor.) Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson could be hit hard.

Joe Schoendorf, Accel Partners: The lack of clean, reliable water sources worldwide is a bigger problem than global warming. The world needs an "Al Gore of water" to raise awareness of the problem.

Looking for something else to ponder? Khosla recommends this book.

By Michelle Kessler
Photo: Khosla (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Verizon Wireless, which has emerged as a crusader for the “open” wireless platform as of late, is inviting any wireless subscriber to upload video to its Election ‘08 Channel.  The channel appears exclusively on V Cast, a Verizon service that brings streaming video, music, and other content to cellphones.  It costs $15 a month on top of regular cellphone service.

Election ’08 includes media interviews with the presidential candidates, comedy skits and other comentary. Popular segments right now include a girl-band singing “It’s Raining McCain” and two American Idol contestants professing their admiration, via song, for Barak Obama.

The good news: although you can only access V Cast on a cellphone, you don’t have to be a V Cast customer to participate. The bad news: If you’re not a V Cast customer, you won’t be able to view your own content.

“You can upload but you can’t watch it,” says spokeswoman Randi Peck. For that, she says, “you have to be a subscriber.” V Cast, targeted to 18-30 year-olds, currently has about 6 million customers.

Senior Verizon Wireless spokesman Jim Gerace says the limitation isn’t Verizon’s fault, noting that phones have to be V-Cast enabled to access that content.

But isn’t that what “open” platforms are all about – opening up content to all comers, and all devices? Explains Gerace: “We’re a for-profit company.”

By Leslie Cauley
Photo: Verizon

Microsoft and its Xbox 360 have hit a milestone: 10 million sold in the U.S. Now two and a half years old (it was released in Nov. 2005), the Xbox 360 has sold more than 19 million worldwide. Its predecessor, the Xbox, sold 24 million in its four-plus years available.          

The XBox 360 currently leads this generation of game systems, which includes the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation. However, those competitors hit stores a year later and the Wii is rapidly gaining ground -- it’s sure to surpass the 9 million mark in The NPD Group’s industry numbers, out tomorrow.

“Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership,” said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC, in the news release from Microsoft. “Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base — 12 million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector.”

Microsoft is also hoping to cut into Sony’s dominance among Grand Theft Auto devotees. GTA IV was released April 29 for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3; in recent years, the series has debuted on Sony systems. On the Level Up blog, Microsoft and Sony offer responses to retailer GameStop’s announcement earlier this week that the Xbox 360 version had been outselling the PS3 version.

By Mike Snider
Photo: Microsoft

Verizon Wireless has joined the Limo Foundation, a global consortium that supports an open wireless platform based on the Linux operating system.

If the group’s mantra sounds familiar that’s because it is –- Google is throwing its support behind “Android,” a wireless operating system in development that also is based on Linux. Devices loaded with Android, supported by more than 30 companies, are expected to hit the market later this year.

Google, which is angling to extend its desktop dominance into the mobile space, had tried to recruit Verizon to join the alliance. Roger Entner, senior vice president of IAG Research, says he’s not surprised Verizon decided to take a pass. “Everybody’s treating Google with a  lot of suspicion, and rightly so.”

Google recently became an investor in a Sprint-led venture that aims to blanket the USA with “Wimax,” an advanced wireless technology that has the potential to turn the core of North America into one, big hotspot. Entner says the move makes carriers like Verizon “even more more wary of what Google is up to.”

By Leslie Cauley
Photo: Don Ryan, AP

We all want to check our email during long, boring flights, and we've been talking about the possibility for years now.  But in-flight Wi-Fi is still pretty rare.  (Problems with the technology and pricing slowed it down.) 

There signs that we are getting there, though.

A company called Aircell has designed a Wi-Fi system for airlines that may actually get rolled out. (It's called Gogo, but click on that link at your own risk -- the site plays really annoying music.)  American Airlines is an early test customer.

Now Gogo has gotten some business cred from from corporate Internet provider iPass. Companies such as USA TODAY use iPass to make sure their employees can get on many Wi-Fi networks without dealing with multiple registrations and fees.  (If I am using a T-Mobile hotspot, I can connect via iPass without getting out my credit card.  iPass makes sure USA TODAY gets the bill.)

iPass has just added Gogo to the list of Wi-Fi networks its customers can access.  iPass counts "hundreds of Global 2000 companies" as its customers.  That's potentially a whole lotta business travelers who may give Gogo a try -- and could give in-flight Wi-Fi the boost it needs to become more than just a nice idea. 

By Michelle Kessler
Photo: Frank Polich, Reuters

First week sales of Grand Theft Auto IV were astounding, topping $500 million.  The first 24 hours, however, are equally staggering.

According to Guinness World Records, GTA IV now holds the records for Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours, hauling in $310 million during that time period.  The closest entertainment competitor is the book Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows, which netted $220 million in its first 24 hours on sale.

One key question lingers: Which console benefited most from a GTA boost, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3? According to sales figures from retailer Gamestop, revealed in Newsweek's Level Up blog, 64% of copies sold were for Xbox 360.  The remaining 36% went to the PS3.  However, as Level Up points out, this is only a partial answer since NPD Group figures have yet to be released.

By Brett Molina
Photo: Rockstar Games via AP

Rice research, a throw-down -- snarky blog-style, and Google Maps gives you more:

USA TODAY
-- The company behind the Eee PC, based in Taiwan, wants to be the No. 3 laptop maker soon.
-- American consumers are ditching landlines for cellphone-only households.

NY Times
-- Help solve the world food crisis by donating your computer's time to super-rice research.
-- Is Carl Icahn considering a proxy fight for seats on Yahoo's board? (WSJ backs it up.)

TechCrunch
-- There's a bit of a dust-up going on between Arrington and Wired over his WaPo deal. Ethics! Salty language! Oh my!
-- CurrentTV wanted to buy Digg in 2006?
-- There's more to Google Maps: Wikipedia entries and geo-coded photos pop up under a 'more' feature.

The Escapist
-- Metal Gear Solid 4 is selling out to Apple, others.

Wired
-- Nintendo has sold 6 million Wiis in Japan. Wii Fit is already past 2M in sales.

By Jess Zielinski

According to the results of a new "Mystery Shopper" campaign by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), kids under 17 years of age were turned away 80% of the time when trying to purchase or rent a "Mature"-rated video game.

The study, involved sending 13- to 16-year-olds to more than 250 retail stores across the U.S.

The 80% turn-down rate represents a 38% improvement over the FTC's last "Mystery Shopper" audit conducted in 2006, and 433% better the turn-down rate measured in 2000, the first year the FTC launched the study.

"Video game retailers have clearly stepped up their efforts to enforce their store policies, and they deserve recognition for these outstanding results" said Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, in a company release. "We commend and applaud retailers for their strong support of the ESRB ratings, and will continue working with them to help ensure that these levels of compliance are sustained if not further increased."

This study also included minors purchasing DVDs of movies that were "R"-rated in theaters and CDs labeled with a "Parental Advisory" label for explicit lyrics.

By Marc Saltzman for USA TODAY

Photo: Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto.