Since indie singers have a difficult time getting noticed, online powerhouse Yahoo! Canada and Universal Music are working jointly to offer unfamiliar musicians the chance make some waves.

The two companies have created the Up Yours competition that has started on March 7 and runs ’til April 10. Bands could play their music on Yahoo’s website by uploading a presentation of their choice. Viewers could start voting on March 20, but the champion won’t be announced until May 10.

Google’s blogger.com has now been hijacked to extend malware through fake blogs, a security vendor has warned.

The fake blog scam is an example of many social networking sites- the Internet’s big developing area- being ruined for gain. Currently, MySpace and YouTube have all been used to host and to redirect to malware. Last October, MySpace was used as the attraction for phishing, as earlier in the year its users were tainted with adware from the site.

As world cup fever is up, Google India explored a Cricket World Cup Campaign recently, assuring cricket fans an exclusively interactive experience through Internet. This campaign would help users to write, share and debate about and enjoy the Cricket World Cup through an incorporated platform of Google products like Google homepage, Google Desktop, Blogger and Orkut by way of special landing page www.google.co.on/cricket.

Google is further hosting a blogging cricket contest, entries for which one can submit it at www.google.co.in/cricket/contest. This would include posts on anything from cricket ground West Indies to viewer’s opinions on the progress of the various teams at the World Cup. Both existing and new users would can avail the opportunity to take part in this amazing contest.

MSN India has recently launched www.msncricket.com, available on the internet and on WAP mobile phones. Users could catch the action direct from the Caribbean, with MSN’s Top World Cup Stories, limited columns from Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, Graeme Smith, Mahela Jayawardene between many others members, World Cup schedule, group profiles, pitch reports, photo galleries, discussions, match previews, live scorecards, elite slideshows and an audio update of all the action that would happens in West Indies and lots more.

Google now take steps to boost up consumer privacy protections in up coming months, the company announced. The search giant stated that it is taking steps to incomprehensible detail, after about 18 to 24 months on the surfing habits of millions of web surfer, which an possibly be used to identify individuals.

The company would collect information on web users like keyword queries, internet addresses and “cookies” that are used by websites and advertisers, to track web surfing habits. The company stores data in huge computer data centers in different locations around the world.

Yahoo Inc.’s difficulty with Indian bloggers over illegal reproduction of their content on its Indian portals might be just beginning.

Bloggers claim they have recognized more cases of their content being reproduced without their permission on Yahoo’s Indian portals. Yahoo’s Indian supplementary has yet to come up with any suitable response, which satisfies the bloggers.

Google last Monday added facts of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) environmental projects to its well-liked global online mapping service.

The Mountain View, Calif., Internet search powerhouse interlaces WWF images, information and other website links into its Google Earth plan.

Search giant google has recently started selling TV ads, according to The Wall Street Journal reports. Google preceding year started testing TV ads to Concord, Calif. customers of cable company Astound Broadband, report according to the Journal. Additionally, Venture Beat reports that Google is just about to counterfeit a contract with satellite TV Company Dish Network.

The Journal guesses that Google may even target TV ads based on viewers’ neighborhoods — though it’s not very clear why Google will be in a improved position to power that type of demographic targeting than any other companies.