TechBits package

I'm running late. I'm stuck in traffic. I'm stopping by the market for a bottle of wine. I'm circling for a parking space. I'm just down the block. I'm right outside.

Today, people trade these little updates with a string of cell phone calls and text messages. But companies including Google Inc. are betting that will change as more smart phones come with GPS technology built in.

Glympse Inc., a Seattle-area startup, is the latest in the field. Its application, also called Glympse, lets smart phone users send a message and a link to a map marking their location to anyone in their address book.

On a computer, recipients can watch in real time as the sender circles the block looking for an open parking space. (On a mobile browser, recipients would have to hit refresh.)

Glympse users can save oft-repeated messages, like Dad's daily confirmation that he's picked up his daughter from day care and is on the way home. Glympses can be set to expire, preventing recipients from tracking senders' moves for longer than desired.

The startup, founded last year by three Microsoft Corp. veterans, Bryan Trussel, Jeremy Mercer and Steve Miller, hopes to set itself apart from similar programs like Loopt and Google Latitude by not requiring Glympse users to set up a new social network. Recipients don't even need to download the program, though they get a slicker interface if they do.

By contrast, Google's program works only if everyone uses its Gmail service, and Loopt requires users to download the application and set up a network of friends.

Glympse launched a free "beta" test version of the service Tuesday for T-Mobile's G1 Android phone. Trussel, the chief executive, said Glympse hopes to support the free service with location-sensitive advertising at some point.

The company said versions for iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and other devices are coming soon.

_ Jessica Mintz, AP Technology Writer.

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Napster cuts music plan to $5 a month

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Napster.com has cut the price of its online music streaming service to $5 a month from $12.95, and is throwing in five song downloads for customers in a move to better compete with rival iTunes.

The Los Angeles-based company began as a notorious music swapping service, but after copyright lawsuits it emerged as a subscription-based service and was bought by Best Buy Inc. in October for about $122 million.

Napster has struggled to grow its user base from over 700,000 last August. Napster Chief Executive Chris Gorog said the new offering stands up well against iTunes because five songs a month will cost just $5 even if they are new releases. By comparison, Apple Inc.'s iTunes recently began charging up to $1.29 for newer, more popular tracks.

Napster also allows unlimited full-length song previews versus iTunes' 30-second samples.

"It's a killer offer we believe stands up nicely across any competitive lens you put it through," Gorog said.

Subscribers can also buy additional songs in the MP3 format for 69 cents to $1.29.

Gorog would not say how Napster's $12.95-a-month streaming service had been affected by other sites that stream songs for free, such as MySpace Music, which launched in September.

Sites such as MySpace, Pandora and imeem pay for song streams with advertising revenue, but Napster does not have any ads.

Technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said the offering lacked real synergy with its new owner.

"I'm struggling to see how this helps Best Buy," Enderle said. "I don't see how you get store traffic with this."

Gorog said the plan will be marketed through Best Buy stores, including with prepaid cards that will cost from $5 for one month to up to $60 for a 12-month subscription. Online buyers of lengthier subscriptions will get a few extra song download credits.

He said the company plans to offer a streaming service on mobile devices in the future.

_ Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writer.

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NebuAd closing doors after Internet privacy woes

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ NebuAd Inc., a company that sought to target ads to consumers based on their online behavior, is going out of business after facing scrutiny over whether its technology infringed on the privacy of Internet surfers.

In court filings this week, NebuAd said it has been winding down its business since last year. It laid off virtually all its employees in July and August, closing its office in Redwood City, Calif., in September. NebuAd once employed over 60 people.

NebuAd has "essentially ceased to exist," according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

NebuAd's clients _ Internet service providers who wanted to share the ad revenue with NebuAd _ started dropping out after Congress held hearings last July on the technology, which examined consumers' Internet traffic to determine their interests. Although individual Web sites routinely target advertising, privacy advocates argued that NebuAd's all-encompassing approach went too far, and said consumers' overall Web surfing should be tracked only if they opted into the system.

Among the cable and phone operators that abandoned interest in NebuAd were Charter Communications Inc., Bresnan Communications LLC, The Washington Post Co.'s Cable One Inc. and Embarq Corp.

In Britain, a similar company called Phorm Inc. has also faced complaints since it struck partnerships with three access providers reaching 70 percent of Britain's broadband market _ BT Group PLC, Virgin Media Inc. and Carphone Warehouse Group PLC's TalkTalk.

But Phorm spokesman Justin Griffiths said the company has retained its partners. BT has completed its trial of Phorm's ad-targeting service and expects to deploy it this year.

Griffiths said Phorm asks consumers upfront after they log on whether they want to receive targeted ads. Griffiths added that the company has received assurances from the British government that its technology "can be operated in a lawful manner."

Even so, Richard Clayton from Internet think tank Foundation for Information Policy Research in Cambridge, England, believes Phorm is getting some snubs from potential partners.

"I haven't seen any other ISPs queuing up to associate themselves with Phorm at all," he said. "A number of smaller ones have said they won't go anywhere near it."

_ Deborah Yao, AP Business Writer.