The Super Bowl is less than a week away and people are already talking about the commercials. What will the brands come up with this year? Which celebrities will appear in ads? Who will be successful and who will not?

These are just some of the questions that people are wondering about in regards to this year’s big game. WebProNews spoke with Peter Daboll, the CEO of ad analytics company Ace Metrix, who offered some insight into what we could expect to see as well as what works and what doesn’t.

For starters, he told us that celebrities don’t ensure success. In fact, he said that ads without celebrities generally work better than those with them. However, he did say that animals seem to always be effective because they appeal to a broader demographic and are much more likable.

It appears that Sketchers is finding this out since it recently dropped its spokesmodel Kim Kardashian for a dog.

Although we won’t know which brands will pull off successful ads until Sunday, Daboll said that we could likely expect effective spots from Coca-Cola, M&M’s, and Doritos since they consistently do well.

Do you prefer animals or celebrities in commercials? Let us know.

Popular forum Topix and Equation Research recently conducted a study to learn more about the relationship between the Internet and politics. The companies surveyed 1,000 U.S. voters and found that people are increasingly turning to the Web for their political information.

WebProNews spoke with Chris Tolles, the CEO of Topix, who told us that voters are trending online because they get a more balanced view. The study also found that voters are going online in order to participate in political discussions and debates.

Tolles told us that this trend would increase in the coming years as voters strive to have a “personal relationship” with news. He also said that politicians would have to learn how to leverage online platforms such as Topix, Facebook, and Twitter, to ensure that they are connecting with the conversation.

Where do you go for your political information? Let us know.

Just before Christmas, the story of a 9-year-old autistic boy from Kentucky began to gain attention both on and offline. The interest was sparked when Christopher Baker’s mother, Sandra Baker, found her son immersed in a bag at school.

“It wasn’t just his body down in it and his head out, his whole body was down inside the bag,” she told WebProNews.

As she explained, the school had called and asked her to come and get her son because he was “bouncing off the walls.” When she arrived and saw what had happened, she was outraged and took the story to local news outlets.

Lydia Brown, an autistic college student at Georgetown University, saw the story and decided to create a petition on Change.org. The petition, which has received over 180,000 signatures already, calls for the school to take action against the teacher involved as well as comprehensive training for all school personnel.

However, as with many viral stories, the Christopher Baker case has generated a fair share of controversy. Some people from the autism community have spoken out in defense of the school saying that therapy bags are often used for treating autistic individuals.

Another debatable issue is in regards to how the bag was used. Christopher’s mother says he was put into the bag for misbehaving, which raises concerns over the use of seclusion and restraint in the treatment of individuals with disabilities.

Amy Dawson, the Founder of the Autism Advocacy & Law Center LLC, told us that seclusion or restraint could be harmful to any child but especially those with disabilities since he or she may not be able to fully understand what is happening.

At this time, the school board has said that it has concluded its investigation and is moving on. Sandra Baker, who now has legal support from The Gallini Group in Alabama and Chevalier Ginn Shirooni & Kruer in Kentucky, is continuing to fight the incident.

How do you feel about this story and its rapid spread? Let us know.

Last week, the Internet clearly showed that it did not support the SOPA/PIPA bills that were before Congress. As a result of the Web blackout, Washington listened and put a delay on the bills. The topic, however, is still gaining attention.

According to intellectual property attorney Miles Feldman, the “drama is still being written.” As someone who has personally been involved with litigation involving the Black Eyed Peas, Will Smith, and others, he told us that he supported the overall purpose of SOPA and PIPA because online piracy is a serious problem. He, however, did not support the language of the bills due to their lack of clarity, which is why he is also concerned about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that is sparking interest of late.

As he explained to us, finding a balance between freedom of speech and intellectual property rights is an ongoing and challenging battle. That said, he doesn’t believe that these proposals serve as effective solutions.

He told us that he would like to see the entertainment industry and the Internet community come together to create a new Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that embraces the concept of SOPA/PIPA but that has a clause that eliminates a safe harbor for companies that are complying with the law.

What do you think of Feldman’s suggestions? Do you agree or disagree?

Although ICANN began accepting applications for new generic top-level domains earlier this month, the dispute over its controversial plan is not getting any quieter. Last year, ICANN announced its decision to allow any company or individual the ability to purchase new generic top-level domains. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has led much of the criticism of the plan, and it, along with 161 other organizations has formed the Coalition for Responsible Internet Domain Oversight (CRIDO) to raise awareness of their concerns.

WebProNews spoke with Dan Jaffe, the Executive Vice President of Government Relations for ANA, about ICANN’s execution of the plan. According to him, ICANN’s plan will be harmful to both businesses and consumers.

Not only have ANA and CRIDO pleaded with ICANN, but the FTC and other areas of the U.S. government have also reached out to ICANN to express their concerns about the plan. ICANN has said that it would protect businesses against defensive buying of domains, but as Jaffe explained to us, it has not tested to see if its protections actually work.

While the impact of ICANN’s action won’t fully be felt until after it closes the application process in April, Jaffe told us that ANA and CRIDO would continue to raise its concerns in hopes of being heard.

Incidentally, ICANN has said that it has already approved 25 successful registrants for new domains.

After working as an agent for several years, Alec Shankman realized that there was a serious divide in bringing fresh talent together with producers, agents, and casting directors. He, along with his business partner Wil Schroter, took this problem and created a solution known as GotCast.com.

As Shankman explained, the free service creates a platform that lets casting directors and agents find talent and also that helps talent find work. The interactive community also has a social media-based contest element called MediaBlastr that allows friends and family to vote for their loved one on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Shankman told us that the entertainment industry is trying to embrace technology better than the music industry did. Even though there are challenges, especially in terms of monetization, he said that Hollywood was determined to make it work.

After the AT&T/T-Mobile merger fell threw last month, a lot of questions have been raised about what happens next with both companies. Will AT&T still be able to fulfill its goals? Can T-Mobile USA survive since its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, does not want to invest in it further?

WebProNews spoke with former Congressman and Internet Innovation Alliance Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher about these questions and others, who gave us his perspective on the companies. Congressman Boucher supported the merger, as he told us in a prior interview, because he believed it would bring innovation, help the economy, and produce jobs.

He told us that, although AT&T would not be able to complete its goals in the same time frame it would have if the deal had gone through, he believed it could still meet them. The Congressman also said T-Mobile was a strong company, and he believed it would remain a player in the mobile industry. However, its biggest challenge will be gaining the capital it needs to deploy 4G.

Even though he thinks the companies will bounce back from this hurdle, Congressman Boucher told us that the mobile industry, consumers, and the economy would be impacted long-term.

What’s your prediction for the future of AT&T and T-Mobile? Let us know in the comments.

While the announcement of another music service is not out of the ordinary, a new one that is launching today has some features that will likely turn a few heads. The service is called Raditaz and prides itself with being the “future of Internet radio” for its unique geolocation layer.

As Tom Brophy, the company’s CEO explained to WebProNews, Raditaz allows users to discover and listen to music from a catalog of over 14 million songs, see what music is trending locally, and share music with their friends. In addition, users can create new stations and tag them with keywords such as #running, #beach, etc.

Brophy told us that, because users are so accustomed to a personalized music experience, traditional radio outlets aren’t as effective as they once were. According to him, there are 80 million Internet radio listeners, which is a number that is expected to grow over time. With this growth combined with the need for a personalized radio experience, Brophy believes that Raditaz introduces the “future of Internet radio.”

The app is free and is available for download on both the iOS and Android platforms. How do you think it compares with services like Pandora?

Since online privacy is a very controversial issue, it’s not surprising that the debate is heating up again with the FTC report and Commerce Department report expected to be released in the next couple of weeks. WebProNews spoke with Jules Polonetsky, the Director of the Future of Privacy Forum, who told us that the Commerce Department’s report would be interesting since it will dictate the direction the White House takes on the matter.

While he doesn’t think the U.S. will see legislation this year, he does think we’ll have it eventually. He said that the U.S. was paying a lot of attention to Europe, especially since it is expected to change its privacy directive as well.

Polonetsky did tell us that 2012 would include even more scrutiny of companies and lots of hearings.

“I’ve never seen as much scrutiny,” he said.

For the companies that are not in favor of legislation, he recommends that they show how they are self-regulating.

Would you like to see online privacy legislation? We’d love to know your thoughts.

Yahoo is partnering with the Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 19- 29, in order to bring the event to a mass audience. WebProNews spoke with Sean Phillips, the Yahoo Head of Movies and Kids, who told us that the partnership was similar to the approach the company took with the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.

During the festival, Yahoo will showcase 11-12 short films on Yahoo Screen. In addition, it will be giving an Yahoo Audience Award, which will give the audience the opportunity to interact and have a voice. Furthermore, Yahoo’s omg! NOW program will include exclusive on-site coverage of the festival.

Phillips told us that the partnership was a further effort from Ross Levinsohn, the EVP of the Americas at Yahoo, to rebrand the Yahoo as a media company. He went on to say that “it was a dawn of a new time” and that it brings the company “completely together.”

Phillips also said that we should expect more partnerships from Yahoo going forward in 2012.

WebProNews recently spoke with Ben Hammer of FairSearch.org about why the organization believes Google has monopoly power. After the interview, we also reached out to Berin Szoka, the President of free market think-tank TechFreedom, to get another perspective on the issues at hand.

According to Szoka, even though FairSearch may raise some valid points, you have to be “skeptical” when dealing with policy and antitrust.

“We have to be skeptical any time that competitors are using a regulatory process to try to compete,” he said. “Moreoever, we should be worried not just about Google because, obviously, they are big boys and can take care of themselves, but really about the next Google.”

He went on to explain that FairSearch’s argument against Google is based mostly on bias. However, based on research from Josh Wright, also of TechFreedom, if bias is a problem, and it’s not been determined that it is, Microsoft’s Bing shows much more bias than Google does.

Szoka told us that, if bias is the only way that distinguishes what is and what isn’t competition, there is a problem. Instead, he thinks the analysis should look at whether or not consumers are harmed, and, at this point, he said the complainants have primarily been Microsoft and companies that are a part of FairSearch.

While TechFreedom defends Google on this matter, Szoka told us that the organization’s overall goal was to prevent government intervention.

“In general, competition [and] innovation do a much better job of protecting consumers than government does,” he said.

In response to FairSearch’s complaints against it, a Google spokesperson sent us this statement:

“Most people understand that Microsoft and our other competitors complain constantly about Google, but they also know that Google builds our search results for users, not websites, and that the laws are designed to protect consumers, not competitors.  The fundamental openness of the Internet means that consumers have infinite choices and can always switch to Bing, Facebook, Kayak, or Expedia with just one click.”

Does Google show a bias in its search results, or is FairSearch making inaccurate claims? What do you think?

Is Google fair? Over the last year, the company’s business practices have been put into question after several companies spoke out against it as well as the government investigation of it. FairSearch, which is a coalition of companies, is one organization that has been especially vocal against Google.

As Ben Hammer explained to WebProNews, the organization is made up of several companies including Microsoft, Expedia, and TripAdvisor, and it believes that Google is a search monopoly.

“The question that our group is focused on is, now that authorities in the U.S., in the European Union, and around the world have already established that Google has monopoly power in search on the Internet, is Google violating the law by abusing that power in ways that sort of tilt the playing field to itself and basically restrict the options that consumers on the Internet have to find information, and then also get all the benefits that come with competition on the Internet?” he pointed out.

FairSearch began after Google announced that it was going to acquire ITA Software and make developments in the travel industry. Hammer told us that, because Google owns more than 60 percent of the search market share, it should be held to a “higher standard.”

“One of the sort of principles of competition and consumer law is that, once a company gains monopoly power in a market, they have undue influence over everything that happens in that market,” he said. “Only with that kind of power can you then do certain things that disadvantage everyone else in a way that competition and innovation and consumer benefits can be upended permanently.”

Hammer told us that, if authorities find its claims against Google to be true, FairSearch would like to see action taken that stops it.

WebProNews reached out to Google for its response to FairSearch and received the following statement from a spokesperson:

“Most people understand that Microsoft and our other competitors complain constantly about Google, but they also know that Google builds our search results for users, not websites, and that the laws are designed to protect consumers, not competitors.  The fundamental openness of the Internet means that consumers have infinite choices and can always switch to Bing, Facebook, Kayak, or Expedia with just one click.”

Do you agree with FairSearch’s claims? We’d love to know.

GetGlue, the TV check-in service, is making several big announcements today. WebProNews spoke with Alex Iskold, the CEO of GetGlue, who explained that the company hit 2 million users on its social network and also secured $12 million in a new round of funding. In addition, the company is launching new features to both its website and iPhone app.

Iskold told WebProNews that he expects the social TV space to grow exponentially this year. He explained that 2011 was a year for innovation and experimentation in regards to social TV, but he believes that 2012 is the year that the phenomenon will go mainstream.

Although GetGlue is funded at this time, Iskold did offer some thoughts on monetization. According to him, the concept of social TV gives brands a valuable opportunity to reach a certain audience, which also gives GetGlue the opportunity to become an advertising company.

LinkedIn recently released its 2012 Consumer Electronics Report, which revealed some interesting insights about both the business professionals that are on LinkedIn as well as the general U.S. population. The study found that 41 percent of LinkedIn members plan to spend at least $1,000 on consumer electronics this year, compared to 29 percent of the general public in the U.S.

The study, which surveyed more than 1500 U.S. adults, also found that LinkedIn members depend on technology for time management, productivity, and efficiency. In addition, these business professionals are more likely to seek product recommendations on social networks, while average U.S. adults get their recommendations from TV and newspapers. However, both sides believe companies should have a social media presence.

With the Consumer Electronics Show taking place this week, this report could give the tech companies the information they need to market their new innovations.

According to email management firm Oasys Software, 96 percent of employees say that they believe their companies are at some level of legal risk due to poor email management. Oasys came to these results after conducting a survey of its customers, which include lawyers, accountants, and others.

Alec Milton, the CEO of Oasys Software, told us that the results were “quite shocking.” As he explained, the company found that nearly 92 percent of employees spend up to one hour per day searching for email. In addition, another 64 percent of those surveyed said that they were forced to delete emails because their inbox was too full.

Milton recommends that companies and employees organize their emails into folders just as they would important documents. There are also software services, such as Oasys, that companies can use to help secure email systems.

With CES just around the corner, there is a lot of speculation about Internet TV. The idea is there, but it just hasn’t completely taken off. A big part of the reason why could be because companies such as Google and Apple have had some challenges with their initial offerings.

However, this year, these companies and others hope to change this slightly negative perception of Internet TV. Up to this point, the most popular forms of Internet TV have been through dedicated Internet video boxes including Roku, Boxee, and Apple TV. But, 2012 is expected to bring numerous offerings of TV sets with built-in Internet connectivity.

The big question is – if this does happen, will consumers buy into these connected TVs? Also, and again depending on if the TVs take off, what will it mean for Internet video boxes?

Even though we all make mistakes, when certain people or organizations mess up, it’s a bigger deal. Therefore, when a company like Google seemingly breaks its own policy, it gets a lot of attention.

Aaron Wall, the author of SEO Book, first broke the news after discovering it in one of his forums. In short, Google apparently violated its own Webmaster Guidelines for paid links as part of a marketing campaign for Google Chrome.

“It was obviously paid exposure,” said Wall.

Shortly after this interview was conducted, Google responded to the incident and devalued its Chrome landing page for “at least 60 days,” according to the company’s Webspam Head Matt Cutts.

In a statement to WebProNews, a Google spokesperson said:

“Google never agreed to anything more than online ads. We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users. We’re now looking at what changes we need to make to ensure that this never happens again.”

Wall did tell us that he hoped that, going forward, Google would be more “lenient” when dealing with others since mistakes can happen to anyone, even search giants.

Social media has given many industries a new means for communicating their message, and the poker industry is no exception. WebProNews spoke with Rich Muny, the Vice President of Player Relations at the Poker Players Alliance, about how the online poker community is using social channels to reach lawmakers.

Online poker is currently a hot topic in the U.S. as the debate over regulating the game is at an all-time high. Numerous laws have been proposed to Congress, and, according to Muny, social media has given the poker community the perfect outlet to plead with lawmakers on their behalf.

He told us that social outlets help them connect directly with legislators and educate them on the game. He calls the impact of this ability “astounding” and said that the poker community would continue to take advantage of the opportunity.

How did Brian Gramo take theStream.tv from his bedroom in Santa Monica to a 4,000 square-foot studio right in the heart of Hollywood? As he explained to WebProNews, it didn’t happen overnight. According to him, success takes both time and effort.

One of the most important aspects of this success is consistency in both the content and production value. Gramo told us that the lighting, sound, and product should be “awesome” all the time. Another important element of an effective live stream is a solid Internet connection with low latency speeds.

In terms of what not to do, Gramo told us that people wanting to live stream should not go live with just anything. In other words, there needs to be a lot of testing and rehearsing involved for it to really work.

Gramo also pointed out that, although television has the majority of the media market now, the trend will eventually switch to live streaming video content.

Popular mobile app Urbanspoon recently updated and added a new feature that lets users record their dining history. It’s called “Dineline” and essentially serves as a dining diary.

WebProNews spoke with Kara Nortman, the Senior Vice President at Urbanspoon, who told us that people often forget what restaurants they’ve been to and what they’ve eaten. For this reason, Urbanspoon wanted to create a way for people to remember these experiences.

At this point, the updated app is available on the Web and the iOS platform. However, Nortman told us that it would soon be available on the Android platform as well.