Cell phone warns of predators

ORLANDO, Fla. -- When 11-year-old Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped and murdered last year, Joe Dawson immediately began gathering signatures to enact stricter penalties for registered sex offenders.

Now, Mr. Dawson is teaming up with a California-based technology firm to introduce the first cell phone that uses the Global Positioning System to alert parents when a child is walking near a sexual predator's home.

CATS Communication Inc. allows parents to build a "geofence" around every listed child predator that lives within their ZIP code. The phone alerts parents through an e-mail, text message or pager if their child enters that zone, said the company's vice president, Jon Kudla.

Linked with the Family Watchdog's national database of registered sex offenders, the phone will update every time the a name is added to the database.

"It's important for parents to know when their children are interacting near those people," said Mr. Kudla, a father of three.

The feature, which hits the market in the next 60 days, costs $19.99 a month for the first phone and $9.99 for each additional phone. It's part of Cat Trax, a Nextel wireless phone CATS introduced last year.

Game players create ads

NEW YORK -- Advertising has been creeping into video games in the past few years on virtual billboards that hawk real-world products such as soft drinks and computer gear.

The publisher of online science-fiction game "Project Entropia" is taking the idea one step further by giving players the tools to put up their own advertising in the game.

Through a PowerPoint-like system, players create animated ads and buy time on the billboards in the latest release of the game, created by MindArk PE AB of Sweden.

So far, the ads have been promoting player-organized in-game events, such as fashion shows and hunting competitions, as well as in-game businesses, said Marco Behrmann, MindArk's director of player relations.

MindArk also announced a collaboration with New York-based Massive Inc., which distributes ads from companies such as The Coca Cola Co. and Warner Bros. for inclusion in more than 100 games. Ads distributed by Massive will show up on billboards in "Project Entropia."

Town for sale again on eBay

SAN FRANCISCO -- The owner of a picturesque northern California town is accepting bids on online auctioneer eBay, nearly two years after purchasing the hamlet.

Bridgeville, with a population of about 18, was first put up for sale on eBay in 2002, but the winning bidder backed out of the deal after discovering that many of the buildings were falling apart and that garbage was strewn over much of the town's 83 acres.

"I spent a lot of money and a lot of effort cleaning it up," said Bruce Krall, the Orange County commercial mortgage banker who owns the parcel now.

Bidding starts at $1.75 million.