Internet jester ends stint

SAN FRANCISCO -- Philip Kaplan, the bawdy joker behind a profane Web site that skewered casualties of the dot.com bust, found out mocking other executives is easier than trying to run a company.

The realization prompted Mr. Kaplan to step down as chief executive officer of AdBrite, an online advertising agency he started in late 2004.

Mr. Kaplan, 30, resigned last week to make way for Ignacio "Iggy" Fanlo, a former investment banker who helped build and then sell Shopping.com to eBay Inc. for $634 million last year.

Although AdBrite remains unprofitable, Mr. Kaplan says the startup is thriving. The agency now places ads on 16,000 Web sites, up from 3,500 early last year. Meanwhile, AdBrite's payroll has tripled to 45 employees, bolstered by quarterly revenues that have been increasing by 25 percent to 50 percent every three months, according to KaplanMr. .

Venture capitalists saw enough upside in AdBrite to invest $8 million in March.

"We have been growing very fast so we decided to bring in some awesome [management] experience," said Mr. Kaplan, who remains AdBrite's chairman and chief product officer.

AOL releasing security check

NEW YORK -- AOL is releasing free software to automatically check whether you have the latest security protection on your Windows computer.

The Active Security Monitor software is part of AOL's expansion into security services. The company is expected soon to announce its own for-pay security suite, competing with the products from Microsoft Corp., Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. and others.

AOL's monitor checks for the presence of firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. It makes sure you have the latest security updates for those programs and for the Windows operating system. The monitor also tells you if your Internet Explorer browser isn't properly configured.

The AOL tool goes beyond Microsoft's Windows Security Center in several ways, including checking home-network settings, looking for potentially threatening file-sharing software and generating an overall safety score.

Networks battle ad-subbing

NEW YORK -- The major broadcast and cable networks are challenging the use of technology that substitutes commercials shown during regular television programs with ones targeted at the demographic frequenting truck stops across the nation.

Flying J Inc. can get more than $30,000 a month for 30-second substitute spots, according to court papers. Flying J is able to insert the commercials using a device that can detect changes in the television feeds the company gets through EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish Network. Visitors watch the programming in televisions in the truck stops' restaurants and lounges.

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN are among the networks that sued Flying J earlier this year, accusing it of violating copyright law and promoting unfair competition.

On Monday, Flying J sought to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York. Flying J insisted its technology is akin to a remote control that lets users switch away from programming. It also said the device does not copy, modify or redistribute the incoming signal and thus does not constitute copyright infringement.

The device is offered by segOne Inc., which is not a defendant.

What's in a name?

TOKYO -- Nintendo Co.'s president says he has no regrets about the widely criticized "Wii" name for the company's upcoming game console.

Satoru Iwata, who was among those who had come up with the name, said Nintendo's handheld Game Boy was criticized at first, too, prompting questions about whether girls were welcome to use the systme.

But once a product catches on, he said, so does the name. Since its release in the late 1980s, Game Boy has become one of the world's most popular and enduring line of portable game systems.

Wii -- pronounced "we" and meant to conjure the idea of fun for everyone -- offers easy-playing games, regardless of sex, age or skills, according to Nintendo, the Japanese maker of Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon.