auctions

People sell all kinds of stuff on eBay. The past brings us listings for immortal souls (deleted), Britney Spears hair (mostly deleted), and even cruel Christmas presents (deleted pronto). And now someone is selling his personal data to the highest bidding marketer.

Those “Highlander” movies (and the television series) are fairly fuzzy memories for me, but I’m quite sure that they involved a bunch of guys running around, chopping each other’s heads off, and absorbing each other’s power.  Well, Yahoo Auctions pretty much decapitated itself, but that act effectively leaves eBay as “the only one.”

In June, Yahoo will give up competing with eBay and other auction sites in the US and Canada by shuttering Yahoo Auctions.

Google, Yahoo, and eBay have enlisted satellite carriers EchoStar and DirecTV to help them lobby the Federal Communications Commission about keeping a close eye on how spectrum auctions are conducted. The alliance aims to put tighter reins on incumbent last mile providers of broadband access. The last mile and who controls it has been a mounting concern among the major "network-less" players like Google, Yahoo, and eBay. The concern rises from suspicion of the telecommunications industry, and its control over chokepoints.

Since the dawn of EverQuest, the godfather of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs), companies have turned a tidy profit from selling virtual items and currency that only exist within the game in exchange for real life cash.

On Monday eBay said that it had a special announcement for sometime Tuesday regarding a new incorporation of Skype technology for its online auction house. Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, announced sellers can begin placing "Skype Me" buttons alongside product listings.

Welcome to the brave new world of convergence, one in which the Web more closely resembles TV, and new forms of TV advertising rely on methods and technologies which proved their worth on the Web.

There's nothing like the simple joys of finding something on eBay, putting in a bid, watching the auction clock tick down, and having someone snipe the item out from under the rest of the bidders.