The golf star apologized Friday for his infidelity and the ensuing sex scandal, and according to Zeta Interactive, a New York digital-marketing firm that measures online reputations, that helped boost his ratings.

As of 2:30 p.m. ET, about three hours after his televised press conference, the positive rating for Mr. Woods had increased to 68 percent, up from 51 percent, Thursday morning.

His remarks, which included his admission that he cheated and an apology for “irresponsible and selfish behavior,” lifted him above other celebrities with positive ratings in the 50s, such as Michael Vick (55 percent) and Lindsay Lohan (52 percent). He’s now ahead of David Letterman (61 percent) and Jay Leno (57 percent).

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Catalyst Group, a New York usability-research firm, reviewed the two popular dating sites with an eye toward how they walk customers through profiles, finding matches and making contact.

The study considered feedback from eight users of each site (four men and four women) who had been a date with someone they contacted through it in the past month.

Among the findings: eHarmony, which markets itself to people seeking serious relationships, “was preferred by people who would prefer a high degree of handholding,” but experienced users find the profiles “formulaic.” Some also bristle at how they see potential matches — as chosen by eHarmony, not by a search of their choosing.

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“Our network security system found traffic from some of the 4chan web sites that were potentially disruptive of the Verizon Wireless network and could affect our customers’ use of their services,” Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for the wireless carrier, said. “Upon further investigation, and ensuring no current risk of harm, [we] are giving the green-light to all 4chan traffic.”

4chan itself wasn’t blocked, he added.

Christopher Poole, 4chan’s founder, said in a blog post Sunday that visitors who were Verizon Wireless customers reported problems reaching the site’s image boards.

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The 30-second spot features two rival football fans who brush fingers reaching for the popcorn, which leads to a frantic make-out session. The camera pulls back to reveal a third, bewildered friend watching the commotion. ManCrunch advertises itself as “where many many many men come out to play.”

According to the New York Post, CBS hasn’t said whether it has approved the ad, but a ManCrunch spokesman said the site has been told that all the ad space has been sold–a claim he questioned. The telecast’s advertising is heavy on blue-chip marketers and often rejects racy or political ads, though it’s expected to include one by Focus on the Family this year.

It may not matter, if it goes viral online. ManCrunch, anticipating that it might not make the cut, posted the ad on YouTube Thursday, where it’s already gotten more than 15,000 views.

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The group, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said in a statement that “hackers of unknown origin” begun the attacks around 4 p.m. Saturday and continued them until 8 a.m. Sunday. Its site was taken down as a result of the denial-of-service, or DDOS, attacks.

It said that it couldn’t pinpoint the source of the attacks but that it believes they originated in China. While it didn’t explicitly blame the Chinese government, it called on it to investigate the attacks and pointed out that it’s not the first such incident. “CHRD’s Web site has frequently been targeted for cyber attacks, making it inaccessible for days, especially during ’sensitive’ periods in China,” it said.

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Lexar Media, a memory-products unit of Micron Technology (MU), is launching a line of what it calls “ultra-portable” USB flash drives at CES. Chief among them is the Lexar Echo ZE, a mere 20.1 by 15.1 millimeters (roughly 0.8? by 0.6?) in size.

Lexar is calling it “one of the smallest USB flash drives in the world” and marketing it to netbook and laptop users.

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CES 2010, which starts Thursday, is no exception–as long as you keep your definition of celebrity broad.

One of the boldface names already lighting up the Twitterverse is Lady Gaga. The pop star has her own line of headphones, but she’ll be in Las Vegas with Polaroid to talk about a new line of imaging products in what is likely to be a packed press conference.

Reality television will be represented, with “Real Housewives of New York” star Jill Zarin at fellow photo company Kodak’s (EK) booth.

Soleil Moon Frye, best known for her role as Punky Brewster on the ’80s TV series, will also appear with Kodak. Ms. Frye, now a thirtysomething mom, is listed as the co-founder of the Little Seed, a green children’s boutique.

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The Apple (AAPL) tablet, an Internet-connected, touch-screen device, has dominated the tech blogosphere in recent weeks, even though it hasn’t been formally announced by the secretive company. The Journal reported that Apple is in talks with TV networks for a related subscription service, and outlets have also discussed the possible component makers that will work with Apple.

Apple watchers expect the company–maybe even Steve Jobs, who has been closely involved with the tablet’s development–to unveil the tablet in three weeks (Jan. 27, according to All Things D), and while Apple won’t be at CES, you can bet that attendees and exhibitors will be talking about it.

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A site called the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine is banking on it. It offers to help visitors “kill” their online presence on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn by clicking a “commit” link (complete with a noose icon).

It works by prompting users for their account information, then removing their friends, updates and other content, then changing the password and logging out–leaving an intact but bare profile.

The site offers this service for free and coaxes the uncertain with words like “delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles,” “feel free like a real bird again and untwitter yourself” and “you want your actual life back?”

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On Thursday, the start-up plans to announce new incentives tied to Foursquare, another mobile-social app. Users of both services will be able to check in to locations through Waze, and after the third check-in, they’ll unlock a new “Road Warrior” badge.

The two apps, both of which use social games to build crowdsourced information, have similar goals, said Di-Ann Eisnor, community geographer at Waze. This is the first time Foursquare has created a badge–one of the ways that the service rewards frequent users–that’s tied to another app, said Dennis Crowley, a co-founder of the New York start-up.

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Zynga, which is closely held and based in San Francisco, is behind casual videogames like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, which have become popular time-wasters on Facebook and MySpace. It says that more than 230 million consumers play its games each month.

The company makes money through online advertising and sales of virtual goods in its games, and it said it will use DST’s investment for further growth.

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Its “Snowday” card is a snowflake-catching game, and if you have a webcam attached to your computer, you can play by simply sticking your tongue out and grabbing ’em.

The game starts by asking you to grant the cam access, then you center your tongue in the screen’s image (in mid-air–you don’t actually need to lick your monitor), and start catching falling snowflakes.

Players get points for each one and can advance through levels such as “Tongue-Tied,” “Sir Licks a Lot,” “Dr. Strangetongue” and the ultimate, “Baron von Tonguemeister.” The game ends by taking a photo of you in tongue-extended play, which you can then post to Facebook or Twitter. There’s also a “tongueless” version for players without webcams, in which you drag an on-screen tongue from snowflake to snowflake.

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The Web site said in AdAge that no advertisers have signed on yet and that it would help them figure out how to best inject their messages into relevant parts of the site. Greg Coleman, HuffPo’s president and a former Yahoo (YHOO) and AOL (AOL) exec, said a company seeking advertising around the World Series might tweet about baseball, for example.

“You cannot use the social engagement for the purposes of really hawking your products,” he told AdAge. “The advertiser is really put in a position where they need to add value to the conversation that’s taking place.”

The initiative is already generating discussion, not surprisingly, on Twitter, where some users wondered if the extra revenue would go toward compensating the site’s unpaid bloggers. “Losing respect for them, min by min,” Casey Rentz tweeted. Others were more sympathetic: “I have decided that sponsored tweets (a la the HuffPo) are okay, as long as they are clearly marked. I may be a brand tweeter one day,” Jill Elswick wrote.

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The market-research firm said that shoppers spent $4.64 billion online last week, up 4 percent, with Thursday, Dec. 10 spending reaching $852 million (the third-strongest day of the season to date, following Cyber Monday’s $887 million and the following day’s $886 million).

ComScore said it is likely to see the heaviest spending this season today, also known as Green Monday, as Internet users scramble to get purchases delivered by Christmas. What analysts hope for is a day in which e-commerce reaches $900 million, which would be a record sum, and Green Monday represents the day most likely to achieve it.

This year’s holiday-spending prospects are strong, Lazard Capital Markets said. It hosted a Friday call with e-commerce firm Channel Intelligence, which said it expects growth rates to remain positive after a promising Black Friday start.

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Mr. Garlinghouse joined AOL earlier this year, and on Thursday, as the company completed its spinoff and began trading, he fired off another memo, this time promising AOL mail customers that change is coming:

Today marks a very important milestone in AOL’s history–and future. As we separate from Time Warner and become an independent company, we mark the beginning of a fresh start and open the door to new opportunities. I believe this is a perfect time for rebuilding trust, confidence and passion around AOL and the products we bring you.

I realize that–at times–over the past few years, it’s been challenging to be an AOL Mail user. I’ve heard your feedback and we’re going to start making changes with a renewed focus on you. We can and will make our free AOL Mail product world class!

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“It has been an interesting two years,” the CEO, Dan Hesse, said at the final keynote session of UBS’s investors conference. Sprint, which has seen big subscriber losses in recent quarters, has been struggling with both economic and competitive pressures, he said.

Customer service is one key area that Sprint has focused on. “I think we’ve made a lot of improvements, but slow and steady,” he said. “Quarter after quarter, we’re making slow improvement.”

Marketing is another priority for Sprint, Mr. Hesse said, and he credited rival carrier Verizon Wireless (VZ) for its strong brand. “Customers are conditioned to think if it’s from Verizon, that it’s good,” he said. “We have to do the same thing.”

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Manhattan and San Francisco, particularly the city’s financial district, “are performing at levels below our standards,” Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said at an investors conference.

Those two cities see especially high smart-phone penetration, which has put pressure on AT&T’s data network. The company expects to see gradual improvements in New York and plans to replace some microcells in San Francisco, he said.

“This is going to get fixed,” Mr. de la Vega said. “In both of those markets, I am very confident that you’re going to see significant progress.”

With about 3 percent of smart-phone customers driving 40 percent of data traffic, AT&T is considering incentives to keep those subscribers from hampering the experience for everyone else, he said. “You can rest assured that we’re very sure we can address it in a way that’s consistent with net-neutrality and FCC regulations.”

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“God bless Tiger,” she said during an investors conference Tuesday, for the “huge” uptick in Web traffic he has generated over the past week.

News, photos and other content about the pro golfer, whose personal life has become tabloid fodder since his car accident and cryptic apologies, are contributing to Yahoo’s sports section, as well as news, gossip and the front page, Ms. Bartz said. When asked if Mr. Woods would help the Internet company make the quarter, she said, “Oh, absolutely,” and added that he’s fueling more visits than Michael Jackson’s death.

The former Autodesk (ADSK) CEO teased the lunchtime audience at UBS’s (UBS AG) media summit after a joke or two (one about low-quality “Russian bride” online ads). When she didn’t get the intended reaction, she told them she’s used to CAD conferences and talking to engineers. She said, “You guys are supposed to be interesting!”

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The handset maker asked 300 cellphone users in each of eight metropolitan areas in the U.S., including New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Boston and Denver, about where they send text messages.

Atlantans topped the charts when it comes to texting while at the dinner table (44 percent), the movies (48 percent), on dates (27 percent) and at church (15 percent). The city was beaten in only one category, texting while at concerts or plays, with Philadelphia residents indicating that 33 percent of them do it, compared with Atlanta’s 31 percent.

The most restrained SMSers appear to be in Denver, where only 17 percent said they text while dating and 8 percent while praying. Beltway residents were the least likely (23 percent) to text at the dinner table or at concerts, while Bostonians were least likely (51 percent) to text from the doctor’s office.

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At an investors conference, John Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, declined to give much detail into the company’s performance this holiday season. He said that unlike previous years, where an item like the Nintendo Wii became a must-have gift, eBay isn’t seeing that focused demand this year.

“There’s no killer item this year. There’s no Xbox or item that’s out of stock that everyone has to have,” he said. Zhu Zhu pets, the stuffed hamsters that have become intensely popular in recent months, are an exception and are doing brisk business on the site.

Mr. Donahoe made two other observations on this year’s holiday shopping, the first being that he sees consumer electronics as, increasingly, non-discretionary purchases. “People’s cellphones, smart phones, netbook, laptop, are almost as essential as their car or groceries,” he said. “People may trade down to buy that refurbished one or cheaper one,” but they continue buying them.

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The bill, dubbed the Cell Phone Early Termination Fee, Transparency and Fairness Act, would cap those early-termination fees based on the price of the phone, and would pro-rate fees based on the time left on the contract.

“Forcing consumers to pay outrageous fees bearing little to no relation to the cost of their handset devices is anti-consumer and anti-competitive,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.), one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement.

“It’s allowing consumers more information and also making sure that the industry isn’t sticking it to consumers,” a spokeswoman for the senator added.

Early-termination fees have attracted criticism from some lawmakers, regulators and consumer groups, who say they’re too high and too complicated. Most of the major wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless (VZ), AT&T (T) and Sprint (S), have faced disputes related to their fees.

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“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,” he wrote. “I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.”

Mr. Woods, who was fined for the car crash but won’t face any criminal charges, added that he’s been “dismayed” by what he called tabloid scrutiny of him and his wife, Elin Nordegren.

“For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious.”

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The New York agency monitors blogs, tweets and other online posts to gauge positive and negative “buzz” about celebrities, companies and other topics.

Mr. Woods’s buzz rating was overwhelmingly (91 percent) positive prior to the accident but has since dipped to 74 percent positive, 26 percent negative.

In contrast, David Letterman’s positive buzz rose to 79 percent positive, 21 percent negative, five days after his infidelity scandal broke, up from 76 percent/24 percent. Other celebrities, including Alex Rodriguez, Rihanna and Robert Pattinson, have also seen their ratings hold steady or even rise amid unflattering news reports. Prior to the accident, Mr. Woods had a higher positive-buzz rating than all of them, according to Zeta.

Mr. Woods was injured around 2:25 a.m. Friday after crashing his SUV into a fire hydrant and tree. Although tabloids have speculated that he and his wife, Elin Nordegren, were fighting, the police said that neither alcohol nor domestic-violence claims were involved.

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On Monday, Bit.ly announced partnership with several security firms, including Websense (WBSN), Sophos and VeriSign (VRSN), that it said helps to address that.

The three of them will provide malware and spam-detecting services designed to keep fraudulent links from making their way into Bit.ly URLs, which in turn are used extensively on Twitter, email and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

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Microsoft (MSFT) in October began showing tweets in Bing’s search results, calling it a way to make Bing more useful as a real-time search service (Google responded by announcing a similar deal).

A beta version on Bing lets visitors see relevant Twitter posts in addition to standard Web search results. It also displays a cloud of “hottest topics” that Twitter users are discussing, similar to Twitter’s “trending topics.” On Monday, for example, Bing’s hottest topics included Black Friday, Chelsea Clinton and Afghanistan.

According to Twitter, however, its users were more concerned with Music Monday (a weekly tweet-exchange of popular songs), Google Wave (GOOG), Cyber Monday and vampire movie “New Moon.”

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