Google is making major structural code changes to Gmail and rolling them out slowly. The user interface changes are pretty subtle and you might not even notice them. But the code modifications likely presage more significant design and function improvements to come.

To tell if your account has been affected, a hyperlink at the top of the screen will say “older version” or “newer version,” allowing you to choose which version to use.

One thing you might notice is that mail browsing is faster. Google pre-fetches messages in the current view, so when you open an e-mail your browser doesn’t have to communicate with the server; it just displays the message instead.

Also, the contact manager interface has changed so that the contact data is in an easier-to-read format. There are also some new keyboard shortcuts and now you can bookmark specific messages and e-mail searches.

One side effect of the coding changes, however, is that third-party Gmail extensions are likely to stop working, Google says.

A Swedish Web site that promotes trading of pirated movies is developing a new software standard for Internet downloads in a move that could make it easier to swap media files, which is illegal in many countries.

The Pirate Bay is the biggest ad-supported site using the software of BitTorrent Inc. The program has been a good match for Internet denizens looking to pick up free downloads of copyrighted media, from Harry Potter movies to Xbox 360 video games.

But BitTorrent has seen some long-awaited success in working with major media companies, and as its ties with the industry grow, it might add features to discourage trading pirated materials, said Pirate Bay’s co-founder, Peter Sunde.

“If they go and do something stupid, it will affect a lot of people,” Sunde said in an interview, noting the site gets 1.5 million visitors on a typical day.

He said he hopes to have the first version of the software ready early next year and has asked for developers to pitch in at Web site.

TiVo Inc is offering a new service giving advertisers detailed profiles of its users, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday in its online edition.

TiVo — which sells advertisers second-by-second ratings of programs and commercials based on subscriber viewing habits — plans to announce on Thursday that it will soon add demographic data about the viewers themselves, the Journal reported.

The information includes age, income, marital status and ethnicity, the newspaper reported.

Microsoft Corp. released on Tuesday a suite of free Web services that connect to its Windows operating system, delivering a major element of its strategy to maintain the dominance of its software while extending its reach on the Internet.

The package of “Windows Live” services, which was first released in a test version in September, makes available in a single download updated versions of e-mail, instant messaging, photo gallery, blogging and event planning applications.

As part of the new software suite, users can access their free Web e-mail through a downloaded desktop application — similar to Office Outlook used by many businesses — instead of using a Internet browser to check, reply or write e-mails.

Similarly, Windows PC users with a single click can either save photos to the computer’s hard drive or publish and store the pictures on the Web using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

The on-again, off-again talks to merge two ultra-fast nonprofit Internet networks have ended again - for good this time, it appears.

Internet2 and National LambdaRail serve many of the nation’s universities and research institutions by offering fast Internet connections that physicists, astronomers and other researchers need to exchange large amounts of data.

The two next-generation networks began with separate missions, but their technologies and services converged over the years. And Jeff Lehman, chairman of Internet2’s board, said their clients backed the merger because the organizations largely served the same community.

Talks resumed this year, and a committee with top leaders from each network worked out a compromise in August.

Internet2’s board approved it, despite misgivings by some of its board members, but LambdaRail’s board sought more concessions. And last week, both sides called it quits.

Fan sites dedicated to Prince say they have been served legal notice to remove all images of the singer, his lyrics and “anything linked to Prince’s likeness”, and have vowed to fight what they said was censorship.

The move was a shock to many of his followers and came two months after Prince threatened to sue YouTube and other major Internet sites for unauthorized use of his music and image.

But by targeting fan sites directly, Prince risks a backlash, and the sites have vowed to unite under the banner “Prince Fans United” and take the matter to court if necessary.

“We strongly believe that such actions are in violation of … freedom of speech and should not be allowed,” said a statement from the three sites — www.housequake.com, www.princefams.com and www.prince.org.

Target Corp. said Wednesday it has pulled the “Manhunt 2″ video game from its stores due to particularly gruesome content that can be unlocked by hackers.

In “Manhunt 2,” by Rockstar Games, two prisoners go on a bloody rampage after escaping from a secret asylum for the criminally insane. Players take the escapees’ point of view.

The game is rated “mature” by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, whose ratings cover a series of levels from “early childhood” through “adults only.” The original version of “Manhunt 2″ was gruesome enough to earn an “adults only” rating so Rockstar blurred out some of the nasty bits and got the rating lowered to “mature” before it went on sale on Halloween.

A grand jury has indicted 17 people and a corporation on charges of identity theft, worldwide trafficking in stolen credit card numbers and other crimes committed using the Internet, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The 173-count indictment, resulting from the second phase of a two-year investigation, says the defendants trafficked in more than 95,000 stolen credit card numbers and caused more than $4 million in credit card fraud.

The defendants ran Internet ads saying they had countless credit card numbers and other identifying information to sell to crooks, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney John Bandler. One of their Web sites was titled “The International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity.”

Two of the defendants are a married couple, Vadim Vassilenko, 40, and Yelena Barysheva, 42, who pleaded guilty in September 2006 to falsifying business records and violating New York banking law by running an unlicensed check cashing and money transfer business.