SEPTA opens Google Transit data to third-party developers | Covering the Community of People Who Use Technology in Philadelphia.

SEPTA passengers and city programmers alike have reason to celebrate. The region’s transportation organization announced today that it has integrated its trip planning services with Google Transit and that it will give third-party developers access to location and scheduling data, as reported earlier.

City Councilman Bill Green demonstrated the new service on his black iPhone 3G in front of onlookers at the media event. “It tells me what buses to take to what trains to what trolleys. I just follow those directions and I get there quickly and efficiently,” he said.

Green said this is only the beginning of city initiatives that are part of an effort to attract broadband stimulus grants that will make government data available to developers to create applications...

Twitter gains upper hand on latest scam - PC World

Sometimes, it seems scams are becoming almost as common as social media experts on Twitter. The latest one, unleashed Monday morning and initially noticed by tech blog Mashable, centers on a fake blog hosted at the domain twittersblogs.com. Tweets containing links to the site circulated rapidly, each featuring the message: "omg!! is it true what they wrote about you in their twit blog...?"

Report: Dell developing handheld Internet device - Business Center - PC World

Dell is developing a handheld mobile device designed for Internet access, following in the footsteps of rival Apple, according to a news report published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

Dell engineers are developing prototype devices that resemble Apple's iPod Touch but are slightly larger and lack cellular capabilities, according to a news report, citing unnamed sources. Dell will begin selling the Internet access device later this year, though the plan could be scrapped...

Jackson's death unleashes barrage of online scams - USATODAY.com

SAN JOSE, California — Minutes after any big celebrity dies, Internet swindlers get to work. They pump out specially created spam e-mails and throw up malicious websites to infect victims' computers, hoping to capitalize on the sudden high demand for information.

Michael Jackson's death was no different, and security experts say the fraud artists are just getting started...

Comcast now offers 4G in Portland | Wimax News

Comcast now offers 3G and 4G wireless Internet services in Portland, Oregon, in addition to its wired Internet services. The company announced yesterday that it will offer the new high-speed Internet service under the name of Comcast High-Speed 2go. Comcast will use Clearwire’s WiMAX network to deploy its 4G services and Sprint to deploy its 3G services.

The Comcast High-Speed 2go will operate on data cards that come with Comcast’s phone, Internet, or television products. The result will be a mobile broadband experience wherever and whenever customers need to be connected...

Legislation would put broadband limits under review - The Business Review (Albany):

In a development that could affect AT&T and Time Warner Cable, new legislation in Congress would give the Federal Trade Commission regulatory authority over broadband providers that want to impose limits on customers' bandwidth use.

The Broadband Internet Fairness Act (HB-2902) would require Internet service providers with more than 2 million users to submit proposals for bandwidth caps to the FTC, in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission. The FTC would have the power to deny the proposals if they impose rates or terms or conditions that are "unreasonable" or "discriminatory..."

Net ushering in era of war without borders - InternetNews.com

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- As President Obama endeavors to remake the nation's cybersecurity operations, one of the thorniest challenges he is facing is how to deal with a geopolitical upheaval where foreign enemies route cyber attacks through friendly nations.

Here at research firm Gartner's annual Information Security Summit, David Sanger, the New York Times' chief Washington correspondent, outlined the shaky territory policymakers are venturing into as they embark on the sweeping cybersecurity revamp...

Rural America needs broadband Internet access

I’ve been traveling this past week, visiting some dear friends in America’s heartland near the confluence of the mighty Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. As I tour southern Illinois, I’m struck by the history of that mystical area, from the infamous Cave-in-Rock to the life of Samuel Clemens my favorite American author. Where’s my high speed connection?

As the consummate “needing to be connected” geek, I was also paying attention to where I could find adequate Internet access. I thought I had all contingencies (WiFi, iPhone, and data card) covered, as I was headed deep into the “digital divide”. Little did I know the only option on some occasions would be an analog wired connection...

Botnet Blight: Hacked PCs create 83.2% of spam - InternetNews.com

Spammers continue to innovate, grow and become more sophisticated, with their networks of spam-spewing compromised PCs now accounting for an overwhelming majority of all spam on the Internet.

In a new report, Symantec's MessageLabs unit reported that botnets (define) now account for 83.2 percent of all spam, and that a recent crackdown still shows that bot technology is improving...

Microsoft's mega datacenters coming online - InternetNews.com

Six months after scaling back construction of some of its datacenters, Microsoft is back in gear and ready to open at least two of them next month.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) officials had slowed work on a datacenter in Chicago and another facility planned in Des Moines, Ohio, late last year, as the economy sputtered...

Battle over broadband - Digits - WSJ

The Obama administration has called for a $7.1 billion upgrade of the nation’s broadband Internet system as part of the Recovery Act, but it will be a tall order for the FCC to create a plan that satisfies both telecom companies and broadband advocacy groups.

That was the takeaway message at a panel discussion of the broadband initiativeat the Personal Democracy Forum in New York on Monday afternoon. While more and more Americans may be getting broadband Internet service in their homes, monthly service prices are shooting up, leaving broadband advocates worried that low-income users could be left in the virtual dust...

Is broadband a civil right?

There are some moments when you can feel the conversation change -- and the world tilt from right to left. Today was one of those days. It began early at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City. The PdF as it's known, is now in it's 6th year -- and attracts the top talent in politics, consulting, and technology.

Predictably, the conversation this year revolved around Twitter, Iran and the transformational power of social media to change the political landscape. The days agenda featured a list of Obama campaign and administration superstars -- and it perhaps is somewhat ironic that Julius Genakowski, the newly appointed FCC chairman wasn't able to attend, as he was
being confirmed in DC just as the afternoon sessions began.

But the elephant in the room wasn't about software, or technology -- it was about Broadband. The issues around Universal Access emerged as the most powerful metaphor for freedom, democracy, and free speech...

Foes no more, ad agencies unite with Internet firms - NYTimes.com

CANNES, France — Advertising agencies and Internet companies once viewed each other as foes, but are now coming together to harness the potential for online advertising. Like many other segments, online ad spending has slowed from its previous breakneck pace during the deep recession, forcing companies to devise new ways to chase fewer dollars.

Last week, Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, and Steven A. Ballmer, his counterpart at Microsoft, for the first time attended an annual advertising industry meeting, the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival...

Consumers shop online for home furniture, appliances and home entertainment

LOS ANGELES, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- PriceGrabber.com(R), a part of Experian, explores home furniture and appliance shopping trends in its latest Consumer Behavior Report, Online Home Furniture, Appliance & Home Entertainment Trends. This report examines survey results sourced from 3,127 U.S. online consumers who completed the Home Furniture & Appliances Survey, fielded from April 7, 2009, to May 11, 2009.

Survey data reveals that the state of the U.S. economy is having a major impact on the home life of consumers. Surprisingly, consumer price-sensitivity appears to be less of a factor in these major purchase decisions than previously thought, while peer opinions are proving to be vital during the process of researching and purchasing items in these major categories...

Google fights information poverty in Africa -- InformationWeek

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on Monday said that it had launched a new suite of mobile applications for SMS users in Uganda.

Africa has the world's highest mobile phone growth rate, according to the International Telecommunications Union, and mobile phone penetration there is six times higher than Internet penetration. To better serve local needs in communities where mobile phones represent the dominant form of computing and communication technology, Google has adapted some of its online information services to work with SMS messaging...

Comcast maxes out in Portland - Telecom News Analysis

Cable company Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) has become the first of Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR)'s partners to launch a service piggybacking on the carrier's mobile WiMax platform in Portland, Ore.

Comcast today unveiled its first "High-Speed 2go" market, saying that it kicks off the nationwide launch of the offering, which will offer a choice of broadband wired or wireless connectivity to potential customers. (See Comcast Boots Up 'High-Speed 2go'...)

Biden: CWA “had it exactly right - speed matters” | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

On July 24, Vice President Biden told the 2,000 delegates attending the CWA national convention in Washington, D.C.: "You had it exactly right - speed matters."

"It matters to our children and their education," he added, "It matters to health care, it matters to energy, it matters to education, it matters to the economy, it matters to the future..."

Countries mull ban on selling cigarettes on Net, crackdown on smuggling via free trade zones -- chicagotribune.com

GENEVA (AP) — More than 130 countries met Monday to consider whether to ban the sale of tobacco on the Internet as part of an effort to crack down on the multibillion dollar market in contraband cigarettes.

As well as stopping direct sales to consumers, the draft treaty being considered in Geneva this week could ban online vendors from offering raw tobacco or cigarette manufacturing equipment...

Michael Jackson malware has already hit the Net - InternetNews.com

Malware writers, always eager to take advantage of breaking news to get victims to click on bad links and download Trojans, have already jumped on the largest recent Internet message stream -- the flood of grief and commentary surrounding the death of singer Michael Jackson.

The volume of Web traffic surrounding Jackson's death became so huge that there was a tangible Web slowdown, with problems affecting major Web sites and services. Google, for instance, admitted on its official blog that its Google News site initially took the spike in searches as an automated attack...

Counties creating smartphone apps show can-do spirit

Is your “smartphone” smart enough to save a life?

It could be, using an application — or “app” — that King County, Wash.’s emergency medical services helped to develop. The free app features video clips that review how to perform CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. There are versions for the iPhone and mobile phones that run Google’s Android operating system...

Real CEOs don't Twitter -- Do they? - Business Center - PC World

CEOs at the top companies in the U.S. are dramatically disconnected from the social networking phenomenon, according to a research report released this week by UberCEO.com, an online news and discussion site that focuses on CEOs at major companies.

The study found that only two CEOs from Fortune magazine's list of the Top 100 companies have Twitter accounts and only 19 have a Facebook page. And none of the 100 CEOs were found to have a personal external blog...

Cisco promotes telecommuting - Business Center - PC World

Cisco has revealed it has garnered more than $277 million in productivity savings by letting employees work from home using the company's own virtual office technology.

Not only does Cisco's telecommuting technology help the company save on collaboration technologies, but also the company's telework program makes employees happy, survey results show. Cisco based its productivity savings on the number of billed hours at an average of $91 per hour, with the total figure reaching about $277 million. In addition, the vendor estimated employees garnered fuel cost savings exceeding $10 million per year...

Companies cope with Twitter imposters - WSJ.com

Twitter users have caused an uproar by impersonating celebrities on the popular micro-blogging service. Businesses, too, are targets of fake Twitter profiles -- sometimes from competitors.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has found at least two unauthorized Twitter accounts under variations of its name. Twitter -- a networking service where users create profiles and send out short messages, or "tweets" to their followers -- terminated one of the profiles last summer. An Exxon spokesman says the oil company is considering what to do about the second profile, which it discovered several weeks ago. The profiles didn't appear to contain malicious content...

Facebook, Twitter and peers for sale privately - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — Scott Painter makes his living betting on start-up companies, having played a role in launching 29 of them over the years. But with the bad economy choking initial public offerings and acquisitions, Painter is now backing an idea that makes it easier for insiders like him to sell shares in their companies even before they go public.

SharesPost, which was founded by Painter's business partner, Greg Brogger, launched publicly in June. Through SharesPost's website, Painter is trying to sell shares in several companies he helped found, including car pricing start-up TrueCar.com. He also wants to buy shares in companies that are far from an IPO, like short-messaging site Twitter and business-networking site LinkedIn...

Hawaii may try to tax some Web sales - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

Hawaii is the latest state to try to capture tax revenue from online sales. Supporters of a bill that would tax out-of-state merchants on Hawaii sales say it will bring in $4 million annually.

“Without this legislation, it is possible for an out-of-state business to receive a favorable advantage over an in-state business selling the same items,” said Department of Taxation Director Kurt Kawafuchi. House Bill 1405 doesn’t affect consumers who buy directly from online retailers like Amazon. It targets Hawaii-based Web sites that make commissions on sales by providing links to Mainland companies...

Better experience, lower cost boost virtual meetings - Boston Business Journal:

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many businesses turned to video conferencing as an alternative to in-person meetings as a way of dealing with travel restrictions and the economic slowdown that followed. But many soon went back to more traditional meeting styles, in part because the economy improved and in part because many found the technology still had its limitations.

While terrorism has, fortunately, yet to return to the U.S. mainland, the economy has fallen even harder than it did eight years ago and there are new pressures to avoid travel when possible for the sake of the environment. So what has this done to the video conference versus face-to-face meeting equation...?

Smartphones, social networks to boost mobile advertising - washingtonpost.com

PARIS (Reuters) - Advertising on mobile phones should really take off within two to three years, driven by new applications on smartphones and the growing popularity of social networks such as Facebook.

Executives, who attended last week's Cannes Lions 2009 ad festival, told Reuters that emerging economies were also promising though the lack of a global mobile phone standard could be a brake to speedy development...

Guatemalan fears a tweet will make him a jailbird - USATODAY.com

GUATEMALA CITY — Jean Anleu was so fed up with corruption in his country that he decided to vent on the Internet, sending a 96-character message on the social-networking site Twitter.

That message has now earned him a potential five-year prison sentence and the unfortunate distinction of becoming one of the first people in the world to be arrested for a tweet...

To get ahead in this e-world: Create and market content - USATODAY.com

Q: Everyone says we are supposed to grow our business digitally in this digital age. But for the average small business, what really can or are we supposed to do, other than have a great website and maybe a blog? — Bill

A: Yes, we have all heard the same advice, and I am even responsible for disseminating some of it: Use social media! Tweet (if you must!) Work your SEO! Go viral!

While it does indeed all work, it also can be a bit overwhelming, so that is why today I want to make it as simple as possible. To get ahead in this e-world, there are two essential things you must do...

Twitter spurs a flock of Puget Sound startups - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

Oprah’s doing it. Conan’s mocking it. And, as political shock waves reverberate through Iran, people are relying on it.

Twitter has quickly established itself as a true internet phenomenon. And the San Francisco company’s meteoric rise — attracting more than 17 million unique visitors during the month of April alone — has sparked a new wave of entrepreneurial activity from developers and venture capitalists who think they might just be able to tap into the Twitter ecosystem.

“People are antsy that you have to get in now or you will miss the boat,” said Peter Denton, a developer of the Twitter business directory Twibs, a Seattle startup...

Legislation would put broadband limits under review - Dallas Business Journal:

In a development that could affect AT&T and Time Warner Cable, new legislation in Congress would give the Federal Trade Commission regulatory authority over broadband providers that want to impose limits on customers’ bandwidth use.

The Broadband Internet Fairness Act (HB-2902) would require Internet service providers with more than 2 million users to submit proposals for bandwidth caps to the FTC, “in consultation with” the Federal Communications Commission. The FTC would have the power to deny the proposals if they impose rates or terms or conditions that are “unreasonable” or “discriminatory.”

Internet service providers would face fines of up to $1 million...

Google makes a case that it isn’t so big - NYTimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Google handles roughly two-thirds of all Internet searches. It owns the largest online video site, YouTube, which is more than 10 times more popular than its nearest competitor. And last year, Google sold nearly $22 billion in advertising, more than any media company in the world.

With all those riches and more, how is Google a relatively small company, one that is vulnerable to competition and whose luck could turn any day...?

4G applications set to evolve in a multiplatform environment

MONTREAL, CANADA, JUNE 29, 2009 – Key growth drivers in the 4G applications market include an increasingly open network environment and snackable data plans applicable across various device types, according to Maravedis’ latest research report, “Broadband Services and Applications in the 4G Era: Beyond Existing 3G Applications.”

The evolution from 3G to 4G will be stimulated by services offering enhanced quality, requiring increased bandwidth, elevated sophistication of large-scale information provision, and improved customization capabilities to support user demands...

Most parents ignore parental controls for kids - PC World

Four out of five parents that use parental control software don't turn it on, despite being concerned about their children's online safety, says McAfee.

Research by the security firm revealed a further 52 percent of parents admitted they never changed the security settings on their parental controls software while 20 percent admitted to being unsure as to the level of security. Nearly two thirds of parents also said they hadn't raised the subject of online security with their children...

Mobile data found expendable when budget tight - PC World

Nearly half of Americans would drop their mobile data service completely if faced with a need to cut household spending, according to new data from research firm Strategy Analytics.

By contrast, just 10% would be willing to cut their wired broadband service to save money, and only 12% were willing to drop digital television service...

Beware: Identity thieves harvest social networks - PC World

A third of social networkers have at least three pieces of information visible on their profiles that could make them vulnerable to ID theft, says the security firm Webroot.

Research by the U.K. security software firm revealed that 78 percent of Brits are concerned about the privacy of information on their social networks such as Facebook and MySpace...

Telemedicine essential to healthcare reform « Blandin on Broadband

Thanks to Ann Higgins for sending me word on a recent white paper, National Telemedicine Initiatives: Essential to Healthcare Reform.

This report details the value of telemedicine...

And the winner of the $1 million Netflix prize (probably) is … - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

After nearly three years and entries from more than 50,000 contestants, a multinational team says that it has met the requirements to win the million-dollar Netflix Prize: It developed powerful algorithms that improve the movie recommendations made by Netflix’s existing software by more than 10 percent.

The online movie rental service uses its Cinematch software to analyze each customer’s film-viewing habits and recommends other movies that customer might enjoy. Because accurate recommendations increase Netflix’s appeal to its customers, the movie rental company started a contest in October 2006, offering $1 million to the first contestant that could improve the predictions by at least 10 percent...

Acer’s everywhere in the PC world - NYTimes.com

ABOUT three months ago, Gianfranco Lanci flew into San Francisco International Airport, got off the plane and made his way to the passport control stations. As he pulled out his documents, the passport agent immediately recognized him as the chief executive of Acer.

“It was the first time in my life that has ever happened,” he says...

U.S. and Russia differ on a treaty for cyberspace - Series - NYTimes.com

The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet.

Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official...

Let's leave wireless broadband to wireless devices

One of my biggest pet peeves is the claim that some day we'll live in a world without wires, that all of our broadband connectivity will eventually be delivered over the air.

While I don't rule out the possibility that some new technology could be invented that makes this possible, the reality of today's technology is that wireless is having enough trouble trying to keep up with the increasing demands of mobile applications and devices...

E-mails can jeopardize your job, the Mark Sanford scandal shows - Los Angeles Times

If ever there was a reminder to be cautious with e-mails, it came this week as romantic missives from South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford to his Argentine lover surfaced in the national press.

Sanford, a conservative Republican who disappeared for several days to rendezvous with his lover in Argentina, returned to the United States on Wednesday to find out his tryst had been exposed in the media, along with months' worth of steamy electronic exchanges between the couple...

Sprint wiring itself for a comeback with cost cutting, Palm Pre - washingtonpost.com

One year ago, many were questioning Sprint Nextel's chances of survival. The firm was reeling from a disastrous $35 billion merger that brought together conflicting technologies and warring cultures. Its customer service was so bad that subscribers were leaving at a rate of 12,000 a day. Its bloated operations led to losses averaging $250 million a month.

In the last several months, the company has adopted a series of fresh strategies. It dramatically cut costs, launched a new marketing campaign and made a deal with Amazon to run service for the Kindle, a digital reader...

Cinergy MetroNet coming to Wabash

Wabash, IN - Fiber-optic broadband service is coming to Wabash. Cinergy MetroNet was introduced to the community several years ago.

Steve Biggerstaff announced the company is opening an office in Wabash and planning to invest up to $20 million in fiber-optic cable to service Wabash and North Manchester...

Critics Seeking to Debunk Spectrum Scarcity - InternetNews.com

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to spectrum, the electromagnetic infrastructure that makes wireless devices work, there is a widely held belief that it commands such a high value because it is in such short supply.

But this afternoon at the New America Foundation think tank, a panel of experts took aim at the notion of spectrum scarcity.

Library highlights digital offerings with national Digital Bookmobile

The Madison Public Library is helping update the idea of the bookmobile by hosting a visit from the Digital Bookmobile, a national high-tech tractor-trailer where patrons can experience audiobooks, music, and video with the new library download service.

On Thursday, July 2, the Digital Bookmobile will be at the Lakeview Branch, 2845 N Sherman Ave, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Readers are invited to visit the Bookmobile to see how digital downloading works and experience the library's audio book and video download service. The Digital Bookmobile is community outreach vehicle owned by OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of eBooks, music, and video...

CenturyTel receives Federal Communications Commission approval to acquire Embarq

Jun 26, 2009 (Datamonitor Financial Deals Tracker via COMTEX) -- Update on June 25, 2009: CenturyTel, Inc., a provider of communications services, has received clearance from the Federal Communications Commission to acquire all of the outstanding common stock in Embarq Corporation, a provider of internet, wireless phone, data, and entertainment services. Both the companies are based in the US...

Building the next-generation Web experience - InternetNews.com

NEW YORK -- Corporations building the next generation of user experience will have four attributes, and companies will need five skills to meet the challenge, according to Moira Dorsey, Forrester Research vice president and research director, who spoke at Forrester's Customer Experience Forum 2009.

She said that the ideal Web experience of the future will be Customized, Aggregated, Relevant and Social (with the acronym "CARS" as a mnemonic). She pointed to several services that take advantage of social networking and aggregation to deliver customized and relevant data to users...

Yahoo aims at customization with new home page - PC World

When Yahoo rolls out the new version of its Yahoo.com home page later this year, people will be able to customize it to such a degree that the need for the company's My Yahoo personalized home page service will drop significantly.

Yahoo.com will sport a brand-new design that will be much cleaner and more open, which will allow people to access a wide variety of content and services like The New York Times and Facebook from its interface, said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz on Thursday...

News sites falter as traffic spikes after Jackson's death - Business Center - PC World

Michael Jackson's death on Thursday caused a spike in visits to news Web sites that affected the performance and availability of some of the biggest ones, according to Web monitoring company Keynote Systems.

Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, the availability for the news sites from ABC, CBS, the LA Times and CNN Money dropped to almost 10 percent, meaning that about nine out of 10 visitors couldn't get the sites to load...

PC shipments showing signs of recovery, Gartner says - Business Center - PC World

The PC market is showing signs of recovery, with the freefall of PC shipments skidding to a halt thanks to competitive PC prices and a continued interest in netbooks, Gartner said on Thursday.

Gartner said that PC shipments will decline due to the continued effects of the global recession, but at a slower rate than originally expected. Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by 6 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year, an upgrade from the 6.6 percent decrease earlier projected by Gartner...

FTC suspends heavy penalty against scareware defendants - PC World

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has suspended the majority of a judgment levied against two defendants accused of selling bogus security software to up to a million consumers.

James Reno and his Web hosting company, ByteHosting Internet Service of Ohio, will forfeit $116,697, just a fraction of the $1.9 million the judgment levied against Reno and the company. The settlement must still be approved by a court, the FTC said...

Bell charges into cable market | Cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Cincinnati Bell Inc. is extending its ability to bring more than 250 TV entertainment channels and faster Internet service into apartment and condominium complexes across Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky at light speed.

Quietly over the last year, the wireless, wireline and broadband provider has more than doubled the 4,000 customers served by its Lebanon cable system, acquired in 2007, by extending fiber optic cable to more than 100 apartment and condominium complexes from Mason to Northern Kentucky...

Strategies: It might be time to get serious about a server - USATODAY.com

Is it time for you to consider a server for your small business? Do you even know what a server is? Well, in today's business environment, all but the smallest businesses need to find some way to share information, and the time-honored way is to get a company server and network. A server is a master computer where you store the files and programs you need to share among more than one member of your team...

Businesses use Twitter to communicate with customers - USATODAY.com

When a Stanley Cup broadcast suddenly went black in late April, many Comcast subscribers simply scooted to Twitter to find out why.

It was there — not on a phone system with multiple options — they discovered that a lightning storm in Atlanta had caused a power outage during the Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins hockey playoff game, and that the transmission would be restored soon...

Michael Jackson tops the charts on Twitter - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

On Thursday, the unexpected news of Michael Jackson’s death rocked Twitter as fans of the pop music star sought the latest information and posted their reactions to the news.

One Twitterer by the name of toomarvelous wrote: “I don’t recall where I was when Buddy Holly died. But I’ll recall where I was when Michael Jackson died. I was on Twitter.” Another Twitter member, by the name of amorril, posted a message about Mr. Jackson’s period singing in a band with his older siblings, writing: “I remember listening to my Jacksons 5 album and loving them.” Hundreds of other users echoed short messages of grief at the news by simply posting the phrase “RIP MJ...”

Washington area school systems' tweets are a one-way street - washingtonpost.com

Twittr not jst for college profs: local schools r tweeting 2. Ffax in April, MoCo last wk & PW this summer. 140 characters good 4 qwik news.

But so far, no local school feed has the interactivity typical to Twitter. Schools in Montgomery and Fairfax counties stick to a formula: brief teaser followed by a briefer link to a full article on their Web sites...

Google pitches faster Web -- Web Development -- InformationWeek

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) VP of engineering Vic Gundotra said last month that "the Web has won," a declaration meant to convey that emerging open Web standards such as HTML 5 represent the preferred development platform going forward.

But the race isn't over yet. Companies such as Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) that have investments in competing technologies don't accept Google's contention that open source standards and non-proprietary tools represent the future.

Twitter up, Facebook, MySpace down -- Social Networking -- InformationWeek

Whither Facebook?

Maybe it's withering away. At least that's what a show of hands at Enterprise 2.0 may suggest.
Jessica Lipnack, the moderator of a session entitled "How Twitter Changes Everything" asked for a show of hands at the session to illustrate the first application audience participants turned to in the morning...

Google Voice calls out to new users -- InformationWeek

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on Thursday began issuing invitations to users who have expressed interest in Google Voice, the company's online voice mail and call management system.

"We are happy to share that Google Voice is beginning to open up beyond former GrandCentral users," said Google Voice product managers Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet in a blog post. "If you requested an invitation on the Google Voice site or previously on GrandCentral, keep your eye out for an invite e-mail..."

Study: Top CEOs 'miserable' at social networking - InternetNews.com

Only two Fortune 100 CEOs use Twitter and no top business leaders maintain a personal blog, findings that show "a miserable lack of social engagement," according to a new study.

Although 76 percent of corporate heads have a Wikipedia entry, 81 percent of 2009 business chiefs do not have a personal Facebook page, said Sharon Barclay of the Blue Trumpet Group, a public relations firm. Barclay released the study’s results on her blog UberCEO...

AlcaLu calls broadband recession-proof - Telecom News Wire

PARIS -- Consumers are unwilling to part with their broadband services at home even in the midst of the economic downturn, preferring to cut spending on things like dining out and leisure travel, according to a series of recent studies sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU).

These findings were uncovered as part of a global study exploring the impact of the economic recession on spending for telecom services and the role broadband services can play in promoting global economic growth and social welfare...

Clearwire buys up Oneida spectrum - Telecom News Analysis

Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) has bought up 2.5-GHz spectrum assets from Oneida Communications Group in several areas of the U.S., but isn't saying how much it paid for the radio resources.

Clearwire says that the licenses it has bought include areas in Lynchburg, Va.; Parkersburg, W.Va.; Salisbury, Md.; and Santa Barbara Calif. It hasn't said, however, how many potential users that covers...

Extension service takes a look at independent funding | coshoctontribune.com | Coshocton Tribune

In other business commissioners dealt with some good news in the afternoon session. Several government representatives were present for the official presentation of a $38,400 check from the Appalachian Regional Commission for a grant awarded in April to assist with the wireless broadband project.

The funds will be used to cover the county's monthly lease expenses for telecommunication towers owned by the state...

Microsoft’s Hohm hopes to overpower Google’s PowerMeter - PC World

Microsoft released an online power management application designed to help you track your home energy consumption. Called Hohm, the Web-based application also gives you personalized energy-saving recommendations such as placing new caulking on windows, removing air leaks, and installing a programmable thermostat.

Hohm provides these suggestions based on what appliances you have, your home's specific characteristics, and your energy usage patterns. If you're uncomfortable giving too much data to Microsoft, Hohm will base its recommendations on national and local energy consumption averages...

E-Coupon use growing at rapid clip - InternetNews.com

Online coupon sites saw strong growth for the month of May, signaling a trend being spurred on both by the recession as well as by the "modern" digital coupon demographic.

The coupon category posted a particularly strong month, surging 19 percent to 34.7 million visitors to lead as the top-gaining category in May, according to a comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) study released today researching traffic at the top 50 Web properties...

Facebook lets any site add live comment streams - Business Center - PC World

Any Web site owner can now put up a stream of Facebook status updates, using a feature that the social networking platform introduced on Wednesday.

The Facebook Live Stream Box is available free for placement next to a streaming video of a live event, on an individual's or company's Facebook page, or on any other site, according to a blog posting by Tom Whitnah, a software developer at Facebook. After getting an API (application programming interface) key, developers only need to upload a small file to the site and add a few lines of code to set up the stream...

WSJ: Ad groups pursuing Web privacy initiative - FierceTelecom

The Wall Street Journal reports that advertising industry trade groups--including the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Direct Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau--are near to completing development of standards designed to keep Internet users informed about information that advertisers are collecting from them and how it is being used.

The self-regulatory effort, which may include an icon on Web ads that users can click on to find out more information about the privacy and information usage guidelines that apply, might be a step in the right direction, and could take some of the heat off of the service providers enabling the data collection...

AT&T partners with Cooper on smart grids - FierceTelecom

As smart-grid technology for managing home energy consumption becomes all the rage, we are seeing more announcements of traditional telcos positioning to get their piece of the action.

AT&T, which earlier announced a partnership with SmartSynch to target the emerging market, this week announced a deal with Cooper Power Systems to jointly sell smart-grid sensors that measure performance data to help the utility better manage its grid. The sensors will be connected to AT&T's wireless data network for transmission of that data...

Four useful tools for social networkers - David Strom

What do the services Pixelpipe.com, Etherpad.com, Tr.im and namechk.com have in common? All four are tools that I can’t live without these days and didn’t even know existed a few months ago. That is how fast the Internet is changing.

I suggest you give each of the four a quick try out and see if you agree that you can save yourself a lot of time with each of them...

The time is right for direct-to-fan marketing of music | PBS

As the music industry continues to evolve and search for a sustainable and profitable business model, the direct-to-fan (D2F) approach is making great advances, from artists just starting their career up to superstars with massive fan bases.

Artists marketing and selling directly to their audience is not necessarily a new or revolutionary concept -- one can find examples of artists offering their products to customers directly in every generation of music. For established artists, it is used as a way to inexpensively leverage all the awareness they have amassed. For evolving artists, it is often a necessity. Without a label and distributor, the usual options for new artists have been selling music at live shows, selling through fan clubs or sympathetic indie record stores -- or sometimes just selling out of the trunk of a car (which is how N.W.A. got started). But today, advances in technology have opened up exciting new avenues for direct-to-fan sales...

Your government is Twittering

The folks at NextGov.com have put together a great list (or what they call "The Feed") of the Twitter feeds of government agencies.

The page is broken down into several categories, including business and finance, defense and diplomacy, law enforcement, government at work and the White House...

How to avoid Facebook and Twitter disasters - washingtonpost.com

The power of social networks like Facebook and Twitter comes from their ability to quickly share information about your life with other people.

But along with that ability comes the risk of sharing sensitive information with the wrong people, and that risk increases as your network grows well beyond your core circle of friends...

More marketers connect with consumers through mobile apps - USATODAY.com

CANNES, France — Marketers of everything from beer to couture are dialing up mobile-device applications for their brands.

As people have become enamored of how the software works for them without having to go to a mobile browser, they've made more than 1 billion downloads of free and paid "apps." Apple's (AAPL) iPhone has led the way: In less than a year, the number of iPhone apps available went from zero to 50,000...

U.S. objects to China plan to require Web-filtering software - NYTimes.com

The Obama administration lodged a formal protest on Wednesday with the Chinese government over its plan to force all computers sold in China to come with software that blocks access to certain Web sites.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Ron Kirk, the trade representative, sent a letter to officials in two Chinese ministries asking them to rescind a rule about the software that is set to take effect on July 1...

Microsoft Hohm cuts power bills -- InformationWeek

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Wednesday launched a Web service that allows consumers to track their home energy usage and offers ways to help them reduce power consumption.

The online Hohm application relies on an advanced analytics engine, developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy, to generate money-saving ideas and other feedback based on the information consumers provide...

Microsoft exec predicts mobile ad boom -- Mobile Advertising -- InformationWeek

Mobile phone advertising could make up 5% to 10% of global ad spending within five years, according to a Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) advertising executive.

Scott Howe, Microsoft's VP of advertising and publisher solutions, said the growth will be gradual, and it will be driven by improving cell phones and mobile data networks. A recent report from Ineum Consulting finds that the sector is expected to grow from $3.1 billion to $28.8 billion within five years...

Not just another Web retailer - BusinessWeek

Two serial entrepreneurs are poised to launch an online marketplace for brand-name household items that boldly aims to compete not only with the likes of Amazon (AMZN) and drugstore.com (DSCM), but mega-retailers such as Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), and CVS Caremark (CVS) as well.

It's also up against something else that might be just as powerful: memories of past online consumer-goods debacles...

Domestic car brands gain favor with consumers -- chicagotribune.com

The woes of the U.S. auto industry, including bankruptcies by two of the Big Three, haven't yet dampened online interest about their brands.

Three of the five car brands gaining the most consumer interest on Kelley Blue Book's Web site in May were domestic nameplates, according to a study of online traffic patterns by the Irvine, Calif.-based resource for vehicle buyers and sellers...

Twitter a boon for digital music sales? - InternetNews.com

Twitter might seem an unlikely savior of the music industry, but a new study suggests that users of the popular messaging service are much better for business than their non-tweeting counterparts.

Research firm NPD Group polled Internet users and found that Twitter users were on average 77 percent more likely to purchase digital music than those who haven't yet hopped on the micro-blogging bandwagon...

Cellphones: Better than your spouse and/or alcohol - Digits - WSJ

Two new surveys on cellphone use show that Americans love their handsets, possibly to the detriment of their spouses and social lives.

According to a survey of 645 U.S. women commissioned by shoe retailer Zappos.com and payment service Bill Me Later, 31% of respondents ranked their phone or PDA as “most important” in managing their work and home lives, ahead of their significant other and hired help...

Hollywood web-site sale reflects growing clout - WSJ.com

Hollywood reporter Nikki Finke said Tuesday that she has sold her news Web site, Deadline Hollywood Daily, to Mail.com Media Corp., highlighting the growing value of small, online media outlets at the same time traditional players like trade publications are struggling.

Neither Ms. Finke nor MMC Chief Executive Jay Penske, son of auto-racing magnate Roger Penske, would disclose the amount of the sale. ...

Cable grabs the Web remote - WSJ.com

Several major cable networks and subscription-TV providers are readying systems that will let only paying subscribers watch cable shows on the Web, part of an effort to counter the growing amount of free TV shows available online.

Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and DirecTV Group Inc. plan trials of subscriber-only online services this summer, according to people familiar with the matter...

The evolution of eBay - Business Center - PC World

As eBay's senior manager of seller advocacy, Jim Griffith gets a daily earful about what's wrong with his company's online marketplace amid the ongoing wave of changes implemented there. But instead of discouraging or tuning out the feedback, Griffith is urging eBay members to keep it coming--as long as it's constructive.

The ever-shifting online auction environment means there’s always more to learn and new tactics to try in an effort to bolster sales on eBay, whether you’re a veteran of the auction wars or an eBay greenhorn. Here are some insider sales tips from Jim Griffith, eBay’s senior manager of seller advocacy...

Survey: 1 in 5 teens 'sext' despite risks - USATODAY.com

WASHINGTON — A new survey on kids in cyberspace finds that one in five teens have "sexted" — sent or received sexually suggestive, nude or nearly nude photos through cellphone text messages or e-mail.

Most teens who sexted sent the photos to girlfriends or boyfriends, but 11% sent them to strangers, according to the study made public today by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications. Of teens who sext, 80% are under 18, the survey found...

Verizon pushes faster (and pricier) FiOS bundles - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — Verizon is boosting speeds on its FiOS service. And it's throwing in a high-definition Flip video camera or Hewlett-Packard computer to get you to join.

But to get all that, chances are you'll also pay more if you sign up now...

The Bad News Network: Twitter, Facebook and Liveblogs

Yesterday was not a good day for the District of Columbia and its neighbors. And, like on many other bad-news days, the Internet was there to tell the story of Metro's two-train collision in real time.

Somewhat to my surprise, nobody seems to have been Twittering from either train. But that status-update site quickly filled with updates about the event from people watching it online and on TV -- some of the first photos to emerge on the Web were screen captures of TV news reports...

Eutelsat ncreases satellite stream to 3.6Mbps. | PR NEWS

Eutelsat Communications informed that it is ready with technology and infrastructure needed to provide a 2 Mega bits per second (Mbps) broadband service to all U.K. residents right now with its existing satellite technology.

Officials at the company claimed that this announcement puts it significantly ahead of the UK.. Government’s Digital Britain report that requires all service providers to make a Universal Service Commitment to deliver a 2Mbps broadband service to all U.K. residents by 2012, and says that it welcomes the government’s several initiatives in this direction...

10 years after Napster, online pirates alive and well - USATODAY.com

A file-sharing fine against a Minnesota woman that mushroomed from $220,000 to nearly $2 million last week is just the latest evidence that illegally trading music and videos online is still with us in a big way.

In the spring, while pirates off the coast of Somalia were getting all the high-seas attention, four Swedish pirates of a totally different sort were being sentenced to pay more than $3 million in fines and serve a year in the brig. Their crime: running The Pirate Bay, one of the Web's most-visited file-sharing communities...

Nokia and Intel to work together on mobile computing - NYTimes.com

Intel and Nokia said on Tuesday that they planned to jointly create mobile computing products that would meld the features of phones and computers.

Exactly what Intel and Nokia intend to do together remained unclear. Executives from the companies at a news conference pledged only to produce mobile devices that would have Internet access and run on Intel chips...

Hallmark offers e-card subscription plan - Kansas City Business Journal:

Hallmark Cards Inc. said Tuesday that it is offering its first electronic-card subscription plan, which lets customers send unlimited e-cards for $9.99 a year.

The plan includes all the Kansas City-based company’s premium e-cards and licensed e-cards with hit music, TV shows and movies, Hallmark said in a release. The company sells its premium e-cards for 99 cents each...

Tyranny's new nightmare: Twitter - Los Angeles Times

Twenty years ago, the world was transfixed by an image of courageous resistance -- a lone young man standing in the road before a column of Chinese army tanks moving into Tiananmen Square to crush the students and others who'd gone there to demonstrate for reform. Since Saturday, the global community has been similarly gripped by the tragic photos and video of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman shot to death on the streets of Tehran while on her way to one of the protests over that country's disputed presidential election.

The most famous of the photos of the Chinese hero was taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener. Other memorable images of the standoff were shot by photo journalists who were in Beijing working for Newsweek, Reuters and the Magnum photo agency. In Iran, by contrast, we still don't know who took the stills, video and audio recordings of the dying young woman, who has become known to tens of millions simply as "Neda," because the images and sound were collected on the cellphones of her fellow demonstrators and surreptitiously transmitted over the Internet to the rest of the world...

Students without borders - washingtonpost.com

A team of very smart teenagers has set out to discover ways that maggots might make the world a better place. Two are from Loudoun County. Two live more than 9,000 miles away in Singapore.

To many U.S. politicians, educators and business leaders, Singapore's students have become a symbol of the fierce competition the nation faces from high achievers in Asia. But these four students call themselves "international collaborators" and friends...

Omnicity appoints new CEO - Tuesday, June 23, 2009 : StockReads.com

RUSHVILLE, Ind., June 23, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors has appointed Greg Jarman as the CEO of Omnicity Corp. (OTCBB: OMCY- News) replacing outgoing Richard ("Dick") Beltzhoover, who has resigned to focus on the role as Chairman.

Greg Jarman has been the chief architect of Omnicity`s rural broadband focus and its long term development strategy. Mr. Jarman has been with the Company since 2003, Chief Operating Officer since 2006 and President since 2008. Mr. Beltzhoover, along with Mr. Jarman, has guided Omnicity through the transition to a public company and into an aggressive growth mode over the last fifteen months...

AT&T on track for femto launch - Telecom News Analysis

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is on track for a national femtocell launch by the end of this year, according to a senior executive speaking at a conference in London Tuesday.

The revelation of what will be the first UMTS femto launch in the U.S. follows the news today that Vodafone UK will launch Europe's first 3G femto service next week. The claim for the world's first UMTS femto service goes to Singapore's StarHub Pte. Ltd. , which launched its Home Zone service in November last year with femto access points from Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd...

CenturyTel embarks on wider path

With regional telecom company Century Tel's (NYSE: CTL) deal with Embarq (NYSE: EQ) now in its final stages of approval, Century Tel is now moving to integrate the larger Embarq. The acquisition of the rural landline-based Embarq makes Century Tel larger, but will it make Century Tel better...?

Are upload speeds the new broadband selling point?

Verizon today boosted its upload speeds across its FiOS fiber-to-the-home broadband packages, which leads me to wonder if upload speeds are the new download speeds in a saturated market for broadband. Om and I both have complained about anemic upload speeds, which are becoming more of a handicap in today’s world of video uploads and online backup.

Given Verizon’s history as an innovator in broadband (spending $23 million billion on fiber is a bold move), and a renewed package of incentives out today to drive subscription rates (you get a netbook or a Flip camcorder with a triple-play subscription), upstream speeds may get more competitive. From a Verizon blog post today touting the changes...

Amazon's Kindle DX turns a page In e-Books

My commute to work this week hasn't left the usual amount of newsprint on my fingers. Instead of grabbing a section of the Post to read on the train (the Metro section usually fills that block of time perfectly), I've taken a Kindle DX loaned by Amazon's PR department.

The experience was pleasant -- I was no longer limited to one section of the paper, I could listen to some music (using the MP3-playback function Amazon labels as "experimental") and, of course, I didn't have any gray ink leftovers on my fingertips. On the other hand, I didn't have to pay for the Kindle, since it's going back to Amazon's publicists next week...

What happens when everyone becomes a server?

I recently framed the debate about how much bandwidth we need around what happens when we reach a point where everyone's using high quality video applications all the time.

But there are other ways that demand for bandwidth is trending upwards, like the explosion in technologies that cause broadband users to start acting like servers and therefore demanding a lot more upstream capacity...

Urban League’s Morial responds to Pew broadband report | Black Web 2.0

Washington, DC – Today, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project released their annual national study on Internet usage. The results showed significant increases in broadband adoption and Internet use across every demographic but one. African Americans’ use of broadband increased at a rate well below the national average for the second consecutive year.
Last year, 43 percent of African Americans had broadband Internet connections at home. This year, that figure is 46 percent, an increase the Pew survey refers to as “not significant statistically.”

It’s worth noting that the figures for Latinos are well above average, both in terms of broadband adoption and the rate of increase. According to the survey, 68 percent of Latinos now have connections at home as compared to a national average of 63 percent. This is positive news, to be sure, but a more complete picture might have emerged had respondents been given the option to take the survey in Spanish...

Even recession can't dampen demand for faster iPhone - washingtonpost.com

Evidently, a faster iPhone is enough to get consumers to reach for their wallets again. Apple announced yesterday that it sold 1 million units of its latest iPhone over the weekend.

The heavy demand for the new devices, priced at $200 or $300 if purchased with a two-year commitment to AT&T, happened even as the company cut the price of its older iPhone line to $99. The company did not say how many people bought the cheaper 3G iPhone...

Obama, inviting ideas online, finds a few on the fringe - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — On Jan. 21, his first full day in office, President Obama promised to open up the government, ordering officials to use modern technologies like Internet message boards and blogs to give all Americans a bigger voice in public policy.

Well, the people have spoken. But many of them are not sticking to the topics at hand...

Libraries may close - ReviewOnline.com | News, sports, jobs - THe Review - East Liverpool

LISBON - Columbiana County's public libraries are bracing for the worst after Gov. Ted Strickland proposed cutting their funding by 30 percent to help balance the state budget.

Salem Public Library Director Brad Stephens said the cuts couldn't come at a worse time, with usage at a record high. He said people turn increasingly to libraries during economic downturns, with the library's 12 public computers seeing 150 to 200 visitors a day, many of whom are unemployed and using the Internet to look for jobs or apply online for benefits. Many others are people who were forced to cancel their home Internet service to save money...

Verizon assails cable with amped upstream - Telecom News Analysis

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) has rolled out a handful of new initiatives to get consumers to "dump cable," including speedier FiOS Internet tiers, tech giveaways for new subscribers who sign up for service bundles, and two new "hyper-local" video channels.

Although Verizon's speed upgrades take the downstream into account, the latest tiers emphasize a speedier upstream and target cable's historic challenges in this area...

Credit cards and cabs: New device may make it easier for taxi passengers to pay with plastic -- chicagotribune.com

The refusal of some Chicago taxicab drivers to accept credit cards leads to hundreds of complaints to city officials each year, ranking third behind reckless driving and rude behavior, records show.

And taxi industry executives say the aversion to plastic among cabdrivers is actually the No. 1 complaint they receive. "The biggest thing I've heard from the public is the driver doesn't want to accept credit cards," said Jeffrey Feldman, president of Taxi Medallion Management, LLC. But now, officials hope new touch-screen equipment being installed in the back seats of up to 2,600 Chicago taxicabs will help address the problem...

Coupons via cell phone at Dominick's -- chicagotribune.com

Shoppers at Dominick's grocery stores in Chicago can now access digital coupons on their mobile phones through a deal between retail chain Safeway and Cellfire Inc.

Earlier this year, the San Jose-based digital coupon publisher announced a national mobile grocery coupon roll-out with Kroger. Cellfire digital grocery coupons are now available via mobile phone or computer and redeemable at more than 1,500 Safeway stores nationwide, including Dominick's...

5 ways to aid your Twitter or Facebook experience -- chicagotribune.com

You're on Twitter and Facebook. Now what?

Are you really getting the most out of your online time? Here are five Web sites, apps and tools that can help make a good social networking experience great...

Hacking parking meters is black hat business - InternetNews.com

Increasingly in the modern world, everything is being connected to a network. Even parking meters that were once just purely mechanical devices are now connected.

For IT security researchers, anything that is connected to a network is a potential target for research – even the lowly parking meter. Security researcher Joe Grand has taken a particular interest in the new generation of smart parking meters. He sees various angles where the parking meters could potentially be at risk from security issues and he wants to help make the system better for everyone...

The real-time Web plays catch-up - InternetNews.com

Everyone doesn't need to know what's happening right this minute -- it just seems that way. Twitter tweets abound, up-to-the-minute news tickers are the norm on TV and keeping your status message up to date has become, well, a status symbol.

Search giants like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) have long prided themselves on providing the latest search results, but there's a difference between "latest" and "real-time." Most search engines use some of form of page rank and indexing that takes other factors like relevancy and reputation into account. This may well yield recent information, but not, for example, up-to-the-minute (or more) posts from popular social networks...

Iran's Web spying aided by Western technology - WSJ.com

The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.

Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections...

HP's TouchSmart printers print Web content, no PC required - PC World

Hewlett-Packard unveiled a new line of printers that allow you to access and print Web content from partners Google, Nickelodeon, and USA Today without a PC. The new printer line, unveiled at an event in San Francisco today, is part of a new HP printer technology called TouchSmart Web.

The printers take advantage of the HP's TouchSmart screen and software technology, first seen in the TouchSmart series of all-in-one PCs. Printers outfitted with this TouchSmart Web will feature a Web-connected touch LCD display mounted on the front of the printer, allowing you to navigate a list of HP applications for printing maps, Snapfish photos, or coupons...

Fraudsters try to scam security expert on EBay - Business Center - PC World

When security expert Bruce Schneier tried to sell a used laptop on eBay, he thought it would be easy. Instead, a sale was aborted twice -- first by a scammer using a hacked eBay account and then by a buyer who tried to trick Schneier into sending her the laptop after she cancelled payment.

Schneier, the chief security technology officer at BT, is an authority on cryptography and frequently speaks and writes on security-related issues...

Apple: More than 1M new-model iPhones sold - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — Apple sold more than a million units of its latest iPhone model in the first three days, making it the most successful model yet. The iPhone 3G S went on sale Friday in the U.S. and seven other countries.

When Apple Inc. launched the previous model last year, it also sold one million units in the first three days, but that model launched simultaneously in 22 countries...

FTC plans to monitor blogs for claims, payments - USATODAY.com

Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon.

What some fail to realize, though, is that such reviews can be tainted: Many bloggers have accepted perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post. Bloggers vary in how they disclose such freebies, if they do so at all...

When will PC sales rebound? - InternetNews.com

Suppli is the latest market research firm to weigh in with first-quarter 2009 PC sales, and like the numbers from Gartner and IDC, the findings aren't pretty. It reports that worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter fell by the largest rate in the seven years that iSuppli has been tracking the market.

PC shipments in the first quarter of 2009 fell 8.1 percent over the same period in 2008, from 72.3 million to 66.5 million units in 2009. When compared to the end of last year, the drop is even larger, down 14.4 percent from the 77.6 million units shipped during fourth quarter -- a period when shipments had already begun to slow as the economy started heading south...

Better connections: Phone co-op brings tech to homes - San Antonio Business Journal:

At any given time, Mike and Kathy Carr may have three computers logged on to the Internet, one or two of their four phone lines in use and one of the many high-definition stations airing a favorite movie. They soon will buy an Apple television, so they also can download and store movies from the Internet.

When the couple moved into their lavish home with a tile roof three years ago, high-end appliances, granite kitchen countertops and a separate media room, they knew their luxury package would be complete with one other amenity — fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

“I need a fast Internet connection,” says Mike Carr, who works from home as a Johnson & Johnson sales manager of five states and often e-mails large reports and backs up files to an off-site server. “This is the fastest we’ve ever had. It’s hard to tell, probably twice as fast...”

Web-based software provider making mark in construction - Austin Business Journal:

Ten years after Cosential Inc. was founded in Connecticut, the software company is ready to stand up and make itself known in Central Texas.

The business, which operates with Austin-based developers and an Austin-based chief executive, develops back-office software tools for the construction industry. The company has a distributed global workforce of 10 software developers and technical support employees, and its product has attracted 300 customers that comprise 20,000 users, founder and CEO Dan Cornish said...

Home adoption rates from Pew « Blandin on Broadband

So after hitting a plateau, it looks like home adoption rates are bumping up again. According to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a 15% increases from a year earlier.

The even happier news is that it’s the traditionally offline crowd that’s getting on the broadband bandwagon: Broadband usage among adults ages 65 or older grew from 19% in May, 2008 to 30% in April, 2009. Overall, respondents reporting that they live in homes with annual household incomes below $30,000 experienced a 34% growth in home broadband adoption from 2008 to 2009...

T-Mobile plans July launch of new Google phone - USATODAY.com

Following huge introductions of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S, T-Mobile on Monday announces July availability of MyTouch 3G, the second phone on Google's Android operating system.

It's the first of 18 new Google-powered phones coming worldwide by the end of the year, Google says, declining to provide specifics. Tech and telecom analysts expect Sprint to have an Android phone by year's end...

Services make it easier to buy via cellphone - NYTimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — On a PC, having to fill out a form and type in a credit card number to buy something is only mildly annoying. On a cellphone, it could make you want to skip the purchase entirely.

Mark Britto of Boku hopes people will pay using their phone numbers instead of credit cards.
This is why investors, start-ups and major corporations are pouring money into services that make it easier to use cellphones to buy goods and transfer money...

Mind your BlackBerry or mind your manners - NYTimes.com

For the first half-hour of the meeting, it was hardly surprising to see a potential client fiddling with his iPhone, said Rowland Hobbs, the chief executive of a marketing firm in Manhattan.

At an hour, it seemed a bit much. And after an hour and a half, Mr. Hobbs and his colleagues wondered what the man could possibly be doing with his phone for the length of a summer blockbuster...

Asia leads in broadband growth - Business Center - PC World

Asia is leading the growth for broadband despite the global economic downturn, with China overtaking the U.S. as the biggest market, and some Southeast Asia countries also growing their broadband market fast.

Industry group Broadband Forum revealed some of the latest broadband and IPTV statistics at the ongoing CommunicAsia 2009 regional trade fair and summit here on Tuesday...

Minn. Supreme Court denies challenge to municipal fiber project

On Tuesday, June 16th, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Bridgewater Telephone Company’s (TDS’s) petition for further review of its challenge to the FiberNet Monticello project.

The City received a favorable ruling from Wright County District Court last fall and two weeks ago the Court of Appeals also ruled in favor of the City of Monticello. The effect of the ruling is that the City should now be able to access the revenues from bonds which were issued last year to finance the construction of the FiberNet system...

Lancaster, Pa., keeps a close eye on itself - Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Lancaster, Pa. -- This historic town, where America's founding fathers plotted during the Revolution and Milton Hershey later crafted his first chocolates, now boasts another distinction. It may become the nation's most closely watched small city.

Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and the town's many tourists. That's more outdoor cameras than are used by many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston...

With Kindle DX, Amazon writes new e-book chapter - washingtonpost.com

Lots of novels have the potential for one good sequel, but not too many can sustain a story over a third book.

Amazon's new Kindle DX is like that extra sequel. This $489 wireless tablet, shipping June 26, doesn't do much to advance the electronic book narrative beyond Amazon's earlier Kindles. It does, however, introduce two plot elements that might play a larger role in future e-book chapters...

10 tips to succeed in your legitimate home business | Eliminate Debt

Virtually everyone would jump at the chance to start a legitimate home business so they could work at home and attain financial freedom. But not everyone has what it takes to transform a home business opportunity into financial success. Here are ten tips that will help you achieve your personal and financial goals through running your own legitimate home business.

1. Secure your start-up funds. Any successful business owner will tell you that you need to invest money in your business in order to make money. A home business is no exception. Expect to spend a maximum of $5,000 for a legitimate home business opportunity. If the opportunity is sound, you should be able to get back your initial investment within a matter of days or weeks, but you do need that initial investment.

2. Get high-speed Internet. If you don’t already have DSL or a broadband Internet connection, you should have it installed. The best home business opportunities are Internet based, so you need reliable and speedy Internet access...

Google grabs 1 million phone numbers for Google Voice - Business Center - PC World

Google last month reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service.

The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones...

Nielsen: Twitter grows user base almost 1,500 percent in May - Business Center - PC World

Twitter grew faster than any other Web site in May, when its unique visitors rose almost 1,500 percent year-on-year to 18.2 million, according to Nielsen Online.

People also spent significantly more time on Twitter, from an average of six minutes and 19 seconds in May 2008 to 17 minutes and 21 seconds last month...

Typing in an e-mail address, and giving up your friends’ too - NYTimes.com

I THOUGHT it was a little strange when I received separate e-mail messages from two people I knew only slightly asking me to click and see their photos on a social networking site called Tagged.

I ignored them at first, but then thought maybe I should check it out. After all, I should keep up on what’s hot in the social networking world, right? This could be the new Twitter...

Downtown Akron launches free wireless : Connect Ohio - AkronNews.org

A collaboration between the city of Akron and OneCommunity, a Cleveland-based nonprofit organization that has worked since 2003 to build a high-speed fiber optic network between public and nonprofit institutions in Northeast Ohio...

Ballmer: Bing will succeed -- InformationWeek

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer said his company waited too long to assault the search market, but vowed that the software maker -- thanks to the rollout of Bing and other initiatives -- is poised to make big inroads in a tech niche that's dominated byGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG).

"In our industry, the No. 1 mistake people make is that they quit too early," said Ballmer, who spoke Thursday at the Executives' Club of Chicago. "We should have started earlier, but we've got our mojo working now," Ballmer added, according to reports...

Google book search gets social -- Google -- InformationWeek

With preparations under way to start selling e-books online later this year, Google has enhanced its Google Books service with interface refinements and easier sharing options.

Launched in 2004, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Books drew the ire of authors and publishers, who objected to Google's book-scanning activities as a copyright violation. Last October, Google resolved complaints about Google Books and is awaiting approval of the settlement by the court and the Department of Justice...

Verizon introduces global 3G USB modem -- Wireless -- InformationWeek

Verizon Wireless is trying to help keep globe-trotters connected with the release of a 3G USB modem that works in various countries.

The USB1000 Global Modem is a dongle that plugs into laptops to access Verizon's mobile broadband network. The modem can operate on Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A network in the United States, as well as GSM or various 3G networks in other countries. Verizon is partly owned by Vodafone and is leveraging this relationship to provide mobile broadband access across the globe...

Telecom firms demo successful femtocell milestone -- Wireless Telecom -- InformationWeek

In a move that validates the progress of the femtocell wireless movement, three companies are conducting a working demonstration this week of the 3GPP Iuh standard, which is a key part of the femtocell community's standards drive.

The three firms presenting live demonstrations of the Iuh standard are Starent Networks, which is utilizing its ST40 platform, picoChip, which is supplying silicon and PHY software, and Continuous Computing, which is contributing its Trillium femtocell software. The Iuh interface resides between the 3G Home Node-B and 3G Home-node B Gateway. The demos, which the companies involved say are the first to validate the Iuh 3GPP standard, are being conducted at the Femtocells World Summit in London this week...

Microsoft readies free PC security software - USATODAY.com

Microsoft plans to release a test version of its free computer security program Tuesday. Microsoft Security Essentials is designed to find and kill malicious software that steals passwords and other personal information or turns PCs into spam distribution hubs.

Once the program is installed, Microsoft says the software will update itself automatically. It will keep a low profile unless dangerous software is detected...

Israeli company launches kosher search engine Koogle - USATODAY.com

JERUSALEM — A new Internet search engine is making it possible for ultra-Orthodox Jews who use computers to obtain information online — but not on the Sabbath, when the site shuts down.

Dubbed Koogle (a cross between Google and kugel, the name of a Jewish noodle pudding), the Hebrew-language search engine is being touted as a kosher portal for devout Jews who almost universally shun the Internet because many online sites are religiously inappropriate...

Amazon threatens cuts over state taxes - WSJ.com

Cash-strapped states trying to force retailers to collect taxes on online sales are spurring efforts by Internet retailer Amazon.com Inc. to avoid being swept under the proposed laws.

North Carolina is close to passing a law that would force online retailers to collect the state's 4.5% sales tax from marketing affiliates, people who get a sales commission from online customer referrals. Amazon, of Seattle, Wash., told its North Carolina marketing affiliates on Wednesday that it would stop doing business with them by July 1 if the law takes effect...

Downtown Akron launches free wireless Internet access - cleveland.com

Free public wireless Internet access made its debut in downtown Akron on this morning. The first phase of what will be a 10-square-mile wireless mesh network announced last year went live at 11 a.m. So far, it covers about one square mile along a stretch of South Main Street.

The $2.2 million project, called Connect Akron, is a collaboration between the city of Akron and OneCommunity, a Cleveland-based nonprofit organization that has worked since 2003 to build a high-speed fiber optic network between public and nonprofit institutions in Northeast Ohio...

What's the future of cutting edge mobile technology?

By the end of this decade almost anyone who has a mobile phone or any other wireless hand-held device will have more computing power in their hands than was available hardly two decades ago on a high-end desktop PC.

This is without any consideration to the bandwidth backbones required to power the grids supporting wireless communication (e.g. DS3 Bandwidth and greater such as OC3 bandwidth or more ... likely ethernet too)...

U.S. lawmakers call for online ad privacy rules - PC World

Several Republicans joined Democratic lawmakers Thursday in calling for new rules to protect Web users' privacy in behavioral advertising networks, although many members of a U.S. House of Representatives committee suggested the rules should come from the advertising industry, not Congress.

Congress should first let the online advertising industry come up with rules to police the use of personal data collected as a way to deliver ads targeted at user interests, said Representative Joe Barton of Texas, the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee...

Facing the music: $1.9M file-share verdict stuns Minn. mom - USATODAY.com

MINNEAPOLIS — A replay of the nation's only file-sharing case to go to trial has ended with the same result — a Minnesota woman was found to have violated music copyrights and must pay huge damages to the recording industry.

A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song...

Thieves, cons and scammers may be watching you online - USATODAY.com

You're on summer vacation, enjoying time away. But at home, burglars are making quick work of your house. They've read your social-networking updates and know that you're out of town.

Google Street View helped them scope your house. The pictures of your home's interior you posted online, say on Flickr.com, help them find high-ticket items quickly. Sound far-fetched? Such events are becoming increasingly common. A careless Twitter message recently led to the burglary of an Arizona man's house..."

Maker of BlackBerry posts 33% profit increase - NYTimes.com

The BlackBerry maker Research in Motion posted a 33 percent increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, exceeding expectations but disappointing investors with its forecast.

The company earned $643 million, or $1.12 a share, in the quarter, up from $482.5 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier...

More consumers pay even more for broadband

The good news is that consumer adoption of high-speed Internet is increasing. The bad news? They're paying a lot more for it. According to new research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, U.S. broadband penetration now stands at about 63 percent -- up from 55 percent just a year ago.

While Pew points out that broadband penetration among low-income households has grown some 34 percent over the course of the last year, the rates of adoption are still painfully low. In households with income of $20,000 or less, broadband penetration is just 35 percent, up from 25 percent a year earlier. For those making between $20,000 and $30,000 annually, broadband penetration has increased to 53 percent, up from 42 percent in the previous year...

Electricity industry to scan grid for spies - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON -- The electric-utility industry is planning a pilot initiative to see whether Chinese spies have infiltrated computer networks running the power grid, according to people familiar with the effort.

Officials of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., an industry regulatory group, are negotiating with a defense contractor for the job of searching for breaches by cyberspies, according to people familiar with the plans...

City wants job seekers' Facebook passwords - InternetNews.com

The list of Internet-ignorant government actions grew by one, although that list was already quite long. A CBS affiliate reported that the city of Bozeman, Mont. is demanding not just account names but also passwords for applicants' "current personal or business Web sites, Web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc."

Greg Sullivan, the city's attorney claimed that the city government needs to do investigations for positions of integrity but that the city also respects privacy rights...

The offline vulnerability of personal data - InternetNews.com

The nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that while online breaches get a lot of attention in the media and in the security industry, a great deal of personal data is being lost through the theft of paper, often in dumpster diving, as thieves get social security numbers and other valuable information from the garbage cans of medical institutions, banks, and other businesses.

As if June 15, 2009, the ITRC was aware of 250 breaches in which 12,235,848 records were exposed. Of those breaches, 64 were paper-based, representing 25.6 percent of breaches tracked by ITRC and 0.5 percent of records exposed...

Internet tops TV, papers as information source - InternetNews.com

The Internet is by far the most popular source of information and the preferred choice for news ahead of television, newspapers and radio, according to a new poll in the United States. But just a small fraction of U.S. adults considered social Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace as a good source of news and even fewer would opt for Twitter.

More than half of the people questioned in the Zogby Interactive survey said they would select the Internet if they had to choose only one source of news, followed by 21 percent for television and 10 percent for both newspapers and radio. Only 10 percent described social Web sites as an important for news, and despite the media buzz about Twitter, only 4 percent would go to it for information...

eProximiti joins with Glimcher Realty Trust to launch mobile marketing technologies nationwide

COLUMBUS, OHIO (June 17, 2009) – Starting today, shoppers at Polaris Fashion Place can surf the Web while they shop, gaining access not only to free wireless internet but also a host of local merchant promotions. Columbus-based technology company eProximiti has partnered with Glimcher Realty Trust (NYSE:GRT) to launch a new mobile marketing and free wireless internet platform nationwide.

According to eProximiti Principal and Co-founder Jeff Harper, “We have created a web-based, interactive marketing product that uses mobile, consumer technologies to reach customers on their own terms. This technology also gives local merchants the opportunity to help shape their customers’ shopping experience.” eProximiti brings special retailer driven offers immediately to the consumer through emails and text messages, meeting digital-age expectations through their mobile technologies. Since 70 percent of purchase decisions are made at the store, eProximiti has the ability to influence consumers at the point of purchase...

Criminal cases push newspapers to identify anonymous commenters | PBS

Anonymous comments on newspapers blogs are drawing attention from prosecutors seeking information about criminal matters, once again raising the issue of whether newspaper blog comments are protected under state press shield laws. Last fall, I wrote about two civil cases involving claims of defamation, where two separate courts refused to order newspapers to disclose information that would lead to the identification of anonymous commenters on their blogs.

In criminal cases, the issues are similar, but the stakes can be higher for everyone involved. A refusal to turn over information in response to a grand jury subpoena can result in a contempt proceeding and a coercive jail term, as individuals as diverse as New York Times reporter Judith Miller and video blogger Josh Wolf have learned...

Report: 12 operators launching LTE in 2010 - FierceWireless

At least a dozen wireless operators will launch LTE networks in 2010, according to a new report from ABI Research. The research firm said that 34 million people worldwide are expected to have access to LTE in 2011. However, the group cautioned that additional LTE deployments hinge on governments freeing up the necessary spectrum.

"Spectrum availability is the primary factor impacting deployment plans," said senior ABI analyst Nadine Manjaro in a release. "In countries where telecommunications regulators are making appropriate spectrum available, many operators have announced plans to launch LTE. These include the U.S., Sweden China and others. Where no such spectrum allocations exist, operators are postponing LTE plans..."

Clearwire WiMAX in Atlanta: It’s a peach

Though it has been quietly offering its WiMAX 4G mobile broadband service in Atlanta for at least a month, Clearwire Communications LLC officially went public with it this week.

While we don’t know yet if consumers are channeling Scarlett O’Hara (“As God is my witness, I’ll never go Internetless again!”), the CLEAR service is available to nearly 3 million people across approximately 1,200 square miles. Dubbing it “the fastest unwired city in the South,” Clearwire is promising download speeds of 4 to 6mbps with bursts exceeding 15mbps...

Twittering robots

Two very interesting research reports were forwarded to me today. One notes that more than 40 percent of consumers are using social media. And the other is entitled, “The Market for Personal Robots Will Reach $5.26 Billion by 2015.”

Do you use social networking? And if you do, why? Maybe the more burning question is, do you have a personal robot? Would you like to...?

Keeping true identity online becomes battle - NYTimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Since Facebook started giving out customized Web addresses like facebook.com/yourname last Friday, some 9.5 million people have rushed to grab their top choice.

On Twitter, public fights have broken out over so-called impostor accounts, like those that should probably be in the hands of Kanye West or Bank of America. And somewhere out there on the Web, another new service or social network is on the rise, threatening to start yet another online land grab...

Stark images, uploaded to the world - NYTimes.com

A man bled to death on a street in Tehran on Monday. As one bystander tenderly held the man’s head, five others held out their cameras.

They captured photos and videos of the man, and of the blood that stained his white shirt. On Wednesday afternoon, an anonymous individual uploaded the disturbing video to YouTube, where it was viewed by thousands and shared by bloggers...

Once a twit, now a major player - Los Angeles Times

'World Hello ... I'm a 22-year-old college student living in Iran. I'm going to post as much as I can until the police find my satellite connect."

The student identified himself as Abdul-Azim Mohammed. He called his new Twitter account TehranElection and began posting before dawn on Sunday morning in Iran. People had started gathering in the streets, he wrote, to protest an election they believed had been stolen. His uncle claimed to have seen authorities burning ballots. Television was airing a cooking show...

Athletes turn to Twitter to get their message out - Los Angeles Times

When Shaquille O'Neal wanted to set up a Twitter account after someone had impersonated him on the social media network, it was Kathleen Hessert who guided him. The media strategist warned of one other thing.

"Twitter is immediate and without filters," Hessert said. "There will be an athlete or coach who posts immediately in anger or in haste and gets himself in trouble. That will happen."
Kevin Love, meet Kathleen Hessert...

Exclusive wireless contracts examined - washingtonpost.com

Lawmakers yesterday waded into a growing debate on whether the practice of locking in cellphones to exclusive contracts with only one carrier has led to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers and stifled competition in one of the economy's brightest spots -- the wireless industry.

The Senate Commerce Committee met ahead of Apple's debut tomorrow of its latest version of the iPhone. Critics say the company will once again irritate people who want the gadget but are not subscribers of the company's exclusive partner, AT&T. A similar fate awaits those who want the Palm Pre phone but don't subscribe to Sprint Nextel service, or the new phone running Google Android software and don't get T-Mobile service...

Web sites to help with the stress of moving to a new town - washingtonpost.com

Moving to a new city and starting fresh can be both frightening and exhilarating. There's the stress of packing and moving, coupled with the thrill of discovering a neighborhood and meeting friends. We've compiled some Web sites that can ease the transition.

Relocation Essentials (http://www.relocationessentials.com) helps you figure out where to move, with information on cost of living, tax rates, crime and school quality. You can compare towns, plug in your salary to figure out how far it will go and find a neighborhood based on such factors as predominant age group, home values and neighbors' academic backgrounds...

PUCO blocks change in Verizon land line ownership | marionstar.com | The Marion Star

COLUMBUS - Marion may be the site of a public hearing on Frontier Communications Inc.'s purchase of Verizon Communications Inc.'s phone service areas in Ohio and 13 other states.
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The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Wednesday suspended an application filed by Frontier, New Communications Holdings Inc. and Verizon that seeks PUCO approval of the change in ownership. The Ohio Revised Code states that if the commission fails to issue an order within 30 days of the filing of the application to change ownership, the application shall be deemed approved by operation of law...

Bill could kill broadband meters - Telecom News Analysis

Taking direct aim at earlier moves by Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY) formally unveiled the Broadband Internet Fairness Act, introducing legislation that attempts to clamp down on metered bandwidth policies that are deemed unfair or anti-competitive.

The bill aims to authorize the Federal Trade Commission , in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) , to review usage service plans of "major" broadband ISPs "to ensure that such plans are fairly based on cost..."

The digital textbook case

Abel Real attributes his transformation from likely high school dropout to nursing student at East Carolina University to classroom technology. Real, a self-proclaimed success story from poverty-stricken Greenville, North Carolina, shared his experience with a school laptop program that introduced him to the power of technology before the House Committee on Education Labor yesterday at a hearing on “The Future of Learning: How Technology is Transforming Public Schools.”

When Real was 13, both his parents were incarcerated and his two older brothers had already dropped out of high school. By sophomore year, Real was so distracted by his torn family that he was sure he would repeat his brothers’ mistakes. However, when a health care teacher introduced him to technology and his school gave him a laptop, his life began to turn around. Even when “home life was a mess,” Real could instant message his classmates and teachers after school to work on projects and ask questions through his computer, he said. The laptop program was a “portal to a new life,” in his words...

Micropayments: Where charity and social networks meet - BusinessWeek

Micropayments for microbloggers—it sounds like a no-brainer. In a community based on real-time content, social causes, and brand awareness, users will want to execute real-time transactions with the same enthusiasm with which they tweet about their favorite daily activities.

So goes the thinking behind a host of startups that aim to help users of microblogging site Twitter make payments and carry out online transactions as conveniently as appending 140-character updates to their profile pages. "It's about making a statement in the stream and telling everyone what you stand for," says Michael Ivey, chief executive of one such site, Twitpay, which lets Twitter users make online donations and pay for downloadable content. "When you donate to a charity or cause, you're making it public. Look at it as payments attached to our intentions and aspirations..."

Lawmaker taking on ISPs' metered usage plans - InternetNews.com

Rep. Eric Massa, a freshman Democrat from New York, today announced plans to introduce a bill that would require ISPs to secure regulatory approval before rolling out a pricing model that would charge consumers based on how much they use their Internet connection.

Massa's bill stems from a dispute earlier this year over Time Warner Cable's plans to expand trials of a usage-based pricing model to new markets, including his own district of Rochester, N.Y...

FCC Chair nominee: Broadband deployment a major priority - PC World

Rolling out broadband to rural and other areas that lack service will be a major priority for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, the man nominated to be chairman of the agency said Tuesday.

The FCC, tasked by the U.S. Congress with creating a national broadband plan, will focus on making broadband available and affordable to U.S. residents, said Julius Genachowski, nominated by President Barack Obama to become chairman of the FCC...

Upgrade makes great iPhone even better - USATODAY.com

In the nearly two years since the iPhone burst onto the scene, the competition for handheld computers has grown fierce.

Apple crushes all comers when it comes to third-party applications — the iPhone App Store has 50,000-plus applications and counting, all the more remarkable because it just opened in July. But though the iPhone broke ground with visual voice mail, smart sensors, multitouch display, true-to-life Web browser and more, it was a laggard in other respects. You couldn't record video, dial by voice (without a third-party app), send MMS messages, copy and paste text, or easily search across the device...

Femtocells, the path to future 4G network deployments

In the past few months, femtocells have become one of the most talked about topics in the wireless industry. Femtocells, often described as small, low-power and low-cost cellular base stations (similar to WiFi APs), can be used as integrated into home gateways or used as standalone devices. Unlike WiFi, femtocells can operate in licensed spectrums. While many carriers in the U.S. and elsewhere have already jumped on the bandwagon, several issues still need to be overcome before the femtocell market reaches a critical mass...

AT&T network not ready yet for all Apple iPhone 3G S functions - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — AT&T's wireless network is having a hard time keeping up with the Apple iPhone, a top wireless analyst says.

That's the reason AT&T (T) isn't offering multimedia messaging and "tethering" options for the new $199 iPhone 3G S — lack of network juice, says Roger Entner, head of telecom research for Nielsen...

More are searching the Web for medical advice - USATODAY.com

The number of adults who turn to the Internet for health information has nearly doubled in the past two years, from 31% to 60%, according to a study.

That puts the Internet in a tie for third place (with books and print materials) as the source adults most often turn to for health information...

Newspaper archive project, Chronicling America, hits million-page milestone - washingtonpost.com

Hours after a monumental earthquake hit San Francisco in 1906, the Evening World, a New York newspaper, blared its account: "Earthquake's Dead May Number 3,000; Fire Is Now Raging." Even in the smallest towns the news of the catastrophe quickly spread, with the Palestine Daily Herald in Texas simply stating in its headline: "San Francisco Wrecked."

Through an extensive database launched two years ago, decades of the country's newspapers can be searched online for major events and history-making names, as well as family connections and local celebrations. The Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities have worked together for 20 years to preserve old newspapers, first through microfilm and now digitization...

DOD warns against the dark side of social networking -- Washington Technology

In an earlier era, “loose lips sink ships” was the military’s warning not to let even small details about military movements and operations slip in casual conversation. In contrast, social media Web sites today thrive on loose lips, making it even tougher to maintain operational security.

The problem is not so much people twittering away secrets as letting slip many smaller pieces of information that an adversary can piece together...

New Fight SMA Web video updates the state of spinal muscular atrophy research

The Fight SMA 2009 Annual Spinal Muscular Atrophy Conference, The Good Fight, featured many firsts. One of the most important to SMA families was the first-ever webcast of the “Friends and Family” portion of the conference. Now, Fight SMA is announcing that the video from that webcast is available for online viewing and download.

Founded in 1991 in Richmond, Virginia, Fight SMA is an international non-profit organization dedicated to finding a treatment or cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), the leading inherited killer of children under two. The neuromuscular disease affects the victim’s motor neurons, causing muscle atrophy, loss of strength, and disability. The majority of children who are born with SMA die prematurely due to respiratory complications...

The queen of coupon clippings: St. Cloud woman saves up to $175 a month | sctimes.com | St. Cloud Times

The best deal Jennifer Pixomatis ever got was a grocery bag full of snacks for her kids’ lunches. She paid 51 cents. The snacks were on sale and, like always, she had coupons. “I impressed the cashier,” she said.

Pixomatis has made a hobby out of getting the best deals by bargain shopping and always using coupons. She has been so successful that in April she started a blog called “Penny Pinching Pixy,” which she updates several times a day with information on new bargains...

Senators: Investigate exclusive deals between carriers, makers of phones - Kansas City Business Journal:

Four U.S. senators have asked the Federal Communications Commission to look into whether exclusive deals between wireless carriers and makers of mobile phones limit options for consumers.

“We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely affect competition in the commercial wireless marketplace,” the senators said in a Monday letter to FCC Chairman Michael Copps...

Twitter is a player in Iran's drama - washingtonpost.com

The State Department asked social-networking site Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance earlier this week to avoid disrupting communications among tech-savvy Iranian citizens as they took to the streets to protest Friday's reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The move illustrates the growing influence of online social-networking services as a communications media. Foreign news coverage of the unfolding drama, meanwhile, was limited by Iranian government restrictions barring journalists from "unauthorized" demonstrations...

Mixed signals about work cellphones - Los Angeles Times

The Internal Revenue Service had a moment of clarity Tuesday and backed off from its plan to crack down on personal use of office cellphones -- sort of.

Just last week, the agency stirred up a hornets' nest of bad publicity by announcing it would ramp up enforcement of a long-standing -- and largely ignored -- federal law requiring that personal calls made on company cellphones be taxed as income...

How MySpace fell off the pace - Los Angeles Times

MySpace is looking to do an about-face.

The once-red-hot social networking site acquired three years ago by septuagenarian mogul Rupert Murdoch, which landed him on the cover of Wired magazine and won News Corp. praise for embracing the Internet ahead of its old-media rivals, has cooled considerably...

McGraw-Hill expands its Web-based learning tools

McGraw-Hill is going increasingly digital, and its offices in Columbus are getting a boost as a result. The company's education-publishing division has created a Center for Digital Innovation in Bothell, Wash., that will collaborate with McGraw-Hill's Columbus operations, where more than 1,000 people work.

The goal of the overall effort is to build a bridge between how immersed children are in technology outside of the classroom and how integrated digital literacy is in their education.
More than 100 of the company's Columbus workers are focused on this area, but that number is expected to grow as schools use more Web-based learning tools...

Amazon could open Kindle to other e-book formats -- Amazon Kindle e-book -- InformationWeek

Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos says the Kindle eventually will read more than just Amazon's electronic book formats.

In an on-stage interview at Wired magazine's New York conference on disruptive technology, Bezos' comments stemmed from a discussion on how he prefers to keep Amazon's Kindle business separate from its e-book business. In time, Amazon plans to offer e-books for the same $9.99 price on other devices, besides the Kindle. Amazon currently offers e-books on the Apple iPhone...

Broadband line growth defies economic downturn -- Broadband -- InformationWeek

The world's economy may be on the ropes, but broadband and IPTV connections continue their impressive growth, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Broadband Forum.

The group said more than 3 million broadband lines were added in the last quarter in North America, while globally more than 16.5 million lines were added. On the international scene, the global broadband lines now top 429 million connections...

Conference Board: 43% of Internet users now in social networks - Dayton Business Journal:

Almost half the nation's Internet users now take part in online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, almost twice the rate of a year ago, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

Of Web users, 43 percent use a social networking website, up from 27 percent last year, the nonprofit global research group said in its quarterly Consumer Internet Barometer...

Could Twitter top Google? - InternetNews.com

NEW YORK -- Can Twitter one day beat Google in driving traffic to Web sites? It's a radical notion, but to venture capitalist Fred Wilson, it's not an impossibility.

Speaking here at the 140 Characters conference today, Wilson discussed the ways in which Twitter could make money -- the same way that Google does, by driving traffic to Web sites...

Opera Unite will turn PCs into servers for content - PC World

Norwegian browser company Opera Software has released an alpha version of Unite, software that turns a computer into both a client and a server, allowing it to distribute content to other computers directly across the Web, without the need for traditional Web servers, the company said on Tuesday.

Unite services will run in the browser, so no additional software has to be downloaded, and services will work wherever Opera works, including on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and later on mobile phones and other devices, according to a blog posting by Lawrence Eng, product analyst at Opera...

MySpace to cut 30% of workforce - USATODAY.com

LOS ANGELES — MySpace said Tuesday it is cutting nearly 30% of its workforce in a bid to become more efficient, bringing its staffing level more in line with its more popular rival, Facebook.

The move comes less than two months after MySpace, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., hired former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, 39, as its chief executive. It also comes a day after data from tracking firm comScore show Facebook has caught up with MySpace in monthly U.S. visitors for the first time...

Frontier set to acquire Verizon lines - WetzelChronicle.com | News, information, New Martinsville and Wetzel County WV - Wetzel Chronicle

New Martinsville, WV - Frontier Communications, in the future, will be the provider of telephone service, broadband, and more in Wetzel County according to Karen Miller, the Communication Manager of Frontier.

Miller spoke by phone to the Wetzel Chronicle describing what will take place that will benefit many in West Virginia. She explained that this switch could possibly take between nine to 12 months to complete...

Oregon community's 5-year muni-fiber plan struggling - FierceTelecom

Sherwood, Ore., a small city southwest of Portland with about 16,000 residents, is knee-deep in cost overruns and service shortfalls after five years of trying to launch its own fiber-optic network. The city promised residents the service would give every home and business high-speed Internet access, and that the service would pay for itself and even create a revenue stream for the city.

Instead, it's followed the path of a number of other ambitious municipal fiber plans, struggling to get off the ground and bleeding capital...

Broadband growth surges despite economic downturn - FierceTelecom

The U.S. added 11.4 million high-speed Internet subscribers from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009, second only to China's 17.1 million new connections over the past 12 months, as the global economic malaise failed to dampen expansion in new broadband subs.

A Broadband Forum report released at the CommunicAsia 2009 trade fair in Singapore showed worldwide broadband connections increased by nearly 17 million lines in the first quarter alone, topping 429.2 million. The last quarter grew at a slightly higher pace than the previous three months to close out 2008. The U.S. saw its connectivity increase to some 93.5 million users, a 3.87 percent growth spurt in the quarter. But there were 20 countries that saw double-digit growth in the quarter, led by Ukraine (15.2 percent), India (13.4 percent), Egypt (10.6 percent) and Mexico (10.3 percent)...

Hulu gives stuff away legally

One of the more amazing success stories on the Internet is Hulu.com, a curious Web site whose business model centers on giving stuff away. Hulu.com provides TV shows, movies, classic clips and other video content. Consider it YouTube for long-form videos, not the short ones for which YouTube is famous.

Is everyone talking about that "Saturday Night Live" skit? Hulu's where you'll find it - legally and happily and in fairly high definition. All well-organized and in a nice format...

Clearwire Introduces CLEAR 4G Mobile Internet Service to Atlanta

Clearwire Communications, LLC, an operating subsidiary of Clearwire Corporation, (NASDAQ: CLWR), today officially transformed Atlanta into the fastest unwired city in the South. The city is now home to the largest 4G WiMAX wireless broadband network in the United States with CLEAR service available to nearly three million people across approximately 1,200 square miles. With CLEAR, consumers and businesses can access the Internet wirelessly, at true broadband speeds at home, in the office, and on the go.

"By delivering broadband connectivity to people, and not just places, we now offer Atlantans the freedom to enjoy super-fast Internet access wherever they go in our coverage area," said Marc Brachman, General Manager of Atlanta market for Clearwire...