Book Publisher: e-Books Will Be Our Downfall

Sacre bleu! Amazon and Google’s digital book efforts could force publishers to slash prices and put them out of business, says Arnaud Nourry, head of French book publisher Hachette. He is concerned that unilateral pricing by e-book resellers like Sony, Amazon and Barnes & Noble could destroy publisher profits.

“On the one hand, you have millions of books for free where there is no longer an author to pay and, on the other hand, there are very recent books, bestsellers at $9.99, which means that all the rest will have to be sold at between zero and $9.99,” Nourry was quoted as saying in today’s Financial Times...

As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten its growth - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Goofy videos weren't on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the Internet. Neither was social networking, for that matter, nor were most of the other easy-to-use applications that have drawn more than a billion people online.

Instead the researchers sought to create an open network for freely exchanging information, an openness that ultimately spurred the innovation that would later spawn the likes of YouTube, Facebook and the World Wide Web...

InOneWeekend creates arts/sports marketing Web site - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

A hundred professionals across a range of industries gathered over the weekend to create a new business at the annual InOneWeekend retreat.

The result of their efforts spawned a company called Dipidee, a Web site that provides opportunities for consumers to connect with local arts and sporting events. They spent a combined 3,500 hours on the project...

IBM patents TV remote that blogs, tweets - Dayton Business Journal:

Want to let Twitterville or the blogosphere know automatically what you are watching on TV?
Researchers at International Business Machine Corp. (NYSE: IBM) may have the answer for you.

IBM has applied for a patent on a network-enabled smart remote control that sends out a message to Twitter, Facebook or a blog when you start watching a TV show...

Conference Board: Online jobs up 169,000 in August - Dayton Business Journal:

Online advertised vacancies rose by 169,000 to 3.5 million in August, according to a report issued Monday by The Conference Board.

Since April 2009, online job demand is up by 300,000, with many of the largest states now showing stable trends following about two years of losses that began in May 2007, the report said...

App Watch: 11 Million Facebookers flock to FarmVille - Digits - WSJ

Had the urge to abandon city life and tend a cornfield instead? Millions of others are getting their agricultural fix on Facebook, thanks to the fast-growing game FarmVille.

FarmVille, which social-gaming company Zynga launched on June 19, is a free Facebook app that lets members grow produce and raise animals. They can harvest fruits and vegetables, collect milk from cows and wool from sheep, and expand their farm by selling the goods. They can help other players’ farms and exchange gifts with them, and enterprising players can get bigger by buying more land for their plots. While there’s no “game over” point, negligent farmers wind up with wilted crops...

Sprint's WiMAX commercial rollout continues, hiccups and all - Kansas City Business Journal:

The promise of ultra-fast Internet service on the go holds an appeal that Sprint Nextel Corp. has been dangling before data-hungry consumers.

Sprint has been happy with the results, especially from the business community, said Todd Rowley, vice president of Sprint 4G. But the rollout of the new WiMAX technology, the first so-called 4G service that a leading U.S. carrier has launched commercially, includes the hiccups of reality...

With Fwix iPhone app, all a cub reporter needs is a scoop - NYTimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — A Web site for local news hopes to fill the growing void in professionally reported local news by recruiting citizens armed with iPhones as reporters.

The site, Fwix, will release an iPhone application this week that enables its users to file news updates, photos and videos, live from the field. The items will appear on Fwix’s year-old Web site, which also collects links to local news articles from newspapers and blogs in 85 cities...

Keep big brother off your cell phone - PC World

Network providers gather data that tracks where customers go with their cell phones, a potential privacy infringement that researchers are trying to eliminate.

Providers need the location information to efficiently route calls, but the data also reveals the whereabouts of customers, something they might not choose to support, say researchers from the University of Konstanz in Germany. They presented their research at the recent Sigcomm conference in Barcelona...

Community Common - Public Utilities Commission schedules public hearings on Verizon Frontier merger

In May it was announced that Frontier Communications Corporation has purchased Verizon's land line business in 14 states including Ohio. Before the merger is allowed it must be approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). PUCO has scheduled three public hearings around the state to gather consumer feedback. One of those hearings will be held at the Scioto County Welcome Center on September 10 at 6 p.m..

Verizon says the move will allow the company to accelerate its focus on wireless, broadband and being a global internet provider. In the merger Frontier will acquire 4.8 million Verizon access (land) lines...

Evernote, a free storage app, seeks more paying users - NYTimes.com

GIVING away a product has always been a great marketing concept. Even an unsavvy consumer can see a benefit in snatching free products. Free has also become a mantra for business gurus who advocate giving Web start-ups a shot at fast growth by bringing the price of most of their

But as a revenue generator, free can come up short. Sure, it attracts customers, but the challenge is to find someone to pay for it. Although thousands of businesses offer free services online — two of the biggest are the Flickr photo service from Yahoo and YouTube from Google — few can claim to be profitable. (Analysts say Flickr and YouTube are not.) While free is an enticing proposition, it is very hard to make it work...

We can't be neutral on net neutrality -- latimes.com

The snooze-worthy phrase is about something vital to all: whether companies that control the pipes through which data flow can dictate terms to websites that originate the data...

Hacker to plead guilty in major identity theft case - washingtonpost.com

MIAMI, Aug. 28 -- A computer hacker accused of masterminding one of the largest cases of identity theft in U.S. history agreed Friday to plead guilty and serve up to 25 years in federal prison.

Albert Gonzalez of Miami was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in federal courts in New York and Boston. Court documents filed in federal court in Boston indicate that the 28-year-old agreed to plead guilty to 19 counts and to have the two cases combined in federal court in Massachusetts...

Discovery e-Book filing raises eyebrows - washingtonpost.com

Is Discovery Communications gearing up for a jump into the suddenly hot e-book space? A filing made public this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office raises that possibility.

According to the filing, the Silver Spring-based media company applied in February for a patent on a product it describes as an "electronic book having electronic commerce features..."

Google's EPUB embrace challenges Kindle - InternetNews.com

Google's backing of the open standard EPUB earlier this week for its one million free, public-domain digital books is accelerating EPUB as the e-reader industry standard. In doing so, analysts say this leaves front-runner Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle, with it uses proprietary technology, out of the loop.

By adding support for EPUB downloads, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) hopes to make these books more accessible as new e-readers, smartphones, netbooks and other portable devices with small screens that don't readily render image-based PDF versions of the books already scanned by the search giant...

Save the Internet, save the world | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network

You work in a nonprofit. By definition, your to-do list includes a lot of important things you need to get done, right now. It probably includes more important things than you have time to do. So, why would you be interested in the debate about getting broadband Internet access to under-served communities? Why should you be interested in esoteric issues like "net-neutrality?

You need access to high speed Internet to participate in our society. Simply put, in the last 15 years, the Internet has become a necessity for participating in our society -- and in most cases, high speed Internet has become a necessity. If you care about your clients, if you care about your community, you need to care about the Internet...

More marketers use social networking to reach customers - USATODAY.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Ford Motor has high hopes for Fiesta, a popular model abroad launching in the U.S. next year. So how does it introduce the subcompact car to Americans? A massive ad blitz on TV? In-house promotions at dealers nationwide?

Nope. In April, Ford tapped 100 top bloggers and gave them a Fiesta for six months. The catch: Once a month, they're required to upload a video on YouTube about the car, and they're encouraged to talk — no holds barred — about the Fiesta on their blogs, Facebook and Twitter...

Time Warner Cable to test Internet TV - Triangle Business Journal:

Time Warner Cable will test the delivery of television programs on the Internet with a host of major networks as partners, the cable giant said Thursday.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWC) said in a news release that it has signed up at least a dozen TV networks for the test. Time Warner is the largest cable provider in North Carolina...

Dell's numbers show PC industry staggering back - washingtonpost.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dell Inc.'s second-quarter results reinforce what other tech heavyweights have shown recently about the health of the personal-computer industry: it's still wounded by the recession, but is staggering back to its feet, thanks to consumers, bargain prices and little "netbook" laptops for surfing the Internet.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company reported Thursday that profit fell 23 percent and sales fell 22 percent in the May-July period. The results beat Wall Street's forecasts, however, sending the shares up more than 6 percent...

America renews its passion for cars—Online - WSJ.com

Anne Fleming felt deeply confident as a negotiator—except whenever she entered an automotive dealership, where research shows that women pay more for cars than men.

So last October the former apparel executive in Pittsburgh launched a Web site called Women-Drivers.com, which offers negotiating tips, as well as reviews of female-friendly dealerships. In just nine months, the site has received reviews from several thousand women car shoppers. "We've gotten enough feedback to start ranking the female-friendliest dealerships," says Ms. Fleming...

New attack cracks common Wi-Fi encryption in a minute - Business Center - PC World

Computer scientists in Japan say they've developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute.

The attack gives hackers a way to read encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types of routers that use the WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption system. The attack was developed by Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University, who plan to discuss further details at a technical conference set for Sept. 25 in Hiroshima...

Time Warner Cable, Verizon to test TV on the Web - washingtonpost.com

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Second-largest U.S. cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc and Verizon Communications Inc said on Thursday they have joined a trial with major media companies to offer television shows on the Web to paying subscribers.

Networks participating in Time Warner Cable's 'TV Everywhere' trial include General Electric Co's NBC Universal-owned Syfy channel, Time Warner Inc's TNT, HBO and TBS; Cablevision Systems Corp's AMC, IFC and Sundance Channel and BBC America...

Medical facility improves service with fiber from Optimum Lightpath

Long Island-based Medical Arts Radiology, which is one of the largest medical imaging groups on the island, traded in its T1 connection for a faster, more robust fiber-based service from Optimum Lightpath.

With its Ethernet-based, 1 GB fiber-optic circuit and 20 Mbps Internet connection, medical specialists at MAR can view patients’ electronic scans anytime, from any office, at home or even while they’re on vacation. The new process, which is called teleradiology, allows radiologists to make their diagnosis more quickly, instead of waiting for faxes, film shipments by mail or a slower data service...

Is 'friending' in your future? Better pay your taxes first - WSJ.com

Tax deadbeats are finding someone actually reads their MySpace and Facebook postings: the taxman.

State revenue agents have begun nabbing scofflaws by mining information posted on social-networking Web sites, from relocation announcements to professional profiles to financial boasts...

Cyberwar - Defying experts, rogue computer code still lurks - Series - NYTimes.com

It is still out there.

Like a ghost ship, a rogue software program that glided onto the Internet last November has confounded the efforts of top security experts to eradicate the program and trace its origins and purpose, exposing serious weaknesses in the world’s digital infrastructure...

Nokia to make netbook

Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of cell phones, said Monday that it will start making a small, light laptop, similar to ones PC manufacturers are already selling through wireless carriers around the world.

The Finnish company says the Nokia Booklet 3G will run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, have a 10-inch screen and weigh 2.8 pounds. That puts it squarely in the "netbook" category pioneered by Taiwanese manufacturers like AsusTek Computer Inc...

How social media help people find stolen bikes - WSJ.com

When Heather McKibbon's bike was stolen in May, she didn't just get angry. She decided to get it back.

The 29-year-old project manager at a Toronto consulting firm alerted people to the theft through the social-networking site Facebook. Just hours later, a friend replied with a link to a bike for sale that looked like her own $1,300 Cannondale touring bike on eBay's Kijiji, an online classified-ads site. Ms. McKibbon recognized her bike and, posing as an interested buyer, arranged to meet the seller at a local subway station. She brought the police along as well, resulting in a small-scale sting operation.

Sony trumps Amazon with e-book reader - Business Center - PC World

E-books are doubtless the future of reading, and Sony's newest device, the "Reader Daily Edition" makes good by supporting on open e-book format. But, ouch, the sticker shock!

Yes, I know what books cost. I have a house full of books and stagger to think how much I have spent on them, how much room they require for housing, and how hard is it for me to part with even a single one of them...

US May Take Fifteen years to catch South Korea Internet speeds – 24/7 Wall St.

American internet speeds are slow, very slow by international standards. That may be one of the reasons that the $787 billion economic stimulus package has a large financial commitment to building broadband infrastructure.

The US ranks 28th among large countries in internet connection speeds according to new data from the Communications Workers of America. The organizations has a reason to track the information. Many of the union members’ jobs rely on cable and telecom firms continuing to invest to build larger broadband systems, particularly the communications giants Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ)...

Verizon offering refunds because of mystery 'data usage' charges - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cell phone company, may refund thousands or even millions of dollars to customers because of problematic "data usage" charges.

Verizon, with 84 million customers, also is making changes in staff training, internal procedures and customer service after a Plain Dealer column Aug. 15 revealed widespread billing problems...

Who’s driving Twitter’s popularity? Not teenagers - NYTimes.com

Kristen Nagy, an 18-year-old from Sparta, N.J., sends and receives 500 text messages a day. But she never uses Twitter, even though it publishes similar snippets of conversations and observations.

“I just think it’s weird and I don’t feel like everyone needs to know what I’m doing every second of my life,” she said...

`Phishing' drops; are scammers switching tactics? - washingtonpost.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Internet criminals might be rethinking a favorite scam for stealing people's personal information.

A report being released Wednesday by IBM Corp. shows a big drop in the volume of "phishing" e-mails, in which fraud artists send what looks like a legitimate message from a bank or some other company. If the recipients click on a link in a phishing e-mail, they land on a rogue Web site that captures their passwords, account numbers or any other information they might enter...

Frontier's plan to buy Verizon's assets in Ohio worries consumer advocate - cleveland.com

Frontier Telephone is taking on so much debt to buy Verizon's assets in Ohio and 13 other states, that the state's consumer advocate is concerned that Frontier may not be able to serve its customers well after the $8.6 billion deal goes through.

But Frontier and some analysts say that the company has its finances under control and its attempts to grow the business should benefit consumers. Frontier and Verizon announced plans for the transaction in May, and it is now pending approval from state and federal regulatory agencies...

Kutano’s service adds Twitter to your Web surfing

Kutano is publicly releasing in beta today a browser add-on that lets you view tweets related to the web page you’re visiting. The add-on aims to not only connect people on the web but to help Twitter users keep track of the influx of tweets streaming through the micromessaging site’s network (for more on the real-time web, see NewNet on GigaOM Pro) — and in the process, help to give them context.

Recent TV offerings have worked to bring more web-like social interaction to TV, while Kutano works to move social interactions beyond blog comments...

Clearwire officially seeks a ‘modest’ amount of stimulus funds | mocoNews

Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR), which will eventually need more funding in order to roll out a nationwide WiMax network, has applied to receive a portion of the $4.7 billion in stimulus funding earmarked for building high-speed access to underserved areas—although it doesn’t sound like the company is seeking much.

Susan Johnston, a Clearwire spokeswoman, said today: “Clearwire has submitted for a couple of modest grants under the broadband stimulus program. These projects would have no significant impact on our funding or our existing build-out plans, but demonstrate our support of the government’s initiative to bring broadband to underserved areas...”

Papa John's founder pays $250K reward, reunites with '71 Camaro Z28 he sold to save business -- chicagotribune.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With the help of a $250,000 reward, the founder of the Papa John's pizza chain has finally reunited with the muscle car he sold years ago to help keep his family's business afloat.

John Schnatter sold the gold-and-black 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for $2,800 in 1983. The money helped save his father's tavern in Jeffersonville, Ind., and he used the rest to start what would become a worldwide pizza business.

But he still missed his beloved Camaro and spent years searching for it. He created a Web site on the search, held promotional appearances and eventually offered $250,000 to whoever found it...

P&G’s Pampers launches Web series

As any parent would agree, diapers are an emotional subject.

So the fact that Pampers.com and DirecTV today are debuting a new series called “A Parent is Born,” telling the story of “one couple’s emotional journey through pregnancy,” comes as no surprise. It’s a 12-part series spotlighting the first pregnancy of “Suzie and Steve...”

Sony's 'Daily Edition' e-reader takes on Kindle - PC World

Sony Electronics has unveiled a third e-reader with wireless Internet access to complement two devices announced earlier.

Sony's new Reader Daily Edition, priced at about US$399, will have connectivity through AT&T's 3G mobile broadband network to Sony's ebook store, Sony said during a press conference in New York Tuesday. Users will be able to purchase and download books, newspapers and magazines, with no monthly fees or charges for basic wireless connectivity, Sony said. (Image to the left features: the Pocket Edition, the Touch Edition and the Daily Edition...)

Sony unveils 3G e-book reader, library tie-in - InternetNews.com

NEW YORK -- Sony (NYSE: SNE) today renewed its assault on the Amazon Kindle, unveiling a new version of its Reader Digital Book e-reader, the Daily Edition, which sports a 3G wireless connection and a 7-inch touchscreen.

The new, $399 model will be available in December, "in time for the holidays," said Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading business division, during a press conference here today at the New York Public Library...

Beware when you search for these celebs online - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Biel is the most dangerous celebrity on the Web.

Security technology company McAfee Inc. on Tuesday reported that searches for the 27-year-old actress are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity...

European cyber-gangs target small U.S. firms, group says - washingtonpost.com

Organized cyber-gangs in Eastern Europe are increasingly preying on small and mid-size companies in the United States, setting off a multimillion-dollar online crime wave that has begun to worry the nation's largest financial institutions.

A task force representing the financial industry sent out an alert Friday outlining the problem and urging its members to implement many of the precautions now used to detect consumer bank and credit card fraud...

Telecommuting and the broadband superhighway | Newgeography.com

The Internet has become part of our nation’s mass transit system: It is a vehicle many people can use, all at once, to get to work, medical appointments, schools, libraries and elsewhere.

Telecommuting is one means of travel the country can no longer afford to sideline. The nation’s next transportation funding legislation must promote the telecommuting option...aggressively...

2009 report on Internet speeds in all 50 states | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

The results of this third annual Speed Matters survey of Internet speeds show that the U.S. has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet. The average download speed for the nation was 5.1 megabits per second (mbps) and the average upload speed was 1.1 mbps. This was only a nine-tenths of a megabit per second increase (from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps) since last year.

At this rate, it will take the United States 15 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in South Korea. And when compared to the rest of the world, the United States ranks 28th in average Internet connection speeds. Read the full report below and check out how your state stacks up..

Twitter haters see no point in tweeting - USATODAY.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Dave Magnusen has never used Twitter, yet it bugs him.

"It's a form of communication, but it's not very social," says Magnusen, 55, a database administrator in Durham, N.C. "You can't ignore (Twitter), but it's kind of sad how it's replaced people talking..."

Internet speeds vary across USA, leaving a 'digital divide' - USATODAY.com

The average Internet download speed in the USA is 5.1 megabits per second, though consumers' online experiences can vary dramatically, depending on where they happen to live, a new report from the Communications Workers of America says.

On balance, speeds in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic were faster. Speeds in the South and in rural areas were markedly slower, according to the CWA's report — "Speed Matters" — out Tuesday...

Wikipedia will limit changes on articles about living people - NYTimes.com

Wikipedia, one of the 10 most popular sites on the Web, was founded about eight years ago as a long-shot experiment to create a free encyclopedia from the contributions of volunteers, all with the power to edit, and presumably improve, the content.

Now, as the English-language version of Wikipedia has just surpassed three million articles, that freewheeling ethos is about to be curbed...

Dollar by dollar, patrons find artists on the Web - NYTimes.com

Earl Scioneaux III is not a famous music producer like Quincy Jones. He is a simple audio engineer in New Orleans who mixes live albums of local jazz musicians by day and creates electronic music by night. He had long wanted to pursue his dream of making his own album that married jazz and electronica, but he had no easy way to raise the $4,000 he needed for production.

Then he heard about Kickstarter, a start-up based in Brooklyn that uses the Web to match aspiring da Vincis and Spielbergs with mini-Medicis who are willing to chip in a few dollars toward their projects. Unlike similar sites that simply solicit donations, patrons on Kickstarter get an insider’s access to the projects they finance, and in most cases, some tangible memento of their contribution. The artists and inventors, meanwhile, are able to gauge in real time the commercial appeal of their ideas before they invest a lot of effort — and cash...

CWA supports new legislation to bring IT business to rural areas | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

Rural communities throughout the nation have been hit especially hard by the economic downturn. And one key to attracting new businesses and creating jobs is technology.

Congressman Zack Space (OH) and Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (WV) have partnered to introduce the Rural Information Technology Investment Act, a piece of legislation that seeks to rebuild the economies of rural regions for the 21st century. And last week, CWA announced its support of the legislation...

AT&T launches new ‘Buy two, get one free’ bundle | Telecompetitor

AT&T announced a new bundling promotion, ‘Buy Two, Get One Free’, which offers free broadband for six months for customers who bundle U-Verse TV with wireless or home phone service. The new promotion takes aim at cable competitors, who for the time being, can’t offer a mobile wireless bundle component.

Customers have to sign up for the U-Verse TV U200 package (or above) and either a Nation 450 wireless plan (or above) or U-verse Voice Unlimited to receive U-verse High Speed Internet Pro free for six months. U-Verse Voice Unlimited is AT&T’s new IP voice powered home phone service and is not traditional TDM home phone service. Their Internet Pro offer is a DSL powered broadband service, offering up to 3 Mbps downstream and 512k upstream. The offer is currently only available in Midwest U-Verse markets (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio), but will expand to other U-verse markets in the coming weeks...

FCC takes aim this week at protecting wireless consumers - USATODAY.com

The Federal Communications Commission this week plans to start digging in on wireless, with the goal of strengthening consumer protection.

The FCC's probe, expected to be discussed Thursday at its regular meeting, has three parts: One will examine wireless competition; the second will look at barriers to entry and investment; the third will focus on consumer billing, including wireless contracts...

Web pirates hook more legal scrutiny - Business First of Columbus:

From illegal file swapping to copying and redistributing written content from Web sites to software piracy, intellectual property lawyers are dealing with a consistent flow of copyright infringement cases, an area of the law that still is awash in grey because of the ever-evolving world of technology.

One of the more interesting cases happened earlier this year in what legal experts called a landmark verdict. A Swedish court found the four founders of file-sharing Web site Pirate Bay guilty of breaking copyright law. The Web site allows its millions of users to access illegally distributed music, computer programs and videos. The founders are appealing the verdict that orders them to pay $3 million to entertainment companies and spend a year in prison...

Google's free WiFi network transports nearly 600 gigabytes a day - FierceBroadbandWireless

Google's muni-WiFi network in Mountain View, Calif., reached its third anniversary this month and WiFi vendor Tropos reports that the network now transports close to 600 gigabytes of user data on a daily basis. That number is double the volume from two years ago, and Tropos said the statistics indicate it is one of the most heavily used open networks in the world.

"We continue to experience extremely high demand--both in terms of users and bandwidth," said Karl Garcia at Google, who leads the Google WiFi project. "We've seen the iPhone and other WiFi-enabled handheld devices as significant drivers of the high demand we see. Currently nearly a quarter of all devices that connect to our network are handhelds, compared to almost none when we launched the network," said Garcia...

AT&T requires smartphone customers to subscribe to data plans - FierceBroadbandWireless

AT&T Mobility is requiring any customer purchasing a smartphone or upgrading to one to subscribe to a monthly data plan for $30 in addition to a voice plan. The requirement will go into effect Sept. 6 but won't impact existing customers until they upgrade their phone or plan.

AT&T has released this official statements on the matter: "Smartphone users tend to consume a higher amount of data services, like advanced email, mobile Web, applications and more. Being able to take full advantage of these features without having to worry about a fluctuating or unusually high bill generally leads to greater customer satisfaction, so effective Sept. 6, smartphone customers will need to subscribe to a data plan, as the vast majority of customers already do..."

Facebook asks business: Can’t we be friends? - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

PALO ALTO — For every organization or business trying to ban or limit the use of social media, Facebook Inc. has a message: We want to friend you. And friends help each other out.

That’s the word the Palo Alto-based social media pioneer sent out Aug. 18 following an announcement from the Southeastern Conference that it would ban fans from using Twitter, updating Facebook or posting photos or video to Flickr during its college sports events...

Fanbase aims to be a Wiki for sports at all levels - NYTimes.com

There will always be sports fans ready to relive and reargue the merits of celebrated professional sports teams like the 1995 Dallas Cowboys.

But how about the Long Beach State women’s water polo team? A new Web site called Fanbase, backed with $5 million from venture capitalists, is creating an almanac of every professional and college athlete and team, no matter how obscure...

Sentiment analysis takes the pulse of the Internet - NYTimes.com

Computers may be good at crunching numbers, but can they crunch feelings?

The rise of blogs and social networks has fueled a bull market in personal opinion: reviews, ratings, recommendations and other forms of online expression. For computer scientists, this fast-growing mountain of data is opening a tantalizing window onto the collective consciousness of Internet users...

Keyless entry can come from your phone | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

When I was a kid, I remember my mother would take me on tours of mansions that no one we knew could afford. In addition to the obvious amenities of huge rooms, swimming pools and high ceilings, each home always was wired with the latest technology.

In the past couple of weeks, I was able to get my hands on a piece of this technology -- the Schlage LiNK system. Made by Carmel-based Schlage, it allows homeowners to unlock their doors by accessing a secured Web site on a computer or cell phone and track who comes in and goes out via numeric codes. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection...

iTunes sells 24% of all U.S. music - PC World

Apple's iTunes Music Store now sells 25 percent of all music sales in the U.S., and 69 percent of the entire US digital music market. Relative newcomer AmazonMP3 sells just 8 percent of all U.S. digital music downloads.

Market research company The NPD Group reports that while CDs remain the most popular format for paid music purchases, digital music sales are making up an ever-greater share of US music sales. (See also "Apple iTunes: How to Organize and Manage Your Music Collection...

Google cuts online book deals with European libraries - Business Center - PC World

Google Inc. is preparing for a significant expansion of its book digitization program with agreements reportedly imminent with public libraries in France and Italy.

The search giant's efforts in Europe come even as competitors in the U.S. are pushing for more scrutiny by the Department of Justice of Google's plans to scan and search-enable a wide range of books. In fact, concerns have been raised in Europe as well...

100 dirtiest sites to avoid for safety's sake - Business Center - PC World

Web users could be putting themselves at risk by surfing to some sites that contain more than 18,000 different security threats each, says Symantec.

The security vendor has compiled a list of this year's 100 "Dirtiest Websites." Just by visiting these sites, Web users could see their PCs infected with viruses or even have their senitive personal data stolen by cyber criminals, even if they don't download or click on anything in particular...

With music and caring, Va. girls form a sisterly bond - washingtonpost.com

They are together at a computer screen one morning in a sunlit kitchen in Ashburn, two girls closely watching the YouTube video that joins them.

They see the angelic face of Taylor Love, who is 4 and fighting for her life against a devastating cancer. They hear Abby Miller, 12, singing with a forcefulness beyond her age: You're not alone. Together we stand. I'll be by your side. You know, I'll take your hand...

Court shuts down sites promising free gov't grants - Business Center - PC World

A U.S. district court has shut down several Web sites that falsely promised they could help consumers get free government grants, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced.

The Web sites advertised an "easy to use" program called Grant Connect that supposedly would help people "instantly find the grant that's right" for them. The sites used pictures of U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the American flag to give the false impression that they were connected to the government, the FTC said...

AT&T says it didn't block Google Voice - Business Center - PC World

Apple is still reviewing the Google Voice iPhone application, and AT&T has not played any role in that review process, the companies told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday.

Google Voice has not been approved for distribution to the iPhone, and on July 31, the FCC questioned Apple and AT&T about their treatment of that and other proposed iPhone applications. It also questioned Google about its iPhone application and the approval process for software on its own Android mobile platform. All three companies submitted responses on Friday...

From hip to lame in all of 20 seconds - NYTimes.com

LAST week, if you wanted to use the latest slang to tell a friend he was cool, you could have called him “Obama,” as in: “Dude, you’re rocking the new Pre phone? You are so Obama.”

This week? Best not to risk it...

Setting the price of a free press -- latimes.com

As The Times' Dawn C. Chmielewski reported Friday, emissaries of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. recently approached the owners of this newspaper, the New York Times, the Washington Post and Hearst Corp. about joining a consortium that would charge for online news content.

Murdoch's Wall Street Journal already does so, but the Australian-born media magnate understands that what's required for serious -- which is to say expensive-to-produce -- journalism to survive is that all the quality English-language papers and news sites agree to charge for Web access and then mercilessly sue anyone who makes more than fair use of their work without paying a fee. For such a scheme to work, the papers' owners need to agree on when to act and what to charge. (Murdoch and his digital strategist, Jonathan Miller, believe the Journal's existing website model offers a place for what the latter calls "premium" journalism...

China's Internet-addiction camps turn dangerous -- latimes.com

Reporting from Beijing - Like many mothers, Li Shubing despaired over her inability to control her teenage son. The 14-year-old often stayed out all night playing games in an Internet cafe. He neglected his studies.

So when she learned of a summer camp in rural Sichuan province that was promising to cure Internet addiction, she enrolled her son for a one-month course at $715. No matter that the camp boasted extreme methods -- "suffering can help a person improve," read one of the advertisements -- Li thought a little discipline would be just the ticket to whip her son into shape...

Using hacking skills to protect companies -- latimes.com

Marc Maiffret used to be a computer hacker. Now he gets paid to break into the systems of Southern California businesses, testing for security weaknesses.

His client today is a major Los Angeles auto dealer, which sells fancy luxury cars to celebrities and corporate execs. The head of the company wants to check on the safety of his customer data...

Southwest Airlines readies system wide onboard Wi-Fi Internet service rollout -- chicagotribune.com

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is on its way to providing in-flight Wi-Fi access on all of its aircraft. The airlines and Internet Wi-Fi service provider Row 44 have plans to roll out the program in the first quarter of 2010.

Southwest has been testing the service on four aircraft since February 2009. Customers have been using the service for many applications during the testing phase, including e-mail and streaming video...

Facebook pages publish to Twitter with new tool - InternetNews.com

Score another point for social media marketing: Facebook Page users will soon be able to automatically publish updates to their Twitter accounts, as the social networking giant makes new moves to expand services and features at the site.

While Facebook profiles are common for individual users of the site, Facebook Pages are used by businesses, musicians, media outlets and others as a form of social media marketing...

3 reasons why I won't use Twitter's geolocation feature - PC World

Twitter's upcoming geolocation feature is a nifty idea -- but mainly in theory. A quick look at the applications of Twitter geolocation could give those close to you, and not only those people, some ideas of taking advantage of the service to your detriment.

Soon arriving at a Twitter client near you (and online), Twitter geolocation can attach information about your current location to each tweet you send to the world. Whether you are out and about or just at home, the whole Twitter community can see your approximate position...

Google-AT&T-Apple fight over Net calls draws FCC interest - USATODAY.com

Apple (AAPL) and AT&T (T) Friday are expected to tell the Federal Communications Commission why Google's free voice application, called Google Voice, is banned from the Apple iPhone. Google is also filing comments.

But Google (GOOG) may soon find itself on the hot seat as well, telecom and public policy analysts say...

3 Google Rivals Plan to Oppose Settlement of Book Suit - NYTimes.com

Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo are planning to join a coalition of nonprofit groups, individuals and library associations to oppose a proposed class-action settlement giving Google the rights to commercialize digital copies of millions of books.

The settlement between Google and groups representing authors and publishers, which is awaiting court approval, has attracted opposition from various corners of the book world. The Department of Justice has also opened an antitrust investigation into the implications of the agreement...

Tweets will soon come with a dateline - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Tweets, those short messages that pack information into 140 characters, will soon include another piece of information: location.

Twitter is getting ready to unveil a new feature that will add longitude and latitude to any tweet. Individual Twitter users will have the choice to activate this feature and Twitter promises it won’t store exact location data for a long period of time...

News Corp. pushing to create an online news consortium -- latimes.com

As newspapers across the country struggle with declining readership and advertising revenue, News Corp. executives have been meeting in recent weeks with publishers about forming a consortium that would charge for news distributed online and on portable devices -- and potentially stem the rising tide of red ink.

Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller has positioned News Corp. as a logical leader in the effort to start collecting fees from online readers because of its success with the Wall Street Journal Online, which boasts more than 1 million paying subscribers. He is believed to have met with major news publishers including New York Times Co., Washington Post Co., Hearst Corp. and Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times...

Chinese workers use Internet for shoptalk -- latimes.com

Reporting from Shenzhen, China - When Jiang Dabao lost his right hand to a molding machine three years ago, his factory boss said he wasn't eligible for workers' compensation. Unemployable, Jiang whiled away his days in the Internet bars that thrive here in China's manufacturing heartland.

Eventually he tapped into an online forum on QQ, a popular social networking service, where he found a workers advocacy group that helped him win a $30,000 settlement...

Execs don't want to be 'friended' by business contacts - Dayton Business Journal:

Thinking about "friending" your boss on Facebook? You may want to reconsider. Nearly half of executives have some degree or discomfort being friended by the employees they manage or their bosses, according to a survey released Thursday by OfficeTeam.

The survey was based on telephone interviews with randomly selected senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies...

Smartphone apps fuel business - WSJ.com

Between documenting expenses and processing credit cards from just about anywhere in the U.S., smartphone applications have changed the way many small businesses operate. Now, more firms are turning to these apps to enhance the way customers interact with their products and services — and even boost their bottom lines.

"People nowadays want everything to be at their fingertips, and if companies are not finding ways to provide these tools [they] will soon see drop-off from their customers," says Jennifer Shaheen, a small business technology consultant in White Plains, N.Y. Providing an app also offers a tremendous marketing opportunity, she says. Securing a placeholder in customers' smartphones can help keep a company on the brain, which is especially important in this rocky economy, Shaheen says...

A peek at NASA's faster connection to the moon - InternetNews.com

NASA now has technology in place for data transfer from the Earth to the Moon at an astounding 100 Mbps.

That's right, NASA has more bandwidth on the (literally) long haul between the Moon and the Earth than most Americans between their ISPs and their homes...

Smartphone Wi-Fi use quadruples, sales up 47% - InternetNews.com

As smartphone sales continue to grow, Wi-Fi is emerging as an integral component of the lucrative mobile market, with a recent study showing a triple-digit spike in consumers using the wireless technology to access the Internet on their handsets.

In its first "Wireless Census," networking firm Meraki reported that the overall number of smartphones using its access points for hotspots quadrupled over the past year...

U.S. vows $1.2B for electronic health records - InternetNews.com

The U.S. government on Thursday announced grants of almost $1.2 billion to help hospitals and health care providers implement and use electronic health records.

The Obama administration has made the overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. health care system the centerpiece of its domestic agenda, including the use of technology to improve efficiency and cut costs...

Northern Michigan University rolls out mobile WiMAX - FierceBroadbandWireless

Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich., has deployed mobile WiMAX in the 2.5 GHz band using equipment from Motorola and is providing WiMAX-enabled laptops to all students as part of their tuition.

The university, which has been handing out laptops to students for the last 10 years, said it needed a wireless broadband network that offered greater range than WiFi given the fact that the school is in a rural area and commuter students and staff may live several miles away from campus. The network is truly mobile and encrypted for use by university students and employees as well as some governmental entities...

Hollywood insiders note Twitter's increasing impact at the box office - washingtonpost.com

Although word of mouth could always make or break a movie, it usually took days to affect the box office. But the rise of social networking tools such as Twitter might be narrowing that time frame to hours. And that has Hollywood on edge.

This summer, movies such as "Brüno" and "G.I. Joe" have had unexpected tumbles at the box office -- just within their opening weekends -- while "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" survived blistering critical reaction to become a blockbuster...

Comcast asks Congress to pass Net neutrality bill (kind of...)

While this news was a surprise to nobody, I still found myself shaking my head about it: Comcast is suing over the FCC's ruling against their treatment of P2P traffic.

This isn't surprising as there's been an argument brewing for a while that the FCC doesn't have the authority to deal with specific issues related to network management. Also, it's not like incumbent broadband providers to take any government ruling against them lying down. So in many ways it seemed inevitable that this P2P decision was going to go to court...

Verizon completes LTE calls in Boston, Seattle

It might not be as big as “Watson, come here, I want you,” but Verizon Wireless logged its own milestone on Thursday with the completion of its first data calls over its LTE trial network, in Boston and Seattle.

The operator said the calls carried VoIP, streaming video, file uploads and downloads, and Web browsing...

Leagues restrict access as fan and financial interests intersect - NYTimes.com

Camera phones, hand-held video cameras and social networking sites like Twitter have turned sports fans with Web sites into instant reporters and broadcasters. But one of the nation’s leading college leagues is drawing a line in the turf.

The Southeastern Conference, home to some of the nation’s most prominent and lucrative university athletic programs, has issued rules in the past week prohibiting fans from distributing photographs or video of its games in real time for commercial use. Like a growing number of pro and college teams nationwide, the conference sees money to be made online from the exploits of its athletes...

Lawsuit tries to get at hackers through the banks they attack - NYTimes.com

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday against some of the most shadowy Internet criminals — gangs based in Eastern Europe that electronically break into business computers, steal banking passwords and transfer themselves money — is being used to pry information from a group that is nearly as reclusive as the hackers: banks whose computers have been compromised.

The suit by Unspam Technologies, which organizes volunteers to track down information about spammers and other online rogues, was filed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia...

Broadband Stimulus Effort Hits Congestion

Amid much uncertainty around the broadband stimulus effort, even the application deadline has changed, as the NTIA and RUS were forced to postpone the due date for online applications from Aug. 14 to Aug. 20. As the online application process was poised to draw to a close, the agencies’ servers became overloaded, which reportedly caused great worry for some applicants, who as a result submitted multiple requests for funding in hopes their applications wouldn’t get lost in a black hole.

Whether one week will be enough time for these government agencies to dig out of this mess, address their technical difficulties and respond to applicants’ filing concerns should they choose to do that, however, remains in question...

A second hance for Second Life - WSJ.com

hen American soldiers and police officers from across the U.S. want to learn how to operate Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Cutlass bomb disposal robot, they go to the military contractor's secure Space Park installation.

But they don't have to jump in a car or hop on a plane to get there. That's because Space Park exists only in cyberspace, or more specifically, in the computer-generated world called Second Life.

Virtual reality "is not a fly-by-night technology. It's not a passing fad," says Matt Furman, a Northrop Grumman software developer who helped build Space Park, where customers can spend hours training...

Facebook posts huge search growth - InternetNews.com

Facebook continues showing strength not just as a major force in social networking, but also in search -- experiencing a 35-percent increase in searches in July.

That's enough to make Facebook one of the fastest-growing properties on which searches are conducted, according to research firm comScore's monthly search report...

Google's Chrome browser loads Web pages faster - USATODAY.com

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Nearly a year ago, Google introduced Chrome, an Internet browser that aims to take on Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla with a faster way to surf the Web.

Chrome sports a minimalist design, like the Google home page. The idea: Take away some of the fat and offer less clutter to make Web pages zip open. Since its debut, Chrome has evolved into a customizable entity, much like Google's Gmail. New "skins," for instance, let you personalize the look...

Korea frames America's wireless vs. wireline choice

The more I learn about what South Korea's doing related to its national broadband strategy the more impressed, inspired, and intimidated I become. Impressed by how long they've been focused on the many issues surrounding broadband deployment and adoption, and how diligent and thoughtful they've been in working through whatever problems they faced to find creative solutions.

Inspired by the example they set for the US about how much progress can be possible when government is ready, able, and willing to set bold goals and have the programs in place to help achieve them effectively and efficiently...

Virtual cooking is a hit on Facebook -- latimes.com

Tom Byron's restaurant, Pink Castle, is shaped like a giant nouveau castle, painted cotton candy pink and topped with blue fairy-tale turrets. The inside resembles an old-fashioned diner with comfy booths, checkered floors, balloons, video games and festive salsa music on the jukebox. Its most famous dish is a Pink Burger.

Pink Castle has been such a success for Byron that he says he'd like to franchise it. On Facebook...

The rural netroots need broadband | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

Last week, I attended the Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh. The Conference gave me a terrific perspective on just how much broadband matters to activists. As I spoke with conference attendees, I was glad to be able to share with them our Benefits of Broadband booklet, a compilation of our fact sheets about the importance of broadband to Health Care, the Environment, Education and many other areas.

I attended several panels on rural issues and one message came through loud and clear - rural activists were reaching out for help from the netroots community to tell their stories because, in many cases, the lack of broadband in rural areas prevents people in those areas from speaking for themselves. In fact, only 46% of adults in rural areas subscribe to broadband, and in many cases that access is via slow and less reliable satellite connections...

What can broadband do for you? | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

Doug Adams, Director of Marketing at the Knight Center for Digital Excellence, broke it down in a recent article explaining what broadband stimulus funds will do for members of our community.

Adams says that doctors and nurses will once again provide home visits , "only now they will be 'virtual' visits. They'll be able to check on patients' blood pressure via remote electronic devices, and assess patients' conditions via cameras connected to television screens in their homes..."

Report cites jump in social networking hacker attacks - Dayton Business Journal:

Hackers are attacking Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites this year more than any other kind, a report Monday said. Carlsbad, Calif.-based Breach Security said the number of Web security incidents was up 30 percent in the first half of 2009.

Social networking sites were the target of 19 percent of attacks and media sites second at 16 percent. Four other types of sites were tied with 12 percent each: retail, technology, retail and government/political sites...

Microsoft makes white-spaces breakthrough for rural broadband

Microsoft researchers have taken the next step toward turning old UHF analog TV spectrum into rural wireless broadband networks that would operate like Wi-Fi but with greater range, bypassing incumbent Internet providers like AT&T in the process. “Imagine the potential if you could connect to your home [Internet] router from up to a mile,” Ranveer Chandra, a Microsoft researcher, told MIT’s Technology Review in an article posted today.

Working with researchers at Harvard University, Microsoft developed a set of protocols for wireless Internet networks using “white space,” the unlicensed spectrum previously used for broadcast television signals, in a manner similar to today’s Wi-Fi systems. They call it “White-Fi.” Redmond has been working on such technology for more than two years and was one of several companies to get a license from the Federal Communications Commission to create prototype white-space devices. Google, Dell, HP, Philips and Intel have all voiced plans to develop white-space devices, with many seeing the former TV spectrum as a way to bypass the last-mile networks of incumbent broadband providers like AT&T and Qwest Communications. In addition, the white-space spectrum Microsoft is using (between 512 megahertz and 698 MHz) offers a longer range than today’s 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks, promising greater reach in rural areas...

Self-publishing gets a digital assist - InternetNews.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- If everyone, as the saying goes, has at least one book in them, most have more excuses as to why it will never be written.

Enter FastPencil, a self-publishing system that aims to help remove some of those excuses. The system simplifies publishing traditional bound books or even digital versions for the new generation of e-readers, such as Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader Pocket and Touch e-Readers...

PUCO should deny Frontier, Verizon telephone merger without consumer protections

COLUMBUS, Ohio – August 18, 2009 – A proposed merger of two telephone companies should be rejected, the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) announced today. If the merger of Frontier Communications Corporation and Verizon Communications, Inc. is to be approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), conditions should be required.

In comments to be filed later today at the PUCO, the OCC will cite the lack of consumer benefits and potential pitfalls of a merger of the two companies’ traditional landline telephone businesses. The OCC is concerned over whether Frontier is capable of maintaining and improving Verizon’s Ohio residential local telephone service if the merger is approved at the state and federal levels...

Stem cell transplants allow strangers to form bonds - washingtonpost.com

The first things I noticed about Kerry Lutz were her bright, red, curly hair and her relaxed, tomboyish attitude. I liked her instantly. We have a lot in common, I realized. We're both 28, single and talkative. I'm you and you're me, I thought as we stood face to face. She's in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua, and I'm a reporter interning at The Post. But she asks a lot of questions, and I love peace and travel.

Kerry and I also represent two sides of the same coin. I was 26 when I received lifesaving stem cells. She was 26 when she gave her stem cells to save a life...

Sprint's summer of WiMax - Telecom News Analysis

As expected, Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) launched its 4G Now service -- running over the Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR) mobile WiMax network -- today in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Portland, Ore.

The operator is expected to track Clearwire's launches closely with its own 3G-to-4G roaming service throughout the remainder of 2009. Clearwire said last week that it will cover 25 markets and over 30 million users by the end of this year. (See Clearwire Promises Growth Spurt...)

Huffington Post goes social with Facebook tie-in - InternetNews.com

Online media mogul and liberal evangelist Arianna Huffington has hopped on the Facebook bandwagon in a big way.

This morning, her eponymous blog empire The Huffington Post launched HuffPost Social News, a feature that retrieves and shares the stories that people's Facebook friends have been reading...

Facebook nears "must-use" status, with eBay and Amazon - Business Center - PC World

The purchase of FriendFeed is but a sideshow in Facebook's drive to make itself a must-use social networking site, but it does show the lengths the company is willing to go to become king of all social media.

This feels early for consolidation in social media, though with profits still elusive, some companies, like FriendFeed, will accept financial shelter when it is offered. The founders, it has been much reported, are former Google stars whose talents may be more profitably used at Facebook...

New Web sites provide discounts to buyers who join in social networks - Washington Business Journal:

Buying online. Buying with PayPal. Buying on eBay. It’s a list that seems never ending in the digital world, and now there is a new buying trend hitting the hospitality and retail industries — group buying.

No fewer than four companies, two of them locally based, have come on the scene in recent months offering discounts on everything from restaurant visits to spa treatments...

The Blandin Foundation assists in restoring a vital service to Adrian, MN « Blandin on Broadband

I am posting the following on behalf of Bruce A. Heitkamp, the Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer of the City of Adrian.

The City of Adrian, MN had uninterrupted pharmaceutical services provided to its residents for nearly all of its 131 years of existence. In March of 2008, everything changed as the door to Adrian’s only pharmacy closed. The closing had an adverse affect on the entire community and left residents scrambling for a way to take care of their prescription drug needs. As the City considered a pharmacy vital to the community’s health and well-being, the City Council directed City staff to quickly find a replacement. That is when the idea of a tele-pharmacy using video and two-way interactive communication entered the picture as a viable option...

On the auction site Swoopo, paying to place each bid - NYTimes.com

Some people will stop at nothing to snap up a bargain — even if it means paying too much.

That is the paradoxical principle behind Swoopo, a Web site that offers a seductive and controversial proposition to online shoppers...

It’s Broadway gone viral, with ‘next to normal’ via Twitter - NYTimes.com

At a recent performance of “Next to Normal,” the Broadway musical at the Booth Theater on West 45th Street, Alice Ripley, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Diana, a suburban mother with bipolar disorder, was reaching to answer a cordless telephone when she knocked it off the stage. Fourth wall broken, Ms. Ripley asked, with a smile, “Could you hand that to me?”
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The writer of “Next to Normal” saw the Twitter interpretation as a creative challenge as action was translated into tweets. Audience members were suddenly on all fours, but when they could not find the prop, a woman in the front row held up her cellphone, which Ms. Ripley accepted and spoke her lines into before tossing it back, to laughter and applause...

Pew study points to Internet as a leading recession-beating tool « Knight Center Community Connection

More than half of Americans have been hit hard during the current recession in a number of ways, according to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study (“The Internet and the Recession”):

• 35 percent of Americans have seen their investments lose more than half their value;

• 27 percent of those employed full time or part-time have had their pay cut, hours reduced, or benefits slashed;

• 27 percent of homeowners have seen the value of their home reduced by at least half; and

• 14 percent of Americans have been laid off or lost their jobs...

Broadband growth falls sharply in the U.S.

After years of breakneck growth, U.S. broadband is in slowdown mode. During the second quarter of 2009, U.S. service providers added less than 650,000 new accounts, down more than 50 percent from 1.6 million additions in the first quarter. (Stats below the fold.)

To be fair, the second quarter is seasonally the slowest for the U.S. broadband industry, but overall subscriber gains are down 28 percent from last year’s 887,000 net new additions as well. So far, the U.S. has added about 2.25 million new subscribers in 2009, down about 27 percent from 3.1 million additions during the first two quarters. At this rate, the U.S. will add significantly fewer subscribers during 2009 vs. 5.4 million in 2008...

What my daughter’s broken leg taught me about broadband

My daughter broke her leg on Saturday, and despite my worry for her, I spent a considerable amount of time at the hospitals where she was treated noticing the variety of familiar technology used by the doctors. While some of what I saw was awesome, I also saw firsthand how critical consistent, fast broadband speeds are to the success of telehealth programs.

We went first to an urgent care clinic near our home in the hopes of avoiding the emergency room. No such luck. The diagnosis of a broken leg with the potential for a hip injury sent us over to the Dell Children’s Medical Center. But to get the address, the doctor at the urgent care clinic had to check his iPhone, as the web connection there chose that very moment to go down. So armed with a CD containing my daughter’s X-rays, we drove to the emergency room at Dell Children’s and signed in...

The paper that doesn’t want to be free - NYTimes.com

Not long ago, when other media executives were convinced that the only way to succeed on the Web was to give away their content, The Financial Times played the eccentric.

“We were regarded as slightly freakish,” says John Ridding, the newspaper’s chief executive...

No job? You still can go to office

Those in need of a job but tired of searching from home have access to a professional office space, free of charge.

Office Suites PLUS offers those who have lost their job free office space for 90 days while they conduct a job search. It is only offered to those who have lost a job recently and are in the midst of looking for new employment...

Wi-Fi now a smartphone must-have - Business Center - PC World

Though some operators are still not inclined to let Wi-Fi-equipped handsets into their networks, consumers nowadays are demanding the technology to be a standard part of smartphones, according to global consulting and advisory firm Ovum.

Ovum's recent data (collated from DeviceMine and Ovum research) identified 77 smartphone models released by key manufacturers in the sample period. Of these, 59 handsets had GPS (Global Positioning System) capability and 49 had Wi-Fi. This indicates that these technologies are now key features across nearly all smartphones, not just high-end models, said Tim Renowden, analyst at Ovum...

Phones, PCs put e-book within reach of Kindle-less - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — A few weeks ago, Pasquale Castaldo was waiting at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a delayed flight, when a man sitting across from him pulled out an Amazon Kindle book-reading device. "Gee, maybe I should think about e-books myself," Castaldo thought.

He didn't have a Kindle, but he did have a BlackBerry. He pulled it out and looked for available applications. Sure enough, Barnes & Noble Inc. had just put up an e-reading program. Castaldo, 54, downloaded it, and within a minute, began reading Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice..."

DirecTV offers NFL Sunday Ticket via Internet in NY trial - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — DirecTV will intensify its rivalry with cable Monday by giving cable subscribers in Manhattan first crack at buying the satellite company's exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket games to view via broadband.

"Sunday Ticket is a big part of what DirecTV is all about — it's a core piece of our franchise," says Jon Gieselman, senior vice president for advertising and public relations. "There's a big business there, and we want this to be a complement to that..."

The gap between Google and rivals may be smaller than you think - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

It’s no secret that even with their recently-announced alliance, Yahoo and Microsoft will lag well behind Google in the hugely profitable search and search advertising business. How far behind? With a combined 28 percent of the American search market, Yahoo and Microsoft could double their usage and still trail Google, which accounts for 65 percent of the market.

But by another important measure, the two sides are much closer. ComScore found that for the combined Yahoo-Microsoft, “searcher penetration,” or the percentage of the online population in the United States that uses one of those search engines, is 73 percent. Google’s searcher penetration is higher, but not by that much: at 84 percent...

Online, your private life is searchable -- latimes.com

When Maya Rupert wrote an article frowning at several Southern states for officially celebrating Confederate History Month, Internet critics lined up to fire back. But this time, they arrived with more than harsh words.

The 28-year-old Los Angeles attorney's detractors dug up a photo of her and posted it, along with details of political contributions she'd made, in an online discussion of the article she wrote for the L.A. Watts Times. They called their finds evidence of her bias on the emotionally charged subject...

Facebook's purchase is bid to own social media - washingtonpost.com

Facebook just bought the rights to nearly everything you do online. And it cost them only $47.5 million.

Facebook's purchase of FriendFeed, an obscure social-media platform, is potentially momentous. To understand why, we must understand FriendFeed, a start-up that is ubiquitous among techies and unknown to everybody else. It's a sleek application that acts as a clearinghouse for all of your social-media activities. Post something to Flickr? That will show up on your FriendFeed page. Digg something? FriendFeed will know. Post to Twitter from your phone? FriendFeed will syndicate your tweets. Once you initially tell it where to look, it will collect everything and tell it to the world...

How Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon & Google think about big data

Collectively, Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon and Google are rewriting the handbook for big data. Startups intending to reach these proportions must also change their thinking about data, and enterprises need this model for internal deployments as a way to retain an economic edge.The four leading web giants have designed systems from scratch, evidence that workloads have altered, business models are different, and economies have changed — all demanding a new approach.

Yahoo revealed a few weeks ago how it approaches unstructured data on an Internet scale with MObStor, the technology that “grew out of Yahoo Photos” but now serves the unstructured storage needs across the company. Earlier this year, Facebook unveiled Haystack, its solution to managing its growing photo collection (which could reach 100 billion photos in 2009 if it continues with current growth rates). In 2007, Amazon outlined Dynamo, an “incrementally scalable, highly available key-value storage system.” All of these were predated by The Google File System, presented as a research paper in October 2003...

Don’t penalize rural Web users | sctimes.com | St. Cloud Times

Access to the Internet is difficult if not impossible for some rural residents. Dial-up connections are too slow for many Web applications, effective technology is too expensive, and sometimes high speed is just not available.
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Is it discrimination? Maybe that’s too strong of a word. Maybe not...

Broadband benefits for health care

POMEROY — The benefits of broadband in a rural area, particularly benefits to the health care industry, were discussed at yesterday’s Meigs County Chamber of Commerce’s Business-Minded Luncheon.

Randy Drewyor from Horizon based out of Chillicothe, spoke about the company’s plans to develop the Southern Ohio Health Care Network, which includes Holzer Health Systems, O’Bleness Hospital and Adena Health Systems in Southeast Ohio. Horizon will provide fiber, broadband internet service to these health systems, making not only the facilities but the care of their patients, interconnected...

Verizon tests LTE network in Boston & Seattle

While a single swallow doesn’t make a summer, it is safe to say that 4G wireless broadband is making a shy appearance in the U.S. The increasing availability of Clearwire WiMAX (which some say isn’t quite 4G) has now been followed by the news that Verizon, the nation’s largest mobile phone company, has tested a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Seattle and Boston. The tests included streaming video, file transfers and web browsing. Verizon also tested VoIP calling as well...

Smartphone app downloads to triple by 2014 - InternetNews.com

The new consumer phenomenon of smartphone app usage is expected to keep growing at a rapid clip, with downloads tripling over the next five years. But with that growth comes challenges for the mobile industry as competition heats up.

Downloads from all app stores will reach 6.67 billion applications by 2014, up from two billion this year, Vikrant Gandhi, analyst at market research firm Frost & Sullivan and author of "An Insight into the U.S. Smartphone Application Storefront Market," told InternetNews.com...

Facebook's July growth outpaced Twitter's - Dayton Business Journal:

Facebook Inc.'s growth accelerated at more than double the pace of Twitter Inc. in July, according to the latest estimates from comScore. The Palo Alto social networking company drew 87.7 million unique visitors in the U.S., a 14 percent jump from the month before.

San Francisco-based Twitter grew about 6 percent to saw 21.2 million unique U.S. visitors...

Format war clouds e-book horizon - Digits - WSJ

Thinking about making the leap to digital books? First, you’ll need to add a jumble of new lingo to your dictionary: .epub, pdb, BeBB, and Adobe Content Server 4, just to name a few.

The burgeoning marketplace for e-books is riddled with inconsistent and incompatible formats. That means there’s often little guarantee that an e-book you buy from one online store, like the new Barnes & Noble store, will work on popular reading devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle or Sony’s Reader...

Smartphone app downloads to triple by 2014 - InternetNews.com

The new consumer phenomenon of smartphone app usage is expected to keep growing at a rapid clip, with downloads tripling over the next five years. But with that growth comes challenges for the mobile industry as competition heats up.

Downloads from all app stores will reach 6.67 billion applications by 2014, up from two billion this year, Vikrant Gandhi, analyst at market research firm Frost & Sullivan and author of "An Insight into the U.S. Smartphone Application Storefront Market," told InternetNews.com.

Twitter filled with 'pointless babble,' study finds - InternetNews.com

With the recent glut of media attention lavished on Twitter as the great, transformative communications platform of our time, it perhaps shouldn't be surprising to see a research firm take a stab at quantifying what, exactly, people are saying on the microblogging service.

One such effort comes from Pear Analytics, which recently analyzed a sample of 2,000 tweets and organized them into six categories: News, Spam, Self-Promotion, Pointless Babble, Conversational and Pass-Along Value...

Cookies link your online, offline identities - USATODAY.com

Think about the websites you visited recently. You shopped, checked airfare prices and researched a medical condition.

How would you like marketers to trade this information, along with your name and address? They may very well have...

Netscape founder backs new browser - NYTimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — It has been 15 years since Marc Andreessen developed the Netscape Internet browser that introduced millions of people to the Internet.

After its early success, Netscape was roundly defeated by Microsoft in the so-called browser wars of the 1990s that dominated the Web’s first chapter...

Digital Bookmobile makes stop at Sanger

They came, they saw, they learned a new skill. The skill is to "download your favorite books, and music, and videos [from] the library," said Taylor Horen, 17, a recent Maumee Valley Country Day School graduate.

"And when you are done, you don't have to return them to the library," the freshman at John Carroll University in Cleveland said with a smile...

EnerNOC returns 260% from lowering lights in 2009’s power grid - Bloomberg.com

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Donn Dresselhuys used to shake his head in disbelief every time he saw a utility’s meter reader trudge from house to house to record how much electricity people had used. The ritual demonstrated how the power industry had shunned innovation and changed little since the 1950s.

Dresselhuys, a retired executive who had spent 30 years running a water purification company in Milwaukee, set out in 1995 to build a device that would enable meters to transmit data to utilities every hour, sending signals through the air much like mobile phones do. His tiny company soon confronted the realities of changing an industry in which old habits die hard...

The Digital Bookmobile is coming to Ohio!

That’s right! The Digital Bookmobile is coming to Ohio! Let’s all get up there and spread the word about ebooks! If you’re new to them, its a great way to get to know more about them...

Sony plans new Kindle rival, adopts open format - InternetNews.com

Sony is aiming to take on the Amazon Kindle with an upcoming wireless e-book reader that could be unveiled later this month and through adopting the open standard ePub format for its digital bookstore.

Valerie Motis, a Sony spokesperson, confirmed that the electronics giant has a wireless e-reader in the works. The company also is slated to hold a press event Aug. 25 in New York City, but Motis declined to provide additional details on the device...

Literary Twitter: For writers, it's a 140-character development - USATODAY.com

To Twitter. Or not to Twitter. That is the question the publishing world is asking these days.

Hundreds of authors, possibly thousands, are using the social networking service to talk about their books with fans, a unique challenge especially for a wordy novelist who has only 140 characters to get his message out...

Operators embracing WiFi, but how far will they go? - FierceBroadbandWireless

It's no secret mobile operators are now embracing WiFi, but will they go so far as to actively encourage customers to roam onto WiFi?

AT&T, through its acquisition of Wayport in 2008, has. It is using the network as a way to offload heavy mobile traffic primarily driven by iPhone users who are able to use AT&T's network of hotspots for free. The operator said it handled nearly 15 million WiFi connections on its network in the second quarter, a 41 percent increase over the first quarter. AT&T said 49 percent of the total connections were made by integrated devices...

Sony plans to adopt common format for e-books - NYTimes.com

Paper books may be low tech, but no one will tell you how and where you can read them.

For many people, the problem with electronic books is that they come loaded with just those kinds of restrictions. Digital books bought today from Amazon.com, for example, can be read only on Amazon’s Kindle device or its iPhone software...

Clearwire burns more cash in WiMAX buildout - InternetNews.com

Big names have wagered billions on a WiMAX deployment that not only has yet to see a profit -- its net losses are running into the billions.

It's a situation rarely seen outside of the airline industry and more recently, financial and automotive companies. But that's what WiMAX player Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) now faces, today gave an update on the red ink in its second-quarter report...

Facebook finds a friend in Google rivalry - BusinessWeek

After failing to acquire Twitter last fall, Facebook went shopping for what may be the next best thing.

On Aug. 10, Facebook said it had acquired FriendFeed, the Mountain View (Calif.) social aggregation service founded by Google (GOOG) alumni Bret Taylor and Jim Norris in 2008. The deal, which The Wall Street Journal reported to be valued at nearly $50 million in cash and stock, gives Facebook top talent and advanced technology in an area many see

Yahoo joins digital coupon craze - InternetNews.com

Yahoo just launched Yahoo Deals, a Web site that provides daily deals, online coupons, grocery coupons, local coupons, store circulars and exclusive promotions. The site also contains social and community features as well as money-saving video content.

Penny-pinching is on the rise as shoppers ride out the recession and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) says it wants to capitalize on the trend as an increasing number of people are turning to the Web giant for cost-cutting tips and tricks...

Social Web reshaping how media works: Shirky - InternetNews.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The one thing the rise of social media's proven is most of us aren't couch potatoes. In a wide ranging analysis of social media trends, author Clay Shirky said for years we've been operating on a "lousy understandings of human behavior."

Shirky, author of "Here Comes Everybody," said that in the 1990s, the prevailing wisdom was most people spent hours watching television because they liked it. He doesn't deny that the TV remains a popular pastime, but said the rise of social media shows people also want to produce and interact with content...

Facebook plans stripped-down 'lite' version - InternetNews.com

Social networking giant Facebook has begun testing a trimmed-down version of its site that loads faster and is targeted at countries where broadband is limited.

"Facebook Lite" is similar to the site's mobile version, which enables members to make comments, accept friend requests, post messages and view photos and status updates...

Why do some college newspapers still have no Web presence? | PBS

Summer's almost over and college newspapers across the country will be cranking up to full speed soon. Likely, they'll be getting ready for further adventures in online journalism, expanding their online presence while attempting to keep the print product financially successful.

But hard as it is to believe, there are still student newspapers around the country that have no online presence at all. At the Associated Collegiate Press Summer Workshops recently, I asked for a show of hands from students whose newspapers didn't have websites. In two sessions, several hands were raised...

TechLife Columbus: Meeting Councilman Troy Miller - a conversation about the Columbus tech town of 2030

Yesterday had the opportunity to meet Columbus City Councilman Troy Miller. What a breath of fresh air...Troy struck me as someone with the kind of vision, passion, and energy that we need in Columbus.

" He believes the City of Columbus, as evidenced by Forbes Magazine naming Columbus on their list of “Top 10 Up-And-Coming Tech Cities” in America, is uniquely positioned to attract and retain young professionals who want to work for the business and information technology corporations that shape the global Information Systems field..."

Looking for a job? Try LinkedIn or Twitter - washingtonpost.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Job-seeking in this 21st century recession may just have gone viral and mobile.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, about 6.7 million workers have been laid off according to latest statistics -- at a time the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have exploded, drawing millions of users per day...

PayPal launches student account - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

PayPal Inc. on Tuesday announced the launch of the Student Account, a way for teens to shop online and in stores while providing parents with a variety of monitoring capabilities.

San Jose-based PayPal, a unit of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) said parents can establish up to four PayPal sub-accounts for their teens, transferring funds into those accounts when needed, on a one-time or recurring basis...

CareerBuilder launches green jobs site - Houston Business Journal:

CareerBuilder has created a Web site for environmentally conscious job seekers.
Goinggreenjobs.com allows employers to post their open green positions by full-time and part-time status, skill sets, job titles and categories, and geographic location.

Green jobs growth outpaced other job classifications by nearly 250 percent over the last decade, growing 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007 compared with 3.7 percent for the overall job market, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts..."

Online searches for health insurance info jump - Dayton Business Journal:

If you lose your job, you probably lose your health insurance, and that means looking for ways to extend it or replace it.

Internet tracking firm comScore said online searches for the word “COBRA” have almost tripled in the last year. Searches for Medicaid information have almost doubled. "COBRA" stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan...

Cyberattacks' aftershocks hit the Web - InternetNews.com

Twitter and Facebook have since bounced back from the the spam and the denial-of-service storm that hit them late last week, but the aftereffects continue to be felt across the Internet.

Malware purveyors began exploiting Friday's attack the same day it began. Initially, the denial-of-service and spam assault targeted one person, Facebook said. The intended victim was a Georgian anti-Russian dissident who goes by the name of "Cyxymu", and malware developers placed malicious links related to his name on search engines, using black hat SEO...

Hollywood Follows Hulu to the Web - InternetNews.com

It is a dash of Hulu and a sprinkle of YouTube, features a crystal-clear picture, can rewind or fast-forward at lightning speed, and doesn't require a download of any special software. But epixHD.com, the soon-to-launch video website, will have its success dictated more by the movies, concerts and original programs it offers than the technology behind it, said the executive charged with creating and running the site.

"The critical linchpin to what we've got is that we have one-third of the box office of Hollywood," Epix Chief Digital Officer Emil Rensing said in an interview...

Facebook buys FriendFeed: What does it mean? - PC World

Facebook is acquiring content-sharing service FriendFeed, the two companies have confirmed. The entire FriendFeed team of 12 will transition to Facebook, with the four founders taking on senior engineering roles. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

Despite strong buzz in the blogosphere, FriendFeed was never able to gain much in the way of mainstream appeal -- in fact, your average social network user probably hasn't even heard of it. It has developed somewhat of a cult following, though, with many tech insiders adopting it and singing its praises. And the team behind FriendFeed has quite the impressive collective résumé...

Is the Amazon Kindle good for business? - Business Center - PC World

What It Is: Big business has learned its lesson about paper consumption: We read Word docs on laptops, use the copier sparingly and print only what we need. Yet, the paperless office is still a distant dream. E-Readers at least give the trees--and therefore the human race--a chance. The 170 dot-per-inch screen resolution--well over twice that of the typical computer monitor--lessens eye fatigue. Right now, the Amazon Kindle DX, with its 9.7-inch screen, is as close to reading printed material as possible on an electronic device.

Why The Hype: Companies such as Amazon, Sony and others have targeted the thriller-loving consumer crowd with huge marketing campaigns. Meanwhile, newspaper industry struggles have generated lots of press about e-readers as a future platform for news...

Four Points by Sheraton Columbus, Ohio airport among first to open with high-definition satellite TV :: Gaming Industry Wire

The Four Points by Sheraton Columbus Ohio Airport has selected Broadband Hospitality to provide standard- and high-definition satellite TV service (HDTV), 32-inch Pro:Idiom(TM) Hospitality TVs, and high-speed wired and wireless Internet in guestrooms in its brand new 110-room property. The hotel, owned by Columbus, Ohio-based VJP Hospitality and managed by Darpan Management Inc., also chose Broadband Hospitality to install and manage computer and Internet service in the hotel's business center, and assisted in the setup of the hotel's property management and reservation systems.

'We were looking for a company with the ability to handle both satellite TV and Internet,' says Dan Shah, regional manager for Darpan Management, Columbus, Ohio. 'I wanted just one person to call to handle both services. Broadband Hospitality was an easy choice given the relationship we have had the past 10 years. They have always done a great job. Their customer support is excellent...'

:-( help! asap: Iowans put 911 texting to test - USATODAY.com

DES MOINES — A 911 dispatch center in eastern Iowa has become the nation's first to allow emergency callers to seek help via text message.

Beginning last week, callers in Waterloo, Iowa, and surrounding Black Hawk County could communicate with dispatchers using text-enabled cellphones, Waterloo Police Chief Thomas Jennings said...

Online insomnia programs promising, studies show - NYTimes.com

You can do almost anything on the Internet these days. What about getting a good night’s sleep?

It might be possible, some researchers say. Web-based programs to treat insomnia are proliferating, and two small but rigorous studies suggest that online applications based on cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective...

Admired in class, a scholar falters in court - NYTimes.com

BOSTON — In the community of activists trying to break down Internet barriers that they say stifle creativity and knowledge, few figures are as revered as Charles Nesson.

As co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School, Professor Nesson is renowned for his early interest in bridging technology, law and culture, and his ability to inspire generations of students to see the Internet as a force for positive change, not just cables and computers...

Obama web-tracking proposal raises privacy concerns - washingtonpost.com

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need..."

Report: Textbooks coming to iPhones, iPods - Dayton Business Journal:

CourseSmart LLC is reportedly going to offer more than 7,000 e-textbooks through Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPod Touches. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the company will let students add digital notes to their texts and search for specific words and phrases.

Digital textbooks are offered by CourseSmart for about half what it costs to buy the physical books, but they can't be resold at the end of the rental period...

Chicago: Desperately in need of broadband | Speed Matters – Internet Speed Test

A recent poll conducted as a partnership between the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois-Chicago shows that 40% of Chicago residents have little to no Internet access.

In a press conference on July 21st Mayor Richard Daley released the report and addressed the issue in the city: "The study tells us that the magnitude of the digital divide separating low-income Chicago neighborhoods is comparable to the rural-urban divide in broadband use...If we want to improve the quality of life for everyone, we must work to make sure that every resident and business has access to 21st-century technology in their own neighborhoods and homes."

The digital divide problem facing Chicago is not rare. In cities throughout America poorer neighborhoods have little or no access to high speed internet - preventing entire communities from vital financial and educational opportunities. Even libraries and community centers in these regions are not always equipped with the Internet access people need...

Apple touchscreen 'iPad' could take on netbooks - InternetNews.com

Citing sources from Asia, the Piper Jaffray analyst who has been on top of the rumored Apple tablet device has issued a report with even more details on what could be becoming Apple's worst-kept secret.

Senior Analyst Gene Munster has written extensively about the tablet device, which some bloggers have taken to calling the "iPad." In his latest report, issued to clients on Friday, he cited details on the device as well as projections for its financial impact on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)...

EBay, GM set to start car-selling trial Tuesday - USATODAY.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — General Motors and eBay are expected to announce Monday that hundreds of the automaker's California dealers will let consumers haggle over the prices of new cars and trucks through the online marketplace, as part of a previously disclosed trial.

About 225 of California's 250 GM dealers are set to take part in the program, which will begin on Tuesday. They will be selling Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Pontiac vehicles on cobranded websites through eBay's online auto marketplace, eBay Motors, until Sept. 8. The cars will also be searchable through eBay Motors and eBay's main site...

Coming soon? Bank deposits by iPhone - PC World

Bank deposits at ATM machines just became low-tech thanks to a fascinating and cool new application that will allow Apple iPhone users to photograph both sides of a check, then send the images via their iPhone to make a deposit.

A (United Services Automobile Association), a privately-held financial services and insurance company, according to a report in The New York Times. USAA posted a video on the new application on YouTube to show off its innovative capabilities...

Planning to seek future stimulus funds? Pay attention now « Knight Center Community Connection

Organizations not participating in the round one scramble for broadband stimulus funds still need to pay attention – both to the application process and how the money is eventually awarded.

As the Knight Center of Digital Excellence learned during attendance at Broadband Application Training workshops, the road to submitting a successful stimulus proposal is not only very lengthy and complicated, but the landscape can continually change...

Jacksonville man's invention allows home bids online - Jacksonville Business Journal:

The nearly three years Mark Bloomfield’s Atlanta home sat on the market were both frustrating and inspirational. Bloomfield was frustrated by the negotiating process involved in selling real estate — particularly the fact that prospective buyers must sign a purchase and sale contract and provide a binder, usually 1 percent of the sale price, before they can even make an offer.

He finally sold his home in 2006 after cutting the price several times, but thinks it likely would have happened a lot quicker had it not been for the formality of the purchase and sale contract. That inspired him to develop software that allows prospective buyers to make real-time, nonbinding offers directly on a real estate agent’s Web site. It’s a technology that Bloomfield said will change the real estate business because it will provide a level of transparency that isn’t there now and will help drive the market, particularly now...

Comcast projects margins above 40% for WiMAX service - FierceWireless

Comcast said that once its mobile WiMAX service resets to $69.96 per month, the company expects to achieve margins in excess of 40 percent. The cable company also plans to be begin reselling Clearwire's mobile WiMAX service in Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington state later this year.

Comcast COO Stephen Burke told analysts on the company's earnings conference call this morning that the service is being bundled with the company's other high-speed broadband services, and is attracting lapsed DSL subscribers. The most interesting part of his comments were about the margins for the service: "The product at the end of the year resets to $69.95," Burke said." And the combination product of the two has a very healthy margin. We were just talking about 40 percent margins. The margin is in excess of 40 percent, the combination once it resets to $69.95..."

Twitter troubles show fragility of social networks - USATODAY.com

The denial-of-service attacks that shut down Twitter globally for a few hours and disrupted Facebook and LiveJournal last week were intended to be surgical strikes against a small-time blogger espousing anti-Russian sentiments, tech security researchers say.

But the widespread collateral damage highlighted the fragility of social networks that aggregate large blocks of user accounts in systems built for speed. Social networks expose patrons to "more vulnerabilities than in traditional networks," says Suzanne Magee, CEO of security firm TechGuard. "We share our vulnerabilities because we are sharing resources with others..."

Seattle Times finds resurgence as solo act - NYTimes.com

SEATTLE — When The Seattle Times became this city’s only surviving daily newspaper in March, even The Times itself could not muster much optimism about its chances.

Frank A. Blethen, the publisher, said then that the demise of the rival Post-Intelligencer, known as The P-I, was no guarantee that his money-losing paper would make it. In an article in March on Seattle’s becoming “a one-newspaper town,” The Times asked, “will it become a no-newspaper town?...”

E-commerce fever makes Taobao China’s newest Internet darling - NYTimes.com

YIWU, China — In the months leading up to his college graduation in June, Yang Fugang spent most of his days away from campus, managing an online store that sells cosmetics, shampoo and other goods he often buys from local factories.

Today, his store on Taobao.com — China’s fast-growing online shopping bazaar — has 14 employees, two warehouses and piles of cash...

For families today, technology is morning’s first priority - NYTimes.com

Karl and Dorsey Gude of East Lansing, Mich., can remember simpler mornings, not too long ago. They sat together and chatted as they ate breakfast. They read the newspaper and competed only with the television for the attention of their two teenage sons.

That was so last century. Today, Mr. Gude wakes at around 6 a.m. to check his work e-mail and his Facebook and Twitter accounts. The two boys, Cole and Erik, start each morning with text messages, video games and Facebook...

A startup’s dogged determination - Austin Business Journal:

When Christi Scovel was director of a local animal shelter, she often got calls from people seeking advice about pet care. In September 2008, she got a call that changed her life.

Someone had called for suggestions about caring for a sick puppy when friend and business consultant Tina Cannon asked Scovel why people don’t look up such information on Google.com. The answer — that a Google search generates too much information and creates more frustration for a pet owner — spawned PetsMD.com...

P&G hopes to cast spell on consumers with high-tech ads - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

In a first for its multibillion-dollar advertising efforts, Procter & Gamble Co. is using the hocus-pocus of technology to show off one of its top brands.

P&G has launched a first-of-its kind campaign, using a Webcam and three-dimensional effects to show consumers how its Always Infinity feminine care line works. The technique, called “augmented technology,” pro­jects the consumer’s image in real time on the screen...

Social media a fertile ground for virtual-goods seller - Boston Business Journal:

It’s hard enough for online retailers to get consumers to spend money on real goods and services — but one Cambridge company is betting that sites will want to get into the business of selling virtual goods.

Venture-backed Virtual Goods Market Inc., which does business as Viximo, provides a white-label virtual goods store with gifts and personal accessories designed to complement online identities and messages. When Viximo launched in 2007, the company’s founders thought publishers of virtual worlds like Second Life and massively popular multiplayer online role-playing games would be among its core customers, said co-founder Brian Balfour...

Mobile broadband options increasing for on-call IT pros | Network Administrator | TechRepublic.com

Mobile broadband or wireless broadband services are ‘high-speed’ Internet services that use devices that connect to the communications networks that mobile phones use. I mentioned these technologies last year with a use case for a backup network connection for some scenarios. One thing is certain, the options are increasing for coverage and providers for this technology.

Generally speaking, this is going to be good for the consumer. Most notably, this can push the price down on these services. Historically, there have been two main players in this space: Verizon and Sprint. There now are more providers entering into the wireless broadband market. One entrant, Cricket is offering a very competitive price for a mobile broadband service at $40 monthly with no contract. Comcast is also investing in the market as well...

Microsoft’s SharePoint thrives in the recession - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Hang around at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters for five or ten minutes and someone dressed in khaki pants and a blue shirt is bound to tell you about the wonders of SharePoint — one of the company’s most successful and increasingly controversial lines of software.

Think of SharePoint as the jack-of-all-trades in the business software realm. Companies use it to create Web sites and then manage content for those sites. It can help workers collaborate on projects and documents. And it has a variety of corporate search and business intelligence tools too...

As classrooms go digital, textbooks may become history - NYTimes.com

At Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., students use computers provided by the school to get their lessons, do their homework and hear podcasts of their teachers’ science lectures. Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for “digital sections” of several English, history and science classes.

And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create — and share — lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites...

And you thought a prescription was private - NYTimes.com

MORE than 10 years after she tried without success to have a baby, Marcy Campbell Krinsk is still receiving painful reminders in her mail. The ads and promotions started after she bought fertility drugs at a pharmacy in San Diego.

Marketers got hold of her name, and she found coupons and samples in her mail that shadowed the growth of an imaginary child — at first, for Pampers and baby formula, then for discounts on family photos, and all the way through the years to gifts suitable for an elementary school graduate...

Don't take my broadband connection away! - FierceTelecom

The latest economic crisis may be causing consumers to wait on buying that new car or taking a vacation, but a broadband connection is one thing consumers just won't give up. And new studies confirm this logic.

Ben Piper of Strategy Analytics, one of FierceTelecom's newest columnists, revealed in his study called How Vulnerable is the Bundle? Economic Effects on US Multiplay Spend that a large majority of consumers it polled were going to keep their broadband connection despite the recession...

Twitter snag tied to attack on Georgian blog - washingtonpost.com

A politically motivated cyber attack against a single blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia is being blamed for a Thursday outage that left millions worldwide unable to access their personal Facebook and Twitter Web pages.

The attacks continued to affect Twitter service on Friday for some users of the popular microblogging site, after completely shutting down the site for hours the previous day. Facebook fared better; service returned to normal on Friday for its 200 million users...

Fibre to the home UK - Fibrevolution: The Telegraph seems to be getting it

Rural broadband, that is. And the need for direct action rather than more "yadder- yadder". Great article today....

What is clearly required is for informed journalists, such as Jasper Gerard, to get out of London and then continue to educate the masses, including politicians, RDAs etc who are definitely not exempt from the need to be educated about this issue...

Survey: Businesses lack social media policies - InternetNews.com

More than one in three businesses have no policies concerning the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the workplace, according to a new survey from advertising firm Russell Herder and law firm Ethos Business Law.

The survey, "Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks," was compiled from interviews of 438 executives across the United States who were interviewed during July 2009. It is available here...

Text-ban law for drivers signed by Gov. Pat Quinn -- chicagotribune.com

Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday signed into law a measure that will bar Illinois motorists from sending text messages while driving in an effort to cut down on distracted driving.

"It's really bad that we have to legislate logic," said Secretary of State Jesse White, who pushed the measure. "Common sense would tell you that when your eyes are off the road, who's driving...?"

The new bank branch: Internet cafés and rent-a-rooms - BusinessWeek

In Charlotte, N.C., residents like to joke that there's a church or bank branch on virtually every street corner—which is fitting, since both are viewed as houses of worship in a city that until a recent merger boasted two of the nation's five largest banks. Charlotte isn't alone in that regard, because during the housing boom of the past decade commercial banks everywhere threw up new branches as fast as they could. From 1990 to 2006, the number of bank branches in the U.S. roughly doubled, to more than 90,000—or one for roughly every 2,200 adults in the country.

But now that the housing bubble has burst, the banking industry is awash in too many branches—a problem it is looking to correct. On July 28, Bank of America (BAC) confirmed reports that it will close an unspecified number of its 6,100 branches over the next several years, though industry experts say a 5% to 10% reduction wouldn't be surprising. What's fueling the cutbacks is not just the drop in mortgage-generated business, but new technologies—introduced by the banks—such as Internet bill-paying and mobile banking, as well as the proliferation of automated teller machines that do far more than their predecessors...

Senator mounts new push to legalize Net poker - InternetNews.com

As revenue shortages continue to weigh on federal and state budgets, officials have been looking for new sources of income at every turn. That pressure has seen renewed calls for legalizing and taxing marijuana, new efforts to clamp down on online sales tax collection and, most recently, a push to reverse the ban on Internet gambling.

Online gambling proponents have found an outspoken advocate in Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who has introduced a bill that would establish a framework for licensing and taxing revenues from legitimate online poker and other gaming sites in an effort to raise revenue for cash-strapped states and the federal government...

Cyber attackers empty business accounts in minutes - PC World

The criminals knew what they were doing when they hit the Western Beaver County School District.

They waited until school administrators were away on holiday, and then during a four-day period between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2, siphoned US$704,610.35 out of two of the school district's bank accounts. Western Beaver's financial institution, ESB Bank, managed to reverse some of the transfers, but the Pennsylvania school district was out more than $441,000...

The latest craze: Free e-books offerings - USATODAY.com

The latest craze: Free e-books offerings - USATODAY.com: "NEW YORK — James Patterson's latest best seller, The Angel Experiment, is a little different from his usual hits. The novel isn't new; it came out four years ago. Readers aren't picking it up at bookstores, but mostly on the Kindle site at Amazon.com. And the price is low even for an old release: $0.00.

'I like the notion of introducing people to one book, while promoting the sales of another,' says the prolific and mega-selling author (and co-author) of numerous thrillers.' His Kindle download is the first book of Patterson's 'Maximum Ride' young adult series..."

Amazon and eBay's potential role going forward in wireless - washingtonpost.com

A study recently found that a quarter of mobile phones sold in Western Europe had been purchased online, mostly from Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and eBay (NSDQ: EBAY).

The discovery led BusinessWeek to wonder how their role as major retailers could affect "the way carriers and device manufacturers market, subsidize and sell products and services, and how much revenue and profit they receive." The study was conducted by TNS ComTech, which based results on the responses from 60,000 consumers...

For today’s graduate, just one word - Statistics - NYTimes.com

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — At Harvard, Carrie Grimes majored in anthropology and archaeology and ventured to places like Honduras, where she studied Mayan settlement patterns by mapping where artifacts were found. But she was drawn to what she calls “all the computer and math stuff” that was part of the job.

“People think of field archaeology as Indiana Jones, but much of what you really do is data analysis,” she said...

Embarq, CenturyTel combination could save $475M - Kansas City Business Journal:

CenturyLink said Thursday that it now expects to save about $475 million through the combination of the former Embarq Corp. and CenturyTel Inc., which bought Embarq on July 1 in a deal valued at $11.6 billion to form CenturyLink.

Previously, the company had expected about $400 million in savings. Conversion of Embarq’s enterprise resource management systems and initial billing conversion still is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter, the release said. Post-closing integration costs are expected to total about $370 million...

Attacks bring down Twitter and Facebook - washingtonpost.com

What happened Thursday, in 140 characters: Twitter went down. Facebook went down. People panicked, unused to not oversharing minutiae of life. Twitter back up. Facebook back up. Phew.

At 9 a.m., millions of users of Twitter.com found themselves unable to access the microblogging Web site, the modern version of the telephone party line through which more than 40 million people announce what they are doing, reading, eating and thinking at any given moment. Twitter has been used for on-the-ground reports from protests in Tehran and, more recently, by Paula Abdul, who announced her resignation from "American Idol" via her Twitter feed...

Worldwide slump makes Nigeria's online scammers work that much harder - washingtonpost.com

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Online swindling takes dedication even in the best of times, the scammer said earnestly.

The spinal cord aches from sitting at a desk. The eyes itch from staring at a computer. The heart thumps from drinking bitter cola to stay awake for chats with Americans in faraway time zones. The wallet shrinks from buying potions that supposedly compel the Americans to pay...