Heavy AT&T DSL users could see additional fees
A spokesperson for AT&T says the company is mulling an additional charge atop the standard monthly rate for those who use a large amount of bandwidth.
About five percent of AT&T's DSL user base consumes about half of the total bandwidth, and the top one percent of high-consumers use essentially a fifth of total bandwidth, according to AT&T spokesperson Michael Coe. It is this small segment of the market that AT&T is considering slapping with an additional fee.
Facing pressure from Facebook, MySpace regroups
As competition heats up with Facebook, social network MySpace is set to launch a major redesign of its Web site next week.
While MySpace won't say so directly, it appears its new site design may be the beginning of an effort to slow its competitor's advances. Launching Monday, but not appearing across its pages until Wednesday, the redesign will change many of the most popular features of the site.
GTA IV leads surge in US video game sales for May
NPD reports that US video game sales were up 37 percent over last year, with Take-Two's blockbuster title leading the charge.
While Grand Theft Auto IV sold a combined 1.31 million units for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it appears at least for the time being not to be translating into higher hardware sales as Sony and Microsoft had initially hoped.
FCC debates regulation of wireless early termination fees
With complaints to the FCC rising over the long-held practice of fining those who end their cellular contracts early, the agency looks poised to intervene. And for the first time, all sides may be nearing some sort of agreement.
Yesterday afternoon, FCC commissioners heard testimony from consumer advocate groups and carriers alike, and there seemed to be at least some agreement among all parties on the subject of early termination fees (ETFs). Chairman Kevin Martin has taken the lead on the subject, questioning the reasoning for the fee that has become a common part of everyday life with wireless devices.
FTC continues to be thorn in EA's side over Take-Two bid
EA has postponed the deadline for its planned hostile takeover of Take-Two entertainment four times. Now it appears as if EA is ready to play hardball with the FTC itself.
The most recent deadline extension happened on June 3, when EA said it was postponing its decision until June 16. It appeared at that time that the two sides had reached an agreement on securing a deadline to conclude investigations into the merger.
Expert: public utilities may be at risk for hacking
Researchers with security firm Core Security Technologies are warning that flaws within the software that manages the nation's public utility systems may be vulnerable to incursion via the Internet.
The problem exists in software called CitectSCADA, which is used to control industrial processes. SCADA is short for "Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition." The flaw has only been patched for a week, although Core Security notified Citect five months ago.
Analyst's own research contradicts his iPhone forecast
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sent out mixed signals regarding his view of the future success of third-party apps on the iPhone.
Munster's research note to clients indicates that he believes Apple's new App Store could generate anywhere from $416 million to $1.2 billion in revenues during 2009, and suggested the iPhone could sell as many as 45 million units.
RIAA backs away from one file-sharing case
Court documents from late May indicate the RIAA asked for the dismissal of a case that would have argued whether simply making one's files available for download constitutes copyright infringement.
RIAA sued Joan Cassin in April 2006, after its MediaSentry program detected a Kazaa account linked to her was sharing 406 files. Cassin's lawyers objected, and filed a motion to dismiss the case questioning the merits last year.
Analyst: Xbox 360's overheating problems began with GPU
Gartner analyst Bryan Lewis has said that in trying to save money in producing the graphics chip for the Xbox 360, Microsoft actually ended up paying much more due to repair
The Redmond company wanted to avoid using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) vendor in an attempt to save millions in production costs. Instead, it designed the chip on its own, outsourcing the manufacturing to Taiwan Semiconductor.
SanDisk looks to Wi-Fi music with MusicGremlin buy
SanDisk could be considering offering customers of its Wi-Fi enabled music players a method to download music directly to players, if its latest acquisition is any indication.
SanDisk's Sansa Connect is the company's signature Wi-Fi enabled player, which allowed for Yahoo Music Unlimited downloads wirelessly. With that service now defunct and users being transferred to Rhapsody, the company is likely looking to fill that hole.
Firestar, Datatern settle patent claims with Red Hat
Red Hat said Wednesday that it had settled claims against it from two companies related to a method of interfacing with a database.
Firestar produces a product called EdgeNode, which is a system that assists in the exchange of business transactions between enterprises. DataTern's signature product is ObjectSpark, which is a runtime engine that "manages delivery and persistence of data" across an application and multiple data sources.
WWDC: Dissecting the iPhone, Part 2
In this second part of BetaNews' interview with analyst Carmi Levy yesterday, he discusses the iPhone's pricing, as well as the importance of Apple's mobile synchronization service, MobileMe.
When the original Apple iPhone was released last year, there were two glaring omissions which analysts spotlighted right away: One was the lack of support for third-party applications, which some just plain couldn't understand. Obviously, that part was addressed yesterday.
Nearly a million NEC laptops eligible for free repair
NEC is offering the remedy to an issue which causes its computers to smoke and smell as if plastic is burning.
NEC says the defect was caused by a design flaw. Wiring installed too close to the main part of the computer causes the wiring to apparently melt, emitting smoke and the smell of burning plastic. In certain cases, the display is also affected.
Bertelsmann looks to get out of Sony BMG a year early
An agreement first signed in 2004 called for Sony and Bertelsmann music groups to continue their joint venture Sony BMG through 2009. Now media reports indicate Bertelsmann is ready to exit early.
Indications that the German publishing giant was about to sell first appeared in The New York Times a week ago. Another report appeared in the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. This morning, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Bertelsmann's interest in a sale as a verified fact.
Apple details Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' at WWDC
Don't expect the next version of Cupertino's operating system to be anything new. However, it will focus on performance and quality, to "lay the foundation" for the future.
Apple's popular "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" commercials have recently made light of the perceived stability and unreliability of Vista. So the coming release of Mac OS X 10.6, code-named "Snow Leopard," could theoretically put Apple at risk for the same brand of criticism.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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