Yesterday, Dish Network announced that 21 new markets will be transmitting content in MPEG-4, bringing the total US Markets using the standard to 52. In six of these added markets, local HD channels were added to content rosters.

The 21 new markets are: Abilene-Sweetwater, Sherman, and Waco-Temple-Bryan TX; Atlanta; Birmingham (Anniston and Tuscaloosa), and Huntsville-Decatur (Florence) AL; Chattanooga and Memphis, TN; Columbia-Jefferson City, Joplin-Pittsburg, and St. Louis MO; Des Moines-Ames, IA; Florence-Myrtle-Beach, SC; Ft. Myers-Naples, and Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach), FL; Jackson, MS; Lincoln, Omaha, and Hastings-Kearney, NE; Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk, IL; Ada, OK; South Bend-Elkhart, IN; and Topeka, KS. Of these markets, Nebraska, Illinois, and Iowa as well as Columbia-Jefferson City, MO; and Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas will receive high definition local channels.

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With just over a week left before the general election, reports are surfacing of problems with e-voting machines from manufacturers rarely mentioned in the news.

Hart InterCivic isn't the most common e-voting platform out there (that would be the Accuvote TS and TSX line, from Premier / Diebold), and the eSlate doesn't operate like touchscreen units do. Instead, it uses a dial-and-button approach that's a bit like an older iPod -- run your finger around a big dial, then click a button to make your picks.

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will take over responsibility for the controversial "Secure Flight" passenger screening program in early 2009, according to documentation released by the Department of Homeland Security yesterday. DHS also revealed just how large its watchlist is.

Those responsibilities were previously managed by individual airlines.

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Lobbyists for the National Association of Broadcasters made headway today in their efforts to block FCC approval of a Google-spearheaded computer industry proposal to open the "white spaces" for free and open access.

After issuing a blistering attack last week on a move by the computer industry to open the white spaces of the wireless spectrum for public access, lobbyists for TV broadcasters today succeeded in convincing eight US legislators to send a letter to the FCC calling for a period of public comment before an FCC vote.

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Beginning today, customers can implement instances of Windows Server 2003 (licensed to and purchased by them) in Amazon's cloud, enabling businesses to deploy sophisticated Internet applications without their own servers.

After a two-year beta cycle, Amazon's Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) service this morning entered general availability. Now, for what's essentially a service, what does this mean besides removing the warning that some parts are still under construction? Today, Amazon implemented a service-level agreement for EC2 customers guaranteeing 99.95% availability during what it describes as a "service year."

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It's a part of Windows that handles all the file and print sharing services over any network. Today, Microsoft decided to take the unusual step of issuing a patch for a vulnerability on this part now, and not wait until November 11.

The part of Windows known as the Server service -- the component responsible for handling file sharing, print sharing, and pipelining between computers -- has been hit once again with an exploit whose profile resembles an August 2006 problem patched the following month. But this time, Microsoft is announcing it received information about this latest exploit privately, indicating that unlike the older incident, Microsoft was working to pre-empt any possibility of the exploit making its way into the wild.

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Opera Software has been touring the world this week to support the release of the latest Opera Mobile browser beta version 9.51b2, which was released on Monday.

In mid-summer, the first beta, exclusive to touchscreen Windows Pocket PCs with WM5 and WM6, was rolled out with about two-thirds of the expected features. That version has been upgraded, and support for UIQ has been added. The UIQ touch platform is supported on a number of Sony Ericsson handsets, such as the W950 and 960 Walkman phones, and the Motorola MOTORIZR Z8 and MOTO Z10.

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With its strong condemnation of recent YouTube copyright takedowns of campaign videos incorporating news footage, the EFF might be able to accomplish for fair use what the presidential political campaigns have not.

Earlier this week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation stepped into the controversy over the takedowns, which are coming at a crucial time in the political season. (YouTube's DMCA-allowed review process would keep such videos off the service for at least 10-14 days -- in some cases, until after the November 4 election.)

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Google's attempts to buy a Russian contextual ad firm Begun are now being blocked by antitrust authorities in that country, who have turned down Google's application -- temporarily, at least.

Russian antitrust authorities today rejected an attempt by Google's affiliate there, Kokuna Holding, to buy a contextual advertising firm named Begun from Russian-based portal Rambler for $140 million.

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Reckless usage of any 3G device, including T-Mobile's G1, can kill a fully charged battery in a matter of hours. With the benefit of history and some key Android apps, G1 owners can take precautions to extend their battery lives.

In June, PC World ranked the relative battery life of a dozen 3G smartphones. All of them tested in the "fair" range, except for the Palm Treo 750 which ranked as "poor." The issue of interest at the time was the battery life of the iPhone 3G, which has been called everything from "Questionably Adequate" to "Garbage."

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Android open source developers will be able to start charging for their software in January, Google announced today. Meanwhile, Google's online store for mobile software -- now containing only a few dozen applications -- is still in beta.

Just after the New Year, Android open source developers will be able to start charging for their software applications, Google said in a blog post today, while also announcing that the Android market will start opening up for more applications next Monday.

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Best test firm Centercode is looking for people in the workplace who spend a significant amount of time on the telephone. The product being tested is unlike any other in that it not only connects to the desktop phone system at your office, it also works with your PC.

Centercode wants those of you whose job depends on daily phone time and would have your life improved with a new wireless headset. You get the wireless freedom and the ability to conduct wireless VoIP calls as well as landline based calls easily.

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Samsung today has announced two of its existing Blu-ray players, the BD-2500 and BD-2550, can receive a feature upgrade to support the popular Netflix streaming on demand service today.

These are the fourth and fifth devices this year to be granted access to the Netflix streaming library, and follow LG's BD300 as the latest dedicated Blu-ray players to receive the functionality. Both of Samsung's players are currently available for $399.99, roughly the same price as LG's player.

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With fiberoptic service such as Verizon's FiOS and AT&T's U-verse threatening to absorb current cable Internet customers, Comcast is moving ahead with its goal of leapfrogging over fiber by the end of 2010.

In another step toward its goal of providing DOCSIS 3.0 service nationwide by 2010, Comcast today said it will begin the formal rollout of what it's now calling "wideband" service, with download speeds peaking as high as 50 Mbps, in four more markets: Philadelphia, Boston, and parts of New Jersey and New Hampshire. Availability of very-high-speed service in those areas will come "in the next few weeks," according to a Comcast statement this morning.

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Broadband-connected TiVo owners today get a boost to their on-demand content catalogs as CinemaNow and Jaman make their libraries available for rent.

TiVo's partnership with CinemaNow was

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