Gates Foundation and BBC distribute free condom ringtone
Though redolent of dogs barking jingle bells, the "Condom a Capella" ringtone -- sponsored by the BBC World Service and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation -- seeks to break social taboos regarding the prophylactic.
The ringtone (available here) is part of an ongoing campaign to prevent the transmission of HIV in India by making the discussion of condoms more socially acceptable.
Verizon Wireless seizes top spot from T-Mobile in J. D. Power rankings
No longer will bragging rights be claimed by T-Mobile, which held the top spot in the J. D. Power & Associates survey since 2004. Meanwhile, across the entire industry, time spent by wireless customers on hold continues to rise.
In the latest J. D. Power & Associates Customer Care Performance Study released yesterday, Verizon scored a 103, followed by Alltel with a 102 and T-Mobile with a score of 100. The industry average was said to be 96.
First Android phone 'officially' on T-Mobile
While not yet formally announced by either Google or the North American arm of Deutsche Telekom, widespread reports from "briefed" sources assert that T-Mobile will be the first company offering handsets utilizing the open OS.
T-Mobile has long been rallying to be the first carrier with an Android phone, and has actually spoken on Google's behalf, saying there would be no delays in the release of such a device.
Latest AOL acquisition could pair SocialThing with AIM
In a move which could end up meaning either everything or nothing, the developers of a "lifestreaming" application have agreed to be acquired by a company whose track record with acquisitions hasn't always been pretty.
Confirming news that had first been leaked to TechCrunch two weeks ago, the CEO of a startup social network service called SocialThing -- which has yet to emerge from private beta -- blogged yesterday that his company is a few days away from being fully acquired by AOL.
Yahoo names Chapple, Biondi to board, but what happens next?
New Yahoo board member Frank Biondi has a knack for being at the center of a firestorm. So the fact that Carl Icahn successfully got Biondi on board this morning, probably means a new storm is on the horizon.
There are now three of Icahn Partners' ranks serving as members of the Board of Directors of Yahoo. Carl Icahn himself will assume the seat vacated by outgoing member Robert Kotick, and former Viacom and Universal chief Frank Biondi and former Nextel founder John Chapple will add to the board's membership. Yahoo made the news official this morning.
Netflix admits it's experiencing shipping delays
11:00 am EDT August 15, 2008 - In what many are calling Netflix's biggest service disruption yet, the movie rental-by-mail company's shipping system has still not returned to full functionality, with at least 2.5 million subscribers affected.
As of Thursday evening, Netflix still had not returned to fully functional distribution after almost four days of intermittent service. The company's representatives have disclosed neither the scope of the disruption nor the precise cause, saying only that it is of "significant" size and that technicians are working to have operations fully restored as soon as possible.
Subway agency wants to keep MIT students quiet over hack
10:30 am EDT August 15, 2008 - A federal judge has sided with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, ordering the students to continue to stay quiet beyond the original Tuesday expiration of their restraining order.
Presiding Judge George O'Toole, Jr. scheduled a hearing for that same Tuesday to debate the order's merits, and will decide then whether it should be modified or lifted altogether. As was reported initially early Thursday, copies of the presentation continued to be available on the Internet.
Lower income Tennessee residents to get free cell phones
The maker of a popular pre-paid cell phone today announced a program that will give low income Tennessee residents free cell phones and mobile service on a year-to-year basis.
Called SafeLink Wireless, the project is being led by the Tennessee Department of Safety, TracFone Wireless, and local nonprofit organizations. Eligible households will receive a free cellular handset with 60 or more minutes of airtime a month plus unlimited access to emergency services (911). Handsets will support standard cellular features such as voice mail, SMS, call waiting, as well as international calling.
Class action suit hits Facebook and affiliates with breach of privacy
The biggest and most significant legal action against now-leading social network Facebook was filed on Tuesday, and will actually test the theory of whether its Beacon behavior sharing program constituted a criminal conspiracy.
On Tuesday, a group of 18 California residents including some who publicly complained last year that Facebook's controversial Beacon feature was sharing too much of their personal online habits with the rest of the world, sued Facebook and many of its more prominent Beacon partners, including Blockbuster and Overstock.com. They're not only claiming Facebook and its partners conspired to invade their privacy, but they're citing a California penal code that may have been originally intended to outlaw information-gathering Trojan horse programs, in a move which could leave Beacon's participants criminally liable.
Senators: Space station jeopardized by Georgia conflict
The Russia-Georgia conflict has US senators worrying about NASA's future in the International Space Station project. As it is now, US law may eventually prohibit NASA from enlisting the help of its only way into space after 2011.
Senators Bill Nelson (D - Fla.) and Barbara Mikulski (D - Md.) -- who is incidentally the chair of the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA -- expressed concerns that if the conflict erodes US-Russian relations, NASA may have no way to reach the International Space Station.
Facebook's global growth catapults it to #1 worldwide
New independent data shows Facebook enjoyed 153 percent growth year over year, while MySpace remains essentially flat. The site's growth is biggest overall outside of the US.
Overall, Facebook attracted 132.1 million unique users in June, compared to 117.6 million for MySpace, according to data from comScore released this week. Another site that saw impressive growth was Hi5, which doubled its unique userbase to 56.4 million.
Microsoft launches its own blog for 'Windows 7'
The official marketing channel for the next edition of Windows was opened this afternoon, as Microsoft quietly raised the curtains on what it's positioning as an open channel for ideas regarding what the company should add to its next OS.
In their initial post to the "Engineering Windows 7" blog this afternoon, its two hosts -- Windows senior vice presidents Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky -- acknowledged that their company will indeed divulge the first engineering details about Windows 7, as it's still being called, on October 27 at the Professional Developers' Conference in Los Angeles.
Intel to bring next -generation wired connections closer to reality
Intel this morning made available the updated Extended Host Controller Interface (xHCI) specification that will allow manufacturers to start work on USB 3.0 devices.
The xHCI spec describes the register-level host controller interface for USB 2.0 and above. As you may know, the host controller connects the computer with external peripherals, and the host controller interface allows the operating system to communicate with the controller. Intel is making the xHCI spec available under RAND-Z (Reasonable and Non-discriminatory licensing with zero royalties) terms today to companies that have signed the xHCI contributor agreement.
California legislature moves on cyber-bullying measures
If a bill now being considered by the California State Senate and Assembly becomes law, schoolyard bullies who use the Internet and text messaging to intimidate others may be expelled from school.
California Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu of Torrance, a Los Angeles suburb, introduced a measure to the Legislature in January 2007 in an effort to combat cyber-bullying, which he says has become an increasingly large problem with the pervasiveness of social networking.
Attacks continue on Russian and Georgian Web sites, but who's to blame?
Armed conflict between Russia and Georgia has been paralleled by what many in the media have classed a "cyberwar," where Georgian Web sites have been crippled by DDoS attacks and defacements.
As Georgian government sites were rendered inaccessible this week, Poland, Estonia, and the United States hosted mirrors to provide supplementary outlets for information. Polish president Lech Kaczynski's official site says, "Along with military aggression, the Russian Federation is blocking Georgian Internet portals."
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