5264315
submission
alphadogg writes:
Imagine downloading a two-hour HD movie in three minutes to your new cell phone, then plugging the phone into your TV to watch the film. Make unlimited phone calls, surf online as much as you like and send unlimited text messaging for $70 a month, without a contract. Sign up to sell the same service to other people and get $10 a month for each person you sell to.
That's what a group of related companies including Zer01 Mobile, Buzzirk, Global Verge and Unified Technologies Group are promoting heavily online and at industry trade shows. The offer is attractive enough to garner coverage in top business and technology publications, at least one positive review from an analyst and even a "best in show" award from a magazine at the CTIA wireless industry trade show earlier this year. Does it all sound too good to be true? If so, that's because it probably is. What little information is available about the services is vague, technically inconsistent, and doesn't match up with public records.Link to Original Source
5149479
submission
JagsLive writes:
The video is called "Skating Babies," an online ad for Evian bottled water that's rung up nearly 5 million hits internationally on YouTube in little more than a week.
The spot is beyond cute: a posse of bright-eyed, beaming, chubby babies who should barely be able to walk tearing up a playground on little four-wheeled roller skates — all to the big beat of a remix of the 1979 Sugarhill Gang single "Rapper's Delight."
They leap over obstacles; charge a fence and hang from it like monkeys; do backflips; leap over long rows of prone babies; engage in some old-school break dancing; weave through a slalom course of Evian bottles, and walk upside down on their elbows, completely unhampered by the diapers bulging beneath their matching onesies.
Evian made the video as a commercial, but decided to post it on YouTube to see if anyone would watch before buying air time on television. It's part of the same campaign as "Water Babies" — "Live Young."
YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs
4417447
submission
JagsLive writes:
There are few web services hotter than Hulu these days. It's about to surge into the number two web video position (behind only YouTube) and it just signed a deal with Disney to give it even more great content. It's all great — if you live in the U.S.
Outside of the US, if you've wanted to access Hulu, you've either been out of luck, or had to use a proxy server workaround. But Hulu got smarter and started doing geo-checks at the streaming level. But still, a few virtual private network (VPN) creators like Hotspot Shield would get the job done by making your IP anonymous. Not anymore.
Hulu has once again tweaked its detection methods and is now blocking anonymous proxies. If you try to access it with something like Hotspot Shield, you will get the message:
Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you're in the U.S., you'll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu.
Ouch. There is still a back and forth going on between it and the online media center startup Boxee.
TechCrunch : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/06/control-freaks-hulu-now-blocks-anonymous-proxies-too/
4365963
submission
4365653
submission
suraj.sun writes:
Erich Specht has sued Google and seemingly every company that has ever thought about using its mobile OS (like T-Mobile, Vodafone, Intel, Motorola, Samsung, and lots more) for infringing use of the name "Android." He's the owner of the trademark for Android Data Corporation, granted way back in October of 2002.
Google came around and filed a trademark application for Android five years later and, wait for it, had that trademark application denied due to confusion with Mr. Specht's. In other words, it looks like Google and its Open Handset Alliance cronies are on the defensive and, seemingly, not on particularly firm ground. Specht wants damages and a name-change for Google's OS.
Engadget : http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/01/google-and-dozens-of-android-purveyors-slapped-with-trademark-la/
4334317
submission
JagsLive writes:
Anyone still go to Radio Shack?
One Eau Claire, Wisconsin customer who did got more than he bargained for when he came in to return an item.
According to the police report, the employee wouldn't let the customer return the item (wonder what it was?), and when the customer asked to speak to a manager....bam, right in the kisser!
ZDNet : http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=3795
4285675
submission
JagsLive writes:
At MPAA request, judge kicks public out of RealDVD court :
SAN FRANCISCO--A federal judge sealed a courtroom on Friday after attorneys for the Motion Picture Association of America and another Hollywood group claimed that confidential information might be disclosed during testimony about DVD-encryption technology.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel kicked the public out of the courtroom at around 2:30 p.m. PDT, overruling objections from CNET News and RealNetworks, which also said it opposed the unusual request.
An attorney for the DVD Copy Control Association, which is involved in a lawsuit here over DVD-backup software sold by RealNetworks, said details about the technology used to encrypt DVDs justified the request to give the public the boot during witness testimony--which, according to legal precedent, should be reserved only for rare cases.
"I find that this does meet the requirements for a trade secret," Patel said. "We're going to protect what needs to be protected. I'm ordering everyone not signed off on a confidentiality agreement to leave the courtroom."
CNET News contacted the MPAA in advance and asked if the group would attempt to close the courtroom on Friday; the MPAA replied earlier this week it would not seek to do so.
CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10227195-38.html
4285635
submission
suraj.sun writes:
First Time Warner (via TWCAlex on Twitter) told customers who fought back the caps that the company was reneging on the DOCSIS upgrade, at least for now, and was taking their toys home with them.
But now the hissy fit might be extending into a usage crackdown in at least one of the "test" cities. Because the promised "listening tour" of customer concerns is nowhere in sight, and the company has instead relied on a Re-Education campaign involving astroturfing lobbyists and propaganda, StoptheCap! launches a new feature this morning for any and all ISPs who throw tantrums when customers rebel and don't allow providers to do whatever they want.
Austin StoptheCap! reader Ryan Howard kicks off our premiere edition with a report that his Road Runner service was cut off yesterday without warning. According to Ryan, it took four calls to technical support, two visits to the cable store to try two new cable modems (all to no avail), before someone at Time Warner finally told him to call the company's "Security and Abuse" center.
Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5226762/time-warner-shuts-off-heavy-users-account-with-no-warning
Stop the Cap : http://stopthecap.com/2009/04/23/hissyfitwatch-cutting-off-customers-who-use-too-much-in-austin/
4130223
submission
JagsLive writes:
Consumerist :
Jon spent $250 on a Western Digital VelociRaptor but what he received from Best Buy was a Quantum Fireball, a discontinued hard drive that hasn't been sold for nine years. Best Buy, of course, took no responsibility for the odd swap, and said that Western Digital must have accidentally sold a competitor's discontinued drive. Western Digital, of course, said that a Best Buy employee stole Jon's hard drive. We've seen this happen before with Best Buy, and Jon has made it clear that he knows how to bite back...
"Last week, I purchased a Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drive on bestbuy.com for in-store pickup. After receiving the confirmation email, I drove approximately 1 hour to the store I had selected (the closest store to me), picked up my drive, and returned home. When I opened the package (it was sealed), I was shocked and dismayed to find that instead of the VelociRaptor, there was a 9 year old 30GB Quantum Fireball (a drive not even made anymore)."
More at Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5206541/best-buy-sells-9+year+old-discontinued-hard-drive-as-brand-new-western-digital-refuses-refund
3982699
submission
JagsLive writes:
The U.S. Justice Department has asked the federal court to dismiss its case Wednesday against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted of seven counts of corruption.
Justice Department sources told FOX News that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided to abandon the case due to prosecutorial misconduct.
The judge in the case has repeatedly delayed sentencing, and at one point held prosecutors in contempt. Justice Department officials later replaced the trial team, but Holder reportedly decided Tuesday to dismiss the original indictment rather than proceed to more hearings that might embarrass the department.
Sources told NPR that Holder wants to send a strong message to prosecutors that misconduct will not be tolerated.
Only after the conviction did allegations of FBI misconduct come to light. Stevens sought to dismiss the charges, and the Justice Department's action Wednesday in effect supports Stevens' request.
FoxNews : http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/01/doj-sources-say-case-dropped-ex-sen-ted-stevens/
