Internet blackout cuts off tens of millions in the Middle East
On Wednesday, Internet traffic to Middle Eastern countries through two international data pipelines was greatly reduced or totally severed, as a result of breaks in undersea cables.
Countries serviced by the Sea Me We 4 and FLAG ("Fiber-optic Link Around the Globe") data pipelines were severely affected by what are believed to be undersea breaks.
The first Garmin phone pairs location with connectivity
Consumer GPS company Garmin has announced for the third quarter of 2008, its first entry into the cellular handset market: the nuvifone (with a small "n").
It's Garmin's first entry into the broader smart communications device market, adding mobile Web browsing, data connectivity, and personal messaging to the company's trademark personal navigation functions.
Better living through pizza tracking
For those who doubt the change our daily lives have undergone thanks to increased connectivity, Domino's Pizza presents to you....Pizza Tracking.
While it premiered Pizza via SMS late last summer, and most national pizza delivery franchises already support online ordering, Domino's has taken their newest feature from the postal sector.
Analysis: Is Motorola better off without the handset business?
BetaNews examines why Nomura financial analyst Richard Windsor toyed with the idea of Motorola surrendering its handset business to focus on enterprise and government solutions.
Recently, Nomura analyst Richard Windsor discussed the possibility of Motorola Inc. leaving the handset business in favor of becoming what he calls "an enterprise and government company." He noted that rumors of a Chinese buyout of Motorola are increasing, but the company's problems would not be easily fixed by such a buyout. He closed by saying Motorola will most likely regain its unsure footing after this year.
New Nikon D60 camera offers Eye-Fi wireless connectivity
Eye-Fi, a company that makes SD cards with built-in wireless 802.11g/b/n connectivity, has announced that Nikon's new D60 Digital SLR camera will come out of the box with enhanced Eye-Fi capabilities.
Though this new company says the technology works seamlessly with any camera that accepts SD cards, the Nikon D60 is actually the first camera designed with Eye-Fi's wireless connectivity in mind.
The SD cards feature Static WEP 40/104/128, WPA-PSK, and WPA2-PSK security, and have a wireless range of over 90 feet outdoors and 45 feet indoors. Once a user has set up the connection, the camera can automatically send the photo data to many photo sharing, printing, blogging, and social networking sites, automatically resizing photos according to the criteria of their destination. Photos can also be wirelessly sent to the user's computer running the Eye-Fi manager software.
Western Digital offers yet another pocket-sized HDD
Western Digital today introduced a new series of portable USB hard drives with capacities as high as 320 GB in a package comparable in size to a Nintendo DS Lite.
The My Passport USB drive series was redesigned to complement WD's line of My Book external drives, and have a footprint of 5.1" x 3.14" x .6" and weigh only 5 ounces. They range in capacity from 60-320 GB.
These 2.5-inch 5400 RPM hard drives are bus powered and promise the USB 2.0 transfer speed of 480 Mb/sec. Obviously, speed of transfer is not this device's strong point among a field of many competitors. However, the unit's small size, coupled with its large capacity narrow down the competition slightly.
Asustek re-defines 'E-machine' with new Eee desktops
Driven by the success of its budget-priced Eee UMPC, Asustek announced a full line of new Eee-branded products that are planned to be launched this year.
The Eee's major selling point is its affordability, and Asustek's president Jerry Shen has confirmed that the Eee line will maintain that point. The E-DT desktop, which is expected to show at CeBIT, will first use an Intel Celeron processor, come with no monitor and cost between $200-$300. The company is trying to bring down the price to $199 before it comes to retail.
Former Earthlink chief leaves Helio CEO post
Mobile virtual network operator Helio has announced that former SK Telecom CEO Wohnee Sull will take over as its chief executive.
Formerly led by Sky Dayton, the founder and former leader of Earthlink, the troubled network that began as a joint venture between Earthlink and Korean communications group SK Telecom is now seeing Earthlink's interest in the project gradually excised. Control of the Helio network has shifted to majority shareholder SK Telecom.
Verizon soon to face the biggest class action lawsuit yet
Yesterday, a class action suit four years in the making was certified against Verizon Wireless over the company's unfair early termination fees.
A trial date has not yet been set, but Eugene I. Farber, the senior arbitrator/mediator for the American Arbitration Association in White Plains, NY, has certified the 70 million former Verizon Wireless subscribers as a class entitled to engage in litigation against the cellular provider.
German police consider surveillance through Skype
Leaked classified documents could point to a Skype and SSL intercepting system that could be launched in southern Germany next month.
In the wake of a foiled terrorist plot against U.S. installations in Germany in September, discussions began over granting police more freedom in surveillance. Federal interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble, member of the Christian Democratic Union, proposed a surveillance method that would involve the use of Trojan horses, allowing police to remotely and secretly search terror suspects' hard drives. Interior ministers failed to come to a conclusion regarding the legality of such a practice.
Three 'big four' record labels sign with Sony Ericsson
Yesterday, Swedish mobile phone company Sony Ericsson announced deals had been inked with 10 major record labels, adding over 5 million tracks to the company's forthcoming over-the-air download music store.
The new partner labels include: Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, and The Orchard, as well asIODA (independent online distribution alliance), mobile marketing company The PocketGroup, South Asia's Hungama, European digital download label X5 Music, Scandanavian major label Bonnier Amigo, and UK-based mobile music source Vidzone. Deals with additional regional labels are currently being negotiated.
Best Buy and Fry's drop 80GB PS3 from online stores
What began as an allegedly leaked internal memo from Best Buy, announcing that the 80GB PlayStation 3 was to be removed from store shelves on January 28, appears to be coming true without official word from either Best Buy or Sony.
Both companies were difficult to reach today, in the wake of the Tuesday news leak to PS3 Fanboy concerning Best Buy's discontinuation of the 80GB PlayStation 3.
Best Buy deals with uproar over malicious picture frames
It was recently made public that Best Buy's Insignia brand 10.4" digital picture frames were found to be shipped with a virus, the company is now dealing with complaints individually.
The 10.4" Digital Picture frame model NS-DPF10A has been discontinued and recalled as a result of a large number of units being contaminated with a virus.
Netflix keeps its faith in DVDs, but looks ahead to VoD
By-mail movie rental pioneer Netflix posted its fourth quarter earnings, with favorable results. But in its quarterly conference call, the company gave DVD about five more years before it ceases to be the dominant format.
Netflix posted its fourth quarter results, with 9.1% annual growth in revenue, 6.2% growth in net income on lower subscriber-acquisition costs, and 18% increase in subscriptions over the same quarter in 2006.
YouTube comes to the land of mobile TV
Wednesday's announcement of YouTube getting a Korean language portal may not have as big of an impact on the PC consumption of videos as it will on the country's mobile television standards.
South Korea is home to the world's first mobile TV standard, DMB, (digital multimedia broadcasting) that comes in terrestrial and satellite varieties. Broadcasting officially began on the DMB platform in 2005. Mobile TV penetration is logically higher there than in other countries, especially since T-DMB is provided free of charge in select regions.
Tim's Bio
Tim Conneally was born into dumpster tech. His father was an ARPANET research pioneer and equipped his kids with discarded tech gear, second-hand musical instruments, and government issue foreign language instruction tapes. After years of building Frankenstein computers from rubbish and playing raucous music in clubs across the country (and briefly on MTV) Tim grew into an adult with deep, twisted roots and an eye on the future. He most passionately covers mobile technology, user interfaces and applications, the science and policy of the wireless world, and watching different technologies shrink and converge.
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