Archive for August, 2007

A software glitch caused a mass outage for Skype users last Thursday. Some for as long as 14 hours leaving folks livid, particularly with their lack of communication on the issue. People expect a high-level of transparency in these issues.

iPhone owners are starting to get their first bills, many of them complaining at the fact that they are very detailed, some as long as 300 pages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdULhkh6yeA

Around the World Wide Web
Two Dutch bloggers have been ordered to court to answer charges of filming up womens skirts. They apparently did so with permission in order to alert females to the dangers of see-through stairs and floors.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/upskirting-bloggers-facing-court/2007/08/15/1186857565394.html

In Australia, a man faces up to 5 years in prison for uploading a copy of The Simpsons movie taken on his mobile phone to Bittorrent.

Google is going after China and ordering more than the Kung Pao Chicken. They have been quoted as planning on buying 1 to 2 Internet Companies, most likely in the search or portal space to upset Baidu which has a 55% market share.

Also in China, in a growing trend, a couple has made an attempt to name their child @.

Iris on the Virus

Tech it Out
Google finally rolling out embeddable mapping features so that folks can add their maps to websites and blogs etc.

Google has also added Sun’s StarOffice to their Google Pack.

Remember when hotmail was hot? MS thought that going with Live Mail would boost subscriptions but not so, now they have to resort to bribery (4 GB storage – 10 for paying customers). Still no Pop3 support…goodbye.
http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/9642-lack-email-users-has-microsoft-hot.htm

Directtv has been testing a partnership with Current, a carrier of BPL services apparently with great success. They will be rolling out the bundled packages in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

TECH BIFFO
Or more a case of stupidity, American Airlines is suing Google for trademark infringement because they display advertising when someone searches for their keyword. Gimme a break. http://techdirt.com/articles/20070817/021228.shtml

One of the earlier players in the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) marketplace is shutting up shop. Ampd launched in late 2005 on the Verizon service and was one of the early 3G adopters targeting the 18-35 market. Verizon brought on the bankruptcy ny threatening to cut off its services.

Apple releases its latest update nicknamed Leopard or 10.5 to very hum drum reviews claiming that there is very little new there.

Digg jumps in bed with Microsoft, offering their ads for the next 3 years

Around the World Wide Web
Google Australia is asking kiddies to design their specialty logos for certain days like Australia Day and anzac Day.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/google-wants-your-doodle/2007/07/23/1185043014717.html

Chinese Pirates busted with $500 million of software
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070724-chinese-pirates-busted-with-500-million-of-software.html
US and Chinese officials announced today that they have busted two Chinese software piracy groups in possession of illegal software with an estimated retail value of close to $500 million. The groups operated out of Shanghai and Shenzhen, and sold much of the software through the Internet, according to the FBI.

The Comsec ipod index reveals that Brazil is the most expensive place to buy an iPod nano at around $330 for the 2GB model more than twice that in the US. Canada is cheapest at $144.

TECH IT OUT
$100 laptop program is almost ready to go. Production begins in October and several countries have all but spat on their hands and shaken.

The head of Acer has spoken out against Windows Vista, stating that The entire industry is disappointed by Windows Vista.

Tech Biffo
A San Fran woman was recently contacted by Universal to inform her that a video she posted has been removed from Youtube as is violates copyright laws. The video of her son dancing to Princes Lets Go Crazy in the background. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has stepped in and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the woman to protect her fair use and free speech rights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KfJHFWlhQ
Apparently when asked about the biffo, Prince was quoted as saying People still listen to that crap?

Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder of Facebook, has been accused of stealing the idea for his enormously popular social networking site from a rival website ConnectU

Site of the Week
www.simpsonizeme.com