Roundup: Dell’s iPhone-sized gadget, Malcolm Gladwell vs. Chris Anderson, books on smartphones

Roundup: Dell’s iPhone-sized gadget, Malcolm Gladwell vs. Chris Anderson, books on smartphones

Dell engineers are working on a pocket Android gadget — It’s roughly the size of an iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reports. In industry-speak, the device is what Intel calls an MID — a “mobile Internet device” somewhere between a smartphone and a laptop.  What’s news isn’t… Continue Reading

Cable TV online may sound great, but a la carte pricing is still the key

Cable TV online may sound great, but a la carte pricing is still the key

I recently ditched all but the most basic television package from my cable provider — and I would have ditched it all, but it was something like $5 for basic cable on top of my internet service. I simply don’t watch cable television anymore. But… Continue Reading

Twitter starts to talk up corporate-account plan

Twitter starts to talk up corporate-account plan

Sometime soon, Twitter is expected to unveil its plan to make money. Based on comments made by Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams recently, it seems likely the plan will involve charging companies for accounts with special privileges.
In New York Magazine this week,… Continue Reading

Roundup: Moore’s Law extended, AT&T pays Apple $900M, Bill Gates’ new venture and more

Roundup: Moore’s Law extended, AT&T pays Apple $900M, Bill Gates’ new venture and more

Here’s the latest action:
Moore’s Law gets a life extension — Researchers at McGill University claim to have discovered a new state of matter, a “quasi-three-dimensional system,” that may extend the famous trend of tech companies being able to pack twice as many transistors onto… Continue Reading

Roundup: Google Chrome gains steam, Comcast goes against the FCC, Newspaper ad revenues plummet and more

Roundup: Google Chrome gains steam, Comcast goes against the FCC, Newspaper ad revenues plummet and more

Here’s the latest action:
A new web browser power rising? — Google’s new web browser Chrome has already gained some significant traction after just one day in use, according to Hitwise.
Comcast to appeal FCC ruling – The Internet service provider will appeal the Federal… Continue Reading

Comcast to dam and damn the Internet with usage caps

Comcast to dam and damn the Internet with usage caps

You just knew it was too good to last. Starting on October 1 of this year, Internet service provider Comcast will begin placing a cap on the amount of data its customers can access a month, DSLreports has learned.
The 250 gigabyte cap, now confirmed… Continue Reading

Microsoft invests in online video startup Move Networks

Microsoft invests in online video startup Move Networks

Microsoft just made a strategic investment of undisclosed size in Move Networks, a startup that helps companies offer high-definition video on the web. The funding should help promote Move Networks’ integration with Microsoft’s Silverlight platform.
The American Fork, Utah-based startup says its technology encodes high-quality… Continue Reading

Roundup: Market researchers report on global game sales, Microsoft introduces Photosynth and more

Roundup: Market researchers report on global game sales, Microsoft introduces Photosynth and more

Here’s the latest action: Leading market researchers team up to report on video game sales – The leading research companies in the field (The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain) have released the Top Global Markets Report in a long overdue move to provide… Continue Reading

Comcast to slow traffic for bandwidth hogs for 10 to 20 minutes

Comcast to slow traffic for bandwidth hogs for 10 to 20 minutes

It looks like Internet service provider Comcast is moving forward with plans to reduce connection speeds for its heaviest users. Senior vice president Mitch Bowling told Bloomberg yesterday that certain Comcast customers will see their Internet speeds slow for periods of 10 to 20 minutes…. Continue Reading

Comcast acquires DailyCandy, but for less than its most recent valuation

Comcast acquires DailyCandy, but for less than its most recent valuation

Cable giant Comcast has purchased the female-oriented email newsletter DailyCandy for $125 million, Silicon Alley Insider reported earlier today. What isn’t being reported though is that the sale price is actually less than the valuation DailyCandy received following its last round of funding, a source… Continue Reading

Comcast gets a wrist-slap from FCC over blocking P2P, just as anti-P2P bill passes Congress

Comcast gets a wrist-slap from FCC over blocking P2P, just as anti-P2P bill passes Congress

The Federal Communications Commission this morning took the expected step of passing a cease-and-desist order for Internet service provider Comcast, which has persistently blocked or “throttled” peer-to-peer traffic using the Bittorrent protocol on its networks. Mostly symbolic, the rule will likely be overturned on a… Continue Reading

BitTorrent’s plan: Ride the video wave to the bank

BitTorrent’s plan: Ride the video wave to the bank

For almost a year, a private war of sorts has been waged on the tubes of the Internet: A handful of large Internet service providers, challenged by the traffic loads caused by peer-to-peer file sharing protocol Bittorrent, have been secretly, persistently blocking Bittorrent traffic. The… Continue Reading

The next time you complain about a company on Twitter, Get Satisfaction may be listening

The next time you complain about a company on Twitter, Get Satisfaction may be listening

While it wasn’t made very clear during its outages over the past several months, Twitter has been using the online customer service site, Get Satisfaction to respond to customer complaints. Now, the two are going to work hand in hand with one another to handle… Continue Reading

Comcast continues blocking Internet traffic, joined by rival Cox

Comcast continues blocking Internet traffic, joined by rival Cox

If a person steals and gets caught, then continues to do so over and over again, what do you call them? Either an idiot or a kleptomaniac, generally. I’m not sure what the name for a compulsive Bittorrent-traffic blocker is, but that or “idiot” is… Continue Reading

Comcast buys Plaxo to make itself more socially viable

Comcast buys Plaxo to make itself more socially viable

After months of rumors, Plaxo, the social contact service, finally announced today that it is, in fact, being purchased — by Comcast.
Aside from Comcast, both Facebook and Google were rumored to be purchasing the service at one point. Of all of those, Comcast may… Continue Reading

Roundup: Facebook’s big profile changes, MySpace misses revenue targets, and more

Roundup: Facebook’s big profile changes, MySpace misses revenue targets, and more

Big Facebook profile changes are coming, sure to impact developers — Facebook has been experimenting with a ground-up redesign of its user interface for months, that it hopes will improve communication among users. Now, the company is providing Facebook application developers with more details on… Continue Reading

It’s official: Sprint teams up with Clearwire for wireless partnership

It’s official: Sprint teams up with Clearwire for wireless partnership

Sprint and Clearwire have confirmed yesterday’s reports that they’re teaming up to create a new wireless broadband company. The new company, which will also be called Clearwire, should be the first to create a national mobile network using Intel’s WiMax technology, delivering broadband Internet at… Continue Reading

Round-up: Google acquisition rumors, Apple 3G iPhone coming

Round-up: Google acquisition rumors, Apple 3G iPhone coming

Intel bullish on mobile Internet handhelds: The world’s biggest chip maker said more than 25 companies have signed up to use its low-power Atom microprocessors in upcoming “mobile Internet devices” (MIDs). The new category of wireless broadband-enabled devices will combine the features of Internet-enabled computers… Continue Reading

BitTorrent and Comcast have a deal, but is P2P really safe?

BitTorrent and Comcast have a deal, but is P2P really safe?

Peer-to-peer traffic on the internet appears to have received a temporary reprieve this morning, with an announcement by major internet service provider Comcast that it will stop specifically targeting BitTorrent traffic on its networks and instead focus on limiting only the heaviest bandwidth users, regardless… Continue Reading

Roundup: Motorola splits up, cable giants back WiMax venture, and more

Roundup: Motorola splits up, cable giants back WiMax venture, and more

Here’s the latest action (updated):
Struggling cell phone manufacturer Motorola announced it would split itself into two different companies. Under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, the company will divide itself into a cell phone company and a company with broadband and mobility equipment operations…. Continue Reading