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Cupertino, Calif — Feb 05, `08 — Apple today added new models of the iPhone and iPod touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299.

Both iPhone and iPod touch feature Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and pioneering software that allows users to find and enjoy all their music, videos, photos and more with just a touch of their finger. All iPhone and iPod touch models include the latest software enhancements announced last month including the ability to automatically find your location using the new Maps application; create Web Clips for your favorite websites; customize your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes Movie Rentals. Both iPhone and iPod touch feature the world’s most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari and mobile applications including Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.

Pricing & Availability The new 16GB iPhone is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $499 through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and AT&T retail and online stores. The 32GB iPod touch is available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of $499. More at Apple.

WASHINGTON — Feb 01, `08 — Although a major auction of prime public airwaves, the 700 MHz, is far from finished, there already appears to be a big winner: the US consumer.

A bid on the largest portion of public wireless airwaves, now being auctioned by the US government, reached $4.7 billion Thursday, surpassing a threshold price that would trigger so-called open-access rules that would allow any legal mobile device or software program to use those airwaves.

While bidding was anonymous, analysts speculated that Google and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, were the likely bidders on that swath, or about one-third of the total spectrum being auctioned.

Winners, however, will not be known until the entire auction by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ends, a process that could take several more weeks. The auction began Jan. 24.

To retain the open-access conditions on that spectrum, a minimum $4.6 billion bid was required. The commission is selling a spectrum that is being freed as part of the switch to digital television in February 2009. The airwaves are considered especially valuable because the frequencies travel long distances and can easily pass through walls.

The rules, advocated by Google and a coalition of consumer and public interest groups, will help pry open traditionally closed wireless networks that prevent people from taking their phones with them when switching providers.

Google, AT&T and Verizon Communications are among 214 qualified bidders for nearly 1,100 licenses to pieces of the spectrum that vary from a nationwide swath to regional slivers.

Because of strict rules to prevent collusion, bidders won’t be identified until the auction ends, and companies are forbidden from commenting on their activity. Based on the limited bidding information available, Verizon is probably the high bidder on the open-access chunk, but Google is also a possibility, said Blair Levin, an analyst at brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

“The amount of activity that we’ve already seen occurring demonstrates just how significant the interest is in this piece of spectrum,” FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said.

“The openness requirement is important both in terms of the innovation it will lead to on the edges of the network and the ability of consumers to take advantage of that innovation,” Martin further added during a briefing with reporters yesterday.

Washington — Dec 18, ‘07 — A venture led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has applied to bid in an upcoming auction of 700 MHz wireless airwaves, according to FCC’s “Accepted Applications” list released on late Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Allen was listed with an entity called Vulcan Spectrum LLC among the applicants who filed to bid in the FCC auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, which is scheduled to begin on January 24.

Allen and Vulcan Spectrum were on a list of scores of potential bidders who filed applications ahead of a December 3 FCC deadline. The auction applicants also included, Google, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm.

The FCC-run auction is expected to take several weeks, or even months, of daily, back-and-forth bidding, with the identities of the bidders kept secret. The radio waves are being returned by broadcasters as they move from analog to digital signals early in 2009. The signals can go long distances and penetrate thick walls.

FCC List of “Accepted Applications“, “Incomplete Applications” (in pdf). More at FCC (in Word).

Washington — Dec 18, `07 — The Federal Communications Commission approved rules today to allow ownership of a newspaper and a television station in the same market in the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the US, easing a long-standing rule prohibiting such ownership in any market and voted to maintain its cap on cable ownership, limiting the number of subscribers a cable operator may serve at 30% of US households.

Cable:
The 30 percent limit, set first in 1993 and modified in 1999, was challenged by Time Warner in 2001. The DC Circuit Court then remanded it back to the FCC seeking further justification. That remand has been pending six years at the Commission.

The 30 percent cable horizontal ownership limit set by the Commission will ensure that no single cable operator can create a barrier to a video programming network’s entry into the market or cause a video programming network to exit the market simply by declining to carry the network. In devising a limit to achieve this goal, the Commission first determined the minimum number of subscribers a network needs in order to survive in the marketplace, and then estimated the percentage of subscribers a network is likely to serve once it secures a carriage contract.

Newspaper/Broadcast:
The newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule currently prohibits common ownership of a broadcast station and a daily newspaper in the same market. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Court), affirmed the Commission’s determination that this blanket ban on
newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership was no longer in the public interest while remanding the specific cross-media ownership limits drawn by the Commission in 2003. The Court agreed that “…reasoned analysis supports the Commission’s determination that the blanket ban on
newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership was no longer in the public interest.”

The media marketplace has changed considerably since 1975 when the newspaper/broadcast cross ownership was put in place. At that time, cable was a nascent service, satellite television did not exist and there was no Internet. Consumers have benefited from the emergence of new sources of news and information.

But according to almost every measure newspapers are struggling. For example, at least 300 daily papers have stopped publishing over the past thirty years and circulation and advertising revenues at approximately half of all U.S. dailies has dropped precipitously in recent years. Permitting cross-ownership can preserve the viability of newspapers by allowing them to share their operational costs across multiple media platforms.

The rule adopted today would presumptively permit cross ownership only in the largest markets where there exists competition and numerous voices. Under the new approach, the Commission presumes a proposed newspaper/broadcast transaction is in the public interest if it meets the following test:
(1) the market at issue is one of the 20 largest Nielsen Designated Market Areas (“DMAs”);
(2) the transaction involves the combination of only one major daily newspaper and only one television or radio station;
(3) if the transaction involves a television station, at least eight independently owned and operating major media voices (defined to include major newspapers and full-power TV stations) would remain in the DMA following the transaction; and
(4) if the transaction involves a television station, that station is not among the top four ranked stations in the DMA.

More at FCC here and here (in Word).

San Antonio, Texas — Dec 17, `07 –Meeting the growing demand from TV viewers for quality High Definition (HD) programming, AT&T today announced the addition of eight HD channels to its AT&T U-verse TV channel lineup.

U-verse TV now offers Animal Planet HD, CNN HD, Discovery HD, Science Channel HD, Starz Kids & Family HD, Superstation WGN in HD, TLC HD, VERSUS and GOLF CHANNEL HD.

With these additions, AT&T U-verse TV subscribers with the HD service option have access to a lineup of more than 40 HD channels in most markets, which is more HD programming than local cable providers in current U-verse markets.

HD service is available for $10 a month with any U-verse TV programming package. All U-verse TV packages include HD-ready equipment, and most include an HD-capable DVR. More at AT&T.

On Friday, Dec 14, Ohio Commerce Director Kimberly Zurz granted statewide video-service authorization to Time Warner Cable LLC.

The company became the second enterprise to receive the 10-year, state-issued authorization, which was established by Ohio’s video-service law that went into effect September 24, 2007. AT&T Ohio was granted state video-service approval on November 7, 2007.

Time Warner Cable’s authorization covers 260 communities in 60 counties.

On June 25, 2007, Governor Ted Strickland signed Senate Bill 117, which created the one-stop, statewide video-service authorization process. Previously, cable or wire video-service companies had to negotiate local franchises with each municipality or township.

The law requires the Director of Commerce to administer the video-service authorization program. The Director also has the authority to investigate any allegation that a state-approved, video-service provider violated or failed to comply with the law.

The law includes a number of consumer protections. Providers with state-issued authorization are required to give customers:

Credit for a day’s rate if service is lost for more than four hours in any day.

* 30 days notice before removing a channel.
* 30 days notice prior to a rate increase.
* 10 days notice before disconnecting service.

Providers with state-issued authorization also must restore service in most cases within 72 hours after a subscriber reports a service interruption or other problem, and the companies cannot disconnect a customer’s video service for nonpayment before a bill is at least 45 days past due. More at Ohio Dept of Commerce.

NEW YORK — AT&T said on Tuesday it will stop selling satellite television services from DirecTV Group in the first quarter in a sign the phone company may favor EchoStar as its sole satellite partner, Reuters reports.

Reuters further writes, “Still, AT&T Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner told Reuters separately that the company has not made a final decision on the matter and could take until the second half of 2008 to decide.

AT&T has a marketing partnership with EchoStar in some markets and with DirecTV in others, and the phone company is also expanding its own video service called U-verse, which is delivered over high-speed fiber optic cables.

The company said it would stop offering DirecTV’s services to phone customers in the first quarter, while its current agreement with EchoStar extends until the end of 2008.” More at Reuters here and here.

Dec 07, ‘07 — The brand new Motorola Q9 with Wi-Fi, TheBoyGeniusReport got, has Windows Mobile 6.1 on it! And following up on the Windows Mobile 6.1 details and pictures, Boy Genius has a video walk-through of the latest Microsoft Mobile OS. BoyGenius.

Dec 07, ‘07 — iPhone Dev Team has released the code for anySIM iPhone unlocking tool on Google Code today.

In their words, “You may know anySIM, the most popular and free unlock solution for Apple’s iPhone. Because of the public request and to archive a constant code quality, we now opensourced it!

The source will go online at firday, the 7th of december. Anybody is welcome to contribute patchs to the software on the proper way. You will be able to submit potential changes to the tree via svn by than. We are looking forward to your contribution!

Feel free to join IRC as well at irc.osx86.hu”

More at iPhone Dev Team

NEW YORK, Dec 05, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for the holiday season, Verizon is unwrapping high-definition video-on-demand in many of its FiOS TV markets.

HD VOD is now available over the FiOS TV systems in Richmond and Virginia Beach, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Pittsburgh. It is coming soon to the FiOS systems in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and to Verizon’s remaining FiOS TV markets next year.

Verizon last month said it expects to have more than 150 HD channels by the end of 2008 as it continues to add to its HD lineup, and programmerslaunch new channels. It also said that it would increase its HD VOD titles to more than 1,000 in 2008.

Verizon’s initial HD VOD offering contains around 75 HD titles including a mix of free programs and recently released blockbuster movies such as “Transformers;” “The Hoax,” starring Richard Gere; “Mr. Brooks,” with Kevin Costner and Demi Moore; and the animated “Surf’s Up.” In the coming months, the company will continue to add HD titles to its VOD library, which now totals more than 10,000 titles.

Customers access video-on-demand simply by pressing the “VOD” or “On Demand” button on their remote control, through a menu on FiOS TV’s
interactive media guide, or by tuning into channel 900. Customers need an HDTV and an HD set-top box to view the on-demand titles in high definition. More at PRNewsWire.

Dec 05, ‘07 — Today, Google announced the release of a new iPhone application that integrates its multiple services into a single interface, making it easy for iPhone users to find, use and switch between Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and more.

To use the application, iPhone users simply point their web browser to Google.com.

To accomplish this, Google is taking advantage of browser technologies (like AJAX) that made Gmail and Google Maps possible on the desktop. In supporting these advances in web technology, the iPhone’s Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it enabled our product and engineering teams to create an optimal Google experience on a mobile device.

Google’s overall goal is to provide users with access to information, wherever they are. This commitment is device-independent, and we are working to develop new mobile technologies that are faster, easier to use, and available on more devices.

A recent example is My Location, a Google Maps for mobile feature that shows users their location directly on the map with or without GPS. To see the full range of mobile products and services available from Google, visit mobile.google.com.

More at Google, Google Mobile.

Free Update Adds Improved Calendar Functionality, Enhanced Email Support and HSDPA Capabilities for AT&T Customers.

SUNNYVALE, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 04, ‘07 — Palm today announced an update to Windows Mobile 6 for Palm Treo 750 smartphone customers in the United States. Windows Mobile 6 brings increased functionality, enhanced user interface and strengthened security and performance to the Treo 750 smartphone, which is offered exclusively in the United States by AT&T. The update is available today as a free download for existing Treo 750 smartphone customers.

The Treo 750 currently is available in the United States on AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect network, which is available in more than 200 major metropolitan areas and provides average download speeds between 600Kbps (kilobits per second) and 1,400Kbps. For those customers, the update will facilitate High-speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) capability, allowing faster data-download speeds on 3G/UMTS/HSDPA networks and access to AT&T Multimedia services: AT&T Music, CV (Video), and AT&T Mall.

Windows Mobile 6 combined with Exchange Server 2007 support is available out of the box and delivers a wide range of enhanced features, including the following:

* Microsoft Direct Push Technology connection to email, calendar, contacts and tasks;
* Email enhancements such as HTML-formatted email messages;
* Ability to set an out-of-office message from the Treo smartphone;
* Mini-SD storage card encryption, password and PIN improvements, and remote data wipe;
* Ability to search for email messages on the Exchange server;
* Meeting request and scheduling conflict improvements; and
* Improved Calendar with Day-at-a-Glance bar.

Palm’s Windows Mobile 6 update for the Treo 750 is available as a free download at Palm.com/750UpdateATT.

San Antonio, Texas — December 4, 2007 — AT&T has announced a definitive agreement with Verizon Wireless to conduct a swap of wireless assets.

Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T will acquire — upon Verizon’s acquisition of Rural Cellular Corporation — some former Rural Cellular properties, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in the Burlington, Vt. metropolitan service area and in rural service areas (RSAs) in New York (RSA-2), Vermont (RSA-1, RSA-2B1) and Washington (RSA-2, RSA-3). AT&T will also acquire a cellular license from Verizon in Kentucky RSA-6.

Also under terms of the agreement, Verizon will acquire from AT&T some former Dobson Communications Corporation properties, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in Kentucky RSA-6 and RSA-8. Verizon will also acquire 10 MHz of PCS spectrum in a number of markets and receive an additional cash consideration from AT&T.

As required, AT&T has also agreed to sell the Cellular One brand to Trilogy Partners. In addition, to fulfill the remaining divestiture requirements, AT&T has entered into a separate agreement with MTPCS, LLC to sell the former Dobson property, including licenses, network assets and subscribers, in Texas RSA-10 and AT&T’s share of the former Dobson partnership holding licenses, network assets and subscribers in portions of Oklahoma RSA-5. Together, these transactions satisfy AT&T’s divestiture requirements related to its recent acquisition of Dobson.

All transactions were signed on December 3, 2007, and are contingent upon regulatory approval and are expected to close by mid-2008. AT&T.

San Antonio, Texas — December 3, 2007 — AT&T has announced that AT&T, through an affiliate, has entered into a definitive agreement with Edge Wireless Holding Company to acquire full ownership in Edge Wireless, a regional wireless company with approximately 172,000 subscribers that operates in several markets in the Pacific Northwest.

Under the terms of the agreement, AT&T, which has held a minority ownership interest since Edge Wireless’ inception in 2000, will acquire the remaining 64.3 percent of the company.

The addition of Edge Wireless’ GSM network will complement AT&T’s existing GSM networks in Northern California, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. AT&T customers will enjoy broader in-network coverage in these areas, and Edge Wireless customers will gain access to AT&T’s full portfolio of products and services as well as AT&T’s fully integrated GSM network, which now covers more than 290 million people in 13,000 U.S. cities and towns.

The transaction is contingent upon regulatory approval and is expected to close by mid-2008. AT&T.

NEW YORK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 03, ‘07 — Klausner Technologies announced today that it has filed patent lawsuits under its visual voicemail patents against Comcast, Cablevision and eBay’s Skype with damages and future royalties estimated at $300 million.

The lawsuit asserts that the above companies’ VOIP voicemail products and services infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patent 5,572,576. The patent has already been licensed to various other companies which provide the same visual voice messaging services, including Time Warner’s AOL for its AOL Voicemail services, Vonage Holdings for its Vonage Voicemail Plus services as well as others, under the Klausner Patents.

Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail and eBay’s Skype Voicemail each violate Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.

Against Apple:
Klausner Technologies also announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against Apple on the iPhone, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that Apple’s iPhone Visual Voicemail infringes Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.
Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple’s original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone’s inbox display. Apple has called iPhone’s Visual Voicemail “one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind … without question.”

Against AT&T:
Klausner Technologies further announced today that it has filed a patent lawsuit under its visual voicemail patents against AT&T for selling the Apple iPhone, its Visual Voicemail service and other visual voice messaging services, with damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million.

The lawsuit asserts that sales of Apple’s iPhone, Visual Voicemail and other visual voice messaging services implemented by AT&T infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.

All three suits have been filed by the California law firm of Dovel & Luner in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas.

San Antonio, Texas — December 03, ‘07 — AT&T announced today plans to exit the shrinking pay phone business by the end of 2008. Existing contracts and customer service commitments will continue to be honored during the period that the business is being phased out.

AT&T’s Public Communications unit has continued to experience significant pressure from reduced pay phone usage, primarily as a result of the growth of alternative communications choices, such as wireless phones and personal communication devices.

The company plans to phase out both public pay phones and phones provided under contracts at government correctional facilities through the end of next year. All customers will receive advance notification of specific plans as well as information on other potential providers and product options.

The move affects AT&T pay phones in the company’s traditional 13-state service area only. BellSouth, which was acquired by AT&T in late 2006, had previously exited the pay phone business in its nine-state service area. AT&T’s wholesale pay phone services are not affected. More at AT&T.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving toward resurrecting a proposal that would limit the size cable operators could reach on a nationwide basis, agency officials said Thursday, Nov 29, the AP and Reuters are reporting.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is circulating the proposal among his fellow commissioners for a possible vote at the agency’s next meeting, scheduled for Dec 18 and has enough support on the five-member commission to pass a measure that would bar cable companies from owning systems that have more than a 30-percent share of U.S. multichannel video subscribers, according to one FCC source.

Martin, fresh off a marathon meeting that featured a bruising battle with the cable industry, also wants commissioners to vote on a number of media ownership issues, including his proposal to allow one company to own both a newspaper and a radio or television station in the nation’s 20 largest markets.

Fearing the potential monopoly power of cable television companies, Congress in 1992 directed the FCC to establish limits on how many customers cable television companies could reach nationwide. The FCC settled on a 30 percent cap, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the rule in 2001, saying the agency had failed to adequately justify its reasoning.

The issue has remained largely dormant since then as direct broadcast satellite providers — and more recently, traditional telephone companies — have continued to cut into the market share of the nation’s major cable television companies.

The immediate impact of such a cap would appear to be negligible. Comcast Corp., the nation’s largest cable company, reported 26.2 million subscribers to the FCC through Sept. 30, for a nationwide market share of all pay-television subscribers of 27 percent. More at AP, Reuters.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif — November 30, 2007 — Google announced today that it will apply to participate in the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming auction of wireless spectrum in the 700 megahertz (MHz) band.

As part of the nationally mandated transition to digital television, the 700 MHz spectrum auction — which begins January 24, 2008 — will free up spectrum airwaves for more efficient wireless Internet service for consumers.

Advocacy by public interest groups and Google earlier this year helped ensure that regardless of which bidders win a key portion of the spectrum up for auction (the so-called “C Block”), they will be required to allow their users to download any software application they want on their mobile device, and to use any mobile devices they would like on that wireless network.

The winner must ensure these rights for consumers if the reserve price of $4.6 billion for the C Block is met at auction.

“We believe it’s important to put our money where our principles are,” said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. “Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today’s wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet.”

Schmidt also praised the leadership of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and his fellow commissioners for adopting the new rights for consumers earlier this year.

Google’s formal application to participate in the 700 MHz auction will be filed with the FCC on Monday, December 3, 2007 — the required first step in the auction process. Google’s application does not include any partners.More at Google.

Bidding separately instead of assembling a coalition does not rule out Google later signing up partners if it wins the bidding, said a source familiar with the company’s strategy. But the FCC has “anti-collusion” rules that prevent deal-making between potential bidders during the auction period.

The auction is expected to take several weeks, or even months, of daily, back-and-forth bidding, with the identities of the bidders kept secret. Big spectrum bidders typically draw up elaborate strategies, often with input from game-theory experts.

FCC officials hope the company’s participation will mean a possible new player in the wireless business and boost the amount of money the government can bring in from the auction.

Nov 29, ‘07 — Apple will introduce a 3G version of the iPhone next year, Crayton Harrison of Bloomberg is reporting on AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s comments at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California

He furtherwrites, “”You’ll have it next year,” Stephenson said in response to a question about when the 3G iPhone would debut. He said he didn’t know how much more the new version will cost than the existing model, which sells for $399. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is,” he said

Jobs said in September that the iPhone’s battery life would be too short if it supported faster networks. The handset has eight hours of battery life, and 3G chips are “real power hogs,” he said at a news conference in London. “We’ve got to see the battery lives for 3G get back up into the five-plus-hour range,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll see that late next year.”" More at Bloomberg.

San Francisco — Nov 28, ‘07 — In the wake of the detection and reporting of Comcast Corporation’s controversial interference with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has published a comprehensive account of Comcast’s packet-forging activities and has released software and documentation instructing Internet users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own ISPs.

Separate tests in October from EFF, the Associated Press, and others showed that Comcast was forging small parcels of digital data, known as packets, in order to interfere with its subscribers’ and other Internet users’ ability to use file-sharing applications, like BitTorrent and Gnutella. Despite having been confronted by this evidence, Comcast continues to issue incomplete and misleading statements about their practices and their impact on its customers.

“Comcast is discriminating among different kinds of Internet traffic based on the protocols being used by its customers,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. “When confronted, Comcast has been evasive and misleading in its responses, so we decided to start gathering the facts ourselves.”

Protocol-specific discrimination gives ISPs a tremendous amount of power over the kinds of new applications and services that can be deployed by innovators and competitors. To the extent that practices like those employed by Comcast change the “end-to-end” architecture of the Internet, those practices jeopardize the Internet’s vibrant innovation economy.

“This recent interference by Comcast in their subscribers’ Internet communications is a cause for grave concern,” said EFF Staff Technologist Peter Eckersley. “It threatens the open Internet standards and architecture that have made the network such an engine of technical and economic innovation.”

In addition to an account of the results of EFF’s independent testing of Comcast’s packet forging activities, EFF has also issued a detailed document and software to assist other networking experts in conducting their own testing.

“If ISPs won’t give their customers accurate information about their Internet traffic controls, we have to detect and document them for ourselves,” said EFF Staff Technologist Seth Schoen.

For “Packet Forgery by ISPs: A Report on the Comcast Affair”:
http://www.eff.org/wp/packet-forgery-isps-report-comcast-affair

For “Detecting Packet Injection: A Guide to Packet Spoofing by ISPs”:
http://www.eff.org/wp/detecting-packet-injection

For more on EFF’s research into Comcast’s packet monitoring:
http://www.eff.org/testyourisp

More at EFF.

Nov 27, ‘07 — Tech-On! is reporting on AT&T announcing the commercial launch of business in Vietnam that followed the announcement in November 2006, when AT&T extended the global reach of its business to Vietnam through collaboration with one of the country’s telecommunications carriers, Viettel Corp.

Tech-On! further writes, “In addition to the existing office in Hanoi, AT&T plans to set up another representative office in Ho Chi Minh by the end of the year to capitalize on the business opportunities of the rapidly growing telecommunications market in Vietnam.

Under the agreement between AT&T and Viettel, initial services available to multinational customers include virtual private network and frame relay services. There are plans to add more services in the future” Tech-On!

San Diego, California, November 26, 2007 –AT&T and LG today announced the availability of the new Shine by LG, a stylish new multimedia device.

The Shine by LG arrived in stores Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving — “Black Friday.” The Shine by LG is a sliding form-factor device, offered exclusively through AT&T, that features a silver exterior and comes with video, music and camera features and a 2.2-inch mirror LCD screen.

The device is pre-loaded with the best of AT&T’s features, including AT&T Video Share, Mobile Banking, AT&T Mobile Music and more. The Shine by LG is designed to satisfy the needs of mobile phone users who want style and glamour in their state-of-the-art mobile device and wireless service.

“Metal is back and taking on a whole new look with this season’s must-have mobile phone, the Shine by LG,” said Ehtisham Rabbani, vice president of Product Strategy and Marketing at LG Mobile Phones. “Consumers will be captivated by the Shine’s brushed-metal body and mirror LCD, and they will be excited to find that the phone is more than just a pretty face.”

Additional features on the Shine by LG include a 2.0-megapixel camera with video record and Bluetooth 2.0 capability for music and voice. The body of the Shine by LG is an elegant metal body surrounding the mirror LCD screen.
Specs

• Weight: 4.23 ounces
• Dimensions: 3.93 x 1.99 x .59 inches
• Talk Time: Up to 3 hours
• Standby Time: Up to 10 days
• Internal Memory: 70 MB
• Music Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+
• microSD(TM) memory port with 4 GB support
• Bluetooth 1.2 connectivity
• 240 x 320 pixel, 262K color screen
• Network Technology: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
• Quad-band world phone - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Dual-band domestic UMTS/ HSDPA 850/1900 MHz

Pricing and Availability
The Shine by LG is available through select AT&T retail locations or at wireless.att.com for $149.99 after a two-year contract-activation agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate. LG Shine.

AT&T, a company that once was a poster child for telecommuting, is downsizing its long-running telework program and requiring thousands of employees who work from their homes and other virtual offices to return to traditional AT&T office environments, reports NetworkWorld citing sources.

NetworkWorld further writes, “A spokesman in AT&T’s San Antonio, Texas, headquarters denies there are broad-scale plans to end teleworking arrangements, but acknowledges there may be some isolated cases. “Teleworking is at the discretion of the business,” says Walt Sharp, the spokesman.

He says AT&T is in the process of reconciling the human resources policies of the legacy AT&T, SBC Communications, which acquired AT&T in 2005; BellSouth, which was acquired in late 2006; and the former Cingular wireless operation, previously co-owned by BellSouth and AT&T.

“We have recently merged [these] very large companies, each of which has separate policies on everything, and we’re in the process of integrating all of those policies and coming up with integrated policies for AT&T overall,” Sharp says. “I believe the teleworking policy is expected to be integrated some time next year.”

Telework advocates have loaded praise on AT&T over the years for its telework program, which the telecommunications company formalized in 1992 and grew to become one of the largest and most successful in the nation.

Enabling employees to telework has been lucrative for the company. AT&T was able to slash its annual real estate costs by $30 million and gained $150 million in extra hours of productive work from teleworkers, the company told Network World in 2005.

AT&T’s telework resource site, once contained content for employees and managers, including case studies, tips for developing a business case, dos and don’ts, and policy documents. The link is no longer active.”

More at NetworkWorld.

New York — Nov 21, ‘07 –Reuters is reporting on much speculated EchoStar, AT&T deal, “EchoStar Chief Executive Charlie Ergen holds the key to whether the satellite television provider may be sold to AT&T and he’s unlikely to be swayed easily by money, industry sources and analysts said.

Ergen is not likely to want to leave the business he created, nor is it likely he would want to join a telephone behemoth that would probably frown on a maverick executive known to have ditched quarterly analyst calls for family vacations, they said on Tuesday.

Ergen, 54, owns about 50 percent of EchoStar’s shares and controls about 80 percent of voting rights. “People like Charlie Ergen don’t really care about the money per se at this point, they just want to stay in the game,” said the source, who has dealt with Ergen in the past. “He’s an entrepreneur at heart. He very much likes coming to work and operating his own business everyday.”

Long-running speculation of a deal between EchoStar, the second-largest U.S. satellite television operator, and AT&T, the biggest phone company, was reignited this week by reports in financial news providers Barron’s.

The reports said AT&T was looking to make an offer between $64 and $68 per share for EchoStar, or about $30.2 billion in total. Ergen founded EchoStar in 1980 and it is now the third-largest U.S. pay-TV operator with 13.7 million subscribers.

A source familiar with AT&T, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a bid for EchoStar was not imminent.

Wall Street analysts said the business rationale for a merger makes sense: the two companies already are partners, with AT&T selling EchoStar’s DISH satellite television service alongside phone and Internet services.

Both face competition from cable companies like Comcast, which are selling bundled phone, video and high-speed Internet services to consumers.” More at Reuters.

NEW YORK – Nov 20, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Millions of consumers now can take advantage of ultra-fast Verizon FiOS Internet upload speeds that blow cable away.

Starting today, Verizon is offering its high-speed symmetrical FiOS Internet services to consumers in 16 states served by its advanced, all-fiber- optic network. The symmetrical services make possible equally fast downstream and upstream connections of up to 15 megabits per second (Mbps) or up to 20 Mbps depending on the state where the service is sold.

At the same time, Verizon also has dramatically increased the upload speed of its fastest FiOS Internet services across its FiOS Internet service areas. These new services offer consumers downstream/upstream connections of either up to 50 Mbps/20 Mbps or up to 30 Mbps/15 Mbps depending on the state where the service is sold.

Groundbreaking Consumer Symmetrical Services Expand to 16 FiOS States:
On Oct. 23, Verizon introduced a unique, new, symmetrical Verizon FiOS Internet service for consumers, featuring an upload and download speed of up to 20 Mbps. The service was first available to customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Today Verizon is launching similar symmetrical FiOS services in the 13 other states served by its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.
In Florida, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Verizon now offers the option of a FiOS Internet service with downstream and upstream connections of up to 20 Mbps. In California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, the company has added a new FiOS Internet service with downstream and upstream connections of up to 15 Mbps.

The new symmetrical services are available for as low as $64.99 a month with an annual service plan. Customers who subscribe to the new Internet service can upgrade their backup to as much as 50 GB at competitive rates.

Fastest FiOS Internet Services Get Faster Uploads:
In Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, Verizon is quadrupling the upstream connection speed of its highest- speed FiOS Internet service from five Mbps to up to 20 Mbps (megabits per second). The downstream connection speed of this service is up to 50 Mbps.

In California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington, Verizon is tripling the upstream connection speed of its highest-speed FiOS Internet offering from five Mbps to up to 15 Mbps. The downstream connection speed of this service is up to 30 Mbps.

Pricing for these new services varies by market and ranges from $89.95 to $139.95 a month with an annual contract. Existing customers can call Verizon to subscribe to the new offering.