Employers who have their Internet and cellular access outsourced will now need to have clear contracts governing privacy expectations when it comes to employee text-messaging and e-mails.
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The Intempo Rebel not only lets you listen to music over the radio, but it also downloads it straight to an SD card and removes unwanted intermissions and commercials. Read more about this interesting new gadget after the jump.
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According to Reuters, Microsoft has offered to pay $1 Billion to Yahoo for its search business, a move that would have given the Internet giant an additional $1 Billion extra in annual revenue. Instead, the long-time search engine and email provider has opted to parter up with Google in a relationship that is going to permanently change Yahoo.
Although very little is being reported on it in international news, Sweden is currently proposing a new wiretap bill that could effect wire based communications around the world. The bill gives the National Defense Radio Establishment (or FRA in Swedish) the right to monitor all wire based communications in and out of the country, including packets of data which can be transmitted through multiple geographically dispersed hops before reaching their final destinations.
You have probably never heard of it. I know I never have, but as of the end of next month Windows Live Expo, Microsoft’s answer to Craigslist, will no longer exist. In a David and Goliath like battle, it looks like the little guy has won.
Today both Apple and Samsung have thrown into the ring two new 3G telephones that will be released to the public soon: the Apple iPhone 3G and Samsung’s new iPhone contender, the Omnia.
OCZ has become one of the few companies to hop on the DIY notebook train with its OCZ DIY Gaming Notebook. Though the company famous for its gaming gear has yet to announce a release date or price for the barebones laptop, the specs are fairly decent. Included in the DIY kit one gets a notebook with a 15.4″ WXGA display, 512 MB GeForce 8600 GT, a DVD burner, integrated HD audio, and a motherboard that utilizes the Intel PM965 chipset. The portable computer also features a touchpad, fingerprint scanner, 2 MP webcam, keyboard, and 9-cell battery.
Recent reports by the folks at AT&T indicate the upcoming 3G iPhone could come with a new $199 price tag. Normally priced starting at $399, the touch phone and iPod combo released by Apple nearly a year ago has proven to be a major success. If Apple does indeed lower the phone’s price to $199, expect the device’s already high sales to explode.
Personally, I don’t see the price drop happening. Maybe a cut down version of the iPhone similar to the iPod nano will be released for $199, but why would Apple release something they can barely keep in stock at a $399 price point for half as much? Doing so would not only jeopardize sales for the less expensive iPod Touch and traditional iPod Classic, which start at $299 and $249 respectively, but how could Apple even meet the heavy demand that would likely result from such a price decrease?
[Seeking Alpha via Low End Mac]
Intel is currently working on what it calls the Rural Connectivity Platform, or RCP. The RCP involves intense modification to traditional 802.11 wireless technology to allow a wireless router to transmit data over a 100km span at speeds up to 6.5 mbps, providing Internet to remote areas or other places where the geography makes laying fiber optics or copper cable counterproductive.
The company is planning to begin sales later this year in India. At $500 for each wireless router and a requirement of two routers, the whole setup costs $1,000. This is more than the average yearly wage in India, but is much cheaper compared to running traditional cable. An entire village can share a single Internet hookup, and hopefully this technology will further increase the number of computer users out there, though I doubt a village in the middle of nowhere with no electricity will be getting computers any time soon, even with the availability of Wi-Fi. Though Intel hasn’t said so yet, it wouldn’t be surprising if they had plans to work with the OLPC or a similar low-cost laptop project to bring computing to the masses. If all goes well in India, Intel plans to make its new technology available to everyone. Many places could benefit from this technology, especially large countries with numerous remote villages like Russia.
Have a love for running and technology? In a press release issued earlier today by Nike, the company announced their latest and greatest piece of exercise tech, the Nike+Sportsband.Slated for an April 10 release date, the armband hopes to make training easier for runners by displaying such information as distance traveled, calories burned, pace, and time. Though it is designed specifically for runners who do not use iPods in their exercise endeavors, it would make an excellent substitute for someone who preferred not to use the Nike+iPod setup.
There’s no word yet on pricing from the corporate shoe giant, and there is no word yet if Nike plans on making a similar device to track the productivity of its child laborers in Vietnam.
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