U.S. broadband is thirty times slower than Japan’s.  If American speeds keep growing as slowly as they are now, it will take the U.S. 100 years to reach Japan’s current level, according to the Communications Workers of America’s second annual Speed Matters survey.

“The United States has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet. Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries.” Read the rest of this entry »

Best Buy will be the first major U.S. retail store beyond to sell the iPhone 3G, beginning September 7.

The Minneapolis retailer announced Wednesday that it will sell the iPhone at its 970 stores. “Quite honestly, many of our customers come to our store every day asking for it,” said Best Buy’s mobile division president Shawn Score. “We’re excited we’re going to be able to say yes.”

Despite its incredible popularity and enviable sales, Apple’s phone is currently only available in two places, Apple and AT&T stores. Best Buy will sell the iPhone at the same prices as at the other outlets, and will still require a two-year AT&T contract for activation. Read the rest of this entry »

The Yellow Pages Association, valued at more than $31 billion worldwide, is doing better than ever in the internet age. While print-edition readership remains stable, Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs) have been gaining revenue, says a recent ComScore report produced for the Yellow Pages Association (YPA), according to emarketer.com.

US online Yellow Pages revenue has nearly quadrupled since 2002, from $313 million to a projected $1200 million in 2008. IYP searches increased 15 percent in 2007 to 3.8 billion, up from 2006’s 3.3 billion IYP searches. Read the rest of this entry »

In what is perhaps the largest coordinated example of cyberwarfare in history, many Georgian web sites were blocked while the country was being simultaneously invaded by Russia’s air and ground forces last weekend.

“We are witnessing in this crisis the birth of true, operational cyber warfare,” said Eli Jellenc, manager of All-Source Intelligence at iDefense.

Russian hackers took over the site of the Georgian parliament, replacing it with images of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili next to similar images of Adolf Hitler. Saakahvili’s own site was shut down – it had to be moved to servers in Atlanta, Georgia (US). Read the rest of this entry »

It appears that a prudent safeguard to the Web 2.0 environment is to not put all of your eggs in one basket. On Monday, August 11, Google users across the United States, Canada, and India were unable to access their online e-mails and documents for about two hours. Upon logging into Gmail, users received a 502 error. Todd Jackson, Gmail Product Manager, attributed the problem to a temporary outage in their contacts system. As of 6 p.m. ET on Monday, the issue has been resolved, according to Gmail’s official blog. Read the rest of this entry »

In the wake of Microsoft and NBC’s partnership to provide free streaming multi-media content via Silverlight for the Beijing Olympics, anti-trust criticisms have mounted against Microsoft, reminiscent of legal actions brought during the 1990s. The International Herald Tribune, also known as the global edition of the New York Times, highlighted concerns in an August 11 article.

The issue is whether Silverlight standards should compete with other proprietary systems, or should complement them. Brian Goldfarb, a Microsoft executive, has stated that only Microsoft will produce the development software of Silverlight’s content. He has also implied that PlayReady, the digital-rights management technology of Silverlight, will only be accessible on Microsoft servers. Critics argue that these decisions are an abuse of monopoly power, stifling competition and innovation. Read the rest of this entry »

As a matter of public policy, safe roads are imperative to society and the economy. If the roads of area are unsafe, businesses are less likely to expand there, and the town is obviously hurt. SafeRoadMaps.org comprises all of the necessary information for the concerned citizen, policymaker or the business owner, providing them with the appropriate tools to thoroughly evaluate a specific area’s roads. Read the rest of this entry »

More than half of American adults use social media, according to a newly released survey. The number is even higher in young adults: the great majority of all 18-34 year-olds — 85% — use social media to communicate.

Results recently revealed by Universal McCann’s long-running Media in Mind study shows that mainstream America is embracing social media. According to the study, text messaging, social networking, and blogging are growing in popularity in staggering numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter how light your laptop, going through airport security is always a hassle. Not only is there the quasi gymnastic level of contortions required to simultaneously remove your laptop, jacket, shoes and belt, and change from pockets while waving your ticket and ID in the air– as hundreds of others are all doing the same, like tai chi in fast forward – there’s always the fear that sending your computer through the X-ray conveyor could damage your hardware or data.

The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) wants to help with all that. And Aerovation Products, based in Tipp City, Ohio has released the first X-ray friendly laptop case, relieving travelers from having to remover their laptops at airport security checks. Read the rest of this entry »

On August 5 VUDU and the Adult Video Network announced a partnership to bring High-Definition adult-entertainment to a dedicated AVN channel on the VUDU network.

This latest step in TV set-top box entertainment further develops the trend in immediate access to full-resolution, full-length movies and television episodes to rent or to buy. It’s TiVo from the Internet, but more so. Read the rest of this entry »