Hahahaha

Just forwarded to me:

>> This is the funniest blone-joke ever.

'Fat Man Walking'--wired on Route 66

Cell phone, laptop and iPod--when they work--help make Steve Vaught's cross-country trek to shed pounds easier to bear. Photos: En route for health

BlackBerry Top 50 Gadget of Past 50 Years

PCWorld.com has ranked the Blackberry #14 of the top gadgets of the past 50 years. They say, Canadian firm Research in Motion didn’t invent e-mail, wireless data networks, the handheld, or the QWERTY keyboard. But with the little BlackBerry, along with server software that made e-mail appear on it without any effort from the recipient, RIM put it all together in a way that even nontechie executives could appreciate–and thereby opened the eyes of corporate America to the potential of wireless communications. So addictive that some call them CrackBerries, RIM’s ubiquitous e-mail communicators–especially their high-res displays and small yet serviceable thumb keyboards–have forever changed the design aesthetic for personal digital assistants, while their approach to e-mail has become the standard by which all connected handhelds are measured. The Sony Walkman ranked first if you were wondering, you can read the entire list here …

Nokia launches E60 VOIP (SIP) Handset

SIP based VOIP, WiFi and Push technology. What more could you ask for in a mobile?

2006: The End of Traditional TV? - Broadcast dinosaurs still rule the earth

Place shifting, DVRs, IPTV, on-line broadband video; Terry Heaton thinks that 2006 is the year traditional broadcast television meets its maker (via GigaOM). 'I believe history will look back at 2006 as the year of an unbundled awakening in the media world, ushering in an era of creativity the likes of which we've not witnessed in recent history, especially in the advertising community.' Well, a man can dream, anyway.

Broadband in '06 - Net Neutrality will top discussion list

Should hotels have the right to block VoIP services over their broadband networks? Should Airlines? Should telcos be allowed to charge for quicker access to websites? Those are a few of the questions USAToday skims over in a piece exploring the broadband industry over the next several years. Odd, the article tags VoIP guru Jeff Pulver as the 'mischievous' founder of Free-World Dial-up.

Netflix wins round in online DVD-rental fight

Despite Blockbuster's costly offensive, so far Netflix is winning with more than four times the subscribers of its rival.

Wifi at your Airport?

Rex Hammock is accumulating a list of US airports with free wifi. We rarely hear about airports with no wifi, a vanishing breed. New Orleans is one of those...

NeXT Computer Dead-Enders Give Up

Once upon a time, NeXT computer was the toast of Silicon Valley. This year, the start-up founded by Steve Jobs as retribution for his early retirement at Apple, was finally abandoned by the faithful - the Bay Area NeXT Users Group. Jobs founded NeXT in 1985 with an out-of-pocket investment of $7M. In 1996, Apple bought NeXT for $400M and it became the bedrock of OSX.

Media Center: 'You're Hired'

Although most Media Center PCs pass their days at home in the living room or study, a few have begun taking office jobs.

The desktop and notebook PCs, which come with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP Media Center Edition's specialized user interface for handling multimedia and are operable via a remote control, were created with consumers in mind.

However, a small number of businesses have been purchasing the machines to handle multimedia in internal meetings or customer presentations, some PC makers say.

Corporations often spend extra to set up liven up front offices and meeting rooms, purchasing big-screen televisions, stylish computers and other technological accoutrements.

Thus, despite their consumer bent, companies using Media Center machines to help show videos or present other multimedia isn't much of a stretch, those companies said. [READ MORE...]

New Study Shows Rising Cell Phone Use While Driving

More Americans than ever are using cell phones while driving according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Driver cell phone use increased in 2005, with 6 percent of drivers on handheld phones in 2005 nationwide compared to 5 percent in 2004. This result is from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey...

Google Offers Cell Phone Version of Gmail Email

Today Google launched a portable version of its Gmail email service, providing users access to their Gmail accounts directly from their mobile devices. Through the free service, emails are automatically synchronized between cell phones and computer accounts, regardless where Gmail is accessed from. Providing optimal viewing window sizes by detectin…

First Look: Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

We had the pleasure of meeting some of the folks at Nokia who are in charge of Nokia 770 Internet Tablet development this week …

Sprint, Nextel Partners Settle on Price

Sprint Nextel today announced they will buy affiliate Nextel Partners for $9.2 billion in cash. Nextel Partners’ contract with Nextel allowed the affiliate to force a purchase by the …

Samsung VI-A820 (SPH-A820)

Released for Sprint, the Samsung VI-A820 (SPH-A820) delivers information through the sense of touch. With Tactile Vibration from VibeTonz the VI-A820 lets users feel who is calling for a more sensory experience. Supporting Ready Link technology, consumers can enjoy the convenience of walkie-talkie-style communication at the touch of a button. Through capabilities like SMS Voice and text messaging, the VI-A820 gives users the options they need to stay in touch.

Motorola V557 Review

Released for Cingular, the Motorola V557 is the first handset to include Motorola’s SCREEN3 - an innovative technology that enables consumers to get news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content and services directly from their mobile device home screen (no buttons to push, no browsers to launch). In addition, the V557 features a VGA camera, video record and playback, and advanced messaging. EDGE technology and Cingular’s consumer data services, such as Picture Messaging and Cingular Sounds, enhance the multimedia offerings and enable subscribers to share images and download MP3 ringtones with unprecedented speed.

MTV Invests in Amp’d Mobile

MTV Networks has agreed to become an investor in privately held Amp’d Mobile and will provide video clips and other content for a wireless service that Amp’d plans to kick off this week. The two companies will develop joint marketing and promotions across MTV Networks’ brands and screens. Additionally, MTV Networks will make an investment in Amp’d …

Blackberry Development Using NetBeans Mobility

With the RIM Blackberry JDE 4.1, you can now build Java ME applications for Blackberry devices using the NetBeans Mobility Pack 5.0. In this article, NetBeans Evangelist Matt Volpi gives you step-by-step instructions on how to get ...

RIM BlackBerry 7100i

Released for Sprint Nextel, the RIM BlackBerry 7100i is a sleek wireless device that manages to incorporate a large vibrant screen with a QWERTY-based keyboard on the BlackBerry platform. Including push-to-talk capabilities, consumers can communicate off-network in walkie-talkie fashion. Additionally, full-GPS allows turn-by-turn instructions. With excellent sound quality, dedicated Send and End phone keys, a numerical phone keypad with large keys, and speakerphone and Bluetooth support, the 7100i is a powerful business device.

Blackberry PDA Phone

"In pursuit for the latest and greatest on pda to cell phone cables? Well youve without doubt fallen on the right place because thats what were knowledgeable about. Of course, being a freshly built website we dont yet have a significant ..."

MusicStrands Does Music Search, Too.

If Google Music Search isn’t for you, check out MusicStrands, a young company that relaunched its site yesterday. The company is based in Corvallis, OR (where is that?) and Barcelona, Spain.

MusicStrands had results for every band I threw at it. Lots of stats, and links to buy music from amazon and iTunes. And it has excellent web 2.0 features as well, including social networking, recommendations and user tagging of music. They also have nice support options for small and indie bands, allowing them to get their music into the mix. Basically, MusicStrands is an excellent resource for finding new music.

When 2.0: Video chats on calendaring and events

"I blogged at When 2.0 on Chandler, calendaring interoperability and sharing and Google's calendar. Other coverage: Oren Sreebny has the play-by-play, also coverage from Rob Hof, Ramesh Jain,, Mike Langberg and Dave Needle.We have a few video clips from the event. Here's a clip from a panel with Esther Dyson discussing notions of time and calendaring with Open Source Application Foundation Chair Mitch Kapor; ..."

BellSouth Scales Back Next-Gen Goals - Unaggressive plan gets even less so

"Already far less aggressive than SBC and Verizon, BellSouth's next-gen plans have been scaled down further, reports Telephony Online. 'Previously, BellSouth had planned to have fiber within 5000 feet of 75% of its customers at an average cost of $225 per home by 2007,' says the article. The company has re-adjusted that goal to 50% of its customers at an average cost of $150 per home. The article also says BellSouth is tinkering with, but not yet sold on, IPTV."

CBS Beams Programming to Verizon Phones

"TV network CBS announces a new deal under which it will offer video clips from some of its best-known programs over Verizon's V Cast wireless video service."

Blackberry Development Using NetBeans Mobility

"With the RIM Blackberry JDE 4.1, you can now build Java ME applications for Blackberry devices using the NetBeans Mobility Pack 5.0. In this article, NetBeans Evangelist Matt Volpi gives you step-by-step instructions on how to get ..."

Family Friendly Cable Tiers - Comcast, TWC will announce in weeks

"Actually a move to avoid having to offer full a La Carte, both Comcast and Time Warner Cable are considering offering family tiers of programming, reports USAToday. Amidst complaints about price-increases, there's been a renewed interest in a la carte, led by the FCC's sudden 180 position swap on the subject. Expected to be announced in a few weeks, the tiers would require a digital box, helping the companies migrate customers."

Ajax Desktops Won’t Stop

eskobo is the most recent entrant into the crazy-crowded Ajax desktop space. Eskobo has (now) standard drag and drop modules. Everything is customizable except the adertising, which can be moved, but not removed, from the page. [read more]

Wall Street Journal Discusses the Rise of Bloggers

Lee Gomes wrote about Memeorandum, Blogniscient and TechCrunch in the Wall Street Journal today. It’s an interesting column discussing the rise of blogs as “journalists” and the usefullness of blog aggregators in filtering out the most important writing.

The reality is that while there are now as many tech blogs as stars in the sky, only a tiny fraction of them matter. And those that do aren’t part of some proletarian information revolution, but instead have become the tech world’s new elite. Reporters for the big mainstream newspapers and magazines, long accustomed to fawning treatment at corporate events, now show up and find that the best seats often go to the A-list bloggers. And living at the front of the velvet rope line means the big bloggers are frequently pitched and wooed. In fact, with the influence peddling universe in this state of flux, it’s not uncommon for mainstream reporters, including the occasional technology columnist, to lobby bloggers to include links to their print articles.

While I agree with the trend that Lee Gomes is highlighting, I also think there is something even bigger going on. I agree with Dave Winer when he says:

There’s more going on here than the reporters being replaced by bloggers. It’s disintermediation, the thing that the Internet does to every business, art and profession that aggregates and repackages. Carl Sagan said that human beings are the cosmos gaining consciousness and studying itself. The tech bloggers are the tech community, the programmers, lawyers, investors, business managers, users, taking responsibility for their own cosmos. The reporters were necessary when you needed a million dollars to start a news “paper,” then a billion dollars to start a media empire. Now you need a laptop computer and an account on Blogger or MSN Spaces.

Bloggers take friction out of the news reporting process. No editors are around to slow down the process. There are also no fact checkers, which can cause problems. However, the blogosphere tends to correct for this, and, as an ecosystem, I’d wager the blogosphere gets more things right than journalists.

Anyway, it is an interesting article. Lee Gomes is one of the guys who gets it, obviously. And I just bought every print copy of the ‘Journal at the local newsstand. :-)

[Original Article]

11 Techniques to Increase Page Views on Your Blog: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

"Another great set of tips from Darren." via Steve Rubel

SEOmoz | Beginner's Guide to SEO

"This guide provides a complete overview of many of the processes, techniques and strategies used by professional search engine optimization specialists"

Grouper hits the ground running

"If you've got a video iPod--and if you do, you're the TV networks' new best friend--a start-up called Grouper would like to..."

Yahoo makes its telecom play

"Yahoo to two new fee-based voice over IP services so customers can make PC-to-phone calls."

ICANN told to clamp down on dodgy domain names

"Lawmaker says Net watchdog is failing to do its job after GAO finds 'intentionally false' details in millions of registrations."

Study: One in Four Users are Targets of E-mail Phishing Scams

"Roughly one in four U.S. Internet users are targets of phishing attacks—phony e-mails seeking personal financial data—according to a study conducted by Time Warner Inc.'s Internet unit AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance."

Blackberry battles continue

"The legal struggle over crucial technology for the popular Blackberry handheld devices continued this week. ... The injunction against Blackberry has stood for several years, while the Canadian firm has refused to settle."

Cable Rate Hike Season - Charter, Cox, Comcast, Time Warner Cable

"As we've mentioned, cable rate-hikes this time of year are as inevitable as eggnog. A disgruntled site user laments the fact Charter in St. Louis is raising rates, blaming Katrina, oil prices, and programming costs. The Associated Press sums up the hikes, many of which we've already covered. 'Price adjustments reflect the increased value of the service,' claims a Comcast exec. Agree? "

Top three telecoms fined for market collusion

"PARIS, Dec 1 (AFP) - French regulators fined the three French mobile telecom operators a total of EUR 534 million on Thursday for rigging the market.

The decision, three days after a similar announcement of fines against top hotels in Paris, also faces the telecom operators with a risk of heavy compensation to subscribers.

The Competition Council watchdog took the action against SFR, Bouygues Telecom and France Telecom subsidiary Orange for "particularly serious" collusion in sharing market information which had done "great damage to the economy"."

Cingular to Offer Enhanced Push-to-Talk Service

"The service, which will compete against Sprint Nextel walkie-talkie, includes a 'convert to cellular' feature and allows group calls of up to 20 people."

Just when you thought you had enough...even MORE Blogging tips!

Elizabeth shares some Blogging Tips: "Every time I come across something that I think would make a good blog post, I write the title or the facts in the eBlogger Dashboard section and save it as a draft. Eventually I come back to my topics and the facts that I have collected. They usually come from my reading or barn experience. Sometimes topics sit in my draft pile for days before I get to them. Sometimes life is busy here, and I don't get to polish my writing as much.

I spend a lot of time trying to think of catchy titles for my blog posts. I like catchy titles. It isn't easy thinking them up though!

I would like to learn more about html because I would like to jazz up my blog with photos, icons, and other cool things like that. A man I know from church has a very cool blog. He puts video and audio on his blog on a regular basis! I haven't had time to learn how to do that yet.

I experiment with "copied" html code. I find a site that generates the html code for me. (I find those sites on other blogs. Just click on whatever it is they have that you like.) I put the code into the template on my Dashboard. I preview the page, and see if it worked. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. If it works, I save the edits. If not, I delete them. My Mom told me that blogspot doesn't have as many "bells and whistles" as some other blogging sites. But blogspot is free, so that is why I am using it for now.

The best part about blogging by far is getting comments!! I appreciate everyone who takes the time to post a comment. Thank you! It is a lot more fun than writing compositions that only my Mom or brother would read!

OK. Now it is your turn to give me blogging tips. I want to know how you (Jess and Liza) get those neat little dotted lines on the side bar of your blog. I have tried to put more space between things in my sidebar, but haven't figured out how to do it yet. I am not good at figuring out how to reorganize my sidebar. Thank you for any tips!"

Vonage Vs. Skype - Motley Fool: latter will kill the former

"The Motley Fool seems concerned that Skype could mean the death of Vonage. 'At this very moment, somebody's walking into a RadioShack store with five bucks to burn. Just $4.99 can buy you the Skype Trial Pack at 3,500 RadioShack locations.' Is anyone actually using a Skype client as their primary communications?"

Taipei building too much for earth to bear?

"A geologist says Taipei has seen more earthquakes since a huge skyscraper was built in the Taiwanese capital city and suggests..."

AOL Releases Stand-Alone Security App

America Online's new Safety and Security Center supplements Windows' firewall protection.

DSL - GigaLaw.com Daily News�

"GigaLaw.com Daily News  GigaLaw.com - Dec 01 4:32 AM Judge Invalidates Settlement in BlackBerry Patent Case The maker of the popular BlackBerry e-mail device is facing a critical decision: Pony up a lot of money to settle a long-term patent dispute or inform most of its 3.65 million U.S. subscribers that it may have to shut [...]"

Microsoft Wireless Network Adapter for Xbox 360

The WiFi network adapter Microsoft produces for its Xbox 360 is stylish, but it isn't cheap. This is in part due its compact size and in part due to its dual-band 802.11a/b/g support. Microsoft's Xbox 360 adapter...