service

YouTube has announced a partnership with Sony and Nintendo to create "YouTube for Television". As the name suggests, users can now watch their favorite Internet videos on their big-screen television sets. What's the catch? Since YouTube for ... Television runs over the Internet, the link needed to log onto the service is only accessible via a game console. Since the partnership is exclusive to Sony and Nintendo, the user first needs to pick up a PlayStation 3 or Wii to start watching television-displayed YouTube videos. Conspicuous by its absence in the partnership is Microsoft and its Xbox 360. ... (view more)

Netflix recently struck a deal with LG that allows its Internet movie-rental service directly to TV sets without any extra hardware boxes required. The news comes as Roku, a firm making set-top boxes for rentals, announced Netflix will no longer be ... its exclusive provider. LG will produce 'Broadband HDTVs' which will be publicly unveiled at an entertainment trade fair this month. The sets will plug directly into an Internet connection without having to be routed via a computer or set-top box. Owners will be able to access a Netflix account directly though the TV and remote control, though this ... (view more)

BP gas stations are making vast improvements to its locations all across North America in an attempt to transform the company into a recognizable "one-stop shop" for travelers. For the modern patron, this means getting WiFi access free of charge. Of ... course, BP does have a hidden agenda when offering free Internet service: entice people to stay for longer periods of time in the hopes of checking out the other services the station has to offer. Over 90% of all BP locations will be given major upgrades in the service department, including on-site restaurants, video arcades and a well-stocked ... (view more)

Sprint's promotion of super-speed wireless Internet has taken an important step with the release of a plug-in modem that can work with WiMAX and the slower but more widespread 3G network. Xohm, the name for its service employing the small but ... growing WiMax wireless network, is also dubbed 4G (following on from the 3G network used by devices such as the iPhone) and aims to provide wireless data speeds comparable to fixed-line broadband. Like the 3G network, users don't have to be near a WiFi 'hotspot' (such as a cafe or airport): the data comes over the mobile phone network. At the moment, the ... (view more)

Radio Shack is selling an Internet-ready laptop computer for just $99. However, the deal is only available to customers who subscribe to a $60/month 'data plan'. The device is an Acer Aspire One netbook: a slimmed down laptop designed mainly for ... Internet browsing. It's a relatively low-spec computer with a 120GB hard drive, a 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of memory. This helps keep the cost down; the machine is available elsewhere for around the $300-350 range. The computer comes with Windows XP pre-installed (Vista simply wouldn't run effectively on such a low-spec machine). That makes the $99 ... (view more)

Trivia time: which was the first U.S. city to offer area-wide broadband access? We now have an answer for you -- Baltimore, Maryland. When visiting the storied metropolis you won't need to be on the lookout for "WiFi available here" signs anymore, ... because the entire city has become one enormous hot spot. Mobile WiFi is a fourth-generation (4G) wireless technology also known as WiMax, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Wireless telecommunications giant Sprint has teamed with Seattle-based carrier Clearwire to offer WiMax service to thousands of potential consumers. ... (view more)

Telecommunications reforms could bring broadband service to even more American rural areas, but there are fears the changes could also mean nationwide increases in phone charges. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to two ... existing systems: one, the 'intercarrier compensation' scheme, governs how telephone companies split the call revenues when one firm's customer phones somebody in another firm's region. The other is the Universal Service Fund, under which a portion of long-distance phone call revenues is used to pay some of the costs of phone and Internet services in ... (view more)

Google has said sorry to users of its Gmail service after they were left without access to their emails for almost two hours early last week. The firm made a rare apology on its official blog after the outage, saying "The issue was caused by a ... temporary outage in our contacts system that was preventing Gmail from loading properly." (Source: blogspot.com ) There has been some speculation the problem may be connected with a recent change to Gmail's contacts system, designed to separate contacts users have manually added from those which are created automatically when you send or receive a ... (view more)

Delta Airlines is the latest airline to announce plans to offer WiFi Internet service on its domestic flights. The new service will allow laptops, smartphones and other handheld devices to access the Internet while en route. Delta will charge a flat ... $9.95 for short flights of 3 hours or less and $12.95 for longer flights. Internet WiFi service will begin initially with Delta's fleet of MD80-type aircraft and expand throughout its entire fleet by the end of summer 2009. (Source: nytimes.com ) With the pressure of rising fuel costs, new airline revenue opportunities have gained momentum. Delta ... (view more)

There have been times in our lives when we have had to make important phone calls that we would much rather avoid. In these instances (and in-between whispering to ourselves "please don't pick up") we anticipate the salvation that comes when hearing ... the beep of an answering machine, signaling that an unwanted conversation has just been avoided. Wouldn't it be great if we could jump straight to the answering machine without having to wait out the seemingly endless ringing period? Now thanks to Slydial, unwanted phone conversations are a thing of the past. Slydial is an emergent technology that ... (view more)