I continue to think of my iPhone not as a phone but as a personal computer. Which is why I continue to be so nonplussed about Apple’s barring of some applications on the grounds that they compete with its own apps, and others at (reportedly) the behest of AT&T.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
AT&T said Monday that its weekend block of 4chan was due to an attack on one of its customers and not because of the popular site’s content.
In a statement, the telecommunications provider said that a business customer, which it declined to name, was the target of a denial-of-service attack on Friday.
by Vishesh Kumar, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Comcast is now on the iPhone bandwagon. On Thursday, Comcast, the largest cable operator in the U.S. by subscribers, announced a free application for the Apple device that lets customers check their Comcast email and home voice mail as well as surf their TV schedules.
by Marisa Taylor, Tech Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The hacking of Twitter CEO Evan Williams’s email account has sparked an ethics debate after TechCrunch said that it would publish some of the confidential documents that the hacker leaked.
Videogames often get criticized as a waste of time, but tech companies are using them to solve complex business problems. So-called “serious” games can help businesses understand what their customers need, spark ideas and make key product decisions.
by Judy Shapiro, Contributing Writer, Advertising Age
I’m an ex-AT&T “Bell head,” so anything telecom always gets my special attention. When I saw the Google Voice re-announcement recently, I couldn’t help wondering, “Huh, what’s up with that? How does this fit into Google’s core business?” Mostly, though, I was interested in understanding why this and why now.
For most people (including me), privacy policies fall into the same category as “terms of service” documents–they contain important information, but are usually so long and impenetrably written that they’re not worth the effort of reading.
If you ask Apple or AT&T how much the iPhone 3G S costs, they’ll emphasize two prices: $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB one, as Apple does here.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
For many quarters now, telco giants Verizon and AT&T have suffered sharp declines in the residential wireline business, but have been bailed out by the rapid growth of their wireless businesses.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Qwest plans to announce a new wireless Internet offering that lets broadband customers access AT&T hotspots around the country.
The deal, whose terms are undisclosed, gives Qwest customers free use of some 17,000 wireless areas on AT&T’s network, including locations at Starbucks and McDonald’s.
by Marisa Taylor, Tech Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Mobile gamers, the jig is up–-now we know what you were really up to during that conference call.
In a survey of 1,100 AT&T wireless customers, 57 percent said that they play games on their mobile devices, and half those gamers admitted to playing during work hours.
Apple and Verizon are in talks for the carrier to distribute an “iPhone-lite” device and a “media pad,” with one of the devices to be launched sometime this summer, BusinessWeek is reporting.
by Jason Perlow, Senior Technology Editor, Linux Magazine, Contributor, ZDNet.com, Tech Broiler
At the beginning of the year, I was informed I was no longer able to expense my AT&T CallVantage Voice Over IP service or my monthly broadband charges as part of my employer’s efforts to reduce costs.
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