.XXX Domain Green Lit After Protests

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After much delay–and plenty of controversy–the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has finally given the go-ahead to the .XXX top-level domain for porn sites. The proposed TLD has seen protest from pretty much every side, from politicians, to conservative groups like the Family Research Council, to porn site owners, to free speech advocates like the Free Speech Coalition.

In fact, a strong opposition to the proposal may be the one thing that all of those groups have in common. Of course, they’ve all expressed very different reasons for coming out against it. The Family Research Council was worried that it would help porn sites “expand their evil empires on the Internet.” The porn industry on the other hand, was worried that it would curb its free speech rights, perhaps leading to something of a ghettoization of the adult industry. 
Stuart Lawley, CEO of the ICM Registry–the organization tasked with reviewing the newly created domains–argued that the .XXX domain will help better regulate porn sites. “At the moment, the consumer has no way of knowing who is operating to good standards or has viruses. This new domain allows webmasters to associate with best business practices.”
Registration for the domains will be limited to sites with adult content. 

IBM settles with SEC, pays $10 million for accusations of bribery

IBM settles with SEC, pays $10 million for accusations of bribery

Hey, look, it’s a major international corporation getting in trouble for bribery, and it isn’t Samsung! This time it’s home grown Big Blue, choosing to settle with SEC over allegations that its employees have spent the last 15 years or so illegally bribing and wooing foreign officials to score themselves bigger contracts. This includes $207,000 in cash bribes paid to South Korean representatives between 1998 and 2003 plus more in the form of gifts and trips to those willing and able to sign over big contracts, even paying for the personal vacations of Chinese officials. Ultimately $10 million is little more than a slap on the wrist for a company the size of IBM, which has not admitted fault and now will never have to, but we were glad to see that Watson has not been implicated in any of these nefarious misdeeds. His record remains squeaky clean.

IBM settles with SEC, pays $10 million for accusations of bribery originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe Wall Street Journal  | Email this | Comments

Groupon Kicks Ad Agency When It’s Down

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I’m sure that the folks at Crispin Porter + Bogusky would happily tell you that there’s no such thing as bad press, but by most accounts, it’s shaping up to be a rough couple of weeks for the ad agency. Last week, Burger King dumped the company after a seven year partnership, opting to manage its own advertising “until we have a new agency in place.”

Groupon is calling out CP+B as well, after the dust has cleared on those controversial ads, which led to accusations that the deal site was making light of the situation in Tibet. In a recent interview, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason berated himself for investing too much in the agency’s mission “to be edgy, informative and entertaining, and we turned off the part of our brain where we should have made our own decisions. We learned that you can’t rely on anyone else to control and maintain your own brand.”
As Ad Age points out, Mason was quick to defend the agency after the Superbowl. Mason again, “The firm that conceived the ad, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, strives to draw attention to the cultural tensions created by brands. When they created this Hulu ad, they highlighted the idea that TV rots your brain, making fun of Hulu. Our ads highlight the often trivial nature of stuff on Groupon when juxtaposed against bigger world issues, making fun of Groupon.”
Groupon pulled the ads from YouTube after the protests, but here’s a story from February on the subject, for those who need a crash course. 

AT&T launches HTC HD7S with WP7 and LG’s 3D-enabled Thrill 4G Android phone

Who says CTIA is going to be overshadowed by news that actually broke prior to the event starting? Okay, so it’s entirely possible that the AT&T / T-Mobile buzz will be impossible to ignore here in Orlando, but that’s not stopping Ma Bell from rolling out two new (er, rebadged) handsets for those looking for iPhone alternatives. First up is the LG Thrill 4G (available in the “coming months”), an unpriced 4.3-inch superphone that features a glasses-free 3D display, dual 5-megapixel stereoscopic camera, 16GB of preloaded memory (8GB onboard, 8GB microSD card), access to Google’s Android Market and a special 3D marketplace coined LG 3D Space. The camera’s capable to snagging video clips at 1080p when shooting 2D, or 720p when opting for 3D. You’ll also get a dual-core 1GHz processor, HDMI output, DLNA streaming support and pretty much anything else you’d expect to find in a run-of-the-mill Optimus 3D — you know, considering this is that very phone, albeit with an AT&T logo on it.

Moving on, there’s the HTC HD7S, which is essentially an AT&Tified version of the HD7 that has been on T-Mobile USA for quite some time now. In other words, you’ll get a 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD, 1GHz CPU, 5-megapixel camera, Windows Phone 7 (with copy and paste functionality baked right in) and a preloaded U-Verse Mobile application that enables “qualifying AT&T U-verse customers to download and watch TV shows” so long as they pony up an extra $9.99 per month. AT&T claims that its version of the HD7 will be the first in the US with an “improved Super LCD display,” but as with the Thrill 4G above, no specific pricing is mentioned. That said, it should be popping up online and in retail locations “within the coming weeks,” so you shouldn’t have to wait too terribly long for those details to emerge.

Continue reading AT&T launches HTC HD7S with WP7 and LG’s 3D-enabled Thrill 4G Android phone

AT&T launches HTC HD7S with WP7 and LG’s 3D-enabled Thrill 4G Android phone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAT&T (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

Study: Verizon fastest among 4G networks

Comparing so-called 4G performance among phones from AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon, RootMetrics finds Verizon’s LTE Thunderbolt to be fastest and most reliable.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Google: China Hacking Gmail

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According to Google, the Chinese government has hacked Gmail over fears of a “jasmine revolution” inspired by string of anti-governmental protests across the Middle East. Users and advertisers alike have complained about usage problems with the popular Webmail service, making it difficult to send messages, mark messages as read, and use other features.

Google insists that there’s are no issues with the service on its end. Said a Google spokesman, “Relating to Google there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.”
This isn’t the first that Google has claimed to have been attacked by the Chinese government. In January of last year, the search giant revealed findings that the government had hacked its services in an attempt to find evidence of human rights activists in that country. 
The Chinese government is apparently looking to cut out the middle man altogether. Late last month, it launched search engine Panguso through state run China Mobile Ltd. 

Nintendo Virtual Boy review

Nintendo Virtual Boy review

The 3DS is not Nintendo’s first foray into the world of 3D gaming. In fact, it’s not even the company’s second. First up was a 3D headset for the good ‘ol Famicom (NES in the US), but that never saw American shores and it wasn’t anything more fancy than a set of active shutter glasses anyway — the same sort HDTV manufacturers are trying to sell you today. However, the company’s second 3D offering did make it to the US, where it landed with a spectacular thud.

It was the Virtual Boy, a 32-bit portable console powered by six whole AA batteries and remembered by many for its ability to inspire more headaches than excitement in the gamers who tried it. It was released in the US in August of 1995 for $180 and was discontinued less than a year later. With the 3DS sitting now in back rooms of videogame and electronics stores nation-wide, waiting to spring into availability on March 27th, we thought this would be a good time to look back and give the Virtual Boy the full review it has always deserved but has never received.

Continue reading Nintendo Virtual Boy review

Nintendo Virtual Boy review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T Buying T-Mobile

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AT&T-Mobile? They’ll have plenty of time to figure out what to name the new company as this deal moves through court (though, to be totally honest, I’d imagine the T-Mobile name would really stick around). Odds are that the government will be keeping a pretty tight eye on AT&T’s bid to buy T-Mobile–the combination of two of the big four wireless carriers is the sort of thing that immediate raises antitrust concerns everywhere.

Just ahead of CTIA, AT&T unveiled its plans to buy T-Mobile for a combo of stock and cash valued at around $39 billion. Both companies have reportedly green lit the acquisition. AT&T, it seems, is certainly aware of the aforementioned  concerns, using the opportunity to let it be known why it thinks the government should be totally psyched about such a merger between two telecom giants. Said AT&T CTO Randall Stephenson,
This transaction represents a major commitment to strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation’s future. It will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people. Mobile broadband networks drive economic opportunity everywhere, and they enable the expanding high-tech ecosystem that includes device makers, cloud and content providers, app developers, customers, and more. During the past few years, America’s high-tech industry has delivered innovation at unprecedented speed, and this combination will accelerate its continued growth.
For the sake of further preemption, the company added in the press release, “The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market.”

Accused Polygamist Busted Over Facebook Pics

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Tales of people getting fired from their job, broken up with, and passed over for work due to online content are as old as social networks themselves. This, however, may well be the first polygamist marriage busted via Facebook. So we’ve decided it needs a good nickname. How about “Big Like?”

Kody Brown, a 34-year-old Michigan resident, was busted on charges of polygamy after images from his second marriage discovered on Facebook. The images were discovered by Adina Quarto, Brown’s first (and still current) wife. After Brown unfriended Quarto before marrying his second wife in July of last year, images of the second marriage started popping up on the site.

“I didn’t think he deserved to get away with it,” Quarto told the press. “I’m not a bitter person and I’m not trying to destroy the guy. If he wants to start a new life, more power to him, but he got married when he shouldn’t have gotten married.”

As for Brown’s second wife? She’s reportedly “absolutely shocked” by the news.

Two-year-old masters the iPad

Videos of toddlers using the iPad are popping up on YouTube, with one popular one showing a particular adept 2-year-old, Bridger Wilson, navigating Apple’s slate with disconcerting ease.