Telstra, the former state-owned phone company, has spent the last three years building out a so-called “Next G” network, which currently boasts download speeds of more than 14 megabits per second. The network is, at its peak, about seven times faster than top speeds frequently reported by users of wireless modems on U.S. third generation, or 3G, networks.
As a result, average Australian consumers are able to avail themselves of the high-bandwidth wireless services - streaming wireless video or video chat on cell phones, say - most commonly associated with Japan and Korea, two countries that traditionally have been on the cutting edge of wireless services.
Posted in Cell Phones, Wireless |
|
No Comments »
Microsoft has applied for a patent on metered, pay-as-you-go computing. The application details Microsoft’s vision of a situation where a standard PC is given away or heavily subsidized. The consumer then pays to use the computer, with charges based on length of usage time and performance levels.
Microsoft notes in the application that the end user could end up paying more for the computer, compared with the one-off cost entailed in the existing PC business model, but argues the user would benefit by having a PC with an extended “useful life.”
Posted in Microsoft |
|
No Comments »
A family facing foreclosure is anything but a unique story in these troubled economic times. But for the Sampsons of Aberdeen, Maryland, the kindness of strangers — boosted by the Internet — made for a happy holiday.
With no job, no car and no income, and facing foreclosure unless they could come up with $10,000 in two weeks, the family turned to one of her oldest friends, Jaki Grier, for help. A self-described geek, Grier started blogging years ago. Since then, she’s contributed to a magazine’s Web site and regularly posts thoughts and life happenings on her LiveJournal page. So, she published the Sampsons’s story, along with a link where people could make a donation.
Posted in Blogging |
|
No Comments »