Aug. 10, 2007
AT&T drops Pearl Jam
Bit Player
Jon Healey discusses Hollywood’s love hate relationship with high tech.
”In a prominent nod to one of the festival’s lead sponsors, the logo for this year’s Lollapalooza concerts in Chicago includes the tag line, “delivered by AT&T.” But Sunday’s headliner Pearl Jam complained that AT&T delivered less than the band’s full performance during its Lollapalooza webcast. The powerhouse telco turned off the audio during the song “Daughter” while singer Eddie Vedder was railing against President George Bush. That bit of censorship — which AT&T says was a mistake — gave a bit of fuel to the forces arguing for “Net neutrality” regulations.”
Mobility supports smoking ban
Tech Dirt
Suddenly mobile phone operators are big supporters of the smoking ban.
“If you suddenly start hearing stories about mobile phone operators being big supporters of bans on smoking, perhaps a new report is the reason why. Apparently, telcos in the UK are noticing a recent surge in text messaging, which they attribute to a new ban on smoking in confined spaces. The working theory is that smokers need something to do with their hands to keep them busy, and that texting is taking up that free time, now that they can’t smoke. It’s as good a theory as any, but it seems unlikely to have a very long term impact.”
VoIP start up Frings
Tech Crunch
Israeli-based VOIP start-up Fring has closed an estimated $12 million second round, led by US VC fund North Bridge Venture Partners.
“Welcome. Welcome to a brand new day.” A day, that is, without Cisco’s Fring is a mobile application for Windows and Symbian phones that uses VOIP to make cheap/free mobile calls and instant message. Unlike Jajah, but like Truphone, Fring sends calls and chats over Wi-Fi internet access or your 3G or GPRS Internet data plan. Like Skype, users are charged a nominal fee to call standard phone lines. However, calls made to other internet phones are free. Fring connects to standard phones, other SIP based VOIP clients, and chat applications (Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, and even Twitter).”
