Ars Technica
Verizon employees fired after peeping Obama cell records
Several Verizon Wireless employees have been suspended after the company learned that some had accessed Barack Obama's cell phone records without authorization. Whether they'll face criminal charges is not clear.
Google may offer Chrome detailing on new PCs
Google has big plans for Chrome, and they don't involve keeping the browser in a perpetual beta twilight. The search giant intends to seize a significant chunk of the browser market in 2009, and could offer competition the likes of which Internet Explorer has never faced.
Inaction on disconnect pleas at root of Aussie ISP lawsuit
Major movie studios aren't happy that Australian ISP iiNet won't disconnect users after receiving evidence that they have been sharing movies over BitTorrent. iiNet doesn't want to play traffic cop, but Australian law does demand it have (and act on) a disconnection policy for copyright infringers.
Coupons, Inc. drops DMCA lawsuit against coupon hacker
A copyright lawsuit against a man who posted instructions on how to print unlimited coupons online has finally been dropped after he argued that he didn't circumvent anyone's copyright protection in order to produce his "hack."
Lots to like about new iPhone 2.2 software update
Apple released iPhone OS 2.2 last night, the latest update for the iPhone and iPod touch. A number of new features and fixes have arrived across the board, making this a must-have update.
Beer, nachos, and broken street dates: 7-Eleven game sales
7-Eleven is getting into the gaming business by offering a small selection of big-name console and PC games. With broken street dates and easily fenced goods being kept in stores, the business may be more trouble than it's worth. Ars talks about the challenge of selling games in a convenience store.
Virtual appliances made easy with rBuilder
Software appliance tools maker rPath has added CentOS and Ubuntu support to rBuilder, its web-based software appliance constructor.
Microsoft to aid in war on terror, builds software for DHS
Microsoft has joined forces with GIS vendor ESRI to build a suite of collaboration tools for intelligence gathering and processing. This software will be used by the Department of Homeland Security's fusion centers.
Sony gets $18.5M wrist slap for PSP patent infringement
Sony has been found guilty of willfully infringing Agere System's patents; several of the company's devices, including the PSP, use Agere's IP. Call it a victory on principle—Sony won't be losing any sleep over an $18.5 million fine.
An outlet at every parking meter? Bay Area welcomes plug-ins
Gov. Schwarzenegger and several Bay Area mayors have joined forces with start up Better Place to transform California into an electric vehicle wonderland.
Study: time kids spend online not wasted after all
A large survey of studies that explore the use of the Internet by children in the second decade of their lives find that, in general, it's acting as just another social tool, while providing them new outlets for learning and creativity.
HP launches Touchsmart tx2, hopes to flip tablet PC market
HP's newest tablet launched yesterday, with a combination of features and capabilities that might breathe new life into a product segment that's languished in niche status for nearly a decade. With multitouch rapidly ascending the list of desired features on both laptops and cell phones, Tablet PCs might finally have their day in the sun.
Roll your own search results with Google's new SearchWiki
Google's SearchWiki—the feature that allows people to annotate, add, delete, and move around search results—will soon be available to all users logged in with a Google account. The company's not sure yet what it plans to actually do with the data, though.
Brightkite aggregates location content for businesses, fun
Location may be the next holy grail for social networking, and plenty of startups are already chasing it. Brightkite, a location-based social network focused on meeting friends and making new ones, has just introduced a new way to show off what everyone is doing in a particular location. Businesses, meet location-based social networks.
High-definition videos sneaking onto YouTube
YouTube is experimenting with high-definition videos on its site, and you can access the capability using a handy URL trick. If YouTube manages to score enough movie and TV content from its owners, then it might eventually give Hulu some competition.
Yahoo introduces "Glue" visual search
Yahoo Glue combines search results into a single visual page. Ars takes a quick peek at this new service.
EU opens digital library to public with over 2 million works
The EU has finally launched Europeana, a digital online library that hosts more than 2 million books, maps, recordings, photographs, paintings, and documents from cultural institutions in its 27 member states. The EU hopes to have 8 million more works added by 2010.
Google to shut down Lively, its interactive 3D world
Google launched its Lively project in July as a customizable, interactive world that website owners could us to foster a new kind of interactivity with their visitors. Lively never received much adoption for a variety of reasons, though, and Google says it will shut down the service at the end of 2008.
Canadian regulators allow P2P throttling
Canada's telecom regulator won't stop Bell Canada from throttling P2P traffic on its retail and wholesale Internet services, but it will launch an entirely new inquiry into the big questions surrounding traffic management and network neutrality.
