Digital Trends
Online mega-retailer Amazon.com has announced a deal to acquire online footwear retailer Zappos.com in a deal worth upwards of $850 million—although the exact amount depends on Amazon’s stock valuation when the deal closes. Under the deal, Amazon is buying up all Zappos stock in exchange for 10 million shares of Amazon.com stock, plus $40 million in cash and restricted stock units. The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2009.
Clearwire has officially launched its Clear-branded 4G WiMax mobile broadband service in Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the company’s fourth major WiMax service area following Baltimore, Portland Oregon, and Atlanta. Clearwire says the Las Vegas service area covers about 1.7 million people over 638 square miles.
“Wile it’s true that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, now, thanks to Clear, that doesn’t mean it has to stay in one place,” said Jeremy Abler, General Manager of Las Vegas market for Clearwire. “Clear will bring to Las Vegas residents the super-fast mobile internet experience they’re used to having at home or the office, anywhere around town, or on the go.”
At the SyScan security conference being held in Singapore this week, Macintosh security expert Charlie Miller has outlined an SMS-based vulnerability in the Apple iPhone that could let attackers listen in on calls, access the GPS unit to locate the phone, execute arbitrary programs, and even let the phone participate in distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks against other Internet sites via the Internet.
Miller didn’t go into significant detail on the exploit, although he planned to discuss the possible attack in greater detail at the Black Hat security conference later this month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Apple is expected to offer a patch for the vulnerability before then.
Computer maker Dell has agreed to pay some $3.35 million to settle 34 states’ allegations that the company’s warranty, financing, and rebate offers were deceptive and misled consumers. The agreement has Dell paying $1.5 million into a restitution account; impacted consumers will be able to submit claims for compensation. The other $1.85 million will go towards the states’ legal costs.
“More than the money, this agreement provides profoundly important business practice reforms,” said Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, in a statement. “No more bait-and-switch financing—offers touting zero-interest that become surprise high-interest charges or astounding late penalties. Our strong coalition of states will closely monitor and enforce this agreement, which has been reached with Dell’s cooperation.”
Las Vegas is itself a symbol of hope, blooming in the dry Nevada desert. But as the credit crunch continues to bite hard, the Consumers Electronics Show 2009 promises to shine bright among the economic blight.
Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Electronics Association that stages CES, told the BBC:
"It will be a bright spot compared to the uncertainty in the rest of the economy."
Some 130,000 people are expected to attend, down 10,000 over last year, but still an impressive figure. Over 2,700 companies have paid to be exhibitors in the 1.7 million square feet of space CES will occupy – although later today will see how many show up.
First came Comcast, and now AT&T has announced plans to impose limits on the data use of its customers. In a filing with the FCC the company said:
“AT&T plans to initiate a broadband Internet access usage trial in Reno, Nevada beginning in November.”
“AT&T will be providing written notice to customers involved in the trial explaining that their broadband service will be subject to a certain monthly usage tier for the total amount of data they may send and receive, as well as a per gigabyte charge in the event they exceed the usage tier.”
Telecommunications operator AT&T has announced it will begin selling its U-verse broadband Internet and digital video service through retailers Circuit City and Walmart beginning this month. The offerings will be available in more than 600 retail locations in and near neighborhoods where U-verse services are available: right now, that includes regions of Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin, although AT&T plans to expand the offering to other locations in the future.
U.S. wireless operator T-Mobile has announced that it has activated 3G wireless service in Las Vegas, Nevada, and plans to roll out 3G service to at least 20 more markets by the end of 2008. 3G mobile services are increasingly important to data-intensive applications and Internet services used by both business-oriented smartphones and media-savvy mobile phones, as well as location-based services like mapping, guides, and social networking tools.
The announcement follows up on T-Mobile activating 3G service in New York City back in May. At the time, T-Mobile promised 3G service in 20 to 25 additional markets by the end of 2008.
Motorola might have rolled out the MOTOKRZR way back in mid-2006 when it was trying to capitalize on the starting-to-wane popularity of its RAZR phones. But Boost Mobile thinks now is the “perfect time” to add the flip phone to its lineup—specifically, its Unlimited by Boost offering available at wireless retailers as well as locations like Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, and Sprint retail stores (Boost is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint.)
“Now is the perfect time for us to introduce the popular MOTOKRZR to our Unlimited by Boost handset lineup,” said Boost’s VP of product development Neil Lindsay, in a statement. “We doubled our base from 224,000 to 500,000 Unlimited by Boost customers in Q4 alone, and introducing this feature-rich handset will help us keep the momentum going.”
Racing fans who can’t seem to get enough of their speed fix on computers and consoles will soon have a new option with the release of Need for Speed ProStreet for PlayStation Portable. Electronic Arts announced on Monday that its upcoming title will ship to retailers on Friday, Feb. 22.
The PSP version of ProStreet will offer a similar experience to the original game, which was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC back in November. Players climb behind the wheel of stock automobiles in a racetrack environment and attempt to climb to the top of the circuit by winning races, unlocking new tracks, buying new cars, and customizing them.
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