verizon

Skydeck's cool mobile phone book site being undone by its CEO

Skydeck makes a very cool product, but it is destined for smallness.

The product: It's a service the mobile phone carriers can use to make their Web pages actually useful for their customers. Instead of just showing a bunch of marketing pitches and the minutiae of the customer's bill, a Skydeck-powered site shows phone users who they talk to, either in chronological order or by frequency, and in an extremely comprehensible format. For users whose phones have the necessary software enabled (SyncML), it will also let them manage their phone address books.

Add-ons for social-network sites let users … Read more

LG Decoy launches on Verizon Wireless

The LG Decoy, which we mentioned last week, is now officially available from Verizon Wireless. If you'll recall, the Decoy is the first-ever handset with a stowaway built-in Bluetooth headset in the back. It's a slider phone, with a 2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, stereo Bluetooth, an MP3 player, EV-DO support, and access to Verizon's V Cast broadband services. The Decoy is priced at $179.99 with a two-year service agreement and a $50 discount.

Buzz Out Loud 746: Cast out the Flash demon

On today's episode, Molly issues a blanket un-curse to all who have suddenly discovered that Firefox has trouble with Flash. (But really, it's Firefox's fault.) Also, the Associated Press volunteers to tackle the thorny issue of defining fair use for all of us, and yet the blogosphere insists on painting it as some sort of heavy-handed attempt to lock down their own content and dictate rules that they have no legal authority to tackle. How rude.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 746 Episode 746

Verizon blocks access to whole USENET hierarchy http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080616-alt-blocked-verizon-blocks-access-to-whole-usenet-hierarchy.html … Read more

Verizon: Drop your landline, get a discount

Ditching that old-school landline could pay off.

Verizon Communications says it will offer discounts to landline-free wireless customers who combine Internet or TV service from the company. The discounts will range from $8 to $21 a month, depending on the wireless package.

The Associated Press reports that Verizon will introduce the Flex Double Play bundle starting next week for those who combine a Verizon Wireless plan with broadband or Fios TV, the company's cable TV service.

The discount applies to DSL service with downloads at 3 megabits per second, and to Fios (fiber-optic) broadband at up to 20Mbps, the … Read more

The Nokia 6205 launches on Verizon Wireless

Nokia just launched a pretty decent midrange phone for Verizon, dubbed the Nokia 6205. The 6205 is one of the very few CDMA phones Nokia has launched here in the U.S. It comes with a decent array of features, like a 1.3-megapixel camera, EV-DO, voice dialing, a microSD card slot, video messaging, 58MB internal memory, external music player keys, and more. The 6205 will be available in two flavors; a simple blue version, plus a special black "The Dark Knight" edition to coincide with the movie of the same name. The "Dark Knight" edition … Read more

Verizon offering speedy DSL to more customers

Verizon's 7-megabits-per-second DSL service is now available to over 3 million of its customers, the company said Thursday.

The service, which was announced in January, was initially only available to about 400,000 homes, in roughly 400 communities. But the company has been upgrading service and ramping up speeds in parts of 20 states and the District of Columbia. Customers interested in getting the higher-speed service should check the Verizon Web site to see if the faster speed service is available in their area. In many places the fastest DSL speeds available are still only 3Mbps.

The new service … Read more

Palm Centro heads to Verizon Wireless

It's not quite the Palm Treo 850 or Treo 800w news we were hoping for, but we're sure Verizon Wireless customers will still be happy to hear that they'll be able to get their hands on a Palm Centro starting Friday, June 13. Like the AT&T and Sprint models, Verizon's version of the entry-level smartphone will carry the same affordable price tag of $99 (with a two-year contract) and comes in a cobalt blue color.

Details are still trickling in as far as what the Verizon Palm Centro will include (Palm was finalizing the … Read more

Reports examine causes, victims of data breaches

On Wednesday, Verizon Business released a four-year study concluding that 9 out of 10 corporate data breaches could have been prevented, had appropriate security measures been taken. The Verizon report includes the results of more than 500 forensic investigations, including three of the largest data breaches ever reported.

Meanwhile, the Identity Theft Resource Center released its 2007 report on identity theft, offering comparisons to data it's collected over the last five years.

Verizon found that 73 percent of the data breaches were the result of outside sources, with only 18 percent from insider threats. Of the outside sources, 39 … Read more

News.com Daily Podcast: Restoring an American film classic

Amazon.com suffers an outage, and Warner Bros. gives a digital makeover to The Godfather. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Six years ago, Warner Bros. developed digital technologies to make copies of damaged or decaying film negatives and return the movies to their original viewing quality. But the latest project came with added pressure: director Francis Ford Coppola looking over technicians' shoulders as they digitally remastered his masterwork, The Godfather. CNET News.com's Greg Sandoval tells intern Holly Jackson the story of the painstaking restoration process.

Also in today's podcast: Carl Icahn names his price for Yahoo; … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 740: iTunes bombing

How to get to the top of the iTunes podcast list--we think. We'll let you know Monday. Also, breaking news! Amazon goes down midshow! Was it something we said? In other news, we attempt to solve issues of global hypercapitalism, the growth imperative, and their inevitable consumer-unfriendly consequences. Plus, we find out why you have to go through voicemail hell when you call customer support, and the answer makes us lose our ever-loving minds. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 740

ISP secretly added spy code To Web sessions, crashing browsers http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/isp-spying-made.html … Read more