It's Thursday August 5th, I'm Jeff Bakalar and it's time to get Loaded.
ACCORDING TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, GOOGLE AND VERIZON ARE CLOSE TO AN AGREEMENT THAT WOULD ALLOW FOR GOOGLE'S CONTENT PROVIDERS TO DELIVER SERVICES MUCH QUICKER. THE CATCH? THESE COMPANIES WILL HAVE TO PAY A FEE FOR SUCH PRIVILEGES WHICH ULTIMATELY MEANS CONSUMERS COULD SEE HIKES IN THEIR INTERNET CHARGES. OF COURSE THIS CERTAINLY DISHES A BIG BLOW TO THE CONCEPT OF NET NEUTRALITY--A BIT UPSETTING TO SEE THAT GOOGLE IS PART OF SUCH AN INITIATIVE.
IN MORE GOOGLE NEWS, GOOGLE WAVE, THE NEXT-GENERATION COMMUNICATIONS PLATFORM THAT WAS MEANT TO REPLACE E-MAIL, INSTANT MESSAGING, WHITE BOARDS AND WIKIS, IS SHUTTING DOWN. THE SERVICE WAS A REAL-TIME, CHARACTER-BY-CHARACTER MESSAGING SYSTEM, THAT--IN REALITY--MOST PEOPLE DIDN'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND. IN A BLOG POST, GOOGLE SAYS THAT ALTHOUGH THE COMPANY WAS EXCITED ABOUT IT INTERNALLY, THE PRODUCT DID NOT HAVE THE USER ADOPTION THAT GOOGLE WANTED. THE COMPANY DOES SAY THAT THE TECHNOLOGY MAY STILL FIND ITS WAY INTO OTHER PRODUCTS AND PORTIONS OF IT ARE OPEN SOURCE.
THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND INTEL HAVE ANNOUNCED THEY HAVE REACHED A PRELIMINARY SETTLEMENT IN THEIR ANTI-COMPETITIVE CASE. THE SETTLEMENT PREVENTS INTEL FROM ENTERING CONTRACTS THAT REWARD CUSTOMERS THAT ONLY PURCHASE INTEL CHIPS OR PUNISH OTHERS THAT BUY CHIPS FROM INTEL'S COMPETITORS. THE AGREEMENT ALSO REQUIRES THAT INTEL MAINTAIN P-C-I EXPRESS AS A WAY FOR GRAPHICS COMPETITORS TO INTERFACE WITH INTEL CHIPS FOR THE NEXT 6 YEARS.
IN MORE I-PHONE JAILBREAK NEWS, APPLE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT IS READYING A SECURITY FIX FOR THE BROWSER FLAW THAT ALLOWED JAILBREAKME.COM TO EASILY COMPROMISE I-PHONES. NO WORD YET ON WHEN THE PATCH WILL BE RELEASED, BUT EXPECT IT SOON BECAUSE THE I-PHONE DEV TEAM HAS ANNOUNCED THAT A NEW VERSION OF THE CARRIER UNLOCK TOOL "ULTRASNOW" IS NOW AVAILABLE. ULTRASNOW IN CONJUNCTION WITH A JAILBROKEN I-PHONE WILL ALLOW USERS TO UNLOCK THEIR PHONES WITH NON-APPROVED CARRIERS.
THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY. I'M JEFF BAKALAR FOR CNET.COM, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.
