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>> Google get's called out about Net neutrality. Lenovo launches an Android phone and Estonia is way ahead of us when it comes to online voting. It's Monday, December 15, I'm Natali Del Conte and it's time to get Loaded.
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>> Google may not want the Internet to be quite so neutral. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Google approached cable and phone companies with a proposal to get their content speeded up. This is being referred to as a Fast Lane whereby Google's content gets faster delivery over any given ISP. Google said on this public policy blog that they still do support Net neutrality, a concept that no content should be prioritized on the Internet. They say that their request pertains to edge caching or basically the way that data is being held up while it's loaded. They say that their proposal involves working to speed up cache times and co-locate their servers rather than asking for content prioritization. They also say that they wouldn't oppose any other company making similar agreements. Gmail now has a native PDF viewer. This will save you the hassle of downloading an attachment PDF if someone e-mails one to you. Now, you just click View and the document will open inside your browser complete with graphics, formatting and all. Google Docs already has a PDF viewer. The viewer for Gmail is one and the same. Of course you can still download documents if you want to, as well as view them in HTML format. The Obama camp has launched another iPhone application. This one is for Change.gov instead of Obama's campaign. It has a news feed, links to the Obama team and links to books about Obama and his administration on Amazon. The main Change.gov page also got a new feature last week. It let's users submit questions and then vote on the questions that they most want answered. The tool is called Open for Questions and the Obama team said that they would address and answer these questions on a regular basis. Our parent company CBS has started to stream select games from the 2008, 2009 SCC College Basketball live on CBS Sports.com. Coverage started on Saturday and will continue until the championship game on March 15. The streaming is free and will be offered in 16 by 9 but not HD. After this series, CBS will launch March Madness On Demand, which is a huge deal for CBS Sports and the bane of every IT administrator in the country. One thing I'm hoping to see at CES in a few weeks is the Garmin Nuviphone. It has been almost a year since it was announced and I think it's high time we see some hardware. Engadget is reporting that the phone code named 'Calf' got FCC approval. The phone is apparently being manufactured by Asus, which I just learned is the correct pronunciation. The phone is due out in the first quarter of 2009. Apple has loosened the reigns on the iPhone. You can now order the device online through AT&T and activate it at home. Previously you could purchase the device online, but couldn't actually get it to work without physically going into an AT&T or an Apple store. They're hoping that this will help their holiday sales. Another way to get someone an iPhone this year is an iPhone gift card. It's not very practical to sign someone else up for a cell phone plan because of monthly billing and all, but you can get someone a gift card for an iPhone that looks like this. In iPhone competitor news, Lenovo has launched an Android phone that's quite the looker. Unfortunately no one outside of China will ever see it. The OPhone will be China's first open mobile phone and it will of course be 3G. I completely blew off sending out holiday cards this year. If you were flaky like me you can always try YouTube. The company launched a custom video greeting page for the second year in a row. You can use a standard video or create your own. You can also frame it in any number of holiday themes, add 230 characters of text and send it to up to 25 people. It may sound like the lazy way to send out your holiday cheer, but at least it's cheap and eco-friendly. Delta is the next airline to jump on the Internet service bandwagon. The airline will start offering in-flight Wi-Fi through aircell on Tuesday. Aircell is the same company that's powering broadband on Jet Blue, American and Virgin America. Passengers will be asked to pay $9.95 per connectivity during flights of less than 3 hours and $12.95 on flights more than 3 hours. Last year Estonia let its citizens vote in the national election from the comforts of their very own computer. Now they're taking that convenience one step further and letting citizens vote from their mobile device. Starting in 2011 the mobile voting system will require citizens to get an authorization chip installed in their device. This chip will verify their identity and authorize participation in the election. Of course someone else could always vote from your phone, but that's just another form of voter fraud, which every country faces. I'm jealous. I do want the U.S. to move to an online voting system. I know there are security concerns, but I still believe it's worth the risk. Feel free to take me to task on this one write in at loaded@cnet.com. If it's not safe to drive while text messaging, could it be any safer to drive while working out? Wired Magazine published a story about a Gym Car this weekend. It looks like the Batmobile on the outside. On the inside it has a step machine, rowing machine, bench press, pull up stimulator and weights. The energy you put in to your work out will be converted into battery energy for the car. This is of course just a concept, but one of the silliest I've seen in awhile. I mean I know all the women magazines tell you to do butt squeezes while you're driving to tone up your back side, but this is just taking that concept to a whole other level. Those are all your headlines for today, but I will see you tomorrow. Thank you for watching. I'm Natali Del Conte with CNET TV and you've just been Loaded.
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