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AP Technology NewsBrief at 2:25 p.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Best-laid plans: Media beat Obama to the punchWASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. Barack Obama's pledge to supporters that they would be the "first to know" his running mate turned out to be a brilliant but unworkable communications strategy. The Democratic presidential candidate got scooped by the media on his own announcement, done in by dogged reporting, loose-lipped party insiders and the limits of technology.
Telecom rollouts raise ire over utility boxesPHILADELPHIA (AP) _ The road to advanced video, Internet and phone services is bumpy _ and the bumps can be almost as big as refrigerators. As cable and phone companies race to upgrade services or offer video for the first time, they're doing it by installing equipment in boxes on lawns, easements and curbs all over American neighborhoods. Telecommunications rollouts have always been messy, but several towns and residents are fighting back with cries of "Not in my front yard!"
Internet provider's usage cap raises questionsNEW YORK (AP) _ Three months ago, Guy Distaffen switched Internet providers, lured from his cable company to his phone company by a year of free service on a two-year contract. But soon the company quietly updated its policies to say it would limit his Internet activity each month. "We felt that were suckered," said Distaffen, who lives in the small village of Silver Springs in upstate New York.
iTunes blocked in China; Tibet album suspectedBEIJING (AP) _ Customers in China of Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music store were unable to download songs this week, and an activist group said Beijing was trying to block access to a new Tibet-themed album. In Internet forums, iTunes users complained they had been unable to download music since Monday. That was a day after the Art of Peace Foundation announced the release of "Songs for Tibet," with music by Sting, Alanis Morissette, Garbage and others, and a 15-minute talk by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.
Intel demonstrates powering up without plugging inSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Imagine juicing up your laptop computer or cell phone without plugging them into an electrical socket. That's a luxury that could be provided by wireless power transmission, a concept that has been bandied about for decades but is creeping closer to becoming viable. Building off work unveiled last year by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers, Intel Corp. on Thursday demonstrated how to make a 60-watt light bulb glow from an energy source 3 feet away. The Intel team did it with relatively high efficiency, losing only a quarter of the energy the researchers started with.
Oracle's Ellison grabs top spot on best-paid listSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, a longtime fixture on the list of the world's richest people, is now ensconced atop The Associated Press' rankings of the top-paid chief executives in the United States. Never shy about flaunting his estimated $25 billion fortune, Ellison established himself as the best-paid CEO among major U.S. companies by persuading Oracle to award him a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million under the AP's calculations.
New Microsoft photo site spends first day offlineSEATTLE (AP) _ Microsoft Corp.'s new digital photo sharing site spent most of its first day offline as its servers strained to handle a flood of traffic. The site, called Photosynth, stitches together a set of related digital photos into a presentation that allows viewers to zoom and pan across the scene.
AT&T expands tech support to cover other gadgetsNEW YORK (AP) _ Phone companies have been expanding their technology-support offerings, and AT&T Inc. took that trend one step further Thursday by introducing a tech-help plan that's even available to people who don't subscribe to other AT&T services. AT&T ConnecTech offers in-home service for "virtually all" tech-support needs, the company said, including home theater installation, wall-mounting of flat-panel TVs and computer repair, starting at $99.
US company sues Nintendo in Wii wand patent suitTOKYO (AP) _ Nintendo's hit Wii console with its wandlike remote controller has been targeted in patent infringement complaints by a U.S. technology company. Hillcrest Laboratories, based in Rockville, Md., has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington D.C., and a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland against Nintendo Corp., the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Research aims to put tongues in control of devicesATLANTA (AP) _ The tireless tongue already controls taste and speech, helps kiss and swallow and fights germs. Now scientists hope to add one more ability to the mouthy muscle, and turn it into a computer control pad. Georgia Tech researchers believe a magnetic, tongue-powered system could transform a disabled person's mouth into a virtual computer, teeth into a keyboard _ and tongue into the key that manipulates it all.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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