[June 09, 2008]

AP Technology NewsBrief at 3:19 a.m. EDT

(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Beer makers increasingly turning to viral adsST. LOUIS (AP) _ Anheuser-Busch is generating lots of buzz with an ad equal parts bawdy and hilarious, but you won't see it on television, and it barely mentions the beer it's advertising. Dubbed "Swear Jar," the too-risque-for-TV ad debuted on the Internet in 2007. A minute long, it begins with an office worker asking about a jar at the reception desk. It's a "swear jar," he's told: Anyone who swears puts in a quarter. The expletives fly when workers learn the money will be used to buy a case of Bud Light (the roughly 17 bad words are bleeped out).

Astronauts breeze through their final spacewalkCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ Shuttle Discovery's astronauts breezed through their third and final spacewalk Sunday, replacing an empty gas tank at the international space station and collecting a sample of dusty debris. Spacewalkers Michael Fossum and Ronald Garan Jr. wrapped up their work so quickly that Mission Control threw in some extra chores.

FTC opens formal probe of Intel chip businessSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ Escalating the world's largest computer chip maker's legal woes, the Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal probe into Intel Corp.'s sales tactics, a victory for its much smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel disclosed Friday that it has received a subpoena from the FTC for records about Intel's microprocessor sales, which dominate the world market with a roughly 80 percent share.

Amazon.com has problems for more than 2 hoursSEATTLE (AP) _ Amazon.com's Web site experienced problems in North America for more than two hours in the middle of the day Friday because of system issues, the online retailer said. Shortly after 10 a.m. PDT, the company's retail Web site shut down, giving an error code to anyone visiting it, according to Keynote Systems Inc., a California-based company that measures Web site performance.

Gartner: Smart phone sales double in North AmericaNEW YORK (AP) _ Sales of "smart" phones doubled in North America in the first quarter, outstripping the category's growth in the rest of the world, according to a report by research firm Gartner. North American growth was propelled by the popularity of Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry phones and Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and bodes well for the rumored introduction of second-generation iPhone next week.

Patient Web sites used for news, support in crisisNEW YORK (AP) _ When he was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year, Dave deBronkart needed an easy way to keep his far-flung friends and family updated. So did the president of the American Medical Association when he fell ill months ago. And so did the mother of a soldier wounded in Iraq who later suffered brain damage. They all turned to the Internet, setting up individual Web sites to give progress reports. In return, they get posted notes of encouragement and support _ all without having to repeat the details in emotional and exhausting phone calls.

New play explores what search reveals about usPHILADELPHIA (AP) _ They are an unquestionably bizarre set of Internet search terms: Mange. Human mold. White camellia. Dying Elmo. Could those words also be clues to finding a missing person?

Icahn recommends Yahoo set a $49.5B sale priceSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Hoping to negotiate a compromise, activist investor Carl Icahn urged Yahoo Inc. to declare it is willing to accept a takeover offer of $49.5 billion _ about $2 billion above Microsoft Corp.'s last bid for the Internet pioneer. Icahn recommended the price tag, which works out to $34.375 a share, in a letter he sent Friday to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.

Phila. newspapers run ads about fake airline Derrie-AirPHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Derrie-Air has been exposed. Readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their papers Friday to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charges passengers by the pound.

FCC chief's free broadband plan delayedWASHINGTON (AP) _ A plan by the nation's top telecommunications regulator to provide free wireless high-speed Internet service hit a snag this week over concerns about possible interference and a proposed censoring feature that upset free speech advocates. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told The Associated Press on Thursday that the plan will not be voted on at the June 12 meeting as first promised, but he hopes to present it to the full commission in July.

Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

Discussions: