The Federal Communications Commission will include a proposal to revamp the Universal Service Fund as part of a national broadband plan due to Congress on March 17. Although the proposal itself has been expected for months, Fridays announcement offered the first solid details.
The FCC said it envisions transforming the Universal Service program over the next decade to pay for high-speed Internet access instead of the traditional voice services that it currently finances. The proposal would create a Connect America fund inside the Universal Service program to subsidize broadband, and a Mobility Fund to expand the reach of so-called 3G, or [...]

Under the settlement terms, RealNetworks is barred from selling its RealDVD product or other similar technology, the company said.
The Seattle-based digital entertainment company will pay $4.5 million to the studios for litigation costs and refund purchases of about 2,700 customers who bought the product.
The Walt Disney Co.s Disney Studio, Sony Corp.s Sony Pictures and several others sued RealNetworks in 2008, arguing RealDVD is an illegal pirating tool that would stop consumers from buying movies on DVD that they could cheaply rent, copy and return.
RealNetworks lawyers had argued the software had piracy protections that limited [...]

News Corp. agreed last month to pay $500 million to Valassis Communications Inc. to settle claims that its tactics caused $1.5 billion in damages. The settlement kept the spotlight of a trial off allegations that News Corp. employees threatened smaller rivals, destroyed signs in supermarkets and broke into computers to steal trade secrets.
Some of the same claims are to be made at an April 12 trial involving Insignia Systems Inc. The Minneapolis-based marketer of in-store promotions seeks unspecified damages from New York- based News Corp.s News [...]

At the companys annual meeting, one shareholder asked Jobs whether the company would use some of its hoard to pay a dividend. Jobs didnt seem keen on the idea, saying the cash gives Apple “tremendous security and flexibility.”
If Apple decides to acquire another company, it can do so by writing a check instead of borrowing money, he said.
“Who knows whats around the next corner?” he said.
Apple executives also said they have ambitious plans to expand in China: They expect to open as many as 25 retail stores in the country in the next two years. Apples first store in China [...]

There were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of last year, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, the International Telecommunication Union said in a report. In developing nations, 57 percent of people were signed up.
“The rate of progress remains remarkable,” the U.N. agency said.
The report tallied cell phone, landline telephone and Internet usage in 159 countries, from the mainly European nations that are most advanced in information technology to those in sub-Saharan Africa that are the least developed.
Internet use has grown, but at a slower pace, the report said.
An estimated 1.7 billion people, or 26 [...]

The most famous entrant in the category is Apple Inc.s iPad, which comes out next month. But many other manufacturers are crowding into the niche, and were planning to do so even before Apples announcement in January.
Some of them are making keyboard-less “tablet” computers in the vein of the iPad. Others are making small laptop-like things known as “smartbooks” that will sell for a few hundred dollars.
Hewlett-Packard Co. showed its first smartbook this week in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, the worlds largest cell phone trade show. At first glance, HPs Compaq AirLife 100 looks just like a netbook - [...]

A showdown on the issue unfolded Friday in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, as the Justice Department battled electronic-privacy groups.
The privacy groups say the information could reveal when someone goes to a religious service, medical clinic or political rally, or is having an extramarital affair. Third U.S. Circuit Judge Dolores Sloviter seemed to share that concern.
“You know there are governments in the world that would like to know where some of their people are or have been,” Sloviter challenged Justice Department lawyer Mark Eckenwiler, an associate director of criminal enforcement operations.
“Can the government assure us that it will never [...]

The 30-second ads began appearing last week when users listen to songs on artist profiles, album pages, playlists and pop-out players. They expand on a trial that began in December.
The ads are impossible to avoid, unlike the visual, banner ads that can be put out of sight in background windows as users listen along while doing other Web surfing or computer work. But the audio ads are timed so that a user can listen to up to 100 songs on a playlist or to a full album with just a single interruption after the first song.
The oral pitches make online [...]

RealNetworks currently holds a 51 percent stake in Rhapsody, with MTV parent Viacom International Inc. holding the rest. After the spinoff, neither will have operating control over the venture, and both will own an equal minority stake in Rhapsody.
RealNetworks will pay $18 million in cash, plus contribute the Rhapsody brand, in exchange for shares of convertible preferred stock of Rhapsody.
The companies expect to close the transaction by the end of the first quarter.
“Separating Rhapsody into its own independent company is a significant first step in making RealNetworks a more focused and profitable company,” said [...]

The recalls and other technical problems besetting Toyota in the last few weeks highlight the risks of relying on electronics instead of the mechanical rods and cables that controlled vehicles for most of the 20th century.
Such advancements bring many benefits, but the worry is that the car is a computer on wheels that could freeze up and potentially crash. No less a computer celebrity than Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak has said his Toyota Prius sometimes accelerates on its own.
For many years, a cars gas and brake pedals were connected directly to the throttle and the brake assembly. Now computers [...]