Recently in Quickies Category

First - the straight facts from Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc said on Tuesday it had sued Craigslist, alleging the Craigslist board of directors had diluted eBay's 28.4 percent stake in the online classifieds site.

Sadly, for the observers, the suit was filed under seal.  eBay says that it's to protect certain Craigslist confidentiality requirements. 

Now I'm even more curious to find out what exactly it is that Craigslist did to dilute eBay's minority stake in the online classifieds giant. 

The last time Craigslist was sued, they were found not guilty.  However, that lawsuit was filed on the basis of user-generated content that was simply posted on Craigs.  This suit brought on by eBay is attacking Craigslist (and Founder Craig Newmark and Chief Exec Jim Buckmaster) directly for their actions.

As much as I want to jump right up and defend Craigslist (the site is responsible for me finding my TV, my computer, my car and my current day job) it wouldn't seem prudent without any details on the table.

We'll let you know as soon as details become available.

The Dutch are gearing up to lift their ban on Segway scooters.  I didn't think that a government would need to ban them.  Between their high price and how goofy you look riding one I thought that they pretty much banend themselves.

 

The Dutch will, however, be reequiring that you are over 16 years old and have insurance for your Segway before you can ride.  No word yet on whether or not you'll need license plates.  That last sentence was not a joke.  Seriously.

 

In other Segway news, remember when Bush fell off of one?  As in, he fell off of what was suppsoed to be un-fall-offable?  Good times.

More on the Dutch at Reuters.

Time just picked up on the laser graffiti movement.  The guys at Graffiti Research Lab (GRL) have devised a totally awesome system by which they use a laser to tag, well, just about anything they want.  The graffiti is non-permanent and doesn't damage the surface being tagged.

 

Back in early January Bre Pettis (still making Weekend Project videos for Make Magazine at the time) talked to and got a demo from GRL Vienna crew.

Very cool, guys.

 

Link to the article at Time.

Link to Bre Pettis' blog post about GRL Vienna.

Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) introduced the  "Cell Tax Fairness Act," which is CTIA's latest baby.  Basically, the act calls for a five-year hiatus on raising or introducing new mobile phone taxes.  These taxes are much higher than the average taxes on good and services and have grown at a rate of four times the rates of other sales taxes.  CTIA goes on to contend that having an industry that is growing and changing burdened by excessive taxes will stifle innovation.

But here's the entire CTIA press release, right from CTIA

WASHINGTON, DC - On Tax Day, CTIA-The Wireless Association® and its member companies are urging Congress to pass legislation requiring a five-year hiatus on new discriminatory state and local wireless taxes.  To achieve this goal, Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) introduced the "Cell Tax Fairness Act" today in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

"The wireless sector of the technology industry continues to be an important driver for growth in our nation's economy.  Americans don't just talk on their wireless phones anymore; they access the Internet, get information, pay bills and use wireless to be more productive at work and other every day activities, " said Lowell McAdam, CTIA-The Wireless Association® Chairman and Verizon Wireless President and CEO. "With about 15 percent of each customer's monthly bill already going to taxes and fees, increasing discriminatory and unfair taxes on wireless customers presents a clear and present danger to future growth.  Policymakers should roll back taxes on wireless customers."  

Even Ninjas get lost sometimes. This breaking news comes as good news to Pirate supporters worldwide.

 

Photo by Reuters - click here to see more ninja pictures.

Reuters (in an article devoid of links to scary websites) broke the news that Comcast is working with BitTorrent to rework its network management policies to be more neutral.  While it will still reserve its right to curb a super user's bandwidth if it starts to decrease the usability of the service for others, it won't take in to account what that super user is using the bandwidth for.

 

Here's a snippet from Reuters

 

Comcast's announcement on Thursday drew a tepid response from Martin.

The FCC chairman said in a statement he was "pleased that Comcast has reversed course." But he questioned why the company was not moving more quickly to end the practice of blocking some applications.

"While it may take time to implement its preferred new traffic management technique, it is not at all obvious why Comcast couldn't stop its current practice of arbitrarily blocking its broadband customers from using certain applications," Martin said.

 

In April the FCC will have a meeting at Stanford University (home of Professor Lessig) to try and define exactly what in the heck constitutes "resonable network management."

 

Finally.

 

 

Here's Comcast's official press release.

Here's the scoop from Reuters

...

Verizon said consumers should be able to switch from cable as easily as they can change phone companies. Phone companies accept cancellations from rival providers, but many cable companies require consumers to submit disconnection orders themselves.

"The process to switch video providers is more cumbersome for consumers," Verizon said in a petition to the FCC.

...

 

Is it really that big a deal that a customer would need to call their cable provider to cancel their service as opposed to the cancellation being processed by Verizon?  I understand that it would eliminate a step for the customer, and that's great, but I just don't see it as that big a deal.

Verizon has won the FCC auction for the 700Mhz spectrum.

Because Google helped get the bidding high enough the spectrum will be open access.  The revelation that VZW won the auction makes their recent action to push forward with their Open Network initiative seem a lot more relevant.

 

Not only does it give them various advantages (as covered in our previous post on the subject) but it now allows them to test the waters of open access while they work out the details of and build out their 700Mhz network.

 

They can work out the kinks on their current network, where the open access is allowed at their discretion so that they can have a smooth system for device certification and rollout of standards when they roll out the new network, which will be open access by virtue of the auction terms.

 

Very smooth move, VZW

AT&T has launched a new website to act as a one-stop-shop for customers, developers and media groups who need information about the company or its services.

 

The site is www.att.com/choice .  There are areas where developers can learn about system and network requirements and reporters can get corporate info as well as access to phone pictures and logos.

 

What I think is really impressive is the amount of information available to customers.  Some of it is a little advertise-y, but that's to be expected.  Even so, the site has a feeling that says "help" more than "sell."

 

My only gripes are that the layout still appears to need some tweaking (it is brand new) and it's very Flash-heavy, so it may load a wee bit on the slow side.

 

Most companies are trying to push customers to their website for assistance because it's cheaper than having you talk to a person.  AT&T's Choice website seems to adhere to a philosophy of "Hey, if we're going to send them to the web for information, let's make it super easy and super useful."

 

That thinking is super rare and super refreshing.

Ok, so this is total nonsense, but I think it fits into the "whatever else the editors think will make you laugh, cry, or think during the work day" part of the mission statement here...

 

 

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