Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

There has been a lot of talk in legal circles since the creation of the Internet about how the Internet should be regulated, and if it should be regulated at all.  The most vocal section of the echo-chamber that is the Internet is dead set against any sort of regulation.  I imagine that British Minister of Culture Andy Burnham isn’t one of those people.

Burnham is hoping to negotiate with President-Elect Barack Obama’s administration to try and bring about some sort of “international rules” regarding English language websites.  One idea given is to give websites movie-esque ratings which would presumably have porn sites or sites with an immense amount of violence as the highest possible ratings.  Another possible idea is forcing ISPs to offer connections where only child-friendly websites would be available.  That could open up a lot of new and old issues regarding net neutrality in a way, as well as what’s deemed suitable for children.

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Good news for everyone suffering from insane mobile service bills - Boost Mobile is gearing up to launch a flat rate prepaid service with unlimited calling and texting on Sprint’s Nextel network.  This is coming off of Boost’s popular PAYGO chat plans, so it seems like a logical next step.  This will be the nation’s first pre-paid plan (with a flat rate) within a national network - a sign of the trying economic times, perhaps?  Or maybe Master Shake was just right.

The plan is set to launch “early next year”, though a specific date hasn’t been announced yet.

Read [Boost Mobile]

Now that Black Friday (BF) and Cyber Monday (CM) are recent memories, I chatted up Michael Brim of BFads.net, a site I and many others rely on to provide us all with the very best Black Friday deals.  I suspect Michael pulls all nighters working on getting these deals up and his site’s credibility is very high as many retailers “leak” their deals to him first.  As an expert on Black Friday black magic, I figured his views on what is happening this year would be very interesting.  I was right.

Click through to see what Michael thinks is driving prices down and what Cyber Monday is all about.

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Getting the newest games console has always been hard, and the Nintendo Wii is no exception with ‘Out of stock’ signs adorning many games hardware outlets.  In addition to unrelenting demand, would be buyers are facing constraints from an unlikely source.  If you can’t get a Nintendo product this year: blame Somalian pirates.

Not content stealing folks using Torrents, but sword in mouth, eye-patched, rum-swilling pirates.  Thought today’s crews cary RPGs and fast boats to seize your electronics as their booty.

Find out why the increase in pirating means no Wiis for many.

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Just last week, Circuit City announced plans to close a fifth of its stores.  This morning, they just filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The petition for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, listed $3.4 billion in assets and $2.32 billion in liabilities. The company said it is entering court protection owing Hewlett-Packard Co. $119 million and Samsung Electronics Co. $116 million.

According to Bloomberg, Circuit City has lost over $5 billion in market value over the past two years.  It’s a shame to see you go CC, remember all of those good times we’ve had together?

Read [Bloomberg]

The U.S. Army has released a report containing concerns that Twitter could be used by terrorists as a way of planning attacks and keeping tabs on each other. It also contained several scenarios of such a use such as a terrorist using the microblogging site to send a tweet to remotely set off an explosive device. A second terrorist with the detonator would receive the tweet.

“Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives,“ the report said. “For example, there are multiple pro- and anti-Hezbollah Tweets. In addition, extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by ‘hacktivists’ and activists for surveillance. This could theoretically be combined with targeting.“

Twitter has become an increasingly popular tool for all sorts of organizations. During the RNC protesters used it to organize and also to warn each other of places to avoid and police activity, and last month House Republicans used to protest a piece of legislation.

It’s not yet clear if terrorists overseas would be able to use the service as effectively as it is used here in the U.S. Such use would depend on the availability and quality of mobile service. However it’s clear that this is something to watch very carefully. Should such activity be detected it is sure to raise privacy issues since the government would no doubt insist on some sort of monitoring.

Read[ComputerWorld]

By now, I’m sure know that most of you know that T-Mobile’s G1 was officially released today and there already have been some bug issues.  In efforts to get everything straightened away with the G1, T-Mobile has announced that they will be sending out a software update via OTA (over the air).

The software update is nothing major, in fact, according to the chatter it mostly makes Amazon songs available for playback.  Additionally, it will feature several other “enhancements”, however, T-Mobile didn’t specify what we can expect these enhancements to be.  If you received your G1 because you pre-ordered your phone, the necessary update will be ready anywhere from October 23-25.  If you didn’t get your phone via pre-order, then your update will be ready by October 31.  T-Mobile also adds that all G1 customers will be notified via text message once the update is ready for installation. 

Unfortunately, T-Mobile was pretty skimpy on the details of this update, but hopefully we can expect more details in the following updates.  I’m sure there will be plenty more updates in the near future, especially considering the first one was announced in less than 24 hours of initial launch. 

Read [T-Mobile Forums] Via [TmoNews]

There are many Facebook Applications out there created by regular people or companies.  Some of these apps are actually useful and cool and some are just, well, plain old stupid and pointless.  This app, depending on its popularity, could actually be pretty useful and work the way the company, Smarter.com, intended for it to work.  Smarter.com is, in case you didn’t know, a website which shows comparisons between products and helps you make an educated purchase.

The new app, called “What would you buy?“ is a poll in which you ask your friends whether they would buy this product or this product and why.  More after the break.

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Yesterday’s stock tumble has hit tech businesses hard. Nasdaq, which is primarily tech businesses, fell nearly 200 points, and several big tech businesses saw similar drops.  Apple fell 18%, AMD nearly 17%, and Intel over 10%. Similarly, Google saw its stock fall over $50 to $381 a share. That’s nearly a 12% drop.

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After three unsuccessful flights, the fourth finally worked.  SpaceX has managed to get their Falcon 1 space craft into space.  Taking off from Kwajalein Atoll, an island in the South Pacific the Falcon 1 was able to fly into space, soaring above the International Space Station at a speed of 5200 meters per second.  The flight of the Falcon 1 makes it the first ever private space craft to actually get into space.

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