Dial tone: AOL leaps
aboard the VoIP bandwagon
AOL is the latest company to join the internet telephone
craze. Following the lead of industry leader Vonage, the company launched
AOL Internet Phone Service yesterday in 40 markets using Voice over
Internet Protocol technology. VoIP converts calls into data that is
streamed online, often times meaning more features at lower costs for
consumers. Though AOL’s technology is the same used by companies like
Vonage and Verizon, its prices are not. AOL Internet Phone Service is
available to new users for $29.99 a month for the first six months and
$39.99 a month after that. The service includes calls within the U.S. and
Canada and unlimited access to regular AOL services. In comparison, Vonage
charges its customers $24.99 a month for unlimited calls to the U.S. and
Canada.
Cookie uncutter? New program restores profiles
Deleting cookies on a computer is one step users can take
toward securing their privacy online. Now United Virtualities has
developed a way to sidestep that measure. The company has developed what
it calls Persistent Identification Element, which allows web sites to
detect if a cookie is missing, and if so can look for a backup via
Macromedia’s Flash program and restore it. That also prevents the same
Flash ads from appearing over and over again. Critics say this undermines
people’s choices. Macromedia offers a way to prevent such occurrences by
turning off its profile system. Instructions can be found at http://www.macromedia.com/go/52697ee8.
MSN tweaks Messenger & starts a blog service
In a clever use of internet ad space, Microsoft is
launching the latest version of MSN Messenger that features downloadable
backgrounds, pictures and other content tied to specific ad campaigns. The
free feature will allow MSN Messenger users to essentially turn their IM
IDs into mini billboards for products like Sprite and Adidas. Yahoo
Instant Messenger has provided similar features for some time now. Its
success counts heavily on younger users with strong affinities for brand
names that are considered cool.
In other Microsoft news, the company launched MSN Spaces Wednesday. The
service will allow users to publish and track each other’s web logs, or
blogs. The free blogging service attracted 4.5 million users during its
December test phase, according to Microsoft. Top competitors Yahoo and
Google both already offer the same service, through the relatively new
Yahoo 360 and the popular Blogger, respectively.
Duke
scratches free iPods for incoming freshmen
Too bad for incoming freshmen at Duke University. The
school has decided next academic year it won’t give every first-year
student a 20GB Apple iPod. Only students enrolled in courses that use the
device will get one. The idea was intriguing, but most professors did
not take advantage of it. Just 16 of the university’s 1,000 courses
integrated the player into the curriculum. The university was
experimenting to find out if the iPods would enhance students’ classroom
learning experiences by giving them a means to record lectures. Duke paid
$500,000 for 1,600 iPods last year.
Coming
soon, movies you can see in your head
Transmitting information directly into people’s
brains via a man-made device sounds like a scene from a science fiction
movie. But that is exactly what Sony is exploring. The Japanese
entertainment company has patented a theory, not on any invention, that
would do just that. The U.S. patent was granted to Sony researcher Thomas
Dawson. The patent suggests a person will be able to see movies and play
video games where they can smell, taste and even feel things in the game
itself. Sony proposes a device that would send ultrasound pulses to
people’s heads to alter the firing patterns of neurons in certain area
of the brain. The process would not involve implants or surgery. No
experiments have been conducted toward the development.
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