Political passing:
Gannon site Talon shuts down
Jeff
Gannon got smacked for his controversial White House news conference
question, and now the news service where he worked has been whacked.
Talon News has been trying to live down the controversy Gannon, whose
real name is James Guckert, stirred up when he asked a politically
loaded question containing false information at a White House press
conference. Now there is a message posted on the Talon web site
saying it has shut down to reevaluate operations. Talon took a
beating after the Gannon fiasco. Critics charged the Bush
administration was using Gannon to spread conservative propaganda.
Many wondered how Gannon was able to gain White House press
privileges despite reporting for a small organization and using a
false name. The site’s founder, Bobby Eberle of Pearland, Texas,
has another site called GOPUSA.com, which pushes the Republican party
and a conservative agenda.
Tax preparation services target young workers
‘Tis
the season for ads touting speedy online tax returns, a now-annual
rite. But companies have begun aiming for young, more often confused
filers to make a profit. During the 2002 tax year, 33.9 million
returns--27 percent--were from taxpayers under 30, according to the
Internal Revenue Service. Members of this group were more prone to
lose their refund checks because of filing errors. This year H&R
Block is offering free online federal tax preparation for filers
under 18 and earning less than $10,000. The Kansas City-Based
financial company hopes to retain this young crowd throughout their
lives. Competitor Intuit is trying to capitalize on the growing
demographic by launching RockYourRefund.com, which offers fast,
simple tax returns for $5.95.
Gas power gives mobile phone lines a charge
Gas-powered mobile phones are on their way, but
you won’t have to take them to a pump for refueling. Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone has developed a prototype micro
polymer-electrolyte fuel cell that works by combining hydrogen with
oxygen and is more powerful than the direct methanol fuel cells now
being developed by many companies. When the fuel cell is
commercialized, it will be able to provide about nine hours of talk
time. The company hopes to make the cell small enough to fit inside
mobile phones and other portable electronics devices and be available
for commercial use within three years. NTT says the new
hydrogen-fueled cells will be able to replace lithium ion batteries
that are currently used in mobile phones.
Se
habla español? Most Fortune 100 sites don't
According to a new study by Forrester Research,
more than 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies don't have
Spanish-language web sites, and of those that do, the
Spanish-language content is not very useful. Many sites feature an
overview page in Spanish, with links that send readers to
English-language pages. According to Forrester, almost 13 million
Hispanics are online, with 42 percent of the online population
Spanish dominant, 26 percent English dominant and 31 percent
bilingual. Car companies are leading in the effort to offer
sophisticated Spanish-language web sites. Ford has a Hispanic site on
AOL Latino called Mi Negocio (my business). Volkswagen’s
www.agarracalle.com is titled after Volkswagen's tagline,
"Drivers wanted."
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