Verizon & Yahoo partner for new b-band service
In the ongoing skirmish between cable and phone companies over broadband subscribers, Verizon is getting a powerful partner. The country’s largest telephone company will team with Yahoo to add new services to its high-speed connections. The companies will share the ad revenues for the deal, and Verizon will pay Yahoo a flat per-subscriber fee to add features like personalized home pages, search tools and digital photo managers. This comes at a time when the cable and phone companies’ competition has become as heated as ever. Last week Comcast announced plans to offer internet phone service by next year. Verizon and the other phone companies are struggling to keep local phone service subscribers in the face of that competition while also fending off wireless companies.

Speaking of b-band, young set's usage zooms 
Young people are logging more online time and less TV time thanks to faster, more convenient internet connections. Seven out of 10 teenagers and young adults have broadband access, according to a new study. New York-based media company Bolt found that 70 percent of young adults used high-speed Internet connections in the fourth quarter of 2004, an 11 percent increase over the third quarter. At the same time, 55 percent of young people were watching less TV than the same period last year because they were spending more time online. Fifty percent of the 15-22s included in the survey used a cable modem, 44 percent were on digital subscriber lines, and 6 percent used T1/T3 lines. The study also reports that half of the young people surveyed spend more than 15 hours a week online. Young adults are not only surfing but also engaging in other activities such as uploading and blogging. The Bolt Quarterly Tracking Study recorded a 39 percent increase in blogging in the fourth quarter versus the third. 

Foiled tsunami scammer solicits 800K donations
One of the unfortunate after-effects of great tragedy is that someone always tries for personal gain from the incident. Such is true of 24-year-old Matthew Schmieder of Pittsburgh who set up a fake Mercy Corps web site and solicited donations for tsunami relief via 800,000 emails. He simply copied logos from the real Mercy Corps humanitarian organization and created a PayPal account to receive donations. But the scam didn’t turn out very successfully for Schmieder, who only made $150 from a single donor before the FBI caught him. The real Portland, Ore.-based Mercy Corps received complaints about the solicitations and contacted the FBI. Court documents state that Schmieder thought his plot would be okay if he gave some of the contributions to charity after fixing his cars and paying some of his bills. Charged with fraud, Schmieder faces a preliminary hearing this week.

Cell users protest drop of file-sharing tool
Cell phone customers in California are fired up about recent changes made to their services by Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless. In a class-action lawsuit against the company, the customers claim that the mobile phone operator made tremendous financial gains by marketing and selling the Motorola v710 phone. The great appeal of the phone stems mainly from its Bluetooth technology. But Verizon has decided to strip the phone of its file-sharing capability, which allows users to transfer photos or other files via Bluetooth to their computers, printers or other devices. Now customers must pay additional fees for similar Verizon services. The company says it disabled the Bluetooth file-transfer capability because it conflicted with contractual agreements it has with providers participating in its "Get It Now" service that offers downloadable games and productivity tools. Motorola said the decision over what Bluetooth features to include in handsets is solely up to the wireless operators.