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As if Americans needed another reason to go to McDonald’s, the fast food giant has developed a new plan to promote its combo meals. Three U.S. cities will begin offering one hour of free high-speed internet access to anyone who buys a combo. The program begins today in Manhattan and will extend to Chicago soon after. By the end of the year, McDonald’s hopes to have 300 restaurants in three cities (including a yet-to-be-named California town) offering free WiFi. Of course, the program is BYOL – bring your own laptop. Though McDonald’s is one of the first to debut this program, it’s not the only one. Borders book stores and many hotels hope to have similar service available by the summer.
Finally, a domain for ravaged Afghanistan
Afghanistan has finally received an internet domain name, although it’s doubtful whether many of its citizens in the war-torn country will be able to use it. The “.af” suffix will apply to all the country’s email and web addresses thanks to a joint effort by the Afghan Ministry of Communications and the United Nations. The internet had been banned during the Taliban rule. Even now, the only way most Afghans, who earn less than $1 per day on average, can access the net is to travel to an increasing number of internet cafes in Kabul. The “.af” domain actually was registered six years ago by a private Afghan citizen, but he later disappeared, and the domain has been dormant since. Two web sites, one for the communications ministry and one for the U.N., have been registered with .af, although the ministry site is still under construction.
Judge: AOL looks suspicious, but case dismissed
A federal court has dismissed claims against AOL Time Warner but did not exonerate the media company entirely. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (called Calsters) had brought the suit, alleging that AOL and co-defendant Cedent Corp., a travel services company, helped Homestore Inc. falsify its revenue. Calsters, the nation’s third-largest public pension fund, said that Homestore did it to meet Wall Street projections. The Los Angeles court ruled last week that the pension fund may not amend and resubmit the claims, although the judge referred to implications of a “massive conspiracy driven by pure avarice” and noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission could investigate those who aid and abet fraud. AOL is already under investigation by the SEC for accounting issues.
Italian raid busts 399 online child porn peddlers
An overnight raid busted nearly 400 internet pedophiles Tuesday in Italy. Police conducting the “Eurololitas” operation swept 53 towns and gathered 399 suspect names in a country-wide search. One 25-year-old suspect was so distressed that he killed himself by jumping out the window of his parents’ fourth-floor apartment. He leaped after police called on the intercom to say they were entering. The investigation, which involved more than 1,000 cops, centered in the northern city of Asti. Suspects ranged in age from 25 to 40. They were accused of acquiring and distributing child porn on the net. Undercover police discovered that the ring frequently used WinMX software, usually used to swap music files, to trade the pornography.
Alcatel predicts European video-on-demand boom
European telecom providers are racing into the video-on-demand market. The head of Alcatel said that many firms hope to debut interactive TV systems in the next year. Most are already testing such programs via broadband connections. Alcatel, the world’s largest DSL provider, says that broadband subscriptions are growing at the rate of 2 million per month, and that estimates of a 50 percent year-over-year growth rates are too small. Recent studies have shown that although more Americans currently have broadband than Europeans, Europe’s growth rate is higher than that of the U.S. Forrester Research says that about 7 percent of Europeans have broadband service. Better compression and faster DSL lines have led to better TV quality in Europe, and Alcatel projects that it will become better still in the next 12 months.
March 12, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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