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Earthlink has announced it is shutting down Philadelphia’s city-wide WiFi network on June 12. The company has stated that “the decision to shut the Philadelphia network followed months of negotiations with the city and a nonprofit organization, under which EarthLink had offered to transfer the network to the city or organization for free. The company had also offered to pay an unspecified amount of cash and donate new Wi-Fi equipment.”

In federal court, Earthlink has asked that it only be liable for US$1 million and is helping customers find alternative Internet providers.

[via Business Week]

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Dell has teamed up with Ericsson to provide next-gen technology in its laptops.  The PC manufacturer, through its arrangement with Ericsson, will begin offering built-in HSPA mobile broadband in its laptops starting as soon as Q2 2008.

HSPA is a mobile broadband technology deployed globally that will mobile users access to the Internet from any enabled laptop.  ”Consumers are increasingly utilizing notebooks to access the high-capacity services that they have typically experienced only through a wired or Wi-Fi connection,” said Mats Norin, Ericsson’s Vice President of Mobile Broadband Modules.  ”We are excited to work with Dell to give consumers and business users the freedom and flexibility to access internet in the way they want it, wherever they are.

[via MobileBurn]

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In a move that’s sure to irritate gamers across the world, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that as of next month, dell will be dropping four of the XPS gaming desktops from its lineup to focus more on Alienware, the gaming-centric brand that it purchased in 2006.  How the company plans to keep the two brands separate is worth questioning; additionally, what remains to be seen is whether the company will keep the XPS line of laptops in its stable, as the computers have proved to be strong sellers.

In lieu of the news announcement being received positively, gamers from across the world are already beginning to complain about the possibility of Dell’s XPS desktops and laptops being replaced by “plastic-y alienware junk.”

[via Engadget]

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The results are in for the Top 50 developers for the Android Developer Challenge.  The top 50 winners were announced today and will receive US$25,000 and move on to the final round.

Here is a list of some of the winners:

• TuneWiki
• BioWallet
• Mobeedo
• IMEasy
• Phonebook 2.0
• gWalk
• The Weather Channel for Android
• Wikitude - The mobile travel guide

For more, visit AndroidAuthority.

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As we reported earlier, while HBO is coming into the iTunes family, another media giant is taking matters into their own hands.  In the continuing riff between iTunes and NBC, the network is streaming media directly from their website to the iPod Touch and iPhone.  When visiting NBC.com, click the video tab, and the website will automatically detect your device, giving you the ability to download the ad-free content.

[via Apple Touch]

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Looks as if the proof for a BlackBerry iPhone competitor has come to fruition - hot on the heels of the recently announced BlackBerry Bold, the Boy Genius Report has dug up some new info regarding another BlackBerry device, the Thunder 9500, which was originally codenamed the Storm.

The full touchscreen smartphone is rumored for an exclusive launch on Verizon and Vodaphone. Other reported features include only 4 physical keys (send/end/BlackBerry menu/back), and 4G technology, possibly LTE.

We will keep you updated as more information is reported on BlackBerry’s rumored touchscreen device.

[via BGR]

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Everyone enjoys a good Microsoft insulting from time to time, however it appears that the insult may hold some credibility.  Simon Clausen, CEO of Anti-malware and threat-detection software manufacturer PC Tools states that “recent research conducted with statistics from over 1.4 million computers within the ThreatFire community has shown that Windows Vista is more susceptible to malware than the eight year old Windows 2000 operating system, and only 37 percent more secure than Windows XP.”

Data reports from the company’s ThreatFire security program state that Vista allowed an average of 639 threats per 1,000 computers to install and run on the device.  Windows 2000 was successfully breached by 586 threats, Windows Server 2003 by 478 threats, and Windows XP by a mind boggling 1,021 threats per 1,000 computers.  In other words, Windows XP are infected, on average, by 1.02 threats.  There was no specific information given as to whether the computers were protected, if they were running patches, or how many “threats” were tested.

Read the rest »

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Time Warner’s HBO and Apple announced today that select programming is now available for purchase on iTunes.  At launch, “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Deadwood,” “Rome,” “Flight of the Conchords,” and “The Wire” will be available for download immediately.

Content purchased from the iTunes Store can be viewed on the following devices: Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. Cost-wise, “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” cost $1.99 per episode, and “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” are $2.99 per episode.

Customers can also choose to purchase entire seasons of television shows - a great option if you are looking forward to the upcoming Sex in the City movie and want to catch up on the story line.

[via MacDailyNews]

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Eye-Fi, a maker of wireless SD cards, extended its wireless card portfolio today. The company added three new products to make photographers’ lives a bit easier while on the go.

“We understand that each photographer has his or her own way of sharing memories,” said Jeff Holove, chief executive officer of Eye-Fi. “Some users are thrilled to easily upload photos from camera to computer, while others want a much richer photo sharing experience, even when away from home. By offering three different Eye-Fi Cards and new features, our goal is to give consumers exactly what delights them.”

The new Eye-Fi wireless SD memory cards come in three different flavors, including:

Read the rest »

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Ewww. Could it be that Swedish car manufacturer Saab is using human cadavers for its crash test research? Autoblog has posted a story online reporting that General Motors used ten human cadavers to test its vehicles recently. The report comes initially from Vagverket, a Swedish Road Admin company.

Both General Motors and Saab are denying any use of “postmortem human test subjects” but report that they do provide funds for certain bio-mechanical research projects.

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