US House Passes Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act

US HOUSE VOTES for Internet Access Tax Permanent Moratorium - The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday to ban permanently any taxation of Internet access or Internet connection taxes -- the ban was opposed by some Democrats and state and local governments. The legislation now goes to the US Senate where it has bipartisan support. Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act 
Yahoo Q2 2014 Earnings: Download Yahoo Q2 2014 Earnings Slides

Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally to Join Google Board

Novatis, Google to Work on Smart Contact Lenses
Wall Street Journal
The smart lenses, which Google unveiled in January, are part of a growing number of wearable technology and software products used to monitor ...

Microsoft COO tells partners to get with the cloud program now
PCWorld
Microsoft controls more than 90 percent of the personal-computer market. Which means that, in its view, it's an underdog. Microsoft opened its ...

Google Chromecast now on sale in Ireland
Irish Independent
Google has announced that Chromecast, a new device that makes it easy to enjoy online video and music on any HD TV, is now officially available in ...

Google's Nest launches network technology for connected home
Reuters
The attempt by Nest, a smart thermostat maker that Google bought in January for $3.2 ... Earlier in July, Microsoft Corp became the 51st member of a competing group called ...Apple Inc, known for strictly controlling how other companies' products interact with its ...Facebook · Twitter · RSS · YouTube ...

Meet 'Project Zero,' Google's Secret Team of Bug-Hunting Hackers
Wired
When Hotz dismantled the defenses of Google's Chrome operating system earlier this year, by contrast, the company paid him a $150,000 reward for ...

Facebook to track users' TV habits
Los Angeles Times
The Facebook-Nielsen partnership is part of a stepped-up campaign to get a .... The first successful tablet computer, the Apple iPad, was introduced in 2010. ... Facebook collected more display ad dollars than longtime leader Google ...

Microsoft: Lumia 630 and Lumia 930 Windows Phone owners, Google search is banned for you
Computerworld (blog)
On the other hand, Google owns the search market, with around a 68% ... Given that,Microsoft is only hurting itself by banning Google search from ...

Rackspace Fights Amazon With Managed Cloud Push
InformationWeek
Rackspace will host Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, or Sharepoint ... and AmazonWeb Services, Google, and Microsoft began competing with ...

Microsoft to Announce Job Cuts as Soon as This Week
Bloomberg
Like us on Facebook · Follow us on Twitter ... July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Betty Liu reports that Microsoft Chief ... take on smartphones and tablets from Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and other technology rivals. ... While Microsoft has undergone smaller, intermittent job cuts in individual ...

Amazon employees hotter than Google's, Facebook's
MarketWatch
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was at No. 2 with 8%, while Google was at 7%, andFacebook at 2.3%. ... matches 7.5% below the average rate, followed by Apple andGoogle. ... Yahoo earnings: Focus on Alibaba, display business.

Google Now Warns In Search Results when a Page Won't Load - The Next Web
By Nick Summers
Google will now indicate when a page listed in its search results won't load properly on your device. For instance, if a site requires Adobe Flash you'll ...
The Next Web

Could this Comcast rep be the worst service rep in the world?
CNET
An extraordinary recording of a phone call with Comcast, posted by tech journalist Ryan Block, reveals a rep who simply wouldn't accept that a customer would want to disconnect...

10-year space trip nears end
NEWS.com.au
AFTER 10 years and nearly seven billion kilometres spent circling the solar system, a spacecraft will finally meet its target. European Space Agency's probe Rosetta — a robotic spacecraft — has been in pursuit of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since ...

Microsoft to partners: with 14 percent of the market, the scope for growth is huge
Ars Technica
In the day one keynote of its Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft was working hard to persuade its hardware and software partners of the opportunity that its platforms offered them. Key to that is convincing the assembled partners that its platform ...

Space Florida: 'Win some, lose some'
Valley morning Star
BROWNSVILLE — Space Florida conceded Monday that SpaceX is poised to establish the world's first private and commercial vertical launch site at Boca Chica Beach in Cameron County. “It's part of the process,” Space Florida's Chief of Strategic Alliances ...

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FTC, T-Mobile, Cramming, Slamming

T-Mobile Sued for Adding Bogus Charges to Bills: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
T-Mobile US Inc. was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over claims the wireless carrier placed unauthorized third-party charges on customer bills. Bloomberg’s Yang Yang reports on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg July 2, 2014)

FTC probably a little late -- it was a problem, a year ago --

FTC: T-Mobile knowingly added bogus charges to bills: "..."It's wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. "The FTC's goal is to ensure that T-Mobile repays all its customers for these crammed charges.""

DailyTech - FTC Calls Out T-Mobile for Fraudulent Charges on Phone Bills, CEO Lambasts Claims: "...T-Mobile CEO John Legere has since responded to the FTC complaint, saying that it is "unfounded and without merit." Here's Legere's full statement:  We have seen the complaint filed today by the FTC and find it to be unfounded and without merit.  In fact T-Mobile stopped billing for these Premium SMS services last year and launched a proactive program to provide full refunds for any customer that feels that they were charged for something they did not want.  T-Mobile is fighting harder than any of the carriers to change the way the wireless industry operates and we are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to file this action against the most pro-consumer company in the industry rather than the real bad actors..."

Famed investor Tim Draper wins auction of Silk Road’s 29,655 bitcoins | Ars Technica: "A relatively unknown Silicon Valley Bitcoin startup named Vaurum announced that one of its primary investors, Tim Draper, has won the government auction of an enormous trove of 29,655 bitcoins seized from Silk Road—currently worth over $19 million. “Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market economy with weak currencies,” Draper, a founding partner at the well-known venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), said in a statement posted by Varurum on Wednesday morning. DFJ manages over $7 billion in global investments and was an early funder of Hotmail, Skype, Tesla Motors, and the Pebble watch. Vaurum said in its statement that it will partner with Draper to “leverage the pool of [around] 30,000 bitcoins as a liquidity source” as a way to develop trading platforms in “developing economies.”..."

Google's Latest Buy Is Full of Hits
ABC News
Google's latest acquisition is already a hit. The search giant announced today that it had scooped up Songza, a music streaming and curation service.

Microsoft accidentally borks legit websites while hunting malware in No-IP takeover
PCWorld
Microsoft admitted Tuesday it made a technical error after it commandeered part of an Internet service's network in order to shut down a botnet, but the ...

Amazon Defends Its Stance Against Hachette
Wall Street Journal
In its standoff with Hachette, Amazon wants a larger share of e-book ... The Justice Department in 2012 brought a civil antitrust lawsuit against five major publishers and Apple Inc., ... 

Amazon Resisting FTC On In-App Purchases By Children
Wall Street Journal
In a letter to the FTC Tuesday, Amazon said it was prepared to "defend our ... He said Amazon's app store included "prominent notice of in-app ... and has updated its app store to conform to the standards the FTC set for Apple. ... App stores, such as those operated by Amazon, Apple and Google Inc., ...

Facebook policy didn't mention 'research' at time of controversial experiment
San Jose Mercury News
Facebook argues it had users' consent to carry out the test, based on ...

Microsoft sides with Qualcomm in showdown over connected home
Reuters
Microsoft on Tuesday joined 50 other members in the AllSeen Alliance, including ... AppleInc, known for strictly controlling how other companies' products interact with its own, ... Last week, Google said it partnered with Mercedes-Benz, Whirlpool Corp and light bulb ...

Amazon Strikes Back With Lower Cost Instances
InformationWeek
Amazon Web Services has introduced a lower cost, general-purpose instance type for users who want both a modest CPU and also an ability to burst ...

Amazon seller sues Amazon, Apple over deleted listings
CNET
An independent electronics accessories retailer is suing tech giants Amazon and Apple on a multitude of allegations that include stopping the ...

Microsoft, Google form Ethernet consortium for data center networks
ZDNet
Five tech giants including Google and Microsoft have formed a consortium to push ...Facebook: Unethical, untrustworthy, and now downright harmful ...

Facebook Faces Investigation In UK Over Emotion Experiment - The Next Web
By Kaylene Hong
Facebook posts, comments and likes related to the World Cup have already ...Facebook's brewing trouble in Europe comes as Google has started ...
The Next Web Top Stories

Microsoft Communication Applications - AT&T Business
AT&T Managed Application Services for Microsoft can provide hosting, monitoring, management, and support across the application lifecycle. We can ...
AT&T - Enterprise Business Services

Google in Deal for Songza, a Music Playlist Service
New York Times
In a sign of growing consolidation in the digital music business, Google announced on Tuesday that it had bought Songza, a three-year-old app that competes with Pandora and others in making customized playlists of recommended songs. The price was not ...

ray turns out to one of world's deepest divers
New Zealand Herald
A ray known for basking on the ocean surface has turned out to be one of the natural world's deepest divers, able to forage at submarine-crushing depths, scientists said this week. Researchers attached data recorders to 15 Chilean devil rays (Latin name ...

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