D-Link will ship a new set-top box for Boxee’s online video service in Q2, as the software developer moves to merge its technology with CE devices, Boxee CEO Avner Rosen said at a news conference Monday night in Brooklyn, N.Y.
As California’s utilities commission was trumpeting a new Advanced Services Fund broadband grant, the commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates was declaring that it “strongly opposes” the move. In a news release Wednesday before the commission’s announcement, the advocate’s office called the award “another give-away of ratepayer money to companies for building broadband facilities with no CPUC oversight.”
Opposition to outsourcing is the new rallying cry for skeptics of a pair of Internet gambling bills offered by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D- Mass. At a hearing Thursday, Frank and other lawmakers who support legalizing and regulating Internet wagering signaled they will make sure that any gambling operators in the U.S., especially those on tribal lands, could compete with established offshore operators in such places as the U.K. and Antigua. Industry and nonprofit supporters also released a new study showing that “social harms” could be dealt with better under regulation than a ban on Internet gambling.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing titled "Transportation Security Challenges Post-9/11" on December 2, 2009.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the agenda for the 2009 Trade Symposium, which will be held December 8-10, 2009 in Washington, DC and via live webcast.
Government sources indicate that there is "high confidence" that current ITDS funding - $22 million carried over from prior years plus the $6 million requested by the Administration for FY 2010 - will be sufficient to fund "basic functionality" for the International Trade Development System. Basic functionality includes collecting and storing data and making it available to the Participating Government Agencies. (Note that the 2009 ITDS Annual Report indicates that this basic functionality would not wait for ACE; the data would be collected using ABI and made available to PGAs through the ACE Data Warehouse.)
“The stuff that was advertised” heavily sold the most early Black Friday at Best Buy, Micro Center, Office Depot, Sears, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart stores in the Washington area, NPD analyst Stephen Baker said, in a scenario likely repeated many other places nationally. “A lot” of flat-panel TVs were sold, many computer departments “were really, really busy” and videogame sections were “pretty busy also,” he said.
‘Tis the season for litigation involving free-trial offers online. Only a week after the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on its investigation into “mystery charges” associated with purchases at Web retailers, and shortly following a lawsuit against Facebook and Zynga for in-game offers, another suit has popped up, this time involving a network advertising provider. Teeth-whitening manufacturer Dazzlesmile accused Epic Advertising and its Azoogle division of placing ads for its product in a manner that would maximize Epic’s immediate revenue but result in many returned purchases, owing to deceptive ad copy and unfriendly consumer terms.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and Canada Public Safety Minister Van Loan recent met for the second of their formal biannual meetings, where they discussed initiatives between the U.S. and Canada. The initiatives build on their shared commitment to tackle common threats like terrorism and organized crime while ensuring the lawful flow of travel and trade across the border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a proposed rule to amend its regulations for Global Entry, a voluntary, international trusted traveler program, which allows CBP to expedite clearance of pre-approved, low-risk air travelers into the U.S.1