Nintendo of America added a new WiiWare title and two more legacy system games to its Wii Shop Channel for download to the console. The WiiWare title is Hudson Entertainment’s My Aquarium “virtual aquarium” at 500 Wii Points, $5. The Virtual Console legacy system games are Clu Clu Land from the original Nintendo Entertainment System at 500 Wii Points and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars from Super NES for 800 Wii Points, $8. There are now 250 Virtual Console games available for the Wii, NOA said.
The Federal Aviation Administration initiated an administrative proceeding, known as a notice of investigation, to determine whether the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will violate federal regulations if it follows through with its proposal to bar airlines from using takeoff and landing slots at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International Airports if the slots are acquired by auction. (DOT press release 122-08, dated 08/26/08, available at http://www.dot.gov/affairs/dot12208.htm.)
AU Optronics is plunging ahead with plans to invest $12.7 billion to build four new plants in Taiwan, including its first 10th-generation LCD factory, which may start production by 2010, industry officials said. The factories would be built over the next decade, AU said.
Target settled class-action litigation with the National Federation of the Blind concerning Target.com’s accessibility to blind visitors (WID Nov 6/06 p6) in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the company and group said. The company will create a $6 million fund from which the California settlement class can make claims, with each claimant eligible for up to two awards of $3,500 each. The federation will certify Target.com for blind accessibility -- its friendliness to so- called screen reader technology -- once the site finalizes changes early next year, and will perform “accessibility testing” on Target.com through 2012. The specific terms are somewhat burdensome for Target. The company will meet every six months with federation staff to discuss the federation’s “recommended updates” to Target’s “online assistive technology guidelines.” Each quarter the federation will run Target.com through automated monitoring, reporting any “deviation” from the assistive guidelines. The federation will report yearly the results experienced by five to 15 blind people of “varying skill levels” attempting defined tasks on the Target site. A technical consultant will have the discretion to analyze up to 40 pages of Target.com for accessibility, including the home landing page, search results, product detail page, “add to cart” page, browse page from a “major category,” login page, “address book” and even the “thank you” page that appears once an order is completed. Target must notify the federation when it develops new site templates, which also may be evaluated by the federation quarterly and yearly. Target will pay the federation $50,000 for the first year of monitoring and $40,000 for each year after. Target employees responsible for site coding must attend federation-run “periodic one-day training sessions” in accessibility, for which Target must pay the federation up to $15,000 per session. The company will assign an employee to handle accessibility complaints and give the federation a quarterly summary of complaints and their resolution status, though the summaries won’t be admissible in court. Target will make a $20,000 payment on behalf of Bruce Sexton, the original plaintiff, to the California Center for the Blind. Federation President Marc Maurer said Target “has already taken action to make certain that its Web site is accessible to everyone,” but the federation will help the company with “additional improvements” for blind visitors. Target.com President Steve Eastman said the company has improved site accessibility “as our online business has evolved.”
DTV converter box sales will run 18 to 24 months after the federal coupon program’s July 2009 expiration, as set-top boxes get new features like Dolby Digital and electronic program guides, said David Pederson, vice president of corporate marketing at Zoran.
A federal court in Missouri remanded a wireless tower denial to the Franklin County Zoning Board for new hearings and a full written explanation of the board’s decision. U.S. Cellular had sought a construction permit for the tower on a parcel in an agricultural zone. The county planning board denied the permit, calling the tower a noncomforming use and referring the company to the zoning board for a variance. The zoning board voted 3-2 to deny the variance and U.S. Cellular appealed to the U.S. District Court in St. Louis, saying the board didn’t back up its claim that there were alternative sites at which the company could colocate its antennas. The court agreed (Case 4:07-CV-1426-JCH). It said the denial simply quoted county land-use regulations without explaining why the proposed tower wasn’t eligible for a variance under them, citing no testimony or any other evidence in the record to back up the denial. The court said the board didn’t meet Telecom Act requirements that local tower denials be supported by “substantial evidence contained in a written record.” The court remanded the case to the county board, with instructions to hold new hearings and allow U.S. Cellular to present new evidence in support of the requested variance. The court said the new hearings must begin by Nov. 19 and make a final decision on remand by Dec. 19.
Internet service providers’ voluntary agreements with state attorneys general to cooperate more closely on child porn highlight the role of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The federally-funded nonprofit center seems to taking on duties usually handled by police agencies and its activities raised serious due-process questions, critics told us.
WTO Agriculture negotiations chairperson Ambassador Falconer, on August 11, 2008, submitted his report on the July 2008 "package" talks to the Trade Negotiations Committee. Also, non-agricultural market access (NAMA) chairperson Stephenson, on August 12, 2008, submitted his report on the July 2008 "package" talks to the Trade Negotiations Committee. (WTO agriculture negotiations chairperson's report, dated 08/11/08, available at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/chair_texts_11aug08_e.doc; WTO non-agricultural market access chairperson's report, dated 08/12/08, available at
The Telecommunications Industry Association updated two public safety communications standards created by its TR-8 Committee. The Inter Radio Frequency Subsystem Interface (ISSI) Message and Procedures for Supplement Data Services is designed for first responders and other two-way radio users, TIA said. The Interoperability Testing for Voice Operations in Trunked Systems, to be released next week, enables a group of subscribers to share spectrum, it said. The standards are part of Project 25, a joint effort at standards for digital communications among public safety agencies, it said.
Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) deployed in Georgia Wednesday, after that nation and Russia agreed to a truce ending a five-day war. The group was to land Wednesday afternoon in Tbilisi, Georgia, with its first task assessing communications infrastructure damage. “TSF’s crew is carrying satellite communications equipment to install communication centers offering Broadband Internet access, phone and fax lines and all the necessary IT equipment for a crisis management center,” the group said. “Depending on needs identified, TSF could run humanitarian calling operations so that victims of the conflict can give news to their family in the country and abroad and request personalized assistance.”