Txts R going thrU th ruf

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BBC NEWS | Technology | Texting levels reach record high
Mobile phone users in the UK sent a record 3.3 billion text messages in May, figures show.

The Big Brother TV show, the FA Cup and Champions League finals all helped boost numbers, according to the Mobile Data Association (MDA).

Person-to-person texts sent across all mobile phone networks averaged 106 million per day last month.

This figure was up 26% on May 2005 and beat the previous UK record of 3.2 billion texts sent in March.

That figure could rise higher this month due to a surge in World Cup-related messages.

An MDA spokeswoman said: “Texting has become second nature to UK mobile phone users, with many bank holiday arrangements being made via text.”

More than 120 million text messages were sent on FA Cup final day, rising to 124 million texts on Champions League final day.

A predicted 36.5 billion texts will be sent by UK mobile phone users this year – up from 32 billion in 2005, according to the MDA.

DVD sales slide as newspapers and magazines persist with giveaways

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From today’s Guardian…

Newspapers and magazines have given away as many free DVDs as have been sold in shops so far this year, according to researchers.More than 130m free DVDs, or an average of five per household, were handed out last year and 54m free DVDs have been given away in the first quarter of this year alone, data from Screen Digest shows.Analysts said the flood of free films boded ill for retailers such as HMV, which already faced tough competition from supermarkets and online stores. DVD sales have fallen as newspapers and magazines have given away films in an effort to increase circulation. The average household bought 11.4 DVDs last year, down from 12.5 in 2004…

Boeing Drops In-Flight Wi-Fi

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From PC World…

Boeing will phase out its Connexion by Boeing service, leaving what it once considered a promising market for in-flight Internet access.

Connexion offers broadband Internet access via Wi-Fi, using a satellite connection to the Internet, that costs about $10 to $30 per flight on commercial airlines. It also offers high-speed Internet access on executive jets and ships.

Connexion is offered on some commercial flights in Europe and Asia but was never adopted by a major U.S. carrier. First conceived in 2000, the service was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 2002 as the nation’s airlines were reeling from a travel slump that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Besides, it’s not that good when your laptop is in the hold!

The cluelessness of businessmen

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This obnoxious sign (photographed by Scott Beale, to whom many thanks) greeted visitors to LinuxWorld. The cretin responsible for it should be taken out and shot. It’s an example of what happens to a movement when idiots with MBAs get their hooks into it. Apart from anything else, Linux is the creation of people who did it for the love (or the sheer hell) of it. Since when did ‘professional’ become a term of approbation?

U2 can be a hypocrite

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If, like me, you are repelled by the spectacle of millionaire rock stars miming statemanship, then you will be cheered by John Harris’s acute piece in today’s Guardian…

In response to the fact that the Irish government has recently changed its notoriously cuddly fiscal regime, so that creative types can only earn a trifling £170,000 before paying tax, Bono and his friends have moved part of their empire to the Netherlands. This may seem like a rather cruel interpretation of the news, but I don’t think I can help it: though Bono is very keen on feeding, watering and healing the world, he and his group – collectively worth £460m, it says here – don’t seem to be too keen on paying for Irish schools and hospitals. That’s good, isn’t it?

Thanks to Pete for pointing it out.

The Constitution’s the boss

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From Good Morning Silicon Valley…

A federal judge in Detroit on Thursday struck down the National Security Agency’s warrantless domestic surveillance program, calling it unconstitutional and an illegal abuse of presidential power. In a 43-page opinion, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor made quick work of the Bush administration’s “it’s classified” defense, pointing out that the program is not beyond judicial scrutiny. “The Presidential Oath of Office is set forth in the Constitution and requires him to swear or affirm that he ‘will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ ” Taylor wrote. “The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself. We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all ‘inherent powers’ must derive from that Constitution.”

Yes, Ma’am. The Feds are appealing, of course. But an interesting question now looms, namely the legal liability of the phone and internet companies that have been doing the government’s dirty work for it if a higher court rules that it was illegal all along.

Dell going up/down in flames?

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Funny how times change. I remember when Dell was regarded as unstoppable. But NYT reports today…

Three days after its announcement of a vast safety recall, Dell reported little but bad news yesterday: profits down by half, and an informal Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting.

Speaking from China to Wall Street analysts in a conference call after the earnings announcement, Michael S. Dell, the company’s founder and chairman, said, “We are not satisfied with our performance, and we will do better.”

While the company has told analysts for more than a year that it will do better, it has not been able to follow through. In a changing market, Dell has been unable to gain traction against competitors as it has in the past, when it has cut prices to gain market share.

The chief executive, Kevin B. Rollins, said yesterday that the company had cut prices “too aggressively” in a number of markets to win market share, which hurt its profitability. “We didn’t do a good job of it,” he said.

Analysts remained frustrated. Harry Blount of Lehman Brothers asked Mr. Rollins, “Why should we believe that your actions will be any better than they have been?”