Friday Evening Links

said by Camelot One:

It is supposed to fund telephone service to the sticks.
It is supposed to fund telephone/data services for schools
And it is supposed to provide free cell phones and service to poor people.

The free cell service is the only thing we've seen any proof of.

said by benc:

     Schools, I'm not so sure about.  While schools do tend to have fast Internet a lot of the time, I always thought that was financed through the school district's budget.  I don't know how much in USF funds the school districts get, if any.

said by neftv:

I still don't understand USF. Who exactly is it helping?

said by zno:

i currently pay $30/mo for my POTS line. out of that, $10 goes to FED, State, County GOVTs. wooping 50% taxation on a stupid phone line.

ooma is looking sweeter by the minute.

said by Madness:

I'd love to get it, myself, but should I ask the rep if I should keep a fire extinguisher next to my modem?

said by Madness:

I'd love to get it, myself, but should I ask the rep if I should keep a fire extinguisher next to my modem?

said by Kearnstd:

id guess that apple is large enough they have customers of itunes who would just code something to capture the stream allowing you the rightful access to a purchased product

said by Rogue Wolf:

Hopefully not the way MSN Music redefined it: "It's all yours until such time as we choose to discontinue the service, leaving you without the music you paid for and with no compensation or way to recover it."

said by kinabrew:

I hope that more than 50 Android phones will ship in 2010.

A Mozilla official last week pointed Firefox users to the extension that adds Microsoft's Bing search engine to the list of the browser's search engines after Google's CEO downplayed consumers' privacy concerns.

During the interview, Schmidt was asked: "People are treating Google like their most trusted friend...should they be?" It was Schmidt's answer that motivated Dotzler to show users how to drop Google, Firefox's default search engine, for rival Bing.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Schmidt told CNBC.

Dotzler fumed over Schmidt's comments on privacy. "That was Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, telling you exactly what he thinks about your privacy," said Dotzler on his blog. "There is no ambiguity, no 'out of context' here." Dotzler added that he considers Bing's privacy policy better than Google's.

Google plans to sell its new phone without getting a wireless carrier to subsidize the handset. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work with a carrier: The search giant intends to launch its phone next year with the help of T-Mobile, say sources familiar with its plans.

Google (GOOG) has approached multiple carriers about supporting its new phone, which it has designed itself and will be produced by Taiwan’s HTC, sources say. But so far only T-Mobile has agreed to actively help push the phone via distribution channels and support infrastructure, I’m told.

But sources say Google’s decision to use GSM came only after Verizon Wireless (VZ), which uses the rival CDMA technology, declined to help Google push the new phone.

Google doesn’t intend to sell its new “Nexus One” phone that way, sources familiar with the company’s plans say. Instead, it envisions a scenario where customers who buy the handset are provided with a menu that lets them pick a carrier, menu-style.