Category Archives: Business

GoGo to buy Airfone to boost in-flight Wi-Fi

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Airfone has been around for decades as an in-flight telephone service provider and has passed through a long string of corporate ownership, including GTE Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. In 2008, Verizon sold Airfone to LiveTV. Now Gogo will acquire Airfone’s network infrastructure, as well as a 1 MHz spectrum license currently held by LiveTV. Gogo already has a 3 MHz license. The company’s network is air-to-ground, meaning it has cellular towers that beam signals to aircraft. The network covers the contiguous U.S. and portions of Alaska.

via GoGo to buy Airfone to boost in-flight Wi-Fi – chicagotribune.com.

Big Content eyes Google Fiber deployment in Kansas City warily

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Meanwhile, 180 miles to the north, in Iowa, Google is also getting busy. This week, the company announced plans to build a new $300 million data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just outside of Omaha. This facility is expected to continue to do what another Council Bluffs site did when it came online in 2009: host Gmail, Google Maps, Google+, and of course, search.

Given Google’s FCC filing from earlier this year, that Iowa station may also serve as a future IP video facility to be used in conjunction with Kansas City’s fiber service.

via Big Content eyes Google Fiber deployment in Kansas City warily.

The tablet that changed the whole market for tablets, and isn’t a tablet

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Kindle Fire’s best feature is its ability as an e-book reader, according to reviewers. It is much more, however. For a list price of $199, customers get a seven-inch display, 8GB of RAM, free storage on Amazon’s cloud, WiFi and USB connections, the ability to run any Android-compatible app or game and automagical connections to media (for which you can pay Amazon) including e-books, music, movies and anything else you can find on the Internet.

Fire’s list price is $430 lower than the list price of the latest edition of the iPad and $249 less than Amazon’s discount price for a new ten-inch Samsung Galaxy tablet and $50 less than the seven-inch Samsung Galaxy.

via The tablet that changed the whole market for tablets, and isn’t a tablet | ITworld.

Square Payment Pace Rises 25% in Niche Coveted by EBay

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Square Inc., maker of credit-card readers for smartphones and tablets, has increased its payment volume 25 percent since March, when EBay Inc. EBAY’s PayPal showed off a new mobile scanner and underscored growth in the field.

Square, founded in 2009, is processing transactions at an annualized rate of $5 billion, up from $4 billion a month ago, as more consumers embrace mobile payments, Chief Operating Officer Keith Rabois said in an interview. The San Francisco company is making cash from sales before 5 p.m. on any day available in merchants’ accounts on the next business day, compared with as many as five days out for other processors.

via Square Payment Pace Rises 25% in Niche Coveted by EBay – Bloomberg.

How to Buy a Facebook Girlfriend for $5

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How to Buy a Facebook Girlfriend for $5.

The web service GirlfriendHire has what it takes to make real human relationships obsolete. And why not? Facebook has already diminished friendship to a cowering, anemic orphan of a concept. Next up: Sex and love. The site allows you to directly order a fake girlfriend for $5. It’s a deal. You’ll pay far more for a Match.com subscription, where you own only the chance of meeting someone.

Who’s the real “Dropbox of the enterprise”?

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Who’s the real “Dropbox of the enterprise”?.

Dropbox relies on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) for data storage, which spreads files across multiple data centers throughout the United States. While Dropbox encrypts these files, the encryption process occurs only *after* they have been uploaded. For some companies, this approach may not be good enough, which is why enterprise and business competitors such as Accellion have made a point of offering “seamless client-side encryption of files before they are sent.” SpiderOak, which Ars examined earlier this month, is another example of a Dropbox competitor with client-side encryption.