By David Sims
[email protected]
The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music
is Willie Nelson’s Stardust:
Hey, sometimes all you can do is quote:
After nine delays
since November last year, the Telkom-2
satellite of the biggest
state telecommunications company, PT Telkom Indonesia, was finally launched from Kourou, French Guyana, on
Wednesday afternoon, or at 6:46 a.m. on Thursday in Jakarta, a local media
reported here Friday.
The 1,975 kg satellite was launched along with the Spaceway satellite of Direct
TV boosted by the Ariane 5 ECA rocket to 188 degrees East Longitude at an
altitude of 36,000 kms.
The $170 million satellite will conduct its mission for 15 years replacing
Palapa B4 Satellite, the service of which had expired in May 2003, the Jakarta Post said.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself, so I didn’t.
…
Happy birthday, George
Gallup. At the University of Iowa in the early 1920s
Gallup edited the campus newspaper, the Daily Iowan. He conducted what some say is the first poll in
human history, a survey to find the prettiest girl on the campus. Ophelia Smith
was the winner, and Gallup married her.
…
First CoffeeSM’s condolences to the family of
Motorola Inc. marketing executive Geoffrey Frost, a key force in revitalizing
the company’s image, who died suddenly
Thursday at his home in suburban Lake Bluff.
Frost, an executive vice president and Motorola’s chief marketing officer, died
of natural causes, said Jennifer Weyrauch, a company spokeswoman. He was 56.
“He was definitely the man who turned around Motorola’s brand image,” said Matt
Hoffman, a stock analyst at Moors & Cabot in New York. “It’s a huge loss.”
Frost was an urbane and witty man, conversant in several languages, including
Russian and Japanese. In 1999, he left a top marketing post at Nike Inc. to
head marketing for Motorola’s wireless phone division. In 2003, he was named
Motorola’s chief brand officer and earlier this week was promoted to executive
vice president.
…
Nineteen months after announcing the expansion of its
suburban Richmond, Virginia factory, semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG said
yesterday that it will spin off its
struggling memory-chip unit.
The memory division of the Germany-based firm will be carved out as an
independent company by July 1. The mechanics of the spinoff have not been
determined.
This unit makes DRAM, a memory chip that is a basic component in computers.
Infineon’s other division produces processing chips and circuitry for vehicles,
mobile communications and smart cards.
Local operations at Infineon’s only U.S. plant will continue as normal, company
spokesman Christoph Liedtke said, but it is too early to speculate on the
employment future for the 2,250 workers.
…
Intel has established a $50 million venture fund for the Middle East and Turkey,
to help stimulate local innovation and growth in IT sector.
With this fund, Intel will focus on opportunities to invest in hardware,
services including broadband infrastructure and mobile wireless solutions as
well as local content developers and providers, digital health products, IT
service providers and software, all areas of high demand, said Arvind Sodhani,
President of Intel Capital, Intel’s venture investment program.
…
French car maker Peugeot is adding a navigation system as standard kit on their 407 model in an
attempt to compete in Europe with rivals such as the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall
Vectra.
To boost sales in France the car will come with
flame-retardant upholstery and a smoke detector.
…
Cicero Networks, a developer of wireless Voice over IP, has
announced the launch of the smartphone
version of CiceroPhone, converged VoIP/Cellular softphone. The Dublin-based
firm has also announced a new Call Continuity server, an enhancement to the
Cicero Controller enabling seamless roaming between both Wi-Fi/GSM and
Wi-Fi/CDMA networks.
According to European
Communications, CiceroPhone users can make and receive all calls – VoIP,
Fixed and Cellular – though a single user interface on their mobile phone.
Together with the new seamless roaming features delivered by Cicero Controller,
operators can now deliver an always-on mobile service, whereby calls are optimally
routed based on network availability (Wi-Fi/Cellular), cost and Quality of
Service.
CiceroPhone smartphone client is available immediately for
Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone and PDA devices. The Cicero Controller Call
Continuity module is scheduled for release mid-December 2005.
…
Thank you, EarthLink: A Florida man known as the “timeshare spammer” was sentenced to a
year in prison on Thursday for clogging in-boxes with millions of
unsolicited e-mail messages, in one of the first criminal prosecutions under
federal anti-spam laws.
Peter Moshou pleaded guilty in June
to violating the U.S. Can-Spam Act after EarthLink sued him in January. In its
suit, EarthLink alleged that Moshou sent millions of junk e-mail messages in
2004 and 2005 offering brokerage services for people interested in selling
their timeshares.
The suit charged Moshou with numerous Can-Spam violations,
including falsifying the “from” field in e-mail addresses, using deceptive
subject lines, failing to identify the sender, and failing to provide an
electronic unsubscribe option.
In addition to prison time, the court ordered Moshou to pay $120,000 in
restitution.
In a separate case, the Internet service provider won a $15.4 million judgment
against Florida resident Craig Brockwell and his company, BC Alliance, on
Can-Spam charges. According to that suit, Brockwell sent hundreds of thousands
of unsolicited e-mails advertising discounted inkjet printer cartridges.
The cases were among a handful of claims EarthLink filed earlier this year
against alleged spammers in California, Florida, Nevada and Washington state.
The company has won a number of other spam-related suits, including one against
the so-called Alabama spammers in January.
…
Happy birthday, Mickey Mouse.
Today in 1928 Walt Disney’s “Steamboat
Willie,” premiered in New York at the Colony Theater, with characters Mickey
Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Pegleg Pete.
…
Oh, and if anybody
offers you a cup of grape Flavor-Aid today, you might think twice.
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