According to Verizon, it will do everything in its power to ensure that P2P downloading is brought into the new century and given the kind of treatment it has deserved for years. The company researched P2P file sharing and found that when an ISP cooperates with an P2P file sharer, they can speed downloads by a whopping 60 percent.

For the first time, there is some hope in the fight between ISPs and P2P services, but there’s still a long road ahead of us. But if Verizon’s stance is any indication of the future, I’m looking forward to it.

AT&T has already come out saying that it wants to do everything it can to block users from downloading content from P2P sites and Comcast, the nation’s largest ISP, said it doesn’t even want to consider playing nice with P2P services. Knowing that, how can we blame Verizon for, well, being the good guy?

That said, will all P2P file sharing sites be given the same opportunities afforded to some? Of course not. But sometimes it’s better to give credit where it’s due and hope for more in the future. Especially considering the fact that Verizon’s competitors aren’t nearly as willing to concede any information to P2P services.

And as the company said in a recent statement, “Verizon does not accept the role of network police agency.”

Until then, Verizon is fine in my book — for once.

So why should Verizon be commended for its actions even though it should have happened years ago? Because for the first time, an ISP has finally realized that it’s doing the right thing for its business and its customers and wants to take a step in the right direction.

In the long and arduous battle between P2P file sharing services and ISPs, the former have done all they can to stay on top, while the latter have done all they can to eliminate them as quickly as possible. And just when I started losing hope, Verizon, for once, made me feel just a little bit better about ISPs. Will it last? I doubt it.

But perhaps what’s most important to this test is that Verizon is pledging availability of some of its infrastructure information to P2P file sharing services to increase the efficiency of both services.

There’s also an option for a Blu-ray burner drive, but Dell doesn’t seem to be ready to disclose that price just yet.

Things are heating up in the Blu-ray laptop sector. Last week, Asus unveiled its M50 laptop, which has an integrated Blu-ray player, though it did not offer pricing details at the time.

But even at a relatively low price, is Blu-ray a bargain on a laptop? Maybe not. The HD drive technology seems to put a serious hurt on battery life.

(Credit:
Dell)

Dell, which has more than a little clout in the PC market, on Friday announced that consumers can now spend less than $1,000 to get a Blu-ray-equipped laptop. More specifically, the Round Rock, Texas, company said that it’s offering a Blu-ray disc playback option with its Inspiron 1525 laptops starting at $879.

The Inspiron 1525 made its debut at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The laptop features a 15-inch screen and an HDMI port for connecting to high-resolution displays and HDTVs. (Check out CNET’s review of the Inspiron 1525.)

The end of the next-generation DVD format battle may not mean a long victory lap for inflated Blu-ray prices after all.

Giveaway of the Day offers one free download every day.

Find more deals, coupon codes, and bargains on CNET’s Shopper.com.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Giveaway of the Day gives you a different commercial software application, free of charge, every day. Yes, there’s a catch, but it’s a simple one: each program is made available for only 24 hours, and you have to install it the day you download it.

Let me clarify that: The software doesn’t expire after 24 hours. Rather, you have a one-day window in which to download it and install it. But once that’s done, it’s yours to keep forever (or at least until you reformat your hard drive).

Don’t expect to find Quicken or
Microsoft Office here; the selection consists mostly of utilities, security tools, DVD rippers, and the like. Some of it’s junk, but there are some gems–and you definitely can’t beat the price. If you want to know whether the day’s program is worth the download, click the “Proceed to download page” link and check readers’ ratings and comments, which are usually copious.

(Credit:
Rick Broida)

(Credit:
Salubrion)

The little clock measures 3.8 inches in diameter and four-fifths of an inch thick and includes 2 AAA batteries, making it a well-suited travel device, as well. Thanks to Dvice for alerting us to this gadget–very quietly of course.

Rather than counting time with minute and second hands, the $99 digital clock features a circle that slowly and unobtrusively draws itself along the perimeter of the display to mark the passing time.

The Enso Clock by Salubrion may well be the most unalarming alarm clock you’ll ever find.

The Enso Clock allows users to set sequential timers that run one after the other to compose an overall session. Instead of rousing you with a grating clang, it offers the sorts of soothing sounds you’d hear in a Zendo, such as wooden blocks or a Tingsha bell.

This afternoon, Icahn, a billionaire with a God complex–or is that repetitive?–wrote a new chapter in this deliciously goofy Microhoo saga when he launched plans for a proxy contest to challenge Yahoo’s famously feckless board of directors with his own handpicked nominees.

Jerry Yang was able to rope-a-dope Steve Ballmer. But he’s never had to square off against a royal pain in the ass like Carl Icahn.

Yo Jerry, I can take down Gordon Gekko with one hand tied behind my back

In a perfect world, Yahoo’s fate would be placed in the hands of technologists, win, lose, or draw. Let the best ideas flourish and to the victors go the spoils and all of that. In the real world, though, finance capitalism trumps all. If he doesn’t already realize it, Yang will soon: Now he’s up against the Big Dog.

Talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

After infuriating investors by walking away from the sure payday that Ballmer put on the table, Yahoo doesn’t have any options (And no, neither Google nor Time Warner is going to play white knight with a surprise buyout bid.) Yang may be true to his word about having a long-term rescue plan, but that’s not helping Wall Street’s bad mood. Whatever the truth, Yang was portrayed during the Microsoft negotiations as a passive-aggressive ditherer who queered a good thing. A bit harsh, perhaps, but a lot of paper profits when Microsoft withdrew its offer.

The problem for Yang is that he’s over-matched. We’re talking about a geek going up against one of the most brilliant, cold-hearted bastards this side of T. Boone Pickens (and I meant that as a compliment.) Icahn basically wrote the book on greenmail when he was squeezing sundry CEO testicles as a corporate raider in the 1980s. An abbreviated list of corporations he’s had his way with include Trans World Airlines, B.F. Goodrich, Phillips Petroleum, US Steel, Texaco, Goodrich-Uniroyal, RJR Nabisco, General Motors–and more recently–Time-Warner.

(Credit:
The Icahn Report)

U.K.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) is acquiring Boston-based site traffic measurer Compete as consolidation continues in the market for Web analytics that help sites boost audience and ads.

(Credit:
Compete)
TNS is paying $75 million cash, plus offering another $75 million over the next two years if certain revenue performance targets are met, according to a TNS statement on Monday.

Web analytics like click stream data and audience measurement figures help sites vie for online ad dollars and can be particularly helpful in economic downturns when companies are cutting back spending.

The merger will bring together Compete’s click stream data from nearly 2 million Internet surfers with TNS’ panel of 2 million, as well as TNS’ global offline consumer market research unit, according to a Compete company blog.

Walt Mossberg, the legendary technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, made the prediction during an executive summit held by Beet.tv last week. For some reason, Mossberg’s comments were not noticed until over the weekend, perhaps because the title of the post referencing his talk was “FTC Should Stop Verizon from Calling DSL ‘Broadband,’ Walt Mossberg.”

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

Mossberg is in the select group that gets early access to important Apple products, he was one of the first to review the initial iPhone last June. So, he’s probably in a good position to know when his next iPhone review might be coming around.

Uncle Walt thinks a 3G
iPhone will arrive within the next 60 days.

Most of his talk is about how broadband networks in the U.S. are somewhat lacking compared to the rest of the world, and how that’s a big problem for video-over-the-Internet businesses. But at about 6:30 into the clip, he starts talking about wireless broadband, and the iPhone. Mossberg notes that the iPhone already offers a pretty good video experience with its
iPod capabilities, and then dismisses concern over the lack of a 3G iPhone with this gem: “It will be 3G in 60 days.”

Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference is a little over 60 days from now, but that’s close enough put that rumor back on the front burner (as if it ever really left). Apple will have to be careful about how it introduces the 3G iPhone as not to hurt demand for the model currently on sale, if there’s a gap between the announcement of a new model and its availability.

For the first time ever, more than half of the voting age population–55 percent of adults–went online for news and information about a presidential election or to communicate with others about the race, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

(Credit: Pew Research Center)

Some voters went online to find voting information. Nearly one in five voters used the Internet to find out where to vote, 16 percent of voters went online for information about absentee or early voting, and 9 percent went online to find out where they were registered to vote.

Official campaign Web sites were also more popular in the 2008 election. While 18 percent of all Internet users visited the John Kerry Web site in 2004 and 14 percent visited George Bush’s 2004 site, 30 percent went to Barack Obama’s site last year and 21 percent went to John McCain’s.

Social media Web sites also featured much more prominently in the 2008 election, which is not surprising–most were in their infancy, if even in existence, during the 2004 campaign. Nearly half of all 18 to 29-year-olds–Internet users and nonusers alike–watched online political videos during the campaign. Among Internet users with a social networking profile, 52 percent used social networking sites for political purposes.

Twenty-six percent of Americans said they relied on the Internet as a major source of campaign news in 2008, compared with 11 percent in 2000.

Obama supporters typically were more engaged online than John McCain supporters–26 percent of Obama supporters online created their own original political content online, compared with 15 percent of McCain supporters.

With greater online political engagement, the report shows, came greater partisanship. One-third of online news consumers said they usually seek out online political information from Web sites that share their political point of view, and the more online news sources a person regularly visited, the more likely he would be to seek out specific view points. Nearly half of online news consumers visited at least five different online types of news content in 2008.

The 2008 election was truly the most Internet-based presidential race ever, but the more voters went online, the more they sought out partisan content, a new report shows.

While more voters turned to the Internet for political information, fewer relied on traditional news sources like radio or newspapers. Television remained the most common source of election news, with 77 percent of Americans watching election-related coverage. Twenty-eight percent of voters cited newspapers as a major source of election news, down from 39 percent in 2000.

Oh, that sneaky Creative! Shipping newly colorful versions of the Zen to Walmart.com and other online retailers before even releasing a whisper of such events to media. No matter–I’m pleased as punch to see the Zen in colors other than black, even if those colors happen to be Pepto pink and race car red. Actually, the red model is kind of hot, but the two together are so Valentine’s Day…and it’s May. Personally, I’d like to see some metallic hues, even just plain ole silver. Or how about a nice, deep shiny purple? That’s a rarity. It’s unclear at the moment whether the new colors will be offered in the full range of capacities. The pink is currently available in 2GB ($69.98), while the red is offered in 4GB ($89.98). For full details, read our review of the Creative Zen.

You should try giving away open source as part of your foundation, Mr. Gates. You could undo much of the wrongs you’ve done the world’s IT economy.

commentary

There are other reasons that open source fits Mr. Gates’ call for a “kinder capitalism.” The point is that the open-source revolution Mr. Gates has long fought is the single-best answer for building global (IT) economies, just as it’s doing in Europe right now according to the European Union.

Bill Gates welcomed the world to a new breed of “kinder capitalism” at Davos this week. Conveniently forgetting his past, Mr. Gates declared:

We have. It’s called open source. Open source is “kinder” by design, no matter how capitalistically/self-interestedly it is used. Here’s why:

We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.