charging

I've written before about AT&T Wireless' terrible international roaming rates for the iPhone. Well, imagine my surprise to discover that its roaming rates for its wireless cards is even worse. How much worse? Consider the bill I received from AT&T today:

Yes, that's really $1520.76 for one month's usage of my wireless card. But the shocking thing is that $1450.19 of it came from using the card for under three hours to pull down a total of 96 megabytes of data. That's roughly $15 per megabyte. What a bargain!

Given … Read more

There are several ways one can harness natural energy. In addition to the sun, wind, tides, and geothermal activities, the human body itself is increasingly being used to produce energy charge all sorts of electricity-hungry devices.

Music company Orange and GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, have teamed up to create a device called the Dance Charge. Weighing 180 grams (about 6.3 ounces), you strap it around your arm. Dance Charge then uses the kinetic energy generated by your body in motion to juice up your phone.

It also uses a system of weights and magnets to produce … Read more

Broadcom co-founder and former CEO Henry T. Nicholas III is facing two federal indictments that allege conspiracy and securities fraud related to options backdating, as well as numerous drug violations.

The federal indictments, unsealed on Thursday, include a total of 25 counts against Nicholas. According to an Associated Press report, the charges include conspiracy, securities fraud, false certification of financial reports, filing false statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, wire fraud, and conspiracy to distribute and acquire controlled substances.

The indictment also names Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, who faces conspiracy, securities fraud, … Read more

AT&T wireless subscribers who were hoodwinked into signing up for recurring charges for ringtones and other content will receive refunds as part of a class action settlement.

Customers will get refunds for charges that appeared on their bills between January 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, the Associated Press reported Monday.

This is the first nationwide settlement that refunds customers' money from charges for third-party content, the news service reported. Jay Edelson, who filed the claim on behalf of the plaintiffs, has filed similar lawsuits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA.

This latest decision could boost … Read more

Nyko has announced the release of an Xbox 360-compatible charging base, much like the PlayStation 3 one the company debuted almost two months ago.

The Nyko Charge Base 360 comes with two NiMH rechargeable batteries fitted with contact points that allow you to simply drop the controller into the included cradle. The base can charge one battery in 2 hours and two in 4. Nyko says that each full battery charge should net you about 25 hours of play time.

Microsoft offers a Quick Charge Kit for around $30 that only comes with one battery and charges a single pack … Read more

Securities and Exchange Commission regulators on Monday filed civil fraud charges against eight former AOL Time Warner executives over allegations they overstated the Internet company's advertising revenue in excess of $1 billion.

The lawsuits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, allege John Michael Kelly, former CFO of AOL Time Warner; Steven E. Rindner, a former Business Affairs unit senior executive; Joseph A. Ripp, former CFO of the AOL division; and Mark Wovsaniker, former Accounting and Policy head, created a fraudulent scheme where AOL Time Warner funded its own advertising revenue by giving … Read more

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee appeared before South Korean special prosecutors to answer questions about his company's alleged bribery of public officials, according to the BBC.

Samsung is being investigated for starting a slush fund worth $215 million used to bribe prosecutors, judges, and other public officials. The company denies the accusation, which was made by former company lawyer Kim Yong-Chul.

The chairman's wife, Hong Ra-Hee, who is the director of the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, was also questioned by prosecutors earlier this week. She was asked whether she used money from the fund in question to buy … Read more

Wireless charging company Splashpower has gone out of business. In a press release, the U.K.-based firm said it unable to secure funding and is offering up the company for sale to interested parties.

About two months back, MWg announced it would be partnering with Splashpower to provide wireless charging for its products in the middle of this year. We contacted MWg to find out how this would affect its plans but, as expected, the company said it could not comment at this point as it is still discussing plans with Splashpower. We'll bring you more information as … Read more

While we're still waiting for MWg to release its first products, the Singapore company has made another announcement. This time, it isn't new smartphones, but a partnership with U.K.-based Splashpower to provide wireless charging for its future devices.

If and when this is implemented, MWg's phones will not need to be plugged in for power. Instead, a base station will allow wireless charging using electromagnetic induction. Such technology has been in the works for some time, but there's hardly any use of it in commercially available products.

Few details have been provided by MWg … Read more