freedom

FreedomPop, provider of "freemium" services including free broadband and 4G, has announced a mobile service that gives users free voice, text and data usage without a contract.

FreedomPop's new service will give users a guaranteed 500MB of 4G data for free, unlimited texts, and 200 voice minutes per month. Users registered on the network will also be given free unlimited calls to each other. The service will launch later this summer on several phones running Google's Android operating system.

The service will enable the first-ever all-data devices running 100 percent VoIP over cellular networks, according to … Read more

If you don't have a bag, pocket, or anywhere to stow that iPhone, how about kicking it around on your heels?

The iPhone Mashup Shoe was created by Alan Nguyen of Freedom of Creation, a 3D-printing house in Amsterdam.

The shoe was designed around iPhone cases from 3D-printed accessories site FreshFiber. You can see the cases in the base of the heel. … Read more

European citizens can breathe a sigh of relief after a vote in the European Parliament has rejected proposals to ban "all forms of pornography" -- including on the Web -- in the region.

Today, 625 members of the European Parliament voted 368-159 in favor of passing a report aimed at stamping out gender stereotypes in the region, with 98 abstaining. However, the controversial "porn ban" section of the proposal was rejected.

This vote forms a majority opinion based on Europe's voting politicians, from which the European Commission can form legislation. Such a law would again … Read more

A couple of senators in Washington want to make sure people in the U.S. never have to pay taxes for Internet access.

Passed in 1998, the Internet Tax Freedom Act prevents federal, state, and local governments from collecting sales taxes on the use of e-mail and other types of Internet access. The bill is due to expire November of next year.

New legislation introduced yesterday by Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and Dean Heller (Nev.) is designed to extend the ban indefinitely. The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act would stop governments from imposing new taxes on Internet access.… Read more

North Korea is easing some of strict cell phone rules -- now, visitors can bring their own mobile devices into the country, according to the Associated Press.

While this may seem like a minor move on the part of the North Korean government, it is actually a big step for one of the most closed-off countries in the world. Despite the ease in regulations, foreigners are still not allowed to talk to any locals via mobile device.

For years North Korea's authorities made visitors leave their cell phones at the border or airport when arriving to the country, according … Read more

The suicide of 26-year-old computer programmer and Internet activist Aaron Swartz has inspired expressions of sorrow and anger from the tech community throughout the day today.

World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote a poem in honor of Swartz, which he posted to a forum on the W3C's Web site (he also tweeted an abridged version):

Wanderers in this crazy world, we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.

Hackers for right, we are one down, we have lost one of our own.

Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders, parents all, we have lost a child.

Let … Read more