Hughes Launches Fastest Ever Satellite Broadband Access Plans for Businesses Throughout the U.S.

New HughesNet Business Internet Plans Bring Affordable and Reliable Broadband Access at Speeds up to 5 Mbps

Hughes Network Systems, LLC the global leader in broadband satellite network solutions and services, today announced the availability of HughesNet Business Internet service plans, the fastest satellite Internet plans ever offered, bringing affordable, reliable, and high-performance broadband access to small- and mid-sized businesses (SMB) throughout the nation.

Starting at only $59.99 per month, HughesNet Business Internet plans have been specifically tailored to the SMB market complete with competitive pricing and flexible billing options. Customers can choose from seven plans, with speeds up to 1 Mbps on the uplink and up to 5 Mbps on the downlink, and are available to SMBs regardless of their location, which may be outside the reach of terrestrial cable and DSL providers.

"We estimate that there are over three million underserved businesses in the U.S.," said Sam Baumel, assistant vice president of SMB at Hughes. "Because of where they're located, these business owners don't have access to DSL, are using a slow dial-up connection, or are paying for costly T-1 service. Our new HughesNet Business Internet plans offer an affordable, nationwide solution that will help any small business stay connected and grow."

Verizon Goes to 'Extremes' in Massachusetts and Rhode Island With New Service Bundles Featuring High-Octane High-Def TV, Ultra-High-Speed Internet and

New FiOS TV Customers Eligible for a Free High-Def DVR for 12 Months and Free Month of HBO and Cinemax

Verizon is bringing its FiOS customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island the ultimate broadband and home entertainment experiences, with new FiOS Freedom bundles. Bundle options now include a new FiOS TV Extreme service tier with more high-definition (HD) channels than the cable companies in the market, in addition to ultra-high-speed FiOS Internet service that blows cable away, plus reliable, unlimited local and long-distance calling.

Also today, Verizon announced the launch of 75 new channels, including 55 additional high-definition (HD) channels, in the region. FiOS TV customers in the area now have more than 480 HD choices available at any time, with a total of 85 HD channels and more than 400 HD video-on-demand (VOD) titles offered each month. [Note: This announcement and others can be found at Verizon's online news center: http://newscenter.verizon.com/.]

"We've gone all-out with affordable new packages for customers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island," said Bob Driscoll, Verizon vice president of sales and marketing in New England. "They combine the fastest Internet access -- period -- with high-quality, high-def TV picture quality and superior voice service, all delivered over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network."

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Florida, Mass., Consumers Now Have High-Speed Access to the Internet

Verizon Launches Broadband Service in First of 24 New Communities

Consumers and businesses in this tiny western Massachusetts community now have access to the Internet -- at rocket speeds powered by Verizon.

Starting Wednesday (Aug. 13), Verizon High Speed Internet service is being offered throughout Florida, one of 24 western Massachusetts communities where broadband Internet access has been unavailable. Verizon is planning to offer the service to the 23 other communities this year.

The service will give Internet users the ability to download at speeds of 768 Kbps (kilobits per second), 21 times faster than the current dial-up capability in Florida.

"This is a historic day for the town of Florida and for Verizon," said Donna C. Cupelo, Verizon region president for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, who declared Verizon High Speed Internet service "open for business" in Florida.

"We are proud to be able to bring the benefits of broadband Internet service to consumers in Florida today and soon to thousands more consumers in western Massachusetts," she said. "Verizon's investments in Massachusetts have and will continue to be a major contributor to growing the state's economy."

Yahoo! Launches Fire Eagle

New Platform Enables Users to Easily Update and Manage Their Location Information Across the Web

Yahoo! Inc. today announced the general availability of Fire Eagle (http://fireeagle.yahoo.net), an open platform that helps users take their location to the Web while giving them the ability to easily control how and where their location data is shared.

Fire Eagle gives users a place to store and manage information about their location, and offers developers clear protocols for updating or accessing that information. Because it’s open, any networked service can use Fire Eagle to respond to a user’s location – to help them find their friends, annotate the world or find nearby services or local information.

“Fire Eagle is about making everything on the Internet more useful, fun or interesting by adding the element of location,” said Tom Coates, head of product at Yahoo! Brickhouse. “We’re here to help people take their location to the Web by giving them the ability to control how much detail about their location they want to share and which applications they want to share it with.”

Microsoft Flops and Loses 7% of the Browser Market in Last 12 Months - Vista Still Only Used by Less Than 15% of all Users, per Janco

Janco and the IT Productivity Center have just released their Browser and Operating System Market Share White Paper. The major findings are: Microsoft's browser market share has continued to erode and has fallen to 58.50% versus 65.48% (loss of 6.96%) in August 2007 and 82.99% (loss of 24.49%) in August 2005; Firefox has maintained its number 2 browser position and now is used by almost 19% (18.94%) of all users; Google Desktop has over 4% (4.01%) of the market; and Time Warner made a strategic error in abandoning Netscape as users continue to use Netscape even though AOL no longer supports it.

The study also finds that on the Operating System front, Microsoft's Vista has just under 15% (14.94%) of the market after almost 20 months since Vista's first release candidate (RC1). Victor Janulaitis, the CEO of Janco, said, "Both Vista and Netscape show that large companies make huge blunders in technology. In the case of Microsoft, they no longer count on moving users to new products as quickly as they want. Time Warner's short-sighted decision to abandon Netscape shows technology decisions are long-term ones, and companies that want to create value in that market need to look beyond quarter-to- quarter earnings. But the real story is the continued erosion of Microsoft's market share."