Do we need the Internet for a revolution? Video

Do we need the Internet for a revolution? Video Transcript

ITS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 1. I'M NATALI MORRIS AND IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED. [*] WEEK OF TURMOIL AND PROTEST. GOOGLE AND TWITTER HAVE COME UP WITH A WAY AROUND THE COMMUNICATION CUT. THEY HAVE LAUNCHED SPEAK TO TWEET. IT LETS ANYONE WITH A VOICE CONNECTION TO DIAL AN INTERNATIONAL PHONE NUMBER AND SPEAK THEIR TWEET INTO THE SERVICE. EGYPT. IT IS REALLY INTERESTING TO FOLLOW THIS HASHTAG KNOWING THAT FIREWALL. BUT I WILL SAY THIS. I KNOW YOU DID NOT ASK ME FOR THIS OPINION BUT I AM GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU. DESPITE THE INTERNET BEING DOWN, THIS UPRISING IN EGYPT IS UNPRECENDENTED. MORE PEOPLE THAN COMMUNICATIONS. SURE IT HAS BEEN INCONVENIENT, THIS LACK OF COMMUNICATION. BUT IT HASN'T STOPPED WHAT IS ORGANICALLY FUELED BY REAL LIFE COMMUNITY. I THINK SOMETIMES WE FORGET THAT WE CAN BE JUST AS POWERFUL OFFLINE AS WE CAN BE ONLINE. [*] MOVING ON, FACEBOOK CERTAINLY MAKES LONG FLIGHTS GO FASTER. THE DOMESTIC FLIGHTS. THIS MEANS THAT IF YOU OPEN YOUR BROWSER AND GO TO FACEBOOK ON THESE FLIGHTS, IT IS FREE. IF YOU WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE ON THE WEB, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THE GO-GO IN-FLIGHT INTERNET SERVICE. BUT WHAT IF YOU WANT TO CLICK ON A LINK THROUGH FACEBOOK? I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT BUT I DO KNOW THAT THIS PROMOTION WILL ONLY BE GOOD FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY. [*] FACEBOOK MAY BE LAUNCHING A COMMENT SYSTEM. THIS WOULD MEAN THAT LEAVE ON A BLOG OR A WEB PAGE. GOOGLE HAS SOMETHING SIMILAR THAT COMMENTS YOU LEAVE DON'T NECESSARILY GO ON A GOOGLE PROFILE WRITE INTO YOUR FEED. [*] A NEW CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT CLAIMS THAT AT&T SYSTEMATICALLY OVERSTATES THE AMOUNT OF DATA THAT IT BILLS TO IPHONE CUSTOMERS. WHEN YOU VISIT A WEB SITE, IT IS UNCLEAR EXACTLY HOW MUCH DATA YOU ARE USING. WE KIND OF HAVE TO TRUST AT&T'S ESTIMATION. WELL SOME CUSTOMERS DON'T TRUST AT&T. THEY ALLEGE THAT AT&T OVERSTATES THE NUMBER BY ANYWHERE FROM 7 TO 14 PERCENT. THE CONSULTING FIRM REPRESENTING THE SUIT PROVED THIS BY BUYING A NEW IPHONE, TURNING OFF ALL APPS, EMAIL, PUSH NOTIFICATIONS, AND APPS, AND LEFT THE PHONE IDLE FOR 10 DAYS. THE ACCOUNT WAS BILLED FOR 2,292 KILOBYTES OVER 35 TRANSACTIONS. YOU GOTTA ADMIT, THAT LOOKS BAD. [*] APPLE IS NOT GETTING MORE LAX ABOUT ITS APP STORE POLICIES. IN FACT JUST THE OPPOSITE. THE COMPANY IS GETTING MORE STRICT ABOUT WHAT IT THAT THEY HAVE MADE OUTSIDE THE APPSTORE. SONY'S EREADER APP WAS REJECTED WHICH IS INEXPLICABLE BECAUSE KINDLE HAS AN EREADER APP. SO DOES BARNES AND NOBLE AND BORDERS AND SEVERAL OTHERS. APPLE TOLD SONY THAT THE IN-APP PURCHASES MUST GO THROUGH APPLE. [*] IN PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS LAST WEEK HE COUNTRY NEEDS. THIS WEEK THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHED STARTUP AMERICA, A NATIONAL CAMPATIN AIMED AT PROMOTING MORE ENTREPRENEURSHIP LIKE THIS. THE FOUNDATION WILL BE RUN BY AOL TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS. [*] THAT IS YOUR NEWS OF THE DAY. I WILL BE ON VACATION UNTIL THE END OF BAKALAR UNTIL THEN. IF YOU WANT MORE ABOUT ANY OF OUR STORIES TODAY, VISIT CNET-DOT-COM-SLASH-LOADED. I'M NATALI MORRIS FOR CNET.COM AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.