Make Telephone Calls via Gmail
Google introduced a new service that allows Gmail users to place telephone calls directly from their email accounts. Calls made to phones in the U.S. and Canada are free, and International calls to countries like Japan and Britain are as low as 2 cents per minute. Google’s new service is expected to be a major competitor to Skype.

Debate: FM Chips in Mobile Devices?
The National Association of Broadcasters and the Recording Industry Association of America are asking Congress to mandate that FM receivers be put in all cell phones and mobile devices. Proponents claim the implementation of the FM chip would be for public safety, while opponents argue that the NAB and RIAA are trying to access a larger audience and continue to support radio, a business that consumers are abandoning. I’ll tell you the real story this Sunday.

Kindle 3 Flying Off the Shelf
The new Amazon Kindle 3 has seen higher sales in the last four weeks than any of the previous versions during the same time period. The Kindle 3 isn’t dramatically different from its predecessors. It features a slimmer body, 20% faster page turn, more storage and the battery lasts up to one month.

Woman Throws Cat Away
A woman from Coventry, England has been placed in protective custody after throwing a cat in a trash bin. Mary Bale was caught on tape walking down the street, when for no apparent reason, she decided to close a cat in a trash bin and walk away. The owners caught Bale on tape with their closed circuit security camera and placed the video on YouTube.  Police placed Bale in protective custody by to keep her safe from angry people who saw the video online.

Google Tips — Google Latitude

People Lose Paid TV
SNL Kagan reported that for the first time in history, paid TV subscriptions are down in the U.S. Across cable, satellite and phone companies the total loss amounted to 216,000 subscribers, with cable taking the biggest hit.  SNL Kagan attributes economic factors like unemployment as the biggest reason for the loss, and not people ditching cable for over-the-top video, as many might have suspected.

Virgin Mobile Offers Unlimited Data Plan
Virgin Mobile USA announced plans to offer an unlimited mobile-broadband package for $40 a month, which will replace their metered plans. In contrast, AT&T recently discontinued their unlimited data plans for metered plans. Which plan will consumers prefer? The competition is heating up.

Schools Plan to Track Students
Schools in New Canaan, Connecticut are thinking about tracking students with Radio Frequency Identification Devices. The RFID tags would allow schools to keep track of students during situations like an emergency evacuation, and also let schools see who’s skipping class. Don’t want to be tracked? Participation for the initial experiment is not mandatory and will require consent from students and parents.

First Dell Smartphone in U.S.
Dell’s first U.S. smartphone, The Aero, debuted on Tuesday. The phone has a 3.5 inch screen, supports flash and runs Google’s Android O.S. The phone is available from AT&T for $100 with a two-year contract and $300 without a contract.

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Lady Gaga is Queen of Twitter
Lady Gaga surpassed Brittney Spears as having the most followers on Twitter. MTV.com reports that Lady Gaga has over 5.7 million followers. In a video to fans, Lady Gaga wore an outfit adorned with the Twitter logo and proclaimed herself, “Queen of Twitter.”

There’s No Blocking Zuckerberg
Facebook gives users the ability to block anyone on the site except Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. An attempt to block Zuckerberg results in an error message reading “General Block failed.” This comes about after the website, BlockZuck.com, was having some success with a campaign encouraging users to block the CEO on his own site.

Small Bloggers Pay Big Fees
Many small bloggers in Philadelphia were surprised to get a notice from the city requesting $300. The Philadelphia Business Tax Privilege requires city residents that engage in “activity for profit”, like bloggers who run ads on their sites, to pay for a license. The problem? Many small bloggers may make as little as $10 per year by running ads on their sites, which hardly justifies the cost for a $300 license.

Chatroulette Goes Dark
Chatroulette, the video chatting site, went offline on Sunday. The site posted a simple message reading, “The experiment #1 is over now. Thanks for participating.” The site, a good idea in theory, has become a popular destination for people who like to expose themselves online, alienating many users. The “new” Chatroulette promises to be up and running again soon.

Shelly Palmer Interviews Kenny Miller, GM of starling.tv

“Don’t Be Evil” –The Movie
First a film about Facebook, and now a film about Google. Groundswell Productions has acquired the film rights to Ken Auletta’s book: “Googled: The End of the World As We Know It.”  The story takes a look at how Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, started the company and what has lead to the Internet giant’s success.

Apple Tries To Thwart Jailbreakers
Apple has applied for a patent that would allow the company to identify and disable jailbroken iPhones. Currently, Apple does not honor the warranty on jailbroken iPhones. The patent would go a step further by allowing Apple to erase data and alert AT&T to discontinue service on hacked phones.

Lineage II is Addictive
Craig Smallwood is suing the makers of the virtual-game, Lineage II, claiming the company was negligent because they failed to warn players about the addictiveness of the game. Smallwood spent over 20,000 hours playing the game from 2004-2009. During that time he stopped bathing, dressing and communicating with family and friends because he was so addicted to the game.

Your Trash Is Watching You
Are you recycling? The city of Cleveland is planning to implement chips into recycling bins in order to monitor who is recycling and who is not. If a recycling bin hasn’t been rolled out to the curb for a set period of time, the chip will alert trash collectors who will then search the regular trash. If more than 10 percent of the garbage is composed of recyclables, the violator could be fined $100.

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Cameron Diaz is Dangerous
Who’s the most dangerous celebrity on the web? Cameron Diaz. McAfee reports that when doing an online search for the leading lady, there’s a 10 percent chance that the site you land on has malware such as spam, viruses or spyware. Diaz takes the top spot from Jessica Biel, last year’s most dangerous celeb on the web. Is it a coincidence that both ladies have been involved with Justin Timberlake?

Facebook is Going Places
Facebook unveiled “Places” this week, a new location-based feature. Similar to FourSquare, users can share their location by “checking in”, find out if other friends are nearby and see what’s happening in the area. The service also lets friends tag you when they check in at a location, which could get tricky if you’re supposed to be at choir practice but you’re tagged at the bowling alley.

Beware of Classmates.com
New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo announced that classmates.com is among six sites that have to collectively pay $10.1 million in fines and restitution. Classmates.com was accused of tricking consumers into signing up for discount programs that had hidden shopping fees. Gamestop and Avon were also on Cuomo’s list.

Turn Down the Music
One in five American teenagers suffers from hearing loss, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The number is 30 percent higher than it was fifteen years ago. MP3 players, like iPods, are thought to be a major contributor to the rise in teenage hearing loss.

Shelly Palmer Interviews Jason Rzepka, VP of Public Affairs at MTV