February 16, 2006

By Staff

Bombardier Rookie of the Year candidates Marco Andretti and Paul Dana completed a successful two-day test at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 15.

IRL officials conducted the test in order to evaluate each rookie driver in traffic. Veteran driver Michael Andretti also participated in the test.

“It was a fun two days,” Marco Andretti said. “The purpose of our test was to give me some time running the No. 26 ArcaEx car in traffic, and we accomplished that. I got to run wheel-to-wheel with dad and then we ran some laps with Paul Dana, as well.”

February 15, 2006

By Staff

In the history of great ideas, the Internet will surely rank near the top. In a relatively short time, it has made vast amounts of information searchable, sortable and readily available with a few key strokes.

Much of the Internet's appeal is that no one controls it in the way that, say, a grocery store decides which brands to stock. Within its virtual walls, a start-up such as MySpace or Craigslist can surge to prominence entirely on the power of an idea.

Now, some very old-school companies want to change all that. Using market dominance achieved through the relative scarcity of lines into people's homes, phone companies such as BellSouth, Verizon and AT&T are eyeing a system that would demand that operators of search engines, e-commerce sites and other Web applications pay them fees or be relegated to the slow lane.

February 15, 2006

By Chuck Gilver

HOMESTEAD, Fla. | The father-son racing team of Michael and Marco Andretti, of Bushkill Township, got to play together Tuesday in a major Indy car racing playground.

Michael Andretti's Andretti-Green Racing team brought two cars to Homestead-Miami Speedway for practice and testing in preparation for the IRL IndyCar Series season.

February 15, 2006

By Allan Stein

Town Manager Phillip L. Warren is proposing that town departments be upgraded to Internet voice communication service, a move that could reduce the yearly cost of standard telephone service by nearly half.

The town currently pays about $30,000 a year for municipal phone service with Verizon, Town Accountant Anthony V. Sulmonte said.

Warren said the town could save an estimated $1,000 each month if departments are switched from standard land-line service to state-of-the-art, Internet voice service by companies such as Vonage.

February 12, 2006

By Misty Harris

When it comes to sex, most Canadians are phoning it in. So finds a new survey of more than 1,000 adults across the country, 53 per cent of whom admit to having engaged in intimate phone conversations with a close friend or partner.

According to Decima Research, which conducted the survey for broadband phone company Vonage Canada, sexy phone exchanges are considered an important part of a long-distance relationship by 77 per cent of Canucks. Most steam up the wires with imagination (39 per cent), receptiveness (31 per cent), creativity (30 per cent), vocalization (25 per cent) and, in the case of tactile talkers, hands-free phones (20 per cent).

February 4, 2006

By Nick Nelson

Internet phone company Vonage is now offering its service in the 361 area code.

Until now, Vonage customers in the Corpus Christi area had to use out-of-town area codes. Those area codes didn't cost Vonage users extra because they don't pay long-distance fees. But calling a Vonage customer meant calling long-distance, even for a next-door neighbor.

February 7, 2006

By Johanne Torres

VoIP-based calling service provider Vonage Holdings Corporation announced this week that it extended its offering to residential and business customers in Hondo, New Braunfels and Seguin in the state of Texas. The news follows the provider's announcement about making available service in the city of Corpus Christi, Texas.

The move will enable high-speed Internet subscribers working and residing in the Medina County region can now receive Vonage's broadband phone service, which offers unlimited local and long distance calling and popular features like call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail. Vonage customers near the Guadalupe River can now keep their current numbers or choose telephone numbers within the popular (830) area code.

February 7, 2006

By Greg Gazin

VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, the ability to have your phone calls transmitted over the Internet instead of through a traditional phone system is gaining in popularity as the technology evolves and broadband or high-speed Internet access becomes so readily available.

Realistically, to configure a Broadband Telephone System you need some basic technical knowledge. One VOIP provider, Vonage Canada www.vonage.ca designed a simple solution so you don't need to be a total geek to get a dial tone. Teaming up with phone-maker VTech they created an all-in-one-box solution- the VTech IP 8100-2 Broadband Cordless phone system. (MSRP $200, with $65 credit after 2 months of service)

February 6, 2006

By Dennie Hughes

Big Fan: Hi Dennie! I saw you on the morning news last week and you were talking about gift ideas for Valentines day. I missed some of them that you talked about. Can you tell me what they were and also what you think is the best gift to give to a girlfriend you've been dating for over a year that won't cost a lot?

February 3, 2006

By Andrew Kantor

As Congress gets rolling in its next session, there's an interesting debate it's going to have about the future of high-speed Internet. It's one that will affect you and your wallet directly, and one that has some interesting perspectives that cry out for discussion.

The issue is network neutrality. If the right law is passed it might prevent telephone, cable, and other high-speed-connection providers from becoming complete twerps.