Consumers Union wrote to Sen. Tom Udall (D-N. Mex.) on Thursday to endorse legislation he introduced forcing telecom companies to simplify phone bills so consumers are not "shocked" when they open the monthly envelope.

The Cell Phone Bill Shock Act of 2010 would require wireless carriers to notify customers by e-mail or text message when they have used 80 percent of their monthly limit for voice minutes, text messages or data usage. The companies would also have to obtain customers' consent before charging them for services not covered by their monthly service plan.

Analysts from Goldman Sachs reduced their rating on Micrsoft shares to "neutral" on Monday citing the software giant's inability to find traction in the market for mobile devices.

In a note to clients, Goldman analysts including Sarah Friar said they have reduced their price target to $28 from $32 in lieu of Microsoft's inability to gain ground against rivals Apple and Google among mobile operating systems. The investment bank also removed Microsoft from its Amercas Buy list.

Microsoft shares were down 2.4 percent to $23.80 at the time of this posting. The company's stock is down more than 20 percent this year.

The analysts also noted Microsoft has yet to release a Windows-based tablet computer to compete with the popular iPad, which is eating into sales of laptop computers. The analysts predicted that the stock would be unlikely to rebound this year because “Apple’s iPad and iPhone plus Google’s Android operating system are well established."

In order to turn the stock's fate around Goldman recommended Microsoft substantially increase its dividend, divesting some peripheral assets such as gaming and an increased focus on providing cloud computing services. The bank also recommended Microsoft pare back investments and focus more on delivering spare cash back to shareholders.

The Internet telephone company Skype will replace chief executive Joshua Silverman with former Cisco executive Tony Bates, according to a report from the New York Times.

Silverman joined Skype in early 2008 and will leave at the end of the month to make room for Bates. His departure is viewed as a sign the firm is preparing for its initial public offering; Skype filed for an IPO in August but has not indicated when it plans to complete the sale.

Bates currently leads Cisco's enterprise, commercial and small business division, which has roughly $20 billion in annual revenues and 12,500 employees. He is the second Cisco executive to leave for Skype in the last year, joining Jonathan Rosenberg, now Skype's chief technology executive. Bates was also in charge of Cisco's voice technology group and is expected to find ways to generate more profits from Skype's 560 million registered users.

Skype earned a profit of $13 million on revenue of $406 million through the first half of the year. Only 8.1 million of those customers pay to use the service; most users use Skype to make free calls to other users or pay a few cents per minute for calls to non-subscribers.

The online auction site eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype in 2005 only to sell a majority stake to the private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners last November. eBay retains a 30 percent state in the company, which was valued at $2.75 billion at the time of last year's sale.

Google released further details Monday on Google TV, which seeks to transform the television into a multimedia platform capable of browing the web and downloading content for immediate viewing.

Google first announced the project in May, promising to turn the Web and television into "one seamless experience." The services is compatible with existing cable or satellite providers and allows users to surf the Web using Google's Chrome browser from their TV screen. There is also a new search functionality that indexes not only the Web but also YouTube and various TV channels so viewers can find a piece of content anywhere, regardless of medium.

On Monday Google said the amount of interest from content providers has been overwhelming. The first devices featuring Google TV will launch in October from Logitech and Sony, which will include the service on its new Blu-Ray player.

"Since our announcement, we’ve been overwhelmed by interest from partners on how they can use the Google TV platform to personalize, monetize and distribute their content in new ways," wrote Google TV product manager Ambarish Kenghe. "Most of these partner sites already work with Google TV, but many are choosing to further enhance their premium web content for viewing on the television." Read more...

Net-neutrality rules are "most surely not" needed, according to a guide released Monday for conservative activists.

Verizon acknowledged Monday it will be repaying 15 million wireless customers that were mistakenly overcharged over the past two years.

Federal Communications Commission enforcement bureau chief Michele Ellison said the "mystery fees" date back over two years and total more than $50 million. Verizon said the customers were mistakenly charged data fees for downloads they didn't initiate. Verizon will be mailing checks for between two and six dollars to most customers, though some will get larger refunds.

"These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges," said Mary Coyne, deputy general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

Ellison questioned why Verizon took so long to repay customers and said the FCC will continue looking into the matter.

"Some of the policy tensions we work with are very hard to resolve," Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a recent interview with the Washington Post. "Getting to an optimal place where we are also driving massive private investment is hard."

"But that's the job."

Read the full profile here.

The man who made test tube babies possible won the Nobel Prize this year for medicine or physiology.

Robert Edwards developed human in vitro fertilization therapy, which made it possible to treat infertility. The condition affects 10 percent of couples worldwide, according to the Nobel Foundation.

The world's first test tube baby was born July 25, 1978 as a result of Edwards' efforts, which date back to the fifties.

About 4  million people have been born as a result of his discoveries, according to the foundation said.

In vitro fertilization is now considered mainstream and acceptable, but when the first test tube baby was born, some people objected to the moral dimension of the practice.

Edwards has retired as head of research from the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, which he helped found.

The online advertising industry is trying to ward off tighter privacy regulations with a feature that helps Internet users spot when they are being tracked.

Under the self-regulatory program announced on Monday, companies will place an icon next to advertisements that track users. The icon will link to a disclosure statement about online tracking and give consumers the chance to opt out of being followed. 

The controversial tracking ads allow companies to collect data about a person’s Web-browsing habits in order to tailor paid content to their interests. Critics say the practice is dangerous because consumers have no idea how much information they are giving away. 

The effort at self-regulation come as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prepares to announce new online privacy proposals in the coming weeks. The FTC is expected to recommend ways for consumers to gain more control over their online data. The agency held a series of roundtable discussions last year to inform its findings. 

Meanwhile, in the House, lawmakers are considering two online privacy bills that would mandate companies give consumers more information about how they are being tracked. Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) have each drafted bills. 

Read more...