Verizon is pressing the Bush administration to fill vacant slots at the Federal Communications Commission quickly.
The telephone company needs the FCC to bless its plan to acquire long-distance and data company MCI, so it has a big stake in two Republican positions at the five-member agency being filled. The commission is now split evenly, with two Republicans and two Democrats after FCC chairman Michael Powell stepped down. FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy plans to leave the agency soon.
The FCC must decide whether to approve several large telecommunications deals, as well as chart the regulatory course for new technologies such as internet telephone and video services.
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Books on the go: XM Satellite Radio said it will introduce devices next year that can play both satellite radio and programming from spoken-word digital audio provider Audible.
The portable, handheld satellite radio will let users download and store shows from Audible, which offers digital audio programs from audio-book publishers, broadcasters and entertainers, as well as magazine and newspapers publishers.
XM and Sirius Satellite Radio are rivals in the nascent market for nationwide pay-radio services. Both have hinted they would eventually develop a satellite radio device that will store downloaded songs, similar to MP3 players and iPods, but no exact dates have been set.
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Censor by seizure: Authorities have ordered all websites and blogs based in China to register or be closed down. In the latest effort by the communist government to police cyberspace, commercial publishers and advertisers can face fines of up to 1 million yuan ($120,000) for failing to register, according to the Ministry of Information Industry website.
Private, noncommercial bloggers must register the complete identity of the person responsible for the site. The ministry said 74 percent of all sites have already registered.
All public media in China is controlled by the state, though internet limits have lagged behind as advances in technology and the web's rapid spread outstripped Beijing's ability to keep tabs on users and service providers.
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Laptops ahead by a nose: In a sure sign that the era of mobile computing has arrived, notebooks have outsold desktops in the United States for the first time in a calendar month.
After tracking sales from a sampling of electronics retailers, the research firm Current Analysis says notebook sales accounted for 53 percent of the total personal computer market last month.
Notebook prices fell 17 percent during the past year while desktop prices dipped only 4 percent. New notebooks feature longer-lasting batteries, CD burners and wireless capability. Last year, 80 percent of notebooks offered wireless; this year, it's 95 percent, Current Analysis says.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
