Verizon Communications said it signed its first video deal with a unit of Time Warner allowing it to carry Turner Broadcasting channels on its fiber-optic video service.
Verizon (VZ) is launching its Fios video service to more effectively compete against cable companies such as Time Warner and Comcast (CMCSA) that are pushing telephone services.
Verizon said the agreement will allow it to carry several Turner channels, including CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.
Verizon has said it hopes to make at least 3 million homes and businesses accessible to its fiber-optic lines by the end of the year. While connecting customers with fiber optics can cost more than $1,000 per building, Verizon has said the upgrade was necessary to compete with cable.
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Lost in search: In a continuing effort to extend its reach beyond the desktop, Yahoo is launching new features to help mobile phone users plumb its online search engine.
One is a text-messaging feature. Users send a message to "92466" -- the numerals used to spell Yahoo (YHOO) -- and get back direct responses to requests about local businesses, weather and stock quotes. Yahoo also promises to deliver a web link to get more information about the results.
The feature is initially available to Cingular, Sprint (FON) and Verizon subscribers.
In another upgrade, Yahoo is introducing technology that will open up its search engine to mobile handsets equipped with wireless application protocol, or WAP, support. The ability to call up websites found through Yahoo's mobile search previously had been limited unless a handset could read HTML.
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Safety first: Lufthansa, Germany's national airline, has started testing tickets encoded with passengers' thumbprint data in hopes of speeding up check-ins without compromising security.
The 14-day trial started with Lufthansa employees trying out the system. If all goes well, the airline wants to roll it out in 2006.
Passengers would get tickets encoded with their thumbprint data, then check themselves in by placing their thumbs on a machine. Frequent fliers would have their thumbprint data encoded on their frequent flier cards instead of their tickets.
The German government is also starting to make use of biometric data in travel documents and will start issuing passports embedded with facial data in November. A fingerprint will be added in March 2007.
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Unfair trading: The State Department has warned Boeing that the aerospace titan could be fined up to $47 million because it sold commercial airliners to China and other countries without obtaining an export license for a tiny electronic chip that has defense applications.
The case involves the export of jets that contain a gyroscopic microchip called QRS-11, used as a backup system in determining a plane's orientation in the air. A Boeing document calls the chip technology "relatively unsophisticated," but says it also has been used to help stabilize and steer guided missiles.
The Seattle Times reported it obtained a draft letter that outlines 94 alleged violations of the Arms Control Act and that asserts the government could impose fines of up to $500,000 per violation.
Boeing (BA) contends it ignored State Department edicts because its lawyers said the department was "without legal authority" to regulate the exports.
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Compiled by David Cohn. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
