Ford Motor Co. says it will soon offer wireless mobile offices in its F-series pickups, an option aimed at building contractors and others who do business on the road.
A Ford F-250 Super Duty truck equipped with a mobile office is scheduled to debut Tuesday at the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas. The annual show isn't open to the public, but it dazzles an estimated 100,000 automotive insiders with souped-up vehicles and the latest aftermarket trends and components.
Ford expects to offer the mobile office as a dealer-installed accessory in 2006. Pricing isn't finalized, but it would cost around $3,000 for a wireless-equipped computer, printer and global positioning system, Ford spokesman Alan Hall said. Add-ons like a digital camera and credit card scanner also would be available.
The computer in the Ford pickups will be equipped with a full suite of office software, including Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint, and can also play music or be used for navigation. The system can be disabled or used with voice commands while the owner is driving so it's less distracting, Ford says.
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Take him down: A British man was sentenced to four years in jail Tuesday for masterminding a phishing fraud which stole identities and bank details from the eBay action site.
Proseuctors said David Levi, 29, of Lytham, England, led a six-man gang that stole nearly 200,000 pounds ($360,000) from more than 160 people. They sent e-mails to eBay customers, pretending to be from eBay, asking for bank details.
Other gang members were sentenced to jail terms ranging from six months to two years.
Levi, who was already serving a sentence for drug offenses, was sentenced three years for fraud and one year for perverting the course of justice, to be served consecutively.
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Tit for tat: Three top U.S. cable operators on Monday reached a deal to resell wireless phone services with Sprint Nextel to compete against telephone operators entering the video market, sources familiar with the situation said.
Sprint Nextel's deal to co-brand wireless phone services with Comcast, Time Warner's cable division and Cox Communications, is expected to be announced as early as Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not available.
The deal could help speed the next generation of media and communications services. It also gives cable companies a so-called "quadruple-play" portfolio of products -- cable TV, digital phone, high-speed internet and wireless phone services -- to compete against deep pocketed regional telephone companies such as Verizon Communications and SBC Communications intent on offering video services.
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AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
