None of the problems Pat mentions are anything specific to do with the iPhone. They’re all AT&T issues and yet it’s Apple’s brand that’s being used in the spoof.

It really hasn’t been a good day for AT&T today. This morning the news was out that the service provider had started to block some of 4chan. In response the hacking literate 4chan community readied the dogs of war. After only a few hounds had been released AT&T dropped the block. Pete Cashmore, himself, has the write up over at Mashable.

Could this be the end of this bizarre turn of events? If AT&T is smart, it will be.

Tech.blorge.com’s John Lister, however, reminds us that;

It’s hard to assess the case without knowing why exactly AT&T blocked the site. It’s possible there was a valid technical reason for doing so.

That’s a comment worth baring in mind. A reader of Erling Løken Andersen’s blog noted that;

It was blocked because it’s been a DDoS target for weeks. This had nothing to do with content.

Blame the idiots who run javascript embedded images.

It seems almost certain that 4chan would have begun to pressure Apple to drop At&T had their battle with the network continued. Even without 4chan pushing the iPhone Hell video it seems all too possible that the spoof will be seen by thousands.

Of the 58% of US consumers who own a web-enabled mobile phone, 21% own a smartphone, 8% an iPhone and 29% connect via another web-enabled mobile phone.

Of all those who are able to connect to the internet via their mobile phone, one in ten have made at least one purchase. For what is a relatively new technology, this is an extremely fast pickup rate.

Fifty six per cent of consumers purchased digital content for their mobile phone, 51% bought consumer electronics, 37% computers, 36% books and 31% purchased clothing.

While retailers will be looking for ways to reach the one in ten who purchase via their mobile phone, there are several other groups of users to pay close attention to.

Sixteen per cent of those with a web-enabled mobile phone use it to compare prices online. A further 16% research product details before making a purchase offline or via their computer. Tapping into these two groups of mobile phone users (particularly the latter who are almost ready to buy) could produce significant sales for internet retailers.

There is a growing market in the area of web-based mobile phone shopping that could be extremely beneficial for online (and offline) retailers in the months to come.

Meraki was founded in 2006 and already has routers being set up in 125 countries including Iceland, Samoa and Chile.

One of Meraki’s most exciting ventures, the Meraki Solar, is due to launch this month after several months of hype. The solar powered wireless router provides large outdoor areas and even entire neighbourhoods with wireless internet access, without the need to run cables.

One place that has already embraced this new solar technology is Lebu, a small fishing village in Chile. Before the Meraki Solar, it was difficult for residents to access the internet. Thanks to the Meraki Solar, residents can now access the internet and the Lebu network now has more than 1000 regular users, all embracing the digital age.

While the technology isn’t cheap, many villages like Lebu and even some major American cities are looking to offer residents complete coverage and have been waiting for a solution like this for years.
The future looks promising for Meraki and no doubt Sequoia Capital are looking forward to seeing the company succeed. If Meraki grows in profitability, Google will win on two accounts – backing a successful startup should bring big payouts and with more people able to access the internet that means more ad-clicks.

The Finland Road Administration has implemented a novel way of reducing public restroom vandalism along Highway 1 near the region of Turku, requiring that patrons send an SMS to a phonenumber printed on the restroom’s door in order for it to open. The user’s phonenumber is then stored for a short amount of time in case any vandalism should occur near the time of usage.

Finland Road Administration claim to not have any deals with mobile phone carriers, and the solution will no doubt prove problematic for those without credit or a dead battery. Hey, at least it will silence those who claim mobile phones are pointless!

Also, actually catching vandals might prove difficult if patrons are using an unregistered pay-as-you-go SIM cards, but hopefully the country famous for saunas, vodka and the best Eurovision entry in recent memory will see a significant decrease in restroom vandalism.

The fight between Sony and Nintendo for the portable games consoles market has heated up again. Sony has confirmed that Skype voice-over-IP phone services are to be made available to PSP users as soon as late January. But as always, there is a catch.

The new service will enable PSP users to communicate with other Skype users around the world over the internet. As well as providing a useful addition to the PSP services, the announcement may also be heralding the start of new moves to encourage existing PSP owners to upgrade to the latest PSP system.

Here comes the catch: the Skype service will only be released to work on the new slim and light PSP handheld entertainment system, not on the older original PSP 1000. djmc on GeekPulp states the reason for this being that the amount of memory of the original PSP is too small to support the application. It also means the purchase of a headset to utilize the application, as Tom Keating at TMCnet displays.

(Picture from ArsGeek)