Facebook hits half a billion users
Social network giant Facebook has registered its 500 millionth member, reports the BBC. The site, which launched in 2004, gained around 100 million new users in the last six months.
Facebook said the number was "an important milestone" and added that it was "humbled and inspired" by the stories of its users, which it is asking people to share on the site.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg recently said the site was "almost guaranteed" to reach one billion users.
iPad arrives in Ireland
The Apple iPad goes on sale in Irish shops today, reports The Irish Times. Before now, Apple fans had been forced to trek across the border to buy the device in Northern Ireland, or buy it from sources in the US.
The touch-screen tablet computer, which was unveiled by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in January, can access the Internet over wireless and mobile networks. It runs the same software as the iPhone, but has a larger screen and superior capabilities.
Prices for the device will begin at EUR499 through the Apple store and authorised Apple resellers.
T-Mobile wants content producers to pay up
Producers of content, not carriers, should pay the price for the masses of costly bandwidth being sucked up by cell surfers every day, according to the upper echelons of T-Mobile, says RCR Unplugged.
While rival AT&T has started capping data plans and charging users extra for data hogging, Ren'e Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, believes it's those who produce media-rich and heavy content who should be made to pay.
Large-scale, successful online platforms, like Apple and Google, he claims, should not be using the mobile Internet like a free lunch buffet, offering all you can eat without paying their way.
AT&T's profit jumps in Q2
AT&T reported a 26% increase in second-quarter earnings due to an investment gain, lower costs and fewer defections, but the rate of growth in new contract customers slowed, despite the benefits of the new Apple iPhone, writes The Wall Street Journal.
The telco's postpaid net subscriber growth, which saw a dramatic decline from a year ago in the first quarter, continued to lag in the second quarter, underscoring the shrinking opportunity of the wireless industry's most lucrative source of income.
AT&T said it added 496 000 postpaid subscribers, or a little more than a third of the number of customers it signed up a year ago.
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