Free-Internet plan gets S.F. controller's office OK

The San Francisco controller's office issued a favorable review Friday on a proposal by EarthLink and Google to provide the city with free wireless Internet access.

The report estimates residents could save $9 million to $18 million in Internet bills annually by having the option of choosing the EarthLink service, which will offer free access as well as a paid service that is cheaper than other broadband options like DSL and cable.

The report said the service will help the city bridge the digital divide, providing many residents with Internet service for the first time. It also noted it would be a boon to EarthLink, giving it a foothold in the San Francisco broadband market.

"I think this is one more reason for the board to approve free Wi-Fi as soon as possible," said Nathan Ballard, spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom. "It shows that Wi-Fi creates a favorable impact for the city."

Newsom said in January that the city had finalized language for a contract with EarthLink and Google to provide paid and free Wi-Fi service. EarthLink would pay the city $2 million over four years for the right to build, own and maintain the network. Subscribers would pay $22 a month for 1 megabit per second of broadband service or receive free service with speeds topping out at 300 kilobits per second.

1000GB Blu-ray Recorder Announced By Hitachi

Hitachi has revealed a 1 Terrabyte Blu-ray recorder at the Harvey Norman retail conference being held at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

Hitachi is set to launch a 1000GB Blu-ray recorder. The product that was shown at the Harvey Norman Conference being held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. According to Hitachi Australia the device will go on sale in 2008 for around $2,000.

A leader in storage devices, Hitachi has also released in the USA for US$400 the Deskstar 7K1000. It was first announced at CES 2007 as the world's first one-terabyte hard drive and has now been shipping for a month.

Microsoft to sell $1B in software to Lenovo

Lenovo has signed a deal with Microsoft to buy Windows, Office and other software suites for its personal computers in a deal worth as much as $1.3 billion.

The agreement emulates one inked in 2006, worth $1.2 billion over one year, to pre-install Microsoft's (Charts, Fortune 500) Windows operating system software on Lenovo's computers, deemed a major step in China's efforts to combat piracy.

Both firms hoped to advance "one of the most important goals of international business: the protection of intellectual property," Lenovo senior vice president Chen Shaopeng, who attended the signing ceremony, said in a statement on Thursday.

Nokia N81 and N82 pictures surface

Just when you got your hands on the Nokia N95 and the Nokia N75, it seems like there's something cooler on the horizon (as usual). Images and specs have surfaced on two new Nokia N series phones: the Nokia N81 and the Nokia N82.

The N81 looks to be a sleek quad-band (EDGE; 2100MHz HSDPA-lovin') slider phone with 8GM internal memory, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. It's said to be replacing the music-centric Nokia N91 and comes equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

On the other hand, the Nokia N82 seems to be going the camera route with a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash. It's also a GSM smart phone (candybar style) and has built-in GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, an FM tuner, and a microSD expansion slot. No details on pricing or U.S. availability, but they're rumored to come out in Q4.
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