Business - NewsFactor

In an address at a USB conference in New York Wednesday, AT&T executive Ralph de la Vega told investors that the performance of the wireless provider's 3G network is being strained by the heavy data demands of a relatively small number of smartphone users. Just three percent of all AT&T network users are consuming 40 percent of the carrier's capacity, he said. Full Story »

How much information does a typical household consume? Plenty, according to Roger Bohn, a professor of management and director of the How Much Information? Project run by the University of California at San Diego. Full Story »

The Wireless Gigabit Alliance, or WiGig, has completed a new specification that makes possible high-performance wireless display and audio with rates 10 times faster than current-generation wireless LANs. The new spec works to extend Wi-Fi technology and supports backward capability with existing Wi-Fi devices. WiGig members will have access to the spec to provide faster wireless in new products in the first quarter of 2010. Full Story »

Like a much-awaited new book, the reviews of Barnes & Noble's nook e-reader are coming in -- and many are not exactly thumbs-up. Several major reviewers have criticized the device, which has been touted as the major competitor to Amazon's Kindle, as slow and clunky. Full Story »

Google Labs has launched an innovative news-reporting experiment in partnership with The New York Times and The Washington Post. Called Living Stories, the venture aggregates related content on specific news topics onto dedicated web pages that are continuously updated. Full Story »

Though it's only been available for a few weeks, Verizon Wireless already has released an update package for the Motorola Droid, an Android-based smartphone. A Verizon spokesperson said the update started Monday and will continue for about a week. Full Story »

In response to requests, Facebook on Wednesday asked its 350 million users to update their privacy settings. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has rolled out new privacy settings to give users more control over the content they share. Full Story »

Mozilla on Tuesday launched Thunderbird 3, a revamped version its e-mail application, hoping it will do for Mozilla Messaging what Firefox 3 did for Mozilla's browser. With the same web-page rendering and graphics infrastructure as Firefox, Thunderbird is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Full Story »

In the aftermath of a bruising advertising battle with Verizon Wireless that highlighted the limitations of AT&T's 3G network, an AT&T executive told investors that high-bandwidth iPhone users could face higher usage charges. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of consumer services, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that people who consume a large amount of data could receive incentives to "reduce or modify their usage," the Associated Press reported. Full Story »

A leading analyst said Wednesday that information about Apple's long-rumored tablet computer points toward a launch in March or April. In a note to clients, Yair Reiner of Oppenheimer also said the computer giant appears to be revving up to manufacture a million tablet computers each month. Full Story »