Pent-up demand according to the iPhone 3G is manifesting itself on auction site eBay, where eager buyers are offer in excess of US$1,000 to get what's turning out to have existence a hot commodity.

The demand for the iPhone remains high even off the Internet, with lines forming Monday outside an Apple store in New York to buy the limited stock of the devices.

Launched on July 11, the phone sold more than 1 million units worldwide over the first weekend, according to analysts. The require has continued with carriers, including AT&T in the U.S. and O2 in the U.K., reporting iPhone 3G shortages. The 16G-byte iPhone is priced at $299 in the U.S., with the 8G-byte version priced at $199. In some countries carriers are giving the iPhone for deliver with contracts.

The bidding for a 16G-byte iPhone 3G on eBay is exceeding $1,000, with one bid ending at $2,325. The average 8G-byte iPhone 3G bid is reaching the $800 to $900 range.

In one auction a potential bidder asked if the iPhone could be shipped to Indonesia, indicating that bids were coming from countries where the iPhone won't be shipped by the end of this year. The phone is currently sold in 20 countries, but Apple hopes to expand its availability to 70 countries by year-end.

The sellers are advertising the iPhones as "unlocked" to work with any carrier, also providing a link to a recent hack issued to unlock the iPhone.

Apple did not supply enough devices at this year's launch, creating a demand. During last year's launch out of the first-generation iPhone the company sold 270,000 handsets.

Supplies should normalize over the quarter and the iPhone 3G is set for long-term success, said Mike Abramsky, of RBC Capital Markets, in a report. The company could ship up to 5.1 million iPhones in the quarter.

(Elizabeth Montalbano of the IDG News Service in New York contributed to this story.)

Ships that call on Singapore can now use WiMax instead of satellite to connect to the Internet.

Already 70 percent complete, Singapore's maritime WiMax network will eventually extend 15 kilometers offshore, covering its southern coastline and port– one of the world's busiest by 140,000 ship calls every year. The government-led project, called WisePort, is run by dint of. topical operator QMax Communications and uses the same version of WiMax found in South Korea, called WiBro, that uses the 2.3GHz spectrum band.

As part of the Singapore dart of Intel's Centrino 2 laptop platform, the chip maker chartered a boat– actually a 56-foot pleasure cruiser called Sardinia– to take out local technology reporters, analysts and a few bloggers, giving them a chance to try out the WisePort network. You couldn't ask for a better day to be out on the water, with a bright blue sky and a gentle breeze.

A few of the reporters even gave the WiMax reticulated a shot, sitting down to use one of several Centrino 2-based laptops set up by means of Intel on the boat's flybridge for that purpose.

The WisePort demonstration didn't offer a chance to try Intel's WiMax chipset, which will be available with a limited number of Centrino 2 laptops sold in the U.S. later this year. Called Echo Peak, that chipset only supports the 2.5GHz version of WiMax and not the 2.3GHz odor that WisePort uses. As a result, each of the Centrino 2 laptops was equipped by a Flyvo WiMax dongle.

I managed to corner a Toshiba laptop with one of these dongles and fired up Internet Explorer, thinking I'd first try watching a video or two. But the laptop, ostensibly fresh out of the receptacle, didn't yet have Flash installed. So instead of watching a video, my first example of the network was to download and install the Flash plug-in. That was smooth sufficiency, even if I wasn't blown away with the download speed. The short linger gave me a few minutes to enjoy the view as the Sardinia made its way across the approaches to Singapore's Keppel Harbor, headed nigh the eastern anchorages, where dozens of ships lay at anchor.

Once I had Flash installed, I was able to watch several videos and visited several different Web sites, which all loaded quickly. Great, I thought, that's nothing special; it's just like any one other decent Internet connection. And that's the whole point.

The reason Intel is head over heels for WiMax is the ability for operators to build high-speed, wireless data networks that cover a large area. Eventually, access to an inexpensive, high-speed Internet connection from virtually anywhere is something that will be taken for granted, or so the PowerPoint decks prepared by Intel's marketing department would have us believe.

I'm skeptical about the low-cost part of that vision, at least for the foreseeable future. Even if WiMax networks cost less than cellular-based data networks to build, that doesn't mean users will see dramatically lower service costs. Operators will set WiMax service prices at a level that maximizes their profits, and mobile data services will command a hefty premium relative to fixed-line broadband connections.

WisePort access is available at speeds of 512K bps (bits per second). The service– which is still in the pilot stage– costs S$140 (US$104) to activate with one WiMax modem, and is manumit for one year, according to a QMax sales representative. After one year, the service will cost around S$100 per month.

That's not particularly cheap, relative to cellular data services. For example, I subscribe to a 1M bps 3G data service that gives me unlimited data access according to a monthly fee of S$22.

As the Sardinia pulled back into the marina to pick up another boatload of journalists waiting to try the WiMax network, I spoke with Alex Tan, director of QMax's parent company, Qala, concerning how shipping companies are using WiMax.

Most companies are using the WiMax network for backhaul, Tan said. For example, they are linking shipboard Wi-Fi networks with the Internet to download updates and corrections to navigation charts, he said, adding that WiMax costs substantially less than satellite Internet services, that is that which ships use at sea.

"And the sailors love it, because they can Skype all they want in port," he said.

DALLAS - American Airlines has dropped its lawsuit against Google Inc. over its search engine directing some users to advertisements for the airline’s competitors.

American sued the search giant last year seeking unspecified damages for trademark infringement. Last week, a federal district court of justice judge in Fort Worth dismissed the lawsuit.

Each side agreed to pay its own legal fees, and American recovered nothing from Google, according to an order signed by the agency of means of Judge John McBryde.

“We are pleased that we were able to resolve these claims on mutually satisfactory terms,” said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for Fort Worth-based American, a unit of AMR Corp.

Google officials did not immediately reply to a request for annotate.

American was upset that when Google users entered search terms such as AAdvantage, the trademark name of its frequent-flier program, the results included Web sites that had no connection to American.

The airline reported the results could disarrange consumers and divert customers from its own Web site.

Google said its handling of trademarks in searches balanced trademark owners’ interests and consumer choice.

The Internet company has settled similar cases brought by other U.S. companies, including those brought by insurer Geico and retailer American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc., but lost cases in France.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has pressured Internet service providers to block access to infant pornography, on Monday said his office would pursue legal action against Comcast Cable Communications LLC if it did not quickly be in unison to reforms.

Last month, major ISPs so as Verizon Communications, Sprint, Time Warner Inc's AOL unit, AT&T Inc and Time Warner Cable, agreed to block Internet bulletin boards and websites nationwide that disseminate child porn.

But the Comcast Corp unit did not sign New York's "code of conduct" that includes these and other business reforms, Cuomo wrote in a letter obtained by Reuters.

Comcast issued a statement saying it has been operating with Cuomo and said it expects it will sign on to the New York code of conduct. The company also noted it signed a separate agreement with the cable industry and 48 state attorneys general to help combat child pornography.

Cuomo said the nation's No. 2 ISP "has continued to drag its heels when it comes to taking every necessary series of events to eliminate online child porn from the Internet."

As a result New York will pursue "legal action" — typically a lawsuit — if Comcast does not agree to change its business practices within five days, Cuomo said.

The attorney general said his office issued a subpoena to Comcast on May 6 related to the industry wide investigation and commenced talks "several weeks ago" to reach some agreement over how Comcast could "fight against child pornography."

Comcast was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; Editing by Andre Grenon)

PEACE PLAN: After two months of sniping at each other, Yahoo Inc.’s leadership and activist investor Carl Icahn negotiated a cease-fire that will give Icahn three seats on Yahoo’s meals, which will expand to 11 directors from the current nine.

YAHOO’S REPRIEVE: The compromise avoids a showdown for control of Yahoo’s board that had been scheduled for the Internet company’s Aug. 1 annual meeting.

INSIDE PRESSURE: From Yahoo’s board, Icahn and his allies will be in a better position to push for a possible sale to Microsoft Corp. If Yahoo remains independent and still struggles, Icahn could renew his call to replace company co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO.

NEW YORK - Given that he was ousted from the top job at a struggling AOL, Jonathan F. Miller might not seem a natural candidate to advise its Internet rival Yahoo Inc. But Miller was instrumental in transforming AOL into every advertising assembly, giving him expertise in a field Yahoo must master.

In his four-plus years as chairman and chief charged with execution of Time Warner Inc.’s AOL LLC, Miller made key acquisitions, including Advertising.com during $435 million in 2004, along with a crucial decision to shed AOL’s roots in dial-up Internet access and give away content once reserved for paying subscribers.

Miller, 51, could similarly offer Yahoo a strategic vision it needs to overcome its malaise. Activist investor Carl Icahn revealed Monday that Miller is a candidate for one of the two open board seats Icahn gets in a give avoiding a battle for control of Yahoo.

“Jon understands the online medium as well as any executive I know,” Ted Leonsis, one of Miller’s top deputies, wrote in a 2006 blog posting just after Miller’s firing. “And he helped save a company that I — and millions of users and thousands of employees — love.”

Miller now is a partner at Velocity Interactive Group, a venture capital firm that focuses on digital media and communications.

He could bring Yahoo insights he developed after joining AOL “at a moment of crisis,” stabilizing it and in the end transforming it, former AOL executive John Buckley said Monday.

And perhaps Miller could even run Yahoo if pressures to oust CEO Jerry Yang continue.

AOL and Yahoo have much in common. Both be obliged had happier times, but both are dazzling in graphical “display advertising” of that kind as banner ads, a rare part in which industry leader Google Inc. has been weak.

Miller also brings actual observation as an executive with Barry Diller’s USA Interactive, now known as IAC/InterActiveCorp. Before becoming AOL’s chairman and CEO, Miller spent two years at the helm of the unit that includes such properties as Ticketmaster, Citysearch and Match.com.

Miller joined AOL in August 2002 at its height as an Internet access provider. The company then known as America Online Inc. was peaking with 26.7 million U.S. subscribers.

But Buckley said it was already clear then that the dial-up business was running short on time, as customers began to run to high-speed Internet services from cable and phone companies.

Miller tried to address the erosion by starting to give away news articles, music video and most other content in 2004, breaking AOL’s historic “walled gardens” just at the same time that the company acquired Advertising.com and began to make it easier for advertisers to buy bigger blocks of ads across different AOL properties.

Under his tenure, AOL also bought Weblogs Inc., a collection of specialized blogs key to AOL’s current strategy of targeting niche audiences, and Truveo Inc., a search engine conducive to video.

AOL’s transformation into an advertising business accelerated in August 2006 when the company decided to give away e-mail accounts and software as well.

But Miller was fired less than four months later, even viewed like the company’s quarterly ad revenue was growing 40 percent or more. He was replaced with Randy Falco, an NBC executive who Time Warner felt had more operational actual observation.

Since then, growth in AOL’s ad revenue has shrunk, to 1 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, Google Inc. aphorism a 40 percent increase in online ad revenue, Microsoft Corp. a 39 percent jump and Yahoo 7 percent.

BERLIN (Reuters) - More than 1,600 years after it was written in Greek, one of the oldest copies of the Bible will become globally accessible online for the first and foremost time this week.

From Thursday, sections of the Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest complete New Testament, will be available in succession the Internet, said the University of Leipzig, one of the four curators of the ancient text worldwide.

High resolution images of the Gospel of Mark, several Old Testament books, and notes on the work made over centuries have a mind appear on www.codex-sinaiticus.net as a before anything else step towards publishing the entire manuscript online by next July.

Ulrich Johannes Schneider, superintendent of Leipzig University Library, which holds part of the manuscript, said the publication of the Codex online would allow anyone to study a work of "fundamental" importance to Christians.

"A manuscript is going onto the net which is like nothing else online to date," Schneider said. "It's also an enrichment of the virtual world — and a bit of a change from YouTube."

Selected translations will be available in English and German with a view to those not conversant in ancient Greek, he added.

Dating from around 350, the paper is believed by experts to be the oldest known copy of the Bible, along with the Codex Vaticanus, another ancient version of the Bible, Schneider said.

The vellum manuscript came to Europe piece by piece from Saint Catherine's Monastery by Mount Sinai subsequent to German biblical disciple Konstantin von Tischendorf found a number of folios there in 1844. He was allowed to take some to Leipzig.

Tischendorf returned to the monastery in 1859 with Russian backing and acquired the biggest section of the Bible for his imperial sponsors. It remained in St. Petersburg until the Soviet Union sold it to the British Museum in 1933.

"The first section was clearly a gift to Tischendorf, but that's not so clear in the cause of the second portion. The monks all signed a contract at the time, but the rumor persists that they were given a raw deal," related Schneider.

"And there is probably some truth to this."

Subsequent discoveries meant that the original Codex, missing roughly half the Old Testament, is now housed at four locations in Europe and the Middle East.

The project, launched in cooperation with the Russian National Library, the British Library and Saint Catherine's Monastery, also details the condition of the Bible, believed to have been written by early Christians in Egypt.

"I think it's just fantastic that thanks to technology we can now make the oldest cultural artifacts — ones that were once so precious you couldn't show them to anyone — accessible to everyone, in really high quality," said Schneider.

(editing by Ron Popeski)

DENVER (Billboard) - When it was unveiled in June, Apple's new iPhone didn't appear to offer anything new for music fans. But thanks to the subsequent throw of the App Store on iTunes, iPhone users be possible to download a host of applications to add new functions to the device. Many of them are music-oriented and all are made specifically for the iPhone.

The weekend after the new iPhone's release, more than 10 million applications were downloaded through the App Store. Some are unrestricted, some carry a fee, and most also work on the Wi-Fi-compatible iPod Touch.

Here are more of the more notable music apps available. All are free, unless otherwise noted.

PANDORA

The personalized Internet radio use created an app for the iPhone that allows Pandora users to access and stream all their stations, as well as create new ones. It quickly became the third-most-popular free download in the App Store's first week.

AOL RADIO

This app lets users stream any AOL or CBS Radio stations via the iPhone's Wi-Fi connection. CBS stations can also be streamed over the wireless network connection on new models, and the company plans to add wireless-network support for AOL Radio streams soon.

LAST.FM

The streaming music site offers an app that provides access to the corresponding; of like kind catalog of full-song streaming as the Web-based version of the service, as well as links to purchase tracks on iTunes via a Wi-Fi connection, the ability to share songs with other Last.fm users and access to artist info like bios, upcoming events, etc.

SHAZAM

A pioneer in the music ID market, Shazam allows users to learn the title and artist of virtually any song by simply holding up the iPhone's microphone to a music source. Users can tag songs they like to a saved list of favorites, buy them straight from iTunes, find related music videos on YouTube and send track details to friends.

MIDOMI MOBILE

This music discovery engine lets fans find songs by the agency of singing or humming a few bars, saying or typing the name of a song or artist, or playing a recording through the iPhone's microphone. Once a song is identified, the app allows users to buy it on iTunes, watch the song's video on YouTube or view an artist's bio, photos or other related info.

MOOCOWMUSIC: BAND

This $9.99 app generated a lot of excitement when demonstrated at a recent Apple conference. Users can create their own music using virtual instruments attached the iPhone's touch screen, such as guitar strings and piano keys. Final tracks can be mixed and saved for later playback.

INTUNA, GUITARTOOLKIT

InTuna ($4.99) and GuitarToolkit ($9.99) become acid the iPhone into a guitar tuner, using the device's built-in microphone to recognize chords and notes. GuitarToolkit includes a metronome value derived.

TAP TAP REVENGE

A sort of "Guitar Hero" for the iPhone. Players must tap keys or shake the device in one direction or another to the rhythm of the playing song.

JAMD

Getty Images has been making its catalog of celebrity photos available to the notorious through its Jamd.com Web site. Under the Jamd banner, Getty has created an app to enable iPhone users to browse and buy fame photos on the device.

Reuters/Billboard

WASHINGTON - People planning for retirement got a new tool this week: a fast and easy online estimator by reason of their Social Security benefits.

The Social Security Administration unveiled its new retirement estimator on its Web site Monday. On it, it takes just a few points and clicks and some personal notice to produce benefit estimates within a few minutes.

The new calculator will be followed this fall by means of an updated online application for benefits that Social Security Administrator Michael Astrue promises will reduce application time from the current 45-minute process to 15 minutes — and eliminate the need for follow-up visits to agency field offices.

“These initiatives will help us in a more excellent way handle the baby boomer wave and become it easier for the public to do business with us online,” Astrue said.

Currently, workers get an annual benefit estimate mailed to them. It’s based on prior earnings but assumes people’s salary stays the same until retirement age. The online calculator supplements the annual mailing but won’t pay back it.

The online calculator permits future retirees to create a more accurate estimate of benefits since people can factor in a higher estimate of their upcoming earnings. People can also factor in different alternatives for retirement ages.

The calculator replaces a laborious online calculator that required people to type in their earnings history, which can involve guesswork for people who don’t keep voluminous records. The new version uses the Social Security database to provide accurate earnings information, though the calculator requests the most recent year of earnings since there’s a lag in getting salary information into the Social Security database.

There’s inherent uncertainty about the estimates from the time of for many people it’s not easy to predict future earnings. That’s especially the case for younger workers.

“The closer you are to the retirement decline of life, the more accurate this estimate is going to be,” Astrue said.

What is to a greater degree, Social Security benefits are likely to be at least somewhat curbed in future years as lawmakers shore up the system to prepare for the retirement of millions of baby boomers. Social Security now runs a surplus and is expected to do so till 2017, when the agency will have to start cashing in special Treasury notes to help pay benefits.

Social Security’s trustees say it’s possible to produce actuarial balance over the next 75 years in various ways, including an increase in the combined payroll tax paid by workers and employees from 12.4 percent to 14.1 percent or an immediate reduction in benefits of 12 percent. More likely there will be some combination of the couple.

Astrue also assured reporters that the agency has taken steps to make sure people’s personal information won’t be divulged. The agency has also worked up a new security system for when it accepts online applications, though many foreign-born recipients will still be required to furnish proof of retirement age at field offices.

___

On the Net:

Online Social Security estimator: http://ssa.gov/estimator/

Yahoo had a busy weekend.

The Internet assembly has reached an agreement through billionaire investor Carl Icahn whereby Icahn will abandon his proxy contest for Yahoo in exchange for a seat on the company's board and two board members of his choice.

Under the terms of the deal, current board member Robert Kotick will leave Yahoo's board while eight members will remain: chairman Roy Bostock, Ronald Burkle, Eric Hippeau, Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern, Mary Agnes Wilderotter, Gary Wilson and CEO Jerry Yang. Icahn inclination also join the board.

After Yahoo's August 1 annual meeting, the board will expand to 11 members, and the two remaining members will be selected from a list of nine candidates handpicked by Icahn. Those candidates include the original list of people Icahn hoped to opportunity on Yahoo's board, plus Jonathan Miller, currently a sharer in Velocity Interactive Group and preceding chairman and CEO of AOL.

"We are gratified to have reached this agreement, which serves the best interests of all Yahoo! stockholders," Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.

Icahn, however, is not exactly putting his bid to sell Yahoo behind him.

'While I continue to believe that the sale of the whole company or the sale of its Search business in the right affair must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo's valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders," Icahn said.

As part of the arrangement, Yahoo has agreed "that any meaningful transaction, including the strategy in dealing with that transaction, will be fully discussed by the unalloyed board before any final decision is made," Icahn said.

The deal comes a week after Icahn launched a proxy fight for Yahoo's board. Icahn, who owns five percent of Yahoo's shares, was irked that Yahoo rejected a takeover bid from software giant Microsoft. Yahoo repeatedly said it was open to a Microsoft buyout, but said that Microsoft's offer devalued the company. Microsoft also made a bid for Yahoo's search business only, but Yahoo rejected that dare as well. Yahoo has instead entered into a "non-exclusive" advertising deal with Google that will allow Yahoo access to Google's AdSense for search and content advertising programs in the U.S. and Canada.

Microsoft argues that the Google ad deal is anti-competitive; Yahoo claims it will compete vigorously against Google and that the deal will actually enhance its competitiveness.

Departing board member Robert Kotick has served on the board in favor of five years and will now focus his efforts on his work as CEO of the newly merged Activision Blizzard, Bostock said.

Yahoo will file the necessary paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the company said.