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Facebook’s new privacy controls mean that publishing for Everyone is now the default setting. Users who do not customize their settings will therefore be sharing any updates, links or pictures publicly with any one on the network. However, the new privacy controls also allow users to customize their profile, so they can share specific pieces of information with specific users, and not others.
Amazon launched a new feature that will let customers stream movies they’ve just purchased on DVD. Disc+ On Demand gives customers instant access to the film purchased, which can be viewed through Amazon’s Movies on Demand service, either on a computer or through TiVo. Customers are currently offered 300 titles with Disc+ On Demand, a number which should increase over time.
While Barnes & Noble’s Nook has received a few delays, the eReader is now getting slammed for different reasons. The New York Times noted that “Every one of the Nook’s vaunted distinctions comes fraught with buzz kill footnotes.” Bad news for Barnes & Noble, however, good news for consumers who were holding out on the Nook, which is currently sold out for Holiday season, as the only eReader available for purchase this Holiday season is still the Amazon Kindle.
AT&T is having so much trouble with unclogging their wireless network that is going to extreme methods to educate consumers about data usage. The company, which has already rolled out an iPhone app that lets AT&T users notify the network of bad service, will inevitably have to charge customers for using too much data. While no plans have been made to roll out pre-allocated data plans, AT&T does plan to upgrade its network in order to deal with rampant dropped calls. All this almost a week after Consumer Reports named AT&T and Sprint the worst wireless networks in the country.