TechBits package

By The Associated Press

updated 6:27 p.m. ET July 23, 2008

NEW YORK - The movie-rental service Netflix Inc. is closing a small unit that finances independent movies, partly to avoid competing with Hollywood studios with which it partners for DVD and Internet distribution.

The financial impact on the company will be small, and only four out of about 400 employees are losing their jobs.

But the move could make it more difficult for smaller producers to find homes for their movies. Netflix' Red Envelope Entertainment had focused on bringing less-commercial projects to a broader audience. The unit acquired or helped finance independent films, distributing them in movie theaters as well as in the regular Netflix channels — DVD by mail and online streaming.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said the company began the unit as an experiment about two years ago, but ultimately decided that financing movies was not its forte. He said filmmakers still have plenty of outlets for financing and distributing movies, "and we don't need to do that to get great titles on Netflix."

Swasey said the company weighed the fact that it was often in the same room with studio partners at film festivals, and "we didn't want to compete" with them.

Movies distributed through Red Envelope — named for the red envelopes used to ship Netflix DVDs — include "Sherrybaby," "No End in Sight," and "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days." Red Envelope typically partnered with a larger company for theatrical release.

_Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer.

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UN agency pushes global ID for emergency contacts

NEW YORK (AP) — In the English-speaking world, many cell phone users leave emergency contact information in the devices' address books under an entry labeled "ICE" — for "in case of emergency."

Now, the U.N. International Telecommunication Union is trying to adapt that system for the rest of the world.

The ITU's idea is for people to start the contacts in their phone address books with the Arabic numerals "01," "02," and so on and adding a description of the contact in a native script. For example, a dad's contact number would appear as "01father," with "father" substituted with the equivalent word in other languages. The Arabic numerals tend to be universally recognized.

Firefighters, police and other emergency workers would then know to look first under those numerals to find the next of kin and other key contacts.

The ITU notes that while "ICE" has emerged as a way for people to list emergency contact numbers, "this precludes people who do not use or recognize the Roman script from readily identifying what the term `ICE' represents. ITU members expressed the need to identify emergency contacts independent of language or script."

It's not clear whether people will readily adopt this system, which ITU is calling "a standard" even though the agency itself came up with it. The ITU said it would work with the nonprofit organization ICE4SAFETY to promote the alternative.

_Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer.

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AOL integrates widget tech to boost social-net ads

NEW YORK (AP) — Install a little photo program to show off pictures of your dog on Facebook, and you might find you're really spreading an ad.

Time Warner Inc.'s AOL said Wednesday it was integrating technology from its newly acquired Goowy Media Inc. to help advertisers pitch their products and services at social-networking sites, which have struggled to generate revenue despite heavy traffic.

Advertisers can buy ads for pet care and other services on AOL's Widgnet advertising network, and they will run on certain applications for the online hangouts Facebook and AOL's Bebo. Revenue would be shared between AOL and the application developer, but not the social-networking sites.

In addition, advertisers can create programs known as widgets using Goowy's technology and wrap an ad around them. Users of supported social-networking sites, which also include News Corp.'s MySpace and AOL's AIM Profile Pages, can add the widget to their personal profile page, customizing it with, say, a photo of their own pet.

In a sense, users are doing the work of advertisers in spreading word of their brand and interacting with it.

AOL is offering this free to advertisers already using AOL's ad services elsewhere. That's part of a broader effort by AOL to boost its advertising revenue and offset declines in legacy Internet access subscriptions.

"Widget-based advertising is gaining momentum in the industry," said Lynda Clarizio, president of Platform-A, AOL's advertising arm.

_Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer.

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AT&T introduces global GPS service for phones

NEW YORK (AP) — Is it a long, long way to Tipperary? Don't know if you're on the path to Bath?

AT&T Inc. aims to help, with a new phone service that truly puts the "global" in the Global Positioning System, or GPS.

On Tuesday, it introduced the AT&T Navigator Global Edition, a service that for the first time allows some of its phones to provide GPS navigation overseas. AT&T said it is the only plan of its kind from a U.S. carrier.

The plan costs $19.98 per month and works with seven "smart" phones: four BlackBerry models, plus the Tilt, BlackJack II and Moto QTM 9h.

Its maps cover most of Western Europe (Tipperary is in Ireland, Bath in England), Canada, Mexico and six cities in China that will host the Olympics this summer.

The service uses data connections to download maps, so an international data roaming plan is strongly recommended. It's not uncommon for people who don't have international roaming plans to come home from trips to find charges of hundreds of dollars.

AT&T has a BlackBerry International data plan that covers includes domestic and international use for $64.99. For other phones, international data roaming costs $24.99 per month on top of a domestic plan.

The service doesn't work with Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 3G, even though it has a GPS chip. AT&T spokeswoman Jeannie Hornung said the company is working with Apple to enable AT&T applications, including Navigator, to run on the iPhone.

_Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer.

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Tech awards go to plane de-icing goo, headlights

SEATTLE (AP) — Camera flashcubes of the 1960s, high-definition TVs and the Nicoderm quit-smoking patch have at least one thing in common: Each found a place over the years on R&D Magazine's annual list of the 100 most technologically significant new products.

For 46 years, the Rockaway, N.J.-based publication has bestowed awards to products its editors and outside experts believe represent "quantum leaps of technological improvement."

R&D Magazine acknowledges that obvious advances — a cure for cancer, say — are rare. Indeed, the 2008 list of winners, announced Wednesday, lacked consumer blockbusters, but among the acronyms and technical jargon, a few with relevance to everyday life stood out.

Japan's Koito Manufacturing Co. made the list for its LED car headlights, which use less energy, last longer and produce a light that's brighter and more like daylight.

Another automotive winner was the "Adaptive Airbag" from Key Safety Systems Inc. in Sterling Heights, Mich. It adjusts how fully car air bags inflate to match the severity of the accident and the weight of the vehicle occupant, potentially reducing air bag injuries.

Environmentally safer and less corrosive fluid for clearing ice from airplanes on the runway also hit the list, as did a high-power battery for hybrid-electric cars.

Wearable technology also seemed to appeal to the judges this year. Lebanon, Ore.-based Entek Membranes LLC won for its breathable, waterproof fabric engineered using nanotechnology, as did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Laser-Weave, a cost-effective way to synthesize inorganic fibers and turn them into ropes and textiles.

_Jessica Mintz, AP Technology Writer.

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On the Net:

http://www.rdmag.com/awards.aspx