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Talk of the day: Germany will get iPhones in November

By Times Wires
Published September 20, 2007

Achtung, baby! Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile will be the exclusive carrier for Apple Inc.'s iPhone in Germany, where the gadget will go on sale Nov. 9. The iPhone, a combined cell phone-iPod media player that also can wirelessly access the Internet, will cost 399 euros ($553), including Germany's 19 percent value-added tax, said Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Hamid Akhavan, head of the T-Mobile International division. The 8-gigabyte phone will be available only in T-Mobile's 700 shops in Germany and through T-Mobile's Internet shop, with a new two-year contract.

NBC.com to offer TV shows for free

Put away your TiVo. NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., plans to introduce a service on its Web site that allows users to download and watch its shows for free, following a decision to stop selling some programs on Apple Inc.'s iTunes. The new NBC.com feature, which will begin testing in October, will let users access shows for up to a week after they're aired, the network said.

SpongeBob? Yes. Squidward? No.

Though he's known for flipping crabbie patties, SpongeBob is now trying to muscle deeper into the consumer electronics aisle. Nickelodeon, citing research that shows younger children are adopting more sophisticated technology, is introducing a line of consumer electronics branded with personalities from some of its most popular shows. SpongeBob, for example, is used for an alarm clock and a portable media player, among other things. The merchandising effort also reflects a bid by Nickelodeon, part of Viacom, to sell more expensive products that will appeal to core fans as they age.

Google rolls out interactive ads

In case the company isn't wealthy enough, Google Inc., owner of the world's most-used Internet search engine, introduced interactive advertisements that work like Web pages, allowing clients to target shoppers with more video and images. The ads appear in boxes at the margins of Web sites and play videos, broadcast live news and contain images that potential customers don't have to click on to see.

Sneaking snakes on plane won't fly

A Florida man who tried to bring 30 dead snakes into the country aboard an Atlanta-bound airliner last month could soon be $800 poorer. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has issued two citations against the man, one for failing to declare the unusual cargo and another for violating laws intended to protect endangered species. The snakes, along with several birds and bird parts, were in boxes checked as luggage by a Korean Air passenger who arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Aug. 15. Many of the snakes were in bottles of a winelike liquid. "They're typically used in traditional Chinese or Asian medicine," said Darwin Huggins, Fish and Wildlife agent in charge of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. "Some of the snakes had scorpions in their mouths. And they were preserved in wine. It's a medicinal type wine that certain cultures drink."

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 01:19:30]