Basking Ridge, U.S.A. – Verizon Wireless have announced that its green retail store design has achieved pre-certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Volume Program. Verizon Wireless is one of only eight retailers in the United States and the only wireless company to achieve pre-certification from the USGBC.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings that deliver environmental, economic and community benefits. Under the LEED Volume Program, any Verizon Wireless Communication Store constructed using the pre-certified design will earn a LEED Silver or higher rating. The company has begun certifying stores under the program, building upon its portfolio of 95 stores rated under the LEED for Commercial Interiors rating system.

“Whether building new stores or transforming current retail or network locations, our goal is to lower greenhouse gas emissions and help preserve precious natural resources. By pursuing LEED certification we can improve our customer experience and environmental performance, while also achieving operational and utility savings,” said Chris Baron, vice-president, national operations, Verizon Wireless.  “USGBC’s LEED certification will also serve as key benchmarks for our Green Stores Program as we continue to look for new ways to implement environmentally friendly practices and energy savings throughout the company.”

Each LEED-certified Verizon Wireless Communications Store is expected to deliver, on average, the following environmental benefits and associated cost savings:

• 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year energy savings from lighting, equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the consumption of 972 gallons
• 28,000 gallons of water per year, equivalent to 455,000 glasses of water
• 28 tons of construction waste diverted from landfills, equivalent to 14 cars

“Verizon Wireless’ commitment to reducing the footprint of its retail stores shows tremendous company-wide leadership,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, chief executive officer and founding chair, USGBC. “The LEED Volume Program enables us to move further faster towards our shared goal of market transformation.”

The LEED Volume Program is part of Verizon’s commitment to reducing major energy drivers such as network equipment, energy efficiency requirements and aggressive energy reduction initiatives in company-operated buildings. Taken together, these efforts will help Verizon meet its aggressive goals of reducing its carbon intensity – the amount of energy used per data flowing through the company’s networks – by 50 percent within the next eight years.

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Savannah, U.S.A — Verizon Wireless and Comcast today announced they will offer each other’s services in Southeast Georgia and deliver a variety of offers and incentives for new and existing customers. Now, consumers in Savannah looking to stay connected to the people and things they love while on the go or at home have new options for outstanding video, phone, Internet and wireless services.

Based on the package chosen, customers of both Comcast and Verizon Wireless could qualify for a variety of offers and incentives, including Visa prepaid cards valued up to $300, a complimentary 12-month subscription to Xfinity Streampix, and Comcast HD DVR at no additional cost for six months, and/or a complimentary 12-month upgrade to Blast!, the Xfinity Internet service that provides download speeds of up to 30 Mbps with PowerBoost.

“Our momentum with Comcast in delivering these value packages in other markets is continually drawing praise from customers,” said Jonathan LeCompte, president, Verizon Wireless Georgia-Alabama Region. “Because mobility is a top priority for the consumer, we have developed an offering that provides a terrific wireless, entertainment and communications experience in one spot. Comcast’s product suite continues to deliver exceptional entertainment and communications services and the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network is the ideal complement to complete the package.”

Comcast Vice President of Marketing Kerry McKelvey said, “Together with Verizon Wireless, we’re delivering more value for more consumers by providing an entertainment and communications solution that aligns with their lifestyles. Now, Comcast customers in Georgia will have the option of building a great in-home experience through our Xfinity services, along with the reliability of Verizon Wireless’ network while on the go.”

In addition to Augusta, Savannah and Snellville, Comcast and Verizon Wireless are expanding the offer to several cities across Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee today. Verizon Wireless and Comcast have previously introduced this offering in the following markets: Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco, California; and Seattle, Washington.

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After 15 years of neglect, federal regulators are finally planning to tell phone companies selling services to schools and libraries how to comply with a rule requiring them to charge bargain prices.

Last week ProPublica revealed that the Federal Communications Commission had failed to provide guidance for the low pricing rule case since the 1997 launch of the school program, called E-Rate. Lawsuits and other legal actions in four states turned up evidence that AT&T and Verizon charged local school districts much higher rates than it gave to similar customers or more than what the program allowed.

The preferential pricing rule, called lowest corresponding price, was designed to give schools a leg up in the complicated world of voice and data pricing, and to make sure school children had access to the Internet. But despite evidence of inflated pricing, the FCC never brought an enforcement case against a service provider for violating the rule.

While the main victims of this failure are the nation’s schoolchildren who receive suboptimal broadband access, there’s another set of victims: the vast majority of people with a cellular or landline phone contract. That’s because the program provides a subsidy to schools to help them pay for the telecom services. Telephone consumers pay for this subsidy, usually through a “Universal Service Fund” charge on individual phone bills. The subsidy fund is capped at about $2.25 billion a year.

Schools and libraries draw on this fund to help pay for the services provided by the telecom companies — virtually all schools are eligible, but the poorer the school, the more it can draw. Here’s the rub: Requests for help almost always exceed the available funding. So when phone companies charge inflated rates to schools and government regulators turn a blind eye, this fund is depleted faster; fewer schools and libraries benefit; and money taken from millions of telephone customers goes to boost corporate profits instead of to help as many schoolchildren as possible.

Now, the FCC will finally teach phone companies about the preferential pricing rule. Over the next week companies that participate in the program will be attending annual training sessions in Atlanta and Los Angeles that are designed to explain the program’s rules. This year’s training sessions — unlike those in past years — will include lengthy discussions of the bargain pricing rule, according to a power point presentation posted on the website of the private company that administers the E-Rate program for the FCC, the Universal Service Administration Co.

The presentation tells companies that schools are “not obligated to ask” for the lowest corresponding price, “but must receive it!”

Asked to explain why the upcoming training sessions for providers were going to discuss the pricing rule for the first time, a spokesman for the FCC released a statement saying the new guidance was “prompted by an internal discussion last August of issues raised in the whistle-blower case.”

That case was brought in 2008 by Todd Heath, who audited school telecom bills in Wisconsin. He alleged in federal court that Wisconsin Bell, a unit of AT&T, was charging several schools far more than others for essentially the same services, thus violating the pricing rule. The company says it follows the E-Rate rules and is contesting Heath’s allegations in court. One of their defenses is the FCC’s lack of guidance about the pricing rule.

ProPublica interviewed several FCC officials responsible for E-Rate last December, in a discussion mostly about the lowest corresponding price rule. None of them mentioned the prospect of new training about the rule, even after it was pointed out that the FCC had provided phone companies virtually no guidance on the price rule for the previous decade.

by Jeff Gerth, ProPublica, May 8, 2012, 11:33 a.m.

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Thursday, April 26, the House of Representative approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) on a bipartisan vote by a margin of 248 to 168, despite the threat of a possible veto by President Obama.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act would allow the government to access web users’ private data and to pass on information to commercial companies on suspicion of cyber attacks and hacker threats, and it would allow also the companies to share their users’ information with the government and security agencies to ensure the networks’ security.

The Obama Administration strongly opposes the measure and it says the law repeals “important provisions of electronic surveillance law without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and civil liberties safeguards.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the White House has also threatened to veto the House bill.  “[CISPA] would allow broad sharing of information with governmental entities without establishing requirements for both industry and the government to minimize and protect personally identifiable information,” reads the statement. “The broad liability protection not only removes a strong incentive to improving cybersecurity, it also potentially undermines our Nation’s economic, national security, and public safety interests.”

Instead of putting private information and cybersecurity in the hands of military and intelligence agencies, the White House would prefer a Senate measure to give the “central role” to the Department of Homeland Security, which is a civilian agency.

Despite the opposition of the Administration, the bill passed with some amendments to the original that moderate its effects and limit the government’s use of threat information to specific purposes such as the protection of individuals from death or serious bodily harm investigation and the prosecution of cybersecurity crimes; protection of minors from exploitation; and the protection of national security.

Advocacy groups, CISPA opponent coalitions and lawmakers strongly condemned the passage of the bill, arguing that these amendments are not enough to assure users’ privacy protection.

“CISPA goes too far for little reason,” said ACLU legislative counsel Michelle Richardson. “Cybersecurity does not have to mean abdication of Americans’ online privacy. As we’ve seen repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security authorities, there’s no going back. We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into obscurity.”

“In an effort to foster information sharing, this bill would erode the privacy protections of every single American using the Internet. It would create a “Wild West” of information sharing,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

CISPA was introduced by Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in November 2011 and it is supported by more than 800 private companies. Among those include Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T, Intel, IBM and Verizon.

“We can’t stand by and do nothing as US companies are hemorrhaging from the cyber looting coming from nation states like China and Russia,” said Rep. Mike Rogers. “America will be a little safer and our economy better protected from foreign cyber predators with this legislation.” “There is no government surveillance, none, not any in this bill,” he argued referring to the legislation.

Over the last weeks, activist groups and organizations like Avaaz.org, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Reporters Without Borders, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, strongly criticized CISPA and launched campaigns to turn the spotlight on the internet privacy right issues tied to it.

In a video released on April 27, titled “Operation Defense. Phase II,” the famous hacker group ‘Anonymous’ called on American CISPA opponents to take the battle to the street and organize local protests at the offices of the companies that support the bill between May and June.

“Remember, you have a right to protest if you care about your freedom of speech, your right to privacy and your government censoring you. This is your time to act now. We will defend our home. Operation Defense phase two engaged. We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Supporters of CISPA, you should have expected us,” the video statement concludes.

After SOPA, CISPA is the new battle for the internet, but what will be the next? 

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Verizon employees across the globe will join millions of people in more than 128 countries and territories to support Earth Hour on Saturday (March 31). From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, millions of square feet in more than 600 company locations will go dark, helping to raise awareness of energy-efficiency opportunities.

During the event last year, Verizon in just one hour saved 45,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough energy to power approximately 10 homes for a year. Throughout all of 2011, Verizon reduced its energy usage by 2.34 percent – the equivalent of powering 20,600 homes for a year.

Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is an event in which millions of people participate by turning off their lights at businesses and homes for one hour to support action on climate change and on creating a cleaner, safer and more secure future.

During the global event, now in its sixth year, the lights will be dimmed on global icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, Buckingham Palace in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Taiwan’s 101 Financial Center in Taipei and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

In addition to darkening numerous floors in Verizon office buildings and technical sites in 40 different countries, Verizon also will dim lights and signs outside its major office sites including the Pearl Street building in Manhattan; a twin office complex in Irving, Texas; an entire campus in Basking Ridge, N.J.; and company sites in Dortmund, Germany; and Reading in the United Kingdom.

“Verizon is proud to once again demonstrate our commitment to the environment this year during Earth Hour,” said James Gowen, chief sustainability officer for Verizon. ”In 40 countries around the world our buildings will darken, and thousands of our employees will also participate from their homes. Together with our customers and suppliers, we can deepen the connection between our business interests and those of society.”

Verizon’s Sustainable Business Practices

Earlier this month, Verizon announced a partnership with VIA Motors to develop and demonstrate plug-in electric vehicles using VIA’s proprietary technology and to evaluate the technology for possible wide-scale use in Verizon’s fleet. The company also operates an extensive fleet of alternative-energy vehicles including hybrid vans and trucks, and natural gas and electric vehicles.

Last year, Verizon announced a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop innovative ways to reduce energy use in the communications industry. Verizon and NREL are now working together to identify ways to make Verizon’s networks, data centers and office buildings more energy efficient.

Verizon has been named to several lists for sustainability, corporate ethical standards and social responsibility, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Newsweek Global Green 100, Maplecroft Climate Innovation Inde, FTSE4Good Index, Ethibel Sustainability Index and Calvert Large Cap Value Fund.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/earthhour

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Verizon and Veveo Inc. announced on Thursday, March 15, that Verizon will license certain Veveo technology that can be used to enhance FiOS TV to provide new personalized search capabilities across a TV, phone or tablet. Veveo’s technology personalizes the search and discovery process by allowing customers to browse less and watch more of the programs, movies and other on-demand content that matter most to them.

As part of the agreement, Verizon entered into a nonexclusive license of certain Veveo search patents for both TV and mobile devices. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The parties will also explore expanding their partnership across various lines of business in the future.

Verizon is breaking down old technology boundaries, freeing people to enjoy the entertainment they want, when and where they want, on the devices they prefer. Verizon can leverage Veveo’s technology to discover new, relevant video content across Verizon’s FiOS TV channels, video on demand and DVR content and watch it on their TV, tablet, mobile phones and other connected devices.

“Veveo is thrilled to extend our partnership with Verizon,” said Murali Aravamudan, CEO of Veveo. ”Verizon is aggressively developing integrated video entertainment solutions, and it is a natural extension for Veveo to facilitate personalized search and discovery experiences tailored to each unique customer.

Whether it is watching television in the living room, on a tablet on the coffee table, or your phone on the go, Veveo’s solutions present personally relevant selections, and reduce the clicks and effort required to start watching something great.”

Eric J. Bruno, vice president of product management for Verizon, said: “Consumers want the largest variety of quality video entertainment available and they want to access it easily and efficiently. Video search and personalized recommendations are a developing component of the FiOS TV customer experience.

We are pleased to license Veveo’s technology and begin exploring additional ways to work together. Veveo is a leader in providing consumers with new ways to discover video content they want to see. Veveo and Verizon share a commitment to delivering a more interactive and personalized video experience – any video, anywhere, anytime, anyplace and on any device the consumer chooses.”

Veveo’s patented technology powers a variety of features, such as personalized search recommendations and the ability to rate new content based on personal relevance. Verizon’s introduction of FiOS TV brought consumers an unprecedented level of competition in the video marketplace.

Verizon continues to provide next-generation interactive services, including FlexView and FiOS TV Online. Such services, as well as an advanced video operating system and viewer guide, and free interactive applications like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, extend FiOS TV beyond the single family home or apartments and condos, to the Internet and a range of mobile devices.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortunelivemedia/

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The Obama administration announced on Thursday (Feb. 23) a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights as part of a comprehensive framework to enhance consumers’ privacy online, and to ensure that the Internet ecosystem remains innovative and a sector for economic growth.

The following statement should be attributed to Kathryn C. Brown, Verizon senior vice president for public policy development and corporate responsibility: ”Verizon commends the administration’s leadership in developing a new policy framework for consumer privacy in the Internet age.

“The online privacy policy report and consumer bill of rights that the White House released today are important first steps toward defining the right policy structure for privacy online.  While we have not yet reviewed the report in detail, we believe the structure it outlines will help consumers navigate this new world with a clear, uniform set of policies that apply to all players in the Internet ecosystem.

“We also are pleased to hear that the administration’s policy framework and process are dependent on industry involvement. The bottom-up, multi-stakeholder model the administration has endorsed to address specific privacy issues should help create a framework that is nimble enough to keep pace with the speed of innovation and changes in technology and to meet consumers’ evolving needs and preferences.

“Verizon will continue to work through multi-stakeholder processes to develop these principles into practices, and we welcome the administration’s ongoing engagement on this issue. We believe industry must step forward to develop these principles into company practices, and we are committed to providing the necessary support and leadership to make this happen.”

Verizon Communications, headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with nearly 109 million total connections nationwide.

Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 194,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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Verizon Wireless, provider of America’s largest 4G LTE network, announced on February 16, 2012 that it has launched “A Day in the Life of a History Maker” program to celebrate Black History Month. The program, a partnership with the UNCF, Teacher Planet, and Get Schooled, was developed to inspire and motivate high school students across the Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia region by highlighting some of today’s most influential African American history makers.

Students in the Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia region are encouraged to participate in the program by submitting a 500 word essay about how they plan to make history.  Entries will be accepted through March 31, 2012, at the Verizon Insider website. Five lucky winners will receive a chance to meet and spend an afternoon with Amber Riley, star of the hit TV series Glee, in New York City.

Students can also nominate their high school through February 29, 2012, to win a special visit from Ms. Riley. Voting is unlimited and the school with the most votes wins. Additionally, the actress is scheduled to star in five webisode vignettes on topics like education, empowerment, innovation, leadership and inspiration.

The vignettes will coincide with themed Lesson Plans of past and present history makers that teachers will be able to download for use in their classrooms. To further support the program, Terrence J., the star of BET’s 106 & Park, will be participating in a meet and greet on Thursday, February 23, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless retail store in Catonsville, 6220 Baltimore National Pike, Baltimore, Md.

“Verizon Wireless is proud to celebrate Black History Month 2012 through the launch of this exciting and multifaceted program,” said Mike Maiorana, president of the Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia region.  “We hope that it inspires them to become great history makers themselves.”

More than 1,000 schools are expected to participate, with more than 1.4 million students and 328,000 educators.  Verizon Wireless will also support this program on Facebook and Twitter.  Students are encouraged to visit http://www.verizoninsider.com/blackhistory for complete details on the essay contest and school voting.

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For the eighth consecutive year, the National Association of Female Executives has named Verizon Communications to the organization’s NAFE Top 50 Companies for Executive Women.  The list recognizes organizations that are committed to hiring, retaining and promoting executive women.  At the 2012 NAFE Top Companies, women executives run 23 percent of operations that generate more than $1 billion in revenue.

“With a solid leadership training curriculum, development courses, mentoring circles, executive coaching and a wealth of external initiatives, Verizon Communications has its bases covered when it comes to programs that encourage the advancement of women,” said Dr. Betty Spence, NAFE president.

Magda Yrizarry, Verizon’s chief talent and diversity officer, said, “Verizon works hard to foster a diverse and inclusive corporate culture that maximizes the talents of employees from all backgrounds.  As women continue to ascend in business, it is essential that we utilize their skills to continue providing the innovative products and services our customers expect from our company.”

Women comprise approximately 40 percent of Verizon’s global workforce and hold more than 30 percent of leadership positions, including key roles in finance, government relations, IT, network services, sales, marketing, human resources and the Verizon Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm. Women also comprise 25 percent of Verizon’s Board of Directors.

The 2012 NAFE Top Companies’ application included more than 250 questions on topics including female representation, hiring, attrition and promotion rates, access, and usage of key retention and advancement programs. The application draws particular attention to the number of women at the highest ranks and those with profit-and-loss responsibility.

To be considered, companies must have a minimum of two women on their board of directors as well as at least 500 employees in the U.S. Verizon has received numerous honors for the advancement of women and support for working mothers. Last year, for the ninth consecutive year, Verizon earned the No. 8 spot on the Latina Style 50, LATINA Style magazine’s list of the best companies for Latinas.

In addition, Working Mother magazine has recognized Verizon as a Best Company for Multicultural Women for six straight years (every year of the ranking), and for eleven years in a row as a Best Company for Working Mothers.

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The Super Bowl is no ordinary game: it’s an American holiday.  Verizon, the official wireless service provider of the NFL, is making sure Verizon Wireless customers are part of the excitement during Super Bowl XLVI with NFL Mobile. This year marks the first time the Super Bowl will be streamed live to select mobile devices, providing fans with an unprecedented viewing experience.

With NFL Mobile’s game day coverage, fans can catch all the action on their smartphones. Prior to the game, customers can use NFL Mobile to keep up-to-date with breaking news, highlights, video on demand and live NFL Network coverage.

Verizon at The Big Game
With the New York Giants and the New England Patriots ready to square off on Feb. 5, the company has enhanced its network at more than 30 venues in Indianapolis, including major hotels and all of the facilities where the game and related events will take place.

The NFL Experience, which features Verizon’s Training Ground Experience on game day, and the Super Bowl XLVI Village give visitors a chance to test their athletic skills, both mentally and physically. Fans will also get the opportunity to meet, take photos with and get autographs from professional football legends. The NFL Experience is the ultimate experience for football fans in Indianapolis.

To kick off Super Bowl XLVI weekend, Verizon will participate in the 13th annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration (SBGC) on Friday, Feb. 3, an NFL sanctioned event, where legendary NFL Pro Bowl players, Super Bowl Champions and MVPs come together on one stage with Grammy Award-winning artists, A-list entertainers and special guests.

Salvation and Deliverance Church Choir, the winner of Verizon’s 2011 “How Sweet the Sound” national choir competition, will perform during the 2012 SBGC taking place at Butler University in Indianapolis. HopeLine from Verizon will also make a donation to a local domestic violence agency to help the organization increase awareness of domestic violence and further prevention efforts.

For more information about NFL Mobile, including how to purchase the application and a list of compatible devices, visit www.verizonwireless.com/nfl. Data charges may apply for download and use of the app. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

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The cycle of domestic violence affects nearly one in four women, one in nine men, and over 3 million children across the country.  In 2011, Verizon invested more than $22 million as part of its longstanding commitment to domestic violence prevention and awareness.

Part of the money donated by Verizon in 2011 included more than $4.2 million in cash grants from HopeLinefrom Verizon to nearly 450 domestic violence prevention and awareness programs across the country.  In addition to contributions through HopeLine, the Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, awarded $10 million in grants in 2011 to nonprofit organizations that support those affected by domestic violence.

Verizon Wireless, through HopeLine, provided more than 29,000 phones with a total of 87.1 million minutes of wireless service to shelters and agencies nationwide for use by clients – enough minutes to stay connected nonstop for 165 consecutive years.

Of the 1 million phones collected, nearly 24,000 were properly disposed of using environmentally sound methods – keeping more than 59 tons of wireless phones and batteries from entering community landfills.  For the fifth consecutive year, Verizon Wireless collected more than 1 million no-longer-used wireless phones through its HopeLine from Verizon program.

“Domestic violence is a silent epidemic that affects our entire society–regardless of race, education or socioeconomic level,” said Marquett Smith, vice president of communications for Verizon Wireless.  ”To combat this serious issue, Verizon leverages its technology and resources to help victims and continue the battle against domestic violence.”

Through HopeLine, Verizon’s phone recycling program, the company collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any carrier and puts them to work in the community by turning them into support for domestic violence survivors.  Phones collected through HopeLine recycling drives are either refurbished and sold or recycled, and proceeds are donated to organizations that work against domestic violence in the form of cash grants and prepaid Verizon Wireless phones for survivors.

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FiOS TV subscribers in the Northeast woke up Tuesday morning (Jan. 10) to a new way of interacting and enjoying their TV experience. The new benefits are the result of Verizon’s continued transformation of FiOS TV viewing by bringing the next generation of its FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide to subscribers in the company’s New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island service areas.

More than 4.2 million households in these states can now take advantage of award-winning FiOS TV and the advanced IMG. Introduced in 2007, the FiOS TV IMG was the first broadband platform to pull together content from broadcast TV, the Internet and users’ own personal media into one media-management system.

It has since evolved into an in-depth, interactive TV experience, with applications for advanced/intuitive search, social networking, Internet video, personal media streaming, high-definition music, remote DVR controls, account management and billing functions, multi-screen/mobile viewing and much more.

The company used customer feedback taken in through its product development labs, field trials and online consumer forums to create many of the more than 25 new upgrades to FiOS TV’s advanced IMG that are now available to subscribers in the tri-state area. The enhancements include greater personalization and customization, easier navigation, deeper search, bigger storage options and optimization for new 3D technology.

“Customers are at the center of everything we do, and that includes how we develop our products and services,” said Susan Retta, vice president of marketing for Verizon’s Northeast area.

“FiOS TV isn’t about passive video watching – it has evolved into an entertainment and information destination. Our new generation of FiOS TV is all about simplicity of design, increased user interactivity and ease of use. It’s yet another way we want our customers to get the most out of their FiOS services.”

Highlights include:

• Improved search capabilities, which provide a smarter search function that predicts what the customer is looking for and automatically provides potential matches. FiOS TV customers also can filter and sort by channel, and more easily locate favorite programs.
• DVR enhancements, which give FiOS TV customers more control with the following:
• DVR chaptering, giving viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments, providing more visual navigation.
• Multi-hub DVR, which turns any DVR or HD set-top box in the home into a “hub,” allowing customers to record and manage DVR settings from any room in the home, provided one of the DVRs is a multi-room DVR.
• eSATA external storage device compatibility, available with most FiOS TV DVRs, allowing for increased overall storage capacity. The eSATA hard drives can be purchased at most consumer electronics stores and will automatically record customer selections once plugged into the DVR.
• New ”play all” and “delete all” options, allowing customers to play episodes back-to-back and automatically delete all episodes of a show with the push of a button.

• Personalization features, which let FiOS TV customers enjoy entertainment on their own terms, including:
• New parental control options that make monitoring children’s viewing even easier, with the ability to block out portions of programming by rating during key hours of the day, like homework time, and schedule certain times for Parental Controls to be automatically turned on and off for greater flexibility.
• Guide customization, enabling a variety of settings, with a mini guide on the bottom of the screen, a half guide on the right side of the screen, and a full guide with a look at more hours of scheduled programming.

• 3D content software, which automatically detects when a customer tunes to a 3D program or channel and instantly changes the necessary settings for watching those programs on a 3D television set.

Verizon’s FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide can be accessed with the FiOS TV remote control or by using Verizon’s FiOS Mobile application, which turns an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android device into a remote control for a FiOS HD set-top box, making parental controls, customized interactive applications and program recording options easy to access.

The next-generation FiOS TV is built upon a long series of innovations, including Flex View and FiOS TV Online, which extend FiOS TV beyond the home to the Internet and a range of mobile devices; free interactive applications including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, HSN Shop By Remote, TMZ and others;

Media Manager, which allows customers to access on their TVs personal photos, music and videos from their computers; and In-Home Agent, which frees customers to use simple online tools to diagnose and resolve a range of service issues.

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Apple has officially announced its latest iPhone and it’s not an iPhone 5. The latest upgrade to the iPhone family has been dubbed the iPhone4S. The highly anticipated announcement came on October 4^th from Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, California in front of a packed auditorium full of high level executives and members of the press.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, was the first of several Apple executives to address the eager crowd.  Cook’s portion of the presentation was a bit lackluster it focused mainly on the history of Apple since introducing the iPod 10 years ago, public reaction to the launch of Lion OS X, and the integration of iPads in educational and workplace settings.

It was a testament to how far Apple has come in such a brief time span; while truly extraordinary this was not the  story people were interested in. Cook’s presentation was oddly void of anything iPhone related, with the exception of an off the cuff hint that iPhone news would come later in the presentation.

The logical guess would be that Cook in his first keynote address as CEO would deliver news of a new iPhone. However Cook threw a curve ball and deferred to Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of worldwide product marketing, to usher in the iPhone 4S. Schiller, a regular presenter at Apple keynote addresses, very subtly broke into the new iPhone news after reeling off some updates about the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

There were several new but otherwise bland features introduced for iPhone 4S they included an 8 megapixel camera, 1080p filming capability, and inclusion of the A5 processing iPad2 chip into the iPhone. Each new feature is a technological step in the right direction, but none are close to being “blow-away”, the term used by Apple presenters several times during the presentation.

There were some more impressive upgrades as well, including a new antenna system which intelligently switches between two built-in transmitters to optimize call quality and data transfer speeds, boasting faster download and upload speeds on par with 4G, and the inclusion of CDMA and GSM chips which allows the 4S to be compatible on all networks across the globe making it a “world” phone.

Even these failed to possesses that familiar Apple wow factor that leaves you wondering how in the world did they do that. With the iPhone 4s presentation coming to a close, Apple had one last chance to blow our collective minds. The job of showstopper was left up to the highly rumored voice recognition feature, Siri.

Siri is being marketed as having your very own interactive intelligent personal assistant in the palm of your hand. Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President of iOS Software, demoed the new feature by saying, “What’s the weather like today?” and Siri spoke the current forecast in Cupertino; this garnered a huge applause from the crowd.

Even more impressive than being able to tell you the weather Siri can compose and dictate email, set timers, look up contacts, create notes, search the web, and search Wikipedia. Siri is definitely an impressive feature, but at the same time it’s not Apple jaw dropping impressive.

It’s destined to be a feature that it is cool for a while, but not one that makes scores of people camp outside of Apple stores the week before launch. The iPhone 4S will be available for pre-order on October 7^th and hit retail stores on October 14^th. It will be available in black and white, 16GB for $199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for $399. It will also be available on AT&T, Verizon, and for the first time Sprint.

This puts some validation in reports made by the Wall Street Journal that Sprint purchased 30 million iPhones over the next four years. It is interesting to note that Cook shied away from former Apple CEO’s Steve Jobs trademark “One More Thing” statement, a move that is being preemptively being dubbed the “Cook-tease”.

Who knows, maybe this keynote was one big Cook-tease for what we really want, an iPhone 5.

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The latest outrage comes from General Electric.  Joining companies like Bank of America and Verizon, G.E. did not pay any taxes for 2010, the second year in a row.  The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.  But, they did not pay a single cent.  Instead, they claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

In a statement, General Electric said that it “pays what it owes under the law and is scrupulous about its compliance with tax obligations in all jurisdictions.” The company claims that its zero-dollar tax bill is largely a result of losses at its financial arm, GE Capital, due to the Wall Street meltdown.

Low taxes are not new for the huge corporation.  They have been reducing their tax burden for years by employing former officials from the U.S. Treasury, the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.  They also lobby aggressively for tax breaks.

The top corporate tax rate in the United States is 35 percent, and Republicans often remind us that the rate is one of the highest in the world.  However, the U.S. tax code is also full of loopholes such as tax credits and subsidies so that most corporations pay for far less.

G.E. reported that its tax burden was 7.4 percent of its American profits, about a third of the average reported by other American multinationals.  And even this might be overstated.  These figures include taxes that will be paid only if G.E. brings its overseas profits back to the US.

“Two things are disconcerting. One is, there’s disproportionate amount of profits being reported offshore. And then, even for the profits that are reported onshore, they’re paying less than 35 percent,” said Martin Sullivan, a contributing editor for Tax Analysts.

Tax loopholes, along with changes in tax laws, have decreased the corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts—from 30 percent of all federal revenue in the mid 1950’s to 6.6 percent in 2009.  But, many companies still complain that the tax rate is still too high.  They claim they are not able to compete with foreign rivals.  Although, many in the federal government have been pushing for a balanced budget and spending cuts, they are also talking about lowering tax rates.  President Obama has said he is considering changing the corporate tax system, by lowering the top rate and ending some of the tax loopholes.  In the end, he feels the changes would generate the same amount of revenue.

Another concerning issue is that G.E.’s CEO– Jeffrey Immelt—has been advising the president and serves as the chairman of Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.  White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the president is “bothered” by the idea that a U.S. company could pay no taxes, but he wouldn’t talk about GE specifically. Carney was also quick to say that Immelt’s council advises the president on job growth and not on tax policy.

“It is part of the problem of the corporate tax structure that companies hire, you know, armies of tax lawyers to understand how it works and to take advantage of the various loopholes that exist, that are legal in order to reduce their tax burden,” Carney said.

While G.E. has been paying no taxes and still making profits, they have also been laying off workers and closing American factories.  Under Immelt’s leadership, the corporation has laid off 21,000 workers and closed 20 factories.  More than half of GE’s workforce is now outside the United States.

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