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<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge) Visitors to AT&T Wireless stores will be able to review features of a mobile device by simply placing it on Microsoft Surface, which will recognize the device and provide a graphical overview of its capabilities.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Microsoft to Yahoo: Resistance is futile 4/6/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, April 6, 2008 Technology notebook VeriSign again hiking fees for domain names Fees for using two of the most common suffixes for Internet addresses are going up for a second consecutive year. VeriSign Inc., the firm that keeps the master list of domain names ending in ".com" and ".net," said that effective Oct. 1, the annual fee for ".com" names will go up 7 percent to $6.86 and the ".net" fee will increase 10 percent to $4.23. The fees are what VeriSign charges companies that sell domain names on its behalf, and those charges are generally incorporated into the prices that companies, groups and individuals ultimately pay to register names. VeriSign could make up to $37 million a year from the increase, with some 75 million ".com" names and 11 million ".net" names in use. The price hike, however, applies only at renewal and to new registrations, and many resellers offer discounts on multiyear deals. Hot air put to good use: A new computer center in Switzerland is making novel use of the hot air thrown off by its servers and communications equipment: The heat is being funneled next door to warm the local swimming pool. When computing companies talk about "greening" their energy-guzzling data centers, that usually means powering the centers with renewable sources or using more efficient servers. In a few cases, the heat produced by the computers is used to warm nearby offices. In what appears to be a first, the town pool in Uitikon, Switzerland, outside Zurich, will be the beneficiary of the waste heat from a data center recently built by IBM Corp. for GIB-Services AG. As in all data centers, air conditioners will blast the computers with chilly air -- to keep the machines from exceeding their optimum temperature of around 70 degrees -- and pump hot air out. Usually, the hot air is vented outdoors and wasted. AT&T wireless stores will feature Microsoft's touch-screen tables: Microsoft Surface, the software maker's coffee-table shaped touch-screen computer, will make its debut as a marketing tool in a handful of AT&T Inc.'s wireless stores April 17. The Surfaces -- 22 in all -- are programmed to recognize eight of AT&T's wireless phones. When a customer places one or more phones on the table, information about features pops up. Shoppers can also zoom around AT&T's coverage map and learn about calling plans by moving their hands across the screen. The machines are intended to help salespeople, not replace them, AT&T said. Microsoft Corp. unveiled Surface last May, and said the Windows Vista-based machines would first appear in T-Mobile USA stores and properties owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. Those partners planned to have Surface running by November, but later delayed the launch by several months. Mark Bolger, senior director of marketing for Surface, said those companies are working on software appropriate for their own brands and locations. He said all three plan on deploying Surface this spring. But AT&T got there first, with creative help from Avenue A/Razorfish, a design studio Microsoft acquired when it bought aQuantive last year. A new high-tech speed-trap alert: In a modern equivalent of flashing your headlights to warn other motorists of police speed traps, you can now warn fellow drivers with a cell phone or personal digital assistant about speed traps, red-light cameras and other threats to ticket-free driving. And as you approach a known threat, you'll get an audio alert on your mobile device. The developer of Trapster, Pete Tenereillo, said the system, which requires punching in a few keys such as "pound-1" to submit information to Trapster's database, should comply with laws banning talking on cell phones. Tenereillo insisted he isn't encouraging motorists to break the law or drive dangerously, saying drivers who speed are bound to do so anyway. And he said police officials he's talked to haven't complained about the service because it inevitably encourages drivers to slow down. (The International Association of Chiefs of Police did not respond to requests for comment.) Where to get some evidence: In the mood to buy a conversation piece? Say, an ancient Tibetan bead? An autographed comic book? Maybe a set of police vehicle lights? At www.propertyroom.com -- where unclaimed items from more than 1,000 police departments are auctioned with most bids starting at $1 -- jewelry, artwork, vehicles and electronics are just a few categories. PropertyRoom.Com of Mission Viejo, Calif., provides an alternative to typical police auctions, held when departments clean out evidence rooms: It will pick up property, refurbish it as needed, auction it and deliver it to the successful buyer. Founded in 1999 by former police officers, the Web site's first auction was held in January 2001 when it sold a camera for $20. It had contracts with at least 700 law enforcement agencies by 2006 and has more than 1,000 today. From Herald news services

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