Good news for iPhone users and business travelers. In January 2010, McDonald’s will start offering free Wi-Fi service in 11,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Joining chains like Starbucks, Borders and Barnes and Nobles in removing all charges for access, no purchase will be required. The McDonald’s network, run by AT&T for the last 5 years, will be one of the biggest free Wi-Fi networks in the world. Any restaurants or cafes still trying to charge customers to check email and surf the net on smartphones, netbooks and laptops via Wi-Fi will have a hard time of it.Read more

Higher energy bills are pushing IT departments to adopt more energy efficient technologies, and the downturn in the economy has become one of the key drivers for the adoption of green data centers, according to a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan. Green data center technologies include virtualization, cloud computing, and innovative power management techniques, all of which can considerably reduce energy consumption of a data center.Read more

The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope will be built on top of Haleakala on Maui, Hawaii, the National Science Foundation announced last week. The 143 foot tall, 13 foor diameter telescope will be the largest optical solar telescope in the world when completed. The site, the University of Hawaii's Science City, an 18-acre grouping of observatories close to Haleakala’s summit, lies within Haleakala National Park; the construction of another observatory in addition to the existing installations, has been opposed by environmentalists, and still needs to pass a vote by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources before it can begin.Read more

Chi Mei Optoelectronics, a Taiwanese producer of thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) has pleaded guilty to price fixing conspiracy and agreed to pay $220 million in fines. According to a felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Chi Mei Optoelectronics participated in a conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels sold globally from Sept. 14, 2001, to Dec. 1, 2006. Chi Mei also agreed to cooperate with the department's ongoing antitrust investigation.Read more

A number of book publishers are beginning to adopt the sales model of the movie industry, where DVD releases are delayed until months after theatrical release. The equivalent of the theatrical release in the book world is the hardcover launch. Some publishers are noting that releasing e-books simultaneously with hardcovers of best sellers has led to canibalization of hardcover sales, with the digital releases, which sell for much less, yielding less profit margin.

Yesterday, Simon & Schuster announced that digital editions of around 30 works to be published in the first half of 2010 will not be sold until four months after the hardcover. Books affected by the move include novels by Don DeLillo and Mary Higgins Clark and Karl Rove’s memoir.Read more

Boxee, the open source on-demand content software, currently in beta release, has unveiled their first hardware device. Made by partner D-Link, the $200 Boxee Box will be available by 2010 Q2. The device is a cube-shaped set-top with built-in Wi-Fi that connects to TV sets through optical, RCA, or HDMI cable, to enable 1080p display of content from the Internet and home networks. SD slots and USB ports let users attach Web cams, external storage and other input devices.Read more