The death of cellphone voice plans may be on the horizon as internet calling service Skype will soon be available over iPhone cellular connections.

David Ponsford, head of Skype's iPhone team, said in a video released on Wednesday that the company was working on a calling service that will deliver "CD-quality sound" on the iPhone. Users will be able to make free Skype-to-Skype calls or use the paid SkypeOut service that lets them phone landlines and mobiles at significantly cheaper rates. SkypeOut offers unlimited calling within North America, for example, for about $40 a year.

Technology analyst Rob Enderle, of the Enderle Group in California, said the death of the voice plan is inevitable. Governments and regulators may either eventually force carriers into offering data-only plans, or competitive forces will go to work.

"Carriers are going to resist it as long as possible and that's going to drag it on," he said. "Government could say, 'this is a much better way to do things,' or a smaller carrier could use this as a shoehorn to get into the market."

Do you use services like Skype to get around pricey long distance charges? How do you avoid expensive phone bills? Share your tips and tricks.

Do you think similar services could soon replace regular voice plans? Take our poll.

Engadget, a popular consumer-technology blog, has turned off its reader comments, claiming the conversation was out of hand.

"What is normally a charged - but fun - environment for our users and editors has become mean, ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening in some situations ... and that's just not acceptable," Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky wrote in explaining the U.S.-based site operator's move. Engadget plans to turn comments back on after a period of "cooling off."

Read Topolsky's full statement.

Its decision has sparked a debate online about the merits of unfiltered comments and where to draw the line on insulting comment contributors, widely disparaged as "trolls."

Digital democracy or cyber noise: what do you think about unfiltered comments online? 

It's a blog-eat-blog world no more, according to a new study that suggests the number of teenagers and young adults who blog regularly has plummeted.

The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre indicates the proportion of people aged 12 to 29 who blog was about 14 per cent last autumn, down from 28 per cent in 2006. Meanwhile, the proportion of American internet users older than 30 who blog rose to 11 per cent from seven per cent.

Pew researchers link the decline in blogging by young people to increased use of Facebook, which favours shorter updates and posts. The survey also found that just eight per cent of teens age 12 to 17 who use the internet reported using Twitter.

Do you blog and Twitter? How do you spread information online?

The iPad was unveiled in San Francisco, Jan. 27. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)

The minute Apple's Steve Jobs announced the launch of the hotly anticipated iPad, the internet was flooded with comments decreeing the poor name choice.
 
For many, the name instantly conjures up references to feminine hygiene products, and the online buzz on sites like Twitter suggests Apple has made an epic iFail, as Coleman from London, Ont., noted in a comment posted on the CBC.
 
IPad, however, isn't alone in unfortunate product names.
 
Back in the 1980s, Ayds diet pills (pronounced "aids") were a hot commodity. The name has a different meaning nowadays.
 
More recently, Nintendo received flack in 2006 for naming its newest game console at the time the "Wii." Potty training and bathroom jokes ensued.
 
There have been others: Bum Bum is a popular ice cream bar in Germany, and there are more than a handful of drinks and food products out there with body part references to make a teenager blush.
 
So, was the iPad a poor name choice? What other products missed the boat with their monikers?
 
We want to know.

Canada's privacy commission is again investigating Facebook after receiving a new complaint from the public regarding how the website handles users' data.

The complaint addresses a tool introduced by the social-networking site in mid-December that allegedly makes users' information more readily available. New default settings, which users were asked to review at the time, have actually taken a step backward, the complaint said.

"Some Facebook users are disappointed by certain changes being made to the site -- changes that were supposed to strengthen their privacy and the protection of their personal information."

The complaint comes after Facebook agreed to boost privacy settings and give its 350 million users around the world more control of their data last August when the website was found to be in breach of Canadian privacy laws.

Facebook has been dealing with privacy concerns around the world for much of the past year. Website founder Mark Zuckerberg provoked controversy this month while speaking at a conference in San Francisco when he said strict privacy was no longer a social norm.

"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said. "That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."

Are you aware of privacy settings on Facebook? What measures do you take to protect your online identity?

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs holds the new iPad tablet computing device in San Francisco on Wednesday.(Kimberly White/Reuters)
Apple has finally launched its long-awaited portable computer, the iPad.

Chief executive Steve Jobs announced the device -- basically a supersized iPod Touch -- on Wednesday to a crowd of Apple faithful at an event in San Francisco.

The iPad is about the size of a hardcover book, half an inch thick and with a 9.7-inch multi-touch screen, similar to the iPod Touch and iPhone. The device can surf the web using its Safari browser, send emails via an on-screen QWERTY keypad, play music, videos and games, and display e-books.

He said the device has several wireless connectivity options, including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, can run all iPhone apps and boasts up to 10 hours of video battery life.

Full story


What do you think of Apple's new iPad?

Take our poll:

(This poll is not scientific. It is based on readers' votes)

People walk through the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Jan. 25. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Who will lead the task of reconstruction in Haiti? What caused the Caribbean country's political and physical vulnerability in the first place? How long and how costly will the road to recovery be?
 
News coverage from Haiti tells a story of chaos and despair in the wake of the massive earthquake that struck the impoverished country on Jan. 12.
 
Though several of the world's richest nations, including Canada, have committed themselves to helping Haiti to rebuild, the plan of action is uncertain.
 
On Thursday, Jan. 28 at noon ET we talked with three experts about Haiti's history and future.
 
Author and historian Elizabeth Abbott answered questions on how Haiti became the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and what measures need to be taken to ensure Haiti's political future is a bright one. Abbott, a former dean at the University of Toronto, has lived and worked in Haiti, and is the author of Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy and Tropical Obsession: A Universal Tragedy in Four Acts Set in Haiti.
 
Stephen Cornish, director of bilateral programs for CARE Canada, answered questions on what form future aid efforts might take.
 
We also spoke with Patrick Paultre, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Earthquake Engineering with the Department of Civil Engineering on why buildings in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in Haiti collapsed the way they did.

Replay the discussion now.