By Robin Caldwell, BlackWeb20.com

BlackBerry users will soon have a new way to listen to music. Verizon Wireless is introducing BlackBerry Storm users to Slacker Radio. Owners of the BlackBerry Storm will be able to listen to music based on the genre and artists they select. Moreover, Slacker Radio will enable them to cache music to listen to even without data connectivity.

There will be a free version that includes audible advertising, while the paid subscription version is ad-free. Paid subscribers will also have access to other features. Users will be able to purchase (without wireless) Slacker Radio Plus that provides songs from Verizon’s V Cast Music catalog, which is tapped into the Rhapsody catalog. Read the rest of this entry »

 Some nosy Verizon employees improperly accessed and pawed through Barack Obama’s personal cell-phone account. Imagine the information contained in those records – possibly the numbers of family members and/or potential Cabinet secretaries.  The company announced on Friday that the account viewed was an inactive account, but an unspecified number of employees were immediately suspended and “appropriate disciplinary action” was taken. “We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day,” Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said in a press release.  An Obama aide told Reuters that “no voice or e-mails were listened to or read, on the old cell phone which Obama no longer uses.” The president-elect already had his passport files snooped into by federal contractors, while an Ohio agency director was suspended Thursday for allowing state employees to search databases for information on Joe the Plumber, the Ohioan who became famous after confronting Obama about his tax policies.

Many Blacks said that the blog was extremely racist
The negative hype surrounding the “TechNigga” video blog was too much for Verizon, which decided Tuesday to axe the racially offensive offering, HipHopDX reports. “Verizon heard the complaints of the groups and fortunately for all involved sided with those who feel that 1938 Media – along with its founder Loren Feldman, who is the star of TechNigga – ‘promotes racism,’” reported EUR Web, which wrote about the backlash from activists earlier this week. In a statement, Verizon Wireless said that “clips from 1938 media were moved off our service this morning.” Leading the protest were Najee Ali and Paul Porter, who argued that the Feldman’s 2007 video was racist. Feldman is White. HipHopDX said that initial reports that Verizon had financed the video were false. But Verizon did have the power to ensure that all of 1938 Media videos were no longer available to its users. Should Verizon have discontinued distributing the video?

Verizon should be ashamed of “TechNigga” blog, critics say
Some people aren’t too happy with Verizon Wireless who has given a distribution deal to White guy who’s running a video blog called “TechNigga,” EUR reports. Loren Feldman, of 1938 Media, has drawn the ire of such critics as Najee Ali, of Project Islamic Hope, and Paul Porter, of Industry Ears, among other activists. They want Lowell C. McAdam, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless, to stop giving Feldman a forum for what they say is blatant racism. “Feldman has a history of using the internet to promote racism and demeaning and negative racial stereotypes against African Americans on his internet site. He is responsible for and appears in what he calls ‘TechNigga,’” Ali told EUR in a statement. “Verizon CEO Lowell C. McAdam needs to demonstrate that Verizon understands they should demonstrate corporate responsibility and will not tolerate racism, or bigotry. The Verizon distribution deal with Feldman sends a horrible message that Verizon seeks to partner with racists like Feldman and that Verizon and CEO McAdam find nothing offensive with ‘TechNigga.’ Our community nationwide should.” Ali is urging everyone to call Lowell C. McAdam and let him know that you will boycott Verizon unless this distribution with Feldman is severed. There are plans for an upcoming national day of protest against Verizon stores nationwide if our calls for a meeting and our demands are not met.”

New York man is charged with a hate crime

Buffalo, N.Y., Police say that the thought of Whites and Hispanics living in the same household was too much for 40-year-old Donald Napierala to take, so he took a seven-foot cross, wrapped it in gasoline-soaked rags and lit it on their front lawn. The fire caused about $250 in damage, but it could have been worse, says Officer James T. Reese and Fire Marshals Edwin Ortiz and Harold Emerson, noting that his actions could very well have killed the four people who slept inside during his 1:30 a.m. escapade. His charges include arson, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief. He is also charged with perpetrating a hate crime.