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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
FCC Clears Text-Alert System
The Federal Communications Commission approved a plan to create a nationwide emergency-alert system using text messages delivered to cellphones. The plan stems from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2006 law that requires upgrades to the nation's emergency alert system.
Participation in the alert system by carriers will be voluntary, but the program has received solid support from the wireless industry. The service could be in place by 2010. Alerts will be delivered with a unique audio signature or "vibration cadence."
Cellphone subscribers will be able to opt out and may not be charged for receiving alerts.
ECONOMY
Ross Takes Aim at Banks
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr., left, said he wants to acquire stakes in banks, which he predicted are the next type of financial company to fail as the credit crunch intensifies.
Ross, speaking in Manhattan, warned that a U.S. recession, which he said has begun, will be "of some duration and consequence." Ross, 70, who made his fortune turning around distressed steel and textile companies, said he plans to buy stakes in mortgage industry companies, with a focus on depositary institutions.
INTERNET
Search Engine for Blacks
IAC/InterActiveCorp is starting a new search engine for black consumers that will serve as a test for the company as it develops other demographic-based sites.
RushmoreDrive.com is designed to attract black Web surfers by tailoring search results to their interests, said Johnny Taylor Jr., president of Black Web Enterprises for IAC, based in New York. The search engine aims to draw 1 million users within a year, he said.
The site uses technology from IAC's Ask.com, basing results on preferences of users in cities with large black populations, or moving them higher in the list of search results.
