The offending Tweet said the following:

Use VoIP, like @skype, to avoid excess international charges on your cell phone bill. #FCCworldtravel

What’s gotten some people offended is that a government agency is recommending a private business to citizens. Secondly, even though Skype is owned by American company eBay, it’s still based in Luxembourg and founded by some Swedes. Some are offended that the FCC was endorsing a non-American company.

The FCC just keeps making these ‘mistakes’ though. In the blog post linked from another Tweet, the FCC also recommends fring (an Israeli company) and Truphone (an English company). As there are a number of American VoIP companies (Vonage is one), they must be upset that they didn’t get a shout-out from the FCC.

While some are upset regarding the FCC’s business practices, others just feel the FCC is looking out for American consumers. And, Skype IS a good way to get cheap overseas calls, by the way.

What say you? Did the FCC overstep its bounds by endorsing non-American companies to American citizens? Do you care?

[See original posting for applicable credits]

HOT NEWS: Motorola Droid X Officially Launched: See TFTS’s Full Motorola Droid X Launch Coverage Here.

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2. Verizon & Skype Announce Unlimited VoIP Calling at MWC 2010 [Verizon & Skype Team Up for Unlimited VoiP Calls Over 3G Starting with March 2010]
3. AT&T Allows iPhone VoIP Calls Over 3G [Restrictions for iPhone 3G VoIP Calls Waved, Here Come Skype and VoIP Apps]
4. 3 Mobile Skype Enabled Cell Phone – Hands on Review of 3’s VOIP Mobile Phone Featuring, Eventually
5. Skype 2.0 For iPhone: Skype-To-Skype 3G Calling Will Remain Free Until 2011 [Skype Still Plans To Charge iPhone Users For Skype-To-Skype 3G Calling, But Not Until 2010 Is Over]

Not reading this in a feedreader? If so this has been taken from the original post as seen here: Skype 2.0 For iPhone: Skype-To-Skype 3G Calling Will Remain Free Until 2011 [Skype Still Plans To Charge iPhone Users For Skype-To-Skype 3G Calling, But Not Until 2010 Is Over].

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Could First Else, the upcoming smartphone from Israeli company Emblaze Mobile, be vaporware? Very little is known of the actual final product (carriers, price and exact specifications are all unknowns), which means that what we see now could be very different from what we’ll eventually see in stores (if it ever makes it that far).

But, being the geeks that we are, we just can’t ignore the sheer beauty of First Else’s futuristic UI that was unveiled at an event in London.

The device sports a TI OMAP 3430 processor, a 854×480 pixel, 3.5-inch capacitive LCD touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, and a 1450mAh battery, while the operating system is Access Linux Platform, which was announced back in 2006. but has never appeared on any actual device on the market.

All that aside, what impressed us is the fluid, innovative interface of First Else; we’re not sure how well it’ll work in real life usage, but it definitely looks impressive, especially since you can mostly control it with a single finger. See a detailed demonstration in the video below.

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