ITALY: Cell Phone Ad Riles Catholics

Some Italians Catholics are incensed over the below 10-second cell phone ad in which a man resembling Jesus asks "Dad" for help in escaping a dominatrix.

"It's a sordid concept and incredibly insulting to those who believe in Jesus Christ," said an editorial in Avvenire, a daily newspaper owned by the Catholic Bishops Conference. The newspaper's editor, Marco Tarquinio, said the commercial should never have been made. He suggested that Catholics offended by the ad should stop watching the channel and boycott the company's products. An association of Catholic television viewers, Aiart, made a formal protest over the commercial. "The reference to Christ is explicit and deeply offensive to religious sentiment," it said in a statement.

George Takei has A Ringtone

Listen here.

AT&T To Buy T-Mobile

AT&T is buying the U.S. division of T-Mobile in a $39B deal that will create the nation's largest cell phone company.

If completed, the deal would allow AT&T, now the second- largest U.S. wireless operator, to add 34 million customers and surpass Verizon Wireless as the largest in the country. The acquisition, the largest in the wireless industry since 2004, may face regulatory scrutiny because it combines the second- and fourth-largest wireless providers. “This is a very surprising deal,” Jonathan Atkin, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in an interview. “AT&T is certainly buying scale. AT&T can integrate T-Mobile from an operations standpoint fairly easily because they use the same technology.”

The deal is expected to finalize within a year.

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One Charger For All

Under pressure from the EU, cell phone manufacturers in Europe have agreed to adopt a universal charger that works on all phones. This ad is their creepy way of spreading the news.

NEW YORK: Lawmaker Wants To Ban Electronic Devices While Walking

New York state Sen. Carl Kruger wants to make it illegal to use any electronic device while crossing the street.

Violators would be required to appear in court, and revenue from the $100 fines would go to a fund to educate people on the dangers of device distractions, the senator said. “This is not a nuisance offense,” Kruger said. “People are dying.” Kruger re-introduced the bill after a Manhattan man, who reportedly was using an iPod, was killed by a truck as it backed into an Upper East Side crosswalk last month. “If we were acting responsibly, then government would not have to interfere,” he said.

UNRELATED: Gay activists last year picketed a Kruger fundraiser, claiming that the Brooklyn Democrat was a closet case who voted against same-sex marriage in order to hide his sexuality.

Today In Frivolous Lawsuits

That woman who fell into a mall fountain because she was texting and not watching where she was going? She's suing the mall for not rushing to help her.

Unicorns Are Real

The release of long-believed to be mythical Verizon iPhone was announced today.