Kansas City

Social networking is becoming an increasingly popular way for banks to reach consumers amid the economic downturn.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America have begun to "tweet" -- post messages of 140 characters or less on Twitter.com -- with customers about everything from bank fees to product features. Discover Financial, American Express and Citigroup have launched Facebook or MySpace pages. Some banks even put marketing videos on YouTube.

Douglas Henry Daniels, One O’clock Jump: The Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006, 274 pp.) Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix, Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop—A History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005, xi + 274 pp.) by Todd Bryant Weeks

Earlier this week, Sprint Nextel made good on its promise to introduce a device featuring dual-mode 3G/4G capability on Clearwire's fledgling WiMAX (4G) network, which is up and running in Baltimore and slated to go on line in Portland, Ore., early next year.

"We promised the market that we would have a dual-mode device by the end of this year, and that's what we delivered," said Sprint spokesperson John Polivka.

Tapping on fake instruments and screeching into microphones connected to video game consoles has become lucrative for both the music and gaming industries. Downloadable tunes for music-based games Guitar Hero, Rock Band and SingStar have become as vital as iTunes itself -- and one of the last ways to expose youngsters to classic rock.