Because our communications policies are still mired in 20th century regulations tied to 19th century ideas concerning regulation of the new railroads, they are in dire need of a deregulatory overhaul. After all, even the railroads were deregulated a quarter century ago.

BBC Worldwide said certain programming, including Life On Mars, Little Britain and Spooks, would be available in Britain for purchase and download from the iTunes store for 1.89 pounds ($3.69) per episode, in the first such deal for Apple with a U.K. broadcaster.

U.S. scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity, making enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power. If made into a shirt, the fabric could harness power from its wearer simply from the movement of walking around or even from a slight breeze, they reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from the physical movement," Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who led the study, said in a statement.

Online retailer Play.com is to launch a new UK download store called PlayDigital, offering music from EMI and independent labels as MP3 tracks which could be played on all digital devices including iPods. The music industry had relied on digital rights management (DRM) as the cornerstone in its fight against illegal downloading but the labels are now offering tracks without the restrictive protection in an effort to increase digital sales.

Apple debuted a new iPod touch ad this evening during “American Idol” on Fox. The ad shows ten iPod touches displaying various features, laid out on a wooden table similar to those found in Apple’s retail stores. During the commercial, some of the units are shown close-up to highlight the features further; towards the end of the ad, hands reach out and grab the touches off the table as the words “Everybody Touch” are displayed. Features highlighted include the Safari browser, the Weather application, email, Notes, the photo browser, Cover Flow, Maps, and video playback. Brendan Benson’s song “What I’m Looking For” is featured in the spot and the track information is also briefly shown on screen. You can now view the ad on Apple’s web site.

Apple has sent out notices to select media outlets inviting them to a special “iPhone Software Roadmap” event to be held on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, CA on March 6. The invitation reads: “Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.” The graphic in the email features a map, with signs labeled “Enterprise,” “SDK” and “Software Update.” It is unclear whether the SDK will be released at the event, and what enterprise announcements the company might have planned, although an Apple job posting from late last year did suggest that the company was working on support for Microsoft Exchange email on the iPhone.

Abilene Christian University has announced plans to supply all incoming freshman with an iPhone or iPod touch as part of an initiative to enhance learning through the use of technology. According to ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts, freshmen will use the devices to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed. The plan has gained attention from Apple and Ivy League universities - Roberts recently gave a presentation at Apple headquarters to company executives and selected leaders from universities including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Oxford, Princeton, and UCLA outlining ACU's "creative vision for converged media devices."

Our most recent iLounge poll, "Which current model iPod do you personally use the most?," has just ended. With over 4,200 votes cast, the results were surprising: while a plurality of responding readers (26%) said that they use a non-current iPod, mini, nano or shuffle the most, the 2007 iPod classic came in second with 23% of the vote, followed by the iPod touch (21%), iPhone (16%), and video iPod nano (10%). Interestingly, only 2% of voters picked the current iPod shuffle-the same number who said they read the site but didn't use an iPod at all. From what we gather, the higher-capacity the Apple device, the more popular it is with our readers.

Designed to appeal to iPod, PDA, and cell phone owners without access to portable chargers, Smarte Carte's Charge Cartes are now appearing in airports across the United States. Equipped with three white iPod Dock Connector cables and nine additional blue cables that have popular cell phone and PDA plugs at their ends, a Charge Carte offers 30 minutes of rapid recharging time for $3, enabling you to connect your iPod and charge up to half of its battery capacity. An LED countdown timer lets you know how many minutes of power remain.

Apple has released software version 1.1.4 for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to Apple, the update “includes bug fixes and supersedes all previous versions.” It is currently unclear whether any new features have been added with the update; however, with Apple scheduled to release the iPhone and iPod touch software development kit (SDK) this week, it is possible that this update could be a precursor to that release. iPhone and iPod touch software version 1.1.4 is available now through the update feature in iTunes.