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Jaduka, a communications company that effectively creates an API for telephone-based services, has a launched a new conference call service called dukaUS that’s easy to use and totally free.

To initiate a call, you need to create an account (name, Email address, and phone number, but no billing information). After entering up to six phone numbers, the site will automatically dial each number and connect them over the service’s land-based phone system. After the call starts you can add more callers (up to the limit of six total participants) through the site’s web page.

Unsurprisingly, there are a few restrictions to the free service: all numbers involved must be in the United States or Canada, and you’re allotted a total of 30 minutes per day for group calls. The system also has a few quirks. In our test call with three people, there was a noticeable lag - nothing that would make a conversation unintelligible, but definitely enough to get annoying. The system also doesn’t seem to recognize if one of the members of the call gets disconnected, and there’s no ‘re-connect’ button - you’ll need to re-add dropped participants as another member of the call.

Still, for a free service that takes relatively little effort to set up, dukaUS delivers. And while it may not be suitable for lengthy business calls that are typically done over call bridges, it’s more than adequate for more casual group meetings.

Offering free conference calls isn’t a new idea, but it’s also one that never seemed like a viable business. We’ve seen similar services from startups like Gaboogie (which eventually shifted focus) and Foonz, which is still around but will likely have a hard time generating revenue. But dukaUS isn’t out to make money - it’s a product developed by Jaduka Labs to showcase the site’s technology and raise brand awareness, so it won’t be struggling to find a way to turn its complimentary service into a business.

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Fallout 3 is about to hit Japan’s store shelves and news has emerged claiming that the developers, Bethesda Softworks, have made changes to the game to more comfortably appeal to the Japanese market. You can probably guess from here what changes have been made, but just in case your a little rusty on your history, I’ll tell you.

Pretty much any reference to an atomic bomb in the game has been altered in some way. This includes the side-quest known as The Power of the Atom, which has you either disarming or detonating an atom bomb in one of the starting cities. The option of detonating the nuclear bomb has been removed altogether, along with the NPC named Mr. Burke who gives you the evil side of the quest. Even the mini-nuke launcher called the “Fat Man,” will be seeing some change. Hardcore Japanese gamers are already showing their disappointment and the game isn’t even out until December. So much for being discrete about it.

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London based uberVU is about to launch a discussion-tracking product that will aggregate comments, Twitters, FriendFeed comments, trackbacks and other information about any URL (like a blog post) on the Internet.

There’s real demand for this. Any given blog post, for example, may have lots of comments and trackbacks (links from other blogs discussing the post). But the conversation can soon splinter off as side discussions spring up on Twitter, FriendFeed, or other blogs. uberVU aggregates all that discussion (even trackbacks on trackbacks, for example), and presents it via a threaded interface both on its site and via an API. The company is also creating plugins for various blogging platforms, allowing users to easily pull the conversation back to the original posts.

This is an area that startups have experimented with for years, either aggregating by user or by URL. CoComment was an early attempt at aggregating unique user comments across sites (Disqus, SezWho, JS-Kit, Intense Debate and BackType are more recent examples). Less has been done on aggregating discussions around a specific story or URL, but FriendFeed’s API allows publishers to pull in specific FriendFeed comments on a story, and Quotably has tried to aggregate Twitter discussions (it is now deadpooled).

uberVU is distinctly different from anything that’s come before, however, and may go a long way towards organizing the discussion mess we’re in now. It’s in private beta now, but you can sign up on their home page to get an invitation.

UberVu is a Seedcamp startup.

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London based uberVU is about to launch a discussion-tracking product that will aggregate comments, Twitters, FriendFeed comments, trackbacks and other information about any URL (like a blog post) on the Internet.

There’s real demand for this. Any given blog post, for example, may have lots of comments and trackbacks (links from other blogs discussing the post). But the conversation can soon splinter off as side discussions spring up on Twitter, FriendFeed, or other blogs. uberVU aggregates all that discussion (even trackbacks on trackbacks, for example), and presents it via a threaded interface both on its site and via an API. The company is also creating plugins for various blogging platforms, allowing users to easily pull the conversation back to the original posts.

This is an area that startups have experimented with for years, either aggregating by user or by URL. CoComment was an early attempt at aggregating unique user comments across sites (Disqus, SezWho, JS-Kit, Intense Debate and BackType are more recent examples). Less has been done on aggregating discussions around a specific story or URL, but FriendFeed’s API allows publishers to pull in specific FriendFeed comments on a story, and Quotably has tried to aggregate Twitter discussions (it is now deadpooled).

uberVU is distinctly different from anything that’s come before, however, and may go a long way towards organizing the discussion mess we’re in now. It’s in private beta now, but you can sign up on their home page to get an invitation.

UberVu is a Seedcamp startup.

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The UN food agency says it has cut rations to four million people in Zimbabwe because its appeal for funds has been ignored.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Once again, the government has offered another plan to help troubled homeowners. Once again, critics say it doesn’t go far enough. The plan announced Tuesday by federal officials and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sounds sweeping in its approach: Borrowers would get reduced interest rates or longer loan terms to make their payments more affordable….

AP - Once again, the government has offered another plan to help troubled homeowners. Once again, critics say it doesn’t go far enough. The plan announced Tuesday by federal officials and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sounds sweeping in its approach: Borrowers would get reduced interest rates or longer loan terms to make their payments more affordable.

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