It looks like those new webConnect plans from T-Mobile are still slated to go live this Sunday, but TmoNews — which reported the original rumor — has circled back with a minor bummer: the biggest of the plans has gone up a few dollars per month. There’s no information on why the carrier has opted to suck a few more dollars out of your bank account, but the good news is that it’s not too bad — it’s just another $5 (now $84.99) or another $4 (up to $67.99) if you’re pairing it with a voice plan. Of course, both the 5GB and 10GB plans are overage-free — it’s just a question of how far you want to go before you start getting throttled.
Update: TmoNews was on the money — these prices are now live at T-Mobile.
It looks like those new webConnect plans from T-Mobile are still slated to go live this Sunday, but TmoNews — which reported the original rumor — has circled back with a minor bummer: the biggest of the plans has gone up a few dollars per month. There’s no information on why the carrier has opted to suck a few more dollars out of your bank account, but the good news is that it’s not too bad — it’s just another $5 (now $84.99) or another $4 (up to $67.99) if you’re pairing it with a voice plan. Of course, both the 5GB and 10GB plans are overage-free — it’s just a question of how far you want to go before you start getting throttled.
Majority of prospective tablet buyers plan to opt for an iPad, says a ChangeWave survey. Forrester, meanwhile, points to Amazon as the one vendor that could make a tablet to give the iPad a run for its money.
If the notion of a tiny robot swimming around in your eye leaves you a bit uneasy then, well, you might want to stop right here. For the rest of you, though, you may be interested in some new tests now being conducted by Michael Kummer and his team of researchers at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems in Zurich, Switzerland. What you’re looking at above is a pig’s eye, and the tiny black spec near the top is a microbot that’s able to roam around the eye with the aid of an electromagnetic system. While things are still obviously very early, the researchers say the microbots could eventually be used to precisely deliver drugs in humans, and treat issues like macular degeneration. Head on past the break for the video.
CNET Senior Editor Donald Bell live-blogs his full review of the Apple iPad 2, evaluating its design, features, and performance, and comparing it with other tablets.
The FCC announced on Wednesday the approval of a plan that will ramp up twenty pilot programs in fourteen states. The program — called Learning On-the-Go — will bring wireless broadband connections to students off campus. The devices will include mobile phones and laptops, enabling students to have internet connections when they’re not at school. Starting in the 2011-2012 school year, 35,000 elementary and secondary school students will be impacted in Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, California, New Mexico and Iowa. The total cost of the program is estimated to be $9 million, but it’ll certainly be paid back in all those Facebook visits during off-school hours, right? Hit up the source link for the full document (warning: it’s a PDF).
We’re keeping Japan in our collective thoughts today as the country continues to suffer from the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit this morning. Be sure to visit RedCross.org for how you can help with the relief effort.
As usual, Google is doing its part to help on the tech side with a Person Finder to help locate displaced family and friends in Japan. Google launched a similar project in February of last year amid the Chilean earthquake disaster.
It’s hard to think about anything but our friends in the East, but today also happens to be iPad 2 day, and there are already people in line for the release at 5 p.m. tonight.
And after spending almost 41 hours in line (all the way through last night’s torrents), college student Amanda Foote just sold her first-place spot in line for $900. She plans to use the money to buy Lady Gaga tickets.
This morning also marked the release of the trailer for JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi thriller “Super 8.” The Twitter-exclusive full-length trailer finally gives context to the teaser we first saw in last year’s Super Bowl ad, although we still don’t know exactly what escaped from the train crash.
In typical Bad Robot fashion, JJ Abrams and his crew add to the mystery of the film with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) alongside viral marketing that creates an entire world to discover around the film.
After an extended chat about the origin of ARGs, Jeff and I both have stories to talk about that deal with our beats–video games and printers, respectively. Jeff’s story is about the Microsoft Kinect setting a new Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling consumer electronic device in a 60-day time span.
The company sold just over 10 million units of the Kinect in four months, so it’s safe to assume that motion-controlled video games definitely won’t be going the way of plastic accessory games like Guitar Hero.
We don’t talk about printers very often, but we can’t resist mentioning a car crash out of Boston carrying a load of printer ink that made for an incredible live art piece, however unintentional.
A tractor-trailer hauling over 8,000 gallons of printer ink to a local newspaper spilled all over a highway in Peabody, Mass., with a Pollockesque aftermath; luckily nobody was injured in the crash, but we can imagine the number of penny-pinchers after the splatter rushing to siphon the liquid gold (red, blue, green, and yellow too) to save money on ink.
We’ll end this week’s collection of news with today’s Kodak Deal of the Day–you can get a Dell XPS Core i5 Dual Core 2.3GHz 17-inch Blu-ray laptop with free shipping for just $999.99, so don’t miss out on that deal if you need a new PC.
Have a great weekend, and be sure to check out RedCross.org for instructions on how you can help with the Japanese earthquake relief effort with a simple text message from your mobile phone.
Ship times for Apple’s iPad 2 are now into weeks, just hours after the device went on sale online. It’s a good sign for big sales numbers, but a bad one for those hoping to get one soon without waiting in line.
Last week we noted that thanks to a dispute between Sony and LG, sales of Sony’s PlayStation 3 console were abruptly halted in the EU. The move was part of a court -ordered halt of PS3 sales while the court weighed arguments between the two companies over the console’s ability to play Blu-Ray discs. Yesterday, Sony successfully appealed the injunction, won court costs and damages from LG over lost sales, and perhaps most importantly, PS3 consoles are back on store shelves in the EU again.
At the heart of the matter, LG claims that Sony has infringed on some of its patents (and owes LG royalties) with the Blu-Ray playback technology in the PS3. They’re confident enough in their claim that they’ve taken it to the ITC (International Trade Commission) and filed suit in civil court, asking for undisclosed damages.
This particular case is over, but it’s likely that LG will continue their legal challenges in attempt to get royalties from Sony. The only thing for sure at this point is that we haven’t heard the last of this.
Partially billed as a way to keep children from picking up their parents’ iPhones and going crazy with in-app purchases and partially billed as a way to keep less-than-ethical iOS developers from making it deceptively easy to buy a ton of in-app content without knowing you’re agreeing to spend money, Apple’s latest update to iOS forces you to enter your password to accept in-app purchases for a 15 minute window. During that window, you can make all of the in-app purchases you like in any app before you’re required to enter your password again.
This all started because some iOS developers discovered that if someone made an in-app purchase within 15 minutes of installing an app on their iOS device, they didn’t have to enter their iTunes password again and they were automatically charged for it. Some people (specifically children) went wild with it, and were ever so slightly encouraged by apps that encouraged in-app purchases immediately after install. All of this led to massive credit card bills, and angry complaints to Apple that the users in question never explicitly authorized the charges.
Apple’s fix is to put the 15-minute password window in place to allow you to make purchases without having to enter your password every single time, but once the window is up, you’ll have to explicitly open the door to in-app purchases again.
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