Hasta La Gadget!

If you get a lot of work-related email, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen the misuse of priority tags — potluck dinners are suddenly as vital as company-wide meetings. It’s with a sense of dread, then, that we learned that Microsoft has applied for a patent on prioritizing phone calls. The approach would let callers choose an urgency level that flashes alerts, sends messages and otherwise signals that a call can’t wait. It would simultaneously foil telemarketers and other cold callers by requiring a passcode or encrypted authentication. If granted, the patent could be useful for on-call workers and worried parents. That said, we won’t mind if Microsoft declines to use it; we don’t need high-priority calls to refill the office coffee pot.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft

Comments

Source: USPTO

We’ve seen US-based wireless operators offer low-cost calling to Mexico before — and frankly, creations like Google Voice and Skype have made it cheaper than ever to make a cross-border voice call — but it’s not everyday that you see an MVNO launch a dedicated calling plan to MX. That said, Boost Mobile is today introducing a $15 per month add-on that allows its users to phone up every single landline and mobile number in the country immediately south of America, assuming that it’s added on to a monthly unlimited plan.

Curiously, the offer is only designed to stand through June 6th, and the company isn’t mentioning what that sum will rise to after said date. For those who indulge, that $15 also includes limitless calling to landlines in over 45 nations (including Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Colombia), unlimited calling to Canada, unlimited international text messaging worldwide from the United States and reduced calling rates to over 200 other destinations. Of course, this is assuming you still communicate via voice, which may or may not be true at this stage.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

Comments

Source: Boost Mobile (1), (2)

Robocalling is considered a plague in the modern phone world, especially during an election year — and while you likely won’t get rid of all the pitches from political candidates anytime soon, most of the commercial calls are outright illegal. The Federal Trade Commission has devised a unique contest to help cut back on those law-breakers without having to chase down every shady debt relief offer. It’s offering a $50,000 reward for the cleverest solution to blocking the banned variety of robocalls. The only requirement is that you be an adult US resident: if you can invent a surefire remedy in your basement, the FTC wants to hear from you. Entries will be open between October 25th and January 17th, with word of a winner around April 1st. We’re hoping that the champion has a truly effective cure in use before long, because we’ll undoubtedly have reached our breaking point on robocalls by… oh, around November 6th.

[Image credit: SarahNW, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc

FTC offers $50,000 prize for stopping illegal robocalls, we could have used this a few months ago originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FTC (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Hidden among the higher-profile items at Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 launch today was a device that at first seemed familiar, but turned out to be far more than your everyday S Pen. That’s right, Samsung’s already capable stylus just got a major boost — meet the BT S Pen. The device, which received no formal introduction during its host device’s launch event, first appeared in the “press kit” bag that attendees received on the way out the door. It’s similar in size and shape to the company’s Galaxy S Pen Holder Kit, which serves as a sleeve for the standard-issue Note S Pen, but Bluetooth functionality, along with a microphone and tiny speaker, enable the lightweight plastic contraption to double as a wireless headset — sure to come in handy with the SIM slot-equipped international Note 10.1 flavor.

We caught our first hint of the pen’s functionality upon discovering a bundled AC adapter — that seemed mighty odd. The box also included an unusually beefy user manual and no fewer than five replacement “nibs” (read: stylus tips). Pairing took but a few seconds, and then we were on our way answering calls with a single tap of the talk button. There’s also a built-in vibration mechanism, which serves to alert you to incoming calls. Sound quality was solid, but speaking into a pen admittedly felt a bit odd — you may not draw as many stares as you would if speaking directly into a 10.1, but the seemingly unusual action may still turn a few heads. Otherwise, the S pen functioned as expected.

The packaging is all we have to go off of at this point — Samsung reps we spoke to didn’t know to expect the device today, so there’s no pricing or availability info to share. We do know that it’s rated for three hours of talk time and 130 hours of standby, it weighs 21 grams, offers Bluetooth 3.0 compatibility and will work with Galaxy Note devices — you could use it as a headset with other gadgets, though there wouldn’t be much appeal. It also includes a micro-USB charging cable, with the port accessible just above the shirt clip. That’s all she wrote for now — apparently this accessory was available exclusively at today’s event, and may not make its way to the US, if it’s released at all. You can see it in action now though, in our hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Samsung HM5100 Bluetooth S Pen makes a surprise debut in our Note 10.1 ‘press kit,’ we pencil in a chat (hands-on)

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablet PCs

Samsung HM5100 Bluetooth S Pen makes a surprise debut in our Note 10.1 ‘press kit,’ we pencil in a chat (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Virtually anyone who’s been a frequent smartphone user for the past few years has already suspected it, but O2 UK has provided some possible evidence in a study: calling is one of the last things we do these days. Although the number hasn’t gone down, the 12.1 minutes of time study subjects spend talking every day is just fifth-highest on the list of what they do with their smartphones. Web browsing (24.8 minutes) and social networking (17.5 minutes) dictate the largest slices of time, but the combined effect of all those apps, media playback and messaging leave voice as just 9.5 percent of the 128 minutes of daily use. The British carrier suggests the shift is more a virtue of smartphones becoming all-singing, all-dancing companions in our lives than from some disdain for human contact: about half of those asked have replaced alarm clocks and watches with their phones, while 39 percent depend on their smartphone as their main camera. There’s even 28 percent that no longer feel the need for a laptop. O2’s insights aren’t all-encompassing and don’t necessarily reflect how everyone uses their devices — they do, however, explain why we’re turning to phones that aren’t all that comfortable as phones.

O2 says calling just fifth most-used task on smartphones, suggests we call them ‘best buds’ instead originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 02:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Atlantic  |  O2 UK  | Email this | Comments