Jan 25

Verizon iPhone Gets $30 Unlimited Data for Limited Time

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, Phones, rumors, Today's Chili, verizon

Verizon has confirmed the details of its iPhone data pricing: $30 per month for unlimited data — and the offer’s only valid for a limited time.

The news comes from Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who told The Wall Street Journal that if Verizon offered only a limited data plan, it would be a roadblock for AT&T customers thinking about switching to Verizon.

“I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” McAdam told WSJ.

AT&T originally offered an unlimited data plan to iPhone customers for $30 a month, but later the company switched to a tiered pricing structure. The biggest AT&T data plan you can buy is 2 GB for $25 per month; more data will cost $10 for each extra gigabyte.

An unlimited data plan on Verizon offers an incentive for AT&T customers to defect. However, McAdams added that an iPhone unlimited plan will be a temporary offer and Verizon will eventually transition to tiered data pricing like AT&T.

While we wait for a Verizon iPhone to hit stores on Feb. 10, Bloomberg is already reporting a rumor about the next-generation iPhone. Citing a consultant who claims he has connections with Apple engineers, Bloomberg says the iPhone 5 will have near-field communication technology that can be used for over-the-air payments. Corroborating the rumor, Apple recently hired an NFC expert as a product manager for mobile commerce.

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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Jan 25

Google ‘Cloud Print’ Links iOS or Android to Any Printer

Posted in: Android, Chrome, ios, Phones, Today's Chili

Google’s Cloud Print is now live, and you can print directly from your Android or iOS device to any printer you might have lying around. Right now, you can see the new feature by going to Gmail and pressing the double-arrowed “More” button. “Print” is now an option in the resulting dropdown menu.

Unlike Apple’s AirPrint, which works over the local Wi-Fi network and currently requires an AirPrint-compatible printer (or an easy workaround), Cloud Print sends your print jobs via the internet.

You need to install the Chrome browser onto any computer with a printer, and then enable Cloud Print in the settings. This is tied to your Google account, and there’s even a page for managing your printers and print jobs.

Right now, you’ll need a Windows PC hooked up to the printer, running Google Chrome 9.0.597.1 or later. Linux and Mac support should be following soon. Currently you can print e-mails from Gmail and documents from Google Docs. You can also print from Google’s Chrome notebook computers.

This is exactly how printing should always have worked — no worrying about drivers or installations, just sign into your account and print. It’s ironic it has happened just when most of us no longer need to print anything onto paper.

I’ve been using my own version of this ever since I ditched my own printer years ago: I just email my documents to the local copy shop and pick them up on my way to the bar next door.

“Cloud printing on the go” [Google Mobile Blog]

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Jan 25

Print From iOS and Android to Any Printer with Google Cloud Print

Posted in: Android, Chrome, ios, Phones, Today's Chili

Google’s Cloud Print is now live, and you can print directly from your Android or iOS device to any printer you might have lying around. Right now, you can see the new feature by going to Gmail and pressing the double-arrowed “more” button. “Print” is now an option in the resulting drop-down menu.

Unlike Apple’s AirPrint, which works over the local Wi-Fi network and currently requires an AirPrint-compatible printer (or an easy workaround), Cloud Print sends your print jobs via the internet. You need to install the Chrome browser onto any computer with a printer, and then enable Cloud Print in the settings. This is tied to your Google account, and there’s even a page for managing your printers and print jobs.

Right now, you’ll need a Windows PC hooked up to the printer, running Google Chrome 9.0.597.1 or later. Linux and Mac support should be following soon. Currently you can print emails from Gmail and documents from Google Docs. You can also print from Google’s Chrome notebook computers.

This is exactly how printing should always have worked – no worrying about drivers or installations, just sign into your account and print. It’s ironic it has happened just when most of us no longer need to print anything onto paper. I have been using a version of this ever since I ditched my own printer years ago: I just email my documents to the local copy shop and pick them up on my way to the bar next door.

Cloud printing on the go [Google Mobile Blog]

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Jan 25

Apple Adding NFC Contact-Less Payment to iPhone 5, Consultants Guess

Posted in: Apple, ipad, iPhone, nfc, Phones, Today's Chili

The next iPad and iPhone will contain a Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip that will let you use them to make purchases, according to Bloomberg. This technology is widespread in other countries – Japan, for example – but has never taken off in the US. Putting a chip into the iPhone 5 could provide the critical mass that is needed for wireless payments to go mainstream.

It’s a nice theory, and it may well be true, but Bloomberg’s sources are not inside Apple itself. Instead, the story comes from consultants, and is pure speculation.

NFC lets you pay by touching or waving your phone near a payment terminal. You have likely used very similar RFID technology when using public transport – the Oyster Card in London is a good example. In fact, NFC is compatible with the RFID tech used in these cards, so you could use your phone to get on the bus and metro, too.

NFC in the next iPhone makes sense, despite the complete lack of evidence. Last year Apple added a front-facing camera and a gyroscope to the iPhone 4. The next iPhone needs some new gimmick to make people buy it, so why not con tactless payments? For many people, losing their iPhone is already more painful that losing their wallet, so why not toss all those eggs into one tiny, beautifully-engineered basket?

Apple Plans Service That Lets IPhone Users Pay for Purchases With Handsets [Bloomberg]

Photo: Chris Mear / Flickr

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Jan 24

Smartphone-Powered Satellites Are Destined for Space Travel

Posted in: Android, NASA, Phones, smartphone, Today's Chili

Forget the in-dash car phone. If all goes according to plan in 2011, a group of British scientists will be rocketing an Android smartphone to infinity, and beyond.

Researchers at the University of Surrey and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in England are developing an Android-powered satellite to be launched into lower-earth orbit.

Dubbed Strand-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator), the 11.8-inch satellite will take pictures of Earth on a mission to be launched later in the year. Included in its control electronics are the guts of a commercial smartphone running Android.

With Strand-1, SSTL researchers want to show off the features and capabilities of a satellite while primarily using relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf components.

“The economic implications of this are really exciting,” mission concepts engineer Shaun Kenyon told Wired.com. “If these phones stand up to the extreme environments we see in space, it’s amazing to think we could eventually leverage low-cost mobile technology to use in satellite production.”

This isn’t the first time scientists have launched phones aboard rockets. Last year, researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center experimented with sending a couple of HTC Nexus One phones 30,000 feet into the atmosphere, attaching each phone as payload in a small rocket. One phone bit the dust hard after the rocket parachute failed, but the other one walked away from its mission unscathed, capturing more than two-and-a-half hours of recorded video on its 720 x 480-pixel camera.

Cost is a big motivation for the experiment. Many of the standard features seen in current smartphones — cameras, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi accessibility — are also found on satellites. But the smartphone components are a fraction of the size, weight and cost of those used in aerospace.

“We want to see if smartphones can actually survive up there, ” Kenyon said, “and we’ll be looking at how phone-specific sensors like accelerometers perform in space-flight conditions.”

SSTL will initially launch the satellite powered by an on-board computer, which will judge how the phone’s vitals are holding up and monitor for malfunctions in the phone’s hardware. After the data on the phone’s basic functioning are collected, the computer will be turned off and the phone will be used to control different parts of the satellite.

SSTL won’t divulge the manufacturer or model of the phone, but says it is indeed powered by the Android OS.

The satellite will weigh just under 10 pounds and come equipped with miniature reaction wheels for general torque and orientation control, as well as GPS navigation and pulsed plasma thrusters for space propulsion. Kenyon estimates the cost of the phone parts used to come in at less than 300 pounds, or just under $500.

SSTL has built and launched 34 satellites since being founded in 1981. The company specializes in smaller, low-cost satellites that often cost much less than those normally associated with space travel. In the past, the company has worked on training and development programs for NASA and the European Space Agency. The smartphone satellite project is being done in conjunction with the Surrey Space Center at the University of Surrey.

SSTL hopes to launch the satellite before the end of 2011.

Photo: Component smartphone parts to be installed within satellite. Courtesy of SSTL.

Updated 4:32 PST to correct the reference to “pulsed plasma thrusters.”

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Jan 24

Microsoft Responds to Jailbreakers With Free Schwag, Not Lawsuits

Posted in: Hacks, Hacks, Mods and DIY, Microsoft, Phones, Today's Chili, windows phone 7

Hack a Sony gadget and you might get slapped with a lawsuit. Hack a Windows phone, however, and you might get a T-shirt and a free phone from Microsoft.

That’s the sort of treatment Windows Phone 7 hackers report receiving from Microsoft: warm embrace, a willingness to collaborate and free gear as if they’re part of a new team.

In recent weeks, Microsoft representatives have reportedly met with Windows Phone 7 jailbreakers to discuss how they can support “homebrew” apps — third-party software that doesn’t require the approval of Microsoft — in a way that benefits both parties.

“Microsoft is interested in further understanding the “Home Brew” developer community’s perspectives on Windows Phone and invited a few members to our Redmond campus last week for an exchange of ideas,” a Microsoft spokeswoman told Wired.com.

This friendly approach even managed to impress George Hotz, the youngster who gained fame as the first hacker to unlock the iPhone.

“Perhaps a more appropriate way to deal with jailbreakers,” Hotz wrote on his website, linking to a story about a Windows Phone 7 hacker getting a free T-shirt.

Brandon Watson, who is part of Microsoft’s developer relations team, posted a public message on Twitter offering Hotz a free phone for making apps.

Microsoft’s friendly interactions with hackers are unusual in a highly litigious technology industry. Recently, Sony asked a court to remove all traces of a PlayStation 3 hack from the internet, alleging that it violated copyright law and would eat into PS3 game sales.

Similarly, Apple in 2009 attempted to make jailbreaking the iPhone illegal. The move was unsuccessful, as the DMCA in 2010 declared hacking the iPhone lawful. Jobs once described Apple’s relationship with iPhone jailbreakers as a “cat-and-mouse game.”

Of course, the PlayStation 3 and iPhone are far more popular than Microsoft’s newest mobile operating system, which debuted in October, 2010. As of December, an estimated 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices had shipped to retailers, and there were just 4,000 apps available for the platform. Recruiting hackers could be part of a much-needed developer- and customer-outreach campaign.

Microsoft isn’t being a complete pushover, of course. The first jailbreak for Windows Phone 7, dubbed ChevronWP7, will be broken with the next Windows Phone 7 software update, according to ChevronWP7’s makers. However, that seems to be a temporary roadblock.

The ChevronWP7 team says it’s under a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft about just what will be officially supported with regard to Windows Phone 7 hacks, but that it’s “genuinely excited” about what lies ahead.

“We appreciate Microsoft’s outreach, genuine interest and involvement in this matter and we hope the community can understand we’re working towards a win-win scenario,” ChevronWP7 wrote in its blog.

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Photo: iStartedSomething


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Jan 24

Verizon Charges $50 More Than AT&T for Off-Contract iPhone 4

Posted in: Apple, att, iPhone, Phones, Today's Chili, verizon

According to Verizon’s FAQ, the new iPhone 4 will cost $50 more off-contract than it does from AT&T. While the prices of the handset is the same from both carriers if you sign up for a two-year contract, the unencumbered handset will cost $650 for the 16GB version and $750 for the 32GB model. This compares to $600 and $700 from AT&T.

The FAQ also makes the launch timings clearer. As previously announced, existing Verizon customers will be able to order the iPhone on February 3rd, and everyone else can buy it from February 10th. Verizon customers will only be able to pre-order at the earlier date, though: “beginning on February 10th, you can visit an Apple Retail store to purchase and activate.”

Everything else, from purchasing in an Apple Store to iTunes activation, is the same as with the AT&T model.

So why the extra $50? My guess is that Apple may be charging Verizon more, and it is simply passing on the cost to the customer. After all, the GSM version of the iPhone sold by AT&T is exactly the same as every other iPhone sold around the world. But right now, the only company selling the CDMA iPhone is Verizon. It could just be that the typical “economies of scale” haven’t yet kicked in.

Finally, there is a little more information on tariffs. While no pricing is revealed, the FAQ says that “iPhone customers will need to choose from any of the current Nationwide plans. Customers will also be required to activate a data package, pricing will be announced at a later date.”

iPhone 4. Verizon. It Begins [Verizon]

iPhone 4 photo: Jon Snyder / Wired.com

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Jan 21

Windows Mobile 6.1 Features

Posted in: Features, Newly Released, Phones, Software, Today's Chili, videos, Windows

This article was written on April 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

windows mobile 6.1 home screen Microsoft just released Windows Mobile 6.1 yesterday, and they’ve added some features that are actually pretty slick. The new home screen is really the focal point of the release. With it you have several “panels” that get expanded as you scroll up and down over them. A video demonstration of this (and other features) is at the end of the article.

The thing that really caught my attention, however, were the new text messaging layout and Internet browsing. It looks as though both of them have taken some cues from the iPhone. First off the text messaging looks like it would if you were instant messaging the person on your computer. It keeps all of the messages from an individual into one fluid layout so that you can easily keep up with the conversation.

Next, the browser. Microsoft has made it possible to zoom in and out of web pages so that you can get the “full view” of them. This way users get a more desktop-like browsing experience, but are still able to read the content by zooming in when necessary.

Here are some of the other features that you’ll find in Windows Mobile 6.1:

  • Simpler e-mail and Bluetooth setup
  • New Getting Started Center
  • Security enhancements
  • Easier Wi-Fi connection
  • More personal choice

And finally lets wrap things up with a nice video demonstration put together by Microsoft:

Copyright © 2011 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Jan 21

Android Phones Fuel HTC Growth; More Planned for 2011

Posted in: Android, gingerbread, honeycomb, HTC, mobile, Phones, Smartphones, Today's Chili

Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be the year of Android for electronics manufacturer HTC.

In a conference call Friday morning, the company reported a massive 93 percent increase in 2010 revenue over 2009, as first reported by PC World. 2010 sales weighed in at a respectable 24.67 million units, up 111 percent from 2009.

“The year 2010 was a breakthrough year,” CEO Peter Chou said in an earnings call Friday. “Going from a company of no scale to one of scale, that process was faster than I expected. Last year was the year that smartphones exploded.”

Android is a major force behind the company’s acceleration.

HTC expects to see $3.2 billion in revenues and 8.5 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2011. Most of that will be led by the company’s big push into smartphones running Google’s mobile operating system.

HTC plans to release a host of 4G Android phones in 2011, including the previously announced Thunderbolt, the Inspire and the Evo Shift.

Android, which became commercially available only in 2008, has grown quickly to become the fastest-growing smartphone operating system, with sales outpacing those of Apple’s iPhone by the middle of 2010. HTC was one of the first companies to embrace Android, a bet that paid off handsomely in 2009 — and appears poised to continue doing so two years later. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, much of the buzz was around Android-based tablets and high-end smartphones from manufacturers like Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG.

We may see even more Android-running HTC handsets released than those already announced, if leaked photos from PocketNow are to be believed. Multiple pictures of unlabeled HTC phones are currently circulating the blogopshere, including one that looks similar to the company’s Desire HD model. Other pictures include a large-screen HTC Oboe lookalike, a phone currently released in China.

Reports of an HTC tablet release circulated Thursday, rumored to launch some time in March. Two more HTC tablets are rumored to follow within the first half of 2011. The first tablet, reportedly named the “Flyer” by DigiTimes, is said to launch running Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread), but will be able to upgrade to the much anticipated version 3.0, or Honeycomb.

Currently the fourth biggest smartphone maker in the world, HTC has focused on manufacturing smartphones in particular — compared to that of relatively inexpensive feature phones — since being founded in 1997. Although HTC’s highly anticipated Google-branded Nexus One left a bad taste in the mouths of many customers, the company has continued to perform well. Total 2010 revenues amounted to $9.57 billion.

Photo: HTC’s forthcoming Thunderbolt smartphone.
Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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Jan 20

Google Removes Flash App From Android Market

Posted in: android market, app, flash, Google, ios, Phones, Today's Chili

Apple exerts famously tight-fisted control over what apps make it into its iTunes App Store. Now, one Android app developer has learned, Google can play that game, too.

Kongregate, a popular website featuring Adobe Flash-based games, had an app in the official Android Market for less than 24 hours before Google pulled it down.

Google removed the Kongregate Arcade app on Wednesday afternoon, citing a violation of the Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement.

Although Google didn’t elaborate, it’s likely that Kongregate violates section 4.5 of the Developer Distribution Agreement. That’s a non-compete clause which states developers “may not use the Market to distribute or make available any Product whose primary purpose is to facilitate the distribution of Products outside of the Market.”

The Kongregate app hosts Flash games created by thousands of outside developers. In other words, the app is in effect routing around the Android Market’s approval process, setting up its own distribution system for Flash-based software.

“It does seem like a pretty extreme distortion to call something that plays content in a browser to be the same thing as an application store,” Kongregate CEO Jim Greer said in a statement given to multiple news outlets.  “By this definition, we don’t see why apps like the Kindle or other music apps aren’t across the line.”

Google’s policy is reminiscent of Apple’s infamous no-Flash policy on iOS devices. Apple has stated publicly that it disallows Flash due to the platform’s proprietary nature, security issues and performance-related problems. But there’s another, unstated reason why Apple doesn’t want Flash: It’s too dangerous for a company that wants to maintain control of its products and software to let a platform like Flash become accessible to the iOS. If Flash developers were to do what Kongregate did with the Android Marketplace — code games in Flash and load them to a web page, which the Marketplace app redirects users to — Apple would lose control of the iOS platform. That could introduce security risks but would also cut into Apple’s revenue, as it would provide developers with a way to distribute software while avoiding paying the percentage that Apple takes on app sales.

Google, however, is being more straightforward with their approach. Rather than unleashing a torrent of words on us like Steve Jobs did with his no-Flash explanation, the DDA clause boils down to two hyphenated words: “Non-compete.” Don’t release apps that have the potential to take customers outside of the Android Marketplace economy.

Pointing at others who may or may not be breaking the rules, however, probably won’t help Kongregate much in this case. But the company hasn’t completely given up hope for reconciling their differences with Google.

“While Google has pulled [the app] down temporarily,” Greer told Wired.com in an email statement, “we will work with them to make the app available in their Market.”

It’s not as if Kongregate is completely exiled from all Android OS-running handsets, either. It took me only a few minutes to sideload the Kongregate Arcade app onto my smartphone by accessing Kongregate’s web site directly through my phone’s browser, although to do so I had to deactivate the safety option prohibiting users from downloading apps from unofficial Android app stores. And there’s always the option of putting the app up on alternative, unofficial Android app markets.

But being banned from the most popular market for Android apps is obviously undesirable for Kongregate. At least the company has a pretty good idea of why Google is objecting to its app.

Photo: Kongregate app/Gamestop.com

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