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AT&T loses $850 lawsuit over "unlimited" data

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:46:00 +0000

When AT&T started slowing down the data service for his iPhone, Matt Spaccarelli, an unemployed truck driver and student, took the country's largest telecommunications company to small claims court. And won.

His award: $850.

Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley on Friday, saying it wasn't fair for the company to purposely slow down his iPhone, when it had sold him an "unlimited data" plan.

Spaccarelli could have many imitators. AT&T has some 17 million customers with "unlimited data" plans who can be subject to throttling. That's nearly half of its smartphone users. AT&T forbids them from consolidating their claims into a class action or taking them to a jury trial. That leaves small claims actions and arbitration.

Late last year, AT&T started slowing down data service for the top 5 percent of its smartphone subscribers with "unlimited" plans. It had warned that it would start doing so, but many subscribers have been surprised by how little data use it takes for throttling to kick in — often less than AT&T provides to those on limited or "tiered" plans.

Spaccarelli said his phone is being throttled after he's used 1.5 gigabytes to 2 gigabytes of data within a new billing cycle. Meanwhile, AT&T provides 3 gigabytes of data to subscribers on a tiered plan that costs the same — $30 per month.

AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said the company is evaluating whether to appeal.

"At the end of the day, our contract governs our relationship with our customers," he said.

Companies with as many potentially aggrieved customers as AT&T usually brace themselves for a class-action lawsuit. But last year, the Supreme Court upheld a clause in the Dallas-based company's subscriber contract that prohibits customers from taking their complaints to class actions or jury trials.

Apple's China legal battle over iPad spreads to U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:13:00 +0000

A Chinese firm trying to stop Apple Inc from using the iPad name in China has launched an attack on the consumer electronics giant's home turf, filing a lawsuit in California that accuses it of employing deception when it bought the trademark.

A unit of Proview International Holdings Ltd, a major computer monitor maker that fell on hard times during the global financial crisis, is already suing Apple in multiple Chinese jurisdictions and requesting that sales of iPads be suspended across the country.

Last week, Proview Electronics Co Ltd and Proview Technology Co filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County that brings their legal dispute to Silicon Valley.

Some legal experts said there could be different outcomes from the U.S. and Chinese cases, but a spreading of the lawsuit and delay in coming to settlement terms could hurt Apple more.
"In relation to the U.S., Apple is going to somewhat have a homeground advantage," said Elliot Papageorgiou, a Shanghai-based partner and executive at law firm Rouse Legal (China).

At stake for Apple is its sales and shipments in China, where its CEO Tim Cook said it was merely scratching the surface. Debt-laden Proview International, meanwhile, needs to come up with a viable rescue plan before mid-2012 or else it faces delisting from the Hong Kong stock exchange.

"Given the current timeline, Apple would have the greater impetus to come to settlement simply because the ability to disrupt shipments is more immediate than the pressure faced by Proview and its potential delisting," said Papageorgiou.

Proview accuses Apple of creating a special purpose entity -- IP Application Development Ltd, or IPAD -- to buy the iPad name from it, concealing Apple's role in the matter.

In its filing, Proview alleged lawyers for IPAD repeatedly said it would not be competing with the Chinese firm, and refused to say why they needed the trademark.

Those representations were made "with the intent to defraud and induce the plaintiffs to enter into the agreement," Proview said in the filing dated February 17, requesting an unspecified amount of damages.

Apple on Friday reiterated its statement saying that it had bought Proview's worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. It also said that Proview had refused to honor their agreement and a Hong Kong court had sided with the U.S. technology giant in the matter.

"Our case is still pending in mainland China," Apple said.

DISPUTE HINGES ON 2009 DEAL

The battle between a little-known Asian company and the world's most valuable technology corporation dates back to a disagreement over precisely what was covered in a deal for the transfer of the iPad trademark to Apple in 2009.

Authorities in several Chinese cities, such as Shijiazhuang and Huizhou, have already banned the sale of iPads, citing the legal dispute.

Proview, which maintains it holds the iPad trademark in China, has been suing Apple in various jurisdictions in the country for trademark infringement, while also using the courts to get retailers in some smaller cities to stop selling the tablet PCs.

Major electronics retailer Suning has resumed selling iPads online this week in China after it stopped sales last week due to a supply shortage, rather than because of the lawsuit, company executives said.

China is becoming an increasingly pivotal market for Apple, which sold more than 15 million iPads worldwide in the last quarter alone and is trying to expand its business in the world's No. 2 economy to sustain its rip-roaring pace of growth.

It now has a 76 percent market share in China's tablet PC sector, followed by Lenovo Group Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd that have a combined share of only 10 percent, data from research firm IDC showed.

The country is also where the majority of its iPhones and iPads are now assembled, in partnership with Taiwan's Foxconn.

A Shanghai court this week threw out Proview's request to halt iPad sales in the city. But the outcome of the broader dispute hinges on a higher court in Guangdong, which earlier ruled in Proview's favor.

The next hearing in that case is set for February 29. Proview lawyers said there might not be a decision immediately and it could take weeks or months before there was an outcome.
"It is more appropriate for both parties to mediate. I think that is the best outcome," David Chen, senior partner at Allbright Law Offices in Shanghai.

China's trademark system is a minefield of murky rules and opportunistic "trademark squatters" that even the world's biggest companies and their highly-paid lawyers find hard to navigate.

Legal experts say the onus is on companies looking to do business in China to understand how China's trademark law works, as it differs greatly from that of the United States.
Industry executives have said employing special-purpose entities to acquire trademarks is a frequent tactic in China.

(Additional reporting by Artemisia Ng from Asian Legal Business in HONG KONG; Editing by Alex Richardson)

How to remove your Google Web History

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:14:00 +0000

March 1 is the day Google's new unified privacy policy goes into effect, which means your Google Web History will be shared among all of the Google products you use.

Do you know if Google is tracking your Web activity? If you have a Google account (for, say, Gmail) and have not specifically located and paused the Web History setting, then the search giant is keeping track of your searches and the sites you visited. This data has been separated from other Google products, but on March 1 it will be shared across all of the Google products you use when Google's new privacy policy goes into effect.

If you'd like to prevent Google from combining this potentially sensitive data with the information it has collected from your YouTube, Google+, and other Google accounts, you can remove your Web History and stop it from being recorded moving forward.

You can remove all of your Web History with the press of a button.

(Credit: Matt Elliott/CNET)

After signing into your Google account, type https://www.google.com/history into your browser. (Alternatively, you can choose Account Settings from the pull-down menu in the upper-right corner of a Google product such as Gmail, Google+, or Google.com. From the Account Settings page, scroll down to the Services header and click on the "Go to web history" link.) If your Web History is enabled, you'll see a list of recent searches and sites visited. Click the gray Remove all Web History button at the top of the page and a subsequent OK button to clear your Web History.

Just the way I like it, empty and paused.

This action also pauses the Web History feature so that it will no longer track your Web searches and whereabouts. If you'd like to fire it back it, simply click the blue Resume button.

AT&T CEO takes $2 million pay cut over collapsed deal to buy T-Mobile USA

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Looking at that $4.2 billion charge, AT&T’s board cut Stephenson’s cash bonus by 25 percent, and cut his stock award by 6 percent, for a total of $2.08 million.

That left Stephenson’s 2011 total pay package at $18.7 million, according to the Associated Press formula. His compensation was down from $20.2 million in 2010.

It’s unusual for company boards to cut CEO compensation for specific missteps. But the cost of the failed T-Mobile deal was exceptional. It’s standard practice to offer break-up fees to get acquisition targets to sign on to a deal, but the one AT&T promised was unusually large.

The AP’s compensation formula includes Stephenson’s salary, bonus, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals that companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with regulators.

For all of 2011, AT&T earned $3.9 billion, or 66 cents per share, on $126.7 billion in revenue. That compares with net income of $19.9 billion, or $3.35 per share, on $124.3 billion in revenue in 2010.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AT&T customers surprised by 'unlimited data' limit

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Mike Trang likes to use his iPhone 4 as a GPS device, helping him get around in his job. Now and then, his younger cousins get ahold of it, and play some YouTube videos and games.
But in the past few weeks, there has been none of that, because AT&T Inc. put a virtual wheel clamp on his phone. Web pages wouldn’t load and maps wouldn’t render. Forget about YouTube videos — Trang’s data speeds were reduced to dial-up levels.

“It basically makes my phone useless,” said Trang, an Orange County, Calif. property manager.

The reason: AT&T considers Trang to be among the top 5 percent of the heaviest cellular data users in his area. Under a new policy, AT&T has started cutting their data speeds as part of an attempt to manage data usage on its network.

So last month, AT&T “throttled” Trang’s iPhone, slowing downloads by roughly 99 percent. That means a Web page that would normally take a second to load instead took almost two minutes.

AT&T has some 17 million customers with “unlimited data” plans that can be subject to throttling, representing just under half of its smartphone users. It stopped signing up new customers for those plans in 2010, and warned last year that it would start slowing speeds for people who consume the most data.

What’s surprising people like Trang is how little data use it takes to reach that level — sometimes less than AT&T gives people on its “limited” plans.

Trang’s iPhone was throttled just two weeks into his billing cycle, after he’d consumed 2.3 gigabytes of data. He pays $30 per month for “unlimited” data. Meanwhile, Dallas-based AT&T now sells a limited, or “tiered,” plan that provides 3 gigabytes of data for the same price.

Users report that if they call the company to ask or complain about the throttling, AT&T customer support representatives suggest they switch to the limited plan.

“They’re coaxing you toward the tiered plan,” said Gregory Tallman in Hopatcong, N.J. He hasn’t had his iPhone 4S throttled yet, but he’s gotten text-messages from AT&T, warning that he’s approaching the limit. This came after he had used just 1.5 gigabytes of data in that billing cycle.

John Cozen, a Web and mobile applications designer in San Diego, hasn’t been throttled yet either, but he’s been so disturbed by a warning that he’s “almost scared to use the phone,” he said. Complaining to AT&T got him nowhere, and now he’s looking to switch to another carrier.

“I don’t think two to three gigabytes is an exorbitant amount,” he said. “Really, I’m just looking at pictures and text once in a while.”

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said that as of last summer, the top 5 percent of data users were using 2 gigabytes of data per month. But he also said the company doesn’t actually throttle all of the top 5 percent “unlimited” data users. Last month, the figure was only 0.5 percent, or about 200,000 people, he said.

That’s because AT&T only throttles users in areas where the wireless network is congested that month, Siegel said.

Siegel also pointed out that aside from moving to a tiered plan, “unlimited” plan users on the cusp of being throttled can use one of AT&T’s 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, where usage is unmetered.

The unlimited plan worked fine for AT&T a few years ago, when the iPhone was new. The company had ample capacity on its network, and wanted to lure customers with the peace of mind offered by unlimited plans. Now, a majority of AT&T subscribers on contract-based plans have smartphones, and the proportion is growing every month. That’s putting a big load on AT&T’s network.

The limited data plans force subscribers to keep an eye on their usage, so they don’t overwhelm AT&T’s network. Verizon Wireless has adopted similar plans. But the two companies differ in how they manage their remaining “unlimited” subscribers.

Verizon doesn’t slow down the “5 percent” unless the cell tower their phone is connected to is congested at that moment, and it slows them down by the minimum amount necessary. By contrast, once AT&T has decided to throttle your phone, it will be slow for the rest of the billing cycle, even if it’s 3 a.m. and there are no other cellphones competing for the capacity of that particular cell tower.

Verizon’s measures have drawn few complaints, and indeed, may have gone unnoticed even by the “5 percent.”

T-Mobile USA is up front about the level it starts throttling at: 5 gigabytes. AT&T subscribers have no idea if they might be among the top 5 percent until they get the warning, which is soon followed by throttled service. While Trang was throttled at 2.3 gigabytes, he knows other iPhone owners who are using 5 or 6 gigabytes per month with impunity.

“It seems very random,” Trang said.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is hanging on to unlimited data plans without throttling, alone among the “Big Four” national wireless carriers.

Tallman sees few prospects for a lawsuit against AT&T. The company is still providing unlimited data usage to throttled customers, even if the speeds are so low as to make the phone useless for anything but phone calls and text messages. The company made no promises that “unlimited” data would always be coupled with high speeds, he notes.
“They just guaranteed the highway. They didn’t guarantee the speed limit,” he said.

____
Online:
AT&T’s July 29 letter on throttling: http://bit.ly/qddCeI
Verizon page on its version of throttling: http://bit.ly/pMMCfs

Amazon's next device..?

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Having built the Kindle Fire, some are suggesting that Amazon will next move into mobile phones. But that's a tricky business to make work. Another one has far more potential to make money

Want to know what Amazon will make next? It's blindingly obvious if you think about it. Despite the mad reports that

No. Think about what Amazon does best: it sells content and gadgets. It's really good at both. Its Kindle is a sort of apotheosis: an e-reader to which it can sell content (and no direct rival can). The Kindle is its perfect lock-in.

Except, of course, that Amazon has loads of video content. That doesn't work on the e-ink Kindle.

Enter the Kindle Fire, using its forked version of Android which doesn't touch Google's servers (and where the browser goes through Amazon's own proxies, not the "native" internet). That shows Amazon moving up the scale – but again, that's nowhere near being a phone. The Kindle Fire is a product that it can sell itself, or persuade retailers to sell. And you can stream films on it, as TechCrunch noted in November:

Despite its smaller screen size, the Fire is an excellent video viewing device. It ties in directly to Amazon's Instant Video store, where you can either buy or rent video downloads. The selection is pretty decent, with a mix of old and more recent movies and TV shows. You can either stream the movies directly or download them for later viewing. I've had no issues with streaming. The pictures are sharp and I've watched entire episodes without any hiccups over a strong Wi-Fi connection.
You can also watch movies through Netflix or Hulu Plus, which both have apps available on the Fire. But if you are an Amazon Prime member (all-you-can-eat shipping for $79 a year), you get Instant Video thrown in. That's a good deal, considering that the Netflix streaming-only plan costs $96 a year, and you don't get free shipping of any Christmas gifts with that.

But, as that article also noted, "watching video on the Fire [is] a solitary experience".
Hmmm. How could you fix that, eh? What's the next glaringly obvious move for Amazon?
TV. To be precise, a set-top box that's "tuned" into Amazon content, in the same way that Google TV is "tuned" into channels such as YouTube, in the same way that the Kindle Fire is tuned into Amazon content.

Please note that I'm not saying this on the basis of any briefing from Amazon, or partners. I'm simply following what's logical for a company that has focused on selling content through devices it controls.

Seem crazy? Not at all: Amazon already owns LoveFilm in the UK, and it has some of the heftiest servers in the world (a legacy of its decision many years ago not to get rid of any of its old servers; instead it decided just to add new ones in. And so a growing cloud service was born.)

Getting into the set-top box business in the US, the most logical place to begin, makes enormous sense for Amazon. It has a huge number of customers. It has those customers' credit card details, so if you wanted to buy a film and have it start streaming to your home it could all happen without trouble.

Oh, but where is it going to get the software from? No problem – Android rides to the rescue again. It wouldn't take much tweaking of the Google TV software (which is Android, and open-source, and being tweaked to hell and back by companies around the world for their own projects) to produce Amazon TV. It would have all the elements of smart TV – it would link to the internet, but as a set-top box (so you can retrofit it to existing TVs – a far better way to go than having to buy an entire new set) it would be portable. And it would bring people ever closer to the Amazon content ecosystem.

Next, let's look at how the landscape is shaping up. According to Xyologic, which has been tracking Google TV app downloads since August of 2011, the total installed base for Google TV is just 4.8m – and people aren't falling over themselves to download extra apps, with the most popular app being Napster for Google TV (903,000). Of course, Google TV has only been available through Logitech and Sony, and Logitech gave up after losing millions on its set-top boxes.

Even so, when you compare it to the 300m TV sets in use in the US, and the 60m in the UK, it's clear there's a really big market to aim for. Now, Eric Schmidt has assured people that "by the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded on it".

Fair enough – though Samsung and a number of other big manufacturers are going with their own software (forked Android, in almost every case).

But already we can see that Apple has gotten interested too in this big and largely untapped market. Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, didn't put down the idea that the company might make a more aggressive move into the smart TV market when he spoke at the Goldman Sachs conference on Tuesday. In fact, he positively seemed to point towards TV as a place where Apple hasn't done enough yet.

The full transcript is at Macrumors, but here's Cook on TV:

Q: Looking at the living room, you've said Apple TV is still on the hobby stage. What has the challenges been saying it's on the hobby stage or going into the future?
Cook:

In terms of existing product, we sold just shy of 3m Apple TVs in the past year. It's very cool product and I can't live without it. We sold 1.4m last quarter. It's clearly ramping, but the reality – the reason we call it a hobby – we don't want to send a message to our shareholders that we think the market for it is the size of our other businesses. The Mac, the iPad, the iPod, the iPhone. We don't want to send a signal that we think the length of that stool is equal to the others. That's why we call it a hobby.
Apple doesn't do hobbies as a general rule. We believe in focus and only working on a few things. So, with Apple TV however, despite the barriers in that market, for those of us who use it, we've always thought there was something there. If we kept following our intuition and kept pulling the string, we might find something that was larger. For those people that have it right now, the customer satisfaction is off the chart. We need something that could go more main-market for it to be a serious category.

The clue is in that phrase that "we've always thought there was something there". Link that to his comment that the iPad's success came because it "stood on the shoulders" of everything else – notably the iTunes Store, with all its content and apps – and you have a hint that Apple is looking to head into the "smart TV" market, which is expected to achieve some sort of liftoff this year.

So: there's Apple, with 2.8m Apple TVs sold in the year, including 1.4m (Cook previously announced) in the fourth quarter. If we're generous, Apple has probably sold another million in the previous years – which gives it about 3.8m users.

That's less than Google's 4.8m, but with so much of the market open, that really doesn't matter. This is basically virgin territory.

The other point is that Apple and Amazon have aligned aims here: get people using the set-top box (personally I doubt Apple will offer a TV; too expensive, too hard to make people shift) to buy content. Apple of course will be pushing apps and other experiences too, while Amazon will focus on the lower end, and direct sales and other promotions. In fact you might expect that it will be just like the current tablet market, where Amazon is conquering the low end in the US, while Apple is wiping everyone out at the high end.

So that's my analysis: this is completely obvious market for not just Google (which can get people to watch ads on YouTube and internet TV) but also for Amazon (which can sell people content for download or streaming via its enormous server farms) and Apple (which can do the same as Amazon while also offering app developers the chance to aim at a whole new screen size).

Possibly Amazon isn't building a set-top box. But I think it will build a set-top box long before it builds a mobile phone.Amazon will come up with a phone, or buy RIM, neither of those makes sense. Getting into the mobile phone business is the most gigantic pain if you aren't already very big, and right now the rewards aren't that great even if you're good at making phones – ask HTC, Sony Ericsson or Nokia.

Motorola Purchase May Help Google Defrag Android

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:56:00 +0000

Why is Google buying Motorola? Could be for the 17,000 patents or a number of other reasons. Gartner VP Michael Disabato thinks the Google-Motorola buy is tied to setting direction for the Android operating system. "I think one of the reasons Google wants Motorola is because they have lost control of Android and they want to get it back."

U.S. and European regulators Monday approved Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, giving the green light to move ahead, although government approvals are still pending in Israel, Taiwan, and most notably China.

Google describes the acquisition as a move to supercharge its Android ecosystem. The company estimates that more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide -- and more than 550,000 devices are activated every day -- through a network of about 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers in 123 countries.

The announcement set off speculation about Google rocking the smartphone market. Analysts discussed everything from Google making Android exclusive to Moto phones, to Google subsidizing Motorola phones and making them free. There were also questions of whether Google did the deal solely to obtain Motorola's patents and whether or not Google can pull off the merger. Industry analysts are still discussing why Google really wants Motorola to begin with.

A Fragmented Mobile OS

"I think one of the reasons Google wants Motorola is because they have lost control of Android and they want to get it back," said Michael Disabato, vice president of network and telecom at Gartner . "Google wants all Android phones to look alike and operate alike and they know if they don't take back control, they are going to fragment [the Android] operating system into a million little pieces."

One of the promises of the Android operating system was its open-source model, which would allow for various flavors of the mobile OS. Disabato said that's a good model when consumers can create their own experience, but it's not so good when there are multiple vendors and more than a dozen experiences -- and consumers are left without the power to make it their own.

"You look at iOS. Apple comes out with a new version and everybody runs and crashes the servers and eventually upgrades," Disabato said. "Google comes out with a new version of Android and what happens? The vendors first have to decide if the phone can support it. Then, they put it in a phone. Then, they have to go beg the carriers to let it out. So they've eliminated the end user, which is not what Google ever wanted."

Google's Mobile Privacy Push

Disabato points to Apple, a single manufacturer with a single operating system, as well as Microsoft , which has multiple vendors with a single operating system that cannot be tweaked. Windows Phone 7 runs the same on all hardware platforms.
"Who's standing out in left field trying to figure out what to do next? It's Google," Disabato said. "They've allowed the handset manufacturers and the carriers to take control of the user experience and they want to get that back."

But there's another factor at play in the Motorola acquisition: Google's consolidated privacy policy. Google recently moved to offer a single privacy policy across all its products and services, Disabato said, so the company can share consumer information across the board. At this point, mobile is the only missing component. And now, with the Motorola acquisition, Google can wrangle that in, as well.

AT&T doubles the activation fee on all phone upgrades

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:13:00 +0000

While many consumers will be upgrading their standard cell phones and smartphones to new models during 2012, AT&T management has decided to make more money on that process with an increased fee.

Going into effect on Sunday, February 12, AT&T is increasing the activation fee on phone upgrades from $18 to $36 according to a memo issued to all AT&T store managers according to BGR. This brings the activation fee equal to the current rate of $36 for starting a brand new service plan. As directed by AT&T corporate management, store employees are supposed to define the fee as costs associated to picking out a new phone as well as activating the device. However, the increase in the fee doesn’t change when a customer is able to qualify for a new phone upgrade. Anyone planning on upgrading their phone soon can still get the $18 activation price if they upgrade by the end of today.

AT&T issued a statement regarding the doubled fee which stated “Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn’t unique to AT&T and this is the first time we’re changing it in nearly 10 years.”

While there certainly may be increased costs in educating the consumer on the features of new smartphones, it’s highly unlikely that the cost of enabling an existing account on a new phone has increased over the last ten years. If anything, costs have been driven down by automating the activation process and swapping out a SIM card to a new device isn’t exactly difficult.

Consumers that have already educated themselves on which phone fits best with their lifestyle will likely be the most unhappy with AT&T’s move to double the activation fee. By increasing this fee before the launch of the next iPhone this summer, AT&T puts themselves in a position to collect an additional $30 million dollars off the 1.7 million people that purchased an iPhone 4 within three days of launch during June 2010, assuming all early iPhone 4 adopters stick with AT&T for the new model.

AT&T isn’t the only carrier to increase the fee for the upgrade process. On September 9, 2011, Sprint also doubled the activation fee from $18 to $36. However, many Sprint monthly plans are designed to be cheaper than competitors like Verizon and AT&T, thus the change didn’t draw much ire from consumers. If consumers are looking for cheaper activation rates, T-Mobile charges $18 to upgrade a phone and Verizon charges absolutely nothing if the contract has been completed. Even more interesting, an iPhone user switching from AT&T to Verizon at the launch of the next iPhone will pay a dollar less to activate a brand new phone on Verizon compared to upgrading a phone on AT&T’s network.

AT&T’s failed attempt to acquire T-Mobile during 2011 was likely a factor in this decision to double the activation fee as well as newer software like iMessage that’s shifting people away from expensive text messaging plans. It’s also possible that AT&T is attempting to eliminate users on grandfathered unlimited data plans by encouraging them to consider other networks during the next phone upgrade. Families with multiple phones to upgrade will also be hit harder with this decision and may consider moving to another carrier.

Verizon got into a bit of trouble last year when it attempted to roll out a new fee that would charge current customers a $2 “convenience fee” for paying their bill over the phone or through the online site. Consumers revolted against the plan and Verizon ended up reversing the decision before users abandoned Verizon for other cellular carriers.

Android screen app prevents you hitting that lamp post

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Indulge in your social media fix without colliding with objects when walking, thanks to a new Android app.

We’ve all seen it, or fallen prey to the temptation. Something incredible pops up on Twitter, you’re indulging in chat over Facebook — and you walk straight into a lamp post. Or, in another scenario, trip over an unidentified object and land face down in something unpleasant.

A new application has just hit the Android market which allows users to indulge in their social media fix, and yet refrain from injury or embarrassment.

This free app allows an Android user to keep up to date and use their smartphone while remaining aware of any impending objects around them. Simply, it turns your screen transparent, and comes equipped with a variety of different opacity settings.

By using your rear-faced camera function, opacity levels can be changed. However, transparency is not a new feature, and other apps have covered this ground. What makes this particular application different is that it does not focus on particular tasks, such as texting.

Instead, it turns your entire phone transparent, removing restrictions on what you can do while walking without potentially causing yourself bodily harm.

The app isn’t perfect, but it does the job intended. While testing I did find that on higher video resolutions there is some lag — but this is to be expected when the camera, GPU transparency and normal UI are all operating at the same time.

It does like to drain battery life if used over a longer period of time, and it is best used on the lowest resolution setting. However, for occasional use, this app could come in handy.

Grab the app in the Android marketplace.

Symantec backs off of Android malware claims

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:08:00 +0000

Last week Symantec made a splash by declaring that somewhere between 1 and 5 million Android users were infected with the Android.Counterclank software, classifying it as a Trojan and declaring it malware. Almost immediately skeptics questioned the validity of Symantec’s conclusions, notably competing security vendor Lookout Mobile. Lookout declared that while the 13 apps were questionable from a privacy standpoint, the Android.Counterclank API used within was aggressive adware, not malware. Yesterday Symantec retracted their original claims in a blog post, noting that while the advertising in question is aggressive, it doesn’t meet the definition of “malicious”.

Further laying out exactly what Android.Counterclank does, Symantec notes that the applications are generally undesirable, but not inherently dangerous. Considering Symantec’s poor public image as of late (including malfunctioning desktop programs and compromised code) this episode isn’t doing the company any favors. Advanced users are already wary of alarmist declarations from security vendors, and though the malware threat for Android is growing, many consider it overblown, especially when compared to Windows and other desktop operating systems.

All that being said, the thirteen applications that use Android.Counterclank should be avoided on general principles. The advertising that they employ goes way beyond the run-of-the-mill banner ad. Here’s just a few of the “aggressive” methods the apps in question use to try and get your dollars: setting a shortcut on your home screen, adding bookmarks to your browser app, reassigning the home page of the browser app, and sending unwanted web pages to your phone with a push notification system. We won’t link to the apps themselves, as many of them are still available on the Market, but if you’ve downloaded any of the apps on the original list, you’ll want to uninstall them immediately. Considering the rather crass nature and poor quality of the apps, you’ll probably want to do so anyway.

Android malware or just aggressive advertising?

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:36:00 +0000

Android has become a target for malware writers who find its open market system, as well as the multiple unofficial app markets, an effective way to spread malicious software.

Two online security companies are arguing over whether as many as 5m Android handsets are infected with malware produced by a publisher via its official app Market – or just part of an "aggressive" advertising network.

Symantec said that "multiple publisher IDs on the Android Market … are being used to push out Android.Counterclank", which is software that it says is "a bot-like threat" which can also steal information from devices.

But Lookout Mobile Security, which specialises in mobile and the Android sector, disagrees: "We disagree with the assessment that this is malware, although we do believe that the Apperhand SDK [contained in the apps] is an aggressive form of ad network and should be taken seriously."

The dispute indicates that the conflict about the difference between malware and "adware" – where software on the user's computer generates intrusive advertising – has shifted from the desktop, where the line has been blurred over the years, to the mobile platform, and particularly to Android, the mobile operating system which increasingly dominates world sales of smartphones.

At the same time, it reinforces concerns that Android has become the target for malware writers who find its open market system, as well as the multiple unofficial Android app markets, an effective way to spread malicious software. Both Symantec and Lookout Mobile offer free apps to protect smartphones against malware – which is an increasing threat: another security company, McAfee, noted in a report in November (PDF) that in the third quarter of 2011 "Android became the exclusive target for all new mobile malware", noting that while Nokia's Symbian has the largest total – due to its broad installed base – the number of separate Android malware threats had grown from fewer than 20 new appearances in the third quarter of 2010 to nearly 100 in the same period in 2011. No report has been issued yet for the fourth quarter of the year.

At issue in the dispute between Symantec and Lookout Mobile are apps apparently from three publishers – iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps, where Symantec has identified 13 apps that it thinks pose a threat. Symantec said the "Counterclank" malware contained in the games is a variant of "Tonclank", which it first identified on 10 June 2011 and said "may open a back door and download files onto Android devices … [and] steals information from Android devices." Counterclank could push "unwanted ads" to devices and steal browser history, bookmarklets, account details, settings, phone number and other information. It can send that information to apperhand.com – a site whose owner details are hidden and whose home page provides nothing except the phrase "Hello World!".

None of the publishers appears to have its own site, though that is not required to publish to any app store. But the lack of a company supporting the apps could raise suspicions about how bona fide they are.

Although a number of the iApps7 apps identified by Symantec are no longer available in the market, the free app which is there for wallpaper animation includes the note that

"We want to keep this app completely free. In order to keep the app 100% free, you will receive the following –
• Search shortcut icon on your home screen.
• Search shortcut on your bookmarks.
This will help us bring you more cool apps like this in the future."

The developer page for iApps7 linked on the app's page is invalid.

Another app that Symantec warns about, called "Deal or BE Millionaire" from Ogre Games, includes the note that it

"Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like."

It is not explained why an app that appears to use the format of the TV game show "Deal or No Deal" should need to know what number you may be calling.

Speaking to Computerworld, Kevin Haley of Symantec said the three publishers "don't appear to be real publishers … These aren't rebundled apps, as we've seen so many times before." Rebundling often occurs when apps produced by reputable publishers are copied and then re-uploaded to the market by smaller publishers or by individuals as though they created them. Such copying is a persistent problem in the Android Market, where there is no pre-approval for apps, although Google can remove them from the official market if there is a complaint or security problem.

Lookout Mobile said "the average Android user probably doesn't want applications that contain Apperhand on his or her phone" but adds that "we see no evidence of outright malicious behaviour". The company argues that "almost all of the capabilities attributed to these applications are also attributable to a class of more aggressive ad networks – this includes placing search icons on to the mobile desktop and pushing advertisements through the notifications bar".

Android allows apps where the user has given authorisation to push apps into its system-wide notification bar. Such authorisation is given when the app is first installed, and will be part of the "permissions" statement that the app requests.

But for Symantec, Haley suggests that few people check or query the permissions an app requests before granting it access to them. "If you were the suspicious type, you might wonder why they're asking for permission to modify the browser or transmit GPS coordinates," he told Computerworld. "But most people don't bother."

Google is trying to make apps' requirements for permissions clearer in the latest version of Android, 4.0. But it is often difficult to know why an app might require access to elements such as USB storage, phone numbers or other details. Users cannot allow or deny apps permission on an element-by-element basis; they can only reject or accept the entire app.

"Adware" has been a persistent problem on desktop PCs, with a number of advertising networks using affiliate schemes in which intermediaries were paid per installation – leading to situations where the software would be installed either through malware on websites, or with installation permission bundled into licence agreements for other software with the details buried in small print. Sometimes the adware would change browser settings or put up intrusive adverts. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won a settlement worth $3m against adware company Zango in 2006.

White House joins Google+

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:08:00 +0000

The White House is now on Google+ and no, it's not technically a move to help President Obama get reelected -- there is a separate Obama 2012 page for that.

So why is the Obama administration now on Google's social network? The State of the Union speech on Tuesday is at least one reason to join Google+.

The annual speech will be broadcast across major TV networks and an enhanced version will be streamed online to the White House's mobile apps and at whitehouse.gov/sotu, with "charts, stats and data that helped inform President Obama's policy decisions as he delivers his speech to the nation," the White House said.

After the speech, which starts at 6 p.m. Pacific time, White House officials will field questions throughout the week regarding the speech, the president's policies, and the direction in which the country and economy is headed. Those questions will be taken from Twitter, Facebook and (as of this week) Google+.

Down the road, the White House may use Google+ Hangouts, the social network's group video-chatting feature, to reach constituents.

"The President and First Lady often call the White House 'The People’s House.' Well, this is another way we're opening our doors (virtually) to citizens around the country," said Kori Schulman, the deputy director of outreach at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, in a blog post. "On our Google+ page, we'll host regular 'White House Hangouts' with administration officials on a range of issues and topics.

"Some Google+ users will be invited to join the Hangout with the White House and have a conversation with policy experts. But the best part is that even if you're not 'in' the Hangout, you can watch the whole thing live on WhiteHouse.gov, on our Google+ page or on the White House YouTube channel."

The White House currently has no Google+ Hangouts planned.

Although the White House's Google+ page isn't an official campaign tool, there is no doubt that the Obama administration and his reelection campaign staff are looking to use every tool possible to reach voters this year.

After all, the president's use of social media in his winning of the 2008 election is often cited as one of the reasons he was able to build up support among voters. The Technology blog even described Obama as "the first social media president."

One other reason the White House might want to be on Google+ -- Republican rivals looking to knock Obama out of office are there too.

Which New AT&T Data Plan is right for you?

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:51:00 +0000

AT&T is at it again. In June of 2010, AT&T pulled the plug on its unlimited data plans andswitched to tiered bandwidth plans. Now, AT&T is switching things up again – giving customersmore megabytes per dollar, but charging more money in the process. So, which AT&T data plan is right for you?

Currently, AT&T offers basically three data plan options. You can get 200MB per month for $15, 2GB per month for $25, or add the ability to do hotspot tethering from a smartphonewith an additional 2GB of bandwidth to bring it to 4GB for $45 per month. If you exceed the 200MB plan, you will be charged an additional $15 for another 200MB, while going over the limit on the 2GB plan results in an additional 1GB of bandwidth for $10

At the time that AT&T rolled out these plans, it framed it as an altruistic move designed to somehow save customers money. AT&T claimed that 98 percent of its customers use less than 2GB, and 65 percent stayed under 200MB, so instead of paying $30 a month for unlimited access they didn’t need, they could switch to the $15 or $25 plans as appropriate. Fair enough.

As of this Sunday--January 22--AT&T will no longer offer those plans for new customers. Now, customers will get 300MB of data for $20 per month, 3GB of data for $30 per month, and the hotspot tethering plan will include 5GB of bandwidth for $50 per month.

Apparently things have changed, though, since those initial tiers were introduced. If 98 percent of customers use less than 2GB of data, then upping the ante to a 3GB data plan seems silly.

Existing AT&T customers can hang on to their current data plans if they choose. But--as with every other time that a wireless provider switches things up--once you change, you can’t go back to the plans that are no longer offered. So, does it make sense to jump to one of the new plans?

For many AT&T customers, the answer may very well be “yes”. In terms of megabytes per dollar, the new plans are actually a better value than the previous ones. Customers who have the 200MB plan, and consistently go over end up paying $30 per month for 400MB of data. But, if they’re going over by less than 100MB, those customers will benefit from choosing the 300MB plan and saving $10 per month.

A similar scenario applies for customers on the 2GB plan. Customers that go over the 2GB plan end up with an additional 1GB for $10, bringing the total to $35 per month for 3GB. Those customers can actually save $5 a month by just embracing the 3GB plan for $30 in the first place. Likewise, customers on the 4GB plan who go over end up spending $55 for 5GB, and can save $5 per month by switching to the new 5GB plan.

I have the 4GB plan just so I can use my iPhone 4S as a Wi-Fi hotspot when I need to. But, I don’t think I’ve ever come close to exceeding the 4GB allotment, so it makes sense for me to stick with the $45 plan I already have. However, I ended up bumping my wife to the 2GB plan because she consistently exceeded 200MB, but she doesn’t really need anywhere near that much, and the 300MB plan will be perfect for her.

Your mileage may vary. You can log in to the AT&T site and review your data usage month to month to examine how much you use on average, and choose the new data plan that works best for you…or stick with the existing data plan you’re already using.

AT&T has not responded to a request for information relative to the number of customers that might benefit from the change to a 300MB or 3GB plan.

4.5 million people signed anti-SOPA petition today

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

When Google speaks, the world listens.

And today, when Google asked its users to sign a petition protesting two anti-piracy laws circulating in Congress, millions responded.

A spokeswoman for Google confirmed that 4.5 million people added their names to the company's anti-SOPA petition today.

Not too shabby.

The petition, which was available via a link from Google's homepage, states that although fighting online piracy is important, the plan of attack described in the SOPA and PIPA bills would be ineffective.

"There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs," the petition reads. "Too much is at stake -– please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA."
The search engine frequently delights users by toying with its homepage logo, but on Wednesday it did something it had never done before: it blocked out its logo completely.

A link below the blackout read "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!" and lead to a page with the petition.

Of course, Google's anti-SOPA and PIPA petition is not the only one out there on this day of mass online protest. As of this writing 1.458 million people signed a similar petition at the activist website Avaaz.org, and Fight for the Future said that between its two sites, Sopastrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org, at least 350,000 people have sent emails to representatives in the House and Senate.

A graphic put out by Google shows that before today's coordinated protests, 3 million Americans had signed various petitions against the two bills.

In other SOPA number news, a spokeswoman from the popular blogging platform WordPress, said that at last count, 25,000 WordPress blogs had joined the SOPA and PIPA protest by blacking out their blogs entirely, and another 12,500 used the "Stop Censorship" ribbon.

Today, the White House Blog reports that 103,785 people signed petitions through the We The People website asking the president to protect a free and open Internet.

STRIKE!

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:11:00 +0000

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

What are SOPA and PIPA?

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

Info from Wikipedia and Google

Amazon’s Zappos Hit With Cyber Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:03:00 +0000

Zappos.com, the popular online shoe retailer owned by Amazon.com, said its internal network was infiltrated by a cyber attacker.

The company’s chief executive Tony Hsieh sent an e-mail to employees on Sunday indicating the retailer is in the process of notifying more than 24 million customers that some of their personal information may have been accessed by the intruder. The note that is posted to Zappos’ blog says a slew of information may have been exposed, including: customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of customers’ credit card numbers.

In the note, Hsieh says the “one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers' critical credit card and other payment data was not affected or accessed.” Still, the firm is expecting a massive influx customer calls and e-mails from concerned customers.

Indeed, Hsieh has assigned all employees at the company to field customer contacts and said the company would shut down its phone system in favor of an email-only response out of concern the phones would become overloaded.

“We've spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers. It's painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident,” Hsieh told his staff in the e-mail. “We need all hands on deck to help get through this.”

The hacker apparently gained access to the company’s system through a server in Kentucky. The company said it is cooperating with law enforcement and plans on undergoing an “exhaustive investigation.” It was not immediately clear if an individual or group was responsible for the hacking or what will happen to the exposed data.

In the meantime, the company is urging customer to change their passwords.

Stream Music and Video to Android, Play Anywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Air Playit today was made compatible with Android. Powered with advanced video streaming method and CUDA, Air Playit helps users stream and enjoy real-time playback of their music & video library from computer at anywhere, all media presented seamlessly on their Google Android phones via WiFi, 3G or 4G network.

Digiarty Software today announced the availability of Air Playit for Android. It is a long expected move for the company to make this reputable audio video streaming app compatible with Google Android phones. Powered with advanced video streaming method and CUDA, Air Playit helps users stream and enjoy real-time playback of their music & video library from computer at anywhere, all media presented seamlessly on their Android phones via WiFi, 3G or 4G network.

Air Playit became an immediate hit when it just came into Apple App Store in Aug.2011. So far over 1 million users have downloaded this free application which revolutionized the way of watching video on iPhone iPad. Both video conversion and iTunes sync are skipped. DRM encrypted videos as well as 1080P/1080i HD videos such as M2TS, AVCHD, MKV could be streamed to iOS devices for instant playing over air.

"Numerous 'thank you' emails arrived," said Jack, CEO of Digiarty. "In the meantime, we also got tons of inquiries on the release date of the Android edition of Air Playit." The reasons are obvious. 1) Google Android phones are rising quickly. Recent report showed that the 2011 market share of Android in the area of Smartphone is up to 60%. 2) The large and high resolution screen as well as fast processor make it the perfect mobile player for watching video on the go. 3) Android phone, however, supports relatively few video formats, only 3GP, MP4, H.264 and WebM.

Finally, long-awaited Air Playit for Android came out taking all well-received functionalities of its iPhone iPad editions. It acts as personal audio video cloud server & player which gives users immediate access to the media stored on PC/Mac even from thousands of miles away. 320 different video audio formats are supported for streaming to Android phones, e.g. MKV, M2TS, AVCHD, TP, MPEG-TS, AVC, MOD, MPEG1/2, WMV, ASF, AVI, MOV, RM/RMBV, FLV, MP4, H.264, M4V, WebM, WTV, etc.

Air Playit is a totally free app for streaming music & video to Android. Free download it at www.airplayit.com

In addition, this Android video streaming app is upgraded with CUDA technology. The benefit is that users can play music and video on their Android phones remotely or locally without any delay, regardless of media format or file size. The ability of Multi-tasking Music Background Playback is also added which guarantees smooth music playing even in case of screen lock.

Android System Requirements: Over 20 MB storage space
Cortex-A8 architecture, device supporting ARMv7 & NEON instruction set ARM CPU 800MHz or above
Google Nexus One, HTC Desire Incredible EVO, Moto Milestone XT800, DroidSeries, Acer Liquid, Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Ericsson X10 ,Dell Thunder Streak, LG LU2300,Dopod A8188, Nexus One, Nexus S

For the convenience of bloggers or website editors who may have interest in reviewing Air Playit, Digiarty also composed a PDF sheet with related images and text materials for reference.

About Company
Established in 2006, Digiarty Software, Inc. is a professional developer and publisher of iPhone games and multimedia software, specializing in various types of iPhone games development and DVD video related solutions. Aiming at being the best digital media company, Digiarty is always devoted to continuous development and providing their customers advanced products and best services. Copyright (C) 2012 Digiarty Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
www.airplayit.com/doc/AirPlayit18.pdf

Twitter and Google Exchange Angry Words

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:59:00 +0000

Twitter, Google Exchange Angry Words Over Google’s New Personalised Search (Which Favors Google+)

Twitter has come out publicly against Google’s recent changes to its search algorithm, which favors Google+ and Picasa results mixed in to regular search results.

TechCrunch has the details on the changes to Google’s search algorithm, which they’re calling “Your World”, but the basic idea is that results are now going to be peppered with data from Google+ and Picasa (which is Google-owned). Search results are going to be even more personalized to each user based on his or her Google+ posts, connections and activity.

Twitter’s General Counsel Alex Macgillivray tweeted that he believes this move heralds a “bad day for the Internet,” and goes on to say that he believes there must be some dissension at Google over the changes (having been Google’s own General Counsel prior to his current position at Twitter).

And to follow up, Twitter PR today released the following statement contesting that Google’s changes are bad for users and web publishers alike:

“For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet.

Often, they want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”

Twitter used to appear in Google search results, up until July 2011 when the deal expired. Since then, Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo offered some clarification, but provided little hope that the popular partnership would be renewed.

Google has responded to Twitter’s comments via (naturally) their Google+ account. And why not? That’s the best chance the message has of reaching the masses, after all.

We are a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer (http://goo.gl/chKwi), and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.

Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan has dug a little deeper into the story, speaking with Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt in this video.

You’ll note that Schmidt, while not exactly forthcoming, says it was Twitter who chose not to renew their deal with Google, which is the first time either side has shed any light on what happened in July. It’s very likely that Twitter will (at some point) come forward and say the exact opposite, but it’s also worth observing that, for his part, Schmidt says that Google is willing to talk to Twitter (and Facebook) about this issue.

Finally, Google’s Matt Cutts has expanded on what to expect from Google Your World in his blog. He does goes on (and on) about some party game called Werewolf, but it’s worth a read to get a little more insight into what we can expect.

Search plus Your World builds on the social search that we launched in 2009, and can surface public content from sites across from the web, such as Quora, FriendFeed, LiveJournal, Twitter, and WordPress.

The team should be finishing the rollout of Search plus Your World in the next day or so, and hope you enjoy it. Remember, to see the new results, you’ll need to be signed in with a Google account and search on google.com. Give this new feature a whirl: once you see how much better personal search can be, I don’t think you’ll want to give it up.

New Yahoo CEO Package Worth Up to $27M

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

Struggling Internet giant Yahoo revealed new CEO Scott Thompson’s compensation package in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, and it’s pretty cushy.
Like, $27 million cushy.

Thompson, the former CEO of PayPal, gets a base salary of $1 million, but that’s only the beginning.

He eligible for an annual bonus of anywhere form $500,000 to $2 million based on his performance. Half a million for doing a pretty good job isn't bad.

Thompson will also get a stock grant of $11 million and a “one-time inducement grant” worth $5 million.

Also Read: Yahoo Names PayPal's Scott Thompson New CEO
That’s anywhere from $17.5 million to $19 million. Where's the other $8 million or so?

Thompson needs to be compensated for all that cash he would have gotten at PayPal, so Yahoo will give him a bonus of $1.5 million in cash to make up for it, along with $6.5 million in stock.

That's not bad for a company which has seen its value cut in half over the past few years.
Upon being hired, Thompson touted the company's assets but acknowledged there is work to do in building its advertising base and other revenue streams. Meanwhile, Yahoo is weighing the sale of all or part of its Asian assets as it seeks to establish a new corporate identity.

HTC Explorer – also known as HTC Pico

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:01:00 +0000

HTC Explorer is the smarter phone that makes you privilege in front of your friends. It is easy to use and provides interactive session for you. The user can browse and enjoy browsing as like in desktop. It is also known as HTC Pico.

The features and specifications of HTC Explorer are described below:

1.   HTC Explorer has a good look with dimensions of 102.8mm height, 57.2mm width and 12.9mm depth. It weighs about 108 grams.

2.   It works well on network frequencies of GSM 850/900/ 1800/ 1900 on 2G and HSDPA 900/ 2100 on 3G.
3.   The mobile phone comes with TFT capacitive touch screen with 256K colors. The size of the display screen is 3.2 inches (approximately 180 ppi pixel density) with the screen resolution of 320×480 pixels.

4.   Alert types include vibration, MP3 and WAV ringtones. The mobile phone also supports HTC Sense UI 3.5, SRS surround sound enhancement, loudspeaker and 3.5mm jack.

5.   Connectivity features are GPRS (up to 80 Kbps), EDGE (up to 236.8 Kbps), Speed (HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/ g/ n (WLAN), Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and microUSB v2.0.

6.   It comes with 3.15 Mega Pixels camera with the camera resolution of 2048×1536 pixels. The mobile phone works on Android OS v2.3 (Gingerbread) with CPU of 600 MHz Cortex A5.

7.   It is equipped with standard battery of Lithium Ion whose capacity is 1230mAh. The battery provides standby time of up to 485 h (2G)/ 445 h (3G) and talk time of up to 7 h 40 min (2G/ 3G).

8.   Messaging features are SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email and Instant Messaging and sensors are accelerometer, proximity and compass.

9.   The mobile phone is available in colors of active black, active navy, metallic black and metallic navy.

10.   HTC Explorer also supports stereo FM radio with RDS, A-GPS support, Java MIDP emulator and Browser HTML.

What to Watch for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:51:00 +0000

With 2011 behind us, what do the top tech companies have up their sleeves? Though a few have already made big announcements, most of what we think is coming is based on rumors. With that in mind, your business should watch for these potential developments from five of the top tech companies in 2012.

Amazon

Amazon started as a bookstore and has become a content monster. The newKindle Fire has been a big hit so far, and the tablet is bound to start showing up in workplaces. Look for Amazon to find ways to make the Fire more versatile, and for even more versions of its Kindle line to become available by year's end, maybe even in the form of an Amazon phone. As its range of devices expands, look for Amazon's Appstore to grow in importance and compete head-on with Google's Android Market.

Apple

Apple isn’t much for sharing future plans, but based on the current rumors, businesses can look forward to an updated Macbook Pro line. The stand-out feature is said to be a 2880 by 1800 pixel high-resolution "retina display", undoubtedly desirable to graphic artists. Road warriors who like the portability of the Macbook Air models but not the small screen sizes, may be in luck, as a larger 14 or 15-inch model is rumored to be in the works as well. The third iteration of the iPad is also due, presumably with a higher resolution screen and stronger processor.

Facebook

Though Facebook's biggest affect on a company may be to distract its workers, it's also a great tool for connecting with customers. Beyond an inevitable IPO in 2012, Facebook is rumored to be looking once again at a Facebook phone--and with it, perhaps more location-based tools. Ads are said to be coming to users' news streams, offering businesses another way to get their messages in front of customers, presumably in a highly targeted way.

Google

Beyond search in a PC browser, Android has become the way most people interface with Google every day. 2012 will see the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, available on dozens of new smartphones, as upgrades are being pushed to many more of the newer models out there. You can also look forward to seeing it on tablets, as Google says it is releasing a "high-quality" tablet, presumably to compete with the iPad. Finally, look for everything Google does to have a Google+ tie-in, with new features being introduced, and tighter integration with its existing products to make it almost impossible for businesses to avoid.

Microsoft

For 2012, it’s already obvious what Microsoft will be known for:Windows 8. With the beta OS due in February and the official release some time later in the year, new computers will have it installed, and businesses will need to evaluate if they want to upgrade. Besides Windows 8, the Kinect could also find its wayinto business. This advanced collection of sensors will be available for Windows. It could become useful not only for video conferencing, but as a way of using body movement or even lip reading to help control your computer. Finally, look for Microsoft-owned Skype to expand its offerings to better compete against Google Hangouts for audio and video conferencing.

Why your Android phone probably isn't upgrading

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:43:00 +0000

None of the many parties who make your Android phone want to shoulder an upgrade. So none of them do.

If you pick up a cheap Android phone or tablet--from a little-known overseas manufacturer, for example, or maybe as the free option on a contract--you probably expect to be out of luck when it comes to upgrading your phone to the latest version of Google’s smartphone operating system. But what if you bought a version of the most popular Android smartphone of 2010, the Samsung Galaxy S? Or the first Android tablet to really make a splash, the Galaxy Tab? Wouldn’t you kind of expect that a phone made by a leading Android partner, picked up by every major international carrier, and owned by more than 30 million people worldwide would make a software upgrade worth Samsung’s time and effort.

Obviously, you, the person who thinks companies want to engender a sense of trust, support, and care for buyers of $200-and-up devices with long-term contracts have it all wrong. Samsung will not upgrade the Galaxy S or Tab to Android 4.0, or “Ice Cream Sandwich.” The stated reason, translated from a Samsung statement on a Korean forum, is that the devices lack both storage and application memory (ROM and RAM) to support a 4.0 upgrade that includes Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, carrier-specific applications, and, for some models, mobile television streaming and video calling. As tech site The Verge points out, that’s a very specific hedge. The Galaxy S has nearly the same internal hardware as the Nexus S, a phone which is receiving over-the-air updates to Android 4.0 right now. But Samsung wants to give customers its own customized and redesigned version of Android (or “skin”), TouchWiz, and wants to deliver the licensed apps that Verizon, Sprint, and all the others pack onto their phones.

There are, of course, other concerns manufacturers like Samsung and the mobile carriers look at when facing down an upgrade. With any upgrade, there comes a good bit of work to test out the latest improvements developed by Google and the open-source community. After crafting and testing, there will still be an uptick in customer support calls. And if a device’s hardware truly is on the edge of upgrade capability, delivering the update can sour customers on a manufacturer, carrier, and Android all at once. I know, for example, four different Droid X owners who upgraded to Android 2.3, or “Gingerbread,” and all four have either dropped their contracts early to switch to an iPhone, or have said they’re swearing off Android as soon as their two-year Verizon agreements are up. Then there’s the supposed charges that manufacturers assess on carriers for “feature” upgrades, which I haven’t verified, or seen verified, but which doesn’t exactly sound like a stretch of the imagination. Motorola, at least, is fairly open about the process and their reasoning, but how many car owners want a multi-party run-down of why it’s taking so long to get their recalled fuel tank replaced?

That’s all well and good. But what does it sound like to a phone buyer, if they even care to hear an excuse? “We’re sorry, but a number of sales agreements and market analyses have led us to decide not to implement a very cool upgrade, one that we didn’t even make ourselves, to the phone that was a top-of-the-line unit one year ago. Please, just buy another $200 Android phone in nine months, when this current two-year contract is up, and, hey, maybe you’ll end up picking one of the few phones that end up getting upgraded two years and a few months from now.”

It’s not that Google doesn’t know how frustrating this can be for customers, and how much resulting damage it does to the Android brand. At this year’s Google I/O conference in May 2011, Google and most of the major carriers and manufacturers pledged to join the Google Update Alliance, and issue “timely” updates for 18 months of the life of any Android phone released from that point on. But that Alliance has majorly faltered, if not failed outright, after a little more than six months. The Galaxy S was released before the Alliance was formed, but I wouldn’t bet $200 that any new phone isn’t suspect to the same excuse, involving a customized “user experience” that’s not compatible.

So the reason your Android phone could very well not get an Android 4.0 upgrade is that it’s no one company’s job to care about your enjoyment of your phone across two years. Google and some talented open-source programmers made the core phone system, a manufacturer fitted those bits to a particular slab of hardware with some exclusive customizations and branding, a cellular carrier added more customizations and branding, and then a store, kiosk, or web site sold you the phone. You can split your displeasure up into a distinct four-way spread, or you can choose another phone.

How open-source is Android truly?

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:46:00 +0000

Every chance they get, someone from Google brings this up as a huge advantage of Android over rivals like iOS. Never mind the fact that a good percentage of the time it’s pure marketing bullshit — why exactly isn’t Google Wallet on Google’s own Galaxy Nexus device? — even when it’s true, there are some very real downsides. The user experience angle has been debated ad nauseam. More interesting is what we’re seeing now. A downside for Google.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire runs on Android, but nothing about it is Google’s Android. It doesn’t look like Android and it doesn’t feature Google’s own apps. That has to annoy Google, but something exposed the other day must truly piss them off: the Kindle Fire redirects all Android Market requests to Amazon’s Appstore. That includes all attempts to go to market.android.com even when the Fire’s accelerated browsing (routed through Amazon’s servers) is turned off.

Amazon has commandeered Android and is closing it down for their own purposes. The problem for Google is that those purposes are decidedly anti-Google purposes. Amazon wants to control the Android app ecosystem — the one created and nurtured by Google.
Despite what they may have you believe sometimes, Google is not a pro bono company. Their work with Android is an attempt to create another billion dollar-plus business. Apps are a part of this, but the bigger parts are things like payments and content, and of course, search and advertising. Amazon is taking over apps, content, and payments with the Fire. And you have to think that search might be in their sights as well. At the very least, they could cut a lucrative deal with someone like Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine on the Kindle Fire.

This would mean that Google would be making essentially nothing off of each Kindle Fire, even though they created the platform on which it runs. And this matters because the Kindle Fire is poised to be the most successful Android tablet — it may very well be already.

But that’s just tablets, you might say. Google Android still dominate phones. That’s true, Amazon isn’t in the smartphone game — at least not yet. But what happens if the rumors are true and Facebook releases a phone with an OS built on top of Android? And what if they do the exact same things that Amazon is doing? Say they create their own app store, bake in their own payment and content services, and eventually cut a deal with Microsoft to make Bing the default search engine. Remember, Microsoft has a search deal with Facebook already, and is a minority stakeholder in the social network.

And those are just the big guys in the U.S. Companies all around the world are also exploring (or already executing on) using Android as the basis for their own OSes. Some of these help Google, some do not. What if HTC builds they own flavor of Android? What if Samsung does? At least Google knows that Motorola won’t now…

With Android’s rise to smartphone market share domination (but not actual smartphone revenue/profit and/or developer mindshare domination), much has been made of the comparison to what Microsoft did in the 1980s and 1990s to blow past Apple towards PC domination. But one key difference that no one ever seems to bring up is the fact that Windows was anything but open. If you wanted to use it, you had to pay Microsoft. You would never have been able to build your own version of Windows without getting sued into oblivion.

Imagine if Microsoft had open sourced Windows back then. Would they still have become the dominant player? Possibly, maybe even likely at first, but eventually it’s feasible that a competitor would have used their work as the basis for a better version of Windows. That’s the real risk Google is now facing.

Back in May, I wondered what would happen when it’s Google/Android versus Amazon/Android? That was before Amazon’s hardware ambitions were fully revealed. But it seemed obvious this battle was coming. And now it’s here.

Update: With an update, Amazon has unblocked their web browser from accessing the Android Market website, Kevin Tofel reports for GigaOm. But it’s more of a PR move. You still cannot install Android Market apps without side-loading them.

How to master your Facebook Timeline

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Facebook has rolled out its new Timeline feature to the masses.

This ultra-illustrative, chronological listing of posts, photos, shared links, check-ins, and more is a radically different arrangement than the Facebook profile you've been used to.
And now that your life can be exposed for everyone to see -- and scrutinize -- you may be interested in curating the new interface. Once you've activated Facebook Timeline (go here to do so), you've got seven days to tweak it to make sure it's just how you like before it goes live for everyone to see.

Below are five quick tips on how to personalize, privatize, and generally get the most out of Facebook's newest feature. It doesn't take long to master the new interface, and it's an important exercise for anyone interested in, well, reputation management.

1. Privacy 101: How to hide things
You probably already know that Facebook has controversial positions on privacy. So you may now find that some things included on your Timeline are best kept from curious eyes. This could be anything from an embarrassing status message you posted in simpler social media times, to a rant your ex left on your wall a few months ago.

To hide a Timeline element, click the pencil icon at the top of the offending post, then choose "Hide from Timeline." Easy.

And please note: Any privacy settings you've already set still apply to the Timeline interface. So the photos of you getting wild at last weekend's kegger are still safe from Mom.

If you prefer to keep your profile public, but don't want everyone to see what you posted back in high school, for example, you can also tweak your Timeline settings more generally. Click the arrow next to your Home button at the top of the screen to access your Privacy Settings. Scroll down to "Limit the Audience for Past Posts," then choose "Manage Past Post Visibility." Now click "Limit Old Posts" -- all

2. Tell your life story: How to add past events
Privacy, schmivacy! Perhaps, you want the whole world to know the day you were born, the first time you rode a bike, and that debate club award you got in high school. These events aren't listed on your Timeline, but they can be.

To add a status update, photo, place check-in, or life event to your Timeline, simply hover the mouse over the line in the center of the page until it turns into a plus sign, and reveals the option to add one of those four types of posts.

Now, Facebook can accurately reflect your entire life -- and not just the events that occurred after you first signed on.

3. Add some individuality: How to customize your Timeline
There are a number of ways you can personalize your Timeline so it highlights the posts, pictures and events you cherish most.

First, you can add a cover to your Timeline. Toward the top of your profile, above the buttons where it says "Update Info," you should see "Add a Cover." Once you click that, you can select an image from your photos, or opt to upload a new image. Once it loads, you can adjust the positioning of your cover image.

If you set a cover photo and then decide it's not as great as you first thought, just hover your mouse over the image, and a "Change Cover" option menu will pop up, letting you reposition the image or select a new one.

For photo albums you've created, you can change the primary photo that displays (you could do this before, but now the process is different). Simply click the pencil icon in the upper corner of the album post, and select "Change Primary Photo."

You can also choose to highlight a post -- expanding it from a small, half-page-size post to a wide-screen version — by selecting the star icon in the post's upper-right corner. Conversely, you can click the star on a maximized featured post to make it normal again.

4. Appearances matter: How to check out your Timeline from different angles
If you decide to make a number of posts and photos private or hidden from your Timeline, you can still get the full, complete view of your Facebook action history.

On your Timeline, click "Activity Log." There you'll find posts and information you need to review before it publishes to your profile, as well as a complete look at your interactions on Facebook. This is log completely private to you.

You can choose to filter what you see by clicking the "All" dropdown menu at the top. You can choose to see only your posts, posts by others, posts from specific Facebook apps ("Hmm, let's look at my past Farmville accomplishments"), photos and more.

Like before, you can also check how others view your profile. Next to "Activity Log" is a cog icon. Click that, and you can choose "View As..." and either enter a friend's name or click the "public" link to see how your profile looks to strangers.

5. Information overload: How to organize friends and filter updates
Now that your Timeline is all straightened out, you might as well do some house cleaning on what shows up in your Newsfeed.

When you add a friend or follow someone's public updates, Facebook automatically sets the level of posts you see to "Most Updates." You can change this by going to that profile, and clicking the "Subscribed" button. You can change it to "Only Important" updates or "All updates," and you can also filter what types of posts you're interested in seeing: things like life events, status updates, or photos.

And if you haven't done so already, you can organize friends into lists, a la the Google+ Circles feature. Facebook Lists rolled out in September.

Just go to the left-hand side of your Newsfeed page, click "More," and toward the bottom you'll see "Lists." You can add friends individually to lists like Close Friends, Family, or Co-workers. You can click "More" next to Lists to add other lists of your choosing — "Acquaintances," "Poker Club Members," you get the picture.

The average Facebook user has 130 friends, but I'd venture to say that most of you reading this have far more than that, so this will help streamline your Facebooking experience.

One last thing: If you're one of those people who's still into "poking" your friends, you can still do that. Go to your friend's profile, and the Poke option is listed under a gear cog dropdown menu next to "Message."

AT&T Data Throttling Is Just a Political Stunt

noreply@blogger.com (Evanino.com) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:15:00 +0000

AT&T has been throttling download speeds for unlimited data accounts. The move will involve relatively few users, and may be more political than technical, but it also raises the question "who is going to keep any eye on AT&T to make sure they measure usage accurately and don't abuse the throttling?"

AT&T plans to throttle the data speed for the top five percent of data consumers--with a few significant caveats. The throttling only impacts users still grandfathered on the extinct unlimited mobile data plan, and it doesn't count or throttle data over Wi-Fi, just the data consumed over AT&T's wireless data network.

AT&T will start throttling excessive consumption on unlimited data plans.A press release from AT&T explaining the policy change states, "Using Wi-Fi doesn't create wireless network congestion or count toward your wireless data usage. AT&T smartphone customers have unlimited access to our entire Wi-Fi network, with more than 26,000 hotspots, at no additional cost. They can also use Wi-Fi at home and in the office."

AT&T seems to go out of its way to stress just how few users will be affected by this change. It will not apply to users on the tiered data plans. It will only affect a tiny, small, minuscule number of unlimited data plan users--just the five percent who consume as much as 12 times the average wireless data customer.

Something doesn't seem to add up, though. Either AT&T is exaggerating the impact of this 5 percent and making a spectacle out of the policy change as a political move to justify the case for why it "needs" the T-Mobile acquisition approved, or AT&T is not being completely honest with regard to how many users will be affected or what the impact will be.

AT&T has a history of both supporting and battling the concept of net neutrality and FCC oversight. Its words say that net neutrality is unnecessary, and that market pressure is sufficient for the industry to police itself without a government framework defining what is acceptable. However, its actions have repeatedly demonstrated for consumers exactly why a net neutrality framework is vital.

If AT&T is allowed to throttle data speeds based on consumption, how do we determine that AT&T is accurately measuring consumption? AT&T is facing at least one class-action lawsuit related to alleged "phantom data usage" and systematic overcharging of customers. It seems that there at least needs to be some sort of policy or certification that ensures the data usage is measured consistently and accurately.

Ultimately, though, the actual throttling does seem to affect an exceptionally small pool of AT&T customers. It still seems more like political theater than an actual data bandwidth issue.

The final statement of the AT&T press release regarding the data throttling policy supports that theory as well: "But even as we pursue this additional measure, it will not solve our spectrum shortage and network capacity issues. Nothing short of completing the T-Mobile merger will provide additional spectrum capacity to address these near term challenges."