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AT&T, Telekom to press ahead with T-Mobile deal (AP) : Technet |
- AT&T, Telekom to press ahead with T-Mobile deal (AP)
- Thousands queue in Indonesia to buy new Blackberry (AP)
- Lawsuit over 'Jew or not Jew' iPhone app dropped (AP)
- Just Show Me: How to use Amazon’s barcode app on your iPhone (Yahoo! News)
- How to cope with being unfriended on Facebook according to William Shatner (Yahoo! News)
- Artist Illustrates Finely Detailed Comic Book Magazine Cover [TIMELAPSE VIDEO] (Mashable)
- Buying clothes online? New technology may help (Reuters)
- Shadow looms over China's Internet lending market (Reuters)
- Sharp elbows: Shoppers scuffle on Black Friday (AP)
- Patent firm IPCom says to stop HTC German sales (Reuters)
- Facebook mum on whether anticipated smartphone violates net neutrality (Daily Caller)
- 90 people in Indonesia injured in line for BlackBerry Bold 9790 (Digital Trends)
- So you want to get away this Thanksgiving... (Appolicious)
- Analysis: Sprint network upgrade may curb unlimited data (Reuters)
- Online video series celebrates the Pittsburgh dad (AP)
- Rumor: Droid 4 and Galaxy Nexus to be released on December 8 (Digital Trends)
- Microsoft Promises No-Hassle Windows 8 Upgrades (NewsFactor)
| AT&T, Telekom to press ahead with T-Mobile deal (AP) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 07:20 AM PST Deutsche Telekom and AT&T vowed Thursday to press ahead with the planned sale of the German company's T-Mobile USA unit to the U.S. cell phone operator despite concerns raised by American authorities. Nevertheless, AT&T said it plans to take a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the current quarter to reflect the break-up fees that would be due to Deutsche Telekom if regulators block the deal. The two companies said they had withdrawn applications to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the merger and intended to seek its approval again "as soon as practical." They took the step to consider "all options at the FCC and to focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice," which filed a lawsuit in August to stop the deal, AT&T said in a statement. "Both companies are continuing to pursue the sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T," Deutsche Telekom stressed. Both U.S. agencies worry that the deal would hamper competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. Deutsche Telekom AG and AT&T Inc. made their move after the chairman of the FCC earlier this week came out against the merger. Julius Genachowski made his position known in a document he circulated to fellow commissioners Tuesday. He recommended sending AT&T's proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile to an administrative law judge for review and a hearing. That's what the FCC does when it opposes a merger. In a research note Thursday, Jefferies International analyst Ulrich Rathe said the withdrawal of the FCC application, as well as the opposition by the Justice Department, indicate that "the companies are already well into working out a new version of the deal." The analyst, who rates Deutsche Telekom "Buy," said the charge confirms the break-up fee will be difficult for AT&T to avoid if the deal is not completed. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom shares closed down 0.6 percent Thursday at euro8.69 ($11.67), almost mirroring the 0.5 percent decline in the DAX index of blue-chip stocks. The proposed deal, announced in March, would vault the combination of America's No. 2 carrier AT&T and No. 4 T-Mobile into the top spot ahead of Verizon. Dallas-based AT&T has about 101 million wireless subscribers. T-Mobile, the Bellevue, Washington-based subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, has 34 million. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, has about 108 million, while Sprint Nextel Corp. has 53 million. |
| Thousands queue in Indonesia to buy new Blackberry (AP) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 03:08 AM PST JAKARTA, Indonesia – Thousands of Indonesians jammed into a glitzy shopping mall Friday to get hold of the first BlackBerry Bold 9790s being sold worldwide. Fearing a riot, hundreds of police were deployed outside, tying up traffic in the heart of the capital for hours. With a 50 percent discount on the $540 phone for the first 1,000 buyers, lines started forming in front of Pacific Place mall on Thursday night. By daybreak, impatient shoppers started rattling the gates. And when rumors spread that the new smartphones — commonly known as Bellagio — had already sold out, the crowd of 3,000 went crazy. Several people fainted in the crush. Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has experienced a come-from-nowhere tech frenzy in recent years. With 6 million users, BlackBerry dominates the smartphone market. |
| Lawsuit over 'Jew or not Jew' iPhone app dropped (AP) Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:13 AM PST PARIS – French anti-racism groups dropped a lawsuit Thursday against Apple Inc. over an iPhone app called "Jew or not Jew?" after it was removed from circulation worldwide. Lawyer Stephane Lilti, representing four anti-racism associations, said the decision was "motivated by the removal of the application in all countries of the world." Lilti said at a hearing in a Paris court Thursday that the app's designer, Johann Levy, decided to remove it. Lilti said while the groups agreed to drop the lawsuit, their complaint "had beneficial effects." Representatives of Apple in France would not comment on the decision, nor did a lawyer for Apple at the hearing, Coline Warin. The app let users consult a database of celebrities and public figures to see if they are Jewish or not. The app was selling for 0.79 euro cents in France, but was removed from the French online App Store after anti-racism groups initially complained about it in September. The app remained available outside France, however, selling for $1.99 through Cupertino, California-based Apple's U.S. App Store. SOS Racisme, MRAP, the Union of Jewish Students of France and a group called J'accuse joined in a lawsuit against Apple, arguing that the app violated France's strict laws banning the compiling of people's personal details without their consent. Under the French penal code, stocking personal details including race, sexuality, political leanings or religious affiliation is punishable by five-year prison sentences and fines of up to euro300,000 ($411,000). Such laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust, which saw some 76,000 Jews deported from Nazi-occupied France to concentration camps. Fewer than 3,000 returned alive. In an interview published in September, app developer Levy said he developed the app to be "recreational ... as a Jew myself I know that in our community we often ask whether a such-and-such celebrity is Jewish or not," Levy was quoted as saying in the daily Le Parisien. Apple has removed numerous apps from the App Store since it launched in mid-2008 for violating the myriad restrictions it imposes on developers. |
| Just Show Me: How to use Amazon’s barcode app on your iPhone (Yahoo! News) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 07:40 AM PST |
| How to cope with being unfriended on Facebook according to William Shatner (Yahoo! News) Posted: 23 Nov 2011 07:24 PM PST |
| Artist Illustrates Finely Detailed Comic Book Magazine Cover [TIMELAPSE VIDEO] (Mashable) Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:39 PM PST Each day, Mashable highlights one noteworthy YouTube video. Check out all our viral video picks. [More from Mashable: Artists' Digital Masks Move With Your Face [VIDEO]]
In this 11-minute timelapse video, freelance designer Dei Gaztelumendi illustrates a cover for comic book magazine Xabiroi from start to finish. [More from Mashable: 10 Unique Creations Made From Computer Hard Drives [PICS]] In a post on his personal blog, Gaztelumendi says that he was given free reign to choose the subject of the cover, and so he decided to add to his "Post-Apocalyptic Kids" series. This kid, he says, is the toughest yet, and fittingly so -- the illustration was also made as a gift to a friend who lost his leg in a motorbike accident last year. "This is for him, because he really IS the toughest kiddo yet," he writes.
In the video, Gaztelumendi begins with a paper and ink outline, which he then imports into Adobe Photoshop to build out. Given the frame speed, it's difficult to pick up much in the way of technique -- I'd love to have a closer look at the textured brushes he used, for instance -- but the video is enlightening nevertheless. What's particularly impressive is the level of detail Gaztelumendi brings to the piece. As one Reddit commenter remarked, "There were many moments when I thought, 'This is impressively detailed,' but then he kept adding more details." The final illustration:
This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| Buying clothes online? New technology may help (Reuters) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:47 PM PST TORONTO (Reuters) – Asaf Moses is in the midst of displaying a new way to measure body dimensions. A virtual instructor prompts him to turn 90 degrees to the left and adopt various poses such as "The Penguin," aimed at capturing over 20 different measurements using a device that many people have embedded in their laptops -- a simple webcam. "It's capturing everything that's needed to tailor a shirt to your measurements", said Moses. And it's all online. Shoppers generally flock to malls during the holidays beginning on Black Friday, although in recent years many have headed to the Internet. A recent survey by analytics firm comScore predicted online shopping would increase 15 percent this current holiday season. Yet buying apparel from a website can cause problems finding the right size, look and fit for your body type and personal tastes. As a result, several technology companies have created new ways for people to size themselves up at home. Moses, the co-founder of one such technology company from Germany, UPcload, said his system takes just three minutes and generates measurements as accurate as a tailor. Once measured, shoppers will be able to access their measurements at supporting retailers' websites so they can see, for example, if a size small-sized t-shirt will fit around their chest or be long enough to drape down their torso. Fits.me is taking the task of finding the perfect fit a step further by using robotic mannequins with dimensions similar to a shopper's in a sort of virtual fitting room. "Robots are a fantastic tool to see how garments look on differently sized human bodies", said Heikki Haldre, co-founder and CEO of the Estonia-based company. Each garment is photographed 2000 times, accounting for the permutations of body measurements that the robots morph into. "When the customer goes online to see the garment on their body measurements, they are seeing one of those pre-recorded images," said Haldre. Fits.me's virtual fitting rooms are currently being used by retailers such as Thomas Pink and Ermenegildo Zegna. Haldre said that users of the technology are almost 10 times more likely to make a purchase. PERSONALIZING ONLINE SHOPPING That boost is significant. Forrester Research forecasts that only 10.9 percent of apparel and accessories transactions will be conducted online by the end of 2011, far less than the 25 percent for books and 17 percent for consumer electronics. "Books and electronics are the most penetrated categories because they're easy to purchase online -- you don't need to touch or feel them," said Sucharita Mulpuru, vice president and principal analyst of eBusiness for Forrester Research. Mulpuru said the apparel shoppers' online hesitancy is complex, extending beyond finding the perfect fit. "It's not just a science. A lot of it is personal preference," which is difficult for technology to address. Moses of UPcload said accounting for people's varying tastes is something the company considered during development. "When we started, we had this intention to tell you your size ... (but) people's preferences play an enormous role. Some people want their clothing tight, and some want it loose," he explained. Now UPcload just provides details on the fit. Haldre of Fits.me agrees. "The fitting room looks at size from the perspective that 'it's a matter of a style', he said. "It's surprising how many people choose a size that is not recommended by the size chart. Almost half would go for a size smaller, or even a couple sizes larger." Looking ahead, Haldre envisions an online shopping world where people will "see how clothing will look on them -- with their face and other apparel they might be wearing." For instance, another company, Zugara, lets customers overlay garments on themselves using a webcam. Haldre predicted the convergence of various technologies would create a big shift in shopping, eventually leading to online making up 30 percent of apparel purchases. But Mulpuru was more skeptical. "I don't know that we'll ever get to 30 percent, because ultimately it's a very personal decision," she said. "So much of what happens in a store is not just about fit. It's also about someone saying 'that looks great on you' and getting social validation for a product -- and that's something that an algorithm definitely can't account for." (Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Chris Michaud) |
| Shadow looms over China's Internet lending market (Reuters) Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:34 PM PST SUZHOU, China (Reuters) – One of the worst cash crunches in decades is hitting Chinese companies, but for Pan Zhengqiang, borrowing money recently has been as smooth as the well-oiled machines at his widget factory in the farmlands surrounding Suzhou. In China, bank loans are mostly off limits to small businesses. Many entrepreneurs have long relied on funding from friends and family, but that source is drying up, too. Instead, a boom in online sites that link up private lenders and borrowers, also known as peer-to-peer or P2P lending sites, have brought Pan and his wife Huang Yanhong a new stable stream of financing. "Sometimes we have a sudden, short-term need for funding. We might get a new big order, or a client may delay a payment," said Huang, who like her husband is a former factory worker. The couple have 60,000 yuan ($9,375) in outstanding loans from PaiPaiDai (www.ppdai.com), one of China's best known online lending sites. They pay about 22 percent in annual interest -- more than triple China's benchmark lending rate of 6.56 percent -- and can get the funds in as fast as three days. "Without PaiPaiDai, we'd have huge difficulty." Small firms, which account for 75 percent of the urban job sin China, have borne the brunt of credit curbs as banks have preferred to lend to big, state-backed enterprises, forcing them to turn to high-interest informal loan markets and raising the risk of a credit collapse. PaiPaiDai has more than 120 million yuan in outstanding loans to 10,000 borrowers, most of them tiny businesses like Pan and Huang's. The limit on lending is 200,000 yuan, and the average loan size is 9,000 yuan. LUCRATIVE RETURNS FOR LENDERS Borrowers need to upload a range of personal information, including a scan of their ID card and their household registration book, which contains all the details of the person's family, birth place, family home and education. If the borrower is late in paying, the information, starting from the mobile phone number, is gradually released to the lender. Less than 1 percent of its loans have gone bad, said co-founder Hu Honghui. For people like PaiPaiDai lender Zhou Yongxin, who has lent out more than 400,000 yuan, these sites are a welcome investment channel. Stamps and coins, which he also invests in, are tricky to sell and he's been burned by the stock market. Zhou has made about 20 percent on his investments through the site this year, with about 1 percent of loans going bad. The lending business is risky as there is no collateral. When loans turn sour, lenders some times resort to posting information on the Internet and hounding borrowers to repay. WARNING OF ABUSES While online financing fills a crucial need in China, lack of regulation is leading to abuses. There are no statistics for the size of the P2P industry, but Hu of PaiPaiDai has counted more than 30 online P2P loan sites that have sprung up. That is against a backdrop of micro-credit loans more than doubling in a year to 287.5 billion yuan by the end of June, according to data from the central bank. Some firms guarantee principal and interest to lure money from Chinese lenders fed up with negative real interest rates on their savings deposits. Others essentially pool money into a fund, rather than offering the relatively transparent, one-to-one online matches of borrowers and lenders. "It happens quite often that one person will borrow money from several online lending sites and then the risk is huge," PaiPaiDai lender Zhou said. "So we hope the government will come out with some regulations for the industry." In August, the China Banking Regulatory Commission issued a warning about P2P lending. It said some P2P lending firms have evolved into illegal financing firms, taking deposits and making loans. The CBRC declined to answer questions on the issue. "I think the information disclosure is very bad. Even the P2P company and the investor, they don't know whether the borrower is trustworthy or credible," said Gary Liu, deputy director at CEIBS Lujiazui International Finance Research Center, a Shanghai-based think tank. "They don't have enough information to control the risk." The CBRC warning alarmed some foreign venture capital investors, who had been interested in the vast potential of China's consumer finance market. A year ago, new regulations for online payment systems, the Chinese versions of PayPal, forced out some foreign investors who had taken stakes in that sector. But foreign firms are keeping their eye on the opportunities. U.S. P2P lending site Prosper Marketplace Inc. hopes a recent $7 million investment from China-focused investment firm IDG Capital Partners will help it get to China, according to CEO Chris Larsen. IDG also invested in CreditEase, China's largest P2P lender. Larsen said he expects a period of regulatory adjustments will eventually help the industry in China. CreditEase does not see any regulatory threats to its business or its big foreign investors, which also include U.S. venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers. KPCB did not reply to questions about its investment in CreditEase. "We foresee more and more regulatory scrutiny. I think for a healthy industry, it's about self discipline," said CreditEase CEO Tang Ning. Tang has built up a P2P lending business with more than 1 billion yuan in outstanding loans to over 70,000 Chinese, including farmers, students and entrepreneurs. The company has 8,000 team members screening applicants in over 50 cities across China. Unlike PaiPaiDai, the CreditEase website does not allow new lenders or borrowers to meet directly. For Tang, how the two parties are paired up is less important than making sure both sides are real. "How a loan is made is not legally regulated. A bank or an individual can make a credit or a collateral loan. No problem," he said. (Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby in Beijing; Editing by Lucy Hornby and Jacqueline Wong) |
| Sharp elbows: Shoppers scuffle on Black Friday (AP) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 08:05 PM PST A shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an Xbox and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the U.S. as bargain-hunters crowded stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the madness known as Black Friday. For the first time, chains such as Target, Best Buy and Kohl's opened their doors at midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. Toys R Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows. Near Muskegon, Mich., a teenage girl was knocked down and stepped on several times after getting caught in the rush to a sale in the electronics department at a Walmart. She suffered minor injuries. On Thanksgiving night, a Walmart in Los Angeles brought out a crate of discounted Xboxes, and as a crowd waited for the video game players to be unwrapped, a woman fired pepper spray at the other shoppers "in order to get an advantage," police said. Ten people suffered cuts and bruises in the chaos, and 10 others had minor injuries from the spray, authorities said. The woman got away in the confusion, and it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox. On Friday morning, police said, two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. A man was arrested in a scuffle at a jewelry counter at a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla. Wal-Mart Stores, the nation's biggest retailer, has taken steps in recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008 death of one of its workers in a stampede of shoppers. This year, it staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at once. Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S., but there were "a few unfortunate incidents." The incidents were attributed to two converging Black Friday trends: Crowds are getting bigger as stores open earlier and stay open later. At the same time, cash-strapped shoppers are competing for deals on a small number of gifts that everybody wants — tablet computers, TVs and game consoles like Xbox, Nintendo 3S and Wii. That's a shift from years past, when there was a wider range of must-have items. "The more the people, the more the occurrences," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group. A record number of shoppers are expected this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected to shop, either online or in stores, an increase of about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Thanksgiving weekend, particularly Black Friday, is huge for retailers. Over the past six years, Black Friday was the biggest sales day of the year, and it is expected to keep that crown this year, though shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year, and the fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the last few days before Christmas. Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak, a research firm. Black Friday made up about half of that. ShopperTrak is expected to release sales data on Saturday on how Black Friday fared, but a better picture will emerge when major retailers report their November sales figures next Thursday. In addition to opening earlier than usual this year, some stores offered to match their competitors' prices, rolled out layaway programs or offered more door-buster deals than last year. Emmanuel Merced and his brother showed up at a Best Buy in New York at 3 p.m. on Wednesday so they could be the first in line when it opened at midnight Thursday to grab a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199.99, a PlayStation 3 with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced said he likes camping out for Black Friday and figured he saved 50 percent. "I like the experience of it," said Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season. To be sure, not every place was full on Black Friday. With so many major stores opening at midnight, many people stayed up late and shopped early. Then there were those who stuck to their normal routine of going to stores that opened later Friday morning. That left a lull in the hours just before and after daybreak. At a Target on Chicago's North Side, crowds were light four hours after the store opened at midnight. And door-buster deals, including the typically quick-to-sell-out TVs and game systems, remained piled up in their boxes. Shoppers pushed carts through mostly empty aisles while thumbing through circulars, and employees in Santa hats roamed the store. There was no Christmas music — or any music — playing. Rebecca Carter, a graduate assistant, began Black Friday shopping at 11 p.m. on Thursday and left Target around 4 a.m. carrying a bag full of pillows. Carter said the crowds were noticeably lighter this year as she and a friend picked up a 32-inch TV for $180 and a laptop for $198, along with toys and pajamas. "It's quiet," she said. "It was shocking." Melody Snyder of Vancouver, Wash., had braced herself for anarchy when she got to Walmart at 6 a.m. but was pleasantly surprised when she pulled into the parking lot. "I got here and thought, `Where is everyone?'" said Snyder, who found some Barbies and other toys sold out but was still able to find gifts for her three kids. ___ Retail writers Mae Anderson and Anne D'Innocenzio are in New York. Sarah Skidmore in Vancouver, Wash., Christina Rexrode in Cary, N.C., Ashley Heher in Chicago and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report. |
| Patent firm IPCom says to stop HTC German sales (Reuters) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 11:52 AM PST (Reuters) – German patent firm IPCom plans to halt as quickly as possible the sale of all HTC smartphones in Germany, another blow to the Taiwanese firm just two days after it shocked markets by cutting its fourth-quarter outlook. IPCom said on Friday it would enforce an injunction based on a Mannheim court decision from February 2009 after HTC, the fourth largest smartphone vendor globally, withdrew its appeal, which was due to be decided on next week. "IPCom now intends to execute this injunction in the shortest possible time," the company said in a statement. "We will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season." HTC confirmed it pulled the appeal on Friday and said it thought it was redundant as a German patent court has questioned the validity of the patent in question. Analysts and lawyers said the withdrawal gives HTC time to battle against two other patents which could have been decided upon next week, while it can still try to delay the original injunction. "While HTC can try to oppose the enforcement of the injunction, my research shows that the odds are very long against HTC on this one," said German patent expert and blogger Florian Mueller. UNDER FIRE Possible sales halt in Germany, one of the largest smartphone markets in Europe, comes at a time when HTC struggles to hold on to its position on the smartphone market. "This represents an unwelcome distraction during an already difficult quarter for HTC," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber. Late last month, HTC warned that revenue would fall by up to 8 percent in October-December from the third quarter, and this week it flagged a much bigger drop, citing tougher competition and the global downturn. The stock has fallen 30 percent in eight straight trading days. The popularity of Apple's iPhones and Samsung Electronics's Galaxy line-up, recession-weary shoppers and long-running lawsuits have taken the gloss off what was one of the industry's biggest success stories. IPCom has battled for years against HTC and Nokia in European courts. IPCom had acquired Bosch's mobile telephony patent portfolio, created between the mid-1980s and 2000, which includes about 160 patent families worldwide, including some of the key patents in the wireless industry, such as patent 100, which standardizes a cellphone's first connection to a network. (Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Will Waterman, Bernard Orr) |
| Facebook mum on whether anticipated smartphone violates net neutrality (Daily Caller) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:26 PM PST |
| 90 people in Indonesia injured in line for BlackBerry Bold 9790 (Digital Trends) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 04:43 PM PST
Customers had been in line since 4 pm the day before waiting for the sale to start. Rumors started spreading throughout the massive crowd that there wasn't enough phones for everyone in line so they started to get a little rowdy. The crowd pushed through a barricade which caused at least 90 people to pass out and three people to suffer broken bones. It took 200 police officers and security guards to restore order to the mob. Three people were rushed to the hospital for treatment to their injuries. While it might be a little surprising for us here in the U.S. but BlackBerry is by far the most popular phone maker in Indonesia. Four of the top five selling phones are made by BlackBerry. Combine the insane popularity of the device with a half off discount on a recently released device and this sort of situation is predictable. Local police said that BlackBerry officials will be questioned for failure to provide a safe environment for the sale. The police were not informed by BlackBerry prior to the event, and say that if they were they would have been able to control the situation. After the initial mob was dispersed phones went back on sale for a short time until ultimately the sale was shut down prematurely. There is no word as of right now if other retailers will attempt a similar promotion, but Indonesians should be able to buy the 9790 at any of their local BlackBerry retailers starting tomorrow. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends RIM to block adult content on BlackBerries in Indonesia RIM officially launches BBM music service |
| So you want to get away this Thanksgiving... (Appolicious) Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:00 AM PST |
| Analysis: Sprint network upgrade may curb unlimited data (Reuters) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:39 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sprint Nextel may be forced to abandon the biggest advantage it has over its rivals - unlimited data services for a flat fee - because of heavy data users and a shortage of wireless airwaves. Moreover, the increasing likelihood that AT&T's plan to buy T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth-largest mobile operator, will fail may have the paradoxical result of making Sprint's position even more untenable, according to analysts who follow all three companies. Sprint, the nation's third-largest mobile service provider, is planning to upgrade its network with the latest mobile standard, Long Term Evolution. But it is launching that service with only half the wireless airwaves bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc have assigned, leading experts to suggest that the popularity of Sprint's unlimited data plan could put a strain on the network or slow down Web surfing speeds. Sprint has assigned just 10 megahertz of spectrum for the launch compared with its rivals' 20 megahertz, analysts say. It will have to reassign airwaves being used for other services in order to expand its capacity for LTE. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, which cap data use to stem overcapacity issues brought on by heavy users, Sprint is the only big U.S. carrier still selling unlimited data for a flat fee to users of smartphones, including the Apple Inc iPhone, on its current network. "It's a very bare-bones implementation of LTE," said Tolaga Research analyst Phil Marshall. "The risk is, if you don't have headroom as your LTE subscriber base grows, then the speeds will go down." In that situation, Marshall does not see Sprint being able to continue to offer unlimited services. "Unlimited is going to kill them," he said. "I think they're going to have to back off from the all-you-can-eat plan." Unlimited data is a strong selling point for Sprint, which has been struggling for years to retain customers. For Sprint to keep the marketing advantage it has over rivals, one option could be for it to institute usage caps that are considerably higher than those of its competitors. "That's a lever they can play if they run into being constrained," said an industry source who asked not to be named due to a lack of authorization to speak publicly. "It's inevitable that they will eventually have to put caps (on their data use)." SPRINT: NO HEADACHE Sprint, which is spending $7 billion to upgrade its network to LTE by the end of 2013, says concerns about its capacity are overblown, arguing that advanced technology allows it to make the most of its spectrum resources. Bob Azzi, a Sprint executive in charge of the company's network, said the company's plans assume that it will keep its unlimited data service during the LTE rollout. "I don't consider it a headache," he told Reuters, "We have a good understanding of the nature of those plans and what they do." Azzi added that the section of the 1,900 megahertz spectrum band Sprint has set aside for LTE is currently unused. He also plans to reallocate spectrum in its 800 megahertz band to use for the high-speed service by early 2014, provided it can secure regulatory approval to do so. That spectrum is currently being used by the aging iDen service Sprint hopes to shut down in mid-2013. Sprint is also in talks with Clearwire Corp, its majority-owned venture, about expanding their partnership to cover LTE. Sprint currently depends on Clearwire's network for its fastest service based on WiMax technology, and the latest talks are aimed at allowing it to piggyback on Clearwire's LTE to help it boost capacity in the "hottest of hotspots" by 2014 when Azzi says Sprint will need more capacity. But the future of Sprint's tempestuous relationship with Clearwire is murky since it is not yet certain if Clearwire will raise the roughly $1 billion in new funding it needs to upgrade its network to LTE. Clearwire lost one-third of its value after Sprint said on October 7 that a bankruptcy filing by the company could be "constructive." Clearwire shareholders again fled on November 18 after the company said it may skip a debt interest payment due December 1. Many analysts saw that pronouncement as a negotiating tactic to try to force Sprint's hand into an agreement with favorable terms for Clearwire. SOAP OPERA One investment manager described the Clearwire/Sprint relationship as a "soap opera" that will end with an agreement because they are both heavily dependent on each other. "In the short term Sprint doesn't need them beyond (WiMax) but they do need them later," said the manager, who asked not to be named. Even if Sprint and Clearwire reach an agreement, however, Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett is skeptical about how much it would help because of the frequency Clearwire's spectrum is on, which he said causes signal problems within buildings. "Now that the person next to you at the conference table is surfing away on Verizon ... the shortcomings of Clearwire become painfully apparent," Moffett said. Moffett also noted that even if Clearwire upgrades its network, it will still have coverage for only about one-third of the U.S. population because it would need to raise a lot more funding than it is currently seeking to extend its network into new markets. Since Sprint has already had to tap capital markets for $4 billion in debt and needs up to $3 billion more in funding for its own network upgrade, analysts are skeptical it can come up with the money to help Clearwire expand further. "What are you going to do with the (rest) of the United States? You can't just limp around on one leg," said Moffett, who has a "hold" rating on Sprint due to the uncertainty around its strategy. The uncertainty around AT&T's deal for T-Mobile USA is another big wrinkle in the Sprint story. On Thursday, AT&T withdrew its application for deal approval with the Federal Communications Commission, saying that it would focus on its legal battle with the Department of Justice. If that deal is approved, it leaves Sprint as a distant No. 4. But if it is blocked, as many analysts now expect, T-Mobile USA may look for another partner, according to the investment manager. Instead of forging a deal with Clearwire or Sprint, Moffett suggested that T-Mobile USA would instead turn to U.S. cable operators such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable. Some investors had hoped these companies would come to Sprint's aid as they are part-owners in Clearwire. But since the cable operators have unused spectrum in the same band as T-Mobile USA, Moffett suggested that the cable providers would instead create a partnership with that company if it has to abandon the AT&T deal. Sprint has loudly opposed the AT&T/T-Mobile USA deal, a position that Moffett said was against its best interests. "Now Sprint loses its logical partners in the cable operators," said Moffett, who described a potential cable/T-Mobile deal as a "match made in heaven." Moreover, some analysts said that the $6 billion breakup package AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile if the deal fails would make T-Mobile into a more formidable rival to Sprint in the market for cost-conscious mobile consumers. The uncertainty means that Sprint does not "know exactly how desperate they are at any given point in time," said the investment manager, noting that Sprint's $2.38 share price speaks volumes about investor confidence in the operator's strategy. "It shows there's not a whole lot of faith out there that they'll be able to successfully execute on these things,' this person said. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Peter Lauria and Matthew Lewis) |
| Online video series celebrates the Pittsburgh dad (AP) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 04:04 PM PST PITTSBURGH – A new online video series about a stereotypical Pittsburgh father is attracting tens of thousands of viewers. "Pittsburgh Dad" celebrates and makes fun of the unique speech of the working-class city, where yinz means you all, nebby means nosy and redd up means clean up. The series is available on YouTube. It's so successful that creator and director Chris Preksta plans more than a dozen new episodes, starring his actor friend Curt Wootton as the dad. Preksta is known for the SyFy channel series "The Mercury Men." He's filming "Pittsburgh Dad" on an iPhone. The dad character tells his children not to be wasteful by leaving out half-empty cans of soda pop and promises they'll be drinking "hose water" if the behavior continues. Wootton say the character is modeled off his own father. ___ Online: |
| Rumor: Droid 4 and Galaxy Nexus to be released on December 8 (Digital Trends) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 10:54 AM PST
There has still been no official word out of Verizon or Motorola about the existence of the Droid 4, so it is surprising that a marque phone would be released without any marketing to date. The rumored specs for the Droid 4 match up very closely with the recently released Droid RAZR. The biggest differences would be that the Droid 4 will have a slide out keyboard and a smaller 4 inch Super AMOLED Advanced display instead of the RAZR's 4.3 inch display. We already know pretty much everything about the Galaxy Nexus device, expect the release date and the price. When it was first announced Google said it would be available in the United States sometime in November. Recently we heard that that date has been pushed back to December but no date was confirmed. The Galaxy Nexus is Google's latest reference device that will be the first phone or tablet to be launched with the newest flavor of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. It is hard to imagine why Verizon would be so secretive about the release of these two devices. The Droid line up has been an anchor in Verizon's Android line up, and the Galaxy Nexus might be the most anticipated Android phone release in over a year. This article was originally posted on Digital Trends More from Digital Trends Samsung, Google confirm Galaxy Nexus volume bug Ice Cream Sandwich ported to Samsung Galaxy S II Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich source code is now officially available Google is giving away 10 Galaxy Nexus phones in Twitter contest |
| Microsoft Promises No-Hassle Windows 8 Upgrades (NewsFactor) Posted: 25 Nov 2011 08:26 AM PST Microsoft is working to streamline the installation process for Windows 8 once its newest operating-system version becomes available to consumers next year. The software giant's Windows setup and deployment team aims to "reduce the time from start to finish," said Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft's Windows business division. Some PC users will avoid the problem altogether by buying a new PC that ships with Windows 8 pre-installed. According to Microsoft, however, more than 450 million PCs are running Windows 7 that also will be able to run Windows 8, and many systems running Windows Vista and even Windows XP also will be eligible for an upgrade. "Support for these PCs running different Windows versions is a big challenge in terms of testing all possible upgrade paths, languages, service packs, architectures, and editions," noted Christa St. Pierre, a member of the Windows setup and deployment team. Pushing Upgrades Microsoft intends to reduce the number of hoops that users must jump through in order to get Windows 8 up and running on their machines. After all, the goal at Microsoft is the same as always: to compel as many PC users as possible to buy the company latest OS upgrade. The problem is that many PC customers have come to regard an operating-system upgrade as a formidable challenge, either based on their own prior upgrade experiences or those of friends and family members. In 2010 Microsoft commissioned a study of how people make PC purchase decisions, and also talked to customers to find out more. "Even though many customers wanted to upgrade" to Windows 7, St. Pierre noted, the current setup experience "just wasn't easy enough to make them feel confident in doing so." With Windows 8, Microsoft intends to offer two upgrade paths: one for people looking to minimize the hassle and a second for those customers who want more control. For the first customer group, Microsoft will provide a streamlined setup that customers can implement by running an .exe file from a DVD or via Web delivery. "The first group typically runs setup in the user interface (UI) of their current Windows OS -- in other words, they launch it like an app," St. Pierre wrote. For the second group, which typically runs setup from boot media, the software giant will deliver an advanced setup that runs when the user boots off a DVD or USB key. "Advanced setup is the home of all things familiar to the advanced user, including full support for unattended installation, partition selection, and formatting," St. Pierre said. Online Install Improvements Once Windows 8 launches next year, Microsoft intends to heavily promote Web-based installations, though boxed sets also will remain available for purchase in brick-and-mortar stores or from online retailers. "With our Web setup experience, we actually 'pre-key' the setup image that is downloaded to a unique user, which means that you don't have to type in the 25-digit product key when you install," St. Pierre said. The online installation process for Windows 7 customers was so complicated that it required users to click their way through 60 different screens to complete. With Windows 8, however, the separate compatibility adviser, download manager and install segments for Windows 7 have been condensed into a single, streamlined experience. "We first determine if your PC, apps, and devices will work in the new OS, note which things you want to keep -- apps, files and/or settings -- and then install the new OS," St. Pierre wrote. What's more, "you can choose to keep all, some, or none of your personal data depending on the OS you're upgrading from, and your personal preferences." |
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