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Society RSS FeedsApple Pays Up Over Battery Woes - Apple has agreed to pay refunds of $25 to $79 to more than 2 million Mac owners to resolve claims that some of its power adapters were prone to spark. Nice to see cash actually going to the consumers who suffered through this, not to the lawyers who brought the suit. We've all been there before, eh? The 2006 class-action suit alleged that Apple misrepresented problems with the power adapters. In 2001, Apple recalled about 570,000 adapters sol...Feed Source: feeds.feedburner.com AT&T Can't Make Up Its Mind -
What's a major telco to do when it can't make up its mind?
Put things on the website one day and then remove them the next?
Here ya go? AT&T has flip-flopped again on whether iPhone customers can get free access to AT&T hotspots.
Yesterday, the iPhone plans page on the AT&T web site clearly stated that access to the hotspots was included with all plans (didn't I just blog about this?), but now that statement has disappeared.
Now if they co... Amazon offers Click-To-Call Ordering - I was on Amazon.com looking for a Garmin GPS when I noticed I had the ability to click "Call me" to order stuff from Amazon. Interesting. Curious, I clicked the Call me button and saw this:
As seen above, it appears eStara is powering Amazon's Click-to-Call capabilities. Now I realize this isn't new "news" since the WSJ wrote about Amazon using eStara awhile back. However, in all of my Amazon shopping I've never come across ... Blackberry 9000 Is Coming Next Week! -
Exciting news for all Blackberry fans -- seems like the highly touted 9000 is due to be announced May 12!
Take a look at The Boy Genius here (thanks for the photo!) for a bit more and here at Crackberry for a three-part review of the little beauty.
Tags: Blackberry 9000, Crackberry, The Boy Genius
Related Entries
... HP Goes Upline -
Do we really need another online storage company?
Apparently, HP thinks so and has launched Upline, a data storage service that lets you put your data in a more secure, online headquarters location.
As we should have learned by now, automatic backup makes securing data simple, not just one time, but as often as you choose. And with any Internet connection you can easily access, share, manipulate and store your data from anywhere.
Three plans ... AT&T To Give iPhone Wi-Fi Hotspot Access? -
We can never get enough iPhone news or juicy rumors, so here we go again!
According to MacRumors, AT&T's iPhone website (under the Plans tab) has been updated to note that each iPhone plan now includes access to their "more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks all for use in the U.S."
Not officially announced, but then again
Read more about it here.
Tags: AT&T, iPhone, MacRumors, ... New Dell Notebooks Coming? -
The steady pace of computer technology marches on
According to a report on Engadget (here), Dell is set to launch a series of new Inspiron notebooks.
Having had an Inspiron 700m for what sees like ages now, feel good that Dell is coming off of its battery woes, but only time (and the gadget-buying public) will prove that right
And that may be soon, with the first one apparently coming right around Memorial Day.
Tags: Dell, Inspir... SkyFire Review - Rich Tehrani has a great review on the SkyFire browser that gives Windows Mobile devices the Apple iPhone browsing experience. Well, not quite, but definitely much better than the built-in Windows Mobile browser. It supports easy zooming, Flash support, videos (including YouTube videos) and more. Rich was getting so frustrated with the crappy Windows Mobile browser that he even weighed the pros and cons of switching to the Apple iPhone from ... Jangl & TalkPlus Spell VoIP Troubles Ahead? - Om over at GigaOm writes that Jangl was looking to sell itself earlier this week and is "headed towards an ignominious end" and adds that Talkplus "is going nowhere fast". I wrote a detailed write-up on TalkPlus, interviewing TalkPlus CEO Jeff Black at ITEXPO and my biggest fascination was how the supposedly reverse engineered Skype. I wrote, "One final interesting thing we talked about at ITEXPO is that TalkPlus has buil... Covad Vonage Deal Redux - I was emailing industry analyst Jon Arnold about some things and mentioned I quoted him in my post this morning about the Covad & Vonage partnership and the resulting product offering called/branded "Vonage Broadband" and soon to be carried by Covad.
He wrote back with some interesting insights of his own regarding the deal and wonders if it's a good move or one of desperation. That thought had crossed my mind as well and I nearly ... South Korea Blocks VoIP - here we go again... - Do you recall my 2006 post about South Korea wanting to ban VoIP, which would also include U.S. military bases and military personnel serving in South Korea? Well, according to today's Vonage Form thread it appears South Korea has taken a playbook from the Great Firewall of China and is now blocking U.S. military personnel from making inexpensive VoIP calls back to the U.S.
The Vonage forum thread was started by a U.S. Air Force serviceman claim... Covad to offer Vonage Broadband - Vonage and Covad Communications today announced a strategic relationship which will enable Vonage to provide its customers with a broadband solution using Covad’s nationwide DSL network. The new service, called Vonage Broadband, is expected to be offered to new and existing customers by the end of the year.
This is interesting, since Covad's strength has always been in offering business VoIP services not residential. Though, I should point... Real iPhone Competition? -
High Tech Computer, a little-known but fast-growing Taiwanese gadget maker, has unveiled a its Touch Diamond, a touch-screen smart phone that is the latest product in its surprisingly (so far) successful effort to compete against Apple's iPhone.
Unveiled in London with plans for European sales next month, this follows the Touch, which has sold well since its launch last June, a few weeks before the iPhone launch.
Plans are for the phone to be av... Zune To Come with Copyright 'Cop'? -
Now we know some (at least) of the reason that NBC pulled its TV shows, etc., out of iTunes and threw its lot in with Zune -- pricing and copyright protection.
In a nutshell, NBC doesn't want to price every one of its show at $1.99 -- which Appleapparently insists they do -- and they want to make sure all material played on these neat little gadgets is protected by copyright -- something Apple is apparently not concerned with, but Microsoft is.
... iPort Keeps It Simple -
The iPort FS is a free-standing docking system that enables an Apple iPod to become integrated into a whole-home audio system, and it can be used as a source in a variety of local audio systems.
The small iPort Dock can be placed on a desk, table or other convenient location, allowing quick and easy insertion of an iPod, with connections to both the audio/video system and the user’s computer.
By pressing a single button on the iPort, you ... Packet8 Drops International Calling Phone Rates - Calls to China dropped from 3¢ per minute to now 1¢ per minute? Wow! That's a 67% drop! All I can say is it is absolutely amazing how far prices have dropped. The race to zero/free calling continues
Packet8 sent me an email announcing several price drops. They also stated, "And now all calls to India are only 5.9¢ per minute — permanently!" While that's a great rate, not sure they want to pain themselves in a... O-FONE Supports SIP on Symbian S60 mobile phone - Rich received an email from O-FONE claiming they are the "First s60 SIP Symbian client". I'm not so sure about being the "first" since Truphone has a SIP client for Symbian phones, so do Jajah & Fring -- and there are others I've come across as well. Buzz2talk, from Indtelesoft had a SIP client for Symbian phones with PTT (push-to-talk) functionality way back in 2004. Alas, when I try and go to Indtelesoft's website, ... Onsia Makes Invisible Speakers -
Sure do wish I could show you a picture
For all of us that want installed sound in every room of our nest, but don't want to see speaker panels all over the place, a company called Onsia is offering what it calls the first truly concealed flat panel speaker system. Designed to blend invisibly into any living space or office setting, (according to the company) only their remarkable performance will remind you they’re there.
The speaker... Get the Point ... -
The Touch Screen Pointer from Krussell is a universal stylus that replaces the original stylus and can't be misplaced of lost
Interesting product, gentle on touch screens, that takes the company beyond its core PDA and cell phone case market -- and they do make nice cases.
www.krusell.se
Tags: cell phone, Krusell, PDA, Touch Screen Pointer
Related Entries
... Telcos Join Forces to Battle Skype? - According to analysts at ThinkAnton (ThinkPanmure), AT&T and other international incumbents plan on launching a global Skype competitor.
"We believe that AT&T, in conjunction with perhaps 10-15 other incumbent operators such as British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, and NTT, is preparing to launch, in 2009, a competitor of sorts to Skype. We believe that the motivation to do this would be to keep subscribers from completely disappearing... Zune Marches On! - Microsoft just announced that Zune, the company’s "all-in-one digital entertainment brand," is adding new software features and content to the Zune online store, music community and Zune Pass monthly subscription service.
Of particular note, Zune is expanding its video store to include downloads of popular television shows from Comedy Central, MTV, NBC Universal, Nickelodeon, Starz Media, Turner Broadcasting, Ultimate Fighting Champion... Is Flip the Future of Video? -
Just like Palm simplified the handheld organizer in what now seems eons ago, perhaps Flip Video is heading in the same direction with its low-cost, streamlined (I mean not a lot to learn) digital video camera at a price point that is half the cost of what we have come to accept as "typical" digital video camera capabilities.
I've just gotten my gadget-y hands on one of the groovy Ultra models and will report back soon from the field on what may ... Blu-ray in Your Plans? -
Seems that Blu-ray sales have not taken off, despite the all-but-official demise of HD DVD. You can read more at Ars Technica here.
Really hard not to see why, when prices remain high and supply remains low -- besides, how many copies of the same movie in different formats do you need?
Am sure many of us still have video copies of the DVDs stuck in our closet, taking up space and being considered for sale at a pittance on eBay
Now through in ... Free Albums!! NIN Gives Another Away -
Everybody loves free albums, and Nine Inch Nails is giving away another one, according to Mashable.comhttp://mashable.com/2008/05/05/nine-inch-nails-give-yet-another-album-for-free/.
The Slipis a full-length album available for download at nin.com.
Will record companies eventually disappear or will they morph into something totally unrecognizable?
Anybody have any crystal ball gazingon what the future looks like for "the majors"?
Tags: free albu... TMC's Biggest Loser Finale - TMC's Biggest Loser contest just ended today. First, congratulations to Alan Urkawich for winning TMC's contest who lost 36.4 pounds and 15.4% & took the $375 prize. However, if you recall, I wasn't allowed to join TMC's competition, so I made a one-way $100 bet of my own that I could beat all 5 contestants. My wife told me "Don't come home if you have to pay $100 to anyone. What are you doing making one-way bets anyway? You had nothing ... Xbox 360 Goes Blu-ray? - Xbox 360 with Blu-ray is coming?!
Now that starts to make the concept of the all-in-one home entertainment appliance take a new, higher-res turn.
Check out what Engadget had to say about it.
See what happens when one format wins out over another? All types of new tech innovation takes another small (or sometimes) large step forward!
One can only image what the "console war" will look like come holiday shopping season!!!
Tags: Blu-ray, Xbox 360... Taking a Slice Out of Apple's Time Machine - No doubt about it, but Apple's Time Machine is a wonderful piece of magic, er software, that enables you to easily backup your computer and then easily see all of the files you've backed up.
Trouble is that you can eat up a lot of your storage real estate by having redundant files upon files upon files upon files (just like all of those stacks).
Here's a link from Tidbits that helps you first see how much space Time Machine is using and then give... Who's the Best in Cell Carrier Land? - Been thinking about changing cell phone companies again and wanted to find out what the faithful readers of this blog have to say about the various companies.
Let's see I've been on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon over the years, and the problem is that service reliability seems to come and go. One company is better for two years, then another, then another
And let's throw in a merger here and a merger there and how that affects customers!?
Oh, by ... What Would Have Been Your Choice Before Guitar Hero: Aerosmith? -
Why some of us may get very jazzed up about the upcoming release -- next month! -- of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I just have to think how many other great guitar players and bands might have taken their spot in the queue
What do you think? Guitar Hero: Hendrix or Guitar Hero: Clapton or Guitar Hero: Van Halen?
Me thinks I could go on and on
Tags: Clapton, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Hendrix, Va... Shoretel Rumors - I'm reticent to spread rumors about a VoIP company's demise - I certainly don't want to be be the Valleywag of VoIP blogs. However, Rich Tehrani, my boss, has been hearing rumors about ShoreTel and it doesn't sound good. It goes without saying that Rich Tehrani has his "ear to the ground" in the VoIP industry perhaps more than anyone - myself included. Rich heard things about TMC's main competitor long before the story broke out in the ... House of Yahweh sect case may test Texas? anti-polygamy laws - The 73-year-old was arrested and indicted in February ? less than two months before raids on the Eldorado compound ? charged with four counts of promoting bigamy, made a felony in 2005 after the unrelated FLDS group arrived from Utah.... Body Found In Home, Cult May Be Involved - District Attorney Scott Southworth says he believes it's a cult-type situation that involved fraud by the leader to get money.... Warren Jeffs requests dismissal of incest charges - Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith did not dispute that his victims were both under 18 but wrote in his response that Jeffs "used his position of power and trust to place both victims into so-called 'marriages' with men who were over 18 years of age and are related to the victims as first cousins of the half-blood." He said that while a plain reading of the statute makes the 18 and older argument, applying it that way leads to absurd results.... Polygamist ranch is considered one household, state says - Child Protective Services officials this week defended their decision to remove hundreds of children from the Eldorado ranch run by a polygamous sect, saying that the group's communal living situation required the removal of all the children in the face of evidence of sexual abuse.... Australia: Presbyterian church split over cult?s fate - Top-level tensions in the Presbyterian church over a cult inside its Camberwell church have deteriorated after the state authority defied a move that would end its attempts to excise the cult. Members of the Victorian assembly on Tuesday expressed outrage at a report from the national church group that in practice exonerates the cult, known as the Fellowship.... Utah sects won?t be raided, attorney general says - "I know you are worried about that. We're not going to do it," Shurtleff said Thursday during a public meeting on polygamy at the Dixie Center. "We don't believe that is the answer."... New Mexico apocalyptic sect leader released on bond - The clerk of the magistrate court in Clayton said a $55,000 bond was posted for Wayne Bent by his son.... British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus - British Airways redefines 'religious insanity.' Again.... Few who are left at polygamist ranch try to make sense of it all - "This has turned from a thriving city into a ghost town," Utah-based FLDS leader Willie Jessop said as he navigated a luxury Mercedes SUV past a herd of hapless dairy cows, their unused milk being dumped out in the garden. "What do you build homes for if you don't have children to put in them? What do you grow a garden for if you don't have anybody to feed? Will life return out here? That has yet to be seen."... Scientology losing its hold on James Packer, friends say - Members of Mr Packer's inner circle have confirmed that the billionaire, Scientology's wealthiest member in the world, was no longer undertaking Scientology courses and had slowly moved away from the religion, telling his closest friends he no longer "needs it".... Copyright © 2008, Curse Buster Sound. All Rights Reserved. |