Southwest Airlines to expand Wi-Fi

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Passengers of Southwest Airlines Co. may soon be surfing the web while cruising in high-altitude.

The company says it has finished testing Wi-Fi Internet access on four of its aircraft and has plans on expanding it to all its planes starting next year. Testing for the prices of the service will continue throughout the year.

Passengers who experienced the service during the test were very happy about the new in-flight feature from the airline. They were able to use the Wi-Fi for surfing the Web, sending emails and even for watching streaming video through laptops and smartphones.

Dave Ridley, the discount carrier’s senior vice president of marketing, says the company is also very happy with the technical performance of the new service, not to mention the very good response of their customers.

Southwest’s Wi-Fi service uses satellite-based broadband access provided by Row 44.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/08/21/business-industrials-us-southwest-airlines-internet_6803015.html

Students choose Netbooks over Macs

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According to a study conducted by Retrevo, a consumer electronics website, a big chunk of college-bound students preparing for school are planning on getting affordable netbooks than spending a lot for a Mac laptop.

The numbers?

Only a mere 17 percent of the students say that they intend to get Macs. And although 49 percent of students plan on getting full-sized Windows laptops, 34 percent of students will be buying netbooks – placing Macs in the last place.

And with the results showing 58 percent of students planning on spending less than $750 on their laptops, it’s really a hard case for Apple to with their cheapest laptop priced at $949, PCWorld reports.

It seems that with the netbooks’ affordability (with some priced under $200) and good-enough specs, students on a tight budget are choosing practicality over Mac-xury. J

Its not that Apple aren’t targeting the education market too. This year, the company is offering a free iPod Touch with every MacBook bought. But based on Retrevo’s study, it’ll take more than an iPod Touch to get students to cash out almost a thousand bucks for a laptop.

If you do have plans on buying a MacBook, hurry up though coz Apple’s special promotion ends on September 8.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/170539/mac_or_a_netbook_students_chose_the_latter.html

Nokia to release their own Netbooks?

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It seems like more and more companies are reaching over new territories nowadays with computer makers now invading the mobile phone market. Acer has already announced that they will be developing their own smartphones. Rumors are also circulating that Dell has followed suit and is now working on a mobile phone.

Well, Nokia is also planning something, but they’re doing it the other way around.

The world’s largest maker of cell phones isn’t satisfied with just making mobile phones now that other tech markets are becoming more and more lucrative – the Netbook market to be exact.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasyuo has told reporters at a press even in India that “the PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge,” the Economic Times report. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Nokia-plans-foray-into-netbook-segment/articleshow/4911799.cms

He said that the company is looking at the Netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there.”

This news doesn’t come as a big surprise because for a certain period now, the company has slowly been developing more and more models geared more towards providing mobile Internet. Even their newest smartphone, the N97, is being marketed as a “mobile computer”.

Will it a long wait for us? We’ll certainly be keeping a lookout for this development! 🙂

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10314225-266.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon unite against Google

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Google has proposed a settlement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over their book scanning project. A lot however, doesn’t agree with the search giant’s proposal.

According to director of the Internet Archive Peter Brantley, the three big tech companies have signed on to a coalition against Google’s proposal assembled by the Internet Archive and Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer.

The Internet Archive is a San Francisco nonprofit that offers “permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.”

Several participants have also agreed to part. These include New York Library Assn., the Special Libraries Assn. and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. The group will be issuing a joint statement next week.

William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, which represents hundreds of writers, the National Writers Union and a group of professors from the University of California, has also voiced out their opposition on the settlement.

So what are they against to?

The settlement, which was reached last October, would allow the search giant to continue to do digitalize millions of out-of-print books. Authors and publishers get 70% of the sale and Google gets to keep 30%. Google would also be able to sell ads around book searches that “involve out-of-print books that are still under copyright protection,” LA Times reports.

With all of these, Google would have the power to raise the prices to prohibitive levels. There is also a possibility that Google would not guarantee the privacy of its readers.

“By having a set of organizations speaking together, we can demonstrate the seriousness which we all confront by the issues raised by the proposal,” Brantley said in an interview. “We are all united in our understanding of the core issues, such as its impact on competitiveness and the threat to reader privacy.”

Hmmmn, will all of these companies against Google, do you think they’d still get this settlement?

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/08/google-books-microsoft-yahoo-amazon.html

Apple and Palm: Bickering dates back two years ago

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Wow, it seems like Apple’s making a lot of news in our site today, this is the third time they’ve made it to our news list. 🙂

Anyway, Apple and Palm’s apparently started bickering two years ago – August of 2007 to be exact.

According to Bloomberg News, Ed Colligan – Palm’s CEO at that time – rejected a proposal from Apple chief Steve Jobs to refrain from recruiting and hiring each other’s employees.

Apparently, Jobs was worried that he’d lose his key employees to Palm and said “we must do whatever we can to stop this.” This proposal, according to Colligan, was ill-considered.

“Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal,” Colligan told Jobs, according to the communications reviewed by Bloomberg.

When you look at Palm today, you’ll see that a few number come from Apple. Two months before that unspecified “communications” between the two companies’ executives, Palm had announced that Fred Anderson (former Apple CFO) would be joining its board of directors and Jon Rubenstein (retired iPod division head) would join as executive chairman of the board.

Rubenstein is now Palm’s CEO, replacing Colligan in June of this year.

Hmmmn, I wonder why all these have anything to do with the two companies most recent issue where Apple refuses to allow Palm’s Pre to have access to their iTunes. 😉

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10314059-37.html

Apple to offer television sets

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According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, the giant company may be adding an Apple-branded TV by 2011.

And according to a research note to clients covered by AppleInsider, the TV will probably have media-management features like that in the existing Apple TV setup box and DVR and subscription-based content viewing.

“We see potential for Apple to offer best-in-class software and hardware and charge a premium,” Mr. Munster wrote.

He believes that the iTunes Store is slowly losing its shine in the online video market and in order to retain their place in that arena, would launch a subscription-based service on its one TV sets.

He also believes that Apple will enter the TV market using their own tried-and-tested method: by changing the rules and offering better user experience – just like what it did with iPod, iTunes and iPhone.

“[An Apple-branded TV] would command a premium among a competitive field of budget TVs,” he wrote. “We believe Apple could differentiate itself with software that makes home entertainment simple and solves a pain point for consumers (complicated TV and component systems).”

Source: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/analyst_expects_apple_to_offer_television_set_by_2011/

File transfer through calls may be soon be possible

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In the near future, users may not have to resort to using individual Infrared or Bluetooth to transfer files…or at least that’s what Apple plans on making possible.

In a new patent filing revealed this week, the giant company included descriptions for sending text messages, email, contacts, documents and others, to another caller through their voice connection.

The system would automatically detect caller details and relay info in the appropriate direction. It may even allows users to have a conference call and be able to send files to any or all included in the call. This invention is credited to Peter Henry Mohawald.

The 16-page patent application is entitled “Auto Messaging to Currently Connected Caller” and was filed for in February of last year.

Other patent applications that were revealed this week according to Apple Insider include:

  • A system that would automatically enable the iPhone’s speakerphone capability based on the position of the phone. For example, switching to speakerphone when the device is laid flat on a table.
  • A shock sensor that is both active and passive. The system would recognize when a portable device is dropped, and be able to analyze when the device has failed and electronic detection is not possible.
  • A backward-compatible device connector, allowing new cables to connect a portable device to a computer but also working, with an adapter or otherwise, with previously created interfaces. This could allow new device form factors that were otherwise impossible because of standard plug shapes.

Source: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/20/apple_investigates_in_call_iphone_file_transfer_feature.html

AT&T improves 3G coverage

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AT&T subscribers rejoice!

No longer will you be complaining about the wireless carrier’s lousy 3G coverage because they’ve started rolling out the 850 MHz spectrum 3G band last week (finally!).

The company started in Atlanta and would expand throughout the year to the other 350 areas where AT&T offers 3G coverage.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler has already experienced the improvement. He reported getting solid service in an area that was previously spotty. He was told by AT&T that the improvements being done should be complete in the coming weeks.

This would really be good news considering the amount of complaints on the carrier’s service.

In a recent survey of iPhone users, the results showed that half of the users chose AT&T as their biggest problem with the smartphone (ouch!). From that half, 23 percent said the biggest problem was the carrier’s coverage, while 32 percent complained about being locked in with AT&T which could reflect users’ dissatisfaction with the service (double ouch!)

Along with the 850 MHz spectrum, the wireless carrier also plants to upgrade its HSPA 3G network from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps later this year.

Hurry you guys!

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090820/tc_pcworld/attservicemayactuallybegettingbetter

Glass-friendly mice

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Nope, I don’t mean the four-legged kind who has affinity for that shiny-breakable matter. 😉

Logitech, a Swiss peripheral-device maker, has introduced two mice capable of operating on any surface, and that includes 4mm thick glass.

In a statement, Logitech explained that the regular laser tracking technology used by other mice relies on the ability of the mouse’s sensor to detect textures in a surface. It’s easier for the sensor to identify points that it can use to accurately measure motion if there are lots of irregularities in the surface.

“However, because high-gloss surfaces such as glass are almost completely flat, there are not enough details for a typical laser mouse’s sensor to detect.” Logitech stated.

Logitech Performance Mouse (Source: TG Daily)

(Source: TG Daily)


The new Performance and Anywhere mice though, doesn’t track the surface itself. According to Logitech, the mice use “dark field microscopy to detect tiny particles and micro-scratches on high-gloss surfaces” instead.

The clean areas of the glass are “seen” by the mouse’s sensor as a dark background with bright dots. It then interprets the movement of the dots to precisely track where the device has been moved.
The glass-friendly mice is expected to be available in the US and Europe this month. The Logitech Performance Mouse will be sold at $100 while the mobile-friendly Anywhere Mouse is expected to retail at $80.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43695/97/

“Tweet” isn’t for Twitter…yet

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It seems like there’s a race for placing a trademark on the word “Tweet” and Twitter, the microblogging service that popularized it, isn’t in the first place.

In U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents found by blogger Sam Johnson, the site’s application for a trademark on “tweet” has been preliminarily denied.

The application was filed on April 16 and when approved, would make “tweet” one of Twitter’s registered trademarks. Twitter expressed in the application that they want to use tweet “through the applicant’s related company or licensee the mark in commerce on or in connection with the identified goods and/or services.”

The Patent Office however, found three companies that have already applied for trademarks that contained the word “tweet” in their names. All three applications were filed before Twitter filed their own application.

Twitter received the rejection notice from the Patent Office on July 1, along with copies of the applications sent by TweetMarks, Cotweet, and Tweetphoto. These names were simply too close to the trademark Twitter wanted.

The notice stated that the trademark for tweet “may be refused registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d) because of a likelihood of confusion between the two marks.”

It’s not the end for Twitter’s application for a mark on tweet though because the applications from the three companies are still waiting for approval too.

Keep your fingers crossed Twitter guys! 😉

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10313566-2.html

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