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Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2008 > April
April 2008
Shortage predicted for Intel Corp’s new chip, Atom
Early demand looks strong for Intel Corp.’s Austin-designed low-power processor, code-named “Silverthorne.” Pictured right are three leaders of the Silverthorne design team.
Intel has branded the new chip “Atom,” and plenty of electronics companies are making plans to use it in new, smaller and low-power laptop computers and hand-held Internet-access devices.
Asustek of Taiwan, which already has made a hot-selling small notebook, says it expects a “severe shortage” of Atom chips this summer because so many personal computer makers have product plans involving the chip, according to a story in the Financial Times.
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Balmer, the new poster boy for Apple
I don’t know. Is this really worth the attention of the Blogosphere?
You bet it is. This photo of a Steve Balmer graphic presentation using a MacBook is better propaganda than just about anything.
It’s posted on Flickr.com, and the comments with it range from “no way” to “I knew it” to “nice Photoshop.” One person who claimed to have attended the conference in Belgium where the photo originated said the laptop was there already and had been used by other speakers.
Still this is as good as the Apple vs. PC commercials on TV:
And here’s a comment from the Fakestevebalmer.com site: “C’mon people! Does anybody in their right mind believe that I would set foot on a stage where my presentaion was being run from a Mac? Gimme a break!”
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MacBook Air Ad Parody: How much fits in that envelope?
Apple has turned making fun of the competition into an art form through its “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” ads. Now this clip attracting thousands of views on YouTube today seeks a little revenge, promoting the ThinkPad X300 from Lenovo.
“Not funny, Lenovo” says Fake Steve. No official comment yet from Lenovo.
UPDATE - Wednesday, April 30, 2008:
The clip has now been viewed more than 270,000 times and Lenovo is answering questions:
“It’s not part of an ad campaign we’re planning to run,” spokesman Ray Gorman says. “But yes, we did create it. … We put this video together to show the differences between our new ThinkPad X300 and the competitive product, but basically it was produced by us for our annual employee kickoff meetings that we hold around the world and really was intended only for the use of our internal audience. Just for the amusement and enjoyment of employees.”
Hard to keep things internal these days.
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Doctors still prefer paper records
Software developers and health-care technology managers seem baffled by the lack of interest by doctors in upgrading their record-keeping applications and their resistance to the Internet as a way to share patient information.
It was one of the main topics at a conference Thursday of biotechnology and health-care technology managers at Florida International University in Miami. The meeting was sponsored by the Enterprise Development Corp. of South Florida.
Gary Margulies, vice president of research at Nova Southeastern University, figured doctors are too worried about legal and liability issues to pass private patient data over the Internet. Or there may be resistance because “business as usual” is fine with the health-care industry.
“Medical professionals don’t see the need to change this,” Margulies said.
Amir Mirmiran, FIU’s interim engineering dean at Florida International University, guessed that engineers and doctors haven’t really “sat down at a table and talked” about the industry’s needs.
One thing is certain. There’s a mountain of records that still haven’t been digitized in doctor’s offices, and it’s going to get worse.
“There’s a flood of data in health care and there’s more to come with the growth in genomic data,” said Steve Payment, IBM site manager in Boca Raton.
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Generation Y takes the lead in mobile banking
Most bank patrons aren’t keen on mobile banking but Generation Y has begun to adopt it in greater numbers.
A survey for IBM by Opinion Research Group says 89 percent of the general population hasn’t tried making a mobile banking transaction while 21 percent of those in the 18 to 34 age group have used their cell phones for banking.
Today, mobile transactions are about the same as online transactions — checking your balance, moving money between accounts and setting up automatic bill payment. At some points, phones will function like credit- and debit-cards at cash registers but not yet.
Nine out of the top 10 banks offer mobile banking, but consumers are concerned about the loss of personal information. I think I’ll let this trend build for awhile before I jump in.
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Dell previews small desktop computer
Dell will roll out a small desktop computer this summer that’s designed to use 70 percent less energy.
The new model, previewed by CEO Michael Dell at Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm: Green conference on environmental issues, is about 81 percent smaller than a standard mini-tower design. It’s small enough to sit in an adult’s hand, said spokesman David Frink.
The company did not provide details about the new PC’s specifications, but it sent along this photo of the new machine.
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Nikon and Panasonic have plans for Wi-Fi cameras
Nikon and Panasonic are coming out in the next two to three months with Wi-Fi enabled cameras.
The Nikon CoolPix S52c ($299.95) nd Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-TZ50 ($449.95) are 9-megapixel cameras that give users the ability to snap pictures and upload images to web sites like the photo-sharing site, Flickr.com, Google’s photo organizer, Picasa, or maybe a social-networking site, according to Wi-FiPlanet.com.
Nikon’s CoolPix works through Picturetown, the company’s online photo sharing service. With Panasonic’s Lumix, users can get a free year of T-Mobile Wi-Fi service for the camera only, with its purchase, but it works with any home or commercial network.
With the volume of photos that people post to Facebook and MySpace, this is a quick way to share the moment rather than wait to return to your computer.
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EU: Go ahead, talk on a cell phone in flight
The European Union has agreed to allow the use of cellular phones in-flight.
The loosening of rules is aimed at pleasing the high-priced business traveler. But I wonder if they won’t regret it in the end.
In the early-Nineties, they were the only ones carrying mobile phones. Now everybody’s got them.
Sure, there are restrictions on the number of calls that can be made at any one time. And flight attendants will have the authority to shut somebody up who’s too loud.
It just doesn’t seem workable to me. People always talk too loudly on their mobiles. Are you ready for mobile phones on commercial airliners?
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Get out your brackets (again)!
Call it a techie version of the Final Four.
Two weeks after hosting the NCAA college basketball championship, San Antonio this weekend hosts another collegiate championship - the NCCDC or National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.
Defending national champion Texas A&M University will try to retain its title as teams from across the country face off to decide who can play the best defense - computer network defense, that is - against opposing teams of would-be hackers.
In the tourney - the first round begins today - teams are responsible for running an operational computer network for a fictional business, complete with e-mail, Web sites, data files and users. They have to keep the network running as an opposing team tries to hack into the network and shut it down with computer bugs and other types of real-world computer maladies.
Along with the Aggies, other teams left standing from the field of 56 in this year’s April Madness include Mt. San Antonio College of Los Angeles (home of the Mounties, for those you playing along); the University of Louisville (that would be the Cardinals); Rochester Institute of Technology (Go Tigers!); Baker College of Flint, Mich. and the Community College of Baltimore County.
Apparently the Alamodome was booked this weekend. The cyber-tourney is being held at the Hilton San Antonio Airport Hotel.
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AMD starts layoffs in Austin, U.S.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. cut 420 jobs today, including 215 in Austin, as the chip-maker took the first steps toward its major worldwide staff reduction that will continue for the next six months.
The job cuts will affect workers at all levels and in all parts of the country, AMD has said. The company said last week it would cut 10 percent of its 16,800 jobs worldwide by the end of September.
Today’s cut primarily affected company workers in North America, but eventually the company expects almost all its global operations will be affected.
The chip-maker announced the staff reductions last week as a way to reduce its costs in line with expectations of reduced revenue this year.
Wall Street investment analysts have urged the company to get its costs under tighter control as the company struggled with the $5.4 billion acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc. in late 2006 and with tougher competition from its larger and richer arch-rival Intel Corp.
Austin, which had 2,700 workers before the job cuts, is AMD’s largest non-manufacturing campus. The company employs about 3,500 workers in Dresden, Germany, where its major factory operations are located.
Austin is one of the company’s major sites for engineering, product design, marketing and administration. Most of the company’s senior management team lives and works here, even though AMD’s official headquarters is in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Top executives were expected to discuss the downsizing on a conference phone call with financial analysts this afternoon, after it reports first quarter financial results. AMD said last week that it will report quarterly revenue of $1.5 billion,below its original estimate.
AMD’s business was hurt last year when the company stumbled in introducing its two most important computer processor chips.
Those delayed chips are now shipping and analysts expect AMD’s sales will pick up over the next several quarters.
But competition from Intel, which is larger and richer and has introduced a series of strong products, remains fierce.
“Intel is coming at them from all sides with overwhelming firepower,” analyst Roger Kay with Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc. said last week.
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Verizon tries unlimited messaging without voice
Here’s a not-so-crazy idea: Unlimited text messaging without voice.
Verizon Wireless has announced the availability of three nationwide messaging plans that offer unlimited messaging, including text, IM, picture and video messaging. But for voice, the deals offer per-minute rates.
The carrier says it based its decision to offer the plans on consumer feedback. I can see it for a businessman who spends his time messaging while in airports or a student who can’t really talk to friends during class and does a lot of text messaging on the down-low.
It’s not for me. I like the personal touch of actually talking with someone. I doubt that all those people I see yakking as they drive down Interstate 95 would want it either.
Could you do without the voice function on your cell phone?
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Vice President Fiorina? Madam Secretary?
When it comes to that high-profile demographic of female former tech industry CEOs, it’s no secret John McCain is far and away the front-runner among presidential candidates.
But if McCain wins, Fiorina might become much more. In a recent interview with HispanicBusiness magazine she indicated she’d be interested in being vice president if McCain wins. And in speeches in Washington earlier this week, McCain specifically mentioned Fiorina, Whitman and Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers as possible cabinet secretaries, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and others.
In Pittsburgh today, McCain laid out his economic plans. That’s Fiorina who clearly has McCain’s back in the Associated Press photo above.
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Dell updates Vostro line of computers
Dell announced three new notebook computers today for its Vostro line of small-business products.
The company released a 13.3-inch laptop that will start at $749, and at 15.4-inch model that starts at $599. Those models are available immediately in Europe and will go on sale in the U.S. on May 1. Dell also will start selling a 17-inch model later in May.
Vostro came to life last summer, when Dell carved out a line specifically for small businesses. Before then, those customers typically purchased Dell’s consumer products or PCs designed and geared for large businesses.
The Vostro line includes some free services, such as online data back-up services, and customers can order the PCs without most of the trial software that typically comes on consumer models.
The new Vostro PCs will be thinner and lighter, Dell said, and will come with expanded security features.
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Computer keyboard that’s germ-free
A washable, dishwasher-safe, antimicrobial keyboard is the latest answer to going germ-free.
It’s offered by a Jacksonville company, Silver Shield LLC, at $69.99. An anti-microbial mouse will be out later this spring.
It has a gold connector for the USB port to avoid rust, laser-etched letters that won’t fade and drain holes for cleaning liquids to flow out of the keyboard.
So far, the health-care industry has been the biggest buyer. But food services and libraries, where germs might be passed around easily, might be a fertile market. Actually, at that price, regular consumers might want one.
The question is: Will buyers actually take the time to soap them down?
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iPhone: It also makes calls. Really
If Apple Inc.’s iPhone represents the future of mobile phones, we all might be talking less when we’re out and about.
According to a report from tech market researcher iSuppli Corp., iPhone owners use their phones more for surfing the Web, listening to music or doing other stuff than for actually making voice calls.
About 72 percent of the time that most mobile phone users pick up their phone, it’s to make voice calls, according to iSuppli’s ConsumerTrak survey of U.S. residents. In contrast, iPhone owners spend just over 46 percent of their time making voice calls.
Users of iPhones said they spend about 12 percent of their usage time accessing the Internet, compared with just 2 percent for all mobile phones on average. Furthermore, iPhone owners spent 12 percent of their usage time listening to music or other audio, compared to just 2.5 percent for all mobile handset users.
Drop me an e-mail if you’re reading this on your iPhone. For the rest of you, feel free to call.
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Amazon offers $50 credits to HD-DVD buyers
Amazon.com is issuing a $50 credit to the unlucky souls who bought HD-DVD players before Sony’s Blu-ray technology knocked them out of the market.
Remember, Toshiba’s HD-DVD was locked in battle with Blu-ray for supremacy of the HD-TV video disc market when it became apparent in mid-February that major studios and retail outlets were buying into Sony’s technology.
Toshiba announced it would stop making HD-DVD players on Feb. 23, so Amazon is joining Best Buy in the rebate. Wal-Mart is taking returns, according to Newsfactor.com.
It’s a nice gesture but it doesn’t soothe the wound of buying a player for $200, not to mention $500 if you were an early buyer.
The credit is really a coupon to buy $50 worth of merchandise off of Amazon’s Web site. The offer expires Apr. 9, 2009.
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Clean tech still growing - but slowing
A report just out from the Cleantech Group shows that investments in North American clean technology companies involved in areas like solar, wind or biofuels rose by about 35 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year ago, to about $873 million.
The number was down, though, from the fourth quarter and record-breaking third quarter of last year, when venture capital investments in clean tech companies hit all-time highs.
Among the biggest deals tracked by Cleantech during the quarter was a $50 million investment in Suniva, a Atlanta-based company that makes solar cells.
Biofuels was the most popular category for venture investors, who sunk $195 million into the sector. Solar, LED lighting, materials and battery sectors followed.
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Following H-P announcement, Dell promised new ultra-portable PC
Dell responded quickly after Hewlett-Packard announced that it would sell an ultra-portable PC.
On Tuesday, H-P said in statement that it will sell its Mini-Note — a 2.63-pound machine with an 8.9-inch screen. It’ll cost $499 for the Linux model or $599 if it comes loaded with Windows.
Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell Inc., responded quickly, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
“We will introduce a similar laptop,” he said at a Tel Aviv press conference today. “We do see opportunities for very interesting products that are smaller and lighter and address the more mobile users in a very cost-effective way.”
Ultra-portable PCs are generally marketed to schools and school children.
In the Bloomberg report, Dell wasn’t specific about the forthcoming computers that are expected to be smaller than a textbook.
“Stay tuned,” Dell said. “We will have some interesting products coming in that space over the next two quarters.”
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Windows Mobile 6.1 has better home page functionality
The Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system has launched in the AT&T Tilt and Samsung Blackjack II, while Sprint expects to put it in four of its models shortly.
PCMag.com’s review of it says the home page is improved, with a “Getting Started” application that quickly helps you set up date and time and e-mail, connect your Bluetooth headset and set ringtones, wallpaper and music choices. It also uses modular themed blocks, bringing groupings of content to the front of the device.
The review also lauded it for how it integrates with Windows Media Player, Outlook and other Microsoft applications.
On the negative side, it calls for Microsoft to make additional improvements to Pocket Internet Explorer and the system’s user interface. Both could be a little smoother if this OS is going to compete with what Apple is doing with the iPhone and what’s expected from Google’s Android.
If you try it, let us know what you think.
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Dell talks about “strategic initiatives” with Dubai firm
Dell Inc. is in talks about “strategic initiatives” with Tecom Investments in Dubai, Bloomberg News reported..
Dell CEO and founder Michael Dell and Abdullatif al- Mulla, CEO of Tecom Investments, and held a press briefing in Dubai to announce the discussions.
Dell didn’t elaborate about the talks, but he said he’d welcome investment from the oil-rich emirate, Bloomberg said.
According to Bloomberg, Tecom Investments is owned by Dubai Holding LLC and Dubai International Capital. It manages business parks in Dubai and owns stakes in some technology and communications companies.
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UPDATE: AMD announces 10 percent layoff plan
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said Monday it will cut its global work force by 10 percent over the next six months as the company takes steps reduce costs and improve profits.
A company spokesman declined to elaborate on what the job cuts would mean for Austin, where the company has its main centers for product engineering, marketing and administration.
The job cuts were announced Monday afternoon when AMD said its first quarter revenue will fall well below expectations. AMD said it expects to report $1.5 billion in first quarter sales, a drop of 22 percent from the first quarter a year ago and 15 percent from the fourth quarter. The company had previously said it expected a seasonal decline of 5-10 percent in first quarter sales.
The chipmaker said the disappointing revenue figure was due to lower-than-expected sales across all business segments.
AMD employs 16,800 people worldwide, including about 2,700 in Austin. The company ranks second to Intel in making advanced processor chips for personal computers and servers. It also is a leading supplier of graphics chips used in computers and consumer electronics devices.
The job cuts will start in mid-April and continue through the third quarter.
“They will span all groups and levels in the company,” said spokesman Drew Prairie. “We are taking the action to create a cost structure that helps us achieve business objectives and return the company to profitability.”
AMD has been under heavy pressure from investors for the past year as it fumbled key product introductions and struggled to keep up with arch-rival Intel Corp., which delivered a stream of well-regarded chips.
Wall Street analysts have criticized the chipmaker for being slow to cut costs after it made an expensive acquisition of graphics-chip supplier ATI Technologies Inc. The company’s top executives have resisted previous calls for deep spending reductions, saying that the best plan to achieve profitability was to expand sales to $2 billion per quarter or higher.
AMD paid $5.3 billion for ATI, a deal that left the combined company saddled with a heavy debt load.
AMD lost $3.38 billion on sales of $6.01 billion for 2007 and it ended the year taking a $1.6 billion accounting charge tied to the reduction in value of its ATI acquisition.
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Sprint brings Smallville’s Supergirl to the small screen
The CW network thinks Supergirl from the Smallville series could make it big on the small screen.
Confused?
The CW is writing a series of “mobisodes” for broadcast on Sprint cellular phones with the Supergirl character. It’s part of Sprint’s advertising deal as Smallville’s sponsor.
Below is Laura Vandervoort, who plays Clark Kent’s teenaged cousin.
It’s the second time that Sprint has broadcast mobisodes based on a Smallville character. Last year, a mini-series with Green Arrow got the highest rating of all of Sprint’s entertainment offerings.
Mediaweek.com gives a perfectly good reason for all this interest in broadcasting a unique series on mobile phones. As many as 10 percent of cell phone users watch videos on the fly. That translates into an estimated 35 million people in the U.S.
That’s a lot of eyes.
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Pizza.com being sold for a hot and spicy $3 million
Chris Clark is lucky guy with a lot of patience.
The software consultant from Maryland bought the name pizza.com for $20 in 1994, when the Web was new and uncharted territory.
Now he’s selling it at auction, and will probably fetch somewhere in the vicinity of $3 million.
Some guys have all the luck, especially if they bought a generic name like business.com or fund.com. Those also brought big bucks.
Anybody want to sit at their computers tonight and type in generic names? Who knows, maybe there’s still one out there unclaimed.
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Apple now No. 1 music seller
Apple today is proudly proclaiming it has surpassed Wal-Mart as the No. 1 music seller in the country, based on figures from market researcher NPD Group.
Apple says its iTunes store surpassed the world’s biggest retailer in music sales in January and February. Of course Apple, being Apple, isn’t providing specific details, talking about what March sales looked like or, well, saying much else. NPD music analyst Russ Crupnick confirms that Apple’s now No. 1, but NPD doesn’t release specific data either.
Apple’s dominance in music sales isn’t exactly unexpected given the rise of digital music, but couldn’t come at a more pivotal time for the company.
Big record labels - which are growing tired of Apple’s bossy ways when it comes to revenue sharing and pricing - are teaming up with News Corp.’s MySpace to launch a new online music store designed to give iTunes some more competition.
Apple’s news will likely make the labels think carefully how they proceed.
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Video: Up close with Microsoft Surface from AT&T
AT&T showed off its version of the Microsoft Surface touch-screen tabletop computer at the wireless industry show in Las Vegas today. The gadgets will be coming to AT&T stores in a handful of cities this month.
Here, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega narrates a demonstration at a media and analyst briefing:
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Wireless: AT&T warms up to Google’s Android
AT&T, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, is increasingly interested in the Android mobile device software developed by Google and its partners.
At the wireless industry show in Las Vegas, Ralph de la Vega, president AT&T Mobility, said he initially reserved judgment about Android, but a recent in-depth briefing from Google has left him liking it “a lot more than I did before.”
“I think it’s going to be something that we would want,” he said.
Here’s some more of what he had to say:
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Wireless: Yahoo planning new mobile search service
LAS VEGAS - A year after launching its “oneSearch” search engine for cell phones, Yahoo just announced at the CTIA wireless industry conference here that it is refreshing the software with some new bells and whistles. It plans to roll out the new oneSearch 2.0 this summer with its wireless partners.
Coolest of the features is new voice-activated search technology, so you don’t have to try and type in that business name or restaurant you’re looking for on a tiny keyboard while you’re speeding down the highway. “Semantic search” technology makes it even more useful. Say “March Madness,” for instance, and you’ll get latest NCAA tournament scores and game schedules, according to Yahoo. Say “British Airways 287” and you’ll get current flight information.
If you do want to type your search query, a new predictive text feature will help you complete your searches quickly. Type in “Hil,” for instance, and you’ll get suggestions for Hillary Clinton, Hillary Duff and others.
Yahoo is betting big on the mobile search to help it make up ground it lost to Google in recent years. Google too, of course, isn’t ignoring the mobile search business. It’s “Goog411” service also offers voice-activated search for cell phones.
Many analysts and others say Yahoo may have the lead in mobile search technology, however. In a keynote presentation that just wrapped up here, Yahoo executive vice president Marco Boerries said the company already has partnerships with 29 wireless companies with 600 million subscribers. Yahoo’s strength in mobile search, in fact, is one of the big reasons why Microsoft Corp. wants to buy the company.
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Dell headquarters will use all renewable energy
Dell Inc. said today its Round Rock headquarters campus will use 100 percent renewable energy.
The 2.1 million square foot campus will get its energy from Waste Management’s facility that converts gas from its Austin landfill into energy and wind farms. Dell is buying the wind power from TXU Energy.
Dell also said it will raise renewable energy use from 8 percent to 17 percent at its Austin campus on Parmer Lane.
“It’s time for our industry to take a leading role in creating a clean energy future,” said Paul Bell, president of Dell Americas.
Last year, Dell said it would increase renewable energy use and improve energy efficiency at all of its company owned and leased facilities.
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Wireless: Amazon goes mobile (again)
LAS VEGAS - Amazon.com, the king of online shopping, is hoping - once again - that it can dial-up similar success with mobile phones.
Amazon just launched a new service that lets users shop for and buy goods with a simple text message from their cell phones.
Users who set up an account with Amazon’s new “TextBuyIt” service can send a text message on their cell phone to Amazon with the name of the product they want. Amazon automatically searches the Web and its warehouses for the products and replies with a list of items. To buy, a user just presses a number corresponding to the book or movie or big screen TV they want and the product - and the bill for it - gets automatically sent to their home. Amazon thinks the service will be especially handy for folks who go to a concert and want to instantly buy a CD online, or want to buy a DVD or book that a friend recommended at dinner while they’re on the way home.
The idea of cell-phone commerce - or in industry parlance, mobile or “M-commerce” - is nothing new. Retailers - including Amazon - and wireless companies have been pushing the idea in different forms and fashions for years, with scant success so far.
But that hasn’t kept them from trying. Along with Amazon, many companies at the CTIA wireless industry trade show here this week are showing off new ideas for M-commerce.
They may be - finally - on to something. A Harris Interactive poll earlier this month found that consumers may be warming up to M-commerce. About 25 percent of cell phone users with mobile Internet access said in the survey that they use their phones to buy goods by credit card. About 20 percent said they would someday like to use their phones as a “mobile wallet” to buy goods and get charged for them on their monthly cell phone bill.
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Florida may be a cyberstate but it doesn’t pay well
It sounded great to hear that Florida ranks 4th in total high-tech jobs. But there’s a downside to the findings of the Cyberstates report put out this week by the AeA.
First, the state keeps losing manufacturing jobs. Remember in the Eighties, personal computers were made in Boca Raton. In the Nineties, pagers were produced in Boynton Beach.
Those factories have closed, and while IBM and Motorola still maintain a presence in South Florida, it’s not nearly as large.
The other glaring deficiency brought out in the report was wages. In Florida, the average is $64,400, 30th among states, while the national average is a whopping $79,500. That means high-powered technology development is done elsewhere — California, Massachusetts, New York and Texas.
The AeA is pushing for improvements in K through 12 education, a financial boost for the state’s university research programs and a way to attract more venture capital. The question is: Can any of that turn Florida into a high-tech powerhouse quickly?
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Wireless: AT&T to use Microsoft touch-table tech
Want to know more about that AT&T phone? Just slap it down on this table here (but not too hard).
Taking the touch-screen trend from wireless phones to wireless stores, AT&T says it will use Microsoft Surface to help sell handsets.
The Microsoft Surface is a coffee table-like computer that allows people to interact with a display by touching it and placing objects on the flat 30-inch top.
AT&T will give the technology its first commercial deployment on April 17. It will appear in stores in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco and San Antonio, Texas. All AT&T stores may be next depending on how the pilot program goes.
AT&T plans to demonstrate the Surface Wednesday at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. We plan to show you what it looked like. Stay tuned.
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Video: Up close with Sprint’s “Instinct”
Sprint Nextel unveiled the upcoming “Instinct” handset from Samsung today at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. David Owens, Sprint’s director of product commercialization, gives us a tour of the new touch-screen wireless gadget.
(Believe it or not, this is a quiet spot. That’s what you get when you make announcements at a Las Vegas hotel.)
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Wireless: Mobile customers used 2 trillion minutes
No wonder everyone seems to be on the phone all the time.
Wireless customers used more than 2 trillion minutes in 2007, up nearly 18 percent from 2006, the CTIA wireless industry association said at its annual show.
An industry survey found there were more than 255 million wireless users as of last December, a one-year increase of 22 million.
Text messaging also is hugely popular, with more than 48 billion messages reported in December - that breaks down to about 1.5 billion messages per day. The survey also found subscribers are sending more pictures and other multimedia messages.
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Wireless: Microsoft shows off new Windows Mobile
Microsoft just unveiled its Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, including a new version of Internet Explorer for phones and other wireless gadgets. Microsoft says the new software brings “desktop-grade Web browsing to Windows Mobile phones.”
Windows Mobile also includes time-saving features, easier phone navigation and improved security, Microsoft said.
The first phones using the new version are expected by the end of the year.
Robert Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, is expected to show off the operating system today at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas.
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Wireless: Sprint unveils iPhone-like handset
Sprint Nextel Corp. is unveiling today a touch-screen phone that closely resembles the popular Apple Inc. iPhone. The Samsung “Instinct” is expected in June at a price lower than the cheapest iPhone, which sells for $399.
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is expected to reveal more details when he gives a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless industry show within the next 90 minutes.
(Photo: Sprint)
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Video: Welcome to CTIA Wireless
The CTIA Wireless 2008 industry show kicks off today. We’re expecting speeches from top executives and technology news from companies including Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and Microsoft. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is a last-minute addition to today’s list of keynote speakers.
Be sure to come back and check for more postings and video today and this week.