Coruscation

The practice of local police tracking cel phones has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of "surveillance fees" to police departments to determine a suspect's location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations.

In cities in Nevada, North Carolina and other states, police departments have gotten wireless carriers to track cellphone signals back to cell towers as part of nonemergency investigations to identify all the callers using a particular tower, records show.

In California, state prosecutors advised local police departments on ways to get carriers to "clone" a phone and download text messages while it is turned off.

In Ogden, Utah, when the Sheriff's Department wants information on a cellphone, it leaves it up to the carrier to determine what the sheriff must provide. "Some companies ask that when we have time to do so, we obtain court approval for the tracking request," the Sheriff's Department said in a written response to the A.C.L.U.

And in Arizona, even small police departments found cell surveillance so valuable that they acquired their own tracking equipment to avoid the time and expense of having the phone companies carry out the operations for them. The police in the town of Gilbert, for one, spent $244,000 on such equipment.

Cell carriers, staffed with special law enforcement liaison teams, charge police departments from a few hundred dollars for locating a phone to more than $2,200 for a full-scale wiretap of a suspect, records show.

Continue reading "Local police track cel phones, or track people via their cel phones" »

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When it comes to physical security, iPhone users would do well to download Find My iPhone, a free app from Apple that allows you to visit a Web site and see your (lost, stolen or misplaced) phone on a map. You can then sound an alarm, send a message that will pop up on its screen, lock the phone or erase all your data.

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Mango still offers everything that Windows Phone already had going for it: a terrific onscreen keyboard with smart auto-suggestions. Integration with your Xbox account. Microsoft's Zune music service ($15 a month for all the music you want to hear). A GPS app that now speaks your directions, turn by turn.

Now, if this phone had arrived before the iPhone, people would have been sacrificing small animals to it.

But Microsoft's three-year lag behind its rivals is going to be very tough to overcome.

Windows Phone is considered a weird outlier. Unlike with the iPhone, there's no teeming universe of alarm clocks, chargers, accessories and cars that fit these phones.

Similarly, Windows Phone's app store has 30,000 apps, which is an achievement -- but Android offers 10 times as many, and the iPhone store has 16 times as many.

Microsoft says that it's quality, not quantity, and that all the important apps are there. Unfortunately, a long list of essentials are still unavailable: Pandora radio, Dragon dictation, Line2, Flight Track Pro, Ocarina, Instagram, Hipstamatic. You should note, too, that Microsoft's schoolyard grudge against Google manifests itself in several disappointing ways: you can't export your videos to YouTube, and you can't search with Google.

In other words, Microsoft may face quite a Catch-22, no matter how superb its work: Windows Phone isn't popular because it isn't popular.

Continue reading "Windows 7 phone binged better" »

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Like tank commanders giving shout outs through the fog of the battlefield

Consider a fascinating study of the text messaging behavior of Tokyo teenagers that was conducted as part of a much larger investigation of "digital youth" by Mimi Ito, the late Peter Lyman and their colleagues. The kids text back and forth all day. What are they writing? What is so pressing that it can't wait till they see each other?

Anthropologists looking at the matter were surprised to discover that the kids rarely send informative or detailed messages. As a general rule, they are not telling each other anything. Rather, they are just letting each other know that they are "there," that they are online, in reach. Texting for the kids is a way of "pinging" each other. They bounce pings back and forth and so signal their presence for each other.

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Charles Kovit, the Hempstead, NY deputy town attorney, said that under the proposed code change any new towers or antennas would have to be 1,500 feet from residences, schools, houses of worship and libraries.

The town recently hired a consultant, Richard A. Comi of the Center for Municipal Solutions in Glenmont, to review antenna applications.

Under the new ordinance, applications for wireless facilities would require technical evidence that they had a "gap" in coverage necessitating a new tower.

"If not, they will get denied," Mr. Kovit said. The wireless companies would also have to prove that the selected location had "the least negative impact on area character and property values." If another location farther away from homes can solve the gap problem, "they are going to have to move."

Continue reading "Cel phone tower NIMBYs" »

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Useful and very curent info.
forums.macrumors.com

iPhone, iPod and iPad

discussions.apple.com iPad and iPhone.

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Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley's landmark 1995 book, "Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children," shows that parents who supply a language-rich environment for their children help them develop a wide vocabulary, and that helps them learn to read.

The book connects language use at home with socioeconomic status. According to its findings, children in higher socioeconomic homes hear an average of 2,153 words an hour, whereas those in working-class households hear only about 1,251; children in the study whose parents were on welfare heard an average of 616 words an hour.

The question is: Will devices like smartphones change that? Smartphone users tend to have higher incomes; research from the Nielsen Company shows that they are twice as likely to make more than $100,000 a year than the average mobile subscriber. If increased use of technology encroaches on the time that well-to-do families spend communicating with their children, some could become the victims of successes originally thought to help them.

Continue reading "Vocabulary vs income: Children in higher socioeconomic homes hear 2,153 words an hour; in working-class households only 1,251; on welfare, 616 " »

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Sprint RIM Blackberry Tour Bold 9650

New: touchpad and WiFi
Gone: trackball:

Available in all Sprint sale channels May 23, the new BlackBerry Bold 9650

Continue reading "Sprint RIM Blackberry Tour Bold 9650" »

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Sprint 4G comes to HTC EVO on Android, the smartphone cel phone of summe,r 2010.

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Operators, which generate about 80 percent of their revenue from voice services, want to hinder a new downward price spiral. Revenue from termination fees makes up 15 percent of an operator's sales and profit, said Jacques de Greling, an analyst at Natixis, a Paris bank.

Continue reading "Termination fees makes up 15 percent of an operator's sales and profit" »

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Under a new system set up by Sprint, law enforcement agencies have gotten GPS data from the company about its wireless customers 8 million times in about a year, raising a host of questions about consumer privacy, transparency, and oversight of how police obtain location data.

What this means -- and what many wireless customers no doubt do not realize -- is that with a few keystrokes, police can determine in real time the location of a cell phone user through automated systems set up by the phone companies.

And while a Sprint spokesman told us customers can shield themselves from surveillance by simply switching off the GPS function of their phones, one expert told TPM that the company and other carriers almost certainly have the power to remotely switch the function back on.

To be clear, you can think of there being two types of GPS (global positioning system). One is the handy software on your mobile device that tells you where you are and helps give driving directions. But there's also GPS capability in all cell phones sold today, required by a federal regulation so if you dial 911 from an unknown location, authorities can find you.

Continue reading "Police Tapped Sprint Customer GPS Data 8 Million Times In A Year" »

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 3, 2009-- Sprint (NYSE:S) and HTC Corporation today announced the upcoming arrival of the much-anticipated HTC Hero™ from Sprint, the first wireless device offering the combination of the open and innovative Android platform with the high-speed connectivity of America's most dependable 3G network1 (EVDO Rev. A.) Offering a rich mobile Internet experience, the much-anticipated HTC Hero offers synchronization for built-in Google mobile services, including Google Search™, Google Maps™, Gmail™, and YouTube™ as well as access to thousands of applications built on the Android platform.

Beginning on Oct. 11, customers will be able to purchase HTC Hero through all Sprint retail channels including Web (www.sprint.com), Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and our national retail partner Best Buy for $179.99 (excluding taxes) after a $50 instant savings and a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement. Pre-registration begins today at www.sprint.com/hero.

"The arrival of HTC Hero and the Android platform to Sprint's network is an important milestone for our customers and the U.S. wireless industry," said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product development for Sprint. "With the dependability and coverage of Sprint's 3G network, HTC Hero users will appreciate a much better experience than is possible now with any other Android phone operating in the United States. They will enjoy the robust potential to personalize their wireless experience as well as the best value in wireless with a Simply Everything plan from Sprint."

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BERLIN -- Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom said Tuesday that they were planning to merge their struggling mobile operations in Britain, creating the largest mobile phone operator there.

The companies said the 50-50 venture, combining Britain's third- and fourth-largest operators, would have 28.4 million customers and a 37 percent market share, according to Gartner, leapfrogging the market leader, O2, with 27 percent, and Vodafone, with 25 percent. The companies said they expected to sign an agreement by the end of next month.

Merger Would Create U.K. Mobile Giant

By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN
Published: September 8, 2009

Britain's popultion is about 61 million.

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We've all heard that driving and texting is dangerous, but Dr. Milteer (Dr. Regina M. Milteer, a pediatrician in Fairfax, Va., and member of the Academy of American Pediatrics council on communication and media) warned that pedestrian accidents have occurred because children were texting as they crossed the street and were not aware of their surroundings. And even though it may not be as hazardous to use cellphones while sitting at the dinner table or mingling with friends, it is just plain rude.

Continue reading "Texting while walking: dangerous at any age" »

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Interesting smartphone product segmentation from Blackberry / RIM:

Bold: 3G and WiFi
Curve 8900: WiFI
Tour 9630: 3G
Atlas: WiFi + ?

Continue reading "BlackBerry Atlas WiFi" »

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Blackberry Tour 9630 comes to Sprint. 2009 July 20 according to SprintGurus ? 2009 July 12 ?

Specsheet/Userguide on Scribd.

Announced for Summer of 2009.

The Facebook phone ?

The BlackBerry Tour smartphone is a powerful mobility tool that operates on Sprint's nationwide 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) network domestically. It also roams on other high-speed wireless networks around the world for reliable voice and email communication without missing a beat.

The BlackBerry Tour is a sophisticated smartphone that enables customers to be more productive and better equipped to manage both their busy personal and business lives. It is ideally suited for those who want to stay socially connected, and lets you share moments through pictures and videos via MMS and instant message on popular IM services or BlackBerry® Messenger. It also offers easy access to your favorite social networking sites like Flickr®, MySpace and Facebook®, and you get smooth integration between the BlackBerry Tour smartphone and your Facebook events and friends giving you a great view of what's happening both personally and professionally. This is the most powerful business smartphone in Sprint's line-up with instant access to emails, calendar, contacts, robust business applications and location-based services, leveraging the best performing networks both domestically and abroad.

Reviewed by Bonnie Cha (CNET): video and text.

Compare to BlackBerry 8703e from 2006.

Previously: Sprint Bold Niagara Tour 9630 BlackBerry introduced.
Blackberry Tour 9630 specs.

Continue reading "Sprint Blackberry Tour 9630 release" »

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Latest and best from RIM:

Updated: BlackBerry Tour 9630 comes to Sprint.
Previously: Sprint Bold Niagara Tour 9630 BlackBerry.

Continue reading "Blackberry Tour 9630 specs" »

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3M™ Mobile Privacy Film

Protective skin for a cel phone screen.

3M™ Mobile Privacy Film is the newest addition to the 3M Front Surface Protection Film product line. This removable privacy film allows users to text, review email, check electronic bank statements, etc. without fear of having your "need to know" information become public information. Allows you the freedom to text and email anywhere without worry that others will see.

Features and Benefits:
Offers the same screen darkening "microlouver" privacy as other 3M privacy filters but now is a smaller size to fit and protect your mobile devices.
Helps maintain visual security of information.
Light matte finish helps reduce glare so your screen is easier to see.
Protects your device screen from the rigors of everyday use.
Easy to apply and removes cleanly leaving no residue.

3M™ Mobile Privacy Film

Compare to Zagg InvisibleSHIELD / ShieldZone.

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One of many ecstatic iPhone news stories, on the convenience of having recipies stored and immediately searchible. Some use cases such as seeing a sale on lamb when out shopping, and being able to search for alternative recipes, and amend the shopping list.
Not sure how to mount you pumpkin on a kabob ? Snap a picture and share it for instant feedback. The vision of Audrey, realised.

The iPhone's mobility makes for better eating.

Continue reading "iPhone as the new Audrey" »

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Crackberry is one of many sources of BlackBerry news.
Example Mike Lazaridis Speaks On RIM's Future.

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Sprint is anything but fear, uncertainty and doubt about the Blackberry Bold.

Haven't we seen this movie before? Sprint leaks their rumor about an upcoming device, knowing full well that VZW will get it before they do. But all they can beat Verizon on is the leak.

Updated: 2009 June 17: BlackBerry Tour coming to Sprint.
2009 June 7 BlackBerry Niagara 9630 specs preview look good.

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Virgin mobile's copywriters phone it in.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘Murray Hill’ and ‘Rule’ used in the
same sentence before,” he said. “The copywriters certainly
deserve some credit for this. It’s not that easy to go from
bashing Sutton Place to selling prepaid phone service in
less than 50 words.”

-- John Reardon.

Brownstoner
BedStuy Blog

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blackberryforums, freshly designed for RIM users.
More on mobile and cel technology.

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Campaign for quiet passengers and quiet electronics
(cel phone ring tones, iPod, walman headphones).

Music ban strikes a chord.
-- Headline that could have been used.

Continue reading "Music ban strikes a chord" »

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The Black Berry 8703c mates Colour and QWERTY and GPS
to the SprintPCS PowerVision cel phone and network.

Update 2009 July: Compare to BlackBerry 9630 Tour.

The 8703e measures 4.3 x 2.7 x 0.77 inches and weighs 4.7 ounces
(135 grams). It runs on 64 MB of flash memory, 16 or RAM and a
312 MHz XScale processor.

There's RIM's aforementioned signature 35-key QWERTY
thumb-keyboard, of course, plus a QVGA (320 x 240 pixel)
resolution display that supports over 65,000 colors. The
device incorporates intelligent light sensing technology
that automatically adjusts both the LCD and keyboard
lighting to provide an optimized view in outdoor, indoor
and dark environments.

High speed broadband EV-DO data (average download
speeds of 400-700kpbs and up to 2Mbps peak speeds)
in 216 major metropolitan areas as well as 486 airports.

Key features include:

* Sprint Mobile Broadband enabled on the Sprint Power Vision Network,
the nation's largest mobile broadband network
* Fast Web browsing, application performance and attachment viewing
* GPS-enabled to support location-based services
* BlackBerry "push" technology
* Phone-as-modem capability
* Bluetooth® wireless technology headset and car kit support
* High-resolution color LCD screen, automatically adjusts lighting for
indoor and outdoor viewing
* Complete, high-end phone features including speakerphone,
dedicated "send," "end" and "mute" keys, plus user-definable "convenience" keys
* Bluetooth® 2.0 to support wireless headsets and car kits
* 64MB of flash memory to store and run powerful enterprise, personal
productivity and game applications
* Integrated attachment viewing for popular file formats.

CNET (Bonnie Cha reviews: video and text.

Continue reading "BlackBerry 8703c on Sprint" »

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Zagg's InvisibleSHIELD from ShieldZone Corporation.

Protective skin for a cel phone screen.

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Palm Treo 700p reviewed.

At PC Mag:
The 700p's keys are squarer, making them a hair more
susceptible to mistyping. The Palm OS is getting old;
most notably, it doesn't support multitasking, which
is annoying when you're downloading e-mail and
want to do something else. But it's still tremendously
responsive and requires relatively few keypresses or
stylus taps to do what you want.

The Treo syncs easily with both Macs (with iSync or
Palm Desktop) and PCs (with Palm Desktop or Microsoft
Outlook), Mac users don't get the ultimate prize—the
ability to use the Treo as a USB modem on Sprint's EV-DO
network. With it hooked up to a PC using Sprint's Connection
Manager, I got excellent speeds of 900 to 1,100 Kbps.
That's awesome. But when I connected to a Mac using
Bluetooth, speeds slowed down to about 200 to 300 Kbps.

The problem is the Treo's Bluetooth 1.2 stack, which is just
too slow to handle the full speed of EV-DO. You won't get
that full speed in Palm's Blazer browser, either. Blazer's
not-so-fast rendering engine kept effective speeds on
bandwidth-test Web sites down to about 200 Kbps. But
the device as a whole feels very responsive, and it's fast
enough to play music or stream video.

Compare to RIM BlackBerry 8700g.

Infosync World:
Our fingertips were happy with the new keypad, although
we found reaching down for the Menu key to be annoyingly
awkward.

Palm Infocenter:
The Sprint-branded 700p in New York City, our surfing on the
revamped Blazer browser (which comes with improved caching
and Javascript support, among other changes) was impressively
fast, as were file downloads and over-the-air PIM synching.

Continue reading "Treo 700p reviews" »

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Engadget's mobile covers Palm Treo, BlackBerry,
Sprint PCS Power Vision and EV-DO.

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More Treo love: Treo Tricks and BB Hub.

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Treo (Handspring) 700p is out. With PalmOS.
Pague raves.
Palm Infocenter
Palm Addict
Engadget

Check the service contract: An internet without uploading or downloading.

Verizon's contract, for example, says its service cannot be used for uploading,
downloading or streaming of movies, music or games; it also prohibits peer-to-
peer file sharing and Internet phone calling, known also as VoIP.)
-- NYT.

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The Treo 650 (nee Handspring) is a good phone.
See Treo Central or PalmOne.

MobileTracker Treo news and reviews.

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