For most Pre owners, updates to the operating system happen silently and with little drama -- just the way Palm and the average user likes it. For the more inquisitive of us, though, Palm is offering a detailed breakdown of how the updates get pushed down to the phone and under what circumstances. For starters, you've got to be on EV-DO or WiFi, because 1xRTT (in addition to being ridiculously slow) would block incoming calls when active. Furthermore, you've got to be rocking at least 30 percent of your battery juice. Unless you update manually, the phone will check all by itself every 7 days, and if it finds something, it'll grab it within 2 days during periods when you're not using your data connection (wouldn't want it ruining the user experience, after all). The download typically gets dropped into non-user accessible storage, but apparently, Palm has a contingency plan in place if an update is truly massive -- if that happens, it can steal some user storage with your permission. As we've mentioned, once you have the download, the phone requires that you install it within 7 days; if you don't, it'll auto-install the next chance it gets. Quite a process, isn't it?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Motorola's i856 iDEN slider takes a mind-bending journey through the FCC
Remember that Motorola i856 we told you about way back in March? It's now lost its FCC innocence, garnering external photos and a user's manual for our excited perusal. As phones go, it's nothing much to look at -- but this is iDEN we're talking about, where sliders and multimedia features are still awfully hard to come by . Indeed, the i856 has a dedicated music button right on its face, a far cry from the ultra-rugged workabout Nextels of yore. Probably not a fit for construction site types, but for your average Boost Mobile customer, this'll definitely be a win. No word on a release date or a full list of carrier partners just yet.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
EU roaming drama continues, tentative pricing agreement reached
In Europe? Want cheaper international roaming? Of course you do -- if you don't you're either a carrier or a sick puppy -- and it looks like you just might get your wish. Members of the European Parliament have agreed in principle to reducing the caps on international voice, text, and data roaming to €0.43 per outgoing minute, €0.19 per incoming minute, €0.11 each, and €1.00 per MB wholesale, respectively, on July 1 of this year. Voice minutes further reduce to €0.39 / €0.15 and €0.35 / €0.11 on July 1 of 2010 and 2011, while data ends up as low as €0.50 per MB in two years from now. Furthermore, carriers will be required by law to warn customers when they get close to hitting 50 worth of data roaming, at which point they'll need to consciously agree to bust the cap -- by SMS, for example -- otherwise they'll automatically be cut off to prevent insane, unexpected bills. If all goes according to plan, the proposal will be brought to a full vote next month.
ITT sues Verizon, phone makers aplenty over GPS patent
This one's pretty light on specifics at the moment, but it looks like manufacturing giant ITT Corp is none too happy with Verizon and a whole host of cellphone manufacturers including the likes of Motorola, Nokia, LG, and Kyocera, and it's now gone so far as to sue the whole lot over alleged patent infringement. Apparently, ITT thinks that the group of companies all violated one of its GPS patents that relates to position information being transmitted in urban areas with line-of-sight obstructions. As a result of that alleged wrong doing, ITT says it has been "irreparably harmed," and that it "has suffered, and will continue to suffer substantial damages." To remedy that situation, ITT is asking for a jury trial, unspecified royalties, and a permanent injunction against all of the defendants, although it is being kind enough to allow for an exemption for any activities necessary to support 911 emergency functions.
Emgeton pops out dual-SIM Enzo candybar
Can't say we've ever heard of Emgeton, but we're liking what we're seeing here. Admittedly, the Enzo candybar takes a swipe (or two... or three) from Sony Ericsson, but this dual-SIM wonder still packs enough personality to keep things interesting. Said handset reportedly boasts 3G capabilities, a 2.2-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, Bluetooth, 0.3 megapixel camera, a rechargeable Li-ion and a multimedia player. 'Course, only 50MB of internal memory is provided, but the microSD slot does enable users to carry around a few extra LCD Soundsystem tracks should they choose. The only problems? That $388 price tag and the unlikelihood of this thing ever escaping the Czech Republic.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
AT&T pays out $8.2 million settlement over school E-Rate program
"Settlement" and "needy schools" aren't two things that most companies would like to see in a press release, but that's exactly what AT&T is dealing with at the moment after it has paid out $8.2 million to settle a dispute involving the E-Rate program, which uses funds collected from phone customers to pay for hardware and connectivity service fees for schools and libraries. According to the Department of Justice, AT&T (or, more specifically, AT&T Technical Services Corp.) allegedly not only engaged in non-competitive bidding practices for E-Rate contracts, but claimed and received E-rate funds for goods and services that weren't eligible for the program, and over-billed the E-Rate program for some of the services it provided. This resolution is also apparently specifically a result of a federal investigation into fraud and anti-competitive conduct in the E-Rate program in Indiana which, it seems, is still ongoing.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Qualcomm makes a play for the sub-$150 smartphone market with new chipset
In a press release recently issued by Qualcomm, the company states that it's taking direct aim at the sub-$150 smartphone market with a new chipset on offer. The platform -- known as the MSM7227 -- is apparently designed with higher-power, lower-cost handsets in mind, offering HSDPA / HSUPA radios, a 600MHz CPU, 320MHz application DSP, 400MHz modem processor, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, Bluetooth 2.1, and gps support integrated in a 12mm x 12mm chipset. The MSM7227 can also supposedly handle 8 megapixel camera and 30 FPS WVGA encoding / decoding with ease, and is capable of supporting Android, S60, Windows Mobile, and BREW platforms. Given the company's recent foray into Snapdragon and other pricier options, it's interesting to see them taking a shine to the low end of the market. We know that ASUS are planning on launching a cheaper Eee phone sometime soon, and they're currently snuggling up to qualcomm for chip duty on an Android device. Is this the year we'll see the rise of the smartphone version of the netbook (cheap, plentiful, almost disposable)? Only MWC knows for sure.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mobile phone Wi-Fi usage on the rise
Wi-Fi has come to the mobile phone, and people all over the world are taking advantage of the faster speeds to access the Net from their phones. According to AdMob, a mobile advertising marketplace, mobile Internet usage on Wi-Fi picked up steam in January in the U.S. and Europe. Worldwide Internet requests originating from Wi-Fi hotspots increased 8 percent month over month to 6.8 billion, led by double digit growth in Western Europe and Asia, AdMob said in a recent study. In Europe, Wi-Fi access on a mobile phone increased by 132 percent over the past year with the biggest growth coming from Spain and Italy. And in the U.S., mobile phone subscribers in the West and Northeast were the heaviest Wi-Fi users, AdMob said. California led the pack, generating 18 percent of overall mobile Wi-Fi traffic in January. New York took second place with 14 percent. And Texas generated 8 percent of the mobile Wi-Fi traffic. New devices, such as Apple's iPhone, are driving much of this growth. Even though the latest version of the iPhone operates over a 3G cellular network, these speeds are still slow compared to accessing the Net from a Wi-Fi hotspot. And when Wi-Fi is available, it looks like consumers choose the Wi-Fi network over the 3G network. The faster speeds mean that mobile users often get a better surfing experience. So more mobile Wi-Fi usage is good news for advertisers looking to break into the mobile market. But on the flip-side, more mobile users who access the Net from Wi-Fi hotspots, might be a problem for wireless operators. When consumers access the Internet through Wi-Fi hotspots, they aren't using the carrier network. And for carriers who charge based on data usage, this means they are losing out on revenue. Some mobile operators, such as Verizon Wireless, are simply not offering popular phones with Wi-Fi. In November, Verizon launched the new BlackBerry Storm, which doesn't have Wi-Fi. This fact has been a major complaint of many consumers. And it might have hurt adoption, prompting some potential customers to buy Apple's iPhone instead. The iPhone is exclusively available in the U.S. on AT&T's network. But given the fact that Wi-Fi hotspots aren't ubiquitous, users still need some kind of cellular data plan to get Internet access everywhere. What's more, carriers in the U.S. typically require customers who buy these Wi-Fi enabled phones, like the iPhone, to also subscribe to a monthly "unlimited" data plan. So even if subscribers are using a free Wi-Fi hotspot, they're still paying their mobile operator about $30 a month for access to the 3G cellular network.
Qualcomm brings Near Field Communication to more mobile chipsets
As stellar as things like contactless payments are, short-range communications applications have generally struggled to gain adoption (Bluetooth notwithstanding). Qualcomm's hoping to change all that with its announcement that certain new products in its portfolio will arrive with NFC capabilities baked right in. The outfit's goal here is to "accelerate the commercial availability of mobile handsets featuring the short-range technology," but unfortunately, it has yet to publicly gloat about signing any partner deals with its Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets. We'll be keeping a close eye out at Mobile World Congress for any NFC inclusions, but honestly, we don't have a great deal of hope that any North American handsets will be in the bunch -- if there's a bunch at all.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Smartphones offer hope in declining cell phone biz
Cell phone sales around the world took a nose dive in the fourth quarter, as the weakened economy hurt demand for new devices. But sales of smartphones continued to grow. According to IDC, overall sales of cell phones in the fourth quarter were down about 12.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. In the fourth quarter of 2008, manufacturers shipped a total of 289.0 million units, compared to 330.8 million units shipped during the fourth quarter a year ago. ''The fourth quarter was the perfect storm of factors to produce this result,'' Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, said in a statement. ''A combination of weak end-user demand, currency volatility, and limited credit availability prevented the market from experiencing the usual seasonal increase in shipments." Llamas went on to say he expects the first half of 2009 to be challenging for cell phone makers as they attempt to clear their inventory. And he said the market might not recover until later in 2009 and possibly not until 2010. The one bright spot in the entire market was smartphones. These devices, which use advanced operating systems and provide Internet access and other data services like e-mail, were the hottest-selling devices in the fourth quarter. Device makers grew sales of these advanced phones by 22.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, IDC reported. In North America, smartphone sales were up by about 70.1 percent, and in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, sales were up about 25 percent. "As long as operators are able to continue to subsidize these devices, and developers continue to enhance applications, then this segment will be a silver lining to an otherwise gloomy market,'' Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker, said in a statement. Worldwide smartphone growth was fueled by traditional handset makers, such as Nokia, which still ranks as the No. 1 manufacturer in the world, but it also got a boost from newer players, such as Apple and Research In Motion, Reith said. That said, Reith also noted that the fourth quarter also highlighted the need for manufacturers to diversify their product lines within the smartphone category. He used Apple as an example. In the third quarter, Apple blew the doors wide open, selling about 6.9 million new iPhones worldwide in the quarter. But shipments slowed in the fourth quarter, and the company sold only about 4.3 million new iPhones. Meanwhile, Research In Motion, which sells several different versions of its BlackBerry devices, actually grew sales from about 6.1 million devices at the end of its fiscal second quarter to 6.7 million devices in its fiscal third quarter, which ended November 29. The company's fiscal fourth quarter ends February 28. "I think everyone, including Apple, knew the initial bump in iPhone sales wasn't sustainable," Reith said. "And RIM's success shows the importance of a diverse product portfolio, where different products with different price points are sold across multiple carriers." Moving forward, the smartphone market looks like the place to be. And Reith expects traditional manufacturers to focus attention there. He also believes that operators will try to further drive this market by increasing the subsidy on devices to spur adoption. The reason is simple: mobile operators are making a lot of money on the data services they sell with these devices. That recurring revenue stream is worth the extra subsidy. Verizon Wireless reported last week that much of the growth it experienced in the fourth quarter came from data services. The average revenue per user for data services was up 27.9 percent for the quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company also said 37 percent of new retail devices sold during the quarter were smartphones. AT&T, which activated 1.9 million iPhones during the quarter, saw its wireless-data revenue grow 51.2 percent during the quarter. AT&T noted that the fourth quarter marked the 12th consecutive quarter that wireless-data revenue grew at a rate above 50 percent. And the company said its iPhone users, in particular, generate about 1.6 times more revenue than the average AT&T customer.
Smartphones offer hope in declining cell phone biz
Cell phone sales around the world took a nose dive in the fourth quarter, as the weakened economy hurt demand for new devices. But sales of smartphones continued to grow. According to IDC, overall sales of cell phones in the fourth quarter were down about 12.6 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. In the fourth quarter of 2008, manufacturers shipped a total of 289.0 million units, compared to 330.8 million units shipped during the fourth quarter a year ago. ''The fourth quarter was the perfect storm of factors to produce this result,'' Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, said in a statement. ''A combination of weak end-user demand, currency volatility, and limited credit availability prevented the market from experiencing the usual seasonal increase in shipments." Llamas went on to say he expects the first half of 2009 to be challenging for cell phone makers as they attempt to clear their inventory. And he said the market might not recover until later in 2009 and possibly not until 2010. The one bright spot in the entire market was smartphones. These devices, which use advanced operating systems and provide Internet access and other data services like e-mail, were the hottest-selling devices in the fourth quarter. Device makers grew sales of these advanced phones by 22.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, IDC reported. In North America, smartphone sales were up by about 70.1 percent, and in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, sales were up about 25 percent. "As long as operators are able to continue to subsidize these devices, and developers continue to enhance applications, then this segment will be a silver lining to an otherwise gloomy market,'' Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker, said in a statement. Worldwide smartphone growth was fueled by traditional handset makers, such as Nokia, which still ranks as the No. 1 manufacturer in the world, but it also got a boost from newer players, such as Apple and Research In Motion, Reith said. That said, Reith also noted that the fourth quarter also highlighted the need for manufacturers to diversify their product lines within the smartphone category. He used Apple as an example. In the third quarter, Apple blew the doors wide open, selling about 6.9 million new iPhones worldwide in the quarter. But shipments slowed in the fourth quarter, and the company sold only about 4.3 million new iPhones. Meanwhile, Research In Motion, which sells several different versions of its BlackBerry devices, actually grew sales from about 6.1 million devices at the end of its fiscal second quarter to 6.7 million devices in its fiscal third quarter, which ended November 29. The company's fiscal fourth quarter ends February 28. "I think everyone, including Apple, knew the initial bump in iPhone sales wasn't sustainable," Reith said. "And RIM's success shows the importance of a diverse product portfolio, where different products with different price points are sold across multiple carriers." Moving forward, the smartphone market looks like the place to be. And Reith expects traditional manufacturers to focus attention there. He also believes that operators will try to further drive this market by increasing the subsidy on devices to spur adoption. The reason is simple: mobile operators are making a lot of money on the data services they sell with these devices. That recurring revenue stream is worth the extra subsidy. Verizon Wireless reported last week that much of the growth it experienced in the fourth quarter came from data services. The average revenue per user for data services was up 27.9 percent for the quarter, compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company also said 37 percent of new retail devices sold during the quarter were smartphones. AT&T, which activated 1.9 million iPhones during the quarter, saw its wireless-data revenue grow 51.2 percent during the quarter. AT&T noted that the fourth quarter marked the 12th consecutive quarter that wireless-data revenue grew at a rate above 50 percent. And the company said its iPhone users, in particular, generate about 1.6 times more revenue than the average AT&T customer.
AT&T eyes divested Alltel assets
AT&T could end up with the lion's share of the wireless assets that Verizon Wireless must get rid of as part of its acquisition of Alltel, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The newspaper cites sources who said that AT&T is among several bidders hoping to get their hands on the Alltel subscribers and network. The private-equity firms Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co., supposedly are bidding on the assets together as is Providence Equity Partners on its own. At least one cable provider also has expressed interest, the Journal says. In order to close its $28.1 billion acquisition of Alltel, Verizon Wireless agreed to sell off assets in 22 states to appease regulators. Included in these assets are 2.1 million wireless subscribers and wireless spectrum and equipment valued at around $3 billion. AT&T is considered to be in the strongest position to bid on the assets, but consumer advocates and rural phone companies say that allowing AT&T to purchase these assets is bad for consumers. Verizon Wireless and AT&T are the No. 1 and No. 2 wireless operators in the U.S., respectively. Together, they have over 160 million subscribers and account for nearly 60 percent of all cell phone service in the country. Critics, such as Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, told the Journal that Alltel's assets should end up with a smaller wireless player to spur more competition, rather than allowing the second largest operator to gobble up more customers and spectrum. Rural trade groups believe that AT&T could charge expensive roaming rates to other smaller carriers in these regions, which could affect competitive pricing for consumers. Even if AT&T ends up as the highest bidder for the assets, the deal still has to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. But because the deal will likely be evaluated market by market, AT&T could still end up with a significant amount of the assets if it is bidding for assets where it doesn't have a strong presence already. Some people, such as Dan Meyer at RCR Wireless, argue that AT&T buying the divested Alltel assets might not be such a bad thing for consumers. Alltel primarily operates in rural markets, where national carriers don't offer service. And some of these consumers might be happy to have another national operator, such as AT&T, he said. But the biggest benefit for rural consumers is that they could finally be able to get the Apple iPhone. AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone and many people in rural markets have complained that this exclusivity agreement has prohibited them from having access to the latest and greatest technology. While the real policy issue here centers around exclusivity deals, the fact remains that a big group of people want the iPhone and can't get it because AT&T isn't offered in their market.So even though allowing AT&T to gobble up more spectrum and assets may hurt smaller wireless operators and could ultimately drive up wireless prices, I'm sure there are plenty of people living in rural areas where AT&T doesn't offer service today who would be more than happy for the chance to have an iPhone. What do you think?
- AT& amp ;T reportedly eyeing post-merger Verizon Wireless assets
AT&T reportedly eyeing post-merger Verizon Wireless assets
As you may recall, one of the requirements that Verizon had to agree with in order to complete its little acquisition of Alltel was that it must offload some $3 billion in wireless assets to avoid becoming too monolithic, and it looks like there's already a number of bidders angling for a piece of the action. The biggest of those, by far, is AT&T, which is apparently looking to pick up as big a chunk of the assets as it is able to and, according to The Wall Street Journal, it's in a good position to do just that. Other interested parties reportedly include a joint bid from the Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co, a separate bid from Providence Equity Partners LLC, and at least one unnamed cable provider. Any of those bids, however, would still be subject to approval by the Department of Justice, with AT&T sure to draw the most scrutiny of the lot.
Vodafone reports 14 percent rise in revenue
Things may not be entirely awesome for most operators these days, but at least Vodafone's making some cash in this cash-strapped market. according to its most recent quarterly results, the outfit has notched a 14 percent increase in revenue, which was helped by the weak pound and exceptional sales in India. More specifically, it realized sales of ?10.47 billion ($14.9 billion) compared to ?9.16 billion ($13.06 billion) a year prior. Also of note, Voda was thanking data revenue profusely, as said category rose over 25 percent on an organic basis. Nevertheless, the good news prompted it to raise its expectations for the next quarter, which ain't happening too often these days. All the minutiae is parked in the read link.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Verizon axing Test Drive, making New Every Two program less awesome
Verizon Wireless certainly isn't planning a romantic weekend with its customers this Valentine's Day, as it's completely nixing its Test Drive program and slashing benefits on its New Every Two initiative. Or, it will if documents rounded up by Boy Genius Report prove accurate. Currently, prospective subscribers who'd like to test out Verizon's network for a month without worrying over usage fees can do so; after February 15th, they can kiss that option goodbye, as anyone who signs up and ports out within a month will have to pay for their wireless access and usage charges during that window. On the same day, a few changes in the NE2 program will also go into effect, and while we'll point you to the read link for all the details, here's the skinny: the discounts you once got are being lessened. Awesome.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Firefox Mobile "Fennec" browser to debut on HTC's Touch Pro next week?
You may remember the Alpha 2 release of Fennec, well, the folks involved with Firefox mobile have updated their Wiki with news of a milestone release in the first week of February. So, we have to ask, are you an HTC Touch Pro user? If not this release really isn't for you, as the platform of choice for this release is rather narrow: one set. Of course if you don't have a Touch Pro, you can always hope somebody comes along and tweaks this release to broaden its install base. We'll definitely be keeping a close eye on this as it unfolds, but feel free to wander the read link to see the things they covered in the meeting yesterday -- like installers, bug fixing, CAB creation, and such.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
AT&T earnings dip 23.6 percent
AT&T, the largest phone company in the country, reported Wednesday that its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 fell 23.6 percent, amid a tough economic climate. The company said it earned $2.4 billion, or 41 cents per share, during the fourth quarter, compared to $3.14 billion, or 51 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 2.4 percent to $31.1 billion, which was slightly short of analyst expectations of about $31.3 billion. Even though AT&T saw strong growth in its wireless business and its IP data business, it also spent more on operations. AT&T's adjusted operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2008 totaled $24.5 billion compared to $23.1 billion for the same quarter last year. Its adjusted operating income was $6.6 billion, versus $7.3 billion. And the company also saw its operating income margins fall to 21.1 percent versus 24.0 percent. AT&T announced in December plans to cut 12,000 workers or about 4 percent of its workforce in an effort to reduce costs. "Despite the economic environment, we grew revenues in 2008, and I expect 2009 will be another year of overall revenue growth and solid progress for our company," Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Looking ahead, while we are cautious about the economic environment, AT&T is well positioned with a strong balance sheet and premier operational assets, and I am very confident in our ability to execute." The biggest growth engine for the company was once again its wireless business. Revenue for wireless grew 13.2 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago to $12.9 billion. Revenue, which excludes handset and accessory sales, grew 13.3 percent to $11.5 billion. Much of this growth was driven by new customers. During the quarter, AT&T added 2.1 million new subscribers, including 1.9 million new iPhone users. AT&T now has a total of 77 million wireless subscribers, an increase of 7 million subscribers during the year. The company increased its post paid customers by 13.9 percent versus the same quarter last year. And it reduced its churn rate to 1.6 percent, down from 1.7 percent for both the preceding quarter and the year-earlier fourth quarter. But the real highlight of the quarter in wireless was the addition of 1.9 million new Apple iPhone 3G subscribers. AT&T reported that approximately 40 percent of these customers were new to AT&T, proving that the iPhone has helped greatly in attracting new customers. Apple launched the iPhone 3G in July. Over the past two quarters, AT&T says it has activated 4.3 million iPhones. The iPhone deal is also proving to be lucrative as the company also reported that the average revenue per user for iPhones is 1.6 times higher than with other AT&T products. The churn rates are also significantly lower than the company's overall postpaid subscriber base, the company said. While adding new iPhone customers in the long run is good for AT&T's business, in the short term it costs the company money, because AT&T subsidizes each unit by hundreds of dollars. It recoups the cost of the phone in service fees over the two-year contract of the phone. AT&T is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone. Overall AT&T also saw strong growth in data revenue for wireless, which it reports increased 51.2 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. AT&T wireless customers sent nearly 80 billion text messages in the fourth quarter, more than double what they sent during the same quarter a year ago. Internet access revenues and multimedia message volumes also continued their robust growth. AT&T also noted that the fourth quarter marked the 12th consecutive quarter that wireless data revenue grew above 50 percent. Data represented 26.6 percent of AT&T's fourth-quarter wireless service revenues, up from 19.9 percent in the year-earlier quarter. AT&T also saw strong growth in its U-Verse broadband and TV service. AT&T added a total of 264,000 new TV subscribers in the fourth quarter, up from 232,000 added in the third quarter of 2008. The company now has more than 1 million subscribers for this service. AT&T's U-Verse broadband service also helped push growth in the company's IP data services. In total AT&T grew its consumer IP data revenue, which includes broadband and AT&T U-verse services, by 21.4 percent. AT&T executives are hosting a conference call at 10 a.m. ET to discuss results. Stay tuned for an updated story.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Payment processor Heartland reports breach
Heartland Payment Systems, which processes payroll and credit card payments for more than 250,000 businesses, reported Tuesday that consumer credit card data was exposed in what may be the largest security breach ever.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Why Obama's cell phone calls will always go through
After Barack Obama is sworn in next week, he'll be able to enjoy one of the lesser-known benefits of the presidency: phone calls that always go through. That means no more "all circuits are busy" messages. And no waiting for calls to be completed as millions of people crowd into Washington during the inauguration and jam overburdened cell phone towers, despite what have been practically heroic efforts on the part of carriers to add capacity. It may sound a bit like a storyline from the West Wing, but there actually is a branch of the government called the National Communications System tasked with ensuring that telecommunications related to "national security" remain intact and ready to use. President Kennedy created NCS in 1963, and its mandate has expanded to include high-priority Internet and mobile phone calls too. "We found that this program was very helpful during September 11," said Robert Kenny, director of media relations for the Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. "We think it's necessary across the board at all levels of government." Kenny said in an interview this week that NCS' priority-call system, which has been moved from the Defense Department to Homeland Security, is "for emergencies and other times there's a need to get calls out." That's in addition to private Defense Department networks, some of which are satellite-based. Homeland Security did not respond to queries about NCS on Thursday. One of the NCS's offerings is called Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, or GETS, which gives federally approved users special calling cards with instructions to call a certain number in the 710 area code for a guaranteed priority connection. At the prompt, the user enters a 12-digit ID number and the destination phone number. (The 710 area code is reserved for the federal government's exclusive use. It is, of course, a free call from a pay phone.) NCS says that the GETS system is designed to support tasks including "presidential communication," continuity of government, and access to the emergency broadcast system. Once the ID number is verified, the telephone network marks the call as a high-priority one, meaning it's specially routed and exempt from being blocked because of congestion or network overload. A 1984 executive order signed by President Reagan lists NCS's duties as: "National security and emergency preparedness communications for the federal government under all circumstances, including crisis or emergency, attack, recovery and reconstitution." In 2001, the government added an additional high-priority system for mobile phone users. It's called Wireless Priority Service, and gives authorized users including what NCS calls "senior members of the presidential administration" a higher-priority connection to the cell tower. WPS is accessed by dialing *272 before the destination phone number--but, alas, will only work if your mobile provider has authorized your phone. And the federal government needs to approve. "In times of an emergency that's a huge advantage for public safety," said John Taylor, a Sprint spokesman. Taylor said that WPS will come in handy next week during the inauguration. "For the inauguration, we are planning for 2 million people," he said. "We've said up front, if there are more than 2 million people, our customers will have problems. But we're confident public safety will not have problems because of this service." FCC documents (PDF) from 2000 provide a glimpse at the deliberations during the wireless system's creation. The agency concluded that a uniform *272 number was useful because otherwise "communications service users would have to change systems under conditions when compatibility is most important, i.e., during the exercise of the president's war powers." (As a side note, those war powers are breathtakingly expansive: Federal law allows the commander-in-chief to seize all TV and radio stations and cell phone towers, and control all telephone companies, Internet broadband providers and peering points. This can happen if the president believes there's a "threat of war" and such action is "necessary.") Authorization to use WPS is ranked by five different levels. The highest priority is reserved for, according to NCS, "National Command Authority support for military command and control critical to national survival" and "support for the conduct of diplomatic negotiations critical to arresting or limiting hostilities." Law enforcement and public utility companies receive a lower-priority WPS status. If Obama does end up ditching his BlackBerry for General Dynamics' Sectera Edge, a combination phone-PDA that's been certified by the National Security Agency, he won't be the first government employee to use it for priority calls. "Priority services as well as other security elements were considerations in the design of the device," according to a spokesperson for General Dynamics. The NCS has also taken some steps to find similarly-bulletproof ways to prioritize Internet communications. It's a far harder problem, of course, because the protocols underlying the Internet lack a reliable way to mark communications as White-House-high-priority, and the network is packet-switched and far less centralized. A 2004 report lists responses from the Internet industry to the NCS's request for suggestions about prioritizing governmental data communications including video chats and voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. It admits that "NCS cannot cause a paradigm shift within the Internet to meet these goals," one of which is "national leadership must receive end-to-end priority treatment over other users." It concluded, sensibly, that more research was required.
Friday, January 9, 2009
AMD announces ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 series graphics chips
NVIDIA has already given its laptop graphics offerings a bit of a boost at CES, and now AMD has followed suit, with it taking the wraps off its new ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 series chips. As you may have guessed, these are based on the same core architecture as AMD's 4000 series of desktop graphics cards, and they promise to be as much as twice as fast as their 3000 series predecessors. Helping out significantly on that front is the use of GDDR5 memory, a first for laptop graphics, as well as an increase in the number of stream processing units (800 on the top end HD 4870 and 4850), and a new, cooler 55nm manufacturing process. In addition to those top end graphics options, AMD will also introduce a couple of new 4600 series cards, which use the same GDDR3 memory and 320 stream processing units as before, but are able to fit in tighter enclosures and use less power. Look for the first laptops equipped with the graphics to start rolling out by the end of March.Monday, January 5, 2009
Bureaucratic drama: India wants to double 3G license prices
Just as carriers (and would-be carriers) were likely scraping up the necessary 20 billion rupees to plunk down for a national 3G license over in India, the government wants to switch things up double down. The country's Finance Ministry has apparently asked the Department of Telecom to ask for some 40 billion rupees as a minimum bid price now -- that's about $840 million for those who don't have the Indian rupee-to-American dollar conversion table memorized -- which would automatically require Cabinet and regulatory re-approval, ensuring a delay of the January 30 date that had been previously scheduled for bidding to begin. Confusingly, the Finance Ministry indicates the proposed change is a response to lukewarm demand for licenses from foreign, non-Indian companies; the thought is that doubling the minimum might force out some local players and reignite interest from some global wireless heavyweights. Weird how that works.Sunday, January 4, 2009
O2 sees a record 166 million text messages fly during New Year's celebration
If Americans really send twice as many text messages as Europeans, we'd hate to see the figures from the Big 4 here in the States. According to O2 UK, a record 166 million text messages were sent over its network in a 24-hour period that ended at 7:30AM on January 1, 2009. For those not exactly near their abacus, that breaks down to around 1,900 messages per second. Furthermore, over 16 million texts were saved by O2 subscribers using its own Bluebook backup service, though we can't imagine "HNY09!one1!1" messages being all that compelling to revisit, say, every day after 01/01/09.Saturday, January 3, 2009
FCC Fridays
We here at Engadget mobile tend to spend a lot of way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!
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