Hey, how about that Super Bowl, am I right? Okay, you got us -- we didn’t watch the darned thing because we were working hard all weekend while the rest of you planted your backsides on the couch to indulge in cheap beer, stale nachos and the high blood pressure that surely comes from such testosterone-driven forms of entertainment. Most of you are probably having a hard time adjusting to a bad case of the post-Bowl Mondays, but we’re here to help with a heaping helping of tech news for this manic Monday, February 6, 2012.
No one likes to be left behind when cool features like Siri are introduced and touted as only available on newer hardware. Despite the valiant efforts of hackers to port the intelligent assistant technology to older iOS handsets, Ars Technica is reporting that Apple may have had a valid reason for limiting it to the iPhone 4S. “According to recent SEC filings from technology start-up Audience, Apple incorporated an improved version of its background noise filtering technology directly into the A5 processor used in the iPhone 4S -- technology that improves Siri's speech recognition capabilities.” Of course, the basic functionality of Siri has already been available in software-only form as a free app, since discontinued after Apple’s release of the iPhone 4S in October -- but coupling it with Audience’s “earSmart” IP would certainly make a more convincing case for keeping Siri tied to newer hardware.
Yeah, yeah, we know: You want an Apple television, and so do the analysts. But what about major electronics retailers? According to The Verge, apparently Best Buy also wants one, and wants one badly enough to query its customers with a survey exclusively dedicated to a theoretical 42-inch “AppleHDTV” which may retail for $1499. Now, before you get all excited and start clearing space on your credit cards, this is in no way an indication that said HDTV will ever arrive in stores -- Best Buy or otherwise. It sounds more like the retailer is getting a feel for what customers might like to see from such an offering, especially when features like a “built in iSight camera and microphone for Skype,” neither of which sound too Apple-like in this day and age. (FaceTime HD, anyone?)
With an audience of millions watching the Super Bowl on Sunday night, Samsung introduced the latest of their attack ads against Apple in the form of a whopping 90 seconds of pure delusion. The spot opens with the usual bored-looking hipsters, presumably in line for the next iPhone, in what can only be described as sheer make-believe -- hey, we stood in line for the first two iPhones and nobody looked as bored and tortured as these folks. Of course, the dark cloud parts when one of them spots a dude with his new Android-packing Samsung Galaxy Note, which reintroduces the stylus to a world that has pretty much forgotten about it. The hipsters get so excited they take to dancing in the streets for the majority of the commercial time before the spot ends with Samsung’s slogan “The next big thing is already here”… followed a moment later by a “Coming Soon” notice. Confused? Yeah, us too…
Still rocking one of those awesome unlimited data packages from the original iPhone back in 2007? If so, AT&T apparently hates you and wants you to die -- okay, so they don’t want you to die, but they do want you to surrender your unlimited data and get with the times. According to iLounge, customers are starting to receive text messages warning that they’re in the top five percent of data users -- a penalty that comes with reduced data speeds for the remainder of the billing cycle. So what is the top five percent, you may ask? If you guessed five or even 10GB, guess again: This particular user got whacked at only 2.1GB, which is ironically under the new 3GB for $30 data plan the carrier recently began offering. What gives? “Data consumption by all smartphone customers, including the top 5 percent of smartphone data customers, varies by month and by market,” explains Emily Edmonds, Director, AT&T Corporate Communications. “As of August 2011, the average data use across the country by the top 5 percent of AT&T smartphone customers was 2 GB per month.” Sounds more like a way to strong arm users grandfathered with undesirable unlimited plans into getting with data caps, if you ask us.
Hey, Redbox… slow down! You’re making our heads spin here! If you weren’t paying attention earlier today, you might have missed the big news that the DVD rental kiosk giant is indeed preparing to take on Netflix with a new subscription-based streaming service in an unlikely partnership with Verizon. Concerned that the company might be abandoning those giant red kiosks? Don’t be, because Fast Company is reporting that Redbox had yet another huge announcement this afternoon, dropping $100 million for competitor NCR -- the folks behind their sole competition, Blockbuster Express. The deal will now bless Redbox parent Coinstar with “more locations than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined” -- and they predict those DVDs will keep slinging for upwards of another decade, to boot.
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driscoll@gate.net
February 07, 2012 at 4:02pm
Well, I am not that surprised nor am i loyal in anyway whatsoever to ATT. I have UVERSE, I have 3 phones on ATT and I have phone and broadband.
The broadband is premium 18mb which is suppose to be over at least 13mb. It rarely has exceeded 5mb. hours and weeks have gone by, nice enough techs and people have come to my door and nothing has changed and no further action is taken unless I go through at least an hour of phone banks to get someone to come back out and do really nothing. No apologies and no results.
UVERSE really was a scam sale and a lot of people took the bait and were left with services that were not ready for prime time and certainly not what was sold. When I was offered a one year of HBO to resolve all the deceptive practices that I was forced to endure. I took it and I got about a week of HBO before they stopped that bit and when I spent an hour trying to get a response. NOTHING BUT more passing the buck.
On the phone side the effort to push me out of my unlimited plan an into a data plan that will most certainly run up tabs. I am moving to Sprint. ATT eventually will be another GM motor. Planned obsolescence and lobbying with all the money they make to ensure competition is stiffled and they get some pseudo monopoly that ensure profits without competing, improving or creating an relationship with customers that makes them loyal and desirous of their success. I feel nothing for this company or what the stand for. an incredible contrast to Apple Computer which has been carrying ATT mobile for several years now and they are so arrogant they do not even seem like they acknowledge that customer care is important. Arrogant monopolies will not have a future. Change or Die ATT, so what your big and have lots of money...all the means is the death will be slower.
