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Palm hires Sidekick, Helio smartphone designer
Has Palm run out of Apple engineers to poach? Or has Steve Jobs's intimidation campaign proven effective? Whatever the reason, Palm's latest hire seems smart: Matias Duarte, the designer of the user interface for the Sidekick and Helio's Ocean.
apple
silicon valley users guide
Hands-free cellphone laws kick in today
Beginning Tuesday morning, California drivers under 18 are forbidden from using a phone while driving. Drivers over 18 must use a hands-free device. I'm sure plenty of Valley wheeler-dealers will risk the $20 first-offense fine as "the cost of doing business." How very entrepreneurial of you. Since using a phone raises your risk of an accident to the same as driving drunk, why not crack a flask of Crown Royal while you're at it? It'll make the accident a lot less painful. More »
Wi-Fi
Philadelphia's Wi-Fi network saved, for now, but the time for citywide wireless has past
After EarthLink abandoned a citywide Wi-Fi project for Philadelphia after only 6,000 customers signed up for the $20/mo. service. Now local investors Derek Pew of Boathouse Communications and Mark Rupp, a former Verizon executive, are planning to take over the network, which will be free and ad-supported. When first announced, the project was on of the largest Wi-Fi buildouts proposed. But after being completed, few users signed up because it was slow, didn't reach far into the city's signature row houses if at all, and was not much cheaper than adding Internet to your cable or phone connection. Earthlink had previously attempted to hand the network off an Ohio-based non-profit. But Wi-Fi was never a particularly good technology for these projects, and it's high time to abandon the pipe dream. More »
5:00 PM on Tue Jun 17 2008
By Jackson West
658 views,
3 comments
Latest by n/a: The key to designing successful ad supported wi-fi models is to ensure adequate inventory availability that is aligned with advertiser needs. I agree that ³landing page² or ³ads for access² models will never produce meaningful revenues but companies like ours more »
apple
iPhone 3G's true cost is $1,237
Everywhere you look, a new iPhone price hike turns up. At $199, the phones themselves may be cheaper — but Apple and AT&T, the phone's exclusive carrier in the U.S., are charging users by other means. The iPhone data plan by itself is going up $10 to $30/mo. In a GigaOm interview, AT&T wireless chief Ralph de la Vega reveals that the 200 text messages previously included will cost iPhone users an extra $5/mo. ($20/mo. for unlimited messages, which seem practically obligatory.) And then there's Apple's MobileMe subscription, without which the iPhone's new synching features won't work, at $99 a year, or just over $8 a month. Add it up, and iPhone users will be paying about $43 a month, or $1,038 over the two-year course of the AT&T contract they signed up for — all to get an iPhone at $199. More »
wireless
AT&T, Apple scrap iPhone revenue-sharing deal
Apple is known for innovating in gadgetry. But in business models? AT&T has announced that it and Apple have tossed aside last year's agreement to share revenues on the iPhone. Apple now gets paid upfront, with AT&T selling iPhones at a loss to attract subscribers. The 3G data plan, at $30 a month, is $10 more than the previouse rate — and because AT&T's not sharing that revenue with Apple, AT&T will be making $18 more a month from subscribers, according to estimates of Apple's previous take. AT&T described the deal as "consistent with traditional equipment manufacturer-carrier arrangements." So much for remaking the telecom world. Steve Jobs may have wowed the crowd at the Worldwide Developers Conference with the iPhone's new features. But as far as AT&T is concerned, Apple's nothing special.
3G iPhones will choke wireless networks, as any EVDO user will tell you
One of the reasons that 3G data networks are so fast, especially here in the United States, is that relatively few people use them. However, go to a technology conference where the density of EVDO users reaches a critical mass and suddenly those zippy downloads begin to slow. A room full of iPhone owners frustrated by slowdowns over AT&T's network isn't the customer experience I think Steve Jobs was imagining. [GigaOm]
One of the reasons that 3G data networks are so fast, especially here in the United States, is that relatively few people use them. However, go to a technology conference where the density of EVDO users reaches a critical mass and suddenly those zippy downloads begin to slow. A room full of iPhone owners frustrated by slowdowns over AT&T's network isn't the customer experience I think Steve Jobs was imagining. [GigaOm]
design
The sudden appearance, in millions of browsers, of a new icon for Google was jarring to many users, though the change was slight — a capital "G" replaced by a lowercase "g". An E.E. Cummings-esque affectation? Perhaps, since the change was driven by overworked, underoccupied Google VP Marissa Mayer. She says she made her designers go through more 300 variations before settling on a lowercase blue "g". After putting her employees through the wringer, she's now outsourcing the mess to Google users But if you read Mayer's rules for an icon, though, you'll see she's set to reject anything but the one she chose. More »
Why Google wants to be small
The sudden appearance, in millions of browsers, of a new icon for Google was jarring to many users, though the change was slight — a capital "G" replaced by a lowercase "g". An E.E. Cummings-esque affectation? Perhaps, since the change was driven by overworked, underoccupied Google VP Marissa Mayer. She says she made her designers go through more 300 variations before settling on a lowercase blue "g". After putting her employees through the wringer, she's now outsourcing the mess to Google users But if you read Mayer's rules for an icon, though, you'll see she's set to reject anything but the one she chose. More »
100-word version
Microsoft mobile exec: iPhone is so 2007
On Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to announce a relatively minor set of upgrades to the iPhone. Yet the world — and not just the tech world — waits with bated breath for the turtlenecked one to speak. How does Microsoft respond? With a 522-word memo from Microsoft mobile executive Andy Lees to "Our Windows Mobile Partners." Lees might have some good arguments in Microsoft's favor, but he buries them behind phrases like "It’s now my honor and privilege." Apple would just take our 100-word version, below, and turn each bullet point into a Mac vs. PC commercial. More »
wireless
Mr. Page goes to Washington, demanding bandwidth
"If we have 10 percent better connectivity in the U.S., we get 10 percent more revenue in the U.S.," Google cofounder Larry Page told the FCC. He argued in short, that what's good for Google is good for America, speaking in favor of opening unlicensed spectrum known as "white spaces" between television broadcast frequencies. The National Association of Broadcasters and major sports leagues are opposed to the measure, with the NAB citing the FCC's failed tests of equipment made by Microsoft in 2007. More »
videogames
EA buys mobile rival Hands-On's Korean arm
Is San Francisco-based mobile videogames startup Hands-On Mobile in trouble? That was my first thought on reading that it had sold its Korean unit to Electronic Arts. EA moved to buy Hands-On's closest competitor, Jamdat, in 2005, and has been aggressively expanding in cell-phone games since. Hands-On, once rumored as an IPO candidate, has a string of offices around the globe, which must surely be expensive. It's possible EA made an offer Hands-On couldn't refuse. But the fact that Hands-On is selling, not buying, speaks of strained finances.
rumormonger
Helio-Virgin deal might involve multibillion-dollar Sprint investment
Helio backer SK Telecom, the Korean wireless giant, is in negotiations to purchase Virgin Mobile USA. The plan: combine the two properties and then invest enough in Sprint Nextel to get all three companies working together. Sprint already runs the network over which Helio and Virgin run their cell-phone services. Complicating the deal: T-Mobile's rumored interest in buying Sprint. "Part of something is better than all of nothing," a source close to Helio tells us. More »
Helio, Virgin Mobile in merger talks
SK Telecom, the backer of money-losing wireless startup Helio, could buy out Virgin Mobile USA and combine it with Helio. [MocoNews.net]
With Wi-Fi network, Cablevision aims for world domination of Long Island
Cablevision, the dominant cable provider on New York's Long Island, now wants to build a municipal Wi-Fi network for the area. Along with its bid for Newsday, the local newspaper, this completes its strategic plan to enter into as many outmoded businesses as possible. [WSJ]
wireless
How Google yanked AT&T's chain
Negotiations to reform Clearwire, Craig McCaw's wireless-broadband startup, as a consortium backed by Google, Sprint, Comcast and others began as far back as January of this year. By mid-March the consortium had an outline of a deal that made Google the preferred software developer on the WiMax network. Today the consortium, operating under the Clearwire name, is expected to disclose that they are investing $3.2 billion in a nationwide WiMax network, which will eventually be able to deliver a 5-Mbps connection to cellphones and laptops. But what else was Google doing back in January? More »
rumormonger
New iPhone will hit stores June 12, feature improved speakers and camera
A source tells us that "someone who designed part of the iPhone UI, who generally has access to new hardware locked down in a room to play with, " told him that the new iPhone will run on faster 3G networks, as expected; feature new, improved speakers on the bottom; and an improved camera. It will hit stores June 12. Our source warns us: "The person has mixed details before." Our guy puts his friend's trustworthiness at an 8 out of 10. More »
apple
Vodafone to Steve Jobs: No hard feelings, right?
Late last fall, Vodafone successfully persuaded a German court to bar T-Mobile from selling locked iPhones in Germany, arguing that purchasers of Apple's smartphone should be able to choose any carrier. Don't expect the company to hold to those open-access beliefs now. Vodafone today announced it has signed an agreement to become the new service provider for Apple iPhones in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. No details on pricing or whether Vodafone will sell a long-rumored new version of the iPhone that will run on Vodafone's higher-speed 3G networks.
apple
