HTC EVO 4G In Short Supply

Sprint says demand for the 4G smartphone has been greater than expected.

By Esther Shein
InformationWeek
June 30, 2010 01:12 PM

Sprint HTC EVO 4G SmartphoneDue to higher than expected demand, the HTC EVO 4G smartphone is in short supply, said its carrier Sprint Nextel.


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Data Warehouse Appliance Promises Database Transparence, Mixed BI Workload, Massive ScalabilitySprint CEO Dan Hesse acknowledged this week that sales of the device, which was launched at the beginning of June and is widely viewed as the carrier's answer to the Apple iPhone 4, have been far greater than they anticipated. Both Hesse and HTC said they believe the issue has more to do with underestimating the demand for the 4G phone than a lack of available components.
"We're certainly doing everything we can to ensure we're supplying devices as quickly as possible. We're seeing greater demand for our products than we ever have in the past," HTC spokesman Keith Nowak said in a statement to Reuters.

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The news follows the rocky start the EVO 4G has experienced since its debut on June 4. On Monday, HTC and Sprint began offering an update for the device after reports surfaced about bricked phones. And some users also complained about the device's touchscreen, claiming that it separates from the device and causes light leakage.

Sprint also caught some flak for overestimating early sales, after announcing that the $199.99 phone set a single-day sales record.

The HTC EVO 4G also runs on Sprint's 3G network if the phone is used in places that don't yet have 4G. The Android 2.1-based device has a custom Web browser designed for the 4.3-inch touchscreen.

Its long list of features include simultaneous voice and data capability in 4G or Wi-Fi coverage areas for Web surfing; Google Goggles, which provides the ability to search anything from books and DVDs to barcodes and logos using pictures instead of words; 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; two cameras: an 8.0-megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera; built-in mobile hotspot functionality allowing up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 3G or 4G speeds; and integrated HD video capture so users can capture and share live video via the Qik Web site and social media sites.

The EVO 4G also comes with the ability to transmit video from the device to an HDTV via a separate HDMI cable; a built-in kickstand in the back to watch videos; Adobe Flash technology; and pinch-to-zoom and automatic text reflowing for Web page views.

HTC's Droid Incredible, sold at Sprint's biggest competitor, Verizon Wireless, is also in short supply, according to Verizon's website, which says that due to high demand the device will ship by July 28.


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original article.

Texting While Driving: Everyone's Doing it

The stereotype of a teen texting while driving has been challenged by new research from Pew, which found that adults engage in the high-risk behavior as much as younger age groups do. Laws banning texting behind the wheel don't seem to be having any impact at all, noted Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

Adults are at least as likely as teenagers to text and engage in other distracting behavior behind the wheel, according to a survey released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Twenty-seven percent of adult survey respondents said they have sent or read text messages while driving. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds reported a texting-while-driving rate of 26 percent in the same survey, which was conducted in May.

Adults 18- to 33-years-old were the most likely to report texting while driving, with 59 percent saying they've done so. Half of 34- to 45-year-olds admitted texting behind the wheel, while 29 percent of those 46-65 reported such behavior. And half of all passengers said they've been chauffeured by a texting driver.

"Even those of us who make a conscious choice to put down our cellphones while driving may still be at risk when we are passengers simply sharing the road with other distracted drivers," Pew Senior Research Specialist Mary Madden told TechNewsWorld.

Forty-four percent of adults have been in a car while the driver recklessly used a cellphone in a way that could have hurt them or someone else, the survey also found. One in six respondents, or 16 percent, said they'd been so distracted by their phones that they actually hit something as a result.


Disparate Results
The Pew survey's findings on adult texting run counter to some other research suggesting that teens are much more likely to engage in what is generally viewed as a predominantly teenaged activity. For instance, a February report released by the Insurance Institutes of Highway Safety found that incidences of reported texting-while driving were highest with 18- to 24-year-olds and declined consistently with age.

Regardless, there's evidence that texting-while-driving may be on the increase, despite a spate of legislation seeking to stop the practice, as well as a federal Department of Transportation summit and subsequent ban on texting behind the wheel by federal employees.

In January, Pew found that 34 percent of texting adults had sent or received a message while driving, while about 47 percent of all texting adults reported texting and driving in the May survey. Although the wording in the two surveys was somewhat different, it is likely evidence that such activities are becoming increasingly common, Madden said.

Laws Ineffective
Legislation doesn't seem to be having any impact at all, noted Russ Rader, a spokesperson for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

"If politicians think laws against texting and handheld phoning are going to be a big boon for safety, it isn't coming," Rader told TechNewsWorld.

The Pew center doesn't take policy positions and didn't include any recommendations in its report. But it's likely that technology may turn out to be the best solution -- not just to texting while driving, but all forms of distracted driving.

Technology exists to block cellphone signals while a vehicle is in motion, and automakers are increasingly beginning to equip cars with collision warning systems, equipment that automatically applies the brakes if an accident seems imminent, and even sensing technology that can tell when a driver is falling asleep.

"We have to realize that distracted driving is much bigger than anything we do with our phones, and it's nothing new," said Rader. "People have been driving distracted since Henry Ford -- whether it's checking out the driver in the car next to you, scolding the kids at the wrong time, or just daydreaming."

original article.

Starbucks Offering Free Wi-Fi starting July 1st

Starbucks Corp. will make wireless Internet service free at all U.S. stores starting July 1, eliminating a previous fee of $3.99 for two hours of access.

The move comes after McDonald’s Corp. earlier this year dropped all access fees on wireless Internet service, as the fast-food chain sought to make its restaurants a more suitable place to hang out.

Starbucks had offered wireless Internet service at its stores through provider AT&T Inc. under an array of options.

Customers who had a registered Starbucks loyalty card could get two hours of free wireless Internet service a day, while users of AT&T mobile devices that had Wi-Fi capabilities received unlimited access to the service.

Customers who subscribed to AT&T’s DSL service could also use Starbucks wireless Internet service free of charge. All other Starbucks customers were charged $3.99 for two hours of access.

Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz disclosed the changes Monday at the Wired Business Conference in New York. Starbucks customers using the in-store Internet will also, starting in the fall, be able to have free access to various paid sites, including WSJ.com, through a network developed with Yahoo Inc.

original article.

Apple introduces iPhone 4

okay okay so its finally here the Iphone 4. and it does look pretty cool . i personally do not have an i phone i have a blackberry but still I'm a little jealous and if i could have it my way i would love an iphone too bad its not offered to tmobile customers.

Apple on Monday announced the next version of the iPhone, called the iPhone 4, during Steve Jobs’s keynote to kick off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

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Jobs described the phone as, “beyond a doubt, the most precise thing and one of the most beautiful things we’ve ever made” before highlighting a number of its new features.

Updated design
Apple says the iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick, or 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It includes new camera with an LED flash on the black, but a second, front-facing camera as well. There are new volume buttons, a mute button, plus a second microphone on the top for noise cancellation. Just like the iPad, it now incorporates a micro-SIM tray.



Apple has also engineered three integrated antennas into the design: one for Bluetooth, one for WI-Fi and GPS, and one for UMTS and GSM.

Improved display
A new screen technology called a retina display add much higher precision to the iPhone. In fact, at 326 pixels per inch, it’s double the 163 pixels per inch resolution of the iPhone 3GS.

The new display is the same 3.5 inches diagonally, but at 960 by 640 it has four times as many pixels as the previous model. And the 800:1 contrast ratio is also four times that of the iPhone 3GS. It uses the same IPS display technology as the iPad and the iMac for good color fidelity, brightness, and viewing angle.

New processor
Designed by Apple, the A4 chip is tiny and has good power management. Apple went with the micro-SIM design to save space, mostly for a new battery that—coupled with the new chip—Apple says provides 40 percent more talk time. The company says talk time is up from 5 hours to 7 hours; 6 hours of 3G browsing; 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing; 10 hours of video; 40 hours of music; and 300 hours of standby.

Environmentally, the new iPhone is arsenic free, BFR-free mercury-free, PVC-free, and made from highly recyclable materials.

It comes in sizes up to 32GB of storage (the same as the iPhone 3GS) and includes quad-band HSPDPA/HSUPA networking with a maximum of 7.2Mbps down and 5.8 Mbps up.

“That’s theoretical because the carriers don’t support it yet,” said Jobs.

There’s also 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking, an improvement from 802.11g in the previous model.

Gyroscope
The iPhone 4 add a three-axis gyroscope for measuring angular velocity. It can figure out pitch, roll, and yaw; and rotation about gravity. The gyroscope plus the accelerometer provide six-axis motion sensing. There are also new CoreMotion APIs that developers can call for extremely precise position information—ideal for games.

New camera system
The iPhone 4 has a new, 5-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and an LED flash. It also adds 720p HD video capture at 30 frames per second. To go along with the new video capabilities, Apple has created a version of its iMovie consumer video-editing application for the iPhone. With it, you can record or edit you videos (and add photos as well). You can add titles, changes themes, and use music from your iTunes library.

iMovie for iPhone will be available for $5—“if we approve it,” Jobs joked, in reference to the App Store.

Video chat
For Jobs’ patented (well, probably not, but it should be) One More Thing moment, he sat down on a chair to show off the iPhone 4’s video chatting capabilities. Using either of the two cameras, you can make video calls—a feature called FaceTime—between iPhone 4 phones over Wi-Fi only—at least through 2010. Jobs said Apple needs to “work a little bit with the cellular providers in the future”. You can switch between cameras and chat in landscape or portait mode.

Pricing and availability
The iPhone 4 will come in black and white, at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (with the same qualifications and two-year contract with AT&T as in the past). Apple will also have an 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99.

Jobs said that AT&T is going to make “an incredibly generous upgrade offer.” If your contract expires any time in 2010, you’re immediately eligible for that pricing, for up to six months early eligibility.

The iPhone 4 goes on sale in the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., and Japan on June 24, with pre-orders starting on June 15. It will ship in 18 more countries in July, in 24 more in August, and in 40 more by the end of September.

Apple also showed off some accessories: a $29 dock and a $29 case that comes in different colors


original article.

Woman sues Google over Utah walking directions

SALT LAKE CITY — A pedestrian injured by a motorist while following an online route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. supplied unsafe directions.

Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking more than $100,000 in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also named a motorist she says hit her.

Rosenberg used her phone in January to download directions from one end of Park City to the other.

Google Maps led her to a four-lane boulevard without sidewalks that was "not reasonably safe for pedestrians," according to the lawsuit filed by the Northridge, Calif., resident.

The case has become a sensation on tech blogs, websites and cable television channels, with critics assailing the woman for ignoring her own safety to blindly follow online directions. Her lawyer, Allen Young, said the truth was different.

Rosenberg believed she could reach a sidewalk on the other side of Deer Valley Drive and tried to cross the boulevard, but didn't even make it to the median, he said.

She was struck by a speeding car on a pitch-black night and received multiple bone fractures that required six weeks of rehabilitation, Young added.

"We think there's enough fault to go around, but Google had some responsibility to direct people correctly or warn them," Young said. "They created a trap with walking instructions that people rely on. She relied on it and thought she should cross the street."

Rosenberg is seeking compensation for medical bills, plus more for lost wages and punitive damages. The lawsuit provided no other information about the woman, who has been misidentified online as a Los Angeles publicist by the same name.

Young said the woman is a native of Northridge in her mid-20s and is unemployed. No phone listing could be found for her.

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said the company had not received a copy of the lawsuit and couldn't discuss it, but she disputed Young's assertion that Google Maps provides no warning that walking routes may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

Every software version for desktop computers and mobile devices has had that disclaimer since Google Maps was launched in 2008, she said.

Park City police said some segments of Deer Valley Drive have sidewalks but not the stretch that Rosenberg reached. The boulevard has a walking path on the side Rosenberg failed to reach, police Capt. Rick Ryan said.

Young said the walking path was "totally snowpacked" and of no use to pedestrians in January.

original article.