Archive | June, 2010
AT&T to Customer: Stop E-Mailing Us
Worst. Company-customer interaction. Ever. Or at least since the legendary “cancel AOL” phone call…
PCMag’s Wireless Tests: AT&T on Top
3. June 2010
PCMag.com’s Sascha Segan has an ambitious and impressive story up based on tests of wireless data in eighteen cities. It’s similar in overall goals to the one that PCWorld published back in February. But this one has some twists of its own–it covers more cities and includes Sprint’s 4G network and regional carrier Cricket as well as the national providers.
As with the PCWorld tests, PCMag’s have AT&T as the clear overall winner, with download speeds that trounce everything but Sprint’s still-not-widely-available 4G network. AT&T didn’t do as well in the “Consistency” tests, however, which would tend to confirm the theory that AT&T’s 3G network is extremely zippy…when it’s working well. Still, I feel like everyone who declares that it’s a well-known fact that AT&T’s network sucks should be forced to read reports like this one.
Let Developers Choose Their Tools, Apple
3. June 2010
(A note from Harry: Here’s a “letter to the editor” from Kevin Miller, CEO of Scotland-based RunRev. His company makes a HyperCard-like development platform; one of its investors is Mike Markkula, who funded the creation of the Apple II and later served as Apple’s CEO.)
In recent weeks, there has been much speculation about the impact and overall effect that Apple’s decision to change the rules regarding its iPhone SDK has had on the software developer community. Given the growing debate, I feel I need to outline our thoughts and observations on the matter.
Apple’s move prevents developers from using a range of software development tools, among them RunRev. We believe that Apple would benefit greatly from an iPhone/iPad only development tool that is more productive than Objective-C, JavaScript, or C++ and honors the HyperCard legacy still present on today’s Mac platform. Although we’ve made our case directly to Steve Jobs, including offering a native solution that performs perfectly and supports 100% of the device APIs, he rejected the proposal and made it clear that he has no interest in allowing revMobile on the iPhone or iPad. It seems, however, that this ban is on a case by case basis, as games developed on the Unity gaming platform are still being accepted and sold in the App Store. In this case what’s good for the goose, doesn’t necessarily apply to the gander.
Got an iPad? Take Our Satisfaction Survey
2. June 2010
iPad reviews are all very well. But the iPad has been out for two months now–and at this point, the most interesting opinion about it is the collective one that’s been formed by the people who own and use it.
Which is why we’re conducting a survey on the state of iPad satisfaction. If you’ve got an iPad, please take it–and tell your friends who have one, too. Answering our questions will take only a few minutes, and we’ll use your feedback in an upcoming story. (Here, incidentally, are past articles we did reporting on our iPhone and Windows 7 surveys.)
Click here to take the survey.
[The survey is closed--thanks to everyone who participated, and stay tuned for results.]
Slacker for iPhone Gets Caching
2. June 2010
Pandora may be the Web’s best-known personalized radio service, but it’s not the best one. That honor belongs to Slacker, which just upped its game by adding caching to its iPhone app. The new feature lets you download thousands of songs to your iPhone, listen to Slacker’s customized stations when you don’t have an Internet connection, or a reliable one, or you just want to conserve battery life. And as the Slacker folks are pointing out, it may prove especially appealing for folks who sign up for AT&T’s new, not-unlimited-anymore data plans–they can cache music over Wi-Fi, then listen without eating up any wireless data.
(When you tell Slacker to cache, it advises you to do so over 3G only if you’ve got an unlimited data plan–that alert will take on new meaning once there are iPhone users who don’t have unlimited data.)
Missing, at least for now, is the automated night-time caching feature that’s available on Slacker’s Android and BlackBerry versions. Maybe Slacker will add it once iPhone OS 4 is out and it can make the downloading happen in the background.
Dave Zatz liked this feature when he tried it a couple of weeks ago, and I do, too. It’s a point in favor of Slacker’s $4.99 a month Plus service; you can try it out for two weeks for free. After the jump, some screenshots.
Lala: Now With Zombie Mode!
2. June 2010
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When it comes to the closure of the spectacular Lala music service, I’m still working my way through the five stages of grief. For the first time since Lala went bye-bye at the end of last month, I idly launched its iPhone application. (The company never released it, but it gave me a prerelease version in November, less than a month before Apple snapped up Lala and chose not to release the iPhone app it had just acquired.)
More Flat-Rate Data Nostalgia
2. June 2010
Back in 1996, AT&T shook up the Internet access business by giving consumers all the data they could consume for one low price:
AT&T OFFERS CUSTOMERS ONE-YEAR FREE INTERNET TRIAL, FLAT MONTHLY RATE FOR UNLIMITED INTERNET ACCESS.
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 27, 1996–AT&T today announced dial-up availability of AT&T WorldNetSM Service, with a special trial offer that gives AT&T residential customers unprecedented free access to the Internet for the next year, and a flat monthly rate of $19.95 for unlimited access by all AT&T customers.
The company began taking orders today for the service, which will be available March 14.
Under the trial offer, AT&T consumer long-distance customers who enroll in AT&T WorldNet Service in 1996 get their first five hours of Internet use a month free for a year, with no minimum subscription fee.
There are competitive rates for non-AT&T consumers as well. (See the attached AT&T WorldNet Service Price Sheet for a list of pricing plans, including access charges.)
“The company that brought everyone the phone now will bring the Internet to everyone,” said AT&T Chairman Robert E. Allen. “We believe the Internet will make communities more cohesive and businesses more competitive when it extends beyond the small percentage of people who use it today.”
AT&T will market the service to its 80 million residential customers and 10 million business customers as part of the company’s strategy to offer innovative packages of local, long-distance, wireless, online and entertainment services.
“Now every one of our consumer and business long-distance customers has an easy way to try the Internet,” said Tom Evslin, vice president of AT&T WorldNet Service. “AT&T WorldNet Service is the Internet the way you’d expect it from AT&T — safe, fun and easy to use. We’re so convinced that this is what our consumer customers have been waiting for that we’re happy to have them try it free for a year.”
AT&T business customers who find the Internet to be a critical piece of their marketing and customer service processes will appreciate AT&T’s flat monthly rate of $19.95. They will no longer have to count minutes or connection times whenever they want to check e-mail, get a stock quote or gather information from a customer’s, competitor’s, or supplier’s web site.
AT&T WorldNet Service has been available to connect businesses’ local area networks to the Internet since September. With the service announced today, customers will be able to dial into the Internet through regular phone lines easily and reliably, anywhere and anytime.
AT&T WorldNet Service includes world-class, 24-hour, toll-free hotline service staffed by experts to answer users’ questions. AT&T plans to manage the addition of subscribers and capacity to avoid overburdening the Internet, and to help ensure the reliability and quality of AT&T’s service and customer support.
The service also includes a whole new “front door to the Internet” — directories and topical areas to help people find useful information, guided tours for newcomers, navigational aids for users of all skill levels, and electronic mail. To help subscribers navigate the Internet, an AT&T-branded version of the Netscape Navigator browser software, from industry-leading Netscape Communications Corp., is available to subscribers at no extra charge.
With available software that can also be easily downloaded, parents will be able to block access to portions of the Internet they regard as unsuitable for their children.
As previously announced, AT&T WorldNet Service customers who charge the service to their AT&T Universal Card will not be held financially liable for fraudulent charges by unauthorized users if their account number is compromised while using the service to make purchases on the Internet.
“AT&T WorldNet Service can make the Internet as useful for communications as the telephone, and as indispensable for shopping as an 800 number,” Evslin said. “And our fraud protection and the available parental controls can make the Internet like a family’s local library, or the shop down the street.”
AT&T announced the availability of AT&T WorldNet Service at New York’s Brooklyn Diner to showcase the service’s friendly atmosphere and colorful “smorgasbord” of information.
The service can be accessed from home, the office or the road, and has something to offer subscribers whether they’re working or relaxing. The “AT HOME” section features sites focused on topics like leisure, education and family. The “AT WORK” portion points to business news sites, investment information and other topics of professional interest.
AT&T WorldNet Service also includes an Internet Exploration Station, a menu of theme areas such as art, music, games and gardening for family entertainment and education; a powerful search engine that allows even the most casual computer users to quickly and easily locate the information they want; and a directory that lets subscribers preview any of 80,000 World Wide Web sites before spending time to access sites.
Subscribers can dial into AT&T WorldNet Service with a personal computer and modem at speeds up to 28.8 kilobits per second, allowing them to download large stores of information, color photographs and graphics quickly.
For more information, customers may call 1-800-WORLDNET, or visit AT&T WorldNet Service’s home page at http://www.att.com/worldnet. -0-
Join Me on Monday for Live Coverage of Apple’s WWDC Keynote
2. June 2010
The pessimistic gadget freak would expect that next Monday’s keynote at Apple’s WWDC won’t be exactly spine-tingling–chances are that it will center on an iPhone which we already seem to know quite a bit about. But an optimist–like, for instance, me–would be inclined to hold out hope that surprises remain. (I’d be willing to settle for small ones, although a shocker or two would also be welcome.)
Either way, I’ll be sitting in San Francisco’s Moscone Center watching events unfold, and I’ll be reporting them at technologizer.com/wwdc2010 as they happen, starting at 10am San Francisco time. Comments from the Technologizer community are part of the fun, so I hope you’ll be there…
Kindle Heading to a Target Store Near You
2. June 2010
Amazon is taking a step in to brick-and-mortar retailing by offering its Kindle e-book device in all Target stores beginning on Sunday. The device was initially made available at Target’s flagship location in Minneapolis and stores across Florida on April 25.
Target called the response to the Kindle in its stores “overwhelmingly positive,” which spurred its decision to offer the device across its entire chain. The higher-end discount store would be the first brick-and-mortar location to carry the device.
Competitor Barnes & Noble struck a deal with electronics retailer Best Buy to carry the Nook, which went on sale across the chain a week before the Kindle first appeared in Target. The electronics merchant has also placed Barnes & Noble’s desktop software on some of the laptops and desktops it sells.
The Kindle will sell for $259, the same price that it is available for on Amazon.com.
Unlimited Data: Let the Nostalgia Begin!
2. June 2010
Here’s Steve Jobs back in January, extolling the “breakthrough” pricing that would let iPad buyers get all the wireless data they wanted for $29.99 a month. Turns out that the breakthrough will have come and gone in less than six weeks.
The end of flat-rate data has different implications for the iPad than for smartphones, because Apple’s tablet is (among many other things) a cool portable Internet TV. AT&T’s press release on its new pricing tiers gives example usage for the new $25/2GB plan that includes four hours of streaming video, along with Web surfing, e-mail, and other tasks. Plenty for many people, I’m sure, but anyone who planned to feast on ABC, Netflix, and other video sources over 3G–and who isn’t already grandfathered into the old plan or prepared to buy an iPad before Monday–will be out of luck.
Your Take on AT&T’s Pricing Shift
2. June 2010
AT&T announced this morning that it’s moving away from unlimited data on smartphones. I’m mainly concerned about the implications once 4G is here. Engadget’s Chris Ziegler is guardedly upbeat. Jeff Jarvis is nothing less than outraged, at least when it comes to the iPad.
And here’s a silly little poll for you to take:
Microsoft Unveils a (Somewhat) Tablet-Friendly Version of Windows
2. June 2010
It still isn’t clear what Microsoft’s long-term tablet strategy is going to be. But here’s a bit of new info: At Computex in Tapei, it announced Windows Embedded Compact 7 (gotta love those Microsoft product names!), a slimmed-down version of Windows capable of running on minimalist tablet hardware, with support for touchscreens. As Engadget reports, the company also showed off a passel of Windows tablets, albeit under glass.
I still think that a serious version of Windows for tablets needs a substantially new user interface, not to mention a whole infrastructure for encouraging third-party developers to write touch-centric apps. Windows Embedded Compact 7 doesn’t appear to be that OS…
AT&T Data Plans Get a Major Makeover, iPhone Tethering Coming Soon
2. June 2010
Verizon Wireless’s Lowell McAdam keeps saying that the wireless industry will move towards “buckets” of data rather than unlimited pricing. AT&T Wireless is proving his point today: The company is going to phase out its current $30-a-month unlimited data for smartphones in favor of new, cheaper pricing plans with monthly caps on data usage and a tethering option (yes, even for iPhones).
Steve Jobs at D: The Headlines
1. June 2010
I wasn’t in the audience for Steve Jobs’ appearance at the Wall Street Journal’s D conference this evening. I wasn’t even following along at home–I was having fun being part of a panel on social media for business in Palo Alto. So once my panel and subsequent hobnobbing were over, I hopped online to see what Jobs had to say–and even more than usual, the headlines on Techmeme neatly summarized the news.
You could read all these stories, but even if you didn’t, you’d get the gist of the Jobs interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher:
The History of Rickrolling
1. June 2010
Rickrolling: Annoying, funny, and…surprisingly interesting:
Via: Online Schools
Apple iPad Sales Show Little Signs of Slowing
1. June 2010
Even the most die-hard Apple fans need to admit the company’s sales of the iPad are somewhat surprising. It took the company four weeks to sell one million units, and another four weeks to sell an additional million.
This torrid pace would put it on par to possibly surpass even the most rosy predictions put out by analysts before the device’s launch in April of this year. It now puts into doubt whether Apple will really need to make adjustments to the price of the device, which it had said it would be willing to do in order to ensure the device meets its sales goals.
If it’s selling well now and hard to keep in stock, why make less of a profit now? May not be great for us consumers, but it is surely good for Apple’s investors.
Apple’s iPad successes make the current tiff between Microsoft and Google somewhat amusing. For those that missed it, Microsoft’s Steve Guggenheimer told the Wall Street Journal that manufacturer’s current apparent preference for Android on tablets was nothing more than a red herring, and that the company would lead the market overall in due time.
Kind of funny for two companies squabbling over products which for the most part haven’t even shipped yet, no? On top of that, I’d argue that Microsoft should be worrying about surpassing Apple in the space, not Google.
I am definitely interested to see how Apple does once Microsoft and Google have their own tablet devices on the market and in front of the customer. I believe that the iPad’s success has a lot to do with the popularity of the iPhon–a “halo effect” of a different kind if you will–and the device really does not have any competition at this point.
With alternatives on the market, and quite possibly at a lower price, will Apple’s name be enough to carry the day? I guess we’ll be finding out.
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3. June 2010
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