Reuter site - RIM embeds its BBM chat in work and play apps

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76R0JM20110728

RIM embeds its BBM chat in work and play apps

Thu, Jul 28 00:05 AM EDT

By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion wants software developers to use its popular instant messaging tool within their applications to enable friends to play games, share and discuss news, and decide where they will eat dinner.

Describing BlackBerry Messenger -- widely known as BBM -- as one of the world's largest mobile social networks, RIM on Thursday took the covers off an update that it hopes will prod more developers to write code for its devices.

The company's BlackBerry App World pales in comparison with those for Apple and Google, which garner much more interest from independent developers.

Some 45 million people use BBM -- which allows BlackBerry users with data plans to instantly pass text messages, pictures and other files without incurring charges from their network carrier -- and 70 percent of them use it daily.

"That lends itself to a different type of experience," said Alistair Mitchell, RIM's vice president for the BBM platform and integrated services. "We're trying to transpose that so it's available to our third-party developers globally."

RIM's director of developer relations, Mike Kirkup, said the simplest use of the updated BBM tool would require just three lines of code while developers could, with a bit more work, choose to route all their traffic through RIM's servers.

Kirkup said developers that integrate BBM could expect existing users to spend more time on the app and for it to encourage more viral distribution.

"For every developer, getting people into your app more and getting more people to find your app are the two major problems they stay awake thinking about every single day," he said.

Among the apps making first use of BBM integration are location services Foursquare and Poynt, news website Huffington Post and augmented reality browser Wikitude.

"This is a good transition for the company but it's not without competition from competitors big and small," said Josh Martin, an analyst of apps at Strategy Analytics.

Online social network Facebook boosts more than half a billion users. Google, whose Android software for smartphones has stolen share from BlackBerry, quickly garnered a huge following with its Google+ social product launched last month and offers its own Google Talk chat application.

And Apple will soon launch iMessage, a tool similar to BBM for use on iPhones, iPads and some iPods.

"Is the next BBM alone the answer -- certainly not -- but taken with other offerings it could create the foundation for an improved experience," Mitchell said.

RIM bought social gaming company Scoreloop in June to help it expand Messenger and enable more interaction in existing mobile games.

Reuter site - Skyfire unveils app for Flash videos on iPhone

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76R4X320110728

Skyfire unveils app for Flash videos on iPhone

Thu, Jul 28 12:06 PM EDT

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Private-equity backed video technology firm Skyfire, best known for its mobile browser, has unveiled an application for watching Flash videos on Apple's iPhones.

Apple has been a strong opponent of Adobe's Flash technology, criticizing its power management, among other things, and it has embraced a newer set of tools for building web applications known as HTML 5.

Many Internet pages running applications using Flash technology have had to create special versions for Apple devices.

Users of Skyfire's new VideoQ application can send links to videos from their browsers to watch them in the app, which Skyfire hopes to build into a video entertainment hub.

VideoQ will at first be available in North America only, but Skyfire plans to expand its reach later.

California-based Skyfire, whose investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Trinity Ventures, said its mobile browser has been downloaded 8 million times so far.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Will Waterman)

Reuter site - Verizon iPhone sales dash hopes; shares fall

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76L1Y320110722

Verizon iPhone sales dash hopes; shares fall

Fri, Jul 22 19:05 PM EDT

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications may have the iPhone, but the blockbuster smartphone has yet to pay off in its battle against AT&T Inc.

In the second quarter, Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, signed up 1.3 million fewer iPhone customers than AT&T, dashing high hopes of investors who sent its shares down almost 3 percent.

On top of this, Verizon Wireless customers spent less per month than expected as the company changed its data service price plans, further disappointing Wall Street on Friday.

While Verizon Wireless added three times more net subscribers in the quarter than AT&T, it only activated 2.3 million Apple Inc iPhones compared with 3.6 million activations at AT&T.

"AT&T has done a much better job of hanging on to iPhone customers than anybody expected," said Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin.

There was simply not enough good news in the report to justify Verizon's richer valuation than AT&T's, said Chaplin, who said Verizon shares have been trading at about 14 times 2012 earnings estimates compared with AT&T's 12 multiple.

Verizon Wireless' 1.9 percent growth in average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) was well behind Chaplin's expectation for 2.9 percent.

"Without the share gain in the smartphone category driving the ARPU, which would drive earnings per share growth, it's difficult to get enthusiastic about the (Verizon) shares at this valuation," Chaplin said.

AT&T may leapfrog Verizon Wireless and become the top U.S. mobile service next year if regulators approve its plan to buy Deutsche Telekom unit T-Mobile USA.

WRONG KIND OF SUBSCRIBERS

And while the subscriber numbers were strong on the surface "they were the wrong kind of subscribers," Chaplin said. Subscribers using devices such as the iPhone spend more on data services on a monthly basis than other wireless customers.

Verizon Wireless said it would now take it a quarter longer than expected to increase its smartphone user base to 50 percent of is subscribers. It blamed the delay on the launch of the next iPhone a quarter later than it had expected. Verizon said it now expects to sell the next version of iPhone in the autumn.

Still, Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc, added 1.3 million net subscribers in the quarter compared with the average expectation for about 930,000, according to seven analysts contacted by Reuters.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King was impressed with Verizon's customer growth and its sale of 1.2 million high-speed wireless devices for the new 4G network it is building.

While some investors had worried that the relatively expensive iPhone would hurt Verizon's profit margins, King said its wireless service margin of 45.4 percent was well ahead of his expectation for 43.9 percent.

Verizon's quarterly profit was $1.61 billion, or 57 cents a share and was ahead of the average analyst estimate of 55 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 2.8 percent to $27.53 billion, ahead of Wall Street expectations for $27.42 billion.

Also on Friday, Verizon named Chief Operating Officer Lowell McAdam as chief executive, starting August 1. McAdam, the former CEO of Verizon Wireless, is replacing Ivan Seidenberg, who will remain chairman. The move follows its succession plan announced late last year.

Seidenberg has led Verizon since its inception in 2000 and before that he was CEO of Verizon's predecessor companies. The executive, who started out as a cable splicer's assistant at New York Telephone, has worked at the company for more than 40 years.

Verizon shares were down $1.06 or 2.8 percent at $36.51 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, after falling as much as 3 percent shortly after the market opened.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Joyjeet Das, Derek Caney and Phil Berlowitz)

CNN - Authorities: Man accused in Norway terror attacks confesses

Sent from bombastic4000@yahoo.com's mobile device from http://m.cnn.com.

Authorities: Man accused in Norway terror attacks confesses

The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway has said he carried out the bombing and mass shooting, authorities said Sunday, as an ashen-faced and openly weeping King Harald V led the nation in mourning.

The suspect has not pleaded guilty, and said he acted alone with no accomplice, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday.

A person wounded in the shootings on Utoya island died Sunday, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN, adding one to the previous death toll of 92.

Also on Sunday, police conducted an operation in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka in connection with the bombing, police spokesman Anders Frydenberg told CNN.

The raid came as Norwegians gathered at a cathedral in the capital, just a few hundred meters from where the bomb exploded Friday, to mourn the victims of the attacks.

Police have not identified the suspect, though local television and newspaper reports have identified the man in custody as 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told TV2 late Saturday that his client "is ready to explain himself" on Monday when it is anticipated he will make his first court appearance. Breivik believed the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary," Lippestad said.

CNN was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Lippestad for comment.

The revelation came as a 1,500-page manifesto purportedly written by Breivik surfaced.

Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it would be part of the investigation.

"The manifesto was released on the same day the atrocities happened," Sponheim said.

"It's also new to us. We will look into the details of the manifesto."

The document, apparently compiled over a period of nine years, rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe, and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

While they have arrested only one suspect, Sponheim said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that someone else was involved in the shooting at a political youth retreat on Utoya island. Statements from witnesses to the mass shooting "make it uncertain if it was more than one person," Sponheim said.

At least four people have not been accounted following the shooting on Utoya island that left at least 86 people dead, and authorities are searching the waters for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter.

Authorities also are searching for bodies of victims in the bomb attack in downtown Oslo where an explosion badly damaged a number of government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

"We know that there are remains of bodies in the ruins of the buildings. And it's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle and a very difficult search. There are body parts in the buildings," Sponheim said.

Seven people have been confirmed dead from the bomb attack. Police said that the explosive was in a car.

At least 97 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 67 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said. The identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified, he said.

Police declined Sunday to confirm the hospital statement that one of the wounded died, making it unclear if there are now 96 wounded survivors.

At the service Sunday, billed by the church as a "Mass for grief and hope," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attacks "incomprehensible."

"Soon, names and photographs will be released. The enormity of the evilness will surface in all its horror, and that will be a new test for us all," Stoltenberg said.

"In the middle of all the tragedy, I am proud to live in a country that has managed to stand tall."

Other new details emerged Saturday about the attacks.

An employee at a Norwegian agricultural cooperative told CNN that the man identified in media reports as the suspect bought six tons of fertilizer from her company in May.

Oddmy Estenstad, of Felleskjopet Agr, said she did not think the order was strange at the time because the suspect has a farm, but after Friday's explosion in Norway's capital, Oslo, she called police because she knew the material can be used to make bombs.

"We are very shocked that this man was connected to our company," said Estenstad. "We are very sad about what happened."

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday offered his "fervent prayers for the victims and families, invoking God's peace upon the dead and divine consolation upon those who suffer."

"At this time of national grief he prays that all Norwegians will be spiritually united in a determined resolve to reject the ways of hatred and conflict and to work together fearlessly in a shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom from for coming generations," according to a statement released by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on behalf of the pope.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed U.S. solidarity with Norway.

"The United States strongly condemns any kind of terrorism no matter where it comes from or who perpetuates it, and this tragedy strikes right at the heart of the soul of a peaceful people," she said in a statement.

Together with Norway's king, queen and crown prince, Stoltenberg visited with victims' family members and survivors of the attacks at a hotel.

Reuter site - Analysis: Aging PC giants see writing on the wall

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76L4T420110722

Analysis: Aging PC giants see writing on the wall

Fri, Jul 22 14:30 PM EDT

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Silicon Valley's old guard is waking up to the fact that the era of consumer PC may be in its twilight, accelerating the need to invest and adapt to rapidly changing tastes.

This week's earnings from the giants of technology had one thing in common: they underscored yet again how consumers are increasingly shunning desktop PCs and going mobile.

Intel, which had argued that pessimistic expectations about the market were out of whack, reduced its 2011 PC forecast. Microsoft Windows sales, that reliable indicator of PC market strength, fell short of expectations for the third straight quarter.

And Apple Inc, which single-handedly showed with its iPad that many consumers are more than happy with an unladen, light and mobile computer, obliterated all estimates by selling a whopping 9 million tablets.

"The desktop, at least for consumers, probably doesn't have a great future, and the iPad and similar tablets can deliver a lot of the functionality of a laptop," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management.

Worldwide shipments of smartphones are already overtaking PCs, and by 2015, more than 300 million tablets will ship -- not far behind 479 million PCs expected to be made, according to IHS iSuppli.

To be sure, there's time left for PCs. Adoption and sale continue to grow rapidly in emerging markets and among corporate users. But even there, increasingly powerful smartphones are entrenched and tablets are creeping in.

Research in Motion's Playbook -- despite poor reviews as the minnow of the tablet market -- became the first to win U.S. government certification.

Judging by share performances, Wall Street is taking notice as well. Shares of Apple reached a record this week and are up 21 percent in 2011. Intel has gained 10 percent, a bit better than the broader market, but Microsoft is down about 3 percent.

In January, the board of Advanced Micro Devices, frustrated about the company's lack of progress in mobile computing, forced out then-Chief executive Dirk Meyer. It is still searching for a candidate to spearhead a major push into mobile.

"It's important for us to keep our eyes and ears wide open. This compute space is evolving and our technology is evolving so that we can take it beyond the traditional segments we serve today," AMD Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seifert, standing in as CEO, told Reuters.

HYPER-COMPETITIVE

Amid economic uncertainty and boding poorly for the rest of the year, PC sales edged up just 2.3 percent in the second quarter, according to tech research firm Gartner, well below earlier projections.

Top executives argued that personal computers still shine. But they also say they're hurrying to adapt to changing consumer preferences, with Microsoft stepping up its mobile strategy by creating future versions of Windows just for tablets.

ARM Holdings' energy-efficient technology now all but dominates mobile computing, but Intel and AMD are increasing their focus on processors suited for smaller devices. They're pushing manufacturers to use their chips to build laptops that are in many ways touchscreen tablets.

The market for processors used in smartphones and tablets is about $6.7 billion this year, MKM Partners analyst Daniel Berenbaum estimates. That's just 12 percent of Intel's expected 2011 revenue, but that proportion is growing.

Intel is speeding up plans to use its most cutting-edge technology to manufacture chips aimed a mobile devices, and Chief Executive Paul Otellini said this week the company would be "hyper-competitive" in getting its silicon into tablets running Microsoft's upcoming version of Windows.

"In the next generation it's going be hard to tell the difference between a tablet and a netbook," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kevin Cassidy. "To me a tablet is just a netbook that has a solid-state drive and a touchscreen."

For now, PC-reliant companies can take comfort in under-saturated markets like oft-mentioned China -- the world's second-largest PC market and one where millions remain unfamiliar with computing in general.

In the second quarter, PC shipments in the United States fell 5.6 percent, year over year, while China's PC market grew 10.9 percent, according to research firm Gartner.

Despite reducing its 2011 PC sales outlook, Intel's revenue forecast for the September quarter came in higher than expected. For a second quarter, analysts underestimated the demand for PCs in China and other emerging markets.

Consumers in the United States and Europe often have at least one PC at home and increasingly choose to buy gadgets like tablets over a new laptop. But millions of families in developing countries are increasing their incomes and are reaching the point of being able to buy a computer.

And despite falling Windows sales, Microsoft's Office sold well in the second quarter, underscoring the importance of PCs to corporations, something unlikely to change radically soon.

For now, investors should heed Intel's consistently estimate-beating quarterly results and not sell the company's stock based on worries about what the PC market and mobile markets will look like in a decade, Berenbaum argued.

"What's going to happen in 10 years? I have no idea, but the market doesn't know either and the market isn't going to be able to discount what's going to happen in 10 years. This market can barely discount 10 minutes," Berenbaum said.

(Editing by Edwin Chan and Steve Orlofsky)

CNN - NFL owners agree to deal with players

Sent from bombastic4000@yahoo.com's mobile device from http://m.cnn.com.

NFL owners agree to deal with players

National Football League owners approved a 10-year labor and revenue-sharing agreement with players, who were considering the terms Thursday evening.

Owners, meeting in Atlanta, agreed by a 31-0 vote to end the current lockout. Team facilities could be open by Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, if players approve the deal.

Player representatives were engaged in a conference call Thursday night in which they were discussing the proposal and the recertification of the NFL Players Association, which dissolved after the lockout began in March.

Representatives for the league's 1,900 players, who have several days to ratify the proposal, were reviewing possible sticking points.

New Orleans Saints player Heath Evans, referring to the collective-bargaining agreement, tweeted: "The owners tried 2 slip many things n2 the CBA 'they' voted on that were NEVER agreed 2!"

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said after the owners' vote that there was no joint agreement. SI.com said it obtained an e-mail Smith wrote to player representatives, indicating workers' compensation and other issues remain unresolved.

The proposed collective-bargaining agreement would last through the 2020 season.

"I do feel good" about the prospects of resolving the situation, Falcons player representative Coy Wire told CNN before Goodell announced the terms.

Carolina Panthers majority owner Jerry Richardson called the compromise "fair and balanced."

The proposed agreement includes a new rookie compensation system, a salary cap of $142.4 million per club in 2011 and additional retirement benefits, according to the NFL.

In a bid to reduce injuries, the pact limits practice times and full-contact practices. Clubs receive credit for actual stadium investment and up to 1.5% of revenue each year.

Current players can remain in the player medical plan for life, under the owners' plan. They also will have enhanced injury protection benefit of up to $1 million of a player's salary for the year after his injury and up to $500,000 in the second year after his injury.

The first preseason game -- the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams -- has been canceled because of the delay in opening camps, Goodell said. It had been scheduled for August 7.

The regular season is set to open on September 8.

The owners call for the free-agent signing period to begin Wednesday.

The league's owners imposed the lockout on March 11, suspending the labor deal in place at the time in hopes of creating a new financial structure.

Players Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and seven others subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league on behalf of other current and eligible NFL athletes. A judge in early April joined that action with another filed by retired players.

Since the lockout, the two sides have faced off in courts and around conference tables. The major issues have revolved around how to divide the billions of dollars of revenue reaped via the league each year, rules of free agency, a possible rookie wage scale, retirement benefits and a host of other matters.

The heart of the issue between the players and the owners was how to divide the league's $9 billion in revenue.

Under the old agreement, NFL owners took $1 billion off the top of that revenue stream. After that, the players got about 60%.

The owners said the old labor deal didn't take into account the rising costs related to building stadiums and promoting the game. The players argued that the league has not sufficiently opened up its books to prove this.

Reuter site - Tablets using Microsoft software top RIM's touted Playbook

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76K14W20110721

Tablets using Microsoft software top RIM's touted Playbook

Thu, Jul 21 03:01 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tablets using Microsoft Corp software saw stronger sales than the high-profile Playbook from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

Even though Microsoft has yet to launch a version of its Windows software designed specifically for tablet computers it still picked up a 4.6 percent share of the market in the second quarter compared with a 3.3 percent share for Playbook, which is based on RIM's QNX software.

RIM launched Playbook, its first tablet computer, in April to lackluster reviews. Microsoft, which provides the same software for tablets as it sells to desktop computer makers, is not expected to launch dedicated tablet software until the late next year.

Meanwhile market leader Apple Inc fought off an increasingly strong challenge from Google Inc, whose Android software is used in tablets from many hardware vendors including Samsung Electronics Co and Motorola Mobility.

Apple's iPad tablet dominated the market with a 61.3 percent share. But Android increased its market share to 30 percent from 2.9 percent in the same quarter a year ago, when Apple had 94.3 percent of the market, the technology research firm, Strategy Analytics said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Reuter site - Exclusive: Google offers credit card to advertisers

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76J6XU20110720

Exclusive: Google offers credit card to advertisers

Wed, Jul 20 17:24 PM EDT

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc is introducing a credit card for its advertising customers, offering its clients a credit line to try and drum up business as competition in the online ad market heats up.

Google is offering the card to select U.S. clients with what it calls a competitive interest rate, an ample credit line and no annual fee. The catch: it can only be used to buy search advertising on the world's No.1 Internet search engine.

The AdWords Business credit card marks Google's first foray into the world of vendor financing, common among hardware makers such as IBM Corp. It lets marketers spend more on its search ads when the need arises.

Claire Johnson, vice president of global online sales at Google, said the credit card was designed to help small and medium-sized businesses that advertise on Google but who often don't have the funds to support a heavy ad campaign ahead of a big sales season, such as Valentine's day or Halloween.

"They are resource-constrained and they are often cash flow-strapped. Many of them are trying to grow a business without the kind of means that, say, your classic company has," she said.

Consumer-oriented companies like Macy's Inc and Amazon.com Inc have offered credit cards for years to drive purchases, inspire customer loyalty and track spending habits. Some retailers that own their own credit card operations, like Nordstrom Inc can also earn some interest income.

Google will email invitations offering the credit card to some of its customers on Wednesday. The card will initially be available as a "beta" test, available to select users.

CREDIT CHECK

Google makes 96 percent of its revenue from advertising, the vast majority of which comes from the small ads that appear alongside its search results, known as AdWords. But its business faces rising competition from a search alliance between Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc, as well as from social networking service Facebook, which is becoming popular with small and large advertisers alike.

The AdWords card is a MasterCard that will be issued through the World Financial Capital Bank. The card's 8.99 percent annual percentage rate is the ongoing rate, and not an introductory rate, Google said.

Google is keeping quiet on many of the other details, including the minimum and maximum credit lines available (Google says it will vary by cardholder) and the number of people to whom the card will be offered.

Brent Callinicos, Google's Treasurer, said that the credit card will be offered to a "statistically significant" number of people as Google examines the results of how availability of the card affects customer spending behavior.

"Even though (availability) will skew toward the smaller businesses, obviously we want to cast a wide enough net so we can see what resonates depending on your historical monthly spend," said Callinicos.

Google will evaluate customers' creditworthiness through a combination of internal efforts and with the help of a financial partner, he said.

The effort to offer a credit card comes as Google's cash pile continues to grow, reaching $39.1 billion in cash and marketable securities as of June 30. Google does not pay a dividend or participate in any ongoing share repurchase program.

"Obviously we have a robust balance sheet, so this is a way for us to use that balance sheet to help our customers," Callinicos said.

But he stressed that the main motive for the card was to provide loans to Google customers in an economic environment in which getting credit can be tough.

"It isn't a financial engineering project that we came up with and said this would be cool to do. It's a customer need," he said.

One popular perk missing from Google's credit card is the ability to rack up airline miles with purchases. But Callinicos said he did not think the omission will hurt the card's appeal.

"I think if you had the choice of an 18 percent credit card and miles versus an 8.99 percent credit card and no miles, it's a pretty easy choice," he said.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric and Tim Dobbyn)

Reuter site - T-Mobile to offer unlimited data plans

This article was sent to you from bombasticas00@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76J0TB20110720

T-Mobile to offer unlimited data plans

Wed, Jul 20 00:57 AM EDT

Bangalore (Reuters) - Wireless telecom firm T-Mobile USA said it will begin offering unlimited data service plans, in a move aimed at wooing customers of bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc which had stopped offering such plans.

T-mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, said the new plans will be available from July 24. The unlimited plans will be available with a two-year agreement for new and existing customers.

Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile provider, said earlier in July it will stop offering unlimited data service plans, meaning higher prices for heavy users of services such as mobile Web surfing.

AT&T had stopped offering unlimited data services last year.

T-mobile said the plans offer single-line and multiline options with a range of price points for talk, unlimited text and unlimited data with 2 gigabytes, 5 GB or 10 GB of high-speed data -- with no data overage charges.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

Reuter site - Law enforcement to begin iPhone iris scans amid privacy concerns

This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE76J4A120110720

Law enforcement to begin iPhone iris scans amid privacy concerns

Wed, Jul 20 11:02 AM EDT

By Zach Howard

CONWAY, Mass (Reuters) - Dozens of police departments nationwide are gearing up to use a tech company's already controversial iris- and facial-scanning device that slides over an iPhone and helps identify a person or track criminal suspects.

The so-called "biometric" technology, which seems to take a page from TV shows like "MI-5" or "CSI," could improve speed and accuracy in some routine police work in the field. However, its use has set off alarms with some who are concerned about possible civil liberties and privacy issues.

The smartphone-based scanner, named Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, or MORIS, is made by BI2 Technologies in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and can be deployed by officers out on the beat or back at the station.

An iris scan, which detects unique patterns in a person's eyes, can reduce to seconds the time it takes to identify a suspect in custody. This technique also is significantly more accurate than results from other fingerprinting technology long in use by police, BI2 says.

When attached to an iPhone, MORIS can photograph a person's face and run the image through software that hunts for a match in a BI2-managed database of U.S. criminal records. Each unit costs about $3,000.

Some experts fret police may be randomly scanning the population, using potentially intrusive techniques to search for criminals, sex offenders, and illegal aliens, but the manufacturer says that would be a difficult task for officers to carry out.

Sean Mullin, BI2's CEO, says it is difficult, if not impossible, to covertly photograph someone and obtain a clear, usable image without that person knowing about it, because the MORIS should be used close up.

"It requires a level of cooperation that makes it very overt -- a person knows that you're taking a picture for this purpose," Mullin said.

CONCERNS

But constitutional rights advocates are concerned, in part because the device can accurately scan an individual's face from up to four feet away, potentially without a person's being aware of it.

Experts also say that before police administer an iris scan, they should have probable cause a crime has been committed.

"What we don't want is for them to become a general surveillance tool, where the police start using them routinely on the general public, collecting biometric information on innocent people," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the national ACLU in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, advocates see the MORIS as a way to make tools already in use on police cruiser terminals more mobile for cops on the job.

"This is (the technology) stepping out of the cruiser and riding on the officer's belt, along with his flashlight, his handcuffs, his sidearm or the other myriad tools," said John Birtwell, spokesman for the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department in southeastern Massachusetts, one of the first departments to use the devices.

The technology is also employed to maintain security at Plymouth's 1,650 inmate jail, where it is used to prevent the wrong prisoner from being released.

"There, we have everybody in orange jumpsuits, so everyone looks the same. So, quite literally, the last thing we do before you leave our facility is we compare your iris to our database," said Birtwell.

One of the technology's earliest uses at BI2, starting in 2005, was to help various agencies identify missing children or at-risk adults, like Alzheimer's patients.

Since then, it has been used to combat identity fraud, and could potentially be used in traffic stops when a driver is without a license, or when people are stopped for questioning at U.S. borders.

Facial recognition technology is not without its problems, however. For example, some U.S. individuals mistakenly have had their driver's license revoked as a potential fraud. The problem, it turns out, is that they look like another driver and so the technology mistakenly flags them as having fake identification.

Roughly 40 law enforcement units nationwide will soon be using the MORIS, including Arizona's Pinal County Sheriff's Office, as well as officers in Hampton City in Virginia and Calhoun County in Alabama.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jerry Norton)