Section: Communications, Cellular Providers We all know that Verizon Wireless, and all other cellular carriers mainly exist to make a profit. They are all companies with many, many customers, after all. It might be, however, that at least some of their revenue is coming from accidental data usage from customers with no data plans. Not only that, but it seems as if the phones are designed to facilitate those charges. David Pogue of the New York Times has received a message from a Verizon Wireless employee who is tired of the charges. The charges come from customers accidentally hitting a button for services like Mobile Web or Get It Now. By opening the apps and trying to connect, kilobytes are transferred. So much as a single kilobyte will get counted as 1 MB by Verizon (and presumably other companies), resulting in an additional $1.99 added to their bill. That even applies to customers who have data blocks, as some data is transferred in showing the message that they cannot use data. Combine this easy mistake with the fact that Verizon alone has 87 million customers, and there is a potential for huge revenue. What Verizon, AT&T, and presumably the other carriers are doing isn’t illegal, though it can leave customers feeling cheated. $2 is a lot to pay for a single mistake that the customers probably attempted to rectify almost immediately. I know I’ve hit those buttons on occasion, and thought I’d fixed it by hitting END or closing the phone immediately, though apparently not. What’s worse is the fact that some phones can’t even be programmed such that those buttons do launch other apps. Even if they are reprogrammable, the option to do so is usually buried deep within the menu system so most average users might not be able to find it. Read [NY Times] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous  Just the mention of Black Friday brings to mind two thing: great deals and insane crowds fighting to get them. Wal-Mart hopes to change the latter part by opening stores on Thanksgiving Day and staying open through Black Friday encouraging a steady flow of traffic instead of crazy mobs ready for deals at 6 am.
Last year, the retailer received a lot of negative press after one employee died after being trampled by deal-seekers. Each Wal-Mart store will have a plan on how to handle traffic but most will not close in hopes of preventing chaos. $5 off a blender isn’t anything to get trampled over. This year, customers can walk into the store and form lines in front of must-have merchandise to receive the 5am sale price. Surely this plan is more labor intensive as employees will manage each line to insure order and ease. Even more employees will be stationed at the front of the store to keep the crowds moving in the right direction. It beats waiting in the cold and it certainly should help ease the fears of getting caught in a wave of bargain happy zombies. Read: [NYT] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
FROM GAMERTELL - The Best Buy Black Friday 2009 ad has leaked onto the internet and it is filled with all kinds of great video game sales. The store opens at 5am, and roughly two hours before opening, employees will distribute tickets for doorbuster items.
MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Apple, Audio, Home Audio, Video, Content, HDTV, Communications, Cellphones, Computers, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack 
Shining a light on moves in the tech world so insane, Who’s on Crack is here to throw around accusation. Accusations about who we suspect narcotics inspired their latest to-market ideas. As companies vie for your attention and more importantly your dollars, it helps to back up a few steps to ask, “what the?”. Here are the biggest blunders this week: Microsoft admits to copying off Apple’s paper
Did Palm hire “Crazy Eddy”?
Blockbuster shows desperation
Web TV finally here?
 Mac rules, so we copied it. This week, Microsoft apparently copped to being inspired by Apple’s OS design. From Bill Stiteler’s post quoting Microsoft's Partner Group Manager Simon Aldus : “What we've tried to do with Windows 7—whether it's traditional format or in a touch format—is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. [Emphasis added]” Aldus went on to mention they built this on top of Vista. At this point you’ve got to wonder why he stops there? Why not take the cab all the way to Crazytown and spout off how Microsoft purposely crippled Vista or how every time someone buys Windows 7, Microsoft shoots a puppy. Or perhaps that Redmond HQ is built on top of a secret underground lair where Ballmer has taken to dressing up as Darth Vader and babbles about dominating the galaxy. Can you imagine sitting in MS PR department when this bit of news comes in? Here is the play by play:
MS PR guy 1: “He said what???”
MS PR gal 1: “No f’n way?”
MS PR guy 2: “Somebody check the gosh-darn calendar, it isn’t April, right?”
MS PR gal 2: “We are so TP’ing this guys house tonight.” 
Palm prices are so low, they are practically paying you to take it Fact: I am smitten with webOS. But $29 bucks to get your hands on a super-slim Palm Pixi model with the hot OS that is actually fun to use? Come on, there is a catch right? According to Robert Nelson, there isn’t:
“Now I am going to go out on a ledge here, but maybe the Pixi or future similar models will end up being the savior of Palm. Maybe Palm is going to take up the role of the low priced smartphone company. And if that is that case, I guess being available for a bargain price through Walmart makes sense.” Crazy Eddy was a guy in the New York area that did lame commercials in the 80s and was eventually thrown in the pokey for tax evasion. This price thanks to Wal-Mart and Palm is amazingly low. Yes, a $99 is tempting. A $49 refurbed iPhone is even more tempting but $29 for a great smartphone? Either they are reading Gadgetell or come up with schemes in a smoke-filled room where “munchies” are served 15 minutes after the meeting starts. Impressive or insane? 
Blockbuster says SlotMusic was genius Oh boy. Remember when SlotMusic was pushed on us? Back at CES we giggled for what seemed like hours about it. Apparently, Blockbuster thought it was the bees knees and is looking to rent movies the same way. Ugh. Our Robert Nelson says, “Blockbuster has decided to begin testing a new pilot program that will allow in-store visitors to rent a movie on an SD card. The plan is simple, those entering a Blockbuster store will be able to bring in an SD card and rent a movie by way of a self-service kiosk. The movies will of course be filled with DRM and will expire after a pre-selected amount of time.” There is some logic here fore netbooks that lack a DVD drives or those dying to watch something on a device that is actually too small to watch it on (judgment call). But for everyone else, this is a go-nowhere idea. Robert adds customer service isn’t the strong suit of Blockbuster and there just isn’t enough people that care. Dead on arrival, back to the drawing board guys and gals. 
Web TV could be here. Did you hear the wall come down? Not the Berlin Wall, I refer here to the wall around your TV. It was just shattered. Thanks to TVs with web widgets and home theater pcs, that wall is no more. A big culprit may be the Dell Zino HD. This cute little device is primed to sit in your a/v shelf and bring the goodness of the web to your HDTV. Our Shawn Ingram explains, “The Zino HD looks like it could be the computer of choice for any home theater setup for easy access to all those videos on your computer. Pair it with Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and iTunes, and you have almost everything you could want viewable on your HDTV.” The key here to go mainstream is ease of use. Here we may still have some issues as consumers switch between a remote and a keyboard but this unit looks good enough to get geeks and their kinda-geeky counterparts on board. Starting at just $229 and so cute, what is not to love? Dell must hate the cable companies. So now it’s wait for Boxee, buy a new TV with web widgets or spring for this cute box. My money is on this box. Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Google  The official word on the Google’s Chrome OS mentioned that we would see “more updates in the fall” and that it would not be available for download until the “second half of 2010.” That said, things sometimes change, and sometimes they become the subject of rumor.
In this case, we have a rumor, of course its a rumor that the Google fanboy in me hopes to see come true. Anyway, according to TechCrunch; “Google's Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we've heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.”
There you have it, a “reliable source” is letting us know that we will soon be able to play with Chrome OS. But with that, it was also pointed out that the driver and device support will likely be limited. At least in my case, I am hoping that limited support includes Eee PC’s. Read [TechCrunch] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gaming, Console Described as hotter than Black Friday, retailers are trying outdo one another and Dell has just stepped up to the plate. Offering the popular Nintendo Wii for $179.99 with free shipping will be one of the lowest prices of the season. We doubt you’ll see a cheaper price than that. Other retailers may toss in freebies like steering wheels, extra controllers or choice of a game, but if you seek just the console at it’s lowest price, this could be it. Retailers are prohibited from advertising their price and Dell is no exception: only by adding the Wii to your cart will you see the discounted price. Product page: [Dell] via [BFads] Image credit: BFads Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Audio, Communications, Mobile, Computers, Wireless, Web  It seems as if it has been a while since we last heard an MPAA horror story, but not to worry because we have a goodie for you on this fine Friday morning.
It would seem that those living in Coshocton, Ohio have at least temporarily lost their free Wi-Fi. And yes, they had city wide free Wi-Fi, or at least did until the MPAA came into town. The access was set up in the area surrounding the County Courthouse and was noted as serving anywhere from a dozen to one hundred users during a day. Of course it took just one user to prompt the shut down. And that shutdown came after a notice from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Unfortunately it looks like the service may also remain offline because although the town has found a way to prevent this from happening in the future that system costs money. But the Commisioners are questioning whether the $2000 setup and $900 annual fee would be worth it for a free giveaway. But with that comes the moral of the story. First you cannot truly depend on free Wi-Fi. But more importantly—do not be that guy (or girl) that causes this. In other words, use free Wi-Fi responsibly, and treat it like you would at home. And no that does not mean its a pipe for porn, instead use the golden rule. If you would not download said item from your home connection, then it is most likely not a good idea to download it from a publicly available connection. Its a shame that the town could not identify the person who caused this, it seems that in a smaller town like this a little public shaming would do the trick. Read [Coshocton Tribune] Via [Consumerist] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, VoIP, Mobile, Web, Google  Sure, we all knew about the Google acquisition of VoIP provider Gizmo5, and we were able to speculate about things that would happen. But now, courtesy of the Google Voice Blog we are getting a look at the first moves.
And in typically Google fashion, they have both officially welcomed Gizmo5 and also shut it down for new users. Anyone visiting the main Gizmo5 web page are forwarded to a new www.google.com/gizmo5 landing page and are greeted with a simple message; “Gizmo5 Has Been Acquired by Google”
Of course it is also there that any potential new users are made aware that they cannot sign up. That said, existing users can still sign in and use their accounts. And although I have not used Gizmo in as long as I can remember I am glad I had signed up in the past. Maybe this way I will be able to get a look at the future Google Voice integration a little sooner than some. I should point out though, that existing users will be limited in one aspect, they cannot sign up for a new call-in number. Additionally, it was also noted that “Gizmo5’s engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience.” Unfortunately, they are not announcing any specific features of the merge just yet, but they do close the post with a simple but hopeful hint. “We welcome the Gizmo5 team to Google and look forward to working together to bringing more useful features to Google Voice.”
Read [Google Voice Blog] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
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