In This Issue... - Microsoft confirms Windows Phone 7 launch partners, will include Asus, Dell, HTC, LG & Samsung
- Samsung YP-MB2, the Galaxy S PMP, details emerge
- AT&T Q2 results: 3.2 million iPhone activations, $30.8 billion in revenue
- Motorola Droid X is now able to be rooted
- Another 20 million users in just 7 months, Pandora swings for fences
- Droid X: "Print to Retail" feature sends photos directly to CVS or Costco for printing
- Microsoft: Be What's Next…what?
- Rumor: Verizon's FiveSpot hotspot modem to launch next month along with 5GB of prepaid data for $80
- Google introduces "direct access numbers" for Google Voice
- An eraser can save your memories, when its actually a USB flash drive
- How to figure out which app is using location data
- Netflix: 15 million subscribers with 61% streaming content
- Dell website reveals: Dell Streak will be "available for purchase in late July"
- Netflix on PS3 won't require a disc by October
- Google to hand out $3,133.70 for critical bugs in Chrome
- Microsoft to give every employee a Windows Phone 7 phone
- Barnes & Noble Android eReader App Now Available, Dubbed NOOK for Android
- Confirmed: Bing will be the sole search engine on Windows Phone 7
- Rumor: 80% chance T-Mobile will sell the iPhone
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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile The holiday season is going to be here before we know it, and for phone geeks, that means we have the launch of Windows Phone 7 to look forward to. Sadly though, while we have been seeing a fair amount of Phone 7 related news lately, we are still missing quite a bit. Most notably—a solid release date. That said, Microsoft has recently confirmed a list of hardware partners that we can expect to see devices from. The list contains five companies in total and while there is not one that is overly surprising to see, it does still give us something to dream about. So without further adeiu—the list contains Asus, Dell, LG, HTC and Samsung. All of which are said to have something in the works and will have it rolled out for the launch later in the year. So in theory, we should be seeing at least five Windows Phone 7 devices hit the market before years end. Though, its still a bit early and things can change. Of course, it almost goes without saying, but if anything changes lets hope its to add to the list as opposed to remove from the list. Either way though, its looking good so far. Read [Pocket-Lint] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Audio, Home Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video, Communications, Smartphones 
Samsung has plans to launch the Galaxy S in the form of a PMP dubbed the Samsung YP-MB2. Basically, it would be a slimmed down version of the Galaxy S smartphone without the call feature. In terms of specs, the PMP features a 3MP camera, 4 inch Super AMOLED touch screen, GPS, digital compass, WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth connectivity, operates on Android 2.1, Android market access, and a DMB receiver. Just by looking at the specs, it sounds like a pretty solid device and could give the iPod Touch a run for its money, especially in the States. However, there is no word on availability at this time, but the expected price point is 299,000 won, which is about $250. Via [Samsung Hub] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers 
It looks like AT&T had a pretty solid second quarter in terms of revenue, iPhone activations, profit, etc. The giant wireless company activated over 3.2 million iPhones, which is a company record, and the iPhone 4 was only available four days into Q2. In terms of revenue, AT&T raked in $30.8 billion, but that’s actually only up 0.6% from the previous year. It added over 1.6 million new wireless subscribers meaning a grand total of 90.1 million customers for AT&T. In addition, it announced a 27% growth in wireless data revenues. No matter how many people complain AT&T has inferior service, people continue to stick with AT&T and many people continue to ink new contracts. Hopefully AT&T will continue to see big returns in Q3. Check out the full press release below. Read [AT&T] $0.68 diluted EPS compares with $0.54 diluted EPS in the second quarter of 2009, up 25.9 percent; up 13.0 percent excluding a $0.07 one-time gain from a Telmex Internacional stock transaction
$30.8 billion second-quarter consolidated revenues from continuing operations, up $194 million, or 0.6 percent, versus the year-earlier period and up $278 million, or 0.9 percent, sequentially
Consolidated operating margin expansion to 19.8 percent, up from 18.0 percent in the year-earlier quarter
1.6 million organic net adds in total wireless subscribers, best-ever second quarter, to reach 90.1 million in service
3.2 million iPhone activations in second quarter, a company record
Best-ever wireless churn levels, with 1.01 percent postpaid churn and 1.29 percent total churn
10.3 percent increase in wireless service revenues, with postpaid subscriber ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber) up 3.4 percent; sixth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year increase in postpaid ARPU
27.2 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up $936 million versus the year-earlier quarter
2.9 million net increase in 3G postpaid integrated devices on AT&T’s wireless network to reach 29.7 million
32.0 percent growth in wireline consumer IP data revenues driven by AT&T U-verse® expansion; first-ever billion-dollar revenue quarter for AT&T U-verse services
209,000 net gain in AT&T U-verse TV subscribers to reach 2.5 million in service, with continued high broadband and voice attach rates
15.8 percent growth in revenues from strategic business services such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), hosting and application services
Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones 
So much for eFuse supposedly rendering the Motorola Droid X “unrootable.” A person named Birdman has come up with a root process for the Droid X in a 27 step process. Does the root actually work? Here is a comment from a forum user: How cool are you guys!!!! VERY VERY easy to apply!!! I was concerned but not now. Amazing. Works great with Wifi Tether!!!!
Looks like we have a winner in Birdman’s Droid X root. In case you want to try it out, follow the steps in the link below, but proceed with caution because if something goes wrong, you are liable. Read [AllDroid Forums] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Audio, Home Audio, Portable Audio, Communications, Mobile Pandora is now calling the tune, or tunes as the case may be. The company is adding users like mad, adding 20 million, yes million, users since December of ‘09. More over, the company that most people stream music for free is now profitable. How is that possible? Like Netflix, it is pursuing a path of get on everything. “If it is electric, get Pandora on it” seems to be the mantra at the company. Just last week, I saw a toaster with a decal about Pandora being on board. From TVs to Fords to mobile phones and computers, Pandora has become the app darling and a killer feature to have. Being on everything means more people have the chance to become Pandora customers. The numbers say this thinking is working. It took the company a year to move from 20 to 40 million users (2009); then just six months later, another 20 million users are jamming to the companies clever tunes playlist. Mobile is a big part of their success. While the company didn’t break it out, the fantastic iPhone, Android and webOS apps make listening to “your” music easier than actually listening to locally saved music, plus users don’t have to buy anything. With an audience of this size, the company is looking at increasingly clever ways to monetize them. Recently, using user data and geographic location, the company was able to send out an email to targeted, nearby fans of Aimee Mann to pump up a gig. The result of the test was impressive. With Pandora’s massive user base, we don’t expect them to slow down any time soon. Oh, and I didn’t really see a toaster sporting Pandora, but I suspect that is a couple of weeks out. Read: [TechCrunch] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile  It turns out that the Droid X has a pretty neat little feature. It was not exactly hidden but I suspect some may have overlooked it, myself included. The feature—a “Print to Retail” option for sharing photos. Or in this case, sending photos. Anyway, the Droid X will send your camera images to your local CVS or Costco for printing and pickup. Its simple enough to use in that you click “Share” and then “Print to Retail.” From there you enter a zip code and are presented with locations to choose from. Of course, the catch here is that you then have to pick the prints up. In the end, a nice little perk for those who like to have real pictures to have and hold. Plus with the 8 megapixel camera on the Droid X you are likely to have some nice pictures as a result.
Via [AndroidGuys] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Computers 
Microsoft is reportedly changing its tagline to “Be What’s Next.” This move was announced recently at its annual Microsoft Global Exchange event. It was also thought that Microsoft was going to change up logos for its products, but Microsoft denied those assertions. However, the new tagline is here to stay and will be used every once in a while on various products. Maybe Microsoft is looking to change things up and have a refreshed tagline for its impending Windows Phone 7 launch. It’s a unique and different tagline to say the least and saying it aloud sounds weird. Hopefully Microsoft will shed some perspective about the tagline soon enough. Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Broadband Cards, Mobile  More rumors on the Verizon front, this time they are dealing with prepaid data and the FiveSpot mobile hotspot modem. According to the details of the rumor, both are expected to come available sometime in late August. Or more specifically the data rumors are suggested for August 23rd. As for what may be coming, a larger prepaid data plan. As of now the prepaid data offerings from Verizon come in two flavors—100MB and 1GB. But what if you want more, well, Verizon may have a 5GB option which will set you back $80 per month. Otherwise, the FiveSpot mobile hotspot modem that was recently revealed should be coming available. Though at present the rumors have not mentioned any exact date. That said, it looks like this device, the one you see in the image above will replace the current MiFi. No word yet on how much the FiveSpot will be selling for, but given its expected to replace the MiFi its logical to think it will be similarly priced—$49.99 on a two year agreement. Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Web, Google In order to make calls connect faster when using Google Voice, Google is updating the Google Voice app with something it likes to call “direct access numbers.” Designed for use on Android and BlackBerry devices, direct access numbers basically assigns your contacts with a special, unique number. In the past, every call made through Google Voice would have to be placed through Google servers first before being connected with the person who you’re trying to call. However, with direct access numbers, each contact has a unique number meaning the device can bypass accessing Google servers for every call placed. Simply navigate to the Android Market and update your already existing Google Voice app, or download the Google Voice app. If you are interested in using Google Voice on your BlackBerry smartphone, you will need to navigate to m.google.com/voice first and download the app. Just as a reminder, Google Voice is available for anyone in the United States, but isn’t available in other countries just yet. Via [Google Voice Blog] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Gadgets / Other, Peripherals, Storage When is an eraser good at saving things? Simple, when its actually a USB flash drive in disguise. And that is just the case with the Eraser USB Stick. Of course there is more to this as its not just another novelty USB flash drive that you can buy use and then stop liking in a few weeks. Instead this one is part of greater good and being used as part of a campaign for Alzheimer’s Awareness. Product [Ads Of The World] Via [Gizmodo] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Video, Content, Video Providers, Web, Online Music/Video Netflix appears to be getting stronger and stronger, albeit with a drop in revenue. It looks like the monthly subscriber bill has dropped from $13.29 down to $12.29. Almost a buck lower, but that also seems to be due in part to the fact that more and more customers are streaming as opposed to renting. In other words, some subscribers appear to be shifting from plans that allow more DVD’s out at a time for the lowest priced, which is $8.99 per month and allows for an unlimited amount of DVD’s per month with one out at a time and an unlimited amount of streaming. Otherwise, in terms of streaming—those numbers are up. According to Netflix, 61% of their users are streaming content. That is up from 55% in Q1 and more impressively, its up from 37% in the same quarter during the previous year. Of course, streaming is being classified as using “more than 15 minutes.” As for subscribers, at present just over 15 million. But Netflix expects to finish Q3 with 16.5 million. Now lets just hope that Netflix does not feel the need to begin charging more for streaming options. Read [Business Insider] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Web, Web Browsers, Websites, Google  Finding bugs in any computer application is key when trying to product a great piece of software. The best way of finding bugs and potential security problems is by letting users report bugs whenever they come across some. However, by offering an incentive to find bugs, users are more likely to keep their eyes peeled for security vulnerabilities and take the time to report it.
In commemoration of the six month anniversary of the Chromium Security Reward program, Google is increasing its payout for critical security bugs found in Google Chrome. The payout is now set at $3,1330.70 while the base payment for low level bugs remains at $500. For hackers and developers, the cash incentive is a nice perk to find security vulnerabilities. In fact, only a few days ago, Mozilla began offering a $3,000 bounty for every security bug found by its users. Read [Chromium] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile When the iPhone first launched, Steve Jobs made sure to give every Apple employee that has been with the company for more than a year one of the first phones. Before the Nexus One was released to the public, Google gave every employee one fore free. Now it looks like it’s Microsoft’s time to show how content it is with it’s new phones by giving them to employees. According to an email sent to Microsoft employees, when the platform launches, they will each be able to obtain one of the Windows Phone 7 phones. There’s no mention of when that’ll be, however. When employees get the phone will vary based on their market, carrier, and launch date presumably for their country. Sounds like it won’t just be one phone that employees will receive, though there will likely be specific ones based on which carrier they use. It could mean that Microsoft is confident enough in Windows Phone 7 to let all employees use the platform. Or, perhaps the hope is that Microsoft employees will encourage others to use the platform after using it for themselves. That could seem more likely. Microsoft does have a disadvantage coming into the game so late, no matter how interesting the OS looks. Having a built-in set of users to spread word-of-mouth is definitely helpful. Read [Gizmodo] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, ebooks  Barnes & Noble have officially rolled out their eReader app for the Android platform. The app is called NOOK for Android and is available by way of the Android Market for devices running Android OS 1.6 or later. Oh, and its free to download and use.
The app seems to offer the features that you would expect to see in that you can read as well as browse and shop for ebooks from the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. The app also gives you access to any ebook in your personal Barnes & Noble library as well as keep those titles in sync across devices. Additionally, the NOOK for Android app also allows the user to take advantage of the Lend Me feature which is found on the hardware Nook. Key features available in NOOK for Android include: - Shop Barnes & Noble's vast eBookstore: Search, explore and browse through more than one million digital titles at www.bn.com/ebooks directly by touching Shop Books from the Library. There are more than a half-million free eBooks available and free samples are offered for all eBooks. Learn more about titles from thousands of editorial and customer reviews. Pick a current bestseller, a classic or anything in between and download it wirelessly in seconds.
- Access your personal B&N digital library: All eBooks purchased through the Barnes & Noble eBookstore sync in seconds and are ready to read in your Library.
- Lend to friends: NOOK for Android is the only Android eReading app that offers eBook sharing with friends.
- Read your way: Customize the eReading experience by choosing from eight font types and five sizes, read in landscape or portrait modes and lock the screen orientation.
- Enjoy the read: The fun and immersive experience offers animated or sliding page turns, a navigation scroll bar, bookmarks and more.
- Easy access to your content: Using the Library List view, see the cover art, sort and filter your eBooks by author, title or recent reads. Access rich product details for the selected eBook, including the synopsis and more books from that author.
- Read across multiple devices: Android users can now complement their eReading experiences with Barnes & Noble's other eReader experiences such as NOOK eBook Readers, previously announced eBook readers powered by the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, and a variety of other computing and mobile devices, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry® and HTC HD2™ smartphones, HP computers, PC and Mac®.
- Pick up where you left off: Sync the last page read of the last eBook opened on an Android device with BN eReader (soon to be renamed NOOK) software-enabled devices including PC and iPad. Coming soon, both will sync with NOOK for iPhone and more devices to follow.
- Follows the standard: Read eBooks formatted in ePub, quickly becoming the industry standard.
Read [NOOK for Android] and [Business Wire] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile, Web, Websites According to Greg Sullivan, senior product manager for Microsoft, in a statement to Pocket-Lint, Windows Phone 7 will use only Bing as its default search engine. He says “The search engine has been heavily integrated into the OS, so it would be hard to offer an alternative.” However, other search engines can create apps, but none of these apps will be able to take over as the default engine. Since Windows Phone 7 uses a “Tell Me” function, Microsoft installed Bing as its default search engine so whenever instruction is spoken to the phone, it searches the device and the web. Google even allows OEM’s to change the default search engine or at least provide the option. With iOS, Apple allows the user to choose their own preferred search engine, so it’s kind of surprising Microsoft is restricting the search engine to only Bing. However, Microsoft is making a push for Bing and the best way to increase awareness is to make it the only possible default search engine. Via [Pocket-Lint] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile We all know about the rumors claiming Verizon Wireless will sell the iPhone one day soon, but T-Mobile is hardly ever mentioned with the iPhone. Since it’s only the fourth largest carrier in the U.S., it makes more sense for Apple to launch the iPhone with Verizon, but “a highly placed source at the wireless company” is reporting T-Mobile has a strong chance of launching the iPhone in Q3. How strong of a chance does T-Mobile have? Well, the source at T-Mobile requested to remain anonymous but he/she claims it is 80% likely to happen. I don’t know about you, but 80% sounds pretty darn solid to me, but I’ll be very surprised if this thing happens. Interestingly enough, Deutsche Telekom is the parent company of T-Mobile USA and sells the iPhone in Germany. Therefore, I’m sure Deutsche Telekom was able to persuade Apple a little to consider a launch with T-Mobile. One of the main questions associated with T-Mobile is the compatibility of the 3G network with the iPhone. Basically, T-Mobile’s 3G network uses 1700/2100 MHz bands, and while the iPhone 4 did add the 2100 band, none of the older iPhones would be able to use its 3G network. Of course, if we hear any more information about the iPhone launching on T-Mobile, we’ll stay on top of it. Via [Cult Of Mac] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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