How to get more followers to your twitter ?

1. Get Verified -  This is the easiest way if you are a celebrity or a well known personality in your niche -  apply to get verified and once the word spreads it is indeed the real you (and not some fake Twitter account resembling your profile), people will flock to follow every word you say. E.g. most Bollywood celebrities on Twitter are verified and when Dalai Lama got a verified account just a month back,  he gathered nearly 200,000 Twitter followers!

2. Twitter Follower Exchange -  If you follow 1000 Twitter users today, how many do you think will follow back – 60%, maybe 40%, or maybe even lesser at 20% you say. If you agree to that, it means if you start to follow 1000 new people, at least 200 will follow you back -  and if you keep on doing that on a consistent basis you can have thousands of Twitter followers for free! I was surprised when Obama followed me back on Twitter, but later realized there are many Twitter autofollow tools out there which can do this automatically. And of course just there are Twitter Follow back lists which you can tap effectively.
3. Get Suggested - Earlier if you can managed to get on the Twitter suggested users list by hook or crook, you would never have to look for twitter followers ever again. You will gain twitter followers at the rate of thousands per day! Now how to get into the Twitter Suggested is a well kept secret.  Over time now the suggested list is  more user targeted and less influential than before, but you know how Britney Spears gained 200,000 followers in 1  month!
4. Become Charitable – Would you follow me if I tweeted I will donate $1 to Red Cross for every new Twitter follower gained over the next week? Probably you thought it was a gimmick and would not trust me to actually donate the money. But if a tech guru or respected organization put forth the deal, you would not mind following one more person -  and this would lead to a huge jump easily. Tim Ferris did this and got 5000 followers in 3 days!
5. Share Exclusive Deals – This one is useful for corporates who want to reveal secret coupon codes, promo codes or exclusive discounts – only on Twitter. If I told you $200 off Dell coupons were available on an official Dell Twitter channel  @DellHomeOffers -  I am sure you would follow it to get the amazing deal. Its useful information.

6. Attract Twitter users – If a wore a cool Twitter T-shirt boldly displaying my Twitter ID – would you follow me? You might not, but they would surely remember you if you wear Twitter stockings to your friends party. Find unique Twitter marketing ideas for your Twitter ID and attract Twitter followers
7. Get on Popular Lists -  If you somehow got your name listed in  the Times 50 most popular Twitter celebrities, don’t be surprised to get a few thousand twitter followers overnight. There are many popular Twitter lists out there in different niches, try to get on them and become famous.
8. Offer Gifts – If I say I will give one $200 Amazon gift certificate to a random new Twitter follower who joins me over the  next week – how many new new Twitter followers will fall for that?  I am sure a few thousand will come easily. As I said you would not mind following one more person. Of course you have to be genuine and give out the gift too. And people forget to unsubscribe!
9. Buy Twitter Followers - This is the easiest way out if you don’t want to do anything. Money can buy everything and even Twitter followers are up for sale. Many Twitter marketing services will sell you Twitter followers for a reasonable price. If you are willing to spend money, you can ger 100,000 followers for $3500 easily and even lower if you look around. Then you can imagine your Twitter influence and brag about it. [Check if this is allowed by Twitter terms of service]

10. Buy Twitter accounts – Here is a way some people use to make money online. If you are starting a new profile, simply buy a Twitter account with thousands of followers. Some people sell their Twitter accounts when they grab a few thousand followers, and if you keep doing this repeatedly, a good income is expected. [But remember this might violate Twitter terms of service]. Still what makes this real easy is that Twitter allows you to easily change the profile username in one click, so you don’t have to stick with the seller account name, and no one ever knows.
You say give me one reason to have more followers? If you have a 100,000 Twitter followers, advertisers will target you and you can easily make a living online by sponsored tweets like Kim Kardashian earns $10,000 per tweet! I am sure these Twitter tips will help you gain Twitter followers easily. Read more Twitter articles

Verizon Wireless CEO says Apple will produce LTE enabled products

Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead continued to leave everyone guessing about the connectivity of the Apple iPhone 5 when he told the Wall Street Journal today that Apple will eventually produce mobile products enabled to run on Big Red's LTE 4G network. Currently, the Apple iPhone 4 and the iPad connect to Verizon's 3G pipelines using the carrier's EV-DO Rev. A connectivity.

Mead told the financial newspaper that, "You'll see more coming from Apple on LTE. They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it." While your thoughts about Apple and LTE might jump immediately to the iPhone 5, no particular product was mentioned by Mead and the Verizon executive did not bring up any timeframe when all of this might happen. There is speculation about whether or not the next version of the Apple iPhone will be LTE enabled.

Apple has said that they had left LTE out of the Verizon version of the iPhone 4 because to do otherwise would have required a re-design of the product that Apple did not want to get involved with at the time.

As for speculation that iPhone 4 sales were sluggish at Verizon, CEO Mead refuted that by saying that the carrier sold more units of the Apple iPhone 4 during the handset's launch than any other device in the carrier's history. Mead also said that Verizon will report precise iPhone sales during the release of its next quarterly earnings report.

New pictures of Apple iPad 2 leak

Just a few days before the expected official introduction of the Apple iPad 2, some pictures of the tablet have leaked, showing off some of the new design and features. This coming Wednesday, as we have reported, Apple is supposed to introduce the iPad 2. As you can tell from these pictures, the sides of the new version seem to be more tapered. The side-by-side photo really tells the story of how Apple has flattened out the back of the new iPad while shrinking the total size of the device.

Assuming that the device is launched looking just like the pictures below, is everyone happy with the changes made by Apple to the design of the tablet?

 

Apple CEO Steve Job has weeks to live? Video from cancer center

According to a story in the National Enquirer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs may have only 6 weeks to live. The tabloid quotes a critical care physician from Boca Raton Florida who studied photographs of a frail and gaunt looking executive as he walked out of the Stanford Cancer Center. Dr. Samuel Jacobson told the Enquirer, "The poor guy! Judging from these photos, he is close to terminal. I would say he has six weeks." Doctor Gabe Mirkin, board certified in four specialties, concurred. After looking at the same set of photos, he said, "He definitely appears to be in the terminal stages of his life (judging) from these photos."

The Apple co-founder was photographed entering and exiting the Stanford Cancer Center, the same place where Patrick Swayze received treatment for his pancreatic cancer. We recently reported that Jobs was receiving additional treatment at the center. According to the Enquirer article, the type of pancreatic cancer that the Apple executive is allegedly stricken with is called a neuroendocrine tumor which is a slower moving cancer than the one that took the life of Patrick Swayze in 2009 and Michael Landon in 1991. But only 4% of patients stricken with any form of pancreatic cancer live longer than five years.

We can only hope that the treatments that Mr. Jobs is receiving are working.

Verizon to offer Windows Phone 7 devices by late March?

If you are a Verizon customer who has been waiting for a Windows Phone 7 model to be made available by Big Red, we have some speculation that you are going to want to hear. Based on information from "people familiar with the company's plan", the guys at WinRumors posted a story saying that Verizon's first Windows Phone 7 handset will be launched in late March.

The model is expected to be the HTC 7 Trophy and should be introduced by the carrier on February 28th. The device is expected to be priced at $199.99 with a signed 2 year contract and will ship with Microsoft's first update, "NoDo", for the OS which includes copy and paste functionality. The update is also expected to improve application start up and resume times.

As we reported yesterday, fellow CDMA carrier Sprint will launch its first Windows Phone 7 handset, the HTC Arrive, on March 20th. Sprint's device will also have a contract price of $199.99 although that figure is after a $100 mail-in rebate. There is no mention of a rebate with the rumors relating to Verizon's launch of its first Windows Phone 7 model.

Apple iPad 2 could be ready to go on sale immediately ??!!!

With everyone expecting the introduction of the Apple iPod 2 to highlight this coming Wednesday's Apple press event, the biggest surprise could be how fast it takes for the units to start showing up in the hands of consumers. According to the folks at AppleInsider, people familiar with the situation say that the Cupertino based firm is gearing up for more than just a product announcement. Instead, Apple appears as though it is getting ready for a major rollout of a consumer oriented product.

Some believe that even as Apple addresses the press on Wednesday, at least one working unit will be shipped to certain retail outlets. AppleInsider says that this source has provided them with correct and timely information relating to Apple in the past.

Apple is expected to bring three different versions of the tablet to the market. In addition to a WiFi model, there will be a GSM version for AT&T and some European carriers, while Verizon and Far Eastern operators will receive the CDMA variant. The code for the three are K93, K94 and K95 respectively. Apple plans on building 1.9 million WiFi units, 2.3 million GSM models and 800,000 of the CDMA variant.

ViewSonic G-Tablet holds its own against Motorola Xoom in benchmark tests

Sounds like a joke, right? Well, the Android tablet benchmark wars have begun and this first round is between the Android 2.2 powered ViewSonic G-Tablet and the new Motorola Xoom Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet. Both tablets share the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, so does software version really make the difference? Read on to find out!

As you can tell from the video, the G-Tablet’s screen is inferior to the Xoom and that alone may be reason enough to grab Motorola’s offering. Add on the fact that you need to hack the G-Tablet to really see the power behind it and that may be strike two. Still, while dev support for the Xoom will be very large once its in the hands of enough people, the G-Tablet already has a decent amount of ROMs and modifications you can throw on it. Plus, the G-Tablet is less than half the price of the Xoom ($380 at OfficeDepot).

Multiple benchmark applications are used in the video, including Linpack and Quadrant. My G-Tablet is running an Android 2.3 experimental build and bests the benchmarks shown on the tablet used in the video. Nonetheless, the G-Tablet came out on top in most tests, even if it was a slight lead. Since both tablets are using the Tegra 2, we know that benchmark scored would be similar. What’s giving the G-Tablet the slight edge is anyone’s guess, but it could be that the UI itself demands less from the CPU.

This video is the first in a series of benchmarks between the two tablets, so there’s no crown to be handed off at the moment. Either way, some just may not care about the slight lead the G-Tablet has, as it’s bigger, has an inferior screen with an almost non-existent viewing angle, and lacks some features found on the Xoom – Honeycomb likely being the most significant.

Check out the video to see for yourself below.

March 4th launch for HTC Thunderbolt tweets a Best Buy store

A Best Buy store in Roseville, California used its Twitter account to tell the world that the HTC Thunderbolt has been delayed again with a potential launch now set for March 4th. This information dovetails with an anonymous tip we received earlier on Thursday that Verizon Managers had been told that the HTC Thunderbolt is having issues with the battery and the radio that are hurting the phone. The device could have been launched this month with an OTA upgrade sent out later to fix the bugs, but instead the decision was made to launch the phone in early March.

So we have two separate sources telling us early March, with one giving us the 4th as a specific date. Will this finally be the last time that this moving target moves? How many more delays will it take for those ready to buy Verizon's first 4G handset decide to switch to something else, like the Motorola ATRIX 4G?

**UPDATE**It would seem that whomever sent the tweet for Best Buy store #129 needs a calendar as March 4th is actually a Friday. Of course, with this not being a leap-year, perhaps there was a bit of confusion. Either way, it looks like early March will see the release of the long awaited HTC Thunderbolt.

Late tonight, a leaked picture of Best Buy internal communications was released showing a launch date of March 10th for the HTC Thunderbolt. This would make a great office pool, trying to guess the precise release date. So far, we have March 4th and the 10th as two potential days. Hopefully, Verizon will let us know soon what the launch date will be.

Android's Path to World Domination

Google today released a video showing Android's tremendous rise and how it took the lead in the fiercely-competitive smartphone sector.

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The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's YouTube clip tracks the impressive rise of Android from October 2008 to January 2011. Spikes of light, indicating regions of activations, get larger and more widespread as time passes. Two key milestones propelled the adoption of Android -- the Droid for Verizon, which pushed the platform throughout the U.S., and the Samsung Galaxy, which jump-started activations throughout Europe and Asia.
Google said it now activates around 350,000 Android devices a day, which comes out to an impressive 10 million units a month. After leading the surge of global handset sales last year, it is now in a three-way tie for first with Apple and Research in Motion.
The company is aiming to do the same to tablets as it did with smartphones. Starting with the Motorola Xoom, which launched earlier this week, companies are set to release a spate of tablets running Android 3.0, dubbed "Honeycomb," which offers an interface that's optimized for the larger screen.
Google's next iteration of Android, known as "Ice Cream Sandwich," will merge smartphone and tablet functions, closing a fork that had threatened to fragment the flourishing platform. That version is expected to be released in June or July.

Huawei Asks for U.S. Security Clearance

Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei has asked the U.S. to formally investigate its background, in hopes of clearing a path for the company to do business in the country after authorities blocked a takeover deal due to security concerns.

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The Shenzhen-based company released an open letter detailing how the U.S. government used "falsehoods" and "unfounded" concerns to thwart its recent $2 million bid for bankrupt cloud-computing firm 3 Leaf. Huawei is also inviting regulators to perform a full and formal probe into its background, in an effort to clear suspicions that have thwarted its expansion into the U.S.
"Unfortunately, over the past 10 years, as we have been investing in the U.S., we have encountered a number of misperceptions that some hold about us," said Ken Hu, Huawei's deputy chairman. "These include unfounded and unproven claims of 'close connections with the Chinese military,' 'disputes over intellectual property rights,' 'allegations of financial support from the Chinese government,' and 'threats to the national security of the U.S.' These falsehoods have had a significant and negative impact on our business activity and, as such, they must be addressed as part of our effort to correct the record."
In addition, Huawei said it paid $222 million in licensing fees to Western firms last year, of which $175 million went to the U.S.
"We sincerely hope that the U.S. government will carry out a formal investigation on any concerns it may have about us," Hu said, adding that its founder Ren Zhengfei, who served as an engineer in the People's Liberation Army until 1983, was one of many chief executives of large companies who had served in the military.
Huawei has been sued twice in the U.S. by rivals Cisco, which later withdrew the case, and by Motorola, which alleges that the Chinese company set up a spy ring to gather its proprietary information. Huawei is challenging these claims in court.
In addition, Huawei took on claims that it is a threat to the national security of the U.S., saying it has only produced civilian standard equipment. It added that it had bought in third-parties to hunt for any security flaws in its systems.
Last year, a group of Republican senators wrote to the heads of four federal agencies after hearing of a possible Sprint deal with Huawei, alleging the company may have supplied communications equipment to Iran and to Iraq, possibly in violation of U.N. sanctions. The lawmakers and some national security experts also feared contracts with Huawei could help the Chinese government to manipulate U.S. wireless networks and disrupt or intercept phone and Internet messages.
Huawei is the world's second largest maker of network equipment and reported sales of $28 billion last year, working with many of the world's leading telecoms for its innovative, competitively priced products.
Despite its success, the company struggled to gain a foothold in the United States against rivals such as Cisco, running up against a wall of innuendo and anti-Chinese prejudice, as well as worries of the lack of transparency at the company.
But in its open letter, Huawei is inviting the government to rip the curtain back -- but whether the U.S. will do so remains uncertain.

Apple ‘Places’ trademark could hint at mobile social network

Apple has reportedly put together a trademark for “Places” and this could be an indication that it is looking to launch its own social network based on locations.
According to Patently Apple, the “Places” trademark could be:

Places is primarily about online social networking services related to a social networking site and will assist in locating people using GPS on Apple’s mobile devices. Whether this will be coordinated with Apple’s iTunes social networking music service called Ping is unknown at this time.  

A trademark doesn’t necessarily mean anything, as patents and trademarks are often filed and nothing is done. Still, the idea of an Apple Places social network is an interesting one because the online/social networking space is still the one place where Apple is badly hurting.
I’m of the opinion that Facebook has already won the larger social networking space and I think piggybacking off its Facebook Connect for new services is the way to go – Loopt finally ceded and saw its user base increase.
Still, if there’s one company which could put a major dent in this, it’s Apple because an Apple Places service would have the advantage of being built into iOS devices. I don’t think it would kill Facebook on these devices but it could create a nice social network for iOS fans.
I would imagine this could be similar to Research In Motion’s BBM service, which is still wildly popular with business folks and consumers alike. Apple Places could allow iOS users to quickly connect and share app and music recommendations in a way that Ping has failed so far.
Still, the idea of Apple Places social networking is just a pipe dream for the moment but you’d be a fool if you didn’t think the company is looking at this space. Would you be down for this type of service? What would you want from an Apple social network?

Apple Supplier Pays Poisoned Workers finally

Wintek, a supplier of touch displays to Apple, said it will pay 80,000 yuan, or about $12,177, to compensate each of the 115 workers poisoned by chemicals at its factory.

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The Taiwan-based company, which owns factories in each China's Suzhou industrial park, said it has set aside a combined 10 million yuan, or about $1.5 million, to compensate workers who were affected by hexyl hydride, also known as n-hexane, a fast-drying agent used to clean displays.
The factory workers became ill in 2009 after being exposed to the substance, which caused pain and numbness, prompting employees to write to Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs for help in paying their medical bills.
Wintek, which no longer uses the chemical, said nearly all of the affected workers have since recovered, with only one employee still visiting a clinic for regular check-ups. Chinese authorities also determined that 22 claims were ineligible for compensation, due to minor symptoms that didn't require treatment.
"We are willing to communicate with the affected workers to listen to their needs. But we won't make compensation in addition to the payment required by labor law easily," said Jay Huang, Wintek's chief financial officer. "If they feel they need more compensation to be satisfied, then we're willing to discuss it case by case."
Out of the 137 poisoned employees, 56 still work at the company. The rest have left, Huang said.
Apple revealed the issue in its annual suppliers' audit, shedding light on the health and safety hazards of key suppliers of iPhone and iPad devices. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company, which outsources its manufacturing process, depends heavily on its partners throughout Asia.
Last year, Foxconn, another major China supplier, was hit by a series of suicides that critics blamed on poor working conditions.

Samsung Nexus S Review

The Nexus line is a curious beast. The first of its ilk, the Nexus One, is largely considered to be both a huge success and dramatic failure depending on the context. Catering to both Android developers and purists alike, the Nexus One had, at the time, several major advantages over its competition. Firstly, the version of Android included with the device was completely stock: no carrier bloatware, no vendor skins. It was the first Google-endorsed phone, and was to receive over-the-air updates, ensuring that while it may be surpassed in hardware specs, it would always have the newest software for developers to play with. It also didn’t sell very well. Less than five months after its release, Google abandoned the online-only sales model and the Nexus lineage seemed dead.
But the Nexus Two does exist in the form of the Nexus S and it’s coming from Canada through multiple carriers in both subsidized and unsubsidized forms.

iPad 2 Doesn’t Have SD Card Slot or High-Res Display After All?

The iPad 2 is going to be announced on March 2, and there have been rumours abound of a Retina display (or at least higher-res than the original iPad) and an SD memory card slot. Apparently those features have been nixed due to “engineering issues”, although some argue that neither were in the picture in the first place. The source of the rumour said that we can expect an identical screen to the first iPad, more RAM, a new processor, and a camera on either side. There’s also a vague possibility of a lightweight carbon-fiber body, but that’s not locked-down right now.

There are lots of rumours swirling around the announcement next month, including that the next iPad will have NFC, or a mini USB slot, but it’s foolish to hang your hat on any of those possibilities, including the SD card slot or the retina display, barring any evidence beyond whispers and chatter.

Assuming the iPad 2 will be a modest iterative upgrade, will it be able to compete with the slew of competing tablets that will be hitting the market before the summer? The Xoom just came out, and its 10.2-inch 1280 x 800 display edges out the iPad’s 1024 x 768; if the next one has the same screen resolution, even the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook stands to offer an equally-crisp image. Then there are extras, like HDMI-out, that has become more or less standard on tablets, and DLNA support for sharing media over Wi-Fi (something Apple’s proprietary AirPlay is trying to tackle). Of course, Apple’s tablet will still have the significant lead in apps and installed base, and it’s assumed that Apple will cut the cost on the original model as they release the new one.

It seems like the number one feature folks are waiting for in the iPad 2 is a camera, and if Apple can pull that off with a few spec bumps, it’ll probably be enough to sell. Any of you guys still dead set on picking up an iPad 2, given the new info?

Bank of America using NFC enabled BlackBerry devices for Mobile Wallet trial program

Bank of America is starting an "by invitation only" trial of its Mobile Wallet program. The trial is open to owners of certain BlackBerry devices with a Bank of America debit or credit card. The service allows shoppers to "tap and pay" while checking out of a participating retailer.

To join the trial, you must own a BlackBerry Curve 8520 or 8530, a BlackBerry Tour 9630 or a BlackBerry Bold 9000, 9650 or 9700 with the ability to download apps. Those testing the program will be able to make their 'Berry NFC enabled with a special battery cover (with a hidden antenna) and a microSD card. You must also have a Bank of America Visa debit card or a Bank of America Mastercard credit card.

The trial is expected to begin in the Spring and will work wherever you find Mastercard's PayPass accepted. Those who are invited to join the trial will receive an email from where they can opt in to the program.

WIND releases $25 “Uncontainable25″ plan that includes Unlimited local calling & picture messaging

WIND has released a new plan – the “Uncontainable25″. This includes Unlimited Wind-to-Wind calling, unlimited Canada/US text messaging, Unlimited Canada/US picture messaging, Caller ID, Missed Call Alters, Call Waiting, Conference Calling and Call Forwarding plus when you’re in your WIND Zone you get Unlimited local calling to the following calling areas: Oshawa/Toronto/Newmarket/Hamilton, Ottawa/Hull/Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver/Whistler. This costs $25/month and we’re told this plan is never going to expire.

Smartphones Help Diagnose Cancer

 

 

Researchers from Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a portable device that works with a smartphone to help diagnose cancer.

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In a paper published in the Science Translational Medicine, doctors at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital described a $200 smartphone accessory that can analyze a small amount of tumor tissue and determine its cancerous malignancy. The device hooks up to a smartphone and displays information using the device's screen.
The research team also detailed an early clinical test of the device, in which 50 people had their abnormal stomach tissue biopsied and diagnosed by the device. The unit correctly predicted whether 48 of the patients had benign or malignant cancers. The scientists also discovered that results were 96 percent, exceeding the 84 percent accuracy rate of current methods.
"At the end of the day there are a lot of good technologies out there that are very promising on the bench side -- the key is how to translate it into the clinic,"’ said Cesar Castro, an oncologist at Massachusetts General and one of the authors of the paper.
The device has yet to go through more rigorous and extensive testing, but initial trials are promising. Results with the device are available within an hour, instead of the taking days with more traditional tests. But there are further tests before the device is reading for use. The research team is looking at customizing the smartphone for different types of cancer next, according to Castro.
A powerful yet portable cancer assessment test could revolutionize the treatment for both doctors and patients. Castro said that physicians could use it to assess the efficacy of certain drug therapies on cancer or monitor the progress of patients' treatments over time. And since the device is inexpensive and smartphones are widespread, it could be used to fight cancer in developing countries.
Researchers and doctors all over the U.S. are embracing technology to improve medical care. For instance, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, which established the "Center for Social Media" on its campus, is training medical professionals on how to use Facebook and Twitter to improve patient care by setting up appointments and answering questions. Patients at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida can tweet their physicians when they have questions, while doctors at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital answer questions via tweets during real-time brain surgery.
Mobile devices are expected to provide health care to over 500 million people by 2015, offering cheap diagnostic tools to combat many of the world's diseases, according to Microsoft's founder Bill Gates at the mHealth Summit in November. Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has given billions of dollars to charitable causes, with a focus on mobile health.
Gates is currently working on a plan to use cell phones to register births in the developing world, collecting biometric information on babies to transmit to a central health registry, which could be used to remind parents about vaccinations.

Motorola ATRIX 4G Unboxing (video)

Needless to say that there is a lot at stake when you’ve been given the prestigious title of being “the world’s most powerful smartphone,” but it would seem that the Motorola ATRIX 4G is up for the challenge. Not only is it packing some impressive hardware under the hood, such as its NVIDIA Tegra2 1GHz dual-core processor, but it’s actually the first respectable high-end Android powered device from Motorola that’s gracing AT&T’s so-so lineup. Having the opportunity of quickly checking out the device back at CES, we’re naturally excited about experiencing all that the Motorola ATRIX 4G has to offer.

The handset’s packaging is pretty typical of any other device on AT&T’s lineup – which is prettied up by the usual orange and white colors associated with the carrier. And even though it comes packaged along with the usual crop of accessories, like its microUSB cable and wall charger, we’re enthralled to find a large 1930 mAh battery and microHDMI cable included. The latter of which is definitely more appreciative since it’s very rare to find manufacturers throwing it in with all the usual assortments.

Quickly going over some of its specs, the Motorola ATRIX 4G features a 4” qHD (540 x 960) capacitive touchscreen, 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash, 0.3-megapixel VGA front facing camera, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, aGPS, and a nifty finger print scanner. Additionally, it presents to us the latest customized MOTOBLUR experience running on top of Android 2.2 Froyo.
Overlooking its long listing of impressive hardware, the other unique thing about the Motorola ATRIX 4G is the additional functionality it has to offer when it’s combined together with a separate laptop dock or connected to a high definition television set via its HDMI cable. In fact, it would perfectly blend the two product segments together to offer a whole new experience that we have yet to witness before. We’ll surely take it through the usual process, so expect our in-depth review shortly!

Anti-Sleep iPhone Apps Saves you From Car Crash

Have you ever worried about falling asleep while you are driving? What if you could have an app on your unlocked iphone 4 that would help you to stay awake even when you are on a long road trip and are having trouble staying awake with the heater blaring at you?

A new app called the Anti-sleep Pilot app will help you to stay awake. The app is built to help you out when you might be tiring on the road. When you first start up the app, you give the app a number of details about you to give it a good idea of when it needs to start working. The app will also take the time of the day into account straight from your iPhone 4 unlocked clock. Some of the questions will deal with your work hours and when you expect to fall asleep at night.

The app tries to judge exactly how alert you are and tries to judge when you should probably pull over and sleep it off for a little bit. Unfortunately, the app costs twenty dollars, which seems a bit high given what other apps are out there for much lower prices. In today’s day and age, nearly everyone thinks that they are the best drivers on the road so this app may not take off like the company had hoped it would, but nonetheless it is a very interesting idea and could help out individuals that have long commutes.

It will be tough to convince individuals to make the purchase at this high price tag but for those that truly need it, it might just have the perfect price point for making sure that you do not fall asleep behind the wheel. Expect to see some copy cat apps coming out in the future for a lower price point since most publications have pointed to the price as the largest drawback for a potentially very solid app.

Sprint Announces the HTC Arrive

 

 
Sprint had promised it would deliver a Windows Phone 7 handset in early 2011, and now the carrier is making good. The HTC Arrive, Sprint's first Windows Phone 7 device, will be available on March 20.
The HTC Arrive, which is called the HTC 7 Pro in other countries, features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.6-inch touchscreen that tilts up for easier viewing. Additional features include a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and digital zoom and a 720p HD camcorder.

The HTC Arrive will cost $199.99 when you sign a new two-year service contact.

iPhone 5 coming without LTE support?

The upcoming iPad 2 event on March 2nd might spill the beans about the white iPhone, but what most people are looking forward to now is the next iPhone. The launch of the iPhone 5 is expected in the summer months, but details emerged that it will skip on the LTE radios. The information is courtesy of Telecom Pragmatics analyst Samuel Greenholtz who cited a source close to the matter, but the summer months are still way ahead and things could change, so take this with a grain of salt.

"The next iPhone -- the iPhone 6 -- is an LTE version under development now with production aimed for a June/July launch next year," added Greenholtz. Nevertheless, the handset is expected to technically support AT&T's self-proclaimed as 4G HSPA+ network. The iPhone 5 was also rumored to be a world phone functioning on European markets as well as on U.S. carriers like AT&T and Verizon.

If Apple go without LTE on the next-gen iPhone, then the phone's main selling points will be the rumored 4-inch screen, dual-core processor and Sony's latest camera sensor. Not bad at all if it all comes true, but could it be that Android has upped the smartphone game with upcoming LTE handsets so much that Apple is now playing catch up?

WIND offering select data-less BlackBerry users free data until April 15th

If you’re one of the chosen few that will be getting a text from WIND Mobile on your BlackBerry then you’ll have the option to get free data until April 15th. They are targeting those BlackBerry users who have only signed up only for a voice plan and are giving them the $35 Infinite BlackBerry to trial for a couple months.
According to the internal doc we received it states that select customers will receive the following text from 45878 that reads: “Hey BlackBerry user—try FREE data with our Infinite BlackBerry add-on until Apr-15. Interested? Reply Y to this message and start browsing, BBM, email & more.”
This offer is only being sent to select Pay Before and Pay After customers and once you receive the text you only have until February 27th to opt-in as the free trial starts on the 28th.

Verizon comes to its senses – data plan not mandatory for Motorola Xoom

Verizon has finally come to its senses and will no longer make it mandatory for all Motorola Xoom buyers to purchase a one-month data plan with the device. Initially, the carrier planned on charging a $35 activation fee and a $20 fee for a month’s worth of data even if users wanted to buy the Android tablet without a contract and use it on Wi-Fi only.

Now, if a customer wants to buy the Xoom off contract for $800, and use it on Wi-Fi networks only, he or she can do so without being forced to pay for activation and a month of 3G data.

Verizon really has to be careful about how it handles pricing and data options for the Motorola Xoom. The Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet is the only real competitor to the iPad right now – Apple plans to announce a successor to its popular tablet next week – and pricing will be everything. Most users who were anticipating the device were let down by the pricing options: $599 with a two-year contract, and $799 without a commitment. Removing the mandatory data option for the commitment-free buyers is the right thing to do.

ComputerWorld reports:

As of this morning, Verizon has removed that requirement. I’ve confirmed with a Verizon Wireless spokesperson that if you purchase the Xoom for $800, without a contract, you will not be required to pay the $35 activation fee or sign up for any sort of data plan.

Best Buy has also updated its system to allow Motorola Xoom buyers to grab the tablet free of contract without paying an activation fee and month of data.

It’s tough to be optimistic about how well the Xoom will sell given the coming iPad, and the astronomical pricing. It’s a great tablet, and we were pretty impressed in our review of the Android Honeycomb device, but both contract and off-contract prices are pretty steep. Hopefully, Verizon will change that up a bit before journalists and bloggers get to jump on lackluster sales numbers.

AT&T to support HSUPA on all handsets within 1-2 months?

The battle over who has the fastest 4G network with most coverage is far from over, but recent outrage over slow upload speeds on AT&T might have given other carriers the edge. After users rushed in reports about upload speeds of less than a megabyte on the newly launched HTC Inspire 4G, AT&T replied that the phone simply doesn't support HSUPA. AT&T's 3G HSPA network consists of the HSDPA part for downloads and HSUPA for uploads. In our review, we found upload speeds to peak at around 150kbps, much lower than what the Inspire 4G should be capable of. What is the reason?

HSUPA is most likely present on the handset, but for some reason it seems disabled in the firmware, so a future update might fix the issue. Latest information by a source quoted by Engadget points to the 3GPP protocol as the main issue behind this. Currently, AT&T handsets authorize as 3GPP Release 5 devices on the network. This might not mean much to you, but what matters here is that the fifth version of the protocol doesn't support HSUPA. The updated 3GPP Release 6, however, does, and as soon as AT&T allows devices to authorize as Release 6, the magic of fast upload speeds will happen. There is one exception to the rule and not surprisingly it is the iPhone 4. The handset uses the sixth release, which grants it much faster uploads.

Well, this solves the mystery, but just when are the higher speeds coming? AT&T is believed to allow other devices to use 3GPP Release 6 within 1-2 months. So, let's wait up, it should be well worth it.

FCC probing Verizon on thousands of failed attempts to dial 911 during the snow storm in January

Verizon has received a letter requiring it to explain, investigate and, in the future, avoid the events that led to thousands of unsuccessful attempts to connect wireless callers to the 911 emergency service. The probe reads:

"The FCC has received reports that during the snowstorm that hit the Washington D.C. region on January 26, 2011, approximately 8,300 wireless 9-1-1 calls to the Montgomery County Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), routed over the Verizon network, were not connected, and an additional 1,700 wireless calls to the Prince George's County PSAP were not connected. I know that you will agree that any 9-1-1 call which is not connected can have serious consequences, but the large number of missed 9-1-1 calls on January 26 is truly alarming. I therefore request that Verizon provide an explanation of the causes of this and similar failures, provide Verizon's assessment of the possibility of occurrence in other locations and describe what actions Verizon is taking to prevent recurrence of these problems."

Then it goes to explain how the culprit were a few trunks maintained by Verizon (not Verizon Wireless) that connect wireline, wireless and VoIP calls to the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) of the respective counties. One of these trunks went down at 5:45pm on January 26th, and, for some reason, Verizon's system started automatically shutting down the other thirteen wireless trunks, until the whole channel for connecting wireless calls to the PSAP was out of service by 8:45pm that day. A similar thing happened with the Prince George's County PSAP.

The issue in question is that Verizon didn't notify the PSAPs that they can't connect calls to them, although the trunks are supposed to sound alarms when they go off. It was the PSAP representatives that got in touch with Verizon around 11pm to say nobody is connecting people's 911 emergency calls on the Verizon network. Fifteen minutes after that the trunks were restored back into service.

"We are particularly concerned that this problem may be widespread across Verizon's footprint. We therefore request that Verizon investigate the extent of the problem across its network and provide the following information by March 10, 2011:", continues Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, asking in a nutshell whether this has happened before in other places throughout the nation, and what will Verizon do about it.

Government pilot project ordered 23 iPads… MPs feeling left out of the fun

Last week according to Liberal MP Marcel Proulx 308 MPs couldn’t pawn off the expense the cost of the iPad to us taxpayers because “The House system is totally based on Microsoft… If I was to call the Hill help desk and say I have a problem with my iPad, they’d say ‘Too bad for you. We don’t know anything about iPads. “Everybody is on the Microsoft infrastructure.”
Our MPs are not going to like this news. The Treasury Board received approval last summer to start a pilot project that saw 23 iPads and accessories come into government offices for a total bill of $20,530.69. The iPad pilot project apparently saves up to $700 a year in paper and laptop costs. It was deemed such a success that it’s being rolled out to 15 other departments.
Treasury Board President Stockwell said “I just think they’re wrong on this one… MPs will account for the equipment that they buy.… They need to look at it again from the point of view of efficiency and cost saving… Nobody’s seeing it as a high-end luxury because of the fact it’s coming in at a lower cost than most laptops…Why are we forced to use a horse and buggy when everybody else has got state-of-the-art equipment? I kind of resent that. If it’s good enough for cabinet ministers and senior bureaucrats, it’s good enough for MPs.”

Square Drops Transaction Fee as Mobile Payment War Escalates

Mobile payments startup Square is dropping the per-transaction fee it charges businesses that use its service, hoping to spark more widespread adoption of its wireless dongle in the growing field.

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The San Francisco-based company had previously charged 2.75 percent of each transaction amount plus a flat 15-cent fee for each payment. Now, the company is dropping the flat fee for merchants.
"The vision of Square is to simply create zero friction and complexity around payments, which is difficult to do in financial services," said Keith Rabois, Square's chief operating officer.
Square makes a dongle accessory for the iPhone that allows users to make mobile payments with businesses that use its terminals to process financial transactions. Square is the latest venture from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Square in 2009.
Along with simplifying the payment system for businesses, Square aims to take on the hidden fees and rate structure that are convention in the credit card industry. Traditional payment systems not only charge a 15- to 30-cent charge per transaction, but also take a variable percentage on top of that, causing merchants to either refuse credit card transactions below a certain amount, go cash-only or add fees for using credit cards.
Eliminating the per-transaction fee also makes Square more competitive as other financial services begin to roll out their own mobile payments system.
Intuit began offering a GoPayment service last month for free with transaction fees, and Verifone also now offers Payware Mobile. Both services currently take about 2.75 percent of transactions and also around 15 to 17 cents per transaction.
Square's announcement is the latest movement in the emerging but complex field of mobile payments, which has been seeing growing competition on several fronts as consumers show an increasing willingness of consumers and businesses to make financial transactions through mobile devices.
In addition to more systems rolled out by financial services like Intuit and Verifone, device makers and software companies are entering the field. An industry group of nearly 800 carriers recently announced an initiative to create a standardized mobile-payments system, and tech giants Google, Apple and Research in Motion have also shown interest in mobile payments.
Google, which sees mobile payments as a "mega-scale" opportunity, according to chief executive Eric Schmidt, has acquired startups like Zetawire, and already integrated mobile payments technology into its flagship Android smartphone, the Nexus S. Apple has sparked rumors that it is developed its own "iWallet" technology that could leverage the iTunes billing system.
In addition, earlier last week, Research in Motion's co-chief executive Jim Balsillie announced the company is integrating mobile-payment services into its BlackBerry devices.
Mobile payments are a highly complex field with a variety of players, including online services, banks, credit cards and merchants. Square has created a device system for both consumers and merchants, and by dropping the per-transaction fee, its services and products will be more attractive to businesses. But the larger question of who will ultimately emerge as dominant in the field remains up in the air.

AT&T phones and plans start disappearing from 3rd party retailers like Wirefly and LetsTalk

Wirefly's CEO has sent a letter stating that, beginning in March, the 3rd party retailer will stop offering AT&T's products and services.

The same goes for LetsTalk, another big cell phone retailer, which issued a similar note that it will no longer offer AT&T phones and plans from March 8th onwards. Given its strong affiliation with Walmart Wireless, we wouldn't be surprised if deals like $129.99 for the just-released Motorola ATRIX 4G will be no more (it runs till Thursday). The LetsTalk letter reads:

"Effective March 8th, 2011, LetsTalk as well as other web indirect agents [...], will no longer be able to offer AT&T Wireless as a carrier option to our customers.  The primary reasons given for this change in AT&T’s business strategy were centered around AT&T cost savings and retrenchment."

It is probably precisely these huge discounts the carrier was giving to 3rd party retailers that forced it to withdraw from the "race to the bottom" game. Amazon Wireless still hasn't announced if it will stop carrying AT&T handsets like the others, so we will keep an eye on that to gauge if this is an attempt to work with only one big retailer, or a quest to ditch them altogether.

Virgin Mobile reducing all Smartphone data plans by $5/month

Crikey – Virgin Mobile is at it again. decreasing their price plans but this time it’s all about data. An internal doc we received shows that effective tomorrow (February 25th) they will be lowering the price of all their data plans by $5 per month. The 500 MB, 3GB, 5GB and Flexi-Data plans all get reduced (see chart above).
This is open to new customers and also current Virgin customers can get in on this deal (just call 611 from your device). Virgin also makes a point to state that “Members can now get full data access (including mobile browsing) on their BlackBerry Smartphone or iPhone for only $25/month.”

Android app gets a college student out of a speeding ticket

College student Sahas Katta was terrified when he received his very first speeding ticket. Back in 2010,  he got pulled over by an officer and accused of doing 40 mph in a 25 mph zone. Even though Sahas was sure he wasn't speeding, he handed his license and registration without asking any questions. Luckily for him, Sahas later realized that he had My Tracks by Google running on his Motorola DROID all along, which eventually helped him avoid getting fined.

As its name suggests, the free application tracks information such as traveled distance, average and max speed by using GPS data, and visualizes it on a map. When Sahas had to defend himself in traffic court, he presented the log of his trip, which clearly showed a maximum speed of only 26 mph. It turned out the officer could not recall when his laser gun was calibrated for the last time, which questioned the credibility of the laser gun data.

Even though most people do not stand a chance in traffic court, Sahas Katta was declared not guilty. The judge's decision was based mainly on the lack of evidence on the officer's part, but it is believed that the GPS data had a significant impact on the outcome.