ITTO: L.A. Looks to Twitter to Save It From Carmageddon

This weekend U.S. highway 405 in Los Angeles will be closed down for two straight days, in what many are calling "carmageddon," with officials banking on social media to alleviate confusion, reduce traffic and make the project run more smoothly with the help of well-meaning celebrities.

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Is This Thing On?, or ITTO, is our Wednesday column showing how everyday people use technology inunexpected ways.

A 10-mile stretch linking the San Fernando Valley to the west side of Los Angeles will be shut down for about 53 hours beginning July 15 so the Mulholland Bridge in Sepulveda Pass can be partially demolished to add carpool lanes and other improvements. There is serious concern that the closure might cause chaos, accidents, and all-around upset for the estimated 500,000 angry motorists and the surrounding residential areas that will be impacted.

"If you think it's bad now, let me just make something absolutely clear: on July 16th and 17th, it will be an absolute nightmare," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Municipal officials have encouraged TV news, print media and other traditional outlets to spread the news about the closure, holding multiple press conferences to encourage motorists to steer clear of the area. But they are also spreading the word via the Internet, apps and social media to drive home the message.

And, California being California, the Los Angeles Police Department turned to Hollywood for some star power to pump up the campaign, tapping several celebrities to help with community outreach.

The LAPD contacted hundreds of celebrities, many who have already begun tweeting news of the closure to give their followers a "heads-up" on the upcoming traffic nightmare.

Ashton Kutcher cleverly tweeted this earlier this month, "LAPD askd me 2tweet: 405fwy btwn 10 & 101 will b closed July 16-17. In xchange, I would like a free pass on that stoplight tickt IT WAS YELLOW." No news yet if his request was honored.

Actor Eric Roberts joined the campaign, too, tweeting of the closure and adding this personal safety tip, "Nothr tip frm CHP: The freeways aren't free if U pay with your life. Buckle Up!"

Access to 30 million followers with celebrity Twitter does have a downside, though. One of the Kardashians promptly complied with the LAPD's request, but got the information wrong -- twice.

Newly engaged sister Kim Kardashian jumped the gun, advising her 8 million followers of the wrong weekend. When notified of her mistake, she referred to the weekend before the planned closure, getting it wrong yet again. Kardashian proved the third time is indeed a charm, and her persistence in the getting the word out was appreciated by officials.

Finally, Lady Gaga is onboard to be a Twitter traffic cop, promising to tweet public service updates about the closure along with general updates and glamorous observations to her nearly 11.3 million followers.

"The whole idea is just to re-message the theme of avoiding the 405 area and that it's going to be a mess if people don't stay away," said LAPD spokesman, Lt. Andy Neiman. "Twitter is a way to reach that whole demographic that could be oblivious to the 405 closure for that weekend."

In addition to the social media campaign, officials are pointing citizens to smartphone apps for critical up-to-the-minute reports of detours, arterial street traffic and other observations.

Traffic app Waze, which provides real-time, turn-by-turn road reports in exchange for Waze community credits, is teaming up with local news station KABC just for this weekend to offer on-air updates for motorists.

"We'll be giving the real-time citizen perspective on all detours, not just the ones that the city provides," said Di-Ann Eisnor, vice president of platform and partnerships at Waze.

The freeway closure and bridge project is part of a $1 billion project to improve the city's roads, and will include free subway rides, additional buses and traffic engineers on stand-by to manage the ripple effect on nearby roads and intersections.

Monday morning commentary will reveal Los Angeles' success in managing the highway closure and construction work. But until then, officials stress spreading basic information widely, by any means possible.

"This doesn't need to be carmageddon," said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslovsky, who really, really stayed on message.

"The best alternative route is to totally avoid the 405 area, completely avoid it, don't come anywhere near it, don't even think about coming to it," said Yaroslovsky. "Stay the heck out of here."

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Motorola Photon 4G official for $199 on July 31st

If you have been waiting for a NVIDIA Tegra 2-toting Android handset for the Sprint network, your wait is coming to an end. Today Sprint officially announced the Motorola Photon 4G, which will arrive on store shelves on July 31st for $199 on a new two-year contract.

The Photon 4G features a 4.3 inch qHD display, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash on the back, VGA front-facing camera for video chat, 16GB of pre-installed memory that’s expandable to 32GB, kickstand, WiMAX, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS, with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and NVIDIA’s powerful dual-core Tegra 2 processor running the show. The Photon 4G will the first handset to sport the Tegra 2 processor in Sprint’s lineup, and now there’s an Android device with the powerful CPU on every major US carrier.

Much like the Atrix 4G on AT&T, the Photon will also have a wealth of accessories available for it, including the questionable laptop dock that Motorola likes to push on us. You’ll also find accessories like a HD docking system and car navigation dock, as well a handful of different cases for the handset.

The Photon will also ship with the not so loved Motoblur custom skin but you won’t hear Motorola speaking a word about it. The skin itself does actually offer some nice tweaks and features but it falls flat on its face when it comes to aesthetic appeal. Still, the sheer power of the handset is what’s appealing and if Motorola stays true to its word, the Photon will like have an unlockable bootloader (or will at some point) and a user can change the software running on the handset so they will no longer be in the shackles of MotoBlah.

If you’re not sold on the EVO 3D, the next best thing is about to become available by month’s end.

More than 1 out of 3 Apple iPhone owners think they have a 4G phone

It could be due to the "4" at the end of the phone's name, or it could be because the owner is just not knowledgeable about smartphones. Either way, a recent survey shows that 34% of Apple iPhone 4 owners think that their handset is a 4G enabled phone. Perhaps even more incredible is the 24% of BlackBerry users that think that their handset is running 4G speeds. Where these people get the idea that the 'Berry in their hand is pumping out data at a 4G rate is not easy to understand, especially with no "4" in the name of any of RIM's smartphones.

40% of current Apple iPhone owners would buy the next model, even if it didn't offer 4G connectivity

The survey, conducted by Retrevo, also found that even without 4G connectivity, 40% of Apple iPhone users would buy the next version of the iPhone even if it didn't offer 4G service, while 21% would consider buying it. 8% of Android users would switch to a 4G-disabled iPhone and 12% would consider it. 23% of BlackBerry users would swap their phone for a non-4G Apple touchscreen handset while 18% would give it a thought.

Despite what the carriers would have you think, many are reluctant to switch to 4G service. While 30% believe that 4G plans are too expensive, 22% think that the additional speed is not worth additional money. 19% are not informed enough to know. Part of the problem stems from the changed definition of what is considered 4G service. Last year, the definition of what constitutes 4G service was changed, which allowed AT&T and T-Mobile to call their HSPA+ service 4G after T-Mobile started the trend in its commercials. Most communications experts say that of the four top Stateside carriers, Verizon's LTE is the closest to being a true 4G network.

Apple files another complaint with the International Trade Commission against HTC

And the tug of war between Android and the rest of the mobile platforms continues, dear spectators! Apple has filed another complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), this time aiming to ban HTC products from being distributed in the US.

Last week, the same action was taken against Samsung, citing five patents Apple holds. HTC has its counter-claims suit against Apple, too, from back in May, which asks for banning Apple's products. Samsung, in its turn, also filed its own complaint with the ITC, withdrawing from the lawsuit in California. The reason to go to the ITC is that the commission's cases take months for a verdict, as opposed to years with other courts. 

Of course, these lawsuits are extremely unlikely to end with a ban, only some sort of settlement between the parties involved, but you never know which side of the bed will the judges wake up on the given morning. The mobile industry patents game is so red hot lately, that even the Feds are supposedly looking into the Nortel patent deal, where a consortium of six companies (Apple is one of them), that usually compete, won the bid paying five times what Google offered initially.

Back in April the ITC staff sided with HTC for the first complaint, which was filed by Apple in March, which likely means a defeat for the first case when the results come August 5th; that might be the reason Apple is filing another one now, since HTC might get some patent protection with its purchase of S3 last week. The ITC already backed Nokia against Apple, which had to settle, resulting in a nice chunk of cash for the Finns, plus recurring payments from each iPhone sold, but, of course, Nokia's patent portfolio is much stronger than HTC's.

Ballmer: Windows Phone sales went from very small to very small

Well, you can say a lot of things about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer but you can’t say the man doesn’t have a sense of humor. At a recent Microsoft partner event, Ballmer acknowledged that Windows Phone 7 hasn’t been the smash hit the company had been hoping for.

“Phones, we’ve gone from very small to very small, but it’s been a heck of a year. And you’re going to see a lot of progress in that market competitively as we move forward.”,” Ballmer said, according to DailyTech.

The recent smartphone data reports that the smartphone market is booming but Microsoft isn’t really riding that wave with Windows Phone. While the iPhone and Android are moving millions of units a day, Microsoft has roughly 5 percent of the U.S. smartphone market.

That percentage isn’t awful – webOS is in an even worse position – but it’s definitely not what Microsoft thought would happen when it introduced Windows Phone last Fall. I think the problem is that the software and hardware is just not quite as good as the competition yet but that should be changing as the next crop of Windows Phone will run the Mango update and feature higher hardware requirements. The Nokia deal should also help it get more handsets on the market.

Any Windows Phone fans out there? Are you regretting your decision now or glad that you chose Windows Phone 7?

Top 10 Android apps I can’t live without

In its short lifespan, the Android OS has gone from a tiny blip on the radar to the most used mobile operating system in the world. The OS itself is growing like wildfire and while iOS still holds the largest amount of applications in the mobile space, Android certainly isn’t in short supply. I’ve owned seven Android handsets since it debuted in late 2008 and have grown fond of many apps. While I love many more, the following ten Android apps are the ones I just can’t live without.

In no particular order…

1. ADW Launcher (EX)

ADW Launcher has been around for a while and it’s one of the best Android home replacement applications available today. You can make this launcher as simple or complex as you’d like and with the large amount of themes available for it today, you can have a new look to your home screen every day of the week.

ADW Launcher itself is free but there’s also a paid version (ADW Launcher EX). The EX version brings more customization options, so if you’re a fan of the free version it’s worth the money.

While many people may not bother with home replacement application, those who love the hardware of, say, the HTC Sensation, but would rather a stock look than HTC Sense and want a more stock Android look then ADW Launcher would be a great alternative. And since ince it’s open source, it’s the default launcher on the popular custom ROM CyanogenMod.

There are many, many different home replacement applications but ADW is at the top of my list.

2. Colorize Widget

Colorize Widget is a simple application that’s  best paired with a home replacement application, like ADW Launcher. In fact, a home replacement is required. It’s simple in function but provides a feature you simply won’t find on stock Android: scrollable widgets.

The application offers up many widgets, including GReader, Twitter, Facebook, Calendar, Contacts, Messages, and more. I rely on widgets heavily in my homescreen setup and some applications include a scrollable widget but may not be all that nice. Colorize Widget fills that gap with style.

The app is free but a paid version is available on the developer’s site. If you’re one who craves the look of stock Android but admires HTC Sense’s scrollable widget, Colorize Widget will help you have the both of best worlds.

3. Mobile Buzz Widget (Taptu/Pulse)

Mobile Buzz Widget is a simple news aggregator that may not be the prettiest out there but I’ve always come back to it. The developer (mippin.com) has many other widgets for different subjects but since we’re sort of Into Mobile this is the widget I used daily.

The widget itself could really benefit from a cosmetic update but the simplicity of it is what makes me love it. It’s a 4 x 1 widget that shows you the latest news from the category you’ve selected, a direct-share button to the left, and settings on the right. You can choose how often the stories refresh within the settings and change the sub-category. That’s it and we’re ok with that.

When you tap the story a small windows will pop up, displaying the story, a link to the original post, and 19 more stories that you can access by just swiping.

There are other, similar applications available that both look better and are much more functional. Taptu and Pulse come to mind, and while I enjoy both, Mobile Buzz Widget is the one for me.

4. SoundHound

When you ask average Joe about music discovery applications, SoundHound likely won’t be the first thing that comes out of their mouths. That one goes to Shazam. If you ask a geek or someone in the mobile industry, most will say they prefer SoundHound. Most of the IntoMobile team does, and I’ve asked handfuls of others.

So why is SoundHound my top pick? Well, it offers up just about everything you’ll get from Pandora and more, without having a cluttered UI. One of the standout features SoundHound offers is the fact that you can hum a song into the microphone and have the song identified. Even better, it works pretty darn well.  As gimmicky as it sounds, how many times have you had a song in your head that you don’t know the words to and only know the tune? Exactly.

Of course, you won’t be able to use SoundHound on TV ads like Shazam, but I’d take the humming feature any day since it has a real use case that you’ll likely find yourself in one day. Either way, both SoundHound and Shazam are great music discovery apps and it’s really up to personal preference. This is mine.

5. Plume

There are countless Twitter clients available in the Android Market and I ended up usingPlume simply because it included a scrollable widget. Now I don’t think I’ll ever use another Twitter app ever, as Plume is easy to use and included intuitive features that many will like.

With the exception of the nice scrollable widget Plume comes with, my favorite feature is how you actually go about composing a tweet. Plume mimics Android’s notification panel, and you simply drag down the panel from any screen to compose a tweet.

There are many other features that Plume just does right but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. That said, most of my wishes for Plume have nothing to do with its functionality. As far as aesthetic customizations go, Plume only offers up three themes, normal, light, and dark. Twidroyd on the other hand has about ten different themes you can choose from and look great. Still, that’s just another personal preference I’d like to see but Plume will likely always remain my go-to Twitter client.

6. HBO Go

While not everyone will be able to use this application, HBO Go is definitely one of my favorite apps around for killing time. I honestly never thought I’d use HBO Go all that much but I’ve found myself catching up on an episode of Game of Thrones when I’d usually waste time playing Angry Birds or Cut the Rope.

Unfortunately, HBO Go isn’t supported on all devices right now but there’s a tweak in the browser you can do to get it running using Flash.

As long as you have a HBO Subscription and a compatible handset, you’re good to go and can watch most of anything the premium channel offers.

If you don’t have HBO, you can always just use Netflix.

7. Amazon Appstore

There’s only one reason I have the Amazon Appstore installed on my phone. Of course, it’s because everyday there’s a paid app available for free. That, and Amazon does have some exclusives you won’t find on the Android Market immediately.

Amazon’s strategy has certainly received the attention of users and while I have my doubts that most people will choose it over the Android Market, having both on your phone is definitely a nice match.

Even if you have no intention of really searching for apps within Amazon’s Appstore, it’s worth to have, as one day the application you couldn’t justify spending $5 on may be free.

8. Slacker

Slacker is the SoundHound of online radio apps. Pandora rules the roost, but those who do their research can see the benefits of Slacker. Most of these benefits aren’t apparent unless you use Slacker Plus, the subscription service but it’s nonetheless worth every penny.

The best feature that Slacker’s subscription service offers up is the option to cache radio stations to your phone. This makes the station itself available when you don’t have a data connection, or a finicky one.

Internet radio is now best for finding new music you may not have heard before, as services like Amazon’s Cloud Player and Google Music allow you to take your music with you and stream directly to your phone, and the latter allows you to directly download specific songs your handset.

If you’re looking for an awesome internet radio app, look no further than Slacker Radio. Wen recently reviewed Slacker and you can check it out here to see what the fuss is all about.

9. Google Maps

Does this one even need to be explained? Google Maps for Android is simply the best option available on a mobile device today and is updated frequently with new features.

From 3D maps to viewing maps offline, Android’s official Maps application remains unrivaled from any mobile offering today and it will likely stay that way for some time going forward.

Google Maps for Android has become more and more like the online version you’ll find on a computer and things like Labs is just another cool feature that extends Google’s offering over the competition.

10. Google Music

So you’re not looking to listen to internet radio but would rather rock out to some of your own tunes, eh? Well, Google Music will let you do that without filling up your memory card. While still an invite-only service at the moment, Google Music is an cloud-based music storage locker that allows you to upload your music to cloud and listen to it when you’re on the go.

The service is currently free while the beta tags remains but we could imagine big G will price the service competitively once it more widely available.

One of our favorite features of Google Music is that you can download track directly to your handset if you want access to it at all times, no matter what kind of data connection you’re working with. Another solid feature is that you can access your music from any computer, given it has an internet connection.

While Google Music isn’t necessarily novel, it’s definitely a great option that’s natively integrated into Android’s new, sexy music application and it will remain a favorite for a long time.