Tech News Today 318

Tech News Today Episode 318

Tech News Today 318: Amazon To Release Uni-Kindle In October

DOJ blocking ATT/T-Mobile merger, Gmail goes offline, Sony products from IFA, and more.

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Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@sarahlane)
  • SarahLane.com
• Iyaz Akhtar
  • thisoldnerd.finitecomedy.com
• Jason Howell (@raygun01)
  • JasonHowell.net

Top Stories

• Department of Justice files to block AT&T / T-Mobile merger

• T-Mobile USA CEO’s internal memo seeks to rally the troops in light of endangered AT&T deal

• US fires proton torpedos at AT&T Death Star to blow up T-Mobile merger

• AT&T Promises Approval of T-Mobile Deal Will Bring Jobs to the U.S.

• Text of DOJ statement regarding AT&T/T-Mobile

• AT&T Responds To DoJ: The Facts Will Prevail In Court
  • The United States Department of Justice has filed an antitrust complaint seeking to block the AT&T / T-Mobile merger
  • Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, “the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services.”
  • T-Mobile’s low prices and innovative products have been a “disruptive force” in the industry by being the first to offer BlackBerry devices, the Sidekick, Android devices, unlimited service plans, and nationwide Wi-Fi.
  • “AT&T could obtain substantially the same network enhancements that it claims will come from the transaction if it simply invested in its own network without eliminating a close competitor.”
  • AT&T General Counsel Wayne Watts says AT&T intends to file for an expedited hearing and “vigorously contest this matter in court”
  • agreed to pay T-Mobile a massive $6b fee in cash and spectrum if the merger doesn’t go through."
  • AT&T said on Wednesday that it will bring back to the U.S. some 5,000 call center jobs if the deal is allowed to proceed.
  • The carrier also said it will promise that no U.S. call center jobs will be lost when the deal closes.
  • ATT says the burden rests on the DOJ to prove any anti-competitive impact."

• Google announces offline Gmail, Calendar, and Docs - uses HTML5
• Google restores offline abilities for Gmail, Docs
  • Offline Google Mail offline is due to hit today, while Google Calendar and Google Docs will see a rolling release starting today and continuing over the next week or so. Available as Apps from the Chrome Store
  • Offline Gmail lets people read and write messages (including with address autocompletion), respond to others' messages, apply labels and stars, and archive messages, said Alex Gawley,
  • People will be able only to read word processing documents and spreadsheets. -- For offline calendars, people can read them offline and respond to RSVPs, but not create new calendar entries.
  • Years ago, the company had enabled offline access to the applications using in-house technology called Gears. This time it's trying a different route that uses a variety of Web standards--some descended from Gears--but some proprietary elements of Chrome, at least for now.
  • Among the standards in use are IndexedDB, which is used to run the database that stores the data, and HTML5's App Cache, which lets the Web app run from a computing device, not just from the Web itself.

• Microsoft's Windows chief reiterates Windows desktop not going away
• Designing for Metro style and the desktop
  • Windows President Steven Sinofsky attempted to quell some of the unrest by reiterating Microsoft’s plans for the coming Windows 8 user interface
  • Users will have a choice to use Metro or desktop
  • Some of the FUD is based on the introduction of the ribbon into Windows Explorer.

Discussion Stories

• Cavalcade of Sony product announcements at IFA
• Sony Ericsson announces Xperia arc S at IFA, coming in October
• Sony Tablet P now the official name of the S2; hitting the US later this year but only with 3G
• Sony Tablet S hits shelves this September for $500
• Sony Reader Wi-Fi available in October for $149 with wireless library borrowing
• Sony debuts Android-based Walkman prototype
• Sony 3D Wearable HDTV: price, release date and hands-on preview
• PlayStation 3D Display launches in November, Resistance 3 becomes pre-order bonus
  • Sony Tablet P official - Europe in November, US by end of year, no WiFi in US
  • Sony Tablet S - 16GB: $499.99 32GB: $599.99. pre-order today, ships middle of next month.
  • Sony Reader Wi-Fi, aka the PRS-T1 available in October for $149
  • Sony Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player: uses Android, emphasis on audio quality
  • Sony Wearable HDTV (HMZ-T1) $799 pair of OLED screens simulate a 150-inch 720p HDTV; Virtual 5.1 surround
  • 24-inch, 240Hz PlayStation 3D Display: $499 bundled with MotorStorm Apocalypse, coming in November and pre-order bonus of Resistance 3 if you place the order by September 30th.
  • 4.2-inch Sony Xperia Arc S phone was the one of the bigger announcements at the event, sporting a 1.4GHz processor, an 8.1 megapixel camera, a Reality Display and the ability to convert 2D images into 3Dll be available in five colors globally this October.

• Financial Times' pulls iOS apps, directs users to new Web app
• Most FT Readers Have Already Ditched iOS App, But It Can Still Make Money
  • "We removed the app after amicable discussions with Apple,” FT spokesperson Tom Glover told All Things D. "iTunes will remain an important channel for new and existing advertising-based apps."
  • “The app is no longer in the Store, but existing users can continue as before.”
  • Financial Times spokesperson told PaidContent “The number of web app users has overtaken users on our native Apple iOS apps combined, and it’s now delivering the largest share of subscriptions from our mobile channels.”

• Twitter Ramps Up Its Ad Plan Again, With Ads You Haven’t Asked To See
  • Peter Kafka reports Twitter will extend its ad program to place ads in front of users who were already following their brands’ Twitter accounts. The extensions will let advertisers place ads in front of Twitter users who are similar to the ones following their twitter accounts.

News Fuse

• An HTC phone just got FCC approval. Why should you care? It's listed as a Windows Phone with a WiFi hotspot. That moist likely means it runs Mango. Engadget suspects it could be the HTC Eternity. Sdly for us, it probably won't be a US phone.

• New rumors surrounding the mythical unicorn that is Amazon's 10.1 inch tablet... Mass production reportedly will be conducted in the first quarter of 2012 with Foxconn handling the orders, according to sources from upstream component suppliers. Amazon's 7-inch tablet PC, which is supplied by Quanta Computer, is expected to start shipping in October. Remember that FoxConn already manufactures the Kindle.

• HP is running ads promoting how awesome HP is in newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle. In a very text-heavy ad - the only graphic is the HP logo itself - HP tries to spin the spin-off news saying "Our preferred course is to spin off our PC business into a separate company. ... Now, more than ever, we are committed to the future of personal computing." Methinks they protest too much.

• Want to send all your data over VPN easily? First step, don't be in Pakistan. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority told the country's ISPs that VPN traffic must be blocked since it cannot be monitored. If people within Pakistan try to use VPN traffic, ISPs must inform the authorities. VPN access will not be subject to a complete ban, but a person would need special permission from the government.

• Time for accusations! Oracle says that HP hid its plans to hire Leo Apotheker as CEO and Ray Lane (no relation to Sarah Lane) as chairman when the two companies were working on bringing Mark Hurd to Oracle. Oracle is asking the court to rescind a settlement agreement it had regarding Mark Hurd and also wants a court order stopping HP from making false and misleading statements about Oracle’s business.

• Kodak CEO Antonio Perez says the company has had some looky-loos for its patents. Buyers like Microsoft, Samsung, Google, and Apple could pay up to $3 billion for Kodak's 1100 patents. Meanwhile Openwave opened a new front in the patent wars suing Apple and RIM at the ITC (where patent suits start). Openwave claims violation of five patents that cover mobile concepts like data exchange.

• Openwave Joins The Mobile Patent Parade To The ITC, Sues Apple And RIM

• Samsung has already said it doesn't want HP's PC biz and just introduced a couple of new laptops of its own. The Samsung Series 7 comprised of two laptops. There's a 14 and a 15.6-inch model with Intel Core i5 or i7s processors, AMD graphics, aluminum finishes, and they start at under $1000. Also in Series 7: A Slate PC. The device uses a Wacom-digitizer, has a dual core processor, 11.6-inches and runs Windows 7.
• Samsung Series 7 Slate PC: a Wacom-enabled, dual-core tablet… with Windows 7 (hands-on)

• A district court ruled that Absolute Software, a company that makes laptop recovery software, can be sued after it intercepted sexually explicit images of a laptop user. Absolute claimed that the pictures were taken in an effort to find the laptop, however the court said that finding the laptop using those particular images may have violated the plaintiff's privacy and federal wiretapping laws. The laptop user, an Ohio teacher, says she bought the laptop from a student.

• Fixing an iPhone may no longer require a trip to the Apple Store. According to a report by HardMac, Apple is working on a web-based diagnostic tool that would allow AppleCare techs to remotely troubleshoot devices. A user would have simply have to navigate to a website, click a link and that would start data transmission to the mothership. What other information will be reported is not completely known yet.

Randomizer

• Support brings network-less mobiles closer to reality

Calendar

• Toshiba Thrive to land in UK September 1st, now known as the AT100
• Tomorrow, Netflix's new plans go into effect tomorrow for existing subscribers - that's $7.99 for either the Instant plan, $7.99 for the DVD plan, or $15.98 for both. - you have until your billing date to change your plan.
• For those of you who bought the Nintendo 3DS before its price drop, you're eligible for the ambassador program and get 10 free NES virtual console games starting on september 1st, including Yoshi, Super Mario Bros, and The Legend of Zelda, to name a few classics.
• HTC's "puccini" tablet has officially been renamed the Jetstream. 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet with HSPA+ and LTE connectivity... is coming to AT&T September 4th for $699.99
• On September 9th - Sprint will raise its early termination fee to $350, which is pro-ratable as the months on your contract tick away. Sprint's old ETF was $200.
• CNBC's reporting that Facebook's set to launch its much whispered about music service on September 22 at F8..- Mashable says FB will partner with Mog, Rdio, & Spotify at launch
  • facebook-music-platform

Email

"Hi TNT Crew,

Just a heads-up. August 31st is the last day for free CES 2012 registration (September 30 for international guests). After that it's $100 and $200 at the door. Is the TWIT crew going?

A faithful viewer and brick-buyer,

Dan Van Hoy Hong Kong (an American expat)"

"You guys mentioned the touchpad as the 2nd best selling tablet. This is false. The Asus Transformer has been selling 400-500k units per month since June and those are concrete numbers. The Fast Company article is completely speculative and claims that the touchpad is the only other tablet to reach 500k sales, which is completely false.

-Blockman"

To be specific - the transformer has shipped 400k units in April and May, 300k units in June, >400k units in July. These numbers are not only shipped in channels because there are numerous reports of transformers selling out and that Asus is the only other company that cannot keep up with demand

• http://www.cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_36579.html
• http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110714PD216.html

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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