Verizon 4G LTE speeds reaching more of the East Coast next week
Verizon 4G LTE speeds reaching more of the East Coast next week, ,
Cory Gunther
Who lives on the East Coast and wants some Verizon 4G LTE speeds? Today we have some potentially great news because Verizon is at it yet again announcing a whole new slew of markets set to get their enhanced and ultra fast 4G LTE network speeds. Below is a quite large list of multiple cities and beach communities throughout the East Coast that are all set to receive the green light.
According to Verizon they’ll be lighting up tons of additional 4G LTE markets come May 17th. Many of these will be expansions but most will be completely new to the greatness that is 4G LTE on mobile. Once again, Verizon is showing no signs of slowing down and are expanding faster than any other carrier at the moment. Here’s the list of updates:
– 30 “communities” in Vermont
– Jersey Shore and surrounding areas
– Lancaster, Pennsylvania
– York, Pennsylvania
– Cape Cod
– Long Island
– Delaware beach communities
– Outer Banks, North Carolina
– Ocean City, Maryland
– Virginia Beach
Would you look at that? It looks like Jersey Shore will also be getting the much needed upgrade to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Now all those Pauly D fans can Google the nearest tanning salon with lightning fast results — Go Verizon! On a more serious note this is good news for everyone on the East Coast. Now you’ll have faster network and data speeds just in time for summer.
[via Droid-Life]
Google chose Samsung for the next Nexus phone, HTC finds consolation in Facebook’s arms
Google chose Samsung for the next Nexus phone, HTC finds consolation in Facebook’s arms, ,
Bams Sadewo
There’s a tradition in Google’s household to select one manufacturer to produce the Nexus smartphone every year or so. HTC was chosen to produce the first Google flagship smartphone, and the result was the Nexus One, released in January 2010. Samsung’s rise to the top made Google hand out the next two golden tickets to the South Korean company. Thus, we saw the birth of the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus.
The fourth Google Nexus phone is still hotly contested, but it appears that HTC is out of the game. According to Digitimes, it’s all but certain that HTC won’t be making the Google Nexus smartphone this year, with Google reportedly keen on continuing the collaboration with Samsung. The sources also said that Samsung’s ability to control the supply of key components was one of the deciding factors.
In response to Google’s apparent shunning, the same industry sources said that HTC is now in talks with Facebook to create a “Facebook phone”. More than just offering a shortcut button that launches an app, the new HTC and Facebook Android phone (to come in Q3 2012 at the earliest) will integrate all the functions that have turned the social networking website into a worldwide phenomenon.
Digitimes says that the Android phone will run on a platform that is “exclusive to Facebook”. This may indicate that Facebook will try to fork out its own deeply customized version of Android, just like Amazon did with the Kindle Fire. We did hear a few days ago about major companies working to fork Android…
Apparently, the new Facebook phone will fit in perfectly with the social networking company’s overall development strategy. With the impending initial public offering of Facebook happening in May, expected to be the largest Internet IPO ever, Digitimes’ sources said that Facebook is keen on expanding its investments and revenue sources.
This bodes well for HTC, which may have just found a worthy ally in Facebook. We’re banking on HTC to take the next Facebook phone many notches up over the HTC ChaCha. What do you think? Do Facebook and HTC stand a chance to succeed with a Facebook phone?
NEXT: Google Nexus Prime to Come Out of Samsung’s Phone Mill in October
Google Nexus One becomes new Android developer phone Google phone to be called the Nexus One, arriving next year
This article, Google chose Samsung for the next Nexus phone, HTC finds consolation in Facebook’s arms , was originally published at androidtime.com – Your Android News Source.
ICS for the Droid RAZR/MAXX and HTC Rezound coming next week, says Best Buy memo
We don't want anyone to get too excited and set themselves up for a heartbreak just yet, but a leaked document from Best Buy pins the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX for April 4, and the HTC Rezound on April 6. Anyone with a HTC Thunderbolt can tell you more about dates provided from Best Buy, and Motorola still hasn't given any type of ballpark date for the update for the RAZR and RAZR MAXX, which are still listed as being in the "evaluation and planning" stage. We've seen ICS leaks for both devices (the RAZR and RAZR MAXX run the same software) but nothing official from anyone involved. Both phones were to have ICS "soon" after release, but so far we're still waiting.
We want it to be true. We hope it's true. We're just naturally skeptical, especially when a third party like Best Buy is involved. We're sure nobody is trying to troll the Internets, but anyone who has worked in a corporate environment knows how things get fouled up. Here's hoping, and we'll know next week!
Source: Android Police
 |
 |
Android Central – Android Forums, News, Reviews, Help and Android Wallpapers
The next Megaupload? Danish court orders ISP to block Grooveshark
Grooveshark has a lot in common with Megaupload. Though one was a file sharing and cloud storage site, and the other is a music streaming service, both are prime targets of Hollywood and the recording industry. Grooveshark claims that it’s protected under the DMCA safe harbor, but so did Megaupload. Are we seeing early signs that Grooveshark will be going the way of Megaupload?
Today a Danish court ruled in favor of a congolomorate of entertainment companies, which was trying to force an ISP to block Grooveshark. The junction was granted, and Danish telecom company ’3′ is now legally obligated to block its customers from accessing the streaming service.
The issue was pressed by RettighedsAlliancen: an alliance of entertainment companies, which supposedly picked ’3′ “randomly” to set a precedent. The group is hoping, now that ’3′ has been forced by courts to oblige, that other Danish ISPs will follow suit and voluntarily block Grooveshark. RettighedsAlliancen is made up of Danish copyright companies, and there is no documented connection to the US recording industry (though we don’t imagine they would object to the group’s actions).
Should Grooveshark users in the US, UK, and elsewhere be concerned? Grooveshark is being sued by all of the major US record labels — including EMI, the only one that it has a deal with — so the service is in the recording industry’s crosshairs. Denmark does, however, have different laws from the US. This kind of action would have been par-for-the-course if SOPA/PIPA had passed, but they are temporarily shelved.
Grooveshark has survived this long by skirting around the DMCA safe harbor. It says that a website or service can avoid legal trouble if it complies with takedown requests of user-uploaded copyrighted content in a timely manner. This is the same loophole that YouTube has used successfully, and that analogy has been made often by Grooveshark.
Barring a SOPA reprisal, Grooveshark may be in the clear for a while. Megaupload got taken down because the Feds supposedly have evidence that the site’s employees were intentionally allowing copyrighted content, and uploading some of it themselves. Grooveshark — and other similar companies — will probably be smart about covering any tracks after the Megaupload takedown.
With that said, we wouldn’t advise Grooveshark customers to pay for a full year of service in advance. Month-to-month plans may be the smarter bet — just in case.
via Torrent Freak
Geek.com
Fujitsu preparing smartphones and tablets for Europe, U.S. up next?
Find yourself yawning at a never-ending sea of silver or black smartphones? Wish you could pick up a handset that offered a CMOS sensor that competes with a digital point-and-shoot? You’re in luck, as Fujitsu is getting ready to peddle its mobile phone wares outside of Japan.
They’ll be on hand at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, where a range of Fujitsu phones and tablets will be on display. Unlike a growing list of competitors that includes Acer, Panasonic, and HTC, Fujitsu’s managed to keep its line-up under wraps so far. You can count on what’s revealed being thin and eye-catching — like the 6.7mm Arrows ES. Another safe bet is that Fujitsu will continue to push integration with Toshiba’s Regza Smart TVs, and you may also see models arriving with biometric sensors — a feature common on their high-end Japanese offerings.
On the tablet front, Fujitsu will likely show the Stylistic M532 and its powerful Tegra 3 quad-core processor. They might need to tweak the design slightly for the European market, what with the striking similarity it bears to the once-banned Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple won’t be turning a blind eye to Fujitsu just because they’re the new kid on the block.
It’s also likely that Fujitsu’s European offerings won’t be limited to Android. They were, after all, the first manufacturer to launch a Windows Phone Mango device — the sleek IS12T. Even if Fujitsu launched the phone with the same 32GB of internal storage and a 13.2MP camera Japan got, it would still stand out against the current crop of Windows Phone contenders.
Whatever the specifics, Fujitsu is saying that its Western push will be limited to top-shelf hardware. They’re planning to compete head-on with Samsung and Apple, but they’re not going to do it by throwing a bunch of mid-range or low-end phones at the wall and seeing what sticks. Once they’re set up in Europe, Fujitsu will continue on to the U.S. — where they hope to be selling phones within the next year.
More at Gizmodo UK
Geek.com
Mountain Lion and Windows 8 will kick off the next great Microsoft-Apple battle
Apple and Microsoft have a rivalry that is the stuff of legend. In recent years, though, each company has come to dominate separate arenas. Microsoft still owns the desktop PC market, while Apple has the most popular smartphone and is the undisputed ruler of the tablet.
So the Apple/Microsoft rivalry has fizzled a bit. Apple even stopped running its Get a Mac (“I’m a Mac,” “I’m a PC”) ad campaign a couple years ago. Each company now has its bread and butter, and those niches aren’t necessarily in direct conflict with each other.
But that is about to change. Both companies envision the desktop and mobile spaces converging. Naturally, their views of how this will happen coincide with their respective strengths. Microsoft, the desktop market leader, wants Windows to seep into mobile. Apple, makers of the iconic iPhone and iPad, naturally wants its mobile ecosystem to bleed into the desktop.
So the stage is set for the next great Apple/Microsoft showdown. This year we will see the increasingly similar Windows 8 and Windows Phone do battle with the converging OS X Mountain Lion and iOS. It will be a battle of opposing halo strategies.
Round one
Microsoft has already previewed its first line of attack: Windows 8. The operating system will run on both desktop PCs and tablets. The tablet UI, in turn, will look nearly identical to its smartphones. It’s a bold strategy that begins the unification process and will signify the biggest fundamental shift for Windows since Windows 95.
OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), meanwhile, will continue the transformation that began with last year’s Lion. iOS features like Notifications, AirPlay, Messages, Reminders, and Game Center will all show up in OS X. iCloud will be the glue that holds it all together. The cloud service will let Apple retailers pitch long-time Windows users on the ease of having their iPhones and iPads sync effortlessly with this shiny new iMac or MacBook Air.
Opposing strengths
On the desktop end, Microsoft has a huge advantage: price. No matter how popular Macs become, they are still much more expensive than your average Windows computer. Until Macs are routinely sold for $ 500 or less (not likely), Microsoft is going to retain a large share of the desktop market. Many customers don’t want anything fancy, they just want something that gets the job done and doesn’t break the bank. That is most often a Windows computer.
Apple, on the other hand, has customers’ imaginations on its side. Apple product announcements have become pop culture landmarks. The company’s iconic products have bred a collective passion for its devices that Microsoft can’t come close to rivaling. The iPhone and iPad have grown to exemplify the 21st century merging of technology and lifestyle. Apple wants to take that momentum, and carry it into other areas — including Macs.
The gateway drug
Apple has another distinct advantage: the desktop and the smartphone are at the extremes of this “one OS to rule them all” shift, but more crucial is the middle ground. It will be the gateway drug that leads customers from one end to the other. This middle ground is, at present moment, utterly dominated by Apple. The middle ground is the iPad.
Microsoft knows this, and is scrambling to turn the tables before it’s too late. It’s hoping that Windows 8 will play the Pied Piper, ushering legions of desktop users towards Windows tablets and smartphones.
But Redmond will have its hands full. The only tablet that has gained any traction — that isn’t an iPad — is the Kindle Fire (which doesn’t necessarily compete with it directly). Amazon accomplished that by undercutting the iPad at a lower price point. Windows 8 tablets, however, won’t be $ 200 color readers. Instead, they’ll take the same route that countless Android tablets have: going head-to-head with the iPad on the high end. None of those tablets have gained any significant market share.
Microsoft’s ideal future
In Microsoft’s ideal future, consumers will eat up Windows 8 on the desktop, and fall in love with the Metro UI of Windows 8 tablets. Even if the iPad is still the top-selling tablet, the goal is for Windows 8 tablets to take away from that invincible iPad mystique, and give customers the perception that there are lots of worthy tablets. If Microsoft can do that, then it will have some solid footing and can use the volume and variety that come from a licensed platform to eventually lead the market.
This will be done alongside a heavy Windows Phone marketing push. Though Windows 8 and Windows Phone are still separate platforms, the Metro will unite them in customers’ eyes. The success that Windows finds in tablets (the gateway drug) will naturally lead customers towards Windows Phones.
Microsoft will perform an epic comeback, using its stronghold in the desktop market to make up for lost ground in mobile.
Apple’s ideal future
In Apple’s ideal future, everything hinges on the iPad continuing to dominate. As the tablet market eventually outgrows the PC market, Apple will lead the way. This is an end in itself, but the company will also build on its share of the shrinking PC market. Customers will dismiss Ultrabooks as pretenders, and the iPad will serve as a halo device that leads former Windows users towards, first, the MacBook Air, then the MacBook Pro and the iMac.
In this future, Microsoft will continue to fall behind. It will find its niche, but its days of domination are over. The PC market will shrink, and Windows’ share of it will dissipate as well. Its tablet and smartphone attempts will be too little, too late. RIP to the Gates-era Microsoft of old.
Will we have a winner?
Of course this won’t be a winner-take-all battle. Even if Microsoft’s tablets and smartphones flop, Windows isn’t likely to lose its leading position within the next five years. Likewise, even if Microsoft’s desktop halo strategy does give its mobile devices a boost, Apple isn’t going anywhere.
This battle isn’t going to be decided overnight. Two years from now, the desktop, tablet, and smartphone markets probably won’t look much different. Ten years from now, though, we could see a changed landscape — possibly even a radically changed one.
No matter how this saga plays out, it’s guaranteed to rekindle a classic rivalry, and will be loads of fun to watch. Throw Google into the mix, and we have a geek’s steel cage match for the ages.
Geek.com
