247droid

Sunday, October 7, 2012

AT&T to Cut Return Policy From 30 Days to 14 Days

AT&T is moving to a 14-day equipment return and service cancellation policy effective tomorrow, reveals an internal memo obtained by Engadget.

Policy/Process Beginning
October 7, 2012:
● Consumer customers who made a purchase before October 7 2012, fall under the previous 30-day policy.
● A conusmer customer can terminate service within the new 14-day Buyer's Remose (BRE) period without paying the early termination fee. After the 14th day, the early termination fee applies.
● The activation fee is refunded if the cancellation occurs within three days of activation.
● Defective and/or DOA equipment also movies to a 14-day BRE period for exchange ore replacement.
● Equipment returns/exchanges are accepted according to the National Retailer's policy.

Take a look at the full memo below...

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- Posted using my iPhone 5

Friday, October 5, 2012

Apple Maps Caches a Large Area For Offline Browsing

Apple's new Maps application has an additional besides less data consumption, it also caches a much larger area for offline browsing, reports AppleInsider.

With Google Maps in iOS 5 you could only browse about a 10 mile radius when offline; however, the more data efficient vector maps in iOS 6 means you can view a far larger area when offline.

Apple's new vector maps, once loaded in San Francisco, allowed us to browse an entire continent of high level maps (state outlines) while offline, north from Anchorage, Alaska to Lima, Peru and from Honolulu, Hawaii to Montréal, Canada.

At a highway level detail, we could actually navigate most of California, and on a simplified level, the western half of the United States. There were detailed street-level maps available of areas we'd never even looked at while online, as far away as Salt Lake City, Utah (about 740 miles or 1200 km east). Thanks to vectors, you can even view these offline maps in 3D perspective.

Notably, Google Maps for Android does use vector graphics but the site found automatic offline caching is quite poor. Only 49 sq mi of San Francisco showed up after losing connectivity.

"Major highway routes degraded to a blocky mess within ten miles of our loaded location, and even city names disappeared after 40 miles (64 km). Highway 101 vanished into dead ends just 70 miles outside of San Francisco."

However, Google Maps for Android does let you manually save an area of about a 50 mile radius for offline viewing.

It's thought that if or when Google Maps comes back to iOS as a native application, its features will be similar to the Android version.

Consumer Reports Says 'Apple iPhone 5 is a Winner'

Consumer Reports says its completed its tests on the iPhone 5 and found the smartphone to be a 'winner'.

A larger, 4-inch display; a thinner and lighter profile; 4G LTE access; and a host of innovative features all helped the iPhone 5 move up in the ranks, surpassing not only the previous iPhone 4S but also a number of other new Android-based smart phones.

The iPhone 5 also improved on areas that the iPhone 4S did well, boosting the range of functions controlled by its Siri voice assistant, and making the already top-notch iPhone camera even better.

Notably, the report downplays criticism of the Maps application on iOS 6, saying that they expect any shortcomings to improve over time.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Microsoft to Launch Surface Tablet on October 26th at Midnight

Microsoft has announced a Windows 8 introduction and Surface reception on October 25th, reports The Verge.

Alongside a Windows 8 introduction, the software giant will launch its highly anticipated tablet at midnight on October 26th -- according to a company spokesperson. Some of Microsoft's holiday pop-up stores will open for the Surface launch at midnight, with other Microsoft Stores selling the tablet on October 26th.

Pricing for the tablet hasn't been confirmed yet.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

T-Mobile USA to Combine With MetroPCS Video

Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS Communications, Inc. today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine T-Mobile USA ('T-Mobile') and MetroPCS.

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This transaction will create the leading value carrier in the U.S. wireless marketplace, which will deliver an enhanced customer experience through a wider selection of affordable products and services, deeper network coverage and a clear-cut technology path to one common LTE network. The combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name, will have the expanded scale, spectrum and financial resources to aggressively compete with the other national U.S. wireless carriers.

Deutsche Telekom's supervisory board and MetroPCS' board of directors unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction is structured as a recapitalization, in which MetroPCS will declare a 1 for 2 reverse stock split, make a cash payment of $1.5 billion to its shareholders (approximately $4.09 per share prior to the reverse stock split) and acquire all of T-Mobile's capital stock by issuing to Deutsche Telekom 74% of MetroPCS' common stock on a pro forma basis. Deutsche Telekom has also agreed to roll its existing intercompany debt into new $15 billion senior unsecured notes of the combined company, provide the combined company with a $500 million unsecured revolving credit facility and provide a $5.5 billion backstop commitment for certain MetroPCS third-party financing transactions.

The combined company will be a stronger competitor and will be well-positioned to drive future growth. Based on analyst consensus estimates for 2012, the combined company is expected to have approximately 42.5 million subscribers, $24.8 billion of revenue, $6.3 billion of adjusted EBITDA, $4.2 billion of capital expenditures and $2.1 billion of free cash flow (defined as EBITDA less capital expenditures) in 2012.
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"We are extremely pleased to announce this transaction with MetroPCS, which enhances Deutsche Telekom's position in the expanding U.S. wireless market," said René Obermann, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Telekom. "The T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands are a great strategic fit – both operationally and culturally. The new company will be the value leader in wireless with the scale, spectrum and financial and other resources to expand its geographic coverage, broaden choice among all types of customers and continue to innovate, especially around the next-generation LTE network. We are committed to creating a sustainable and financially viable national challenger in the U.S., and we believe this combination helps us deliver on that commitment."

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- Posted using my iPhone 5

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Preliminary Injunction on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Lifted

Judge Lucy Koh has lifted a preliminary injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, reports The Verge.

Following a jury verdict that found Samsung did not infringe on Apple patents with its Galaxy Tab 10.1, the company has tried to have a ban on the device lifted. The ban was originally put in place by Judge Koh and was upheld by the appeals court.

Judge Koh stated in a September filing that she would dissolve the injunction if allowed -- but since Samsung had already appealed the preliminary injunction the matter was out of her jurisdiction. This past Friday the Federal US Circuit Court of Appeals kicked the case back down to Koh, opening the door to today's decision. Koh also stated that the court will be holding on to the $2.6 million bond Apple posted for the injunction until all post-trial matters are wrapped up.

The full order can be read at this link...

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- Posted using my iPhone 4

Monday, October 1, 2012

Shimi is your own personal robot DJ

This is one of our favorite Kickstarter projects seeking funding. An amazing speaker dock with personality!

First of all, Shimi is a high-quality speaker dock. And because we love music as much as you do, we packed Shimi (rhymes with "Jimmy") with high quality 6 Watt speakers and optimized his shape for best sound quality. But that’s just the beginning. Shimi doesn’t just play music, but actually uses your iPhone as his brain to become your own personal robotic musical companion. Not only does Shimi love to move to the music, but he knows and understands what moves you.

Shimi can dance

Shimi has five motors strategically placed, and will dance to the beat of any song using a rich variety of dance moves that fit the specific song and genre. We packed years of our research in expressive robotic movement into an app that makes Shimi groove like nobody’s business.

Shimi can follow you

Using face recognition software, Shimi will always know where you are in the room and point the speakers to you. No matter where you are, Shimi will always deliver the best stereo sound to you.

Shimi can listen

Shimi uses natural language processing to understand and respond to your musical (and other) requests. Shim also uses sophisticated music intelligence algorithms to understand and respond to your rythmic taps and claps and select music with the same rhythm and tempo.

Shimi is more than just what we can imagine

We will keep developing new applications for Shimi. We are already working on applications that will allow Shimi to respond to your facial expression, learn your musical tastes, and recommend new music to you. Expect apps for gaming, education, music making, tele-presence and more, very soon. We are also developing an API to let third-party developers make apps for Shimi.

How you can help

We are a team of roboticists from Georgia Tech, IDC, and the MIT Media Lab, working together for several years in academic settings. We have managed to put together a rockin’ prototype that knocks everyone we show it to off their feet. Even after thousands of hours of developing and demoing Shimi, we still can’t help bobbing our heads and smiling when Shimi starts moving.

In order to be able to share the magic of musical robots with the world, we need to make this prototype into a real product that can be manufactured for a reasonable price.

Specifically, we are now planning to:

Move from the Android-based prototype to the iPhone platform (don't worry, for you Android lovers, we'll launch an Anrdoid version as well)
Redesign Shimi components for low cost and durability
Create tooling and parts to mass produce Shimi
We also want to know if there are enough people out there who want one at home as much as we do.

For that we need your help: if you back our project at the $149 reward level, you will receive one of the first commercially available Shimi robots at a price well below our expected retail price.

You can follow Limerain on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS to be notified of any updates.

Send us a story or tip @ TipsForLimerain.com@gmail.com and follow our pages for the latest limera1n, rubyra1n, and all tech stories, follow us on Twitter at @iphonepixelpost or @limerain_com
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- Posted using my iPhone 4