Ed Oswald

iPhone 4S users on Sprint's network have flooded the carrier's support forums with complaints of slow data speeds, leading some to consider returning the device before Friday to avoid the $350 early termination fee.

Complaints appeared on support forums on October 14, the day the iPhone 4S launched at retail. Tests indicate that in some cases data throughput was as slow as .25Mbps -- only a little faster than a 2400 baud modem. The issue also seems mostly limited to the 4S itself: other Sprint phones tested side-by-side are unaffected although scattered reports of bandwidth issues are appearing elsewhere.

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Facing increasing competitive pressure, Apple silently pushed performance enhancements to the MacBook Pro line of laptops. The changes include better processors and additional storage, and on higher-end models better graphics cards.

The base level 13-inch MacBook Pro now sports a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 dual-core processor with a 500GB hard drive, but remains at $1,199. The faster $1,499 13-inch model now includes a 2.8GHz i7 dual-core CPU with a 750GB HDD.

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iPad 2 owners need to reconsider just how secure their tablets are following the discovery of a flaw that allows attackers with Apple Smart Covers to unlock iPads, even if they are password protected. The issue was first disclosed in the forums of German Apple enthusiast site apfeltalk.de, and has since been replicated numerous times including in tests by BetaNews.

As opposed to an issue where Siri allowed access to phone features from the lock screen -- that actually can be disabled with Siri's settings -- the locking issue actually appears to be a legitimate flaw. The issue was verified by Betanews in iOS 5, however, Internet reports seem to suggest that it can also be recreated in iOS 4.3.

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Comcast is still throttling peer-to-peer traffic, but on a much smaller scale. Data provided by traffic analytics firm Measurement Lab and compiled by Syracuse University researchers this week provides verification of that.

While Comcast was slowing down half of BitTorrent traffic across its network in the second quarter 2008, it had decreased throttling efforts to about three percent of all BitTorrent packets by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

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Has your webcam turned on without your permission? You may be the target of a new Flash exploit.

Adobe is scrambling to fix a vulnerability that may allow an attacker to turn on your webcam and microphone to spy on you. Stanford University computer science student Feross Aboukhadijeh discovered the flaw, which is found in every version of Flash and can be exploited in Safari and Firefox on Mac OS X and some browsers within Windows (Chrome appears to be unaffected).

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With unemployment remaining above nine percent, the government is getting more creative in getting people back to work. One of these initiatives is the "Social Jobs Partnership," a joint effort between the Department of Labor, several labor associations and Facebook.

Finding a job is proving to be hard in the months following one of the worst recessions in the country's history outside of the Great Depression. There's about three million job openings, but 14 million are unemployed.

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Google may need to act quickly to salvage its $7.25 million deal to migrate the city of Los Angeles to its Google Apps platform, following news that the delayed rollout is still not completed. The city approved the deal two years ago, but in July 2010 it was disclosed that delays had prevented full implementation.

The issue surrounds the Los Angeles Police Department: officials there are not satisfied with Google Apps' security for some sensitive police data. Instead of the original planned 30,000 person rollout, only about 17,000 have been transitioned.

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Aiming to better compete with services like Pandora, AOL relaunched its radio app on Wednesday. The new service is powered by Slacker, and cuts the amount of commercials in half.

Pandora inserts about 45 seconds worth of commercials per hour, according to recent statements by the company. AOL Radio will now broadcast three minutes of commercials every hour versus six, aiming to respond to the most common complaint about its service: the number of commercials.

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NJ Transit is the first public transit system to accept Google Wallet thanks to a new deal announced Wednesday between New Jersey and the Mountain View, Calif. company. The deal will allow transit riders to "tap to pay" for fares at select locations.

Google Wallet uses near-field communication (NFC) to operate, a feature that has all but become standard on most newer smartphones, but not Apple's iPhone. The service launched in select retailers last month after being in testing for much of the summer.

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Google is expanding its use of the SSL encryption protocol, saying Tuesday it will begin redirecting all searchers to its secure search when signed in with their Google Accounts over the next few weeks.

"We’ve worked hard over the past few years to increase our services’ use of an encryption protocol called SSL, as well as encouraging the industry to adopt stronger security standards," product manager Evelyn Kao says. "As search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver."

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Samsung is set to release the highly-anticipated Nexus Prime on Wednesday. The device was set to debut at the CTIA conference on October 7, but was delayed due to the passing of Steve Jobs. The new event takes place in Hong Kong on Wednesday at 10:00 am local time -- 10:00 pm tonight Eastern Time.

While it has never been confirmed that Samsung's event will be about the Nexus Prime, Google-Samsung teasers and loads of rumors surely point to the device's release, along with Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich." The Prime would be the first device to run the new version of the mobile OS.

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The nation's wireless providers have announced a deal with consumer groups and the Federal Communications Commission that will set up a system to alert customers to overage fees. The FCC had been set to announce new rules to combat so-called "bill shock", which it introduced last year.

Under the terms of the deal, the wireless carriers agreed to set up a system to alert customers to voice, data, text, and roaming overages. Two of those four must be in place within a year, and the entire system ready within 18 months.

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Apple's release of the iPhone 4S was largely panned by bloggers and journalists, most of which were looking for a much more dramatic upgrade. The 4S seems to be more of an upgrade aimed at the millions whose iPhone 3GS have become long in the tooth, and for these consumers this phone is a marked improvement.

Like Apple has said, iPhone 4S looks nearly identical on the outside to the iPhone 4, but is a new phone on the inside. From the dual-core processor to the better camera, and the innovative digital assistant in Siri, moving from the 3GS to the 4S is like night and day.

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We planned here at Betanews to give you a good first impressions review of the iPhone 4S, but to tell you the truth just getting the phone to work has been one of the worst experiences setting up an electronics device I can remember. You saw our photos of the unboxing? Well, that was the highlight. Seriously!

To better grasp what the average person might experience, we followed the instructions as they were given. No shortcuts, nothing. I'm also new to this online activation thing, so that may have been smart on my part to follow the directions I'm being given. Apparently, that may have been the first mistake.

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The day has finally arrived: Apple's iPhone 4S appeared on my doorstep this morning. After having the iPhone 3GS for two years, it certainly was past the time to make the jump to a much better phone. Indeed the 4S is that phone, including a dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera, and Siri, Apple's new personal assistant.

While I had initially planned to hold off upgrading until the iPhone 5, after Apple showed of Siri I was hooked. What follows here is my unboxing of the device, and as you can see, not too much is different from past iPhones as far as content. I also posted my first impressions, and a full review will follow this weekend.

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