Starbucks promises totally free Wi-Fi after July 1, new content network with Yahoo

Starbucks

Starbucks, the ubiquitous U.S. coffee shop chain will begin offering totally free unlimited Wi-Fi on July 1.

Previously, Starbucks coffee shops offered different degrees of connectivity depending upon whether they had T-Mobile or AT&T hotspots inside. Once all of the corporate stores shifted fully to AT&T hotspots in 2008, customers with Starbucks loyalty cards received two free hours of Wi-Fi per day before having to pay.

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HTC launches first AT&T-exclusive Android 2.1 phone

HTC Aria AT&T

AT&T was the last of the "big four" U.S. mobile operators to start selling phones based on Google's Android operating system, and has only had a single Android phone available since March.

Currently, AT&T's only exclusive Android handset is the Motorola Backflip. However, the network could have had an HTC device powered by Android almost one year ago, "Lancaster" was reportedly scrapped, well ahead of AT&T's Android launch.

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AT&T: We will prosecute hacker that found iPad security hole

iPad with Kid

Mobile network operator AT&T sent a message out to all 3G iPad owners yesterday which attempted to explain and apologize for a major security breach which disclosed every 3G iPad owner's email address. The company said no other information was exposed, and the matter has been resolved.

Last week, a group going by the name Goatse Security took credit for discovering the exploit, which exposed an estimated 114,000 subscribers' email addresses, and ICC-IDs. ICC-IDs are "integrated circuit card identifiers" which identify SIM cards and relate them to the subscriber's phone number.

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Microsoft's Project Natal 360 motion controller becomes 'Kinect'

Microsoft Kinect ("Project Natal")

Even before the doors of the Electronic Entertainment Expo got to open, the name of Microsoft's Xbox 360 motion controller has been revealed. Formerly known by its project name, Natal, Microsoft's camera-based motion controller will be known as Kinect when it comes to market later this year.

The Xbox 360 add-on was first shown off at last year's E3, and promised to bring a new "controller-free" experience to the four-year old gaming console. Similar to both Nintendo's Wii controller and the Playstation Eye, Kinect will utilize the player's bodies, voices, and even facial expressions to interact with their Xbox 360.

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Where to safely watch the FIFA World Cup 2010 online

Retro TV

According to datacenter traffic management company Akamai, today has been one of the busiest days on the Internet, with more than 11 million visitor requests to its news network per minute, a dramatic 233% spike in daily traffic. This is thanks to the FIFA World Cup 2010, which officially begins today with matches between South Africa and Mexico, and Uruguay and France. It appears that more people are turning to the Web for their news than ever.

A wealth of information can be found online, but unfortunately, such a popular event is great fodder for malicious websites, so in addition to FIFA.com's Matchcast which features live play-by-play, stats, and information about current matches, we've put together a small list of reliable resources for your World Cup 2010 needs.

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Motorola looks to move beyond the 'superphone' with 2GHz devices

Motorola

Motorola seriously changed the mobile phone industry in the 2000's with the RAZR. The low-profile flip phone sold more than 110 million units, spawned several successful follow-up models and imitations from competitors, and generally altered how we perceive "sexiness" in mobile phones.

It has had an excellent run, and continues to sell to this day. According to Neilsen Media, the RAZR was the third most popular mobile phone on the market last year with 2.3 percent of mobile subscribers owning one.

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Most Betanews readers won't buy iPhone 4

iPhone 4

On June 9, I asked: "Will you buy an Apple iPhone 4?" The answers are in via e-mail and comments. They are surprising, because they're so polarized. There aren't so many "maybes" among you as I expected. The majority of commenters are saying "No" to iPhone 4. The split is more two-thirds "Yes" among the people who sent e-mail.

I want to point out two differences from this post and others like it. Firstly, the comments are longer; I did less editing for space. Secondly, I only used comments or e-mail responses from people whose full names are clearly identified. However, the comments are still representative of them all.

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Apple and Microsoft will face off for June 24 retail showdown

Microsoft Store Logo

Guess what's coming to San Diego in two weeks? If you answered iPhone 4, congratulations for being right but not giving the right answer. Microsoft plans to open a new retail store on the same day (its second in California). The duo launches could be speculator competition and ground zero for fandom, should the "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" crowds choose to rally for their camps. If the measure is the longest line on launch day, who will win?

In a rare lunchtime outing, today I hustled over to Fashion Valley Mall, where I was stunned to see the sign above. By the way, I snapped the photo using the Google Nexus One. What a lousy camera! Is the camera white balance-challenged or what? Nexus One muted the bright green, which I only partially revived through editing. Geez. Back on topic, yes, I was stunned -- by the date and by something else. The Microsoft Store is four shops down from the Apple Store. That's right four stores -- and a walkway between the middle two.

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Will you buy an Apple iPhone 4?

Steve Jobs and iPhone 4

Surely no one who regularly reads Betanews is surprised I ask the question. It was inevitable, like death or Whopper Wednesday. As usual, when I ask this kind of question, I'm looking for your responses -- in comments or by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). In a future post, I'll share your responses as I did with iPad. I asked the "will you buy" iPad question here and here, and offered your answers in separate January and March posts.

Apple and AT&T will start taking iPhone 4 preorders on June 15, and the phone officially goes on sale June 24. Preorders should help keep lines more manageable, as they did with iPad. I plan on hanging out at one of my local Apple Stores, interviewing people waiting in line and shooting video and photos. If you're in San Diego and willing to leave the baseball bat (gun, knife or other injuring tool) at home, look me up on iPhone 4 launch day. Maybe I could interview you.

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Microsoft talks up Phone 7 smartphone apps at Internet Week

With previews of the Windows Phone 7 operating system and the launch of Microsoft Expression Studio 4 at Internet Week New York, Microsoft helped to set the stage for a forthcoming smartphone application store aimed at doing a much better job of rivaling Apple's App Store for iPhones and Google's Android Market.

In a speech at the Expression 4 launch in New York City on Monday, Bill Buxton, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, pointed to a day when Windows applications will run across devices ranging from smartphones to TVs, for example, while being outfitted with a series of user interfaces (UIs) geared to the requirements of the specific device, and even to the preferences of specific users.

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Windows Phone Marketplace to include private app distribution, shareware modes

Windows Phone 7 Series Start Screen

At TechEd in New Orleans, Microsoft unveiled some new features for Windows Phone 7 aimed at enterprise and developer communities. One of the upcoming additions to the Windows Phone environment will be a sort of "private app store" system that launches in the fall.

"Private distribution for beta-testing represents an important first step for Windows Phone," Partner group program manager Charlie Kindel said. "Our long term strategy is to adopt the public and private cloud model with Marketplace…Initially, we are enabling private distribution of applications for registered developers in a way that is optimized for beta-testers. This will enable developers to more easily distribute test applications in a secure way. We also appreciate that as phones come to market and people begin bringing them into corporate environments, IT will look for a similar private distribution solution."

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5 things you should know about iPhone 4

iPhone 4

A day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4, it's time for a reality check. Lots of people have questions, and we have answers -- even to stuff some readers might not have asked for. The list is more strategic than speeds-and-feeds informational. But first, quick links to yesterday's Betanews stories:

Is AT&T breaking the law by changing iPhone upgrade eligibility? New iPhone 4 is slimmer, faster, super high-resolution, and lasts longer This blog post could save you from Steve Jobs' iPhone 4 Reality Distortion Field

Additionally, over at my Oddly Together blog, I consolidated my tweets (and others' responses) during Job's keynote. My tweets -- quick reactions in real time -- are foundation for this post. I hadn't thought of Twitter as a notepad before, but I suddenly see the utility. Others might try using Twitter this way: Punch out quick inspirations as they come and collect them later for other use.

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This blog post could save you from Steve Jobs' iPhone 4 Reality Distortion Field

iPhone 4

Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave one of his better sales pitches during the Worldwide Developer Conference keynote earlier today. He had to. Gizmodo's iPhone 4 prototype series revealed the major details. Other than the gyroscope, iBooks and iMovie for iPhone, Jobs shared little that wasn't already known or reasonably guessed from Gizmodo's reporting about iPhone 4.

That's not to say the knowing spoiled the presentation. Jobs is simply too good a marketer. He has an amazing skill at emphasizing benefits while overlooking or diminishing shortcomings. Today he exerted a remarkably strong Reality Distortion Field, and it caught some tech users. Robert Scoble posted yesterday: "Back to Steve Jobs. If I were him I'd worry that I've lived without my iPhone for seven days so far and I haven't missed having the crappy cell phone service from AT&T, not to mention I like having the extra features of the Android OS that aren't yet available on the iPhone." Three days earlier, Scoble posted about his "experiences without an iPhone for six days so far." Bottom line: "Living without the iPhone has been a lot easier than I expect." But Jobs' WWDC keynote's RDF washed over Scoble, who today tweeted: "Is this enough to get me to give up Android? It has me itching."

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HP launches Web printers for iPhones, Droids and other smartphones

After dropping wide hints over the past few weeks about "Web printer" plans, HP started to get a lot more specific today with the launch of three new smartphone-enabled printers. Some questions still remain unanswered, though, including exactly when the WebOS mobile operating system of HP's newly acquired Palm will come into play.

HP actually rolled out its first Internet-enabled printer about a year ago, noted Vyomesh Joshi, speaking at an HP launch event today that also kicked off New York Internet Week.

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New iPhone 4 is slimmer, faster, super high-resolution, and lasts longer

As anticipated, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 4, at WWDC on Monday, and although we knew most of the details, there were some surprises. Here's what you need to know:

1. Design

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