Details surface on AT&T, Apple iPhone 3G deal
Among the changes in AT&T's updated deal with Apple are the end of revenue sharing and special plans for the iPhone, as well as a new requirement for phones be activated in-store.
The carrier, while confirming it will maintain its exclusive rights to the iPhone 3G, also confirmed Monday that it will no longer share revenues with Apple. Instead, as was rumored, the cost of the phone will be subsidized by AT&T.
Updated AOL Radio launches in beta
Today AOL opened a new version of radio.aol.com, with CBS terrestrial radio stations now available through a dramatically revised front console.
AOL Radio offers over 200 free online radio stations and 150 local CBS Radio affiliate stations. When users tune into an AOL Radio station, an "album view" image is shown in the main window, offering more information on the artist, song, and album on AOL Music. Certain tracks have "Buy" icons that link to download shops such as iTunes for purchase.
EC's Kroes advocates mandatory enforcement of open standards
Europe's legislator and administrator for competition suggested this morning that free enterprise alone -- letting markets decide standards -- may not be an effective means of ensuring interoperability, and that penalties should apply.
During a panel discussion this morning in Brussels, which included European legislators and minor heads of state, European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes took a very hard line stance in favor of open standards in software, going so far as to propose the consideration of new legislation that would actually mandate their use by "dominant players" in order for their software to be sold in Europe.
Amazon goes down for the count twice
While Amazon is not disclosing what exactly caused its site to fail for two hours on Friday, the world's largest online retailer may find its problem comes from the site design itself.
Amazon.com first failed around 1:25 pm EDT on Friday. For a two-hour period, customers attempting to access the site were greeted with an error message. Once the site began to return, portions of Amazon remained largely inaccessible.
DOE supercomputer broke the petaflop barrier, conference acknowledges
Though unofficial news leaked this morning, this afternoon, independent sources are acknowledging a new fact: A computer made with IBM Cell and AMD Opteron processors can process a thousand trillion operations per second.
This afternoon, the itinerary of the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden was officially altered to make way for a special panel, acknowledging what the US Department of Energy had announced a few hours earlier: Its Roadrunner supercomputer, built by IBM as a unique hybrid of Cell BE and AMD Opteron processors, has recorded an official throughput speed above one quadrillion floating point operations per second -- one petaflop.
WWDC: Dissecting the 3G iPhone
AR Communications Senior Vice President Carmi Levy sits down with BetaNews' Ed Oswald to make sense of Apple's announcements at WWDC 2008. In the first of two parts, the enterprise and data features of the iPhone are discussed.
Ed Oswald, BetaNews: Carmi, thanks for taking the time to help us sort through the news today. It's been a big day for Apple, especially when it comes to the distribution. What do you make of that?
IDC: Recession or no, Internet ad sales will boom
Times might be tough on the whole, but spending on Internet advertising is growing by leaps and bounds anyway, with total revenues up 23.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, said an IDC analyst.
According to an IDC report released today, Internet ad revenues jumped from $5.7 billion in Q1 of 2007 to $7.1 billion in the most recent quarter.
It's official: iPhone goes 3G for $199
Confirming months of speculation, Apple has announced that it will begin shipping two 3G versions of the iPhone. A 16 GB version will feature your choice of black or white backing, and will sell for $299 through AT&T.
To raucous applause, Apple CEO Steve Jobs debuted the 3G model of the iPhone, which he said is thinner than the previous version while sporting all metal buttons and a black plastic backing, much like the rumored specs had shown.
In-Stat: 3G mobile TV to reach 42 million users by 2012
The 3G mobile TV market will skyrocket from 6 million subscribers worldwide to 42 million by 2012, and Europe isn't necessarily ahead of North America right now in this space, according to an analyst for In-Stat Research.
In an interview today with BetaNews, Michelle Abraham, an In-Stat analyst, estimated that 3G mobile TV services will evolve into a $5 billion market worldwide by 2012. But exact penetration rates for mobile TV are hard to figure right now, since carriers tend to focus more on sales of devices than services in their reports, Abraham contended.
WWDC keynote: Some notable no-shows
With the spotlight growing every time Apple puts on a major show, many feel it would be nice if the company would leave some real estate open for some Mac-related innovations. The keynote came and went, and the Mac was absent.
There was a time when Apple's World-Wide Developers' Conference spotlighted a little device that used to be all the rage, called the Macintosh. But for the entire two hours of CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Moscone Center in San Francisco this morning, the attention was on the 3G iPhone and the iPhone SDK 2.0.
Left with the short end of the croissant, T-Mobile sues Starbucks
After Starbucks pleased its customers by announcing it will give away two hours of AT&T Wi-Fi access per day, former Wi-Fi partner T-Mobile took exception and has filed a lawsuit.
T-Mobile last week filed a lawsuit claiming Starbucks and AT&T colluded to offer free Internet to Starbucks customers, even though most Starbucks retail locations are relying on T-Mobile network infrastructure. That forces T-Mobile to bear the cost and burden of the free Internet offering, while reaping none of the benefit.
HP Blackbird 002 gaming rig finally comes to retail
HP has announced that its Blackbird 002 will be made available for the first time through select retail channels beginning June 29.
Offering in an "exclusive configuration" for retail, the Blackbird 002 will be sold through Amazon.com and Newegg.com, as well as through Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R, and Micro Center both in brick-and-mortar stores and online shops.
Will Samsung's Omnia rival Apple's 3G iPhone?
As some see it, Samsung's forthcoming Windows Mobile 6.1-based Omnia smartphone will act as a retort of sorts to Apple's new 3G iPhone. Although the Omnia isn't slated for full rollout until June 17, Samsung prereleased some details today.
Samsung's new Ommia will indeed offer new features not available on Samsung's existing Instinct smartphone. Both the Omnia and Instinct provide digital video and audio recording, along with 3G wireless, an FM radio, and GPS. Unlike the Instinct, though, the Omnia will offer Wi-Fi. Moreover, Samsung has boosted smartphone camera capabilities to 5 megapixels from the 2 megapixel camera in the Instinct.
WWDC: MobileMe to replace .mac, sync iPhones with Macs, PCs
Calling it "Exchange for the rest of us," Apple debuted MobileMe, which allows users to push e-mail, contacts, and calendars directly to devices.
The new service will apparently replace .mac, and will work much the same way. However, now the iPhone and PC have been added to the mix, enabling personal information to be exchanged in a network consisting of an iPhone and a Mac or PC.
WWDC: With iPhone 2.0, the SDK is now the key element
Apple CEO Steve Jobs began his keynote at WWDC at Moscone Center in San Fransisco, with a discussion on the new firmware for iPhones, complete with enterprise support, the final release of the SDK, and new end-user features.
To a packed hall, Jobs said that the iPhone 2.0 beta program has been a huge success: In the 95 days since the SDK was first released, it has been downloaded some 250,000 times. About 25,000 applied for the beta, however Apple only accepted 4,000 of them.
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