BART Signs 20-Year Deal for System-Wide Wi-Fi

I wrote last year that SF's Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) was in talks with startup Wi-Fi Rail, Inc. to provide system-wide wi-fi service, after successfully running three phases of trials. It's taken more than six months, but on Friday a 20-year deal between the two was announced.

Tests on the BART line were run on 2.2 miles of Hayward track and in the four downtown SF stations (Embarcadero, Montgomery St., Powell St., and Civic Center). According to Wi-Fi Rail, trains moving at over 81 MPH were able to achieve upload and download speeds in excess of 15Mbps.

Cooper Lee, CEO of Wi-Fi Rail, Inc. said:

"We are thrilled to showcase our technology in the network designed for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system, it is a great partnership. This is a unique opportunity to demonstrate what high-speed WiFi access, interconnected by a huge fiber-optic backbone, can mean to a transit system and its passengers."

The service will be offered at reduced rates until the entire system is complete at the end of 2010. Once complete, the service will be offered on a subscription basis: $30 a month, $9 a day, $6 for two hours and $300 for a year.

When you think about the prices for DSL, that seems quite pricey. $30 a month, for the ability to use the Internet for a maximum of 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day (one way). That seems awfully expensive.

There will be a free option, but access will be cut off after 3 1/2 minutes and then users will have to watch 30 seconds of ads before being able to use the Internet again.

Google Labels the Entire Internet as Badware

Google seems close to launching a cloud-based storage service called GDrive, according to reports. But is that any reason to diss Microsoft's competing Live Mesh service?

It seems that at least right now earlier this morning, if you searched for the term "Live Mesh" using Google search, you would get a list of results, every single one of which was tagged with the This site may harm your computer malware warning that appears when a "questionable" site appears in your search results. This warning is a result of Google teaming with the site StopBadware.org.

I noticed this earlier today, when searching for Live Mesh information for a story. It's already been corrected, but at the time, inclusion of the term "Live Mesh" in any query would give you results with every result item marked as a suspicious site.

Somehow I don't think I need to worry about mesh.com, wikipedia.com, or msdn.com.

But then I noticed something that clarified the results. In fact, it wasn't the query "Live Mesh." It was any query. It turns out that every search result for every term was returning every site as malware (or, since StopBadware.org is involved, badware).

In other words, the whole Internet was malware. In fact, there are some socialogists and some psychologists who might agree, saying that we spend waaaay too much time at our PCs, but that's a topic for another discussion.

Meanwhile, it's unclear who was at fault: Google or StopBadware.org.

I managed to catch the screen grab above before they fixed the problem (click to enlarge), whatever it was. While obviously a colossal fubar and not a conspiracy against "Live Mesh" in favor of GDrive, it was still quite hilarious, with my initial search query.

Update: Google has explained that (basically) they checked in a file that list the suspicious sites and included a wildcard entry in their, flagging the whole Internet.

Also, it should be noted that although Google works with StopBadware.org to develop criteria to use in flagging sites, StopBadware.org does not provide Google with the list; Google creates the list on its own.

Hackers Use Electronic Road Signs to Warn of "Zombies Ahead"

This might be something the residents of Raccoon City would have found helpful. Hackers in Austin, TX broke into an electronic road sign and modified it to display various zombie-related messages. They included:

• Caution! Zombies! Ahead!!!
• Nazi Zombies! Run!!!
• Zombies in Area! Run

Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley said the signs are equipped with external locks.

"This sign was broken into, it was not just a 'walk up and change the sign' kind of thing. This is a new one for us, we've never had it happen before."

However, i-hacked.com noted that frequently these signs, made by IMAGO, are left unsecured and with the well-known default password in place.

While humorous, we have to ask: why not do something useful with your time rather than hacking road signs?

Windows 7 UAC Usability Enhancement Opens Security Hole

Changes made to the oft-criticized (and oft-disabled) User Account Control (UAC) in Windows 7, while at the same time improving usability, appear to leave a security hole.

Rather than the on / off settings available in Windows Vista, the UAC in Windows 7 offers a higher level of granularity. There are four levels, and the default level is level 2:

1. Always notify on every system change. This is Vista behavior – a UAC prompt will result when any system-level change is made (Windows settings, software installation, etc.)
2. Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer. This setting does not prompt when you change Windows settings, such as control panel and administration tasks.
3. Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer, without using the Secure Desktop. This is the same as #2, but the UAC prompt appears on the normal desktop instead of the Secure Desktop. While this is useful for certain video drivers which make the desktop switch slowly, note that the Secure Desktop is a barrier to software that might try to spoof your response.
4. Never notify. This turns off UAC altogether.

Setting 2, however, does not notify you when Windows settings are modified, including UAC. That means that malware could potentially be able to programmatically disable UAC without a user becoming aware of it.

Of course, if you run with it off (as I do on Vista), it's not a big deal. But if you assume it's on, and decided to take riskier behavior believing you are protected, then it could cause you a hceck of a problem security-wise.

Microsoft apparently knows about this issue; they've been told about it many times through beta feedback, but they do not intend to fix it. It seems that simply making a change to the UAC setting display a prompt even in Setting 2 mode would be an easy fix.

Not a bug (NAB)? Will not fix (WNF)? Looks like.

More GDrive Details Emerge

GDrive, the oft-rumored Google cloud-based storage service, appears to be closer to reality than ever. The beu blog noticed a reference to GDrive in a file used by Google Pack.

The text in the file states:

// Localized product category of GDrive
_CI_messages.CI_GDRIVE_CATEGORY = 'Online file backup and storage';
// Localized short description of GDrive (1st
// of 2 description lines)
_CI_messages.CI_GDRIVE_DESCRIPTION_1 = 'GDrive provides reliable storage for all of your files, including photos, music and documents';
// Localized short description of GDrive (2nd
// of 2 description lines)
_CI_messages.CI_GDRIVE_DESCRIPTION_2 = 'GDrive allows you to access your files from anywhere, anytime, and from any device - be it from your desktop, web browser or cellular phone';

That sounds very interesting. Not only just storage in the cloud, but access from any device. It will be interesting to see if the service is optimized for Android.

Now the remaining questions are: how much storage, and when.

Amazon.com Bucks the Retailer Trend in a Brutal Recession

In late December, Amazon.com announced a "record holiday season." Of course, many asked "are you serious?" On Thursday, Amazon.com offered up proof, announcing its Q4 2008 results, showing that despite the brutal recession, it indeed did have a great holiday season.

Originally it was unclear if the "record holiday season" included net income, or was related to slashed prices pulling in revenue but not much profit. But the results tell the tale:

Net sales increased 18% to $6.70 billion in Q4 2008 vs $5.67 billion in Q4 2007. Wall Street analysts had been expecting $6.44 billion in revenue.

Net income increased 9% to $225 million in Q4 2008, or $0.52 per diluted share, compared with net income of $207 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, in Q4 2007.

Amazon.com did indeed partake of heavy discounting though, and it shows in its operating margins. They fell to 4.06% from 4.78%, a result of the discounting Amazon.com, like many retailers, used to draw shoppers into the stores.

At the time of this writing, Amazon.com is up 18%, over $9, to $59.01.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com said:

"We remain relentlessly focused on serving customers with low prices, great selection and free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime. We’re particularly grateful for the unusually strong demand for Kindle in the fourth quarter."

Interesting comment about the Kindle, as it's been sold out for sooo long. However, word is Amazon.com is set to announce Kindle 2 on Feb. 9th.

Hedging its bets in the tough economy, Amazon.com didn't give annual guidance, but merely first quarter guidance:

First Quarter 2009 Guidance

• Net sales are expected to be between $4.525 billion and $4.925 billion, or to grow between 9% and 19% compared with first quarter 2008.
• Operating income is expected to be between $125 million and $210 million, or between 37% decline and 6% growth compared with first quarter 2008. This guidance includes approximately $75 million for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, and it assumes, among other things, that no additional business acquisitions or investments are concluded and that there are no further revisions to stock-based compensation estimates

Some analysts feel that the economic downturn is a boon for Amazon.com. Scott W. Devitt, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus told the New York Times:

"Amazon has never been in a stronger structural position, and you have a shrinking industry with a high fixed-cost base that is forcing bankruptcies. That business has to go somewhere."

Gears of War Digital Certificate Fiasco Kills the Game

A digital certificate that expired on 1/28 effectively kills the game Gears of War, as users who try to run it receive a "'You cannot run this game with modified executable code, please reinstall" error.

The issue has been traced to the aforementioned expired digital certificate (shown). Obviously since the game was released in Nov. of 2007 for the PC, no one at Epic Games or Microsoft could possibly imagine that anyone would still be playing it 15 months later, right?

An Epic Games Super Moderator posted the following on the Epic Games forum:

We have been notified of the issue and are working with Microsoft to get it resolved. Sorry for any problems related to this. I'll post more once we have a resolution.

Fortunately, resetting the clock on the PC seems to work for many. However, it's just plain silly that something like this would take down a game. And considering how hard the gaming divisions at Microsoft were hit by the recent layoffs, they might be waiting for some time (Gears of War is an Epic game but is published by Microsoft Game Studios).

Oh Deer! Google Street View Car Runs Into Bambi

Google sends cars around to take pictures of streets for the Street View service, and sometimes they take pictures that we would prefer not to see, but usually the car itself is not involved.In this case, sadly, the car was involved in an accident, and the accident involved a deer.

Surprisingly, the Street View car continued to take pictures, and unfortunately, Google posted those pictures to the Web.

The images were taken on Five Points Road in Rush, New York.

It took a while; who knows how long those images were there, but once the news got out about them, Google received several complaints and removed the images. As Google said:

Gathering the imagery for Street View requires quite a bit of driving; as such, we take safety very seriously. Unfortunately, accidents do happen -- as some people have noticed, one of our Street View cars hit a deer while driving on a rural road in upstate New York. Due to several user requests using the "Report a concern" tool, these images are no longer available in Street View.

The driver was understandably upset, and promptly stopped to alert the local police and the Street View team at Google. The deer was able to move and had left the area by the time the police arrived. The police explained to our driver that, sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence in the region -- the New York State Department of Transportation estimates that 60,000-70,000 deer collisions happen per year in New York alone -- and no police report needed to be filed.

OK, the post says that the driver alerted the Street View team at Google. And yet, the images were still posted to the Web?

At any rate, the rest of the post takes time out to lecture, er, advise us on safe driving. At least, according to their post, the deer got up and walked away. I'm assuming they were telling the truth, but that deer doesn't look too healthy above.

Let's hope it wasn't badly injured.

iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available À La Carte

At this year's Macworld, Apple announced iTunes was (finally) going DRM-less. However, if you wanted to remove the DRM from your pre-existing iTunes library, it was all or nothing. Proving that they do listen , Apple has changed things, and you can now upgrade your music to iTunes Plus (AKA DRM-free) one song at a time.

If you go to the iTunes Plus upgrade page via the Upgrade to iTunes Plus link on the iTunes Store's Home Page, there's a Buy All button for a one-step upgrade, or you can click Buy buttons next to individual albums or tracks in your library.

Admittedly, if you have a ton of songs, doing them one at a time is going to take a while. You sure you don't want to do it all at once?

Anyway, prices are still the same, so it can still cost you an arm and a leg if you need to upgrade a lot of tracks. It's $0.30 per track, about 1/3 the cost of an album to upgrade an album, and $0.60 for a music video.

For those of you early adopters who upgraded your whole catalog and only did so because you had no choice, don't expect to be able to talk them into a refund. According to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are final (a friend already tried).

New Lawsuit Claims Apple Knowingly Profited From Faulty iPhone 3Gs

A new class action lawsuit filed in Northern California asserts that Apple profited from the iPhone 3G while knowing it had issues with 3G connectivity. The 14-page complaint was filed by California resident Jason Medway this week.

Many have had problems with the 3G performance of the iPhone 3G, and though a firmware upgrade seems to have improved things for many. The lawsuit states:

"Despite knowledge that the iPhone 3G cannot maintain consistent 3G service, defendant continues to solicit new orders in a multimillion-dollar television and print advertising campaign for the iPhone 3G. Apple simply replicated the problems by providing consumers with replacement phones and thus subject to the same issues which prompted the replacements."

The suit seekings damages in excess of $5 million for thousands of class members. It also wants all profits received by Apple from sales for the device (along with interest).

This is just the latest in a series of lawsuits aimed at Apple and the iPhone 3G. Last month Apple used the "puffery" defense in the Gillis lawsuit. Puffery means:

"A subjective, boastful claim that is so exaggerated or vague that a reasonable consumer would not take it seriously."

"Twice the speed, half the price," right?

Pinch Media Details "iPhone 2,1" Usage

Pinch Media responded to the report that ad view stats showed an "iPhone 2,1" (AKA a new model) in the wild by providing some new and more detailed information.

For some reason, Pinch Media said they've seen the iPhone 2,1 for quite some time and "didn't think much of it." Huh? Here's what they added:

• the first time an application using Pinch Analytics was run by a ‘iPhone 2,1′ device occurred back in early October 2008;

• applications using Pinch Analytics were run by ‘iPhone 2,1′ devices very sporadically until mid-December 2008, when the pace picked up slightly;

• to date, a few dozen distinct ‘iPhone 2,1′ devices have run almost two dozen different applications using Pinch Analytics;

• when ‘iPhone 2,1′ devices run applications using Pinch Analytics’ optional geolocation tracking, they’re almost exclusively located in the south San Francisco Bay Area;

• while most of the sessions have been made from wifi connections, there’s been a few connections over AT&T’s network, so presumably this device handles both;

• the applications that have been run by Pinch Analytics don’t share much in common, except for their size — they’re among the larger applications to use our stuff, with hundreds of thousands to millions of unique users.

South San Francisco Bay Area? Like around Cupertino?

I also note that most of the sessions have been via wi-fi, so maybe that's why the iPhone 3G had 3G connectivity issues out of the box; not enough 3G testing, and too much wi-fi testing?

At any rate, Pinch Media didn't (natch) have info on screen size, CPU type or anything like that, so looks like that's all, move along, move along.

And did anyone seriously think Apple wasn't working on a new iPhone?

Apple Quietly Pulls NVIDIA Update

On Monday Apple released an update that was intended to fix graphics-related issues with its latest notebooks, but by Wednesday, it had pulled the patch, without explanation.

The 3.2MB download known as the NVIDIA Graphics Update 2009 disappeared from Apple's site, although you can still find it in Google's cache.

Checking through this thread that was posted after the update was released, it seems that not only did it not fix the problem for many, it actually exacerbated it. One message said:

It has also made my little problem with the screen blacking out seem like nothing, I can longer use my 22" LG.

What the hells going on APPLE!?

The issue only affects those with the newly redesigned MacBooks, MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros when running the integrated graphics on those machines; NVIDIA's discrete graphics seem unaffected.

Of course, Apple is always tight-lipped; thus, we do not know what the update was truly designed to fix nor do we know why it was pulled.

Firmware Strings Hint at New iPhone

Sifting through the latest 2.x firmware has led some to confirmation that in (probably) six months or so we should be seeing a new iPhone model. Whether that's an announcement, or a release, is still TBD.

According to Macrumors, the string "iPhone 2,1" can be found in the firmware. Apple uses these models numbers to distinguish between different hardware models, and not just for the iPhone or iPod Touch, either.

The original iPhone carries the model number of "iPhone 1,1" while the iPhone 3G is "iPhone 1,2." You'll recall the first generation iPod Touch was the "iPod 1,1" and back in July when mention of a new iPod Touch was discovered in much the same way. The second gen iPod Touch which added a speaker, volume controls, microphone support and a faster processor than the 1st generation model is labeled "iPod2,1."

Of course, did we really have to have this as evidence that a new model was coming? I believe that many are expecting something to be unveiled at WWDC later this year. In the past however, Apple has introduced the iPhone at one show, and then released it to retail months later. Will they change that strategy?

An unnamed developer has also found reference to the "iPhone 2,1" in reports tracking Pinch Media ad views (above, other tracking numbers redacted). That means that testing is in progress.

iPhone with a keyboard? Faster CPU? Better graphics? We'll see.

Google Announces M-Lab, a New Weapon in the Net Neutrality Fight

In mid-2008 I wrote that Google was working on a net neutrality detector. On Wednesday Google finally announced the previously unnamed initiative, now called Measurement Lab (M-Lab).

The project was announced in concert with the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, and academic researchers. M-Lab is an open platform that researchers can use to deploy Internet measurement tools.

In other words, M-Lab is aimed at helping researchers and end users determine if their connections are being throttled or otherwise interfered with. Part of the problem is having the necessary servers to run that test, and according to Google:

Over the course of early 2009, Google will provide researchers with 36 servers in 12 locations in the U.S. and Europe. All data collected via M-Lab will be made publicly available for other researchers to build on. M-Lab is intended to be a truly community-based effort, and we welcome the support of other companies, institutions, researchers, and users that want to provide servers, tools, or other resources that can help the platform flourish.

For now, Google is providing three tools. The first, Glasnost, developed by the Max Planck Institute, I've discussed before. It tests to see if your ISP is slowing BitTorrent connections.

The second, the Network Diagnostic Tool,

provides a sophisticated speed and diagnostic test. An NDT test reports more than just the upload and download speeds -- it also attempts to determine what, if any, problems limited these speeds, differentiating between computer configuration and network infrastructure problems.

The last, Network Path and Application Diagnosis (NPAD),

diagnoses some of the common problems effecting the last network mile and end-users' systems. These are the most common causes of all performance problems on wide area network paths.

Two additional tools are listed as "coming soon." DiffProbe attempts to detect if an Internet access provider is classifying certain kinds of traffic as "low priority." Sound familiar? Yes, much like the recent de-prioritization congestion "solutions" developed by Comcast and Cox.

NANO will require an application download and install, unlike the other tests. It will attempt to detect whether an ISP is degrading the performance of a certain subset of users, applications, or destinations.

However, anything good is likely to be popular. Right now, all the tests are unusable, either because there are over 100 people waiting (NPAD), or the servers are just too busy (NDT). And naturally, at least for me, when I did reach the front of the line, the tests failed. Still a work in progress.

At least, however, when they do get things working properly, there will be a way for consumers to check up on what their ISPs are truly doing. Not that we'll have that much choice in terms of which ISP to sign up with, but at least we'll know what they're doing.

iPhoto's Faces Feature Works on Fluffy, After All

One of the changes to iPhone '09 was Faces, facial recognition to assist in tagging photos. While Apple said this would only work on the faces of people, it appears that some have managed to prove that it does indeed work on felines, at least.

Yes, the folks at Mac|Life have spent way more time than I would have, using pictures of their own cats to prove that given enough sample images, the iPhoto facial recognition feature can indeed be trained to spot specific cats.

That's how the feature works on people, after all. You have to train it to recognize someone. However, it seems like the feature is easier to train on people (which makes sense); in comments the writer indicated it took 10 photos to train the software to recognize the cats.

No word yet on dogs, but come on; dogs are better than cats so it's gotta work (coming from a dog owner).

Cox Moves Toward De-Prioritization of "Time-Insensitive Data" for Congestion Control

In a post on their site, Cox Communications has a new FAQ stating that starting in February, they will begin testing a new method of managing traffic congestion in their Kansas and Arkansas markets. The method will de-prioritize such "time-insensitive" data such as file uploads, peer-to-peer and Usenet newsgroups in favor of "time-sensitive" traffic.

This ought to go over like a lead balloon with the FCC, as it smacks a lot of the "congestion control" that Comcast was required to halt last year, when they were throttling P2P services.

The lists of time-sensitive and time-insensitive data, as Cox has defined them:

Time Sensitive

• Web (Web surfing, including web-based email and chat embedded in web pages)
• VoIP (Voice over IP, telephone calls made over the Internet)
• Email
• IM (Instant messages, including related voice and webcam traffic)
• Streaming (Web-based audio and video programs)
• Games (Online interactive games)
• Tunneling & Remote Connectivity (VPN-type services for telecommuting)
• Other (Any service not categorized into another area)

Non-Time Sensitive

• File Access (Bulk transfers of data such as FTP)
• Network Storage (Bulk transfers of data for storage)
• P2P (Peer to peer protocols)
• Software Updates (Managed updates such as operating system updates)
• Usenet (Newsgroup related)

Interesting that they list software updates among the time-insensitive data transfers. I think anyone who's watched Microsoft issue two emergency patches over the last few months might disagree with that being categorized as time-insensitive.

Here's what Cox said:

These classifications are a result of our network engineering expertise and our customers' expectations. Our engineers reviewed the traffic on our network, analyzed the requirements of various services and reviewed available research from third-party organizations. We also took into account our customers’ expectations of how these services and applications should perform. For example, customers surfing the Internet expect that web pages should load quickly, so requests for web pages should process rapidly, and therefore fall into the time-sensitive category. However, uploading a file to an FTP site would be minimally affected by a brief delay, so that’s classified as non-time-sensitive. Our trial is based on these initial classifications, and it is possible we may modify our approach as we collect data from the trial.

Consumer advocacy group Free Press wasn't too impressed. Here's what Ben Scott, policy director for the group said in response:

"The lesson we learned from the Comcast case is that we must be skeptical of any practice that comes between users and the Internet.

"The information provided by Cox gives little indication about how its new practices will impact Internet users, or if they comply with the FCC's Internet Policy Statement. Cox customers will certainly want to know more about how the company is interfering with their Internet traffic and what criteria it uses to discriminate.

"As a general rule, we're concerned about any cable or phone company picking winners and losers online. These kinds of practices cut against the fundamental neutrality of the open Internet. We urge the FCC to subject this practice to close scrutiny and call on Cox to provide its customers with more technical details about exactly what it's doing."

Yep, this is all too similar to what Comcast was doing. Based on that, you wouldn't expect this to stand. On the other hand, typical of any government organization like the FCC, something like this might take months to review.

Once again, I have to point out how ISPs continue to institute throttling and bandwidth caps, while media companies (e.g., Netflix, HBO, Disney and the like) want us to use more bandwidth for video streaming and other services.

You can't have it both ways, guys.

Fennec (Firefox Mobile) Targeted for First Week in February

Fennec, AKA Firefox Mobile, is targeted for an initial release on the Windows Mobile-powered HTC Touch Pro during the first week in February, according to a post of meeting minutes on the developer wiki.

According to the minutes:

We are targeting a Milestone release for the first week of February, targeting the HTC touch pro.

We are two patches away from the meta goal of building from trunk. The tools changes have review from dougt, and are waiting for review from ted, who has promised review by the end of the week. NSPR changes are waiting for review from Nelson, who asked for and received a patch against NSPR trunk.

Fennec has already been available on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, but that's not really a cell phone, is it?

You can bet the gang at XDA-Developers (who specialize in HTC devices), as well as any HTC Touch Pro owners out there, are chomping at the bit to see the release. We might see ports to other HTC devices pretty quickly, in that case. It might even work out of the box on the keyboardless (but very similar to the Pro) HTC Touch Diamond.

AT&T's Good iPhone Sales News Mixed With Plenty of Bad

AT&T reported its Q4 2008 results on Wednesday morning, and intermingled with great iPhone 3G sales news was a 23.6% drop in earnings year-over-year, amid the worst recession in recent memory.

In iPhone news, AT&T reported 1.9 million iPhone 3G activations in the fourth quarter and 4.3 million iPhone 3Gs activated in the second half of 2008. According to the press release, approximately 40% of those activations were new AT&T customers.

That figure shows that for AT&T, the iPhone has been a great success at attracting new end users. The company also added that:

AT&T's iPhone exclusive continues to deliver high-value subscribers with ARPU approximately 1.6 times higher and churn rates significantly lower than the company's overall postpaid subscriber base.

In other words, they spend more and leave less often. On the other hand, the "iPhone 3G initiative" was also blamed somewhat for "pressure" on Q4 earnings; this is likely attributable to building out their 3G network (and possibly, overtime for their Tech Support over the iPhone 3G's initial connectivity issues).

However, AT&T is more than just the iPhone, and more than just wireless as well. Q4 2008 earnings were $2.4 billion, or $0.41 per share, compared to $3.14 billion, or $0.51 per share a year ago. Revenue increased $31.1 billion (2.4% year over year), slightly short of analyst expectations (of about $31.3 billion).

For 2008 as a whole, revenues totaled $124.0 billion, net income was $12.9 billion and cash from operating activities totaled $33.7 billion.

Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer said:

"Despite the economic environment, we grew revenues in 2008, and I expect 2009 will be another year of overall revenue growth and solid progress for our company.

"During the past year, we took major steps to improve AT&T’s position for 2009 and beyond. The success of our iPhone 3G launch has driven wireless growth and helped redefine the wireless data space. Our AT&T U-verse TV service continues to ramp. We completed the world's largest deployment of the fastest Internet backbone technology across our U.S. network. We further expanded our industry-leading network capabilities and product sets for the business market.

"I am pleased to say that as we made these advances, we also delivered on our cost initiatives and returned substantial value to shareowners, including our 25th consecutive annual dividend increase, which was announced in December.

"Looking ahead, while we are cautious about the economic environment, AT&T is well positioned with a strong balance sheet and premier operational assets, and I am very confident in our ability to execute."

AT&T announced in December that it was laying off approximately 4% of its workforce, or 12,000 workers, in a cost-cutting move that began in December and will continue throughout 2009.

Gmail Goes Offline, But in a Good Way

How can Google's Gmail service going offline be good news? Well, it can if what I mean by "offline" isn't a stoppage of the service, but instead a way to read, reply, etc. to your Gmail without being connected to the Internet.

It's beta, of course (how could it not be, as Gmail is still beta), and it utilizes Google's Gears technology to offer the offline access. Showing it's even more experimental than Gmail itself, Offline Gmail is available only through Gmail Labs, and typically, it's being rolled out slowly.

Google describes it thusly:

Once you turn on this feature, Gmail uses Gears to download a local cache of your mail. As long as you're connected to the network, that cache is synchronized with Gmail's servers. When you lose your connection, Gmail automatically switches to offline mode, and uses the data stored on your computer's hard drive instead of the information sent across the network. You can read messages, star and label them, and do all of the things you're used to doing while reading your webmail online. Any messages you send while offline will be placed in your outbox and automatically sent the next time Gmail detects a connection.

Sounds good, but there's also a sort of in-between mode, which Google calls "flaky connection mode." It uses the local cache as if you were disconnected, but synchronizes your mail with the server in the background.

The feature will be rolled out over the next few days, so if you don't see Offline Gmail in your Labs settings, be patient. If you do, enable it as follows:

1. Click Settings and click the Labs tab.
2. Select Enable next to Offline Gmail.
3. Click Save Changes.
4. After your browser reloads, you'll see a new "Offline^0.1" link in the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username. Click this link to start the offline set up process and download Gears if you don't already have it.

Watch this Google video to get some, though not a lot, of info on Offline Gmail.

Used MP3 Player Yields U.S. Military Info

It's not the first time a used storage device of some type has yielded sensitive information, and it won't be the last. Chris Ogle from Whangerei, NZ (pictured) got a surprise after he bought a used MP3 player from an Oklahoma thrift store for $18. Upon hooking it to his PC, he found 60 files of military information in total, including the names and personal details of American soldiers.

While it's bad enough that the information was on the device in the first place, it's also hard to understand why they would be using their MP3 player to transport this information. Let's also not forget that the Pentagon banned USB drives last November, though that was over a virus.

Here we have someone taking information that, admittedly, is out of date, out of the office on their MP3 player. The files are dated 2005, and thus probably not a security risk, but some of the phone numbers still work, and that's definitely a bad thing.

Ogle doesn't feel comfortable hanging onto the device. He said:

"The more I look at it, the more I see and the less I think I should be (seeing)."

Ogle has said that he would turn over the device if asked to by the U.S. military, but no such request has occurred yet.

Watch a video report from ONE News below.

Kindle 2 Coming Feb. 9th?

It's a hush-hush affair, but an invitation to a press conference Feb. 9th in New York City just shouts Kindle 2, as the press conference is being held at The Morgan Library & Museum. Furthermore, Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO will be in attendance.

Additionally, the Kindle listing on Amazon.com's website now says a delay of 4 - 6 weeks, whereas it had previously been 11 - 13 (AKA, never). It makes sense to intuit from that long, long out of stock cycle that Amazon.com had sold out of Kindle 1.0 and simply wanted to wait to ship Kindle 2.0.

However, making buyers wait for months is probably not a good idea. On the other hand, after Oprah Winfrey pegged the Kindle as her new favorite gadget in late October, the Kindle received the benefit of the "Oprah effect."

There's always the chance this is some other big announcement, but given Kindle 1.0 was launched in Nov. 2007, it's definitely time for a Kindle refresh.

Gene and Majel Barrett Roddenberry to "Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before," Forever

In mid-December, the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away of leukemia at the age of 76, joining her husband, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who had passed away in 1991. On Monday, Celestis, a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," announced that the two would journey forever together "where no one has gone before" in a 2012 mission.

Gene Roddenberry needs no introduction, we would hope; without him there would have been no Star Trek.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry appeared as Nurse Chapel in Star Trek, was Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was the voice of the computer in all of the series, including Star Trek: Voyager. She also reprised the computer's voice in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (nee Enterprise), and recently completed voice work for the upcoming Star Trek motion picture. She also did voiceover work for Star Trek: The Animated Series.

While she had other acting credits, including Leave It to Beaver and Bonanza, all that was dwarfed by her Star Trek work.

She married Gene Roddenberry, who passed away in 1991, in 1969. They had one child, Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr.

On Monday Celestis posted the following message from Eugene Roddenberry, Jr.:

I am pleased to announce today that we have planned a very compelling future memorial service for my mother and father.

Fulfilling a pledge made to Majel in 1995, Celestis, Inc. will launch my mother and my father together, side-by-side, on an infinite journey into deep space aboard their Voyager Memorial Spaceflight Service.

The spacecraft is currently planned for launch in 2012 and it will carry their spirits, their memories, and the message of their life’s work into the cosmos.

I want to thank Celestis for offering this service to humanity and for making it possible to fulfill Majel’s request.

-- Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry II

A portion of Gene Roddenberry's remains have already reached space, in 1997 Majel Barrett Roddenberry asked Celestis to launch a portion of his remains into space. Celestis has also launched James Doohan's (Scotty, on Star Trek) remains, as well.

Apple Releases iPhone, iPod Touch 2.2.1 Software Update

On Tuesday Apple released a minor update to the iPhone / iPod Touch Software, 2.2.1 (up from the older 2.2 software). The typically vague release notes say:

iPhone 2.2.1 Software Update

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

• Improved general stability of Safari
• Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll
• Fixed issue that caused some Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio files to skip during during playback (iPod Touch only)
  

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone
• iPhone 3G

Despite the small list, the update is just as big as the 2.2 update, at 246.4MB. I have already installed it, without issue. Took about 20 minutes, and seems to be fine, though as usual, there's nothing like being an earlier adopter for additional risk.

Did Steve Jobs Have Surgery on Monday? Yes, No, Should We Care?

A rumor from Valleywag yesterday, relayed from a Stanford hospital staffer at a party (who may or may not have had too much to drink) said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was undergoing surgery on Monday.

A bunch of sites jumped on the rumor, but in addition, many others received denials stating that Jobs was in the office at Apple attending meetings (some medical leave). Those sites included TechCrunch and Silicon Alley Insider.

In fact, TechCrunch said:

Our own source, who is significantly more believable than some person at some party, says Jobs is in the office today in meetings and most definitely not undergoing surgery. Does that mean he might go under the knife tomorrow instead? Do we really need to know?

And there's the crux of the situation about Jobs' health. While the SEC has begun investigating what exactly Apple did and did not know about Steve Jobs' health, I (and many others) are growing weary of not just the constant chatter about Steve Jobs, but the multiple hoaxes as well.

While in fact the answer to "Should We Care?" probably depends on whether or not you own Apple stock, the answer to "Should We Intrude?" is a different one. It's time to move on and talk tech, not health.

At the same time, I have to admit, it's difficult for anyone in this industry to hear anything about Steve Jobs, and not write about it.

Google Scrubs Barack Obama "Miserable Failure" Googlebomb

Ah, the President. No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you're a target for ridicule. A few years ago some pranksters used the practice of Googlebombing to link George W. Bush's bio to the query "miserable failure" (as shown above). A few disgruntled tech-savvy users on the other side of the aisle decided to repeat the favor for Barack Obama, but Google has already scrubbed their effort, at the same time revealing their new algorithm for doing so.

To be fair, the algorithm also detected the Googlebomb "cheerful achievement" linked to Obama. Here's what Google said in a blog post:

Rather than edit these prank results by hand, we developed an algorithm a few years ago to detect Googlebombs. We tend not to run it all the time, because it takes some computing power to process our entire web index and because true Googlebombs are quite rare (we joke around the Googleplex that more articles have been written about Googlebombs than there are actual examples of Googlebombs).

After we became aware of this latest Googlebomb, we re-ran our algorithm and it detected the Googlebomb for [cheerful achievement] as well as for [failure]. As a result, those search queries now return discussion about the Googlebombs rather than the original pages that were returned.

A Google bomb (or "link bomb") is an attempt to artificially raise the ranking of a given page in results from a Google search, often used in a humorous or political vein.

While Google has seemingly fixed this (for now) if you currently try a Yahoo! search for "miserable failure," you still get George W. Bush's bio, but linked below is Barack Obama's current administration page (click through the above Bush Googlebomb to see Yahoo!'s results).

Apple Awarded Multi-Touch Patent

To all of you who wondered if Apple indeed had the patents to back up its thinly veiled threats against Palm regarding the multi-touch feature of the iPhone and iPod Touch: it appears the answer is yes. On January 20th, 2009, Apple was awarded patent number 7,479,949 which appears to cover much of the iPhone's multi-touch user interface.

Apple's earnings conference call was January 21st, the day after the patent was awarded. Small wonder that COO Tim Cook should say the following during the call (emphasis mine):

I don't want to talk about any specific company. I'm just making a general statement that we think competition is good. It makes us all better. And we are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal. I don't know that I can be clearer than that.

The patent, first noticed by World of Apple, was awarded to several Apple executives, Wayne Westerman, one of the founders of Fingerworks, a company that Apple acquired in 2005, iPhone software chief Scott Forstall, and natch, Steve Jobs.

The patent, by the way, is no small thing; it's 358 pages long. Warm up your lawyers, Palm.

Politician Proposes Mandatory Shutter Sound on Camera Phones

Photo by Jeff Epp

A new bill, the "Camera Phone Predator Alert Act," introduced by New York Republican Rep. Peter King would requires mobile phones with digital cameras "to make a sound" whenever a photograph is taken.

The bill states:

Requires any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera's phone. Prohibits such a phone from being equipped with a means of disabling or silencing the tone. Treats the requirement as a consumer product safety standard and requires enforcement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Before anyone makes fun of the bill, something like this is already done in Japan, though I don't believe there is an actual law. However, the practice of taking "upskirt" photos is so prevalent there that nearly every cell phone makes a sound when the camera is activated, even the iPhone.

To illustrate how large the problem is, above is a warning sign from a Japanese subway.

And yes, there is absolutely no way to disable the sound. You could probably jailbreak your iPhone if you really wanted to get around that, but that option isn't available for most cell phones.

Will the bill pass? Probably not, since there are no co-sponsors, but who knows? Maybe they'll tack it onto some other bill and get it passed on the sly.

Readers, your opinion of this? Remember, it's already something done in Japan, so don't use technology as an issue.

Expired SSL Certificate Instills Panic Among GrandCentral Users

I've written about Google's GrandCentral service before, and use it, too. I have to admit, however, that the lack of feature updates and even site updates (the darned front page still trumpets that Google has acquired GrandCentral, but that happened in mid-2007) has worried me. Monday morning an expired SSL certificate message at GrandCentral freaked out WebWorkerDaily’s Judi Sohn to the point that she said that Google should to the right thing and "shut GrandCentral down once and for all."

An expired SSL certificate does not necessarily mean a service is defunct. It does mean someone isn't paying attention, however.

One would hope, that the fact that Google and San Francisco have been giving out GrandCentral numbers to the homeless would be sufficient indication that the service is not going anywhere. That and that fact that Google didn't list GrandCentral among its orphaned services that it cut a week or so ago (e.g., Notebook), natch.

Still, it seems like the service is in limbo. It works fine, as it is, but what about new features? For that matter, what about new users? You can't get a number any longer, though you can still reserve one. I wonder how large a backlog they have now.

Before we get too panicky, however, no less than the New York Times' David Pogue chimed in at Judi's post, and said:

You’ve got it wrong. Everyone from GrandCentral still works on GrandCentral, and the 2.0 version is imminent.

A PR guy explained to me that it’s taken a year to merge the GrandCentral servers with Google’s, but they’re nearly done.

–Pogue

A 2.0 release? I'd love it. Roll it out so all the naysayers can see that GrandCentral still matters, eh, Google?

Did "Three Strikes" for Downloading Strike Out in the U.K.?

The RIAA recently announced it was tabling the policy of lawsuits over illegal downloading, and instead moving toward a "three strikes" policy such as the E.U. and U.K. were considering. A new report indicates, however, that the U.K. has decided against that policy.

According to the Times of London, David Lammy, the Intellectual Property Minister, told them that the government had ruled out legislation to force ISPs to cooperate with the industry and disconnect downloaders.

Lammy said because of the complex legal issues involved in enforced disconnection that "I'm not sure it's actually going to be possible."

While falling short of forcing ISPs to disconnect suspected downloaders, a report to be released later this week, "Digital Britain," written by Communications Minister Lord Carter, does state, according to leaked information, that a new agency known as the "Rights Agency" should be created. This agency would work with ISP to send out warnings to customers they suspect of illegally downloading, as well as requiring ISPs to collect data on infringement that could then be used in possible legal action.

The "Rights Agency" would be overseen by Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the U.K. communications industries.

An unnamed music industry source said:

"The relative cost of stealing a bar of soap from an hotel might be small, but if it came to seven million people nicking the soap each year, which is what we have in the music industry, I'm sure that hotel chain would do something about it."

Microsoft Delivers Internet Explorer 8, RC1

As expected, on Monday, January 26th, Microsoft made the first release candidate version (RC1) for Internet Explorer 8 available to the public. You have to know where to go to find it, however, due to some site updating issues.

At the time of this writing, while their site image (above) says you can download RC1, when you click through you only see Beta 2. However, if you go to this URL you can download IE8 RC1 in just about every OS flavor imaginable --- except Windows 7, that is. Windows 7 has its own version of IE8 built-in already.

Just remember, this is still not final code. A release candidate is much further along than a beta, but can still be buggy. This is, however, expected to be the last public release prior to the actual final software.

One important change that should really improve ease-of-use: Microsoft has made IE8 more standards-compliant than prior Internet Explorer versions. While in-and-of-itself that's good, it also means that certain sites that have been coded to meet the quirks of say, IE7, have problems with IE8. Thus IE8 has a Compatibility View button.

In the Release Candidate, Microsoft has (smartly) added a pre-supplied list of sites that are problematic to the software. Thus, when you go to those sites, the browser renders the site in Compatibility Mode automatically. Naturally, you can manually add sites, but additionally, Microsoft will update its site list as time passes.

You can bet that this new release of IE8 will foster benchmarking between it, the latest release of Chrome, the latest release of Firefox 3.1. Previous benchmarking has shown Chrome and Firefox 3.1 to be running nearly neck-and-neck in front of IE8. Now? Start your stopwatches.

iLife '09 Available on Jan. 27: Apple

Announced earlier this month at Macworld, iLife '09 is set to ship on January 27th, according to an Apple press release.

Changes to the software centered around iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie, though not exclusively to those packages, which were highlighted at Macworld.

iPhoto '09, for example, adds Faces (above), which uses facial recognition to aid you in tagging photos per person, and Places, geotagging.

iMovie '09 adds a precision editor, a drag-and-drop feature, new themes, animated travel maps, and automated video stabilization.

GarageBand '09 adds a "Learn to Play" feature, which will, assuming you pay $4.99 for each artist lesson, let you learn from artists such as Sarah McLachlan, for example.

From the press release:

iLife ’09 will be available January 27 for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). The iLife ’09 Family Pack includes five licenses and will be available for $99 (US) and the Mac Box Set which includes iLife ’09, iWork ’09 and Mac OS® X v10.5.6 Leopard® will be available for $169 (US). Artist Lessons are sold separately through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.

Flight Sim Layoffs Confirmed, But MS Still "Committed to Flying Games"

Microsoft on Friday confirmed that indeed, they have axed the ACES Studio, developers of the Flight (and Train) Simulator game, but despite that, the company maintains that it is still committed to flying games.

Separately, ex-ACES developer Phil Taylor, who left in October 2008, confirmed in a blog post that the studio was shuttered.

I can confirm everyone except 6 people got RIFed. The 6 are to perform an orderly shutdown and service existing contracts ( likely ESP ). There were something like 100 people in the studio across FS,TS,ESP, and Core.

In a statement issued to IGN, Kelda Rericha of Edelman, Microsoft's public relations firm, said:

"We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great LIVE experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time."

What, if anything do they have up their sleeve? MMO flight game of some sort? It's hard to believe, when you ditch your entire development staff, that you are still "committed."

Get Multi-Touch on Your T-Mobile G1

While Palm wasn't afraid to add multi-touch support to the Palm Pre, some have theorized the reason we haven't seen that feature added to Windows Mobile or Android is caution over possible litigation. However, the openness of Android gives developers an edge over more closed platforms, and one enterprising developer has added multi-touch to the T-Mobile G1.

In fact, people have been saying for months that both Android and the T-Mobile G1 hardware have low-level support for multi-touch. And while this isn't the someone has demo'ed multi-touch on the G1, you can actually enable it yourself on your own G1.

However, as Luke Hutchison says, this is proof-of-concept. And, quite honestly, you'll likely void your warranty and possibly brick your G1. This is definitely not just a load-and-run type of installation.

It also doesn't work everywhere, but this is just the first release and he'll be working on optimizing it.

Too technophobe-ish to try it yourself? Enjoy the video below.

Windows 7 Beta Download Extended to Feb. 10: Microsoft

While Microsoft originally was going to limit Windows 7 activation codes to 2.5 million, and then backtracked and said it would allow downloads through at least January 24th, the company has now indicated that it will extend the download program to February 10th.

It should be noted if you start the download prior to February 10th, Microsoft will give to until February 12th to complete the download.

In their blog post, Microsoft said:

Because enthusiasm continues to be so high for the Windows 7 Beta and we don’t want anyone to miss out we will keep the Beta downloads open through February 10th. Customers who have started but not completed the download process will be able to do so through February 12th.

The shutdown of general availability for the Windows 7 Beta will occur in 3 phases over the course of the next few weeks:

• Starting January 27th, the Windows 7 page will be updated with a warning that time is running out on downloading the Windows 7 Beta and that we will be limiting downloads shortly. People will be encouraged to register and start the download of the Windows 7 Beta sooner rather than later.
• February 10th, new downloads of the Windows 7 Beta will no longer be available. People who have already started their Windows 7 Beta download and have not yet finished will still be able to finish their download and are encouraged to do so.
• February 12th, people will no longer be able to complete their download of the Windows 7 Beta. Anyone who hasn’t finished downloading the Windows 7 Beta will be unable to do so.

If for some reason you don't get an activation key prior to February 12th, keys will be available even after that date.

The deadline applies to the general public, while members of Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN developer programs will quite naturally continue to have access to the code, and possibly later betas.

Monster.com Fails to Learn, Gets Hacked Again

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Monster.com should remember that old proverb, as for the second time (or third, depends on how you count) since 2007, the job search site has been hacked.

Unfortunate, since job search sites are extremely popular now; in fact job search sites are the fastest growing U.S. online category, according to a recent comScore analysis. No one should need to be told why.

At any rate, in a post on the site, Monster.com said the following:

We recently learned our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account data were taken, including Monster user IDs and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some basic demographic data. The information accessed does not include resumes. Monster does not generally collect – and the accessed information does not include - sensitive data such as social security numbers or personal financial data.

At least users of that site don't have to worry about their financial information being used. However, many people use the same password at multiple sites, and if that's the case for a Monster.com user they could face big problems.

Need I say you shouldn't use the same password at more than one site? Yes, yes, I know it's hard to remember them, but most browsers allow you to store them, and you can always use third-party password programs such as Roboform.

In 2007, hackers used the credentials of a number of recruiters to log in to the Web site and perform searches for resumes of candidates located in certain countries or working in certain fields (I suppose we can let Monster off the hook for that one.)

Later that same year, the Monster.com site was definitely hacked when hackers inserted malware into certain pages of the site, which could infect users visiting that page.

Verizon Rolls Out Its "Network Extender" Femtocell

As expected, on Sunday Verizon Wireless rolled out its "Network Extender" femtocell. Also as expected, the price is $249.99, free from monthly fees.

A femtocell is basically a signal booster for cell phones. It works through the user's broadband connection. Of course, in these days when many ISPs seem to be embracing broadband caps, I'd really like to know just how much of my cap is sucked away by these miniature cell phone towers.

All sarcasm aside, it certainly could help those in marginal areas.

Verizon's femtocell does not support EVDO (3G), VCAST or Location Based Services.

Sprint already has their own femtocell under the Airave brand, for $99.99 + monthly charges. Sprint's femtocell also does not support EVDO. Unlike Sprint and Verizon, AT&T is testing femtocell service that supports 3G. I'd much rather pay more up front and forego monthly charges (hint, hint, AT&T, for when you finally do join the party and offer your own femtocell).

The EFF Seeks to "Free Your Phone"

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has started a new campaign which, if things were to work out the way EFF and consumers would like, could result in an exemption to the DMCA so users could legally unlock their cell phones.

The campaign, called "Free Your Phone," asks consumers to sign the EFF's petition to the U.S. Copyright Office for an exemption, as well as asking consumers to share their stories about locked cell phone frustrations. As the EFF says, rather than protecting copyrighted material, the locks instituted by cell phone manufacturers and carriers are built less for protection of copyrighted material , and more to protect their business models.

No, really?

Every three years, the U.S. Copyright Office convenes to consider exemptions to the DMCA's ban on circumvention of "technical protection measures." The EFF has already filed exemption requests with the Copyright Office, but the U.S. Copyright Office also accepts public comments.

In a press release, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann said:

"Apple locks its iPhone to AT&T and prevents users from installing any software that has not been pre-approved by Apple. Consumers need a DMCA exemption to lift the cloud of legal risk that otherwise serves only to reduce competition and consumer choice."

EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick said:

"Companies are using the DMCA to threaten customers out of exercising their consumer rights. The Copyright Office needs to hear real stories about how these software locks frustrate consumers and developers."

The deadline for public comment is February 2nd, with the U.S. Copyright Office scheduled to hold hearings in Washington, D.C. and California in the Spring. A final decision will be issued in October.

Don't hold your breath, though.