Consumers Archive

  • FreeConference Mobile App for Android

    FreeConference Mobile App for Android

    Posted on December 5, 2011 | No Comments
    var AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2053203&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–FreeConference.com, a leading teleconferencing company, announced the launch of its Android mobile phone app. FreeConference...

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  • ShopRunner Announces Launch of New Mobile App

    Posted on July 19, 2011 | No Comments
    NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ShopRunner (http://www.shoprunner.com) today announced the availability of a new iPhone app further illustrating the company’s commitment to continually enhancing the shopping experience...

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  • iWatchz Launches Carbon and Jelly Collections at CES 2011

    Posted on January 8, 2011 | No Comments
    LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–iWatchz announces the launch of the Carbon and Jelly Collections to rave reviews at the CES Show. “The Q Collection represents the foundation of the iWatchz brand” ...

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  • USAA Redefines Car Buying with Launch of Auto CircleTM: Find, Finance, Insure on Mobile App

    Posted on August 4, 2010 | No Comments
    SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Buying a car? USAA has an app for that. “Think of Home Circle as an all-access pass for our members. Through this program they can now tap into the same comprehensive listing...

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  • Best Buy’s Insignia Brand to Offer Audyssey

    Best Buy’s Insignia Brand to Offer Audyssey

    Posted on June 22, 2010 | No Comments
    Best Buy's bargain brand, Insignia, is offering a new 5.1 home theater system with Audyssey technology, yes, Audyssey. We love Audyssey.

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  • San Francisco passes law requiring mandatory display of phone radiation levels

    San Francisco passes law requiring mandatory display of phone radiation levels

    Posted on June 16, 2010 | No Comments
    Despite scientific studies showing no link between tumours and mobile phone radiation, San Francisco have decided that it is in the consumer's best interest to clearly display the specific absorption rates (SAR) emitted by every phone sold. The law requires phone retailers to display this information next to each phone in their store in at least 11 point type.

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  • Cellphone radiation law to help, confuse San Francisco consumers

    Cellphone radiation law to help, confuse San Francisco consumers

    Posted on June 16, 2010 | No Comments
    Oh San Francisco, you and your progressive ways. The city just passed a law -- a first in the US -- requiring retailers to post the Specific Absorption Rates (aka SAR, the rate at which at which energy is absorbed by the body) in no less than 11-point font right next to any cellphone being sold. Sounds good as far as consumer education goes, right? And a functioning democracy demands an educated and informed elecorate. But here's the thing: the jury's still out (just pick your favorite dangerous / not dangerous study to fit your belief) on the effect of radiation at levels less than the 1.6 watts per kilogram threshold set by the FCC. As such, CTIA spokesman John Walls has a point when he says that highlighting the SAR levels might confuse consumers into thinking that some cellphones are safer than others. In other words, consumer education needs to go much further than any retail-shelf placard could possibly communicate. Well, at least the law will keep us safe long enough to walk out the door and trip over a hippie.

    P.S. The image above is from the "Get a Safer Phone" (note the wording) rankings provided by the Environmental Working Group.

    Cellphone radiation law to help, confuse San Francisco consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • iPhone 4’s seams explained, ready to solve AT&T call issues? (video)

    iPhone 4’s seams explained, ready to solve AT&T call issues? (video)

    Posted on June 8, 2010 | No Comments
    When we first exposed the iPhone 4 to the world, many of you were skeptical about its authenticity. Frankly, so were we, initially anyway. A device with black seams disrupting its otherwise clean lines just couldn't be from Apple, a company notorious for its obsessive design aesthetic. Well, now that the iPhone 4 is official, Steve took a moment to explain that the stainless steel band is actually an integral part of the iPhone's antenna system -- one part dedicated to Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS; the other larger half to UMTS and GSM. Something that, according to Steve, has never been done before in a phone. We'll have to wait a bit before we know whether this "brilliant engineering" translates into fewer dropped calls for frustrated AT&T customers. But it's hard to imagine that Apple would take the time to show its antennas to developers if there wasn't a downstream reward for consumers. Remember, Steve did say last week that things "should be getting a lot better soon" on AT&T. Click through to hear Apple's loyal software developers ooh and aah over the iPhone's really cool ability to convert electromagnetic radiation into electrical current, and back. Amazing.

    Continue reading iPhone 4's seams explained, ready to solve AT&T call issues? (video)

    iPhone 4's seams explained, ready to solve AT&T call issues? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

    Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

    Posted on May 28, 2010 | No Comments
    Skype's PR folks have been unusually loquacious today, as they've responded to a query about whether HTC's EVO 4G would get a Skype client with a deep and meaningful forward-looking statement, underpinned by a promise of an Android app "for all consumers globally to download regardless of carriers." This universally available addition to the Market should arrive "later this year," but what's important about it is that it's preceded by a lengthy spiel about Skype's ambition to "set the bar on mobile video calling," which it also intends to do this year. Does this necessarily mean that Skype video calling is coming to Android in time for us to wish granny happy Hanukkah over video chat? No. Is it a well constructed insinuation to that effect? Hell yes. Read the full statement at the source, or find the juiciest excerpt after the break.

    [Thanks, Jeremy]

    Continue reading Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year?

    Skype Mobile with video support coming to Android Market later this year? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • AT&T: 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise, Android ‘built with a very specific focus to consumers’

    AT&T: 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise, Android ‘built with a very specific focus to consumers’

    Posted on May 27, 2010 | No Comments
    It isn't just Verizon's Lowell McAdam with fascinating commentary at this Barclays Capital tech conference going down in New York this week. Ron Spears, who leads up AT&T's Business Solutions division, had some notable things to say about enterprise mobility -- specifically, the iPhone's role in taking businesses to the road, a magic trick typically associated almost exclusively with BlackBerry over the past ten years. Basically, Spears says that he's seeing extraordinary uptake on the business side with the iPhone since 2008 and the introduction of the platform's first enterprise-focused features; in fact, he claims that "four out of every 10 sales" are to enterprise users these days and that it has all but caught up to BlackBerry for the kind of modern, tight, full-featured security that your average IT department needs. On a related note, Spears says that he hasn't "seen the Android platform yet in the enterprise space," but that he figures it'll evolve over time to become "hard to ignore" to the enterprise segment. Of course, considering that AT&T has virtually no presence in the Android market at the moment, we're not surprised that he'd take a lukewarm tack -- so here's hoping that changes fast. Follow the break for more highlights of Spears' comments.

    Continue reading AT&T: 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise, Android 'built with a very specific focus to consumers'

    AT&T: 40 percent of iPhone sales are enterprise, Android 'built with a very specific focus to consumers' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 17:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • FCC offers ’simple’ ‘tips’ for avoiding pesky early termination fees

    FCC offers ’simple’ ‘tips’ for avoiding pesky early termination fees

    Posted on May 26, 2010 | No Comments
    The government is just about the last place we'd look for helpful pointers on much of anything, much less when shopping for a new phone -- but that didn't stop the FCC's Consumer Task Force from whipping up a PDF of things you can to do prevent yourself from getting burned with a multi-hundred dollar early termination fee when buying the handset of your wildest dreams. There's nothing in here that isn't obvious to a seasoned phone buyer -- buy the phone at full price instead, ask about a trial period, look into proration, and so on -- but it goes without saying that these are the kinds of tidbits average consumers should know before setting foot in the store. Perhaps the more interesting thing about this effort on the FCC's part is that it indicates the feds haven't forgotten about the stink it made about rising ETFs not long ago -- and AT&T's move to hop on the bandwagon can't be helping to smooth things over in Washington. Anyhow, go get your learn on before some seedy carrier sales rep takes advantage of you, won't you?

    FCC offers 'simple' 'tips' for avoiding pesky early termination fees originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Report: Laptop sales are rocking fueled by netbooks sales

    Report: Laptop sales are rocking fueled by netbooks sales

    Posted on May 25, 2010 | No Comments
    People might not be buying houses and cars at the pre-recession levels, but laptops are flying off the shelves led by netbook sales. (Quiet, don't tell John. He hates netbooks.)

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  • Google changes Nexus One plans, will stop selling handsets online

    Google changes Nexus One plans, will stop selling handsets online

    Posted on May 14, 2010 | No Comments
    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/hardware/Google_to_stop_selling_Nexus_One_online'; Although Google launched the Nexus One with grand plans to radically change the way consumers purchased phones and service, it looks like the experiment has fizzled to an end -- the company just announced that will eventually stop selling handsets online and instead partner with carriers to sell the N1 in-store while using its website to promote "a variety of Android phones available globally." Google says customers simply want a hands-on experience before buying a phone, but we'd say the lack of subsidies from any carrier except T-Mobile and some serious customer service issues probably played in killing Google's original sales strategy -- and of course, both Verizon and Sprint essentially refused the N1 in favor of the bespoke Incredible and EVO 4G. We'd also say that Android as a whole will remain unaffected, since the Nexus One was never a huge seller, but it's still rare that a company simply gives up a business model like this, and we don't know if Google will ever follow up with a successor to the Nexus One. The Google Phone is dead, people -- long live the Google Phone.

    Update: We just asked Google about future devices and support for current Nexus One owners, here's what they said:
    On the future: We will continue working with our partners to bring cutting-edge new Android handsets to market, but we have nothing to announce right now.

    On support: This announcement doesn't have any immediate impact on support for consumers who purchase Nexus One through the web store.

    Google changes Nexus One plans, will stop selling handsets online originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 12:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • iPad Confusing The Hell Out Of The Public. Or Is It Just The Brits?

    iPad Confusing The Hell Out Of The Public. Or Is It Just The Brits?

    Posted on May 12, 2010 | No Comments
    As magical as Apple's iPad maybe, it's unlikely to go mass market anytime soon. Whoa! Hold everything. At least that's according to research carried out in the UK, which concludes that consumers struggle to see how the device could fit into their lives. Oh come, on guys... really? Simpson Carpenter's qualitative research drew comments from participants such as: "It's just a big iPod Touch ... a big iPhone without the phone" and "everything it does I can do on my PC or my phone right now." Geez, these Brits... where do they get off, pointing out the bloody obvious...

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  • HDMI coming to more netbooks in 2011

    HDMI coming to more netbooks in 2011

    Posted on May 11, 2010 | No Comments
    HDMI can be found on a few netbooks right now, but it's set to become standard next year when Intel's Cedar Trail-M platform hits the tiny lappies. Most of the current netbooks with HDMI are built around Nvidia's ION GPU platform, which also drives up the cost. But by moving HDMI support to the CPU, it should come on nearly every netbook.

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