The Weather Channel

If you're like me the first time that you fired up the weather App on your iPhone or iPad you were left wanting a little more. Sure, the built in App shows you the temperature outside and the 7 day forecast but it shows little else. I wanted to see more. I wanted the ability to see the hour by hour, radar maps and more. Unfortunately the App that comes standard doesn't do any of that. I went searching and found the iOS companion for my favorite weather website, www.weatherchannel.com. This App keeps up the standard of the website and more!

The Usual Suspects
Just like the Weather App that's built in to iOS, The Weather Channel shows you the current temperature outside as well as the next 10 days. These are the things that you would expect from a weather App and TWC doesn't disappoint.





The Extras
Features that TWC offers beyond the built in App are numerous. My favorite feature is the bar at the bottom of the screen allowing you to switch between "Now, Hourly, 36 Hour, and 10 day".  These are all different views of the weather showing their respective information. Another of the features that I find really useful is the "Map" section. Under this tab is the radar maps like you find on the desktop version of The Weather Channel. I use the 

A Few More
Also housed within TWC are settings for social media allowing you to see tweets about local weather. There are videos to watch including content from your local area, the world, all of the U.S. and "must see" video clips.


The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a free, full featured App that provides just about any option that you could want from a weather App in an easy to use package, TWC is for you.

20 Must Have Apps For The New iPhone, iPad or iPod touch User

If you just got your 1st iPhone, iPad or iPod touch then chances are you're looking for some great Apps to have. Although I have literally hundreds of Apps loaded on my iPhone and iPad, I do have a recommended list of "Must Have Apps". I'm keeping the list to 20 which means that there are still dozens that I would recommend, but don't want to overwhelm you with here. Stay tuned for our Top 100 Apps of 2011! In the meantime these are 20 Apps that you should look at sooner rather than later. In most cases the Apps I'm listing today are Universal Apps and therefore work natively on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch including taking advantage of the iPad screen size. However, there are some Apps that will work on iPad, but don't take advantage of the screen size. This being the case if the App is a Universal App I will put a (+) in front of the download link so that you know it works across all iOS devices. In no particular order:





Camera+

Camera+ (pictured above) is my favorite iPhone camera special effects App. You can not only snap photos with this App, but you can really create some very cool effects, including a nice HDR look and feel.
























PS Express

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard photo manipulation App. Photoshop Express allows for some basic editing beyond what's included in iOS 5 and a few special effects and borders as well. Best of all for the time being it's FREE. 
Snapseed

While Photoshop Express above does a fine job with basic edits and exposure adjustments, Snapseed is much more robust. Apple also named it iPad App of the Year for 2011. There are certainly more full featured editors out there, but Snapseed definitely has an easier interface than most and unique features that don't require any masking.
Taxi Magic

I travel for a living and therefore I use a large number of Apps in the Travel category. One of the coolest travel Apps is Taxi Magic. This location based App will show you the Taxi companies that service the area you're in and let you dial them directly. However, where the cool factor really shines is when you're in an area that supports "Direct Dispatch". When you're in one of these metropolitan areas you'll be able to book your taxi directly from the App, see when it's been dispatched, know the taxi cab number and driver's name as well as see where it is on the integrated map. Once your ride is over you'll be able to pay the fare directly from the App as well if you choose




Evernote

Evernote is the end all be all notes App for iOS that allows you to sync notes and documents with the cloud. While I'm not really an Evernote fan (the built-in Notes App with iCloud syncing serves me well), it's one of those Apps that If I don't list someone will say "how can you not list Evernote?" 
Red Laser

Red Laser is an old favorite that keeps getting better. First off Red Laser lets you scan the barcodes on retail products that you're thinking of buying and show you the online prices for that item so that you can price compare on the spot. It also offers "Local" search so you can see if a nearby store has it cheaper. This latest version also has support for QR codes. Yes, this one App does it all and it's FREE. However, it's not a universal App, so if you're looking for a just a good QR scan App then I'd recommend "Scan" which is Universal.
Twitter, Facebook,  Google+ & Flipboard

If you're into social media then chances are you're going to want the native App for the social media network that you use the most. Therefore, I've listed the most popular ones. Flipboard gives you a visual view of your Facebook and Twitter timelines as well as great photos on the internet and RSS news feeds.
Delivery Status touch

I've been using Delivery Status touch to track packages on my iDevices for a long time. This App is great! You can track packages from all the major carriers simultaneously complete with push notifications and a built-in Map to see where your packages are. This latest version allows you to scan the tracking label for the items you're shipping to cut down on tedious data entry.
Flixster

Flixster is a great multi-purpose Movie and TV App. The main reason I use it is to see show times for my local theater as well as trailers. However, you can also use it to add DVDs to your Netflix queue and see which movies are coming to disc and when. Once you watch a movie you can rate/review it and automatically share that rating on your Facebook or Twitter stream.
Dropbox

Dropbox.com is my favorite cloud based storage service. With your FREE Dropbox account you can store up to 2GB's of data. The Free Dropbox App lets you easily access your files as well as share them. Also many Apps allow you to use Dropbox to back up and share data
Navigon

The Built-in Maps App is pretty cool, but it lacks voice turn-by-turn directions. There are a few good GPS Voice turn-by-turn Apps out there on the App Store, However, my top pick is Navigon. They offer a variety of different Apps depending on how much coverage you need in terms of driving territory. You can buy one just for your region or the entire country. The latest 2.0 version also allows you to just download the maps for the areas you're going to be in, which reduces the amount of storage space required significantly.

Navigon Apps on Sale!

My favorite iOS Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation Apps are ON SALE just in time for your holiday travel or App Gifting Needs.

Navigon North America (USA & Canada) Now $38.99 ($21 off)






Navigon USA Only Now $29.99 ($20 off)









Lower Cost Region Specific Apps Now $19.99 ($10 off):




East (AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, IN, KY, MA, ME, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VT, VA, WV)




Central (AL, AR, CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NM, ND, OH, OK, SD, TN, TX, WI, WY)




West (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY)

Navigon makes several apps for just about every region around the world. Find yours here: 






These Apps are UNIVERSAL and work on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The Maps are BUILT-IN and therefore these Apps don't require a data connection to navigate. With version 2.0 you can now download just the maps you need for the areas you're driving in so that you don't waste a lot of space on your device.

Kindle Fire owners are heavy internet users?

An ad network is claiming that Kindle Fire advertisement impressions growing, suggests increasing users and owners’ online activity.
Silk Browser is one of the most controversial web browsers this year due to its Amazon cloud-centric structure. Well, the browser is the newest indicator that Kindle Fire users are growing.
According to Millennial Media, November’s ad impressions data hint the growth of the Kindle Fire users and based on its findings, is flaunting the average ad impression growth of 19% since its release date last month. For starters, more users means more web users, and the good news for Amazon, consumers bought the device not because it is cheap, but they are also using it to browse the web.

The Kindle Fire is using a heavily customized version of Android, and the fact is, it is an Android device. The point is, the new Amazon tablet is also helping the search engine giant Google and its Android operating system to grab more ad impression market share.
The data reveal that Android still leads in Millennial Media’s ad impressions list with an impressive 50% of the total mobile ad impressions.
Apple’s new iOS 5 operating system as well as the new iPhone 4S arguably gave the computer company iOS the additional 7% last month now with 30 percent, while the company behind the BlackBerry smartphones grabbed the 17 percent.
The Kindle Fire is currently the cheapest “high-end” Android device, sporting the tag price of $199 only.
Rumors say Amazon will release a new, and bigger Fire tablet next year that will compete against Apple’s 9.7-incher, and other Android devices sporting the larger 10-inch. Amazon said last week that they’re currently selling 1 million Kindles a week, and the growth started last month after the launch of the 7-inch Android tablet.
Via TechCrunch.

ASUS Transformer Prime 64GB delayed: Reports

An Online retail is suggesting that the high-end 64GB ASUS will get a Spring release date.

Still waiting for the more spacious ASUS Transformer Prime or Transformer 2 with 64GB of onboard storage? Well, here’s a little bad news. If you’re not into reading bad tips, exit to Google or Bing or your preferred search engine immediately.
According to multiple reports circulating on the internet, the ASUS tablet with 64GB memory is delayed and will not arrive until next year. Yikes.

It is worth noting that ASUS and third-party retailers are still saying that the “cheaper” 32GB variant is still on schedule and will arrive this week or next month in some regions, and also depending on your retailer.
The source of the new tip is Clove, a smartphone and tablet retailer in the United Kingdom.
Here in the United States, the Transformer Prime is reportedly scheduled to arrive in customers’ houses today via Amazon.com.
Via Electronista.

What Are the Next Apple Products?

The brand-new line of Apple items to be released following year has the tech globe buzzing by having speculation as well as unlimited rumors. One of noted devices, the iPhone 5, has actually produced an internet of feasible designs as well as brand-new features that might come after this year’s Apple iPhone 4S.


The brand-new Apple iPhone 5 will certainly gloat a quicker processor as well as major software upgrades. The lengthy waited for 4G LTE connection will at last pertain to fruition after individuals have actually egged Apple to bring the seldom utilized feature to its items. Numerous of the most current Android devices operating the most current OS variation have actually currently used the feature.


Apple will certainly be heading in a various direction as its brand-new mobile phone takes a totally various design. The year 2012 will certainly guarantee to present major modifications on the equipment as well as software facets of the brand-new line of devices. A larger screen display will certainly be one of the physical features to count on to the brand-new Apple iPhone. Although no verification has actually but been made, the technician giant will likely institute such modification along by having a number of others facets. A number of technician sources are organizing to make the device thinner as well as light-weight.


Comparable modifications will definitely be made by having the following tablet, the iPad 3. Like the brand-new Apple iPhone, it will definitely even view major modifications. One of the first you may likely count on is the 4G LTE connection. DoCoMoo, a neighborhood Eastern company, is in talks by having Apple to bring its brand-new line of devices. Rumour has it that the release for the Apple items will definitely be made sometime on the next hand fifty percent of following year.


The brand-new tablet will definitely even be thinner as well as is expressed to be a lot more sparkling than one of its up as well as coming rival, Samsung. There are others that oppose the concept as well as believed that a backlight Retinal Display will definitely make the tablet a limited thicker.


David Levi writes tech news for a popular news site. Visit it now for more details on the iPhone 4S and iPad 3.

Verizon confirms Samsung Galaxy Nexus “signal issue”

Not yet ready for Prime Time? Verizon Wireless confirms the signal problem of its new Android 4.0 smartphone.

US wireless carrier Verizon has tweeted on Monday regarding the alleged signal issue that is reportedly plaguing some Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners, according to multiple reports posted online.
Verizon reportedly confirmed that the first 4G LTE version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is suffering from signal strength problem, but they assured the customers that a software update will roll out soon to fix the issue. No word yet about the roll out date of the so-called signal strength software update.
Is there really a problem? One trusted website said — none.

According to AnandTech, there’s a misconception. The tech site said the signal bars displayed on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the actual LTE signal strength, while other devices like the Droid Bionic or the Samsung Droid Charge are displaying 1x/EVDO.
The site also added that LTE with 700 MHz spectrum vs 1x/EVDO’s 800 MHz and 1900 MHz  signal strength comparison is like comparing Apples from Oranges.
The website also describes the issue as “an issue that never really existed to begin with.”
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first Long Term Evolution Nexus phone in the country, and also the first Nexus device of Verizon Wireless. The new Samsung smartphone is arguably the most popular LTE phone this month and reviews say the device will continue to dominate the Android market next year largely because Android customers now want the latest and greatest operating system version available.

facebook

Facebook unfriends coal, friends Greenpeace in clean energy campaign
by Peter Sayer, IDG News Service   Dec 17, 2011 1:05 am


Greenpeace International has ended a long-running campaign calling on Facebook to “unfriend coal” as a source of energy for its data centers, after Facebook agreed to promote clean and renewable energy, the two organizations said.


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In late October, Facebook announced plans to build a new data center in Lulea, Sweden, using hydroelectric power for the servers and relying on the local climate to cool the data center for free. At the time, though, Facebook made no commitment to use clean and renewable energy in its other data centers.


Greenpeace rated Facebook’s existing data centers as among the dirtiest on the planet in its April report on cloud-computing services, “How dirty is your data?”


Back then, the campaign group estimated Facebook’s reliance on coal at 53.2 percent, second only to Apple’s (at 54.5 percent) and far higher than Google’s (34.7 percent) or Amazon’s (28.5 percent). Greenpeace based its estimates on published figures for data-center power consumption and electricity utilities’ reports of their energy sources.


Because the local utility, Pacific Power, obtains 63 percent of its energy from coal, even Facebook’s newest data center in Prineville, Oregon, was rated badly—and this despite its industry-leading PUE (power usage effectiveness) score of just 1.07, indicating that almost all the power it consumes is used for computing rather than ancillary functions such as cooling or lighting.


The company should become less reliant on coal, though, as in the future Facebook will favor data-center sites with access to clean and renewable energy, it said Thursday.


For Facebook’s existing data centers, though, expect slow evolution, not a revolution, in energy supply: “We’ll engage in a dialogue with our utility providers about increasing the supply of clean energy that power Facebook data centers,” a company statement said.


The company has also promised to distribute the results of its research into energy efficiency through the Open Compute Project, an organization it set up to promote low-cost, low-energy computing infrastructure. Greenpeace will help promote the project’s findings, it said.

Seagate completes acquisition of Samsung's hard drive business

Seagate Technology said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of the hard disk drive (HDD) business of Samsung Electronics, after it recently received approval for the deal in Australia, China, and the European Commission. Seagate said in April that it was acquiring the HDD business of Samsung Electronics for $1.4 billion in stock and cash.


Under the terms of the transaction, Seagate said it has gained parts of Samsung’s HDD business, such as Samsung’s M8 product line of high-capacity, 2.5-inch drives, and other assets, infrastructure, and employees.


Samsung employees joining Seagate include a number of senior managers and design engineers from Samsung’s South Korea facility, who will develop small form-factor products for the mobile computing market, Seagate said.


N.Y. Park, senior vice president and general manager, will oversee Seagate’s product development activities in South Korea and serve as country manager of the local design center, reporting to Bob Whitmore, Seagate’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, it said.


In 2010, HDD shipments from both Seagate and Samsung added to 261.2 million units, giving the combined companies 40 percent of the HDD market, IHS iSuppli analyst Fang Zhang said in May in a blog post. Western Digital and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies still held the number one position with a 50 percent share.


The market shares are likely to change dramatically in this quarter and early next year after the Thailand floods halted production at the facilities of Western Digital in the country, though the supply chain to Seagate’s factories in the country was also affected.


The projected loss of shipments for Western Digital could prove a boon in the short term for Seagate Technology and boost the number two HDD player to the top after trailing Western Digital in total shipments for several quarters, IHS iSuppli said in November.


Western Digital said in March that it would buy Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for $4.3 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition is expected to close by March next year, as the company works to satisfy European Commission remedy provision, and obtains approvals from other regulatory authorities.


Seagate said it is retaining certain Samsung HDD products under the Samsung brand name for 12 months, and maintain or establish a number of independent operations including sales staff, key production lines and R&D (research and development). Some of these moves are likely to be linked to conditions imposed by China’s Ministry of Commerce for approving the merger, including requiring Seagate to expand the production capacity of Samsung drives for six months, and selling Samsung’s HDD products through an independent company.


The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission approved the acquisition last week.


Seagate and Samsung have also extended and enhanced their existing patent cross-license agreement, and have expanded cooperation to co-develop enterprise storage solutions.


Under the terms of the agreement in April, Seagate is supplying disk drives to Samsung for PCs, notebooks and consumer electronics devices, while Samsung is supplying semiconductor products for use in Seagate’s enterprise solid state drives (SSDs), solid-state hybrid drives and other products.

New MobileMe phishing scam attempts to relieve users of login data

While most treat the holidays as a time for goodwill toward all, scammers don’t really seem to have gotten the message. Their latest tactic: a phishing scheme aimed at MobileMe users.


First reported by The Mac Observer, the scam consists of a faked email, ostensibly from Apple’s MobileMe team. It warns that a virus has been found within the user’s iDisk; to keep the virus from spreading, users are instructed to reply to the email with their user name and password. (You can see the full text of the email on The Mac Observer’s website.) Other variations of the email—one supposedly from ISP Frontier Communications—are also floating around.


It's important that if you receive this—or any other questionable-looking email—you don't reply to it; if you already received and replied to such a message, you should change your password immediately. Even if your MobileMe account is not be directly linked to your iTunes Store account, you may use the same password combination—and as bad as it might be for a scammer to get into your mail and calendars, if they get ahold of your Apple ID, they'll have access to your credit card information, purchase history, and more. (You can change your password for your MobileMe account or Apple ID by visiting iforgot.apple.com.)


As a general rule, even if an email looks legitimate, you should never reply with sensitive information or visit a linked website directly through a message; if there’s an actual issue, you’ll likely be able to find it by manually typing the vendor’s URL into your Web browser. (Mac 911 columnist Ted Landau has a few more good tips on keeping yourself safe from scams online.)

Nuance buys voice-recognition app maker Vlingo

Nuance Communications and Vlingo gave people plenty to talk about Tuesday. The two makers of voice-driven apps announced that Nuance is buying Vlingo for an undisclosed sum.


In addition to a pair of Mac transcription products, Nuance offers a smattering of iOS apps. In addition to the Dragon Dictation speech-to-text dictation app—and spinoffs targeted at medical professionals and Salesforce.com users—Nuance also makes Dragon Go, a natural language search tool that attempts to provided contextualized results for your spoken queries. (A request for restaurants near you, for example, will turn up results in Yelp, while a movie showtimes request yields Fandango results.)


Vlingo has also made a name for itself with voice-driven apps on the iOS platform. Its self-titled app for the iPhone and iPod touch can send dictated text messages and emails, activate phone calls, search the Web and maps, and update your social networks using spoken commands.


Nuance’s Vlingo purchase “really accelerates the pace of innovation” both companies are bringing to the world of voice-driven natural language applications, Nuance president Steve Chambers told Macworld on Tuesday. The companies share the same vision involving global access via the spoken word, he said, and the acquisition “means we’re going to get there faster.”


The Vlingo acquisition comes just as the market for voice-driven virtual assistance seems to be booming. In announcing the deal, Nuance described a “$5 billion market opportunity” for voice-enabled capabilities that covers phones, tablets, cars, televisions, navigation devices, PCs, and music players. Even if that estimate strikes you as optimistic, it’s clear that Siri—the voice-driven personal assistant feature built into Apple’s iPhone 4S—has captured the imagination of device users. (In fact, Siri uses some of Nuance's technology under the hood.) Siri was bought by Apple in a 2010 deal.


Indeed, Chambers conceded that the “Siri effect was an underpinning of this acquisition,” citing the rapid embrace of Siri among iPhone 4S users and praising Apple’s ability to make voice-activated services accessible to consumers.


“It was a definitely a factor,” Chambers says of Siri’s impact on Nuance’s Vlingo purchase, “though not as recent [a factor] as you might think.”


Less clear is the long-term futures of the individual apps offered by Nuance and Vlingo. While the companies’ assorted iOS apps remained on the App Store Tuesday, Chambers declined to comment about post-acquisition plans for specific apps, though users can expect some future integration.


“We’re going to be adding innovation from Vlingo” into Nuance’s offerings, Chambers added.

SOPA hearing delayed, likely until early next year

A hearing to debate and amend the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives has been delayed, likely until early next year.


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The House Judiciary Committee had planned to continue with a third day of markup hearings on SOPA on Wednesday, if the House was still in session. But the House leadership plans now to break for the holidays before Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman for the committee said.


The continued markup has been “postponed until the House is again in session,” the spokeswoman said Tuesday. “At this point, we expect that to be early next year.”


The Judiciary Committee held a 10-hour bill markup session last Thursday, then met again for a short time Friday before being interrupted by votes on the House floor. Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican and committee chairman, had first suggested the next markup would be after the holidays, then scheduled a hearing for Wednesday if the House was still in session.


So far, the committee has voted down about 20 amendments designed to address concerns by Web-based companies, Web security experts and digital rights groups.


SOPA would allow the U.S. Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders blocking payment processors and online advertising networks from doing business with foreign sites accused of infringing copyright.


DOJ-requested court orders could also bar search engines from linking to the allegedly infringing sites, require domain name registrars to stop resolving queries that direct traffic to those sites, and require Internet service providers to block subscriber access to sites accused of infringing.


Also on Tuesday, the White House Office of U.S. Trade Representative released an update to its list of “notorious” markets for the sale of pirated and counterfeit goods. The list includes 18 websites, including BitTorrent indexing sites and cyberlockers.


The list shows the need for Congress to pass SOPA or the similar Protect IP Act (PIPA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. Educational efforts to warn the public about the so-called rogue websites can take years, the Chamber said.


“That is why we need rogue sites legislation now—to give our courts the ability to cut off foreign criminals from the U.S. marketplace,” the Chamber said in a statement. The two bills “provide reasonable and effective ways” to enforce copyright law.


Earlier this week, the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), an international nonprofit group fighting online phishing, botnets and fraud, released a letter to Congress about concerns members have about Web filtering techniques authorized in SOPA and PIPA.


The bills could “unintentionally” increase Web security risks, the group said in the letter.


“The filtering technologies outlined in these bills also would significantly impact the currently reliable messaging processes that are depended on worldwide and would require drastic architectural changes to existing network operations,” MAAWG added. “These bills, if passed in their present form, will make it exceedingly difficult—if not arguably impossible—to protect the Internet community from ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure, to block spam, child pornography and malware, and to prevent phishing attacks against individuals and commercial enterprises.”

Remains of the Day: Copycat cases

Apple’s got a new case on cases, first-generation iPod nano owners are turning into sixth-generation iPod nano owners, and Siri tickles the ivories (but not your funny bone). The remainders for Tuesday, December 20, 2011 are the sincerest form of flattery.


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Apple Claims Samsung Tablet, Phone Cases Infringe Patents (Bloomberg Businessweek)


Samsung’s devices aren’t the only thing that Apple contends the Korea-based company copied from Cupertino’s designs. In a filing in Australia, Apple argues that the cases for Samsung’s devices are just as infringing as the devices themselves. Or, in other words, when is a Smart Cover not so smart?


Apple may be swapping recalled iPod nanos with new models (iPodNN)


Those first-generation iPod nanos that Apple’s replacing? According to some reports, folks are actually ending up with new, sixth-generation touchscreen iPod nanos. Don’t worry: They're officially certified to contain 100 percent less fire.


“Play it again, Siri” - A smartphone plays the piano (YouTube)


You might think Siri’s only good for making your appointments and reminding you to do things, but it has aspirations of its own! You probably didn’t know, for example, that Siri’s an accomplished pianist. At least, that’s what I learned from this video showing how to control a Yamaha player piano via the virtual assistant. That’s pretty good, but until Siri can handle phonetic punctuation, it’s still no match for Victor Borge.


Super Bowl to be streamed online for first time (USA Today)


The U.S.’s biggest sporting event of the year, the world championship of pétanque Super Bowl, will be streamed on the Internet for the first time. To tune in, you’ll have to visit the NFL’s website or NBC’s website—Verizon Wireless customers can also watch via Verizon’s NFL Mobile app. Hopefully, there will be a feature to let me skip through the game and get to the ads.


Product News:


Camera Plus Pro 4.3 - The latest update to Global Delight's camera app for iPhone and iPod touch brings a live Soft Flash feature for devices without a flash. There's also now one-touch cropping by aspect ratio, the ability to import multiple photos from your device's Camera Roll for retouching, and a larger font size for text overlays. $2, for a limited time only. (Normally $3.)


Navigon 2.0.1 - The latest version of this iPhone GPS app fixes server connection problems, improves VoiceOver support, and includes interface enhancements such as integrated iPod controls. Navigon also announced that it will continue with occasional free map updates, in addition to the FreshMaps service that provides more frequent updates for a fee. $39.


GetGlue 2.5.4 for iPhone - A new visual stream look-and-feel, conversation tabs, unified interface, and guides for TV, movies, books, and music highlight the latest release of the social networking app for media. Free.


Evernote 4.1.7 - Version 4.1.7 of the online note-syncing app for iOS adds the ability to share notebooks and manage that sharing via iOS devices, easier access to offline notebooks for premium members, stability improvements, and some fixes for sync errors. Free.

Apple iPad 3 and the rumored Mini, badly needed?

Apple ready to sell the iPad 3, and iPad Mini in Q4 2012? Meanwhile, Apple’s rivals have shipped millions of small Android tablets. 
A stream of rumors flowed from the tech category about the iPad 3, the 2012 Apple tablet that will reportedly include new LCD screen, better cameras and new design. But two possible release dates are circulating, one is claiming that Apple will release a new tablet computer by March, while another version of the story is saying that the iPad 3 is set to follow the “iPad tradition” of April.
The Apple iPad 3, if it is true, is expected to face a set of new Android rivals, and the latest is coming from the Mountain View, California-based company Google. According to this week’s Android tablet rumors, Google will release a “Nexus Tablet” or tablet running the pure Android 4.0 operating system before the third quarter of 2012, or “in less than six months.”
If accurate, the Nexus Tablet might ship before the release of the next iPhone, around June or July, so it looks like the iPad 3 will get a three-month long advantage (if it will debut in February or April).
Google is not the only rival of the upcoming iPad 3. In fact, two new players are reportedly enjoying strong demand for smaller tablet computers. The latest spill is coming from Asian tech website Digitimes quoting “sources in the supply chain” that book retailer Barnes and Noble has placed more orders for its new Android-based Nook tablet computer and will ship at least 1.5 million Nook Tablet with TI OMAP4 CPU by the end of this year.
Amazon is also expected to ship millions this year. This month’s estimates from IHS iSuppli said Amazon will ship at least 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets this quarter alone and the volume would make them the second most popular tablet computer after the iPad 2. The success of the Amazon is reportedly coming from its price, only $199 which is $300 more affordable than the cheapest iPad 2 with 16GB of onboard storage.
The Nook Tablet is also popular, and according to reports, the success is due growing demand for mobile applications and e-books and e-readers.
But Apple’s iPad is still the most popular tablet computer, however, new reports are suggesting that the demand for smaller tablet computers is “forcing Apple” to create one, and one rumor said last week that an 8-inch iPad will arrive before the Black Friday or Christmas next year, while the new iPad 3 with the more conventional 9.7-inch LCD screen will take over the first half of 2012.
According to an editorial of a Mac-centric tech site, the Mac Observer, Apple must offer a smaller and cheaper iPad to maintain its tablet market lead, and because Amazon has found its own market share.
Apple’s current tablet market share according to iSuppli is 65.6 percent share with more than 18.5 million iPad shipments for this quarter alone. But here’s the catch, Amazon’s market share is 13.8 percent and it was achieved in just two months.

Facebook users remove friends due to “offensive comments”

A new research finds Facebook users delete friends because they don’t want to see offensive comments.
Facebook, the most popular social networking site, is made to communicate with friends — apparently, real friends.
According to a new Nielsen data, users add friends because they know them in real life. Survey said 82 percent added real-life friends, while 60 percent said they added people because they’re “mutual friends.”
The good news, Facebook users said they hate offensive comments. In fact, 55 percent of surveyed users said offensive comments are not acceptable in the stream. Meanwhile, 41 percent said they deleted “friends” because they “don’t know them well.”
Surprisingly, Facebook members also hate online retailers. A total of 39 percent said they removed friends because they were trying to sell something. Other reasons mentioned are depressing comments, lack of interaction and political comments.
Only 14 percent of the respondents said they deleted friends after a divorce or breakup. Deleting your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend?

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Posted on PopHerald.com December 20, 2011, updated 10:49 PM EST. Filed under the Internet and Social Media Category.

iPhone 5 also popular in YouTube

The Apple iPhone 5 doesn’t have an official release date yet, but it looks like this year is really the year of the “iPhone 5″ and not the iPhone 4S.

According to Google’s YouTube blog, the “iPhone 5 Concept Features” was the most-watched science/technology video this year and apparently, the iPhone 5 is also the most searched “smartphone” in Google — so it looks like Apple’s non-existent smartphone is more popular than this year’s iPhone, the 4S with SIRI and dual-core CPU.

AatmaStudio’s iPhone 5 concept video was uploaded in August, weeks before the official announcement of the iPhone 4S. The YouTube user said the video features an “Amazing Concept iPhone 5,” featuring the “iPhone 5 with sleeker design, a laser keyboard & holographic display.”

According to the video’s statistics, 14 million of viewers came from mobile devices, possibly from Android and Apple’s iOS, while 5 million viewers visited the video after searching “iPhone 5″ in YouTube.

Surprisingly, Google’s organic search also gave 1.2 million additional views.
Many viewers said in the comments that they watched the video because they’re waiting for the phone’s release date.
The iPhone 5, if the release date rumors are accurate, is set to arrive October next year following the iPhone 4S October launch. The mill is also suggesting that the iPhone 5 was the true “last masterpiece” of Apple’s late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs.

Nexus S Android 4.0 update paused, Galaxy Nexus also affected?

Google temporarily stops Android 4.0 Nexus S update due to “battery issue,” Samsung Galaxy Nexus also affected?
The much-anticipated Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the 2010 Samsung Nexus S was discontinued on Tuesday, according to a report posted by Electronista. The situation was confirmed by Google’s Paul Wilcox adding that the company will start monitoring feedbacks.
According to reports, Nexus S owners who have upgraded to Android 4.0 are experiencing battery drain problems and it could be related to the new operating system’s “heavy” processor usage. Google hasn’t confirmed the battery drain issue yet.
Some users say they received the Android 4.0 update but “disappeared” after the reboot. Google’s Wilcox added, “The Android 4.0 update is continuing to roll out around the world so your phone will receive another update notification when it’s available again in your region.”
A small number of Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners are also reporting the same battery drain problem. One affected customer said, “my Galaxy nexus has been losing battery significantly even in sleep mode,” he adds, “I have now reset the phone to factory mode and yet noticed the same battery usage by a ‘Android OS’ process. I have no apps, nothing installed other than resetting phone to factory state. Therefore there are no processes to synching on the phone, etc.”
Google hasn’t formally acknowledged the battery drain issue on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus but the company’s Android team hasn’t pushed the Android 4.0.3 update to the devices yet.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the Verizon Galaxy Nexus with 4G LTE is the first smartphone with Android 4.0 operating system. Google launched the Android 4.0.2 update right after the new variant’s release in United States last week.

Co-Pilot Live Navigation On Sale

Co-Pilot Live Is On Sale!
I just found out that ALK Technologies (the maker of Co-Pilot Live) has just put one of the best turn by turn GPS Apps on sale for the holiday season. Not just on sale but 50% off!!  Terry Wrote about Navigon yesterday, and Today we have this one. It seems like GPS Apps are the "Must have gift" this holiday season. Don't wait, buy them now either for yourself or for that special loved one that gets lost all of the time as a gift!

Smart tips for sharing holiday photos

By now you’ve probably attended a couple holiday get togethers—maybe even hosted one yourself—and have had plenty of photo opportunities by the tree, at dinner with friends and family, or out in the winter landscape. And once the holidays hit, that means even more memorable shots of the kids opening presents and dad devouring latkes. Instead of storing those photos within the confines of your camera's memory card, you’ll probably want to share them with family and friends.


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While you can certainly email batches of photos, that can get tedious and time-consuming. And it’s not always the best idea to post your holiday photos on Facebook for all 500 of your “friends” to see. Your photo-sharing needs will depend on how private you want to keep your holiday shots, whether you prefer a paid or free service, how you want your photos displayed, and your preferred method of sharing—via Web or iOS device. Here are some ways to share your holiday photographs.


Go basic and free
There are plenty of free photo-sharing sites available on the Web, but not all of them offer user-friendly features. While free sites won’t give you as much customizable features as paid services, or display photos in the most elegant manner, they’re great for basic sharing.




A Flickr user's photostream.
Flickr is perhaps the biggest name of the bunch, and offers a decent free account option. This isn’t for super snap-happy folks though—users can upload only up to 300MB worth of photos each month (around 100 photos). You can organize photos into different albums and set specific privacy levels for individual photos and albums. So if you don’t want the entire Flickr community to see photos of you in your signature Christmas sweater, you can choose to let only Flickr users who are tagged as Friend or Family view it. It’s also possible to share private photos with people who do not have a Flickr account by mailing them a special URL.


Google’s photo-sharing service Picasa is another free option that’s especially convenient for people who already have Google or Gmail accounts. Picasa Web Albums offers you an unlisted gallery URL which you can email to friends or family. You can also upload a gallery and, within Picasa, choose specific contacts you want to share it with. Picasa will then send an email notification to the recipients notifying them that you have invited them to view a photo album, along with a link to the album. Like other Google products, Picasa offers a large amount of free storage—1GB to be exact.


Create large, stunning galleries
For a modest amount of money, you can create beautiful online galleries with a host of display, sharing, privacy, and protection features. Smugmug is one of the best available options—the photo site that lets you store, display, and share photos in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Accounts start at $5 per month or $40 per year, and offer unlimited photo uploads, a choice of 50 photo display themes, and an assortment of privacy and sharing options. For instance, users can choose to password-protect their entire site, or set individual passwords for different galleries and share that information with specific people. Smugmug caters to the uber-social too—it’s easy to embed photo slideshows in blogs, share via social networking sites, and allow friends and family to edit your photo galleries. For $60 a year, users can also upload and share 20-minute videos.




A sample Smugmug gallery designed for the holidays.
Slickpic is similar to Smugmug, but it costs a bit less. For $25 a year, Slickpic offers unlimited photo storage for high-resolution images, enhanced privacy and security settings, preset and custom photo display themes, and more. One of the coolest features that Slickpic offers is its photo editing and enhancement service. You can submit photos to Slickpic photographers who then edit and enhance the images to your liking and instruction. Depending on the type of account, users get between 50 and 550 photo edits per month. (Slickpic also offers a free account, though it lacks a few major features available through the site’s paid options.)


Share instantly from your phone


Photo-sharing screen on Photorocket iPhone app.
With the help of a photo-sharing app, you’ll be able to send funny snapshots of Mom dancing to Jingle Bell Rock to all of your faraway aunts and uncles before she even has time to scold you for taking photos in the first place. Photorocket’s free iOS app lets you quickly and easily create photo galleries from your iPhone’s Camera Roll images. Once you’ve chosen the most share-worthy shots, add a little note and share with others by selecting contacts from your Address Book, or by manually entering in email addresses. (Your photos are shared only with the people designate.) Once you have a Photorocket account through the iOS app, you will also be able to go onto the company’s website to further edit your photo galleries.




A sample Storie from Storie: Holiday Edition iPhone app.
For especially festive photo-sharing, look no further than Storie: Holiday Edition, a free app for your iOS device. Storie lets you pull images from your iPhone’s Camera Roll, Facebook, and Instagram—you can even snap photos from within the app, if you want—to create flip-book-like photo galleries called Stories. The app gives you the option to add filters and text captions to individual images. Once you’ve created a Storie, you can keep it unlisted and private, sharing it with only close friends and family—or make it visible to the entire Storie community.


Both apps make it very easy to share on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Photorocket also lets you post your images to Flickr. When you choose to share on other sites, the apps will post a link to your image gallery. So keep in mind that sharing this way will make your images visible to everyone who can see your posts. The App Store is chock full of photo-sharing apps that are similar to Storie and Photorocket. Some other good ones to consider include LiveShare and Linea.

Mozilla Firefox is a valued partner

Mozilla and Google renew search and advertising agreement.
Good news if you’re a Mozilla Firefox user because Mozilla will still generate revenue for three more years courtesy of search engine giant Google.

The non-profit organization said on Tuesday via its official blog that they have negotiated “a significant and mutually beneficial” agreement with the search engine god, related to ads in search. For example, you’re using Mozilla Firefox and searches online using Google, Mozilla  will generate revenue from your ad clicks in the Google search page.
According to Google’s Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President of Search, Mozilla Firefox “has been a valuable partner” and the search engine giant which also offers its own browser, the Chrome, is looking forward to “continuing the great partnership in the years to come.”
StatCounter’s data posted online last week revealed that Google’s Chrome is seeing growth with 25.69 percent of the global browser market share, while Mozilla Firefox is slightly below the Google web browser with 25.23 percent.

Macworld Insider: A holiday gift from us

Happy holidays, Macworld Insiders! As thanks for your continued support, we’d like to offer you a gift: the latest edition of our Digital Photography Superguide.


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Mozilla, Google seal new Firefox search deal

Editor's Note: This story is excerpted from Computerworld. For more Mac coverage, visit Computerworld's Macintosh Knowledge Center.


Mozilla and Google said Tuesday that they had struck a new search deal that will provide “significant revenue” to the maker of Firefox.


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“We’re pleased to announce that we have negotiated a significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement with Google,” Mozilla said in a statement. “This new agreement extends our long-term search relationship with Google for at least three additional years.”


Under the deal, Mozilla will continue to offer Google as the default search engine in Firefox, which now controls about a quarter of the browser market.


“Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come,” said Alan Eustace, Google’s head of search.


Mozilla declined to provide details of the new contract, citing confidentiality requirements. Later, a spokesman refused to say whether the deal was comparable to the previous agreement.


In 2010, the last year for which Mozilla has released financial statements, the Google contract generated 84 percent of Mozilla’s $123 million in revenues, or approximately $103 million.


Google’s contribution to Mozilla’s bottom line in 2009 was about $89 million, or 86 percent of the browser maker’s annual income.


The Mozilla-Google deal expired last month, but Mozilla did not alter Firefox’s default search provider or the browser’s start page, which displays Google’s search page.


Questions about Mozilla’s dependence on Google have been raised since the latter launched its own Web browser, Chrome, in September 2008. According to Internet metrics firms StatCounter, in November 2011, Chrome owned a 25.7 percent share of the global browser usage market to edge into second place ahead of Firefox’s 25.2 percent.


Last week a research testing company accused Google of attempting to quash Firefox using a triple-threat campaign to deny it revenues, withhold anti-malware services and—through a Google-sponsored report—claim that Chrome is significantly safer.


Google denied the second and third charges, and with the announcement today, has made the first moot.


Mozilla has made only minor steps to wean itself from Google. In October, the open-source organization launched a customized edition, dubbed “Firefox with Bing,” that uses Microsoft’s Bing search as the default engine.


As recently as two weeks ago, Mozilla declined to confirm that it had renewed the lucrative Google contract, saying then only that it was still negotiating with its browser rival.


Because of Mozilla’s financial disclosure timetable, the impact of the new contract won’t be apparent until the fall of 2013, when Mozilla issues revenue numbers for 2012.

Apple Inc.: Future Services And Products

The rumor mill is stirring the pot when again after Apple released its brand-new Apple iPhone, the iPhone 4S. Hugely a prosperity, the 4S has actually gotten a track record for being one of the fastest devices that the mobile phone market has actually ever before encountered. However its floundering rival, Android, prompts Apple that it will certainly need to do more desirable to compete in the ever before altering handheld market.


Apple has promised its users that its new line of products will perform much better and will sport a completely improved look. The tech giant is making major changes and upgrades to place itself back in the game when it tries to do better with the new iPhone 5, a highly touted phone believed to be a difference maker next year.


Details are still sketchy but Apple loyalists and blog writers have been making trivial guesses and endless speculation as to what the new phone will look like. You can try to imagine a new line of devices that Apple will release, sporting different looks while being packed with loads of advanced hardware and software upgrades. This may be exciting to many die hard Apple fans but the thought is still several months away before the tech giant will make its answers.


The present problem that’s visible by having Apple’s present items is that they’re a limited supporting in both its equipment as well as software when you compare them to the most current Android powered device designs. As Android is making larger changes that will certainly improve the encounter of its customers, Apple is functioning hard in offering the same thing as well as also exceeding the boundary to attempt to lure the greatly influenced Android customers to alter their your minds.


Some of Apple’s new products such as that of the new iPhone and the iPad 3, will place the American tech giant back in the same playing field with Android.


David Levi writes tech news for a popular technology site. Visit it now for more details on the iPhone 5, iPad 3…

Our Top 5 Gambling Apps For The iPad

If you are lucky enough to have an iPad then you know how amazing it is for playing games on. But not only are there apps for playing racing or fighting games on your iPad, there are also ones that allow you to try your luck at games you would normally play in a casino. But as there are so many gambling apps now available how do you decide which ones to get. In this article we take a look at what we consider to be the top 5 gambling apps for the iPad today.


App 1 – Casino HD


Would you like to have a go at playing a few of the games you would normally play for real at casinos in Vegas? If you would then this is the app for you. As well as allowing you to play games such as blackjack, poker and baccarat, it also comes with great sound effects and fully animated graphics.


App 2 – Card Shark Collection


We have included this in our top 5 gambling apps for the iPad because of the large selection of card games it has to offer. Also the use of 3-D technology helps to make playing these games a much more enjoyable experience. The list of card games with this app is so vast that including them all in this article would mean we wouldn’t have space to write about any others. As well as allowing you to play Classic Solitaire you can also play games such as FreeCell, Hearts, Gin Rummy and Spider Solitaire.


App 3 – Slot Life – Haunted House


You may well find that once you start playing this particular app you can stop. It will prove to be a very addictive slot machine game to play on the iPad. The whole aim of this game is for you to aide Max in escaping from Gowan Mansion that is haunted. In order to do this you need to undertake four challenges at the end of each one you will be awarded different slot prizes.


App 4 – Roulette


This is one of the most popular of all games that people play when they visit a casino for real. As well as this particular app allowing you to play the American version, it also allows you to play the English and French ones. Again 3-D technology is in use so helping to play this particular game more enjoyable. However if you are someone who doesn’t know the rules or doesn’t understand what is happening there are dealers on hand to guide you through the games as they happen. But not only can you play this game learning different strategies to increase your chances of winning it also teaches you about where this particular game came from.


App 5 – My Craps Game


Would you like to be able to learn how to play craps without losing any of your own money, well this one of the top 5 gambling apps for the iPad allows you to do just that. Not only can you learn more about the rules of playing this game but also about the maths and odds as those used in Las Vegas.


If you are looking for other gambling stories, you could try this one on casino games. Another good one that I have recently read on a similar topic is on this website: casino games. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the other articles.

Facebook news feed to feature sponsored stories next year

Social networking site Facebook is set to launch a new ad-centric update early next year.
A new update on Facebook could change the tone of your newsfeed next year.
The new update will obviously give the social networking site another source of income. In fact, it could generate more revenue than the typical Facebook ads featured on the right side of the site’s pages because newsfeed is more “personal.”

According to a report posted by PC Mag, “Sponsored Stories” will start filling in a user’s newsfeed starting next year but a Facebook spokesman said the implementation will be “thoughtfully and slowly” and has clarified that a user will see a sponsored post only “once a day.”
A screenshot was also provided, and the example sponsored post from an advertiser is a photograph of an ice cream cone. Users can like or share the post, and the simple image will transform into a moving advertisement within the Facebook country.
No word yet about the pricing and the exact launch date, but Facebook said the new Sponsored Stories is a better advertisement because it uses the “core” of Facebook’s user experience, the newsfeeed.
So aside from gossiping and posting cat photos, users can now access the latest advertisements from large companies.

Related Article:
Find out why Facebook users are deleting friends.
Posted on PopHerald.com December 21, 2011, updated 8:23 AM EST. Filed under the Internet and Social Media Category.

mGifts - Gift List Manager

mGifts - Gift List Manager Review
Gift list app useful for a variety of occasions

As I’ve noted in an earlier look at mobile gift-list managers, the best kind of app incorporates sharing and shopping into the gift planning process. It’s even better if the app works for gift-giving occasions year-round—not just the holidays. mGifts by mSeven Software manages to do just about all of those things, making it a solid choice for those who want a simple gift-list management app that comes in handy 365 days of the year.


Launch the app and you are greeted with five default events and their respective countdowns—Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Birthday, Hanukkah, and Anniversary—as well as an unassigned category. In addition to the countdown, each event has a summary of items needed, items you purchased, and a breakdown of your budget.




The Gift That Keeps on Giving: mGifts will help you organize your gift giving year-round.
Selecting an event allows you to customize and edit your gift list and the people on it. You can then filter your view between People, Gifts, Stores, and Groups. Helpfully, there are three default categories for people: Family, Friends, and Co-workers. (You can add or remove categories as you wish.)


Adding people to your list is relatively simple. You tap the plus sign (+) and then add in a name, photo, and birthday. The level of detail you can add is nice but, unfortunately, there is no option to sync the people on your list with your the Contacts app on your iOS device. If your list doesn’t have many people on it, you might not even miss the Contacts sync. But users with a longer list miss the more streamlined approach of other apps.


Once you have added people to an event, you can specify a budget, the gift, and what store you want to buy from. Additionally, you can categorize where you are in your shopping by specifying whether the gift is one you still need to buy or one you have purchased, wrapped, or shipped. There is also a category for ideas and an archive where you can see your past gifts for that person.


By far, the standout feature of mGifts is its use of iCloud. Syncing mGifts with your iCloud account not only backs up your lists, but allows you to sync your lists to all of your iOS devices. Simply enable “store list in iCloud” in settings, and you can get your shopping list on any of your iOS devices.


If you don’t use iCloud, or don’t have multiple devices, you have other options for sharing your shopping list. You can share lists by groups, individuals, stores, and more via text message or email.


While I like the syncing and sharing features, I wish the actual shopping had somehow been incorporated into the app. There are dozens of preset stores to choose from (which you can modify as you wish), and it would be nice if there as a simple online look-up function such as the one in iPresents.


Visually, the app is very clean, though a bit on the minimalist side. That said, you do have enough customization options to make mGifts more visually appealing; I found that adding in photos for the individuals on my list greatly improved the look of the app.


Despite my minor complaints, mGifts’s simple, year-round functionality and use of iCloud make it a worthwhile list manager.


[Karissa Bell is a Macworld editorial intern. She likes making lists more than she likes shopping.]

How to stay connected in unconnected places

Many of us whizz our way to the relatives’ for the holidays, carrying with us a plethora of electronics. Sadly, on arrival, we find that our cousin canceled cable service because of cost, snow downed a DSL drop, or mom and stepdad’s new house in the woods is in a cellular coverage shadow—no 3G nor 2G signal to be found for miles!
COMPLETE COVERAGE


200 Mbps Powerline Network Adapter »
AirPort Express (802.11n) »
MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot »
MiFi 2372 »
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What can you do? Prepare before you go for the worst-case scenario. There have never been more options for acquiring high-speed Internet access even when a feed isn’t convenient. That counts for your old family home or a hotel.


(Tip: If you’re planning to rely on mobile broadband, visit your carrier’s site and use their coverage map to see if you can receive high-speed data where you’ll be. These maps are estimates, not guarantees, but it’s still a good way to avoid unpleasant surprises—such as entirely empty areas of coverage.)


Use your iPhone as a personal hotspot
The best mobile modem is the one you have with you. If we know our demographics, you probably own an iPhone, which has included a software-based Personal Hotspot since iOS 4. You can plug a laptop in via USB to the Dock connector, or use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi from laptops and mobile devices (including other iOS devices) to connect back to the Internet. Many models of smartphones running Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and other platforms also offer USB tethering and a “mobile hotspot” feature for Wi-Fi.


The cost for tethering and a mobile hotspot isn’t cheap, but it’s not precisely ridiculous, either. The four major U.S. carriers each have tethering/mobile hotspot plans for any phone that can manage it; all but T-Mobile, of course, offer these for the iPhone models that they sell. (The iPhone 3GS can only tether via USB and share over Bluetooth. The iPhone 4 and 4S can use those methods plus Wi-Fi. Other phones vary by tethering and wireless sharing methods.)


For background and links to pricing at these carriers, visit:


AT&T
Sprint Nextel
T-Mobile
Verizon Wireless
See my instructions for Using the Personal Hotspot on your AT&T iPhone here or Using the Personal Hotspot on your Verizon iPhone. Each carrier also has a step-by-step guide on its site, and Apple has a simplified set of instructions as well.


Bring a mobile router


Use the MiFi to set up a wireless hotspot wherever you are. You can still use mobile broadband without relying on your phone. This is especially useful if you want to provide access to multiple people, such as members of your family, without being tied to any one person’s phone. Cellular routers—the best known of which is the MiFi—relay a cellular data signal over Wi-Fi, creating a portable hotspot. We reviewed the Virgin Mobile version () last year.
You’ll find the best prices and least contract commitment with T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile, which is a subsidiary of Sprint Nextel. T-Mobile sells the 4G Mobile Hotspot, which can work at raw rates up to 42 Mbps in parts of the country where T-Mobile offers those highest speeds, for $129.99 either directly or through Amazon.com. It’s a prepaid unit, in that you then purchase units of service to activate as “broadband passes.” T-Mobile offers $10 for 100 MB used within seven days of a pass being activated, $30 for 1 GB over 30 days, or $50 for 3 GB over 30 days. If you run out of data, you purchase a new pass.


Virgin Mobile offers the $150 MiFi 2200, which works only at Sprint’s 3G raw rate of about 3 Mbps. Virgin sells prepaid access as well: $10 for 100 MB over 10 days, $20 for 500 MB in a month, or $50 for 2.5 GB during a month, after which service may be ratcheted down to 256 Kbps for the remainder of the plan period.


You can also opt to get a USB modem from one of many carriers, but these nearly always (except with Virgin Mobile) require a two-year commitment or an outright expensive purchase. You also then have to have a computer turned on and using Internet Sharing to provide access beyond the laptop.


Deal with a distant signal
Your parents opted for broadband, but the modem is at one end of the house, and your childhood room, where you’re crammed into a bed a foot too short for you, is at the other. Alternatively, you’re now sleeping in the basement with wedges of concrete between you and an upstairs Wi-Fi router.

Bring a base station The easiest way to deal with a weak broadband signal is to bring a Wi-Fi base station of your own with you. Since you’ll be away from home, you could extract your own router, but Apple’s AirPort Extreme is rather large, and a Time Capsule likely contains your backups. If you don’t have a spare, consider Apple’s $99 AirPort Express (). This easily portable router is a bit of a splurge, but you can sometimes find a refurbished one in the Apple store. On a recent check, a fully warrantied previously owned (and then fixed) AirPort Express cost just $69.




Prepare for a weak broadband signal by bringing your own Airport Express.The Airport Express has just a single ethernet port, so unless the broadband modem you’ll be using has multiple ethernet ports—and not all do—you’ll also need an ethernet switch. 10/100 Mbps or 10/100/1000 Mbps switches cost less than $25 for a 4- or 5-port unit. While you’re at it, spring for a couple of Ethernet cables, as well.
You have two scenarios. If the broadband modem has a built-in Ethernet switch, you can just plug the Wi-Fi base station into one of those ports. If it only has a single LAN Ethernet jack, plug an Ethernet cable from that jack into your own Ethernet switch, and then also plug the base station in your Ethernet switch.

Opt for the electrical system But what if, as in our speculative case, the modem is at one end of the house and you want to curl up at the other, and the signal won’t reach? Try powerline networking. This technology pushes networking mojo over home electrical wiring. Because the signal is carried on a particular power phase—don’t ask, it gets way too complicated—you can only expect outlets that share the same circuit breaker to carry the signal efficiently. Other outlets might work at a fraction of the maximum speed: megabits instead of 100s of megabits per second. But, that could still be faster than the broadband connection.




If you bring a couple of powerline networking adapters, you can get fast Internet connectivity through the house's electrical system.You can get older 85 Mbps powerline gear inexpensively (well under $50 each), while the newest 200 Mbps and 500 Mbps models are generally pricier. See our review of the $75 MacWireless 200 Mbps Powerline Network Adapter, (). You need two adapters: one to plug in near the modem, where you may need an Ethernet switch to run between the modem and the Ethernet jack on the powerline wall wart; and the other near your base station elsewhere in the house.
Explore your options outside of home
Your fallback option is the local or chain café, restaurant, or bookstore. While Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, and McDonald’s have free Wi-Fi across the United States, stores may be crowded during the holidays. You can patronize smaller shops, which may require a purchase (and why not?) in exchange for less crowding and cozier surroundings. You can use JiWire’s Wi-Fi Finder iOS app to search and map spots, as well as Devicescape’s EasyWifi website and iOS app. Both are free.


I’ve found on recent trips to parts unknown (to me), such as central Oregon, Yelp was a great guide not just to food but also to whether Wi-Fi was available. Reviews help you determine whether you’ll be welcome to squat with a cup of joe and a muffin for a few hours, or if you’ll get the evil eye.


Many public institutions in towns large and small have Wi-Fi as well, including city halls and public libraries. They may be closed during the holiday season, however.


Relax a little
One of the joys of travel is supposed to be breaking your routines. It’s true that many employers want you to stay connected even when taking time off, but if you can’t make your internet access work, consider taking this as a sign. It may be time to slow down and hit the off button.