T-Mobile loses more subscribers in fourth quarter

By Technology & science - Wireless - msnbc.com

NerdBoyTV NOTE: Hate to say it, but they're gonna lose more now that my daughter wants to switch to my Verizon to get the iPhone 4! The problem is they simply don't have that "IT" phone to sell. Sprint has the EVO, AT&T has the iPhone, and Verizon has the iPhone now plus lots of cool Android phones. I'm not exactly sure WHAT T-Mobile anchor phone is...Galaxy? Optimus? Blackberry?

"Subscribers on contract-based cell phone plans hung up on T-Mobile USA in record numbers in the fourth quarter, as it continues to lose the battle against larger carriers.

T-Mobile, the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., on Friday said it lost 318,000 subscribers on contract-based plans in the October to December period.

The three larger carriers — AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. — added subscribers under contract in the period. For Sprint, it was a reversal of many years of losses.

T-Mobile said the decline was due to competition and to revised credit standards for customers.

T-Mobile compensated by selling wholesale access to its network to resellers, which meant that overall, it lost only 23,000 subscribers in the quarter. But wholesale subscribers bring far less revenue.

T-Mobile USA's new CEO, Philipp Humm, has orders from German parent company Deutsche Telekom AG to stem the loss of subscribers and increase revenue by 2014.

The percentage of contract-based subscribers leaving T-Mobile every month, a measure known as 'churn,' was 2.5 percent in the quarter, about the same as a year ago but higher than in previous quarters of 2010.

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Why nobody can match the iPad's price

By WIRED via CNN.com: "When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad last January, the biggest surprise wasn't the actual product. (Many shrugged and called the iPad a 'bigger iPhone.') It was the price: Just $500.

Nobody expected that number, perhaps because Apple has traditionally aimed at the high end of the mobile computer market with MacBooks marked $1,000 and up. And perhaps we were also thrown off because Apple execs repeatedly told investors they couldn't produce a $500 computer that wasn't a piece of junk.

But Apple did meet that price, and the iPad isn't junk. The iPad is still the first, and best-selling, product of its kind. Competitors, meanwhile, are having trouble hitting that $500 sweet spot.

Motorola's Xoom tablet is debuting in the United States with an $800 price tag. (To be fair, the most comparable iPad is $730 -- but there's no $500 Xoom planned, and the lack of a low-end entry point will hurt Motorola.) Samsung's Galaxy Tab, with a relatively puny 7-inch screen, costs $600 without a contract.

Why is it so hard to get to a lower starting price? And how was Apple able to get there?

Jason Hiner of Tech Republic suggests it largely has to do with Apple's retail strategy. Apple now has 300 retail stores worldwide selling iPads directly to customers. That's advantageous, because if the iPad were primarily sold at third-party retail stores, a big chunk of profit would go to those retailers, Hiner reasons.

Apple has partnered with a few retail chains such as Best Buy and Walmart, but those stores always seem to get a small number of units in stock. Hiner rationalizes that the true purpose of these partnerships is probably to help spread the marketing message, not so much to sell iPads.

'The company can swallow the bitter pill of hardly making any money from iPad sales through its retail partners because it can feast off the fat profits it makes when customers buy directly through its retail outlets and the web store,' Hiner says. 'However, companies like Motorola, HP, and Samsung have to make all of their profit by selling their tablets wholesale to retailer partners.'

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Apple Buys Up Touchscreens, Limiting Supply for Rivals

By Yahoo! News: "To keep up with soaring sales of Apple's hit iPad tablet, competitors will have to do more than just design and market a good rival. A report Friday said they may face problems building them.

It's no secret that Apple, which sold more than 14 million iPads last year and could see sales of more than 45 million in 2011, hedges its bets by ordering components it needs in massive quantities, ahead of demand.

Now Taiwan-based DigiTimes, citing sources from both component and computer manufacturers, says Apple has a grip on 60 percent of this year's expected output of capacitive touchscreens used in tablets. Unless capacity increases, that could put a strain on other companies' goals for the year.

'Touch panels are currently suffering the most serious shortage due to Apple holding control over the capacity of major touch-panel makers such as Wintek and TPK, and with U.S.-based RIM, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard also competing for related components, second-tier players are already out of the game,' sources told the industry journal. (Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry devices, is actually based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.)

News of Apple buying up LCD and OLED touchscreens preceded the release of the iPad at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, fueling rumors about the forthcoming tablet. Insiders say Apple could have sold even more iPads last year if it could have had more touchscreens and won't allow that to happen this year as it gets ready to release the second generation of the device.

Touchscreen shortages also reportedly affected the supply of iPhones when the fourth-generation model was released last June.

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Motorola Xoom Available for Pre-Order at Best Buy for $800

By Yahoo! News: "We knew the price for Motorola's upcoming Android tablet, the Xoom, would be $800, but seeing the price on a live Best Buy pre-order page turns this haunting mental image into harsh reality.

You can pre-order the Xoom, which currently comes in only one flavor, now and pick it up Thursday, February 24, in Best Buy stores.

The Xoom is one of the first tablets on the market to run Android 3.0 or Honeycomb, the first version of Android designed specifically for tablets. It sports impressive features: a 10.1'' widescreen HD display, a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, as well as Wi-Fi and 3G support. Add to that the 5-megapixel camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel one on the front, as well as the accelerometer and HDMI output, and you might even be able to justify the price tag.

Besides the Xoom itself, Best Buy also offers several accessories, including a $70 Bluetooth wireless keyboard, a $130 speaker dock, and a $40 portfolio-style case.

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Facebook Messenger, Billboard.com Charts, Oscar Backstage Pass

Phil Hornshaw | Appolicious ™ iPhone and iPad App Directory: "The head of today’s Fresh Apps list is Facebook Messenger, an app that gives you the ability to send voice calls over the Internet to Facebook friends, as well as text chat with them and share photos straight from the photo roll on your device. We’ve also got a new app from Billboard for checking out what’s hot in music, and an app that will help you get primed up for the Academy Awards when they happen next Sunday. Read about all three below.

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Who do YOU want to win the Academy Award for BEST PICTURE?

I'm taking on a "Citizen-At-Large" reporting assignment for CNN and I want to know who YOU would want to win BEST PICTURE at this year's Academy Awards next Sunday? I don't want you to tell me who you THINK would win—simply tell me who you LIKE if you could vote. If we can SKYPE (soon), I'd like to put together a video of the all the picks from everyday people (not the critics). Wanna participate? SKYPE me at "NerdBoyTV" to set up a 1 minute interview.

CNET gives Kodak Zi8 Pocket Cam high marks

This is the pocket cam that NerdBoyTV uses. Very nice HD 1080 video capability. Used it at the 2011 SAP Tennis Open in San Jose and got some very nice clips of Pete Sampras playing an exhibition match. A little thicker than most other pocket cams, but it's definitely a keeper. Retails for a couple hundred, but I found a perfectly good refurbished one on ebay for $96 (out the door with no tax and no shipping fee). Can't really beat THAT!

"Road Rage" apps help you flag bad drivers

Now THIS sounds like a VERY useful app...especially along MY commute!

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Electronic Instrument Shirts (VERY Nerdy!)

Courtesy of TODAYshow.com

"If you don't have enough money for real musical instruments, the next best thing would be to start a band using ThinkGeek's instrument shirts. Choose from guitar, drums and synthesizer. Each shirt features a fully playable electronic instrument on the front and an internal speaker or belt-mounted amp to boost the sound. Plus, the electronics are easily removed for washing. You'll be on your way to stardom in no time — though in this situation, groupies tearing off your clothes might actually be a problem. $29.99 - ThinkGeek via Fashionably Geek

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Google vs. Facebook For Control of Your Reputation

By Kashmir Hill - Forbes

"Much has been written about Google and Facebook’s war for control of the Internet (This 2009 Wired piece is one of my favorites). How hard have you thought about who you want to win that war? And how do you feel about it when you think of it as your Google search results page versus your Facebook profile in determining how you’re perceived on the Internet?

Right now, Google (and Bing and Yahoo) are our main gateways to get to the best the Internet has to offer (ideally), whereas Facebook is our gateway to what’s best on the Internet according to our friends. (Of course, given the escalating nature of the war, Google now plans to incorporate “social” into its search.)

The search giants’ algorithms’ dictation of discovery on the web has been much discussed and criticized recently — including here at Forbes. All the talk of search has me thinking about a topic near and dear to the Not-So Private Parts’ heart: our personal Google footprints.

Facebook gets criticized quite frequently for its exposure of our personal information. Yet, in many ways, we have so much control there. We can untag ourselves from photos. We can flag them for abuse and get them taken down. We can block people that we don’t want to have access to our information. We can set privacy settings high.

Google, by contrast, is the Wild West of reputation. I’m lucky. I get to control my Google search results for the most part, since I’m regularly churning out new material under my name and to search-optimized news sites. Most people are not so lucky, nor so prolific.

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Obama has dinner with the WHOLE Internet!

Let's see, we have Obama sitting with Steve Jobs to his left and Mark Zuckerberg to his right (that's about $100 billion right THERE). Also apparently in the house, Google exec Eric Schmidt, Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Twitter's Dick Costolo. This is like a "nerd's" dream come true, huh? LOL

Obama chats with Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg

I think this is soooooooooo kewl. Obama talking with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook with Carol Bartz (in red) of Yahoo! standing behind them!

Being popular on Facebook is stressful

Technolog - Being popular on Facebook is stressful

By Athima Chansanchai

Oh, the pitfalls of popularity.

The more Facebook friends you have, the more likely you are to be stressed out, a new study finds. While it may boost the human ego to know their popularity has touched so many lives, it also induces a whole new array of anxiety specific to Facebook. For instance, you're more likely to worry about periodic purging of said friends, and more apt to succumb to the constant pressure of being so darn witty and charming in status updates.

'It's like being a mini news channel about yourself. The more people you have the more you feel there is an audience there,' Dr. Kathy Charles, who led the study at Scotland's Edinburgh Napier University, told BBC News. 'You are almost a mini celebrity and the bigger the audience the more pressure you feel to produce something about yourself.'

Ain't that the truth? Why, this morning, I'm already sweating, trying to figure out how to start the day with the right status update. Because, God forbid, what if I don't give my eager masses something to chew on for the rest of the morning? Their day will be shot, as will mine.

Charles — whose team solicited data from about 200 students through focus groups, an online survey of 175 people as well as interviews — found that one in 10 said that Facebook 'made them feel anxious' and more than three in 10 said 'they felt guilty about rejecting friend requests.'

Popularity means new people are constantly trying to be your friends. Twelve percent of the students questioned said they disliked receiving friend requests, while almost two-thirds (63 percent) said they put friend requests in limbo by delaying responses.

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Motorola Xoom Pricing: $600 for Wi-Fi, $800 for 3G

Motorola Xoom Pricing: $600 for Wi-Fi, $800 for 3G - Yahoo! News: "While the 3G version of the Android tablet is looking a bit pricey at $799, the Wi-Fi version will cost around $600, Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha told Reuters.

That would put the Xoom, which has 32 GB of storage, in line with Apple's 32 GB iPad with Wi-Fi. Apple's tablet would still have the price advantage on 3G, which costs $729, compared to $800 for the Xoom. Apple also sells a 16 GB iPad for $499, while Motorola hasn't announced any other Xoom models or prices.

I'm glad to see Motorola hasn't priced itself out of the market, as some tech watchers had feared. The 3G pricing is a drag, but I also think that for a lot users, 3G is a superfluous tablet feature. A lot of new smartphones work as Wi-Fi hotspots, including Motorola's Droid X and Droid 2 on Verizon Wireless, so you could still connect a Wi-Fi Xoom to mobile broadband without the up-front hardware cost on the tablet.

As for release dates, Motorola hasn't formally announced any. The 3G Xoom is widely expected to launch in February or March through Verizon Wireless, and a Motorola executive in Latin America has said the Wi-Fi version will follow in April, but it's unclear whether that will be the case in other regions.

A lot's riding on the Xoom, which Google is positioning as the showcase tablet for Honeycomb, the large-screen version of the Android operating system. PCWorld's Melissa J.Perenson was impressed with the Xoom during her hands-on time earlier this month. Now we just need the thing to ship, already.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Power to the pocket: The next generation of superphones

Power to the pocket: The next generation of superphones - Yahoo! Shopping

"These up-and-comers from the smartphone world will redefine the boundaries of mobile computing with full HD video playback, dual-core processors, and more.

We’re sick of the iPhone, too. Despite antenna issues, Draconian app store rules and an engineered inability to run Flash content, Apple’s flagship smartphone has done to the smartphone market what the Romans once did to Europe.

The good news: Now a marauding horde of smartphone manufacturers under the flag of Google Android are back for their turf, and they’re not just cobbling together iPhone-wannabes anymore. From the world’s first dual-screen smartphone to a phone with all the processing power of a laptop - and a dock that turns it into one - these next-generation smartphones will all bring something totally unique to the battlefield when they arrive soon.

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Nokia, Microsoft in pact to rival Apple, Google

Nokia, Microsoft in pact to rival Apple, Google - Yahoo! News: "Technology titans Nokia and Microsoft are combining forces to make smart phones that might challenge rivals like Apple and Google and revive their own fortunes in a market they have struggled to keep up with.

Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of mobile phones, said Friday it plans to use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone software as the main platform for its smart phones in an effort to pull market share away from Apple's iPhone and Android, Google's software for phones and tablets.

The move marks a major strategy shift for Nokia, which has previously equipped devices with its own software. Analysts said the deal was a bigger win for Microsoft than Nokia, whose CEO Stephen Elop in a leaked memo this week compared his company to a burning oil platform with 'more than one explosion ... fueling a blazing fire around us.'

Nokia said the partnership would 'deliver an ecosystem with unrivaled global reach and scale.' However, it warned that the new strategy would also bring 'significant uncertainties,' and said it expects profit margins to be hit by strong competition from rivals.

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Review: Kodak Zi8 HD pocket video camera

Review: Kodak Zi8 HD pocket video camera

"When I wanted a pocket video camera and started researching them a couple of months ago the #1 feature I looked for was HD video recording quality. After looking at everything offered on the market I focused on one device, the Kodak Zi8. My first impression after first opening the box was that it was a bit bulkier than other pocket camcorders I have seen people carry around. Still the Zi8 fits in my pocket. I have not been disappointed after the purchase but I do think the technology on some of the features can be improved. I will explain in my review below.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

NOW AVAILABLE on DVD!

ANIMOTO: How to Create a Video Masterpiece
From Average Joe to Spielberg in Minutes

By Ryan Yee of NerdBoyTV

ON SALE NOW: http://tiny.cc/6rjvw

Digital photography is booming. Everyone has the capability of taking instant, stunningly beautiful pictures with today's technology. But after you fill an external hard drive with tons of digital photos, what then?

Enter ANIMOTO, a fantastic web application that quickly transforms your photo memories into an amazing and professional video. ANIMOTO was created by techies and film/video producers who wanted a user-friendly program that takes photo images, videoclips, and music and renders them into a video production with the same sophistication of a seasoned director or film editor.

Forget the cheesy transitions that come with many consumer video software on the market—ANIMOTO will definitely make you look like a pro!

In this video tutorial, Ryan Yee of NerdBoyTV shows you how to use ANIMOTO to quickly transform pictures, videoclips, and music into a stunning movie masterpiece in minutes that you could then download, burn to DVD, or share on Facebook.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Ryan Yee is the host of NerdBoyTV, a video podcast focusing on consumer technology that's syndicated on both iTunes and YouTube since 2007. He has over 20 years experience as a trainer, instructional designer, and writer and has consulted with many Fortune 500 companies in California. Not surprisingly, Ryan is also on all social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and YouTube.

Google unveils Android tablet, takes aim at Apple

This week, Google showed off the latest version of its Android mobile operating system, Honeycomb.

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Smartphone fees to spike?

Courtesy of MSNBC.com

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How Google plans to beat the iPad

CLICK to read msnbc.com: "Today we got the best look yet at Google's anti-iPad, the Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet OS. Though much has been shared previously, it's finally clear what Google is doing to differentiate its tablets from the iPad — and what Google thinks works so well on Apple's platform that they're borrowing it for themselves.

Google knows that the home screen is the chief battleground for smart phones and tablets right now. When you go to the iPad's home screen, the icons just kinda stare up at you. Nothing comes to life until you've clicked on an app. On the Android Honeycomb tablet OS, the home screen can be alive with activity from various widgets, including stacks, grids and lists, all showing content that changes whenever updates arrive.

Even switching from one app to another from the home screen is a dynamic experience — like the latest desktop OSes, you can see an updated thumbnail of the app you're switching to before you click on it.

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What should we expect from Android’s Gingerbread and Honeycomb updates?

Marty Gabel | Appolicious ™ Android App Directory: "Cupcake. Donut. Eclair. Froyo. What’s up next? Why, it’s Gingerbread and Honeycomb of course. These future Google Android updates may posses sweet nicknames, but they also pack a lot of power and continue to improve the still quite youthful Android operating system, hopefully adding both function and performance.

When can we expect these updates? A lot depends on the mobile carriers and the device manufacturers themselves. With a huge number of devices (both smartphones and tablets) on different networks, some old, some new, there’s no uniform rollout like Apple iPhone users see. You take your chances with the device you buy, and the staggered rollout of these updates continues to be a large bone of contention with many Android owners.

Still, there’s plenty of information on what we can expect from the forthcoming updates. We’re just not sure when they’re going to drop. Let’s take a look at some of the new functionality, features, and improvements we hope to see when Gingerbread and Honeycomb finally get unleashed.

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Android smartphones, tablets on the march

Android smartphones, tablets on the march - Yahoo! News: "Just a year ago, Android handsets accounted for a slim 8.7 percent of the global smartphone market, with OS vendors such as Nokia, RIM, and Apple well in the lead, according to an industry survey. Not anymore. Also: Android establishes a beachhead in the tablet market.

We've already been hearing plenty of reports about how Google's Android OS has been surging in the domestic and worldwide smartphone marketplaces, but the latest figures from the industry analysts at Canalys put the new mobile platform landscape on stark perspective, with Android sales seeing an extraordinary, 615-percent growth spurt in 2010 to topple Nokia's Symbian platform off its throne.

As of the end of the fourth quarter last year, Android enjoyed a 33.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, according to Canalys, with Nokia's Symbian OS trailing (just barely) at 31 percent.

Mind you, Nokia still ranks as the No. 1 global manufacturer of smartphones, the survey noted, with the Finnish phone giant seeing worldwide shipments of its smart handsets grow 30 percent in 12 months.

But that wasn't enough to stop Android, which saw its global market share kick in the afterburners with help from a veritable gang of smartphone makers—think HTC, Samsung, LG, and Acer, according to Canalys.

After Nokia comes Apple, which saw its fourth-quarter 2010 global iOS market share dip ever so slightly to 16.2 percent, from 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009—although as with Nokia, Apple still saw a healthy surge in global sales (up nearly 86 percent compared to the fourth quarter of '08).

In fourth place, we've got BlackBerry maker RIM with 14.6 percent of the global smartphone market, down more than five percent from the year-ago 2009 period, while Microsoft saw its fourth-quarter 2010 market share slump to 3.1 percent.

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