Philippines police arrest four over phone scam

Police in the Philippines working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrested four people over a premium-line phone scam that targeted customers of the American telecommunications giant AT&T to funnel money to a Saudi-based militant group.
The four arrested last Wednesday in Manila were paid by the same group that the FBI accuses of having funded the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Philippines' Criminal Investigation and Detection Group

(CIDG) said.
The hacking activity resulted in AT&T incurring almost $2m (£1.3) in losses, the CIDG said.
The Philippines police said money from the scams was diverted to accounts of a Saudi-based group that was not identified. India blames Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for carrying out the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer said hackers targeted customers of AT&T, not the carrier itself.
Though the FBI declined to give official details of how the group took the money, one person familiar with the situation said that the hackers broke into the phone systems of some AT&T customers and made calls to international premium-rate services whose payments would be diverted.
Such scams are relatively common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones, then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified. Telecommunications carriers often end up footing the bill for the charges.
Jan Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for AT&T, said it wrote off some fraudulent charges that appeared on customer bills. She declined to elaborate or comment on the $2m figure.
Earlier last week, AT&T said it was investigating an attempt to access customer information but did not believe any accounts had been breached.
The CIDG said the FBI sought the help of its Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division (ATCCD) in March after it found the Saudi-based group had targeted AT&T using the hackers.
Among the four people arrested was Paul Michael Kwan, 29, whom ATCCD chief Police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa said had been arrested in 2007 after the FBI began an international crackdown on groups suspected of financing militant activities.
Sosa said the Filipinos were being paid by a group originally run by Muhammad Zamir, a Pakistani arrested in Italy in 2007. He said Zamir was a member of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant network with links to al Qaeda.
"Zamir's group, later tagged by the FBI to be the financial source of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, on November 26, 2008, is also the same group that paid Kwan's group of hackers in Manila," Sosa said in the statement.
Last month, Philippine police said weak laws against cybercrime and poor technical capabilities had made the country an attractive base for organised crime syndicates involved in cyber pornography, cyber sex dens, illegal gambling, credit card fraud and identity theft.
One of the biggest worms to affect Windows computers, called "Love Bug", is believed to have been written by a Philippines resident, who despite being identified was never prosecuted because there were then no laws against unleashing the harmful code.

In twist, blocking AT&T deal could hurt rivals

Driven by antitrust concerns, U.S. regulators are fighting hard to block AT&T's $39 billion deal to buy Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA. But, in an ironic twist, smaller U.S. wireless rivals may suffer more if the deal is blocked than if it is approved.

T-Mobile USA would emerge as a stronger, scrappier competitor thanks in large part to the hefty breakup fee it is entitled under the AT&T deal. And on its own, it is likely to fight harder for the low end of the market that is currently the playing ground for the likes of Sprint Nextel Corp, MetroPCS Communications Inc and Leap Wireless International, analysts said.

T-Mobile USA will "emerge as a stronger, more formidable competitor once the uncertainty of the merger has elapsed and its network quality is enhanced via the acquisition of the AT&T spectrum assets," said Jim Breen, an analyst at William Blair.

The AT&T deal -- the largest transaction announced this year -- has run into serious obstacles both at the Department of Justice and at the Federal Communications Commission, which worry about the antitrust implications of a merger of the No. 2 and No. 4 U.S. wireless carriers.

AT&T has said it would withdraw its application to the FCC to focus on persuading the Justice Department. The company also said it would take a $4 billion charge to account for a breakup fee in case the takeover fails.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, a failed deal would entitle T-Mobile USA to $3 billion in cash plus spectrum and roaming agreements.

In a research note, Moody's said that could also lead to a network sharing deal between the two companies, reasoning that it "would make sense given the spectrum that AT&T will have to cede to T-Mobile and the 3G roaming agreement between the two."

That would make life especially hard for No. 3 U.S. carrier Sprint, which has been one of the most vocal opponents of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, going so far as to file a lawsuit.

William Blair's Breen predicts that because Sprint and T-Mobile serve similar segments of the market, Sprint will have to try and match T-Mobile's aggressive pricing to win postpaid customers, thereby diluting its average revenue per user.

"In terms of recruiting new subscribers, Sprint will no longer have the luxury of being the only value postpaid carrier in the market," Breen said.

Smaller rivals such as MetroPCS and Leap Wireless may be affected even more because T-Mobile is eyeing similar customer segments.

A failure to close the AT&T deal will turn T-Mobile into an even more aggressive competitor for urban prepaid users from these rivals.

MetroPCS and Leap would also lose an opportunity to buy T-Mobile USA assets that AT&T would have had to divest to overcome antitrust objections from regulators.

There has been speculation that AT&T -- in a move to assuage the DoJ's concerns -- could bolster MetroPCS' position to ensure that there is a fourth national competitor in the market but MetroPCS has made it clear that it has no ambitions to become a national carrier.

Representatives for MetroPCS, Leap Wireless and Sprint were not immediately available for comment.

The one winner from the uncertainty over the deal is the largest U.S. wireless carrier, Verizon Communications, Moody's said. Verizon gets room to execute its strategy while competitors try to salvage the transaction, Moody's said.

AT&T proposes divestiture to salvage T-Mobile deal

AT&T Inc., with its T-Mobile USA takeover facing regulatory opposition, is preparing the biggest remedy proposal yet to the Justice Department to salvage the $39 billion deal, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The company is considering an offer to divest a significantly larger portion of assets than it had initially expected, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plan isn't public. Though the exact size of the divestiture hasn't been determined, it could be as much as 40 percent of T-Mobile USA's assets, the person said.
The divestiture is an attempt to address the concerns of the Justice Department, which sued to block the takeover on Aug. 31, saying the deal would "substantially lessen competition" in the wireless market. The acquisition was dealt another blow Tuesday, with the Federal Communications Commission signaling an attempt to block it.
"It's going to be problematic for AT&T to find a successful divestiture solution," said Kevin Smithen, an analyst with Macquarie Securities USA Inc. in New York. The pool of potential buyers isn't very big and those that might be interested probably wouldn't have a chance, Smithen said. "It's unlikely that the DOJ would allow a big competitor like Verizon to purchase the assets," Smithen said.
AT&T fell 0.5 percent to $27.41 at the close in New York. The stock has lost 6.7 percent this year. T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom AG added 1.6 percent to 8.83 euros in Frankfurt and has declined 8.6 percent this year.
Brad Burns, an AT&T spokesman, and Andreas Fuchs, a Deutsche Telekom spokesman, declined to comment.
The asset-sale proposal, which could come as early as the next Justice Department hearing on Wednesday, might be the only remaining option if the second-largest U.S. wireless operator wants to avoid a lengthy court battle in its bid to become the country's top mobile carrier. The purchase may vault it past Verizon Wireless, depending on the size of the divestitures.
On Thursday, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom asked to pull their deal applications to the FCC so the companies could better focus on the Justice Department lawsuit. AT&T also said it would take a one-time charge of $4 billion to cover the breakup fee it will need to pay to Deutsche Telekom if the deal fails.
One approach is to propose a remedy that would lessen the market impact of losing the fourth-largest wireless service provider. The second approach is to fight the court case, which is scheduled to begin Feb. 13.
According to a term in the agreement, AT&T would be able to pay less than the deal's original $39 billion value if regulators demand asset sales that surpass 20 percent of that figure, or about $7.8 billion, three people with direct knowledge of the situation said Sept. 7.
AT&T could walk away from the deal and pay Deutsche Telekom a breakup fee if the concessions requested top 40 percent of that value, the people said. If the deal doesn't happen, there's no way AT&T can avoid paying the breakup fee, the people said.

Nokia N9 for sale in the USA, will cost you $690, but at least you get free shipping(Photo)

The Nokia N9, one of the most controversial devices to ever come out of Finland, is now available in the United States. You can order it for $690 from Expansys, an online retailer we thoroughly recommend for those of you who want to get your hands on the latest handsets coming out in Europe and Asia. Before you

do however, realize that it’s going to be the one and only device to run MeeGo, it’s not going to get that much official support since it’s shipped in limited quantities, but on the bright side it supports both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s 3G networks. Now while we didn’t review the N9, the folks at Engadget and The Verge did and both sites have absolutely fallen in love with it. Myriam Joire (Engadget) said: “The N9 delivers a double punch with gorgeous hardware and brilliant software. It’s arguably the first competitive flagship phone to come out of Espoo since the launch of the original iPhone.” And Vlad Savov (The Verge) said: “The N9 is flawed and doomed, but you have to understand, I don’t care. The overriding experience of using this phone is one of delight and desire.”

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t care about apps and needs nothing more than an alarm clock, music player, web browser, and camera, then by all means pick up the Nokia N9. If you’re a gamer however, and you’re looking to buy a new smartphone, you owe it to yourself to get an iPhone since it’s THE platform for casual mobile games. And then of course there’s the gear head, the nerd who wants bleeding edge top of the lines everything. If that accurately describes you then there’s only one smartphone we can think of to satisfy your needs: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

We’re curious, are you going to pick one up? If so, why?

Samsung Galaxy S2 Available in the U.S. on AT&T for $200

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has finally set foot in the U.S., on AT&T's network for $200 with a two-year contract.

The Galaxy S2 debuted back in February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the phone was later launched in Europe and South Korea.

It has a 4.3-inch "Super AMOLED Plus" touch screen measuring 480x800 pixels, a dual core 1.2-GHz processor, fast 4G network connectivity and a sleek and simple design. The "Super AMOLED Plus" display is bright and vivid and surprisingly crisp given the relatively low resolution.

Earlier, Samsung had announced that it has already sold more than 10 million units of the Galaxy S2 smartphone since its launch in April. However, the jury is still out on whether that means it has shipped those units to retail stores or actually sold them to customers. The new device was released in South Korea on April 29 and in some European countries in May. It also went on sale in China in July before hitting the U.S. market in September. According to reports from the company, 3.6 million units have been sold in South Korea, followed by 3.4 million in Europe and 2.3 million across the rest of Asia.

The sales rate, however, pales in comparison to that of the iPhone 4, which hit 1.7 million in three days. Nevertheless, in recent times, Samsung has become the biggest competitor for Apple's iPhone. Samsung and Apple are at loggerheads in a series of patent lawsuits over the technology and design of their smartphones and tablet computers.

Successor Faces Tough Job at Apple(Photos)

Steve Jobs is legendary for a relentless, driving style that has helped him disrupt more industries than any other chief executive of his generation.

The question now: Is his successor, Tim Cook, aggressive enough to muscle Apple into new turf like TV and publishing where the company hasn't yet established a dominant foothold?

The real test for Mr. Cook will come when he is no longer benefiting from Mr. Jobs's triumphs and must conquer new markets on his own. Executives in media companies, for instance, are reluctant to give up control of their products and fear Apple will end up eating away at their profits. Mr. Cook must win them over.

Investors are standing by Apple's new management for now—its stock fell just 0.65% Thursday while the broader Nasdaq dropped nearly 2%.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

An immediate challenge for Mr. Cook will be to advance Apple's plans in what is expected to be a key market for growth: digital video. Apple is working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service, according to people familiar with the matter. Unlike the iPod and music, where Apple has a commanding position, the battle to rule online video remains wide open and the company faces fierce competition.

Apple's digital-book, magazine and newspaper services are in their early days.

Even if Mr. Cook is willing to take the kind of risks that Mr. Jobs did, the company's board will likely scrutinize his moves more carefully, said Forrester Research Chief Executive George Colony. "It will be very reasoned and logical, but Apple will not take the leaps that it took when you had Steve in that chair," he said.

Then there's the bully factor. One of the biggest advantages that Apple will lose without Mr. Jobs at the helm, said an Apple business partner, is the "fear that Steve instilled."

For instance, Mr. Jobs famously browbeat some music industry executives to agree to his terms when he launched the iTunes music store that eventually upended the music industry.

"Steve can be pretty unvarnished, he's never understated about his beliefs," said Time Warner Inc. CEO Jeff Bewkes, whose company had to negotiate with Apple over iTunes. "If he thinks that you're not doing something right, he will tell you why in pretty colorful terms, which I have always appreciated."

At times, Mr. Jobs used his power of persuasion to convince companies that they had to work with Apple, even if it meant giving up some control. "It all stems from Steve's animal drive to not let anyone control him or his company," said Jean-Louis Gassee, a venture capitalist and former Apple executive.

Compared with Mr. Jobs's fiery style, Mr. Cook's management approach is more measured and analytical, people who know him say.

In a letter to employees on Thursday, Mr. Cook said Apple wouldn't change. "Steve built a culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA."

Mr. Jobs will go down in the annals of business as one of the greatest disrupters. His Apple II helped launch the PC revolution. His Macintosh and publishing software took printing out of commercial printing shops and put it on anyone's desktop. His iPod grabbed dominance of the portable music player—a market pioneered by Sony Corp.'s transistor radios in the 1950s and its Walkman in the 1970s—from traditional consumer-electronic giants. He then used the iPod to help launch iTunes and wrest control of music sales from record stores, helping spell the demise of retailers like Tower Records.

Mr. Jobs's iPhone shook up the mobile-phone world, and his iPad ushered in a whole new category of mobile gadgets that consumers didn't even know they wanted.

Mr. Jobs often forced competitors to react to Apple. Last week, Google Inc. acquired Motorola Inc. in large part to shore up its patents so it can continue to offer a smartphone-operating system that competes with Apple. Hewlett-Packard Co. recently said it was spinning off its computer business and shutting down the business that it acquired from Palm Inc. as it was unable to compete in the mobile-device world that Apple now dominates.

Mr. Jobs's success in reaching deals with partners often gave Apple a huge competitive advantage. When Apple signed an exclusive deal with AT&T Inc. for the iPhone, it persuaded the carrier to give it complete control over the branding and marketing of the device, a concession that no other mobile phone maker has been able to get.

When Apple ran into a problem with AT&T, Mr. Jobs made the phone call that triggered prompt action. When iPhone sales started accelerating after the debut of the iPhone 3GS in 2009 and AT&T had trouble handling the network capacity from iPhone users, Mr. Jobs called Glenn Lurie, then AT&T's point man on its relationship with Apple, and chewed him out for poor service that damaged Apple's brand, according to people familiar with the matter. The following year, the carrier rolled out a major commitment to boost spending on its network.

When record companies were initially balking at the idea of the iTunes music store in 2003, Mr. Jobs made a plea directly with the rock group the Eagles to persuade them, and its label, AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music to sign. He even offered to personally demo the service for Eagles singer Don Henley.

Mr. Jobs won media chiefs over by convincing them that they lacked successful digital strategies and needed to be saved, several media executives said. "He tells you you are a nematode," said one senior media executive. He makes you feel that "if you listen to him, you have a chance."

More recently, Apple has made headway in striking deals for digital delivery of newspapers and magazines, after Mr. Jobs disparaged publishers' print products, people familiar with the matter said. Big names like Condé Nast and Hearst Corp. have come around, beginning to sell subscriptions to their titles through iTunes, even as Apple has restricted how they can sell their content and gather data. Media executives have often said they have no choice but to do business with Apple as few other digital distribution alternatives exist.

When talks between Apple and some of the major magazine publishers were hung up on the terms under which publishers could sell their iPad editions, Mr. Jobs offered to step in and "break any ties," one industry executive said. Ultimately, however, the two sides worked out their differences, rendering his intervention unnecessary.

As for the future under Mr. Cook, this executive said, "The question is going to be if a whole new version of this needs to be invented, I don't know enough about [Cook's] background to know if he's going to spur the innovation to create breakout products," he said. "But I can say they have a big bench."

Mr. Jobs often criticizes, in public and private, the experience of watching TV as clumsy and bad for consumers. But he has said the existing system, where consumers get content from different cable and satellite providers that use different technologies, makes it difficult to innovate.

Both he and Mr. Cook have called Apple TV, a box that allows consumers to watch media from iTunes and a few other online video services, like Netflix Inc., on TVs, "a hobby."

But the area is shaping up to be a big priority for a wide range of companies, from cable and satellite providers to its Internet rivals like Google Inc. And to crack it, Apple needs to try to redefine not only the experience of watching TV but the business model of how consumers pay for it once again, analysts say. While iTunes popularized buying individual TV shows or movies, consumers already are flocking to new subscription services like Netflix that offer unlimited access for a low monthly fee.

In 2009, Apple tried rounding up media companies to offer a bundle of TV shows for a monthly fee through iTunes, according to people familiar with the discussions. But it tabled the talks after few showed interest.

"They just don't have the deals yet," said Richard Doherty, an analyst at the Envisioneering Group. Mr. Doherty likens Apple's attempt to change the TV business model to "pushing this giant marshmallow uphill." TV, with myriad rights holders and cable and satellite companies to reckon with, is "light years" tougher to transform than the music industry, he said.

People who have worked with Mr. Cook at Apple say that he often arrives at the same conclusion as Mr. Jobs, albeit with a lower-key approach. Suppliers who have dealt with Mr. Cook's team say he is a formidable negotiator, and his team haggles down the price of parts to the half a penny.

HTC Holiday's 4.5-inch Prototype Makes its First Appearance [Photo]

HTC’s upcoming Android-based smartphone Holiday’s prototype has just revealed itself for the first time.

The new Android smartphone has a large ‘CALIFORNIA’ sticker on its cover or on the back which may mean that the device will be released in different parts of the United States with different cases.

If the rumored specifications are true, then the device will arrive with a 1.2GHz processor, a 4.5-inch qHD display at 960 x 540 pixel resolution and could possibly look forward to an AT&T release. Previous rumors said that the device will also have 1GB RAM and an 8 MP rear and a 1.3 MP front-facing camera.

Nothing much in known about the device at the moment but the HTC Holiday may also arrive with conductive charge port on the back, according to a XDA report.

AT&T Airs "4G" New BlackBerries With BlackBerry 7 OS; Launch in August(Photos)

"4G"-ready Torch is the first model to be revealed

According to Canalys Principal Analyst Chris Jones, Canadian phonemaker Research In Motion Ltd. (TSE:RIM) desperately needs to "continue to innovative and recapture lost momentum."  Today RIM made

the first step towards that goal, but the question will inevitably whether it will be enough to right the ship. 

RIM's partner carrier AT&T, Inc. (T) today pulled the wraps [press release] over RIM's next generation BlackBerry 7 OS series, to launch this August.  The first model revealed might look a bit familiar -- it's the BlackBerry Torch with a slight hardware refresh.

The previous Torch -- the BlackBerry Torch 9800 -- came out approximately a year ago, in Aug. 2010 and was the first BlackBerry 6 OS device to launch.  Despite falling a bit short of expectations, the Torch saw decent sales and placed sixth in IBTimes's 2010 list of top smart phones.

The new Torch -- the "4G" BlackBerry Torch 9810 -- adds a 3.5G HSPA+ modem (which AT&T rebrands as "4G"), for faster data traffic.  It also significantly bumps the processor trading the slow 624 MHz Marvell Tavor PXA940 for an 1.2 GHz model from an undisclosed manufacturer.  The NAND flash memory capacity is doubled from 4 GB to 8 GB.  

The camera sticks at 5 MP, but it appears to have some sort of improvements as it can now take 720p video, versus the previous model which could only record at up to 480p.  The display looks identical to the previous model at 3.2-inches.

AT&T describes RIM's new BlackBerry 7 OS, writing:

BlackBerry 7 OS delivers speed, efficiency and UI enhancements and enables new hardware capabilities, including HD video recording, more fluid and responsive graphics, digital compass, and augmented reality. Browsing with the new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones is up to 40% faster than BlackBerry® 6 based smartphones and up to 100% faster than BlackBerry® 5 based smartphones.

Intriguing, AT&T also announces a coming Torch-branded smart phone that's all touch screen.  Hopefully RIM can pull this one off and deliver a solid all-touch phone this time around.  Its only full-touch effort to date has been the problem-plagued Storm, which became the bunt of many a joke, even among RIM supporters. (To be fair, the second generation Storm did offer some modest improvements.)  The new phone is branded the "4G" BlackBerry Torch 9860.

AT&T also announced a coming refresh of the popular "Bold" series.  The new model will be branded the "4G'" BlackBerry Bold 9900.  AT&T did not reveal any hardware details about the Bold 9900 or Torch 9860.

According to a preview in Engadget, the Bold 9900 will feature very similar specs to the new Torch, with a larger 2.8-inch display, a 1.2 GHz processor, a 720p-ready 5 MP camera, and a 10.5 mm thin case (on par with the iPhone 4).

AT&T asks for support on T-Mobile

Returning recently from a six-month leave to battle cancer, AT&T's top executive in North Carolina is leading a "full-court press" to generate public support in this state for AT&T's $39 billion acquisition of competitor T-Mobile.

Cynthia Marshall vows the corporate merger, which would create a telecom giant with more than 130 million customers nationwide, would alleviate the nagging problem of dropped calls and sluggish traffic that has overwhelmed AT&T's wireless network.

In North Carolina, as in many other states, regulators have no say over the merger.

Still, Marshall said support from North Carolina lawmakers, advocacy groups and others carries much weight in persuading federal regulators to bless the merger as being in the public interest.

"The voice coming out of North Carolina is powerful," Marshall said Wednesday during a meeting with reporters at The (Raleigh) News & Observer. "It's very important. We want this to happen."

Return from treatment

She estimates she is spending up to 40 percent of her time focused on touting the benefits of the T-Mobile deal. It will be the seventh merger during her 30-year career in telecommunications.

The deal was announced in March, as Marshall was consumed by chemotherapy treatments and her fight against colon cancer. Even during that time, she worked from home to promote the deal's merits. Now in remission, she returned to work full time this month.

Disparate groups - including labor unions, the NAACP, Gov. Bev Perdue and even the N.C. Sweet Potato Commission - have written to urge the Federal Communications Commission at AT&T's urging to approve the controversial merger as the best way to boost wireless coverage and expand broadband service, especially in rural areas.

"We all have experienced dropped calls, slow speeds and all that," Marshall said. "This merger is pretty much going to make this a thing of the past."

The FCC and the Justice Department aren't expected to rule on the deal until next year.

Foes cite costs

Opponents, including Sprint Nextel and some consumer groups, are urging regulators to block the deal or to require tough restrictions. U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, wrote in a letter to federal regulators this week that the deal should be blocked because it will lead to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.

Marshall said that's not true and that the acquisition is crucial because it would give AT&T access to T-Mobile's underused wireless spectrum. That would ease the data crush on AT&T's network, which is clogged with video and other downloads from smartphones and tablets. And that would allow it to expand its high-speed wireless network into rural areas and to add services.

Ken Rehbehn, an analyst with the Yankee Group, said in the nation's biggest metro areas, AT&T would expand its spectrum capacity by about 40 percent. T-Mobile's network is not nearly as congested as AT&T's. The deal would bring much-needed, albeit temporary, relief to AT&T and its customers.

"The work to get all this support just shows how vital this acquisition is to AT&T," Rehbehn said. "If they fail in this effort, I don't see an obvious Plan B to remain competitive."

T-Mobile's presence in North Carolina was negligible until its 2007 acquisition of regional provider SunCom Wireless. Neither T-Mobile nor AT&T will disclose T-Mobile's customer numbers in this state. T-Mobile's customers are mostly clustered in the New Jersey-New York corridor as well as other urban centers.

Marshall expects the deal, which also has support from a large telecom labor union, won't result in widespread job cuts. AT&T employs about 7,500 people in North Carolina and would continue hiring as it invests billions to expand the reach of its broadband networks.

She didn't provide specific hiring projections.

What HTC's Thunderbolt means for the iPhone 5

With the next generation iPhone 5 on it's way from Apple, enthusiasts and analysts are looking to glean any clues as to what will be packed into the anticipated phone.
With regards to a few important aspects, clues have come from a surprising source -- Apple rival HTC with

its Thunderbolt 4G phone.
With its fast 4G advantage, the phone sports the highest component costs of any other smartphone, and even rivals some tablets.
But it's that same 4G technology that allows industry watchers to understand some of the challenges that Apple is facing as it builds out its iPhone 5.
The 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless chips required for the faster speeds in the Thunderbolt cost an extra $39.75, according to industry researcher IHS.
This presents a problem for Apple, which observers believe is mulling adding the capability to its forthcoming iPhone 5.
There are some options.
Apple could forgo 4G technology all together. Indeed some analysts have predicted just as much, given the current chips are relatively new technology that haven't been 100 percent proven.
The company has already dropped hints, saying at a Verizon press conference in January that it will be conservative with the implementation of LTE, primarily because of battery and other concerns that didn't meet Apple's demands.
On the other hand, there are already three models of LTE phones on the market from competitors Samsung, and LG, as well as HTC's Thunderbolt.
To combat, Apple would certainly need a 4G offering, but would need to make some sacrifices given the size and cost of the chip.
"First, the iPhone's minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset," explained firms senior analyst, Wayne Lam.
"Second, the next iPhone's BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC Thunderbolt."
The current iPhone 4 costs $171.35 to make, meaning the addition would run costs up to roughly $211 per unit, cutting down on Apple's margins, which could be passed on to the consumer.
But seeing that Apple executives have publically complained about the poor designs of current LTE chips, Apple could opt to use someone else entirely.
Enter the Qualcomm's "SnapDragon MSM8960." The chip is the newer version to the 4G chip in the Thunderbolt, and features a number of advantages over standard 4G implementations.
It combines LTE, the "EVDO" standard for existing CDMA networks, and the GSM standard used at AT&T, in one chip, allowing Apple to sell one iPhone 5 that can run on multiple networks.
Currently it sells one for AT&T and one for Verizon.
Given the iPhone 5 is expected to ship a lot more units than HTC's Thunderbolt, Apple has the advantage of pushing down prices even more.
"I would imagine the caveat would have to be added that strict cost of components may vary between Apple and HTC, given Apple's purchasing power in the semiconductor market," Lam says.
The iPhone 5 is expected in Q4 this year.

The apps that eat your wireless data

Are you a wireless-data glutton or a nibbler?
New Verizon Wireless smartphone customers will have to figure that out starting Thursday as the country's largest wireless carrier rolls out data plans with monthly usage caps, instead of the unlimited plan for which existing customers pay $30 a month.
Under the new plans, smartphone users will pay Verizon between $30 and $80 each month for 2 to 10

gigabytes of data usage. Customers who use more than their allotment will be charged $10 more for each additional gigabyte.
If you have a monthly limit on how much data you can use, here are some tips on what types of phone use will gobble up megabytes:
Streaming video and videoconferencing. One minute of YouTube-quality video eats up 2 megabytes. Unless you're on WiFi, if your plan gives you 200 megabytes per month, you can't even watch Lady Gaga's "Telephone" video once a day. AT&T charges $15 a month for 200 megabytes, though Verizon is not offering such a limited plan.
Streaming audio. Audio consumes about a quarter of the data that video does, but 10 minutes a day will break the bank if you're on a 200-megabyte plan. One hour a day of Pandora consumes nearly a gigabyte, which you can afford if you're on a 2-gigabyte plan and don't use other data-hogging apps.
Photos. If you're a real shutterbug, photos can consume significant amounts of data. Sending and viewing photos both count toward your monthly limit. Posting 10 photos per day eats up most of a 200-megabyte plan. If you're on a 2-gigabyte plan, you probably don't have to worry about photos.
Maps. Navigation apps consume lots of data when they retrieve map images, up to a megabyte a minute. You're also likely to use them for long periods of time when you're away from WiFi, such as when you're driving. Watch out for these.
Web surfing. Roughly speaking, 10 Web pages a day will eat up about half of a 200-megabyte plan. Again, those on 2-gigabyte plans don't need to worry much about surfing.
Facebook. Roughly equivalent to Web surfing. Status updates won't take much data, but sending photos and viewing friends' pictures will.
E-mail. Most e-mails are tiny, in terms of data. Basically, you can send and receive e-mail messages all you want, as long as they don't have attachments such as photos.
Twitter. Like e-mail, these short messages don't use much data, but if you follow a lot of people and click on links, usage adds up.

Google, target of worldwide surveillance and takedown requests(Photos)

Google continued to demonstrate its commitment to transparency on Monday by releasing fresh statistics on the number of times it has disclosed private user data to a government, or removed content at government request. The country-by-country report covers the second half of 2010.
During that period, the United States was the top requester of user information (4,601 requests), while Brazil was the leader in takedowns, with 263 requests leading to the removal of 12,363 items.

Google has committed to releasing such data at six-month intervals, and the data now goes back 18 months. US data requests were up about 30 percent in the second half of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. Brazil, which requested the most data in the second half of 2009, actually saw its data requests fall since then.
For the first time, Google is also disclosing the fraction of user data requests it has complied with in addition to the total number of requests (it has always provided compliance statistics on takedowns). It complied with the highest fraction—94 percent—of American requests. It also complied with more than 80 percent of requests in Japan, Singapore, and Australia. At the opposite extreme, Google refused to comply with any of Turkey and Hungary's information requests, and it complied with fewer than half of the requests in South Korea, Portugal, Argentina, and Poland.
The section on takedown requests provides an interesting window into the different types of censorship that occur around the world. For example, Google complied with a request from the Thai government to remove 43 items "mocking or criticizing the king," which is illegal in that country. It removed an Italian video that depicted the assassination of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but refused to remove videos criticizing politicians in India.

 The relative market share of various Google products varies significantly between countries, which makes country-to-country comparisons difficult. For example, Brazil's high figures are at least partly explained by the phenomenal popularity of Google's Orkut social network in that country. Without similar statistics from Google's competitors, such as Facebook in the United States, it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison among countries.
A drop in the bucket
To help us put the report into perspective, Ars talked to Chris Soghoian, a researcher at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University who has written extensively about government surveillance in the United States. Soghoian praised Google for supporting transparency.
"No other company regularly releases stats like this," he said. He urged Google's competitors, such as Facebook, to follow suit.

 But Soghoian also emphasized that the bulk of government surveillance likely isn't done via Google or its competitors. Rather, law enforcement officials seeking access to private communications primarily go to telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon, each of which receive tens of thousands of requests annually. So even if Facebook, Microsoft, and other Internet companies followed Google's lead, our understanding of government information requests would still be limited.
Soghoian has argued that Congress and the public will not be able to fully understand the scope of government surveillance unless government agencies themselves are required to collect and disclose statistics about the types and numbers of requests they submit to all private companies. Legislation to that effect circulated the halls of Congress last year, but was not formally introduced.

Apple now selling unlocked GSM iPhone 4 in US, starting at $649

Apple updated its online store on Tuesday to begin offering unlocked models of the iPhone 4, starting at $649. Both the white and black versions of Apple's bestselling smartphone are available, with the 16GB and 32GB versions selling for $649 and $749, respectively, in the U.S. Apple online store. The device is not eligible for international shipping. Currently, the black versions of the unlocked iPhone 4 are estimated to ship within 1-3 business days, while white versions are listed as shipping within 3-5 days.

"The unlocked iPhone 4 requires an active micro-SIM card that you obtain from a supported GSM wireless carrier," Apple notes on the product description page. As with unlocked iPhones sold internationally, the device will work on all Apple-supported GSM networks around the world. Apple also takes care to note that an iPad 3G micro-SIM card will not work in the unlocked iPhone 4. In the U.S., customers with unlocked GSM iPhones can choose from AT&T and T-Mobile, though data transmission on the T-Mobile network will occur over the slower EDGE protocol because the carrier's 3G network is incompatible with the iPhone. Over the weekend, reports emerged that Apple would begin sales of the unlocked iPhone 4 in the U.S., though the device went on sale a day earlier than sources had suggested. On Monday, various outlets noted that unlocked iPhones had been shipped to Apple Stores with a price tag of $649 and $749. The release of an unlocked iPhone 4 comes as a blow to AT&T, which held an exclusive on the iPhone in the U.S. for more than three years, up until the release of the iPhone 4 on the Verizon network in February. The iPhone 4 has quickly become Apple's bestselling iPhone. iPhone sales grew 113 percent year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2011, reaching a record high of 18.65 million units. According to Apple COO Tim Cook, iPhone sales were "off the charts in the U.S" with 155 percent year over year growth, driven in part by the addition of the Verizon iPhone 4.

Apple iPhone 5 Will Feature Curved Glass Display: Report

Apple’s iPhone 5 will feature a curved-glass touch-screen display, according to a new DigiTimes report.

“Cover glass makers are reluctant to commit investment to the purchase of glass cutting equipment due to the high capital involved,” according to the May 23 report, citing unnamed sources. “Apple reportedly has purchased 200-300 glass cutting machines to be used by glass cutters.”

Those machines are supposedly stored at various assembly plants in anticipation

of covered-glass production ramping to acceptable levels. DigiTimes also hints that Apple is partnering with its suppliers over manufacturing processes such as glass-cutting and lamination.One of the iPhone’s recent rivals, the Google Nexus S, debuted in December 2010 with a screen curved ever-so-slightly inwards. At the time, Google claimed the display “fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face.” The Dell Venue Pro, a smartphone running Windows Phone 7, also features a curved display—albeit slightly outwards, perhaps in a bid to broaden its range of visibility.

Other rumors have suggested Apple is prepping an edge-to-edge screen for the next iPhone. Those reports stem from an “iPhone 5G” case offered on Chinese manufacturer Kulcase’s Alibaba.com Website, which was noticed by Electronista and subsequently picked up by Apple-centric blogs such as Apple Insider.

Still more scuttlebutt suggests that, no, the next iPhone will feature only incremental upgrades, even as it appears on a broader set of carriers.

“We believe the likelihood of the iPhone 5 launch in September including LTE [Long-Term Evolution] is now remote,” Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek wrote in a May 13 research note. “According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ [Evolved High-Speed Packet Access] support.”

That note also claimed that, based on “industry checks,” Sprint, T-Mobile and China Mobile will be announced as new iPhone carriers in time for the holiday season: “On Apple’s last earnings call, management responded to a question about launching the CDMA [Code Division Multiple Access] iPhone at other carriers as ‘we are constantly looking and adding where it makes sense, and you can keep confidence that we’ll continue to do that.’”

AT&T and Verizon remain the only two U.S. carriers of the iPhone at the moment. Despite AT&T’s plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion in cash and stock, the smaller carrier has denied it will carry the iPhone in the short term.”

As always, Apple’s tight in-house secrecy creates a vacuum in which even the most fanciful rumors can flourish to full live. That being said, the latest surrounding the iPhone 5 should probably be taken with a dump-truck-sized grain of salt until the company makes an official announcement.

Apple iPad 2 on Sale this March 11 on Verizon

Apple iPad 2 is being prepped up for its March 11 release date. Apple Stores will surely have a very long line again for its iPad 2 Sale. Its popularity has just gone high when it was unveiled last Wednesday with CEO Steve Jobs. 

The Apple iPad 2 was featured as thinner, Lighter and faster. Sources are also saying that the Apple iPad 2 will be made available on Verizon Wireless with a price tag of $ 499 for 16 gig, $599 for the 32gig, and $699 for the 64gig (All Wifi Only Units).

Verizon Wireless has already confirmed that they will be offering the Apple iPad 2 this upcoming March 11. AT&T and Verizon has not yet confirmed that the 3G version will be available on this date. So those who want the Apple iPad 2 3G will have to wait. Although, AT&T also had not confirmed that they will be releasing the Apple iPad 2 on March 11. Its your choice on which provider you will be sticking to.

The Apple iPad 2 has a similar appearance to its predecessor but comes with its new features. A front and rear camera, a 1.3lbs weight and a new shell for the Apple iPad 2. Having 33% thinner aluminum shell with a flat back and beveled corners wrapping around the 9.7-in. screen. Its Display has not changed at all, still has a 1024 by 768 pixels, with 132 pixels per inch. Get yourself ready for the Apple iPad 2 Sale this March 11!.