In a deal that’s been years in coming, the Boingo aggregated hotspot service now includes 9,000 McDonald’s stores: Coming on the heels of Starbucks’s switch from T-Mobile to AT&T, this is a very good month indeed for Boingo Wireless—they’ll be adding the two biggest chain networks in the U.S., both of which dwarf the next largest network.
Boingo sells aggregated access to roughly 100,000 hotspots worldwide: unlimited U.S. access is $22 per month, while worldwide is $39. A mobile device service is $8 per month worldwide.
Christian Gunning, Boingo’s marketing director, noted that McDonald’s may have a reputation for bringing in local people and consumers, but, “The McDonald’s [addition] also helps you with a subset of the business traveler group, the windshield warriors, the regional sales guys, who go from town to town to town.”
McDonald’s locations are operated by Wayport under an arrangement that they first secured in 2004 where resellers of the service pay a flat rate per location in the network rather than a per-session fee, which is otherwise common in the industry to this day.
Boingo also announced today that it had joined the Wireless Broadband Alliance, a several-year-old international group that facilitates roaming agreements among its members, T-Mobile’s U.S. operations being the only American component. Boingo operates 28 airports in the USA and UK, and that gives them some leverage.
Starbucks Corp. said today that it is moving away from T-Mobile as its in-store Wi-Fi provider and will transition to AT&T Inc.'s Wi-Fi service in more than 7,000 of its high-end coffee shops beginning this spring.
The deal will benefit Starbucks Card holders and Wi-Fi users who are among the 12 million people who subscribe to AT&T broadband service, according to the companies. Starbucks Card holders will get up to 2 hours of free Wi-Fi service in Starbucks shops per day, and AT&T broadband customers will get unlimited service.
T-Mobile, in comparison, offers its hot spot service in about 5,000 Starbucks stores for $6 an hour, or $9.99 a day, according to its Web site. Starbucks said its T-Mobile HotSpot customers will have continued Wi-Fi access at no extra cost because of a separate deal between AT&T and T-Mobile.
Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould said in an interview that there were "no technical issues" with T-Mobile. Rather, AT&T was an "ideal partner" because of its reliability, quality and customer support, she explained. In addition, AT&T has provided Starbucks with point-of-sale systems and other store technologies for 10 years, making the Wi-Fi deal an expansion of an existing, successful relationship.
The Wi-Fi business with AT&T represents a new "comprehensive communications agreement" that allows Starbucks to streamline business operations while enhancing the customer experience, Starbucks said in a statement.
Analysts agreed that T-Mobile's service was not known to have any particular technical problems, so the decision was evidently based on money and market opportunities. "Starbucks and T-Mobile have been doing business together for quite a long time, so the deal must be better for both customers and the company," said Jeffrey Kagan, an independent analyst.
In a separate statement, the two companies said the new Wi-Fi services will be a mix of two free hours of service and then paid service. For AT&T, the deal means that there will be 17,000 U.S. hot spots for its Wi-Fi network and more than 70,000 globally. All of those hot spots are managed by Wayport Inc. on behalf of AT&T.
Up to 2 hours of free Wi-Fi service per day will be available for Starbucks Card holders, while 12 million qualifying AT&T U-verse Internet and broadband customers will have unlimited free access. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T's remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi at Starbucks locations.
After the 2 free hours, customers with Starbucks Cards will be able to purchase two more hours for $3.99 per session. They will also be able to get monthly subscriptions for $19.99.
AT&T business customers who have remote access services can have unlimited flat-rate access at Starbucks as well.
Kagan said that offering free service to AT&T broadband customers is a "brilliant move" by AT&T, since the company faces challenges in its efforts to offer bundled Internet and wireless and voice services.
"This deal shows the changing and increasingly competitive world of telecom," Kagan said. "Companies have to think of ways to hang on to the customer without contracts." And while AT&T wins, Starbucks does as well, he said, because it can expand the digital entertainment it provides customers while giving them more reasons to spend time in its stores.
Here are some tips for different things you can do with Apple's iTunes.
You can change the visualizations in iTunes using these keys:
- Q and W changes the corridor
- A and S use these keys to change the style of the visualizations
- Z and X changes the color of the visualizations
- F displays the frame rate
Made a Visualization you like? Push shift and a number (1-9) to make it a preset.
M key changes the mode (i.e. random, user config, freeze the current visualization) O turns on overscan mode
During a download, go to the downloads page under “Store” and click on the dash between the filesize and how minutes it has left to display how the download speed.
Say you want to download a song but don’t have time, find the song in the iTunes Store, and drag the 30 second clip into your iTunes Library where you can purchase and download it later in one click.
You can add “Smart Playlists” from the File menu. These playlists are self-updating based on the preferences you choose. Such as how many times a song is played, the year it was released, even the BPM.
You can add web radio stations to your library that come from the iTunes “radio” menu so you can easily stream them without having to go through a lot of lists and menus.
Want to know what’s all free on iTunes? Down near the bottom of the store page, there is a “free on iTunes” box. There is new stuff being added every week.
Our favorite TV auto show, Top Gear, test drove the Bugatti's Veyron. It's the world's most expensive and powerful production car ever. At $1.3 million, it boasts a 8.0L quad-turbo W16 engine that produces 1000+hp and 927 ft. lb torque - rocketing the vehicle from 0-60 mph in just 2.4 seconds.
AT&T announced today that they will be deploying third generation (3G) wireless broadband service to more than 80 additional cities as part of its 2008 wireless network expansion plans.
This will bring 3G services to nearly 350 U.S. markets by the end of 2008, including the Top 100 U.S. cities.
This news is relevant, in that Apple users AT&T as their exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S. and has a multi-year commitment with them. One of the main criticisms of the iPhone when it was launched was a lack of 3G networking, which is typically much faster than the EDGE network that is presently offered with the iPhone.
AT&T's CEO confirmed that the 3G iPhone would become available in 2008, confirming comments by Steve Jobs at the original iPhone launch that Apple planned on making "3G phones and all sorts of other amazing things in the future".
The reason that 3G was not included in the original iPhone was due to concerns about excessive battery usage, "When we looked at 3G, the chipsets were not low-enough power for what we were looking for. They were not integrated enough, so they took up too much physical space. We cared a lot about battery life and we cared a lot about physical size. Down the road, I'm sure some of those tradeoffs will become more favorable towards 3G but as of now we think we made a pretty good doggone decision".
Apple today added new models of the iPhone and iPod Touch which have double the memory. The new 16GB iPhone is available for $499, while the 8GB model remains at $399. The 32GB iPod touch comes in at $499 while 16GB and 8GB models are priced at $399 and $299, respectively.
"For some users, there's never enough memory," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world."
The new iPhone and iPod touch models are available immediately.
Everyone’s computer is plugged into his or her home power. Not all home power is the same. Some are clean, some are dirty, some are noisy, and all are potentially problematic.
Ever turn on an appliance only to have the lights dim? If you do not have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), you are sending those power fluctuations down to your computer, and all the parts inside it.
There are full blown power outages, where power is abruptly removed from your computer. Probably the worst, is a brown out, where about half the power is supplied to your computer.
A UPS is a small battery. Once plugged into your power outlet, it will charge like any other battery. You then plug your computer into the UPS. From that point forward, your computer will run off of the battery.
You can even pull the plug from the wall, and your computer will still run, albeit for a short time. Long enough to allow you to save your work and gracefully shut down.
In addition, this battery will protect you from any surges and drops in power. In our opinion, this is a mandatory item to have. Data is just too important; computers are too expensive to repair. The chances of power fluctuations are too high to risk not spending a relatively small amount of money to protect yourself.
The nice thing about Apple's OS X, and the USB based UPS units, is they can communicate with each other. No need to install any additional software. Just plug the UPS into your wall, your computer into the UPS, and a USB cable from the computer to the UPS, and you are set. You will have new options in your Energy Saver Preferences that allow you to define what your computer does when there is a power outage.
Amazon has good deals on them, here's one that works well. The unit is small, silent, and just works!
Another client, Jeff Kollman, also performed at NAMM 2008, with two of his ongoing projects, Cosmosquad, as well as his latest one, which also features drummer, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The video features the new band, "The Bombastic Meatbats" making their live debut appearance!
Video of one of our clients, GLENN HUGHES, performing live at NAMM 2008 in Anaheim, Calfornia on January 18th, 2008.
He also recently announced some of his upcoming tour dates...in support of his new album, "First Underground Nuclear Kitchen" (FUNK) which is scheduled for a release in May.
February 2008
18 House of Blues, Hollywood, CA. USA (with the Rock'n'Roll Fantasy Camp)
March 2008
4 Emerald Theater, Mt. Clemens, MI. USA (Rescheduled date)
28 Boathouse Theatre, Fredrikstad, Norway
29 Namsos Rockfestival, Norway
May 2008
09 Lillehammer, Norway
10 Smuget, Oslo, Norway
11 Smuget, Oslo, Norway
13 Spectrum, Augsburg, Germany
15 Zeche, Bochum, Germany
16 Musiktheater Rex, Lorsch, Germany
17 Stadthalle, Metzingen, Germany
19 Retro Music Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
20 Masters Of Rock Cafe, Zlin, Czech Republic
22 A38, Budapest, Hungary
23 Divadlo Arena, Bratislava, Slovakia
24 Media Park, Ljubljana, Slovenia
26 Teatro Fanin, Bologna, Italy
27 Music Drome, Milan, Italy
28 TBC
30 Spirit of 66, Verviers, Belgium
31 De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
June 2008
01 Plato, Helmond, Netherlands
July 2008
25 Catton Hall, Walton On Trent, Derbyshire, UK
Apple announced a new line of portable computers during Steve Jobs' keynote speech at MacWorld San Fransisco today, the MacBook Air. The new line is a complement to the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.
Features of the new portable include being "the world's thinnest notebook," at 0.16" to 0.76" - thinner than the the thinnest part of a Sony TZ series laptop. Screen size is an LED backlit 13.3" widescreen with a magnetic latch. The MacBook Air keyboard is MacBook-like, but with an ambient light sensor. The new machines feature a multi-touch trackpad, allowing the user to double-tap and move. Rotate a photo by pivoting your index finger around your thumb, as well as pinch & zoom.
Additionally there's a 45 Watt MagSafe power adapter, a Micro-DVI out as well as Audio Out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR. There's a 1.8" hard drive for storage - either 80GB standard, or a 64GB SSD as an option. Intel shrunk the size of the Core 2 Duo chip by 60% to fit in the new machine.
Battery life is approximately 5 hours. No optical drive is on the MacBook Air, but a SuperDrive accessory is available for $99. There's also new software being released that allows the portable to "borrow" a Mac or PC's optical drive. All models feature 2GB of memory standard.
The case is fully aluminum (good for recycling), the first fully mercury and lead free display, circuit boards are BFR free, and retail packaging are 56% less volume than a MacBook.
The new MacBook Air starts at $1799 is available for pre-order today, and is expected to be shipping in two weeks.
Now there's no computer required - you can now rent movies directly on the Apple TV in your choice of DVD quality or HD + Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Podcasts are available in audio and video format, as well as photos from Flikr and .Mac and sync with iTunes. AppleTV allows you to preview movies from the interface, and see what other users who have rented that movie have rented. Photo screensavers can be retrieved from .Mac web galleries. Music can be purchased from the iTunes Store from within the Apple TV.
The update is available as a free software update that should be available in two weeks for current AppleTV owners. Entry price for the AppleTV also drops from $299 to $229.
HD rentals are $4.99, with 100 titles available today.
Apple announced a number of updates to the iPhone platform today. The iPhone has sold over 4 million units since going on sale 200 days ago.
That averages 20,000 iPhones sold per day. In its first quarter shipping, the iPhone garnered 19.5% of the US Smartphone market (2nd, behind only RIM's BlackBerry).
iPhone SDK Release scheduled for February
New Software today
Google Maps with Location
Webclips - website bookmarks on your home screen. Clips will remember where you zoomed/panned to, and you are able to create up to 9 of them.
Chapter Options & Language Capability - now available in iPod mode.
Multiple-Contact SMS
Available today as a free update to all existing iPhone users.
In their quest to find the world's best driving road, our favorite TV auto show, Top Gear races a Lamborghini, a Porsche and an Aston Martin in the Italian Alps.
Starbucks Corp. said today that it is moving away from
