PC World said that Google is reported to have reserved 1 Million Phone Number for its Google Voice service. This is good news if it’s true, because the service has not been made available to new users even after Google rebranded GrandCentral into Google Voice back on March 11th, 2009.
Google Voice is currently available for existing GrandCentral users. It is unclear if Google Voice will be made available for users outside The United States.
If you are interested in getting a Google Voice account, you can sign-up for notification at: http://voice.google.com/
Founded in 1996, Twitter.com has seen its ups and down in the technology community. Mirroring the Short Message Service (SMS), a tweet allows only maximum of 140 characters in one message.
Twitter has now become a a near-real time news conduit for the world. Does anyone remember when then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama was actively using Twitter on the campaign trail? He even utilized Twitter to announced his Vice-Presidential choice. That was back in 2008.
Also in 2008, Twitter became the de facto news medium in Mumbai attacks.
In January 2009, the first image of the downed US Airways Flight 1549 was transmitted through Twitter.
In June 2006 Twitter once again became the method of choice in communicating with countries outside Iran. Iranian government effectively cut off the communication pipelines to the world after allegation of fraud in the Iranian Presidential Election. Major news media were critized of failing to report the event in Iran. People were getting the news through Twitter instead of CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, etc.
Twitter has become an important news medium. Forget Ashton Kutcher and Oprah!
Twitter: Freedom of Information in One Hundred and Forty Characters or Less at a Time.
AT&T announces today that iPhone 3G early adopters will get the $199 and $299 pricing for iPhone 3G S starting June 18th, 2009. In an open letter and YouTube Video, AT&T explains the change in the upgrade policy.
AT&T was flooded with complaints from iPhone 3G early adopters for their upgrade policy. The iPhone 3G was originally released on July 11th, 2008and early adopters are only 23 days away from fulfilling their first 12 months of their 2-year contract. According to AT&T, iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract.
All of that said, we’ve been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we’re extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time.
“We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.”
AT&T could have handled this matter better earlier. For example, most day-one iPhone 3G customers are eligible for upgrade pricing on July 12th, 2009. AT&T could have given them the upgrade pricing but still extend their contract based on the July 12 date.
Previously I contacted AT&T regarding their upgrade pricing policy and an AT&T representative stated that the iPhones are the only phone AT&T does not have control over pricing, including the upgrade pricing. At&T representative was adamant that Apple mandated the iPhone pricing policy. I contacted Apple shortly after, and an Apple representative said that it is up to AT&T discretions to set the upgrade policy. AT&T subsidizes iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S prices.
I do not know who tells the truth, but AT&T and Apple representatives were telling me two conflicting statement. Personally I tend to think that AT&T representative was not stating the fact.
June 17th, 2009 (U.S. date – June 18th in some other countries.)
Apple release iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch (1st and 2nd gen). iPhone OS 3.0 is available at no extra cost for the iPhone and iPhone 3G, while it costs $9.95 for the iPod touch.
Apple changed the iDisk icon for Snow Leopard. The version in Leopard is colored pink and the one in Snow Leopard is colored blue. Blue like the sky with a cloud. Cloud Computing, I get it!
iDisk icon in Mac OS X Leopard:
iDisk icon in Mac OS X Snow Leopard:
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is scheduled for release sometimes in September 2009. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is priced at:
Upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard: $29
Family Pack upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard: $50
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: TBA
Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family PAck: TBA
Mac OS X Snow Leopard requires Macs with Intel processor.
