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Cricket Wireless (subsidiary of Leap Wireless) has announced the upcoming availability of the US' first prepaid iPhone. The offer will open on Friday, June 22 and gets you Apple's handset contract free for $55 a month.

Naturally, that also means the devices aren't steeply discounted. You'll have to cough up $400 for an iPhone 4 8GB or $500 for an iPhone 4S 16GB -- far more than signing a two-year contract via major providers, but still a tad cheaper than the full retail price offered by AT&T, Verizon and Sprint (currently $550 and $650).

Cricket's prepaid service offers unlimited voice and text, while data is technically unlimited, but speeds are throttled to 56-100Kb/s if you exceed 2.3GB a month. Based on habits claimed by AT&T and others, only a small percentage of smartphone owners approach such levels, so it shouldn't be a concern for most users.

For the typical user, Cricket's service seems like a great value compared to conventional packages which hit $70 to $80 a month -- especially over the long haul. Cricket says subscribers on major carriers can expect to pay $2,775 over the course of two years, whereas its own customers will pay $1,719 during the same period.

There is at least one tradeoff in the way of coverage as Cricket's network is largely limited to major markets. It covers about 90 million Americans with only 60 million in areas supported by the iPhone (you can view a full list of the launch cities here). That could be a problem if you travel a lot or if you're in the sticks like me.

Posted in: Cricket,iPhone,month,offers,prepaid,starting

Gigabyte unveils "world's lightest" carbon fiber notebook

8:07 PM

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Gigabyte has taken the wraps of what it claims is the world's lightest notebook: the Gigabyte X11. As the name suggests this is an 11-inch system —11.6 specifically — and the Taiwan-based manufacturer has used an all carbon fiber enclosure to achieve an impressive light weight of 975g (2.15 pounds). For reference, Apple’s aluminum-body 11.6-inch MacBook Air is just slightly heavier at 1,080 grams (2.38 pounds).

Design-wise the X11 features a wedge-shaped design that goes from 3mm (0.19 inches) at the front to 16.5mm (0.65 inches) on the back. Opening the lid you’ll see an aluminum hinge, a chiclet-style keyboard with a backlight and ambient light sensor, and a large buttonless touchpad. Ports include power, USB 2.0 and mini DisplayPort on the left side plus microSD, combo audio and USB 3.0 on the right.

Under the hood the system features an unidentified “3rd generation Intel Core” processor (Ivy Bridge) and Mobile Intel HM77 Express chipset with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 128GB solid state drive, a 1366 x 768 pixel LED-backlit display, 1.3 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0, as well as a choice between Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional operating systems.

Expect the Gigabyte X11 to arrive in July priced from $999 to $1299 depending on configuration.

Image via Engadget

Posted in: carbon,fiber,Gigabyte,lightest,notebook,unveils,worlds

Facebook replaces Chrome recommendation with Opera, foreshadowing?

4:21 PM

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Facebook has reportedly dropped their support for Google’s Chrome web browser, instead replacing it with Opera on their recommended browser list. The move could signal that a rumored acquisition of the browser maker is nearly complete.

When a user visits the social network using a browser that isn’t official supported, Facebook redirects them to a page that lists browsers they say will give users the best experience. Until recently, that list included Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome. Observant viewers have since noticed that Chrome has been replaced by Opera in this list, although independent testing on my end with Chrome didn’t trigger the same browser warning that others are experiencing.

As briefly alluded to in our weekend news roundup several days ago, all rumors are suggesting that Facebook is preparing to buy Opera. Company stock is still reeling after a poor IPO showing and with roughly $16 billion now at their disposal, making a big acquisition sooner rather than later could be just what the company needs to restore investor faith. Acquiring Opera would mean that the social network wouldn’t have to build a browser from the ground up, yet another boon.

The Norwegian-based Opera was initially released in 1994 although a mobile version of the browser has been available for only a few years. The company claims to have over 200 million users worldwide, or roughly 20 percent of the user base that Facebook has.

Analysts are predicting that the acquisition could cost Facebook over $1billion. Lest we forget that Facebook spent $1 billion to acquire Instagram not too long ago in a deal that hasn’t even been finalized yet.

Posted in: Chrome,Facebook,foreshadowing,Opera,recommendation,replaces

AMD is moving to a dynamic Catalyst release schedule

12:49 PM

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AMD is doing away with their monthly Catalyst driver updates in favor of a more traditional release strategy. Starting with driver release 12.6, the company is now planning to only issue driver updates when there is a significant performance boost to be had or when a new game is released that requires a revision to obtain the best possible experience.

The idea behind the change of plans seems to be only to trouble users with updates when it’s necessary. The current scheme of a new driver every month can sometimes mean that an update is available even if it only addresses minor issues. By the same token, however, it gives them the flexibility to issue multiple updates in a single month if the need arises.

PC Perspective feels that AMD is making a mistake by keeping the same year.month naming scheme going forward. For example, 12.6 would represent the sixth month in 2012. This is all fine and dandy until they end up having to release multiple updates in a single month. Then what, 12.61, 12.62, etc.? The publication feels that since they are moving away from the monthly update that they should also ditch the related naming scheme and move to something that makes more sense.

During a phone chat with AMD, the editor asked if this restructured release schedule meant that AMD was cutting back on resources for the Catalyst team. He was told that this was not the case and if anything, they are increasing the driver staff.

Do you agree with this new driver strategy or would you rather continue receiving updates in monthly installments?

Posted in: Catalyst,dynamic,moving,release,schedule

Cricket offers prepaid iPhone 4, 4S for $55 a month starting June 22

9:27 AM

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Posted in: Cricket,iPhone,month,offers,prepaid,starting

Microsoft talks IE10, "Do Not Track" will be enabled by default

5:30 AM

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microsoft, ie10, internet explorer, preview, fcc, w3c, government, windows 8, privacy, tracking, internet explorer 10, cookies, do not track, dnt, track, touchscreen, test drive, msdn, d

Yesterday, Microsoft posted an interesting look at the current state of Internet Explorer 10 on its MSDN blog. In the article, readers will discover that Microsoft is touting a faster and more fluid experience, natural touch and gesture control, metro-influenced design elements and -- to the dismay of advertisers everywhere -- "Do Not Track" will be enabled by default.

For starters, IE10 will better appeal to the fine sensibilities of touchscreen users. Unsurprisingly, the browser will be bundled with Windows 8 -- an operating system which is expected to be found on tablets and other touchscreen devices. As a result, Microsoft is touting its very own MSGesture touch gesture API which was inspired by Surface.

Other mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS include their own touch gesture APIs, but Microsoft appears to be improving upon those systems with a richer set of capabilities. IE10 will also come bundled with a touch-optimized version of Adobe Flash.

One of the most interesting elements about IE10 though, is its bold decision to turn on Do Not Track by default.

DNT, for those who aren't familiar with the idea, is an evolving, voluntary standard (or should I say set of non-standards?) by which users can opt out of web-based tracking mechanisms via a web browser setting.

There does not seem to be a central consensus on how to do this best. Firefox, for example, requires the website you're visiting to support and respect DNT while Chrome implements it only through an extension which prevents cookies from being persistent. Internet Explorer, on the other hand, takes Mozilla's voluntary approach but supplements it with a curated DNT protection list which blocks untrusted websites that don't honor DNT.

IE's respectively heavy-handed approach to DNT is one of two reasons why Microsoft's decision to turn it on by default is so fascinating.

The second reason? According to the Wall Street Journal, by enabling DNT out of the box, Microsoft is breaking an agreement made with the White House by the Digital Advertising Alliance -- a consortium which includes Microsoft as a member. The DAA is likely concerned about Microsoft's unilateral decision because tracking is valuable to advertisers and advertising, as we all know, is what makes much of the web go 'round.

Interested in trying it out? The latest version of IE10 is bundled with the Windows 8 Release Preview that was made publicly available on May 31. Unfortunately, IE10 Release Preview 6 is only available for Windows 8.

Posted in: default,enabled,Microsoft,talks,Track

German cable ISP hits 4.7Gbps Internet speeds via existing infrastructure

2:27 AM

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internet, germany, cable, isp, research, fiber optics, networking, records, german, 7gbps, coaxial cable, coax, kabel deutschland, docsis, arris, bonding, aggregation, 862m

Kabel Deutschland, Germany's largest cable provider, claims to have broken Internet speed records yesterday. While besting existing network throughput records seems to be a frequent occurrence, Kabel Deutschland's 4.7Gbps demonstration utilized standards, technology and infrastructure that already commonly exist.

Arris, the manufacturer of modems used by Kabel Deutschland, was proud to announce the cable provider's achievement in this press release.

"This demonstrates that today's HFC plant has the capacity to deliver a full IP video load, and that the entire HFC plant can be converted into one or more enormous pipes to meet future consumer bandwidth demands, using current technology and networks," noted Tom Cloonan, ARRIS CTO, Network Solutions. "We congratulate Kabel Deutschland on pushing through existing barriers to deliver their customers the services of tomorrow, today."
Source: Arris press release (ir.arrisi.com)

The enviable speed was achieved at a school in Schwerin, Germany with a local infrastructure comprised of both optical fiber and coaxial cable. Although the facility relies mostly on coaxial cable, it is worth mentioning the school's HFC (hybrid fiber-coax) plant had recently been upgraded to 862MHz, the standard cut-off point for high-end coax.

To reach 4.7Gbps, Kabel Deutschland bonded twelve DOCSIS 3.0 Arris Touchstone CM820 cable modems together. Network bonding is a method of combining multiple network links into a single, logical link. Each modem would aggregate eight data channels at 8MHz per channel adding up to potentially 768MHz of channel bandwidth, a figure very close to the network's physical limits.

As an aside, unlike Europe's DOCSIS (or "EuroDOCSIS") which operates with 8MHz channels, DOCSIS in the U.S. utilizes 6MHz channels due to differences between PAL and ATSC standards. Narrower channels means less bandwidth per stream, so it is interesting to note that the same demonstration would have likely been more difficult and costly in the U.S. if utilizing the same technologies.

Kabel Deutschland's CTO, Lorenz Glatz, offered some perspective on what 4.7Gbps means to everyday web surfers.

Using this technology, a feature length movie could theoretically be downloaded in 8 seconds – at speeds faster than a standard laptop or modem can even process – demonstrating that today's broadband cable network is already a high performance and sustainable infrastructure offering huge untapped potential.