Mobile Tech » AT&T Goes All or Nothing With Text-Messaging Plans

New AT&T customers will soon have fewer options in front of them when choosing an SMS text-messaging plan. They can either pay $20 per month for unlimited SMS service or be charged by the text. The carrier's parring down its options just as SMS use is beginning to flatten out -- and as smartphone apps put new, cheaper communication options into users' hands.

Wireless giant AT&T (NYSE: T) is reportedly planning to scale back its SMS text-messaging packages to exactly one plan: the Messaging Unlimited plan for US$20 per month. New users who do not wish to subscribe to that plan will be charged on a text-by-text basis at 20 cents per SMS and 30 cents per MMS. Starting Aug. 21, the $10 bundle that offers 1,000 messages per month will be gone.

AT&T is keeping its Family Unlimited Messaging plan intact, according to Engadget, which broke the news. Current customers can reportedly keep their texting plans even if they switch handsets.

A request for comment was not returned to the E-Commerce Times in time for publication.

Highly Lucrative

Texting, which generally costs wireless carriers very little to support and carry over their networks, is a cash-cow in more ways than one for these companies. It's a wildly popular mode of communication, not just for young people but also for adults.

One of the findings in a recently released Pew Internet & American Life Project study is that the vast majority of smartphone owners -- 92 percet -- use their devices to send or receive text messages.

Growth, however, does seem to be slowing, according to another set of statistics from CTIA. It found that text messaging grew just 8.7 percent -- for a total of more than 1 trillion texts -- in the second half of 2010 compared to the prior six months.

This trend will more than likely continue, Jefferson Wang, a partner at IBB Consulting, told the E-Commerce Times.

"IBB believes that text messaging should begin to flatten out, with adoption by those under 35 near saturation, but will likely gain popularity with those 35 years and older."

For SMS text messaging to continue to thrive as a revenue generator, carriers need to continue to develop new solutions and simplify the price plans, he said. AT&T is clearly an example, but Wang also thinks AT&T is scaling back its offering to simplify things for the back-end network operator as well.

New Solutions

New product offerings, though, is where the true growth will be -- and hopefully they will be sexy enough to lure the under 35 age group as well.

Wang points to group messaging and location-based messaging integrated with location-based services as examples, as well as the ongoing rolled out of voice-to-text and text-to-voice solutions.
Enter the Social Networks?

It is debatable, though, whether such offerings will be enough to turn the tide against another, far larger and potentially more devastating trend than mere saturation.

Social networks such as Facebook are starting to offering competing services. Last week, in fact, Facebook launched a new mobile app that provides message services as well as group chats between phone contacts and Facebook friends. Twenty-four hours after it rolled out the app, it had topped the list of free apps in the iTunes store.

Other smartphone apps can be used to instantly send and receive messages without incurring SMS fees from a wireless carrier.

The timing of AT&T's new text messaging plan is interesting considering Facebook's new service, which basically sidestep carriers completely, Charles King, principal with Pund-IT, told the E-Commerce Times.

"We may be seeing the end of text messaging as a cash generator for service providers. After all, if you are paying good money for a text messaging service and you have a smartphone, it will be a whole lot more cost-effective to use one of the social networks."

Carriers have been down this road before, though, King noted. A decade or more ago it watched long-distance calling get pre-empted by other technologies.

"Carriers are seeing the ground shift underneath them again," he concluded.

Mobile Tech » The Plight of the Android App Wallflowers

With just a handful of popular Android apps dominating users' attention, what's a developer to do? It's all about discovery, says Nielsen's Don Kellogg. "How can you make it easy for people to find your app? How can you ignite positive word of mouth? How can app stores and other aggregators improve the consumer experience to make it easier for consumers to discover a broader range of quality apps?"

Android device users spend more time on their apps than on the mobile Web, and the top 10 apps account for 43 percent of that time, according to Nielsen.

When the top 50 Android apps are considered, they account for 61 percent of the time Android device users spend on apps.

That means the rest of the nearly 250,000 Android apps available have to compete for the remaining 39 percent of users' time spent on apps.

Does this mean creators of the less popular apps aren't making any money at all? Is there no long tail in the Android ecosystem? And how does this compare to Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS app ecosystem?

Earnings on the Android Market

"The top 50 apps on Android are making enormous amounts of money, but even the smallest apps at the end of the long tail can make about US$1 every 7 to 10 days with banner advertising," Estuardo Robles, vice president at Appsgeyser, told LinuxInsider.

However, apps don't depend strictly on ads for revenue -- they also offer in-app sales.

"Time spent in an app usually equates to more ad dollars, and maybe the top 10 properties are generating more ad dollars than the long tail -- but the long tail generates a significant amount of money from in-app purchases," Simon Khalaf, CEO of Flurry Analytics, pointed out.

Mobile gaming revenues will exceed $16 billion in 2016 as in-app payments grow, ABI Research found.

Despite this, Android app devs will make less money on the whole from in-app purchases than devs creating apps for Apple's iOS mobile operating system.

That's because it was only this March that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) launched in-app purchase functionality, Joshua Greenman, president of Mercury Development, told LinuxInsider.

Android's billing system is clunky, and Android apps generate one-fifth to one-sixth of the revenue an iOS app does, Flurry Analytics found.

Making Money With Android

Instead of trying to get banner ads, Android devs should employ the freemium model, Flurry's Khalaf told LinuxInsider.

"If a developer makes a free version of his Android app with limited features, and offers a paid premium or pro version with more features and options for in-app purchases and so on, we find that he'll make as much money as he'll make with an iOS app," Appgeyser's Robles said.

However, dollar for dollar, iOS apps make more money for devs than Android apps do.

That's partly because Google's in-app billing system is clunky compared to that of Apple's iTunes App Store.

Further, developers' customers often prefer iOS apps, and that takes away developer time from working on Android apps.

"Every customer that approaches me asks for an iOS app first and an Android version later," Mercury Development's Greenman said.

Getting Consumers to Pick Your App

Developers have to focus on quality, design and marketing 6 Ways to Use Social Media for Business. Free Guide..

"You need to ensure quality," Appsgeyser's Robles said. "Otherwise, you will get negative ratings, which will really affect your app."

Design is equally important.

"Put good graphics work into your app icon and description," advised Robles. "The principal way people discover your app is through their eyes."

"The research findings make it clear that it's all about discovery, Don Kellogg, director of telecom research and insights at Nielsen, told LinuxInsider. "How can you make it easy for people to find your app? How can you ignite positive word of mouth? How can app stores and other aggregators improve the consumer experience to make it easier for consumers to discover a broader range of quality apps?"

Then, devs have to promote the app and boost its initial downloads.

"We've discovered that promoting your app within other apps is the most effective way to convert downloads," Robles said.

"It's very difficult to get noticed in this market," Melanie Moffett, marketing manager at Amadeus Consulting, told LinuxInsider.

"You need to have a cohesive marketing plan along with your app, or you probably won't see a return on your investment."

Internet » Facebook Envy Could Trip Up LinkedIn

Earlier this week, I logged in to LinkedIn and was presented with three articles about Abercrombie & Fitch asking the guy known as "The Situation" from the "Jersey Shore" reality TV show to stop wearing its clothes. I don't watch reality shows on TV, and I don't want them creeping into my online world -- especially in a place where I'm expecting to have strictly professional discourse.

As the one major social networking 6 Ways to Use Social Media for Business. Free Guide. site that actually has gone public, LinkedIn is facing more pressure than its competitors to produce revenue and ultimately turn a profit.

Because it now answers to antsy anonymous shareholders -- rather than somewhat more patient venture capitalists or angel investors -- LinkedIn has to make money now.

That could explain why the site that's known as the premier social network for business professionals has made a couple of recent changes that could be interpreted as attempts to cast itself in Facebook's image.

One of those changes was a smart move that would make sense for any social networking operator. The second one was simply a bad idea.

Win Some, Lose Some

The smart move was launching new mobile applications for accessing the LinkedIn platform. The bad idea was unveiling a new advertising program that made it look like individual LinkedIn members were endorsing the products being advertised.

The mobile apps make sense because mobile devices are the future of computing, and any website hat wants to remain relevant going forward must be mobile-friendly.

With that in mind, LinkedIn this week unveiled new client applications for iOS -- which powers the iPhone and iPad -- and Android. These are the two operating systems that are on the lion's share of the mobile devices currently in use across the globe -- and that's likely to be the case for the foreseeable future. So, it makes sense for LinkedIn and other social networks to be compatible with them.

Mobile compatibility actually is becoming more critical to the social-networking experience every day, with the world's population not only gravitating toward smartphones, but also increasingly shying away from desktop and laptop computers in favor of tablets.

I believe tablets ultimately will prove to be the sweet spot for mobile computing, offering the right combination of portability and functionality. Smartphones are nice for checking email, reading and sending tweets, but anyone wanting to get real work done while on the move will opt for the larger screen size of a tablet any day.

It Pays to be Tablet-Friendly

LinkedIn, given its status as the place for professional networking, clearly needs to be tablet-friendly, and its iOS app gives it compatibility with the iPad, which continues to obliterate the competition in the tablet space.

Having an iPad-friendly app also gives LinkedIn an edge over Facebook, which has yet to release an app for that device.

I tested the LinkedIn app on my iPad and found it pleasant to use. In fact, after working with it a couple of days, I prefer it over LinkedIn's desktop interface.

The iPad app groups my entire LinkedIn universe into four attractive-looking boxes:

• Updates
• Profile
• Inbox
• Groups

The profile is a view of my own LinkedIn profile. The Inbox is, of course, any mail sent to me through LinkedIn, and the Groups are connections to various groups I have joined.

The Updates area is essential messages that people in my network have broadcast. Most of those messages, incidentally, are merely coming from those individual's Twitter feeds. The interesting thing about the Update area is a space labeled "LinkedIn Today," which is essentially a newsfeed.

LinkedIn introduced this feature -- which imitates a similar piece of Facebook functionality -- in March. It is supposed to present users with news stories related to groups they are following or discussions that are taking place in their networks.

You also have the ability to share these articles with members in your network. There is one aspect of this feature I find annoying. You can only email articles to people in your LinkedIn network. You can't even email them to yourself for reading later.

Improving Stickiness

My personal annoyances aside, I believe this feature can help LinkedIn improve the stickiness of its site, which could go a long way to helping it boost advertising revenue. There is one area in which LinkedIn needs to be careful in deploying it, however.

Once again, going back to its status as the professional networking platform, it needs to make sure the news being fed to users is relevant to their profession. Most of the time, I get articles that I find useful from a professional standpoint. Earlier this week, however, I logged in to LinkedIn and was presented with three articles about Abercrombie & Fitch asking the guy known as "The Situation" from the "Jersey Shore" reality TV show to stop wearing its clothes.

I don't watch reality shows on TV, and I don't want them creeping into my online world -- especially in a place where I'm expecting to have strictly professional discourse. I don't know if the discussion in my network that day had somehow drifted to this topic, or if LinkedIn was trying to boost traffic by adding some general consumer news.

I hope it was the former. If it was the latter, that's dangerous territory for LinkedIn to enter. It should leave that type of news to Facebook and Twitter.

Placing Users in Ads

LinkedIn also would do well to stay away from the Facebook-like ad campaign that came to light last week, when users started seeing their names and pictures embedded in ads for various products.

The explanation was that these users had either recommended the product or were following the company associated with the product, and a new privacy policy had been issued noting that user information might be used in that manner.

I don't want to get into a discussion about how often -- or how well -- users read privacy policies. Suffice it to say I think it's a bad idea to embed anyone's name or photo into an ad without having them agree to it writing. I think people are actually supposed to get paid for having their likenesses used in that fashion.

Act Like an Adult

In any event, LinkedIn responded to the backlash by altering the policy to include only links to profiles of people following an advertiser rather than listing their names and displaying photos. It also reminded us all, once again, that we always have the option to opt out of any such campaigns.

What LinkedIn also should do, particularly as it looks at its long-term business prospects, is to remember that it is not Facebook or Twitter. It's a different type of social network, and there is nothing wrong with that.

One of the best descriptions I've seen of the social networking landscape was on Inc.com, which described Facebook as the starting high school quarterback rocketing to a career in the NFL, while LinkedIn was the studious introvert headed to an Ivy League school.

LinkedIn would do well to remember that in the competition between the high school quarterback and the bookworm, the bookworm generally fares better when the two become adults.

Be the adult, LinkedIn. Leave the foolishness to Facebook. In the long run, investors are likely to take you more seriously.

Computing » PartedMagic: A Swiss Army Knife for Hard Drive Resuscitation

PartedMagic does so much more than just partition hard drives. It is a specially crafted Linux distro designed to diagnose and repair broken stuff short of replacing hardware. With PartedMagic as a complete solution to work with GParted, I have a relatively safe and reliable tool to partition a fresh disk or repair a broken partition table on a working computer.

I started out looking for a handy disk partitioning tool to repair a colleague's ailing computer. I ended up finding a toolbox full of very handy repair and system maintenance apps. As a bonus, I got all of this packed into a nifty specialized Linux distro called "PartedMagic" that boots into RAM from a CD or USB drive.

PartedMagic is compact and lightweight. Having a live distribution built around GParted is a failsafe way to use Linux to manage your computer's hard disk. Normally, any OS will partition the hard drive as part of the installation process. But most OSes give you little or no control over the disk partitioning options and lack much of a useful interface. Even the great variety of Linux distros can leave users guessing about what size and other options to select when making new volumes on a hard drive.

PartedMagic is as close to worry-free partitioning as I have found. I've used the stand-alone partitioning app GParted many times. It's one of my staples in setting up computers. But it has drawbacks when you work on a broken system.

With PartedMagic as a complete solution to work with GParted, I have a relatively safe and reliable tool to partition a fresh disk or repair a broken partition table on a working computer. I have also used it to recover files from a broken computer as well as repartition and format hard drives. These tasks can usually cause considerable anxiety out of fear that a mistype in a command line entry will destroy data -- or worse.

The graphical user interface (GUI) PartedMagic uses takes the already handy GParted interface and extends it into a fully-functional Linux desktop. This environment is independent of whatever else runs on the ailing computer. This specialized Linux distro makes creating or adjusting disk partitions a no-brainer.

Smart Distro

Unlike typical app chatter that we present each week in Linux Picks and Pans, this week's pick is less about an application and more about an entire Linux distro. That is because PartedMagic is a rarity. Think of it as the ultimate Linux app compilation.

The concept behind PartedMagic is Linux at its best. Having a complete Linux distro that runs in a live CD/DVD/USB environment is sheer genius. It requires no first-use configuration typical of any OS installation. It is relatively fast. It boots the computer and loads into system memory in under 60 seconds.

PartedMagic finds the Internet connection, puts useful system information in a desktop widget display, and has an impressive menu of connectivity, productivity and system tools one click away. It even includes the Firefox Web browser for instant Internet access.

This distro is based on Slackware. The current version is 6.6, released on Aug. 3. Its graphical environment comes from LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) and X.Org and has a customisable panel with a digital clock and a Start button to access the main menu. Prefer a text-based menu? No problem. It's in there. These factors account for PartedMagic's low-resource impact and ability to run completely in RAM.

Preppy and Peppy

I run Puppy Linux with various desktop options on all of my desktops and laptops as a second choice to Ubuntu Linux. Puppy Linux loads from CD or USB and fits into RAM. So I am very much at home with the similar approach used in the PartedMagic distro. In fact, PartedMagic has many of the core programs endemic to many Linux installations.

For instance, this specialized partitioning distro has built in great accessory apps such as AlsaMixer, Archive Manager, Calendar, Conky, Galculator, Leafpad, Midnight Commander and Music Player. It also has GPicView Image Viewer, ClamAV and a host of standard Internet and connectivity tools.

PartedMagic also comes with GParted, Clonezilla, Partimage, TestDisk, Truecrypt, G4L and SuperGrubDisk. And if all of this is not enough crammed into a 45MB envelop, you will also find fdisk, sfdisk, dd and ddrescue). Go to the PartedMagic website for well-written and very detailed user guides.

Let's not forget about this repair distro's extensive collection of fileystem support. It includes ext2, ext3, ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, ntfs, reiserfs, reiser4 and xfs.

Starting It

The opening menu resembles a dual-boot screen. Even before PartedMagic boots the system, this specialized Linux live distro has options to solve any contingency.

For example, you can specify how the temporary OS will load. The options are quick impressive. They range from default settings running in RAM or running in low RAM to booting into an alternative graphical server or boot sector on the physical hard drive.

An extra options menu adds access to a hardware detection tool, memtest, super grub disks to fix broken boot menus on the hard drive. Also available are MHDD (special hard disk diagnostic tools), Plop boot manager (to boot different operating systems from a built-in drivers) and Clonezilla. This is a disaster recovery, disk cloning and deployment tool.

Another pre-boot option is to select the Failsafe Menu. Here you can trim exactly how and what devices you want loaded. These choices can quickly get you booted when onboard drivers are corrupted or other graphics card issue exist.

Quitting It

The startup routine ends with an automatic ejection of the boot CD. Cool stuff.

The Logout menu lets you reboot or shut down. Or you can save the current session or exit from the GUI to the Main Menu. This last option is really handy. You can also select Xorg to start the LXDE desktop environment or manually configure your choice of Xorg or Xversa video (screen resolution) settings.

Remember, PartedMagic does so much more than just partition hard drives. It is a specially crafted Linux distro designed to diagnose and repair broken stuff short of replacing hardware.

To that end you can jump directly to scan and repair disk partitions as well as back up and restore disk partitions. Final choices let you eject the PartedMagic CD, power off the computer, restart the computer or exit the menu and return to shell.

Try doing all of that in whatever other Linux distro you use. Except for not having a package management system and high-end text, video and audio production apps as part of the mix, I could very comfortably use PartedMagic as my distro of choice.

Down to Business

Besides the system readout widget on the desktop, PartedMagic has seven core component icons in the display. Like any desktop icon, these function as shortcuts to the most useful or often-used components. What you see are File Manager, System Profiler, Keyboard Layout, Disk Health, Monitor Settings, Network Manager and Partition Editor.

This last icon loads what is perhaps the key need for this entire distro. Partition Editor is the GNOME Partition APP known as "GParted." For detailed help in using each of these apps within the live distro, see the documentation on the developer's website.

The traditional Linux app panel at the bottom of the screen shows much of what you expect in Linux. Visible are time, Internet connection and sound volume indicators on the right end. On the left end are the menu list, the mount devices icon, the LXTerminal icon, an icon that opens a detailed help window and the workplaces switcher panel.

Right click on any open space on the panel to access the setting controls window for the Task Bar and Panel options and settings.

Bottom Line

PartedMagic is the Swiss Army Knife of OS repair wrapped into a very functional Linux distro. It is fast, tiny and easy to use. It has bundled inside all the essential open source disk management tools you will ever need in an emergency.

But it does so much more than merely changing the disk partitions. So you will use it more than just needed the GParted functionality. If you maintain more than one computer, you will quickly wonder how you survived without it.

Computing » Shelter for Linux in the Software Patent Storm

"The USPTO has allowed US businesses to descend into a depressing state of paranoia and mindless violence," said blogger Robert Pogson. "The USPTO has issued thousands of worthless patents that can do $millions of damages per patent in legal fees and blocking commerce. ... [Patents have] warped into weapons of mass destruction in the hands of corporations."

Patents, patents, patents. Such a to-do about software patents!

The news this week has focused on little else, thanks in large part, of course, to Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) much-discussed purchase of Motorola Mobility.

It's fairly widely agreed that patents were the motivating factor behind that purchase -- not at all surprising, given the virtual lawsuit-fest the mobile world has become. Even the relatively open and free, like Android, need a patent war chest to protect them, it seems.

And what of the rest of the Linux world? Well, for that, thank goodness there's the Open Invention Network (OIN).

Cisco and Twitter Sign On

Yes, for those who aren't already familiar with it, the OIN was formed back in 2005 to protect and promote the Linux ecosystem by making sure that a broad portfolio of important patents are "openly shared in a collaborative environment," as the group puts it.

In a nutshell, patents owned by the OIN are available royalty-free to any company that agrees not to assert its patents against what OIN calls "the Linux System." Awesome patents in exchange for a no-lawsuit promise, in other words.

Sound like a good deal? You bet it does, and both Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Twitter seem to agree. It was the recent addition of those two companies to the OIN's roster of more than 360, in fact, that's had tongues wagging down at the Linux blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Saloon.

No fan of software patents herself, Linux Girl whipped out her Quick Quotes Quill and started taking notes.

'Weapons of Mass Destruction'

"Congrats to Cisco and Twitter for doing the sensible thing," offered consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack. "Now they need to continue to pressure Washington to fix the broken system that requires organizations like OIN to exist."

Indeed, "the USPTO has allowed US businesses to descend into a depressing state of paranoia and mindless violence," agreed blogger Robert Pogson. "The USPTO has issued thousands of worthless patents that can do $millions of damages per patent in legal fees and blocking commerce."

Though originally intended "to promote science and technology by providing temporary monopolies to inventors, often solitary individuals," patents have since "warped into weapons of mass destruction in the hands of corporations," Pogson added.

'More Evil Than Double Jeopardy'

Lawmakers, courts and the patent office, advised Pogson, need to take the following steps:

"disallow patents for corporations over a certain size, after the first million units of a product under patent protection have shipped, and for non-practicing organizations;
refuse to issue patents for non-patentable ideas;
require patents to be licensed under 'reasonable and non-discriminatory' terms to prevent abuse; and
disallow patents for software under any circumstances -- patents and copyright for software does more evil than double jeopardy."

The OIN, meanwhile, is "just another patent cartel for FLOSS like the ones M$ and its 'partners' use to defend/attack in patent litigation," Pogson opined.

"Should not business return to the business of supplying goods and services for profit instead of commercial warfare?" he asked. "It clearly is unconstitutional that current US patent law permits a business to refuse to license a patent and at the same time not to implement the patent in any product."

'Patent Plaintiffs Cannot Win'

Patents are not always a winning proposition for their owners, either, suggested Chris Travers, a Slashdot blogger who works on the LedgerSMB project.

"This shows a major reason why patent plaintiffs cannot win," Travers told Linux Girl.

"The end result for a patent-holder which aggressively enforces a patent claim like this ends up eventually with massive damage to his/her patent portfolio, large legal costs and loss of image," Travers explained. "Now, with a project like Linux, we are seeing collective defense."

'They Can Treat the Code Like BSD'

Slashdot blogger hairyfeet saw it differently.

"It is no wonder all these embedded and SaaS groups are using Linux and joining OIN -- they can have their cake and eat it too," he said.

Specifically, "they get all the code for free, all those patents to CYA for a trivial amount of money, and they can treat the code just like BSD thanks to TiVo," he explained. "Hell, if I was working on an embedded device I'd just use Linux and eFuses -- I mean, why not? It isn't like anyone can do a thing about it as long as I hand them the code, right?"

Ultimately, though, hairyfeet sees private ownership in Linux's future.

'The MSFT of the Mobile World'

"I truly believe the future of Linux will be corporate ownership, most likely by Google," he suggested. "They have the muscle that if they fork the kernel away from Linus, everyone will follow Google. This will give Google the keys to the kingdom and could make them the MSFT of the mobile world."

After that, "it would be foolish for them NOT to lock it down," hairyfeet asserted. "After all, if you can upgrade it without them, how will they get you to buy the latest and greatest? How will they keep you from taking Google search and services and all that yummy data-mining and ad revenue away from them?

"Simple answer: they can't, as that is kinda the point of FOSS and GPLv3, to keep companies from taking your rights away," hairyfeet concluded.

'You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet'

Not everyone, however, was quite so sure.

"I notice Google is a licensee, and with Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) and Moto's 17,000 current patents and an additional 7,500 pending patents in the pipeline, 'you ain't seen nothin' yet!'" observed Barbara Hudson, a blogger on Slashdot who goes by "Tom" on the site.

"With the Moto acquisition, and assuming Motorola's patents get added to the pool, the OIN suddenly becomes THE place to be -- especially since Motorola by itself had enough patents in the mobile field to be able to stand against both Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Microsoft," Hudson explained.

'Critical Mass at a Critical Time'

"It's all about critical mass at a critical time, and OIN seems to have hit the numbers just right, in large part due to the patent trolls themselves forcing businesses to find a solution that doesn't involve being victims of extortion," Hudson added.

"Can the world get any crazier? Possibly," she suggested. "What if Nokia (NYSE: NOK) ends up having to join just to survive a bit longer? Could that become a sort of poison pill preventing a Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) buyout of Nokia for pennies on the dollar when it finally goes belly-up?

"The other question is, how long until companies do the logical thing and band together for comprehensive patent defensive pooling over all their activities and products, not just linux?" Hudson mused. "After all, money not spent on suing each other is money that can make the difference between a profit or loss, and fewer legal hassles means more resources to devote to actually building their core businesses rather than trying to win big in the patent troll lottery."

Computing » IBM Makes Brainy Breakthrough in Computing

Researchers at IBM have created computer chips that behave more like actual brains when processing information. Systems built with these chips will be called "cognitive computers" and won't be programmed the same way as traditional computers. Cognitive computers are expected to learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses and remember.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) researchers unveiled a new generation of experimental computer chips Thursday. The chips are designed to mimic the brain's abilities of perception, action and cognition. The development could lead to advances in computers that require much less power and space than current technology.

IBM's first neurosynaptic computing chips recreate the spiking neurons and synapses of biological systems such as the brain by using advanced algorithms and silicon circuitry. The first two prototype chips have been fabricated and are undergoing testing.

Systems built with these chips will be called "cognitive computers" and won't be programmed the same way as traditional computers. Cognitive computers are expected to learn through experiences, find correlations, create hypotheses and remember, mimicking the brain's structural and synaptic plasticity. IBM is combining principles from nanoscience, neuroscience and supercomputing to kick off a multi-year cognitive computing initiative.

IBM and its university collaborators have been awarded approximately US$21 million in new funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for phase two of the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) project. SyNAPSE's goal is to create a system to analyze complex information from multiple sensory modalities at once and to dramatically rewire itself to adapt to the environment.

Computerized Learning, My Dear Watson

Giving a computer the ability to learn changes the way it works. Today's computers react to human input and programming, while a learning computer would process information differently. The new chip is a step closer to actual learning than even the Watson computer used on "Jeopardy" to respond to questions.

"You can think of this like Watson, since both systems have the ability to learn," Kelly Sims, communications manger at IBM Research, told TechNewsWorld. "It has to be a learning system because you can't program a computer for every possible question. The computer has to be able to guess what the different data mean. Typical computer calculations are limited by programming. You can't program a computer to know everything."

IBM is implementing its hardware knowledge to fabricate a new type of computer. IBM dreams of a computer that is more aware of its surroundings and is ready to learn from them.

"What we're trying to do is create something that can take in different information from senses and come up with an understanding of what is going on," said Sims. "Watson was designed to answer deep questions and answers, to understand and find answers in natural language. The underlying hardware involved is the same hardware we've been using for 50 years."

Computers today are reaching the walls of physics, which could stymie the uninterrupted progress of faster and deeper computations.

"Computers today face a number of problems. One is Moore's Law. We're coming to physical limitations. You have to make the computer go faster to get more out of them. We could build a computer that could know almost everything, but it would be the size of Manhattan and it would take just as much energy."

Sims notes that the new chip is completely different from previous computers, even Watson.

"We found a separation in the road from the old computers to a new direction, and this chip is the new way," Sims said. "For some things, the regular computer is perfect. It's been left brain. Now we're adding right-brain capability."

AI for Real?

This new chip brings technology yet another step closer to replicating a human-like intelligence. The adaptation of brain-like structures into computer chips could be a leap toward a much more complex artificial intelligence.

"This is a pretty cool development," Roger Kay, founder and principle of Endpoint Technologies, told TechNewsWorld. "It's complicated, but essentially, it arranges computing elements like processing, memory, and communications in a manner closer to the way our brains store and send information in neurons, axons and synapses.

The most important changes include the way processors are smaller and less complex and are associated with their own memory, Kay noted.

"The difference is the way individual elements communicate in a many-to-many fashion," he said.

"This computing engine has to be hooked up to inputs such as sensors -- eyes and ears -- and outputs like actuators -- hands and mouths," said Kay. "When a sensor sees the color red, a 'red' neuron fires, alerting many others around it with the message 'I have red.' Another neuron associated with a fire engine, one with a Ferrari, and one with blood would all fire back, maybe with a query, 'Is it liquid? Does it make noise?' And others in those departments fire off input requests. An assessment comes back, 'makes high pitch whine,' and several neurons team to make an output 'could be Ferrari.' Eventually, this sort of computing architecture could change many things, but not for many years. This is a long-term research project."

Computing » Will There Be Life After HP for WebOS?

HP put the future of the webOS mobile operating system in serious jeopardy Thursday with the announcement that it's discontinuing its lines of webOS-based phones and tablets, some of which were released very recently. HP's webOS products largely failed to gain traction in the market, and now the OS' future may depend entirely on whether anyone out there cares to buy it soon.

HP (NYSE: HPQ) on Thursday shook the mobile devices world in announcing that it's killing off its webOS-powered smartphones and TouchPad tablet line.

The TouchPad reportedly suffered poor sales in its short few weeks on the market, and little has been heard about HP's Palm Pre family of smartphones.

HP said it'll continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

"They're just trying to say they're looking for somebody to buy webOS," Carl Howe, director of anywhere consumer research at the Yankee Group, told TechNewsWorld.

Will HP succeed? After all, webOS has been limping along for years, first at Palm, where it was developed, and then at HP, which got the OS when it purchased Palm in 2010.

HP did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

HP's Global Plans for webOS

HP bought Palm back in April 2010 to get into the mobile market.

The acquisition would be a transformational deal in the connected mobility market, said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's personal systems group. HP would invest heavily in product development.

That connected market extends from mobile devices to netbooks and laptops, and it incorporates the cloud. It's the same connected market Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is tackling with iOS and iCloud.

HP showed few outward signs in recent months that it was losing faith in the plan that led it to buy Palm. HP CEO and President Leo Apotheker reiterated the vision of a seamless, secure, context-aware, connected world in his keynote speech at an HP strategy summit in March, and again at the AllThingsD conference in June.

What happened? What led HP to scuttle its vision after splurging $1.2 billion on Palm? Can it recoup its costs?

Suffering From the Mobile Market Squeeze

Perhaps HP was too late after Apple had already established a powerful lead with the iPhone. Maybe HP was also heartened by the progress of Android, which made significant gains within a year of its launch and is now nipping hard at Apple's heels.

Android took 20 percent of the media tablet market from iPad in the last year, ABI Research found.

However, unlike Android, which is licensed to anyone who wants to use it to power their mobile devices, webOS is, like Apple's iOS, a closed system.

When your business model is similar to the market leader's, you'd better hope for two things: That the market leader is somnolent enough to let you catch up to it, and that your marketing 6 Ways to Use Social Media for Business. Free Guide. and distribution skills are better.

However, Apple has constantly innovated in the product field, and its marketing and distribution are widely recognized as second to none.

webOS Device Woes

The news of HP's webOS device shutdown came the day after its latest webOS phone, the Palm 3, went on sale in Europe.

Meanwhile, sales of the TouchPad have been so bad that U.S. retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), at least, is reportedly pressuring HP to take back its piles of excess inventory. HP was forced to slash TouchPad prices three times recently after having put the device on retailers' shelves only last July.

HP needed the time to mature webOS and its devices, Richard Shim, a senior analyst at DisplaySearch, told TechNewsWorld. Further, HP had to learn a whole new set of skills -- create a healthy app developer community, help devs create good apps, sell the product and differentiate it from others.

But the fast-moving mobile device market is unforgiving, and HP couldn't get the time it needed to catch up.

HP's having a strong presence in the corporate market didn't help because it lacked apps.

"If you can't tell the CIO, the CEO, the VP of IT that your product has the apps they need for their tablet, you won't get any traction," Laura DiDio, principal at ITIC, told TechNewsWorld.

Possible Alternatives for webOS

There are other areas where webOS might fit, such as embedded systems, such as those in smart appliances, or in telematics -- telecommunication devices in automobiles such as GPS and automotive navigation systems.

That's the area HP's Bradley and Apotheker are possibly eying.

However, it's not clear whether HP can penetrate those markets.

"[Succeeding in the embedded systems market] would be a stretch, although HP's history in industrial measurement equipment may offer them some ins there," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

"The embedded OS space is extremely crowded," King told TechNewsWorld. "But the biggest challenge for HP there would be to convince developers that webOS has a chance. That seems like a tall order."

A Two-Time Loser?

If HP puts webOS up for sale, will it get any takers? That depends on whom you talk to.

\u201cWebOS has had a couple of owners now, and I'm not optimistic," the Yankee Group's Howe pointed out. "It may be the operating system nobody wants."

That may be too gloomy a view to take, especially in light of Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent purchase of Motorola.

"There are a lot of people willing to buy webOS so they can stay in the mobile business in the wake of Google's purchase of Motorola," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld.

That purchase is driving the mobile device market toward a vertically integrated model, Enderle said.

"There will be three players left. Apple and Google-Motorola are the first two, and whoever wants to be the third one may be looking at webOS," Enderle speculated.

"HTC is probably the hungriest, but there's also Samsung and LG," Enderle stated. "They all have the money and resources to buy webOS."

Computing » If HP Sells, Who's Buying?

HP is considering selling off its PC business. If it decides to go that direction, who are some of the more obvious and not-so-obvious potential buyers? Lenovo wrangled a similar deal half a decade ago with IBM -- could it try again with HP? Names like Dell and Samsung are also being floated around, as are dark-horse longshots like Vizio, a company best known in the U.S. as a TV maker.

HP (NYSE: HPQ) on Thursday shared some eyebrow-raising news regarding its operations, essentially proposing to reposition itself to solely focus on the enterprise market.

Briefly, it plans to shutter development of hardware for webOS devices, acquire Autonomy, and either spin off or sell its PC division.

The latter proposal -- specifically the possibility that HP might put the business out for sale instead of spinning it off into a subsidiary still controlled by HP proper -- has piqued the interest of the PC and electronic device manufacturing industry. Who would be the winning bidder for the firm should HP opt for that route?

'Potentially Significant'

"This is potentially significant for whoever buys the business," said N. Venkatraman, a professor in management at Boston University.

"It would give them scale that could [make the company] dominant," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Some of the choices are obvious. Richard Laermer CEO of RLM pr has his own ideas: Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) or Lenovo, he told the E-Commerce Times. Indeed, Lenovo -- which scooped up IBM's (NYSE: IBM) PC assets in 2005 -- is on many observers' short list.

Then there are the not-so-obvious choices.

An HP PC acquisition could be a good deal for Samsung, LG or Acer, Venkatraman said. "These three companies have the resources to acquire it, and whoever gets it at the end will find that they have the scale and flexibility to either stay with webOS or realign with Windows and Android."

Another possibility is Huawei, he said. "I think Huawei paying a premium for HP is a real possibility, as they strive to compete against Lenovo."

Acer, Asus and Lenovo make the short list of Andy Abramson, CEO of social media 6 Ways to Use Social Media for Business. Free Guide. consultancy Comunicano.

These companies, he told the E-Commerce Times, have parallels in production, share a similar customer base, are able to easily expand their distribution and are in similar product lines in the sense they are selling PCs already.

Also, he said, "it would take a competitor off the table, for Acer especially."

Perhaps most important, "HP is a recognized brand name."

The Long Shots

There are other companies for which HP's PC business would be attractive, and thus not outside the realm of possibility, though their chances of placing a winning bid seem dimmer.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) is such a company, Venkatraman said, especially as it is not clear that the company has any appetite to go against HTC and Samsung in the brutally low margin segment of hardware. "But if they see a possibility of linking to video games, then they may explore that as a possibility," he said.

Another longshot is Nokia (NYSE: NOK) acquiring HP PCs with some financial help from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), he continued. "That gives Microsoft a much stronger shot at becoming the third ecosystem with Windows Phone launched next year," Venkatraman said.

Abramson's long-shot company is Vizio. "It has a line of distribution and it has gone beyond being a TV manufacturer. It understands Asian manufacturing processes very well," he explained.

As it is, HP has been OEMing its PCs in Asia, Abramson continues.

"What a company would be buying is the distribution, a book of business. So it makes more sense for someone who already has an existing distribution and market share to step in."

HP did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Computing » SMBs, the Cloud and the Difference Between Disaster and Disaster Recovery

The cloud is increasing the effectiveness of small businesses. For example, companies are calling on efficient Web-based services and applications to manage such critical tasks as accounting, customer relationship management, document creation and communication. In addition, cloud storage can simplify a company's data-protection process in a number of ways.

Many small-business owners may not realize that the cloud plays a big role in their business operations, and its importance is growing every day. I'm often asked, "What exactly is the cloud, and why does my company need it?" Simply put, the cloud hosts resources and applications that are accessed through the Internet, and it now offers small businesses access to powerful capabilities that once were only within reach of larger corporations.

From a small-business perspective, the cloud provides the opportunity to leverage outsourced hardware and scalable infrastructure, rather than requiring small businesses to make large in-house IT investments. Without the cloud, hardware and software purchases could significantly eat into profitability -- as would the management and maintenance required to keep the technology running -- not to mention the additional real estate investment required to house the hardware on-site. By investing in a cloud service, small businesses can manage technology in a cost-effective way while staying technologically competitive.

Always On, Always There

The cloud is increasing the effectiveness of small businesses in a number of ways. For example, companies are calling on efficient Web-based services and applications to manage such critical tasks as accounting, customer relationship management, document creation and communication.

One reason the cloud has worked so well for small business is that it's always just a click away. The cloud is on-demand, available to employees anywhere that they can connect to the Internet. The cloud also provides extremely cost-effective storage, allowing businesses to easily store as much data as they need without purchasing any hardware. That's why one of the most efficient ways for a business to use the cloud is to back up and store its critical documents.

Cloud-based files are always available to business owners. Some small businesses are backing up their entire databases the old-fashioned way, with external hard drives, USB drives, or even CDs. To a point, these manually driven external methods will get the job done, but relying on physical devices as the sole backup strategy still leaves a business vulnerable to data loss.

Here are several ways that cloud storage can simplify a company's data-protection process:

Automatic Backup:Most small-business owners are faced with an exhausting work schedule, often finishing a significant business project at the end of a week and simply saving it to their computer's hard drive. Once in a while, Monday morning arrives and they discover their computer won't boot up, or it crashes while checking a weekend's worth of emails. Now they've lost their business data and deliverables, just because they didn't want to go through the hassle of manually backing it up before heading home for the weekend.

Unlike an external hard drive, USB drive or CD, a cloud-based service will automatically keep an up-to-date copy of each employee's data securely backed up and readily accessible off-site. This automated service enables small business owners to focus on running a business, rather than running backup.

Secure and Offsite: A big concern for new cloud-users is data security. Many cloud backup or storage companies encrypt every piece of data -- just as banks do -- before uploading to, or downloading from, the cloud.

Another perk of the cloud is protection from physical loss of data backed up to devices that are stored on-site. If an on-premises disaster like a fire, flood or theft strikes, small businesses that backup to the cloud can rest assured that their data is protected in a secure, offsite location.

Easy to Access and Restore: With remote access capabilities, never again will business owners leave the office only to realize while pulling into the driveway that they left an important file sitting on their computer desktop. Since their files already have been backed up automatically, they have the luxury of securely logging into their account from a Smartphone or any other Internet-enabled device to access any file that they need.

In the event of a hard drive crash, cloud backup users can easily restore backed-up files to a new computer. This functionality enables small-business owners to restore the files they need immediately to keep their business up and running after a crash. They can then conduct a complete restore once the new computer is acquired.

Competitive Pricing: A number of quality options are available in the market, but one of the biggest deciding factors for small businesses to purchase cloud-based backup services is the price. Owners like to know what's coming so they don't have to deal with an unexpectedly high bill for an influx of use they didn't anticipate.

Mozy, for example, provides pay-as-you-go backup services as a standard price per gigabyte (GB) used paired with monthly license fees for each computer attached to the account. DropBox offers flat monthly rates for the entire business at capped GB amounts. Carbonite offers tiered usage and pricing structures with no per computer licensing fees. Other major players such as SOS Online Backup and Backblaze also offer small business-specific services with competitive rates.

Data storage is extremely important to every small business, but it shouldn't be a stressful process. The cloud offers a simple yet invaluable service that can be the difference between disaster and disaster recovery.

A number of companies offer cloud solutions. It is important to note that, when researching these products, most of which offer some form of a free trial, ensure that they have encryption technology, have earned a positive track record over an extended period of time and offer 24/7, individualized customer service.

Computing » The Lonely Life of WebOS

HP has cut development of webOS hardware like the Pre and TouchPad, effectively taking away the only home the mobile operating system has. With nothing else to run on and no other companies using it, the OS will linger on ice unless and until a buyer or licensee comes along. Meanwhile, Google reaches out to Motorola, AT&T juggles SMS rates, and the Verizon strike takes some ugly turns.

While the iPad remains king of the tablet market in terms of sales, it's getting stared down by a growing gang of competitors, most of which have taken sides with Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android operating system. Android tablets come in large and small, expensive and cheap, really nice and complete crap. There are a lot of them out there, but they all coalesce around that same Android platform.

Then there are the rebels who go it alone. The RIM PlayBook is keeping its head above water for the time being, bolstered by the fact that Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) is a mobile stalwart that's still kicking, despite the fact that it's certainly seen better days. But it was HP's (NYSE: HPQ) runner in the tablet race that seems to have become the market's latest casualty.

In reporting its quarterly earnings, HP dropped a bombshell: It's going to spin off its PC business and abandon its webOS hardware efforts. WebOS is the mobile operating system first developed by Palm and then gobbled up by HP when it swallowed Palm whole.

Killing each and every product that uses a particular OS isn't a literal death sentence -- webOS may well be scooped up by some company with a caring soul that can't stand to see it die. Or maybe HP wants to license it out. But unless that happens, webOS will effectively be lying dormant, and an operating system can start to decompose real fast when it's sitting still, especially in such a viciously competitive market. Developers stop building apps, consumers stop paying attention, and the ones who bought devices before they were de-shelved get bitter because firmware improvements, bug fixes and new software stop coming.

HP's decision to halt webOS device development could send a once-proud operating system into the first stages of zombification. It started out as an innovative and fascinating mobile OS forged by Palm as a sort of last-ditch effort to gain traction in a mobile market that had passed it by. Critics liked it, but it wasn't enough to keep Palm breathing on its own. So HP swooped in last year and bought Palm for US$1.2 billion with the intention of doing something amazing with the OS. But HP's taken away the only hardware webOS has, so now it appear webOS is a two-time loser.

The product that really drove home webOS devices' failure to gain traction was the TouchPad, the tablet that HP released just a few weeks ago. WebOS first debuted in Palm phones, and HP itself put out a few new webOS phones after the acquisition was finalized, but the TouchPad is perhaps the first webOS device that HP had a real hand in shaping from the ground up.

But less than two months after arriving on shelves, the TouchPad had already undergone a permanent price cut. Worse yet, retail chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) reportedly sold less than 10 percent of the 270,000 TouchPads it initially ordered. The rest of them sat there gathering guano in Best Buy's warehouses, and the retailer apparently wanted HP to swing by and take back some of the excess stock.

So what was a very crowded mobile OS space a year ago has become noticeably leaner. The less viable platforms are receding -- Symbian's being scaled back, Meego is on its last leg, and now webOS is out on its ear unless a buyer or licensee comes along. That leaves iOS and Android comfortably on top. RIM's working up a sweat trying to right its ship in phones while attempting to establish a tablet beachhead. And Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is spinning up its Windows Phone efforts with that big Nokia (NYSE: NOK) partnership, as well as its tablet plans for when Windows 8 comes along.

Oh, and Bada. Can't forget Bada.

Listen to the podcast (14:46 minutes).

Playing Favorites

Google gave the smartphone world a good shake and slap this week with a surprise wedding announcement: It wants to run off and marry Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), the handset appendage that Motorola shook off earlier this year.

Pending regulatory approval, Google will pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a figure that represented a 63 percent premium over the handset maker's share price on the day of the announcement.

The boards of both companies are unanimous in their approval of the buyout, and the deal's also getting enthusiastic encouragement from what might sound like an odd bunch of sources: Motorola's biggest competitors. As the deal was announced, companies like Samsung, HTC and LG were using phrases like "I welcome Google's commitment" and "we welcome today's news" and "we welcome Google's commitment." What a warm and friendly gang of cutthroat adversaries.

All these guys grinning wide and offering their strangely same-sounding congrats may look a little weird, but it shouldn't be surprising. Google is the source from which all Android blessings flow, and it's probably unwise to whine about the acquisition strategy of the company giving you a free OS.

Besides, once Google owns Motorola Mobility, life may get a little easier for Android phone makers everywhere. In buying the company, Google will be taking control of tens of thousands of patents, any one of which could play a key role in blocking whatever claims rivals like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Microsoft, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) or anyone else might make against Google or Android phone makers in the future. Google's already fighting a multiple-front patent war for the future of Android, and this purchase could go a long way toward helping it protect itself and its hardware partners.

But the deal may also give other handset makers cause for concern. It'd be nice for them to see some of the patent turmoil go away, but the fact will remain that once Motorola's under the Google umbrella, one Android handset maker will be Google's favorite. Right now anyone can make a Google phone, but after the deal's done, some phones will be Googlier than others.

Much depends on just how thoroughly Google integrates Motorola Mobility. Maybe this deal really is about the patents, and once those are in Google's pocket it'll just let Motorola run wild as a free-range subsidiary. Or maybe it'll even resell it somewhere down the road -- while retaining control of all those patents, of course.

On the other hand, it could opt to give Motorola Mobility some special Android privileges. Maybe Motorola gets new Android builds first, or maybe it becomes the exclusive maker of top-notch Android reference phones. That's sort of what Google's already done with the Nexus line of Android phones, though its given multiple manufacturers the chance to take a crack at Nexus.

Giving Motorola an extra-large seat at the Android table could motivate other manufacturers to start opening their minds to other OSes as well. Apple's iOS isn't going to happen, but Microsoft is no doubt very interested in getting Windows Phone into as many handsets as possible, even with Nokia already on its side. Some phone makers may even think about resurrecting webOS if Google begins favoring Motorola too much -- or even if Google's simply perceived as favoring Motorola too much.

No Bars Here, Move Along

Events over the last year or two in cities in the Middle East and Europe could be called "uprisings," "revolts" or just plain-old-dirty "riots," depending on your point of view. I'd call it "aggressive civic action" just to get an umbrella term going that could apply to all, but that's kind of clumsy.

Anyway, these events have shown that 21st-century protesters have a new tool to go along with the picket signs and ball-bearings and Molotov cocktails used by past generations. They use mobile phones to harness the power of mass communication and social networks, allowing them to manage and organize their activities on a minute-by-minute basis.

For those on the other side of the line, though, this makes it much harder to disperse and scatter a demonstration if they think it's getting out of control. Oppressive dictatorships have responded by trying to pull the plug on the entire country's Internet, which wasn't surprising. Then a couple of weeks ago UK officials started working with Research In Motion to control BlackBerry Messenger and try to tamp down some of the major disruptions going on in large English cities.

And lately a watered-down version of this informational blackout tactic has appeared in the U.S. too. It all started with the police shooting death of a homeless man named Charles Hill in a BART station in San Francisco. BART is short for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. BART police officials say Hill was drunk and wielding two knives and broken bottle, so they insist that lethal force was appropriate, but witnesses say they didn't even try to use something less lethal, like a TASER.

The shooting led to various demonstrations in and around BART locations, and BART officials later acknowledged that at one point, they cut off cellphone service inside some of their stations for about three hours in order to disrupt the protesters. Naturally, doing so gave protesters yet another reason to be outraged, and that just motivated even more protests.

Those protests weren't limited to BART stations, though. The hacker collective Anonymous smelled fear in the air, so it jumped into the issue nose-first and broke into BART's computer systems. And then they dumped the personal information of about 2,000 BART customers into public view. If you were one of them, Anonymous would like you to know that your anger at them is misplaced and you should be getting mad at BART for not protecting your data well enough. It's not exactly standing in front of tanks or shoving daisies down rifle barrels, but I guess it works at getting peoples' attention. Later, hackers also broke into the BART Police systems, publishing personal information about cops.

BART's cellphone shutdown maneuver has also caught the attention of the FCC. It's reportedly going to investigate whether doing that was a violation of the law. Intentionally blocking any kind of FCC-approved communication signal is serious business, and it could run afoul of the Communications Act of 1934. It might matter that what BART actually did was shut down power on a few cellular stations used to provide a signal to phones inside the platform areas, and FCC officials might consider that a different sort of action than jamming signals or actively interfering.

Moreover, BART said it was acting out of concern for passengers' safety in doing what it did. And BART spokesperson Linton Johnson went so far as to say in a KRON-TV interview that there is no right to free speech inside a station's fare gates. I'll just leave that one there.
Wireline Wars

Forty-five thousand workers at telecom giant Verizon continue to strike, and the situation could grow even darker soon. Within a couple of weeks, striking workers could lose their medical benefits, per a provision in their contracts. After that, if they want to keep some form of health insurance, they'll have to pay through the nose for something like COBRA.

Health benefits are actually one of the reasons the workers are striking in the first place. Due to shrinkage in Verizon's landline business, the company wants to tighten up certain benefits for workers in that division. That would mean bigger paycheck deductions for medical benefits, along with pension freezes, the elimination of a couple of paid holidays, and unfavorable changes to the pay-raise system. Union leaders said that would mean giving up decades of gains made through collective bargaining, and they pointed out that Verizon as a whole made $3 billion in profits this year.

But Verizon says almost all of that profit came from the wireless side of the business, and the wireline side -- the one on which the striking employees work -- has faced continual declines in revenue. The two sides have failed to come to an agreement; thus the strike began earlier this month.

Since then, things have sometimes taken an ugly turn. Striking workers say someone working for Verizon purposely drove a vehicle into a group of protesters. Meanwhile, Verizon officials have accused striking workers of sabotaging its network infrastructure, and they've obtained injunctions in multiple states barring strikers from blocking corporate buildings and harassing other Verizon workers.

Much hangs in the balance. If the strike fails, the unions involved lose lots of credibility, but if it succeeds, it could inspire workers at other telecoms that are facing very similar circumstances to be a little bolder with their own demands. Meanwhile, the deadline on which striking Verizon workers will lose their healthcare benefits if an agreement isn't reached comes on Aug. 31.

The SMS Squeeze

SMS text messages are to wireless carriers as popcorn is to movie theaters. They cost incredibly little to provide, yet consumers have become accustomed to paying prices that represent markups of 1,000 percent or more. Hey, whatever the market will bear, right?

Texting is a cash cow for carriers, but AT&T (NYSE: T) thinks it's found a way to squeeze the udder just a little more. It's reshuffling its pricing structure to go all or nothing on text messages. Customers who are new to AT&T will have two options: Buy the unlimited texting plan for $20 per month, or get charged on a per-text basis -- that's 20 cents per SMS message, 30 cents per photo message, or MMS.

AT&T used to have a much wider range of SMS plans, but this latest move has eliminated the last vestige of middle ground -- the $10, 1,000-messages-per-month plan.

If you're already an AT&T customer, you can keep the plan you have even when you swap out handsets; this limited set of options only applies to newcomers.

This move comes just as texting is beginning to level off. CTIA has estimated that literally 1 trillion text messages were sent in the second half of 2010, but that represented growth of just 8.7 percent over the previous six months.

Since then, growth may have slowed even further, because all the smartphones overtaking the market are capable of running apps that allow you to send short messages to other people without running up a huge SMS texting bill. Facebook put one out just a few weeks ago; there are lots of others for major mobile platforms. They mostly just use the phone's Internet connection to push through to the other person.

A few lines of text takes up an incredibly small amount of data. Certainly not 20 cents worth. Then again ... whatever the market will bear, right?