IT News HeadLines (HardOCP) 05/07/2010

More than 5 Billion Global Mobile Subscribers
The two largest cellular markets, India and China, added 50 million more users in April and May alone, bringing the total worldwide mobile connections past 5 Billion. With the world population at around 6.8bn, the global mobile penetration rate stood at just under 71% at the end of Q1. The Q2 figure is likely to be around 73%, while the 100% level will be reached before the end of 2014. Comments
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Happy Birthday America
We here at HardOCP would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Independence Day while celebrating America's 234th. Go out and grill, swim, have a beer, and light some fireworks in the name of our great nation. Their purpose: to light Mount Hood's summit with a fireworks blast visible in Portland, 51 miles away. Come discuss how much better we are than Britain.
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New US Satellite To Monitor Debris in Earth Orbit
The US Air Force will be launching a new satellite into orbit on July 8 and will be the first dedicated solely to the location of space debris and other satellites in orbit. The Air Force space surveillance network previously had partial use of a satellite called the Midcourse Space Experiment, which was designed to track missiles but could also monitor objects in orbit. It's no longer functioning. Currently, the Air Force relies on a groundbased network of radar and optical telescopes around the globe to monitor about 1,000 active satellites and 20,000 pieces of debris. The telescopes can be used only on clear nights, and not all radar stations are powerful enough to detect satellites in deep space orbit, about 22,000 miles from Earth.From its orbit about 390 miles above the Earth, the new satellite will have a clear view of deep space, unaffected by daylight or weather. Comments
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Motorola Droid Next to Get Android 2.2 Update
Rumors are version 2.2 update (Codename Froyo) will be released sometime within the next several weeks for selected devices. The update will be available for the remainder of the qualified units later throughout the coming year. For the most part, a number of carriers and manufacturers are yet-undecided about their Froyo rollouts--Samsung's Galaxy S devices will receive it somewhere down the line, as will the Dell Streak and HTC's Legend, Desire, and Wildfire devices. T-Mobile's MyTouch line of smartphones should also get Froyo by the end of the year, but that's as specific of a timetable as has been announced. Comments
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Microsoft To Launch Multitouch Mouse
Nothing official yet, but it sure looks like Microsoft is getting ready to release a new mouse with multitouch imput capability to compliment Windows 7 built in functionality. Microsoft has registered the domain "arctouchmouse.com", which currently redirects to Bing. Several European retailers have started listing a "Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse" on their sites. The Redmond mostly software company was also known to be working on multitouch mouse concepts in their research division in 2009. Comments
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T-Mobile's Sidekick To Ride Off Into the Sunset
T-Mobile announced on Thursday that the Sidekick will no longer be available. T-Mobile is following Microsoft's lead in dropping Kin, a short lived line of phones. As of Friday morning, the most recent Sidekick, last year's LX, which was (believe it or not) the first Sidekick to support 3G, was still on sale, for a deeply discounted $49.99.But after Friday, the Sidekick will disappear from T-Mobile's online and retail stores, the carrier said. (You might find a few stragglers at third-party resellers.) Comments
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Sign of the Apocalypse: Lady Gaga Heads for 10 Million Facebook Fan Record
This is another episode in the ongoing WTF series. What in the world are these people thinking? If you could get all 10 million of these fans in one place, 9 million would deny ever signing up. The Apocalypse indeed, the world as we know it is ending. Glam pop singer Lady Gaga is on the brink of becoming the first living person to have 10 million fans on a single social networking site, having already overtaken President Obama on Facebook, a British group that measures online popularity said on Friday. Comments
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Politicians Push for New Internet Sales Taxes
Once again lawmakers are zeroing in on collecting sales tax from internet sales. This has been an ongoing issue for many years and has successfully been defeated each time it was proposed. Internet sales are really big business, mainly because there of low overhead and no sales tax. Goose? Golden Egg? This is hardly a new debate: pro-tax officials and state governments have been pressing Congress to require taxes to be collected for a decade or so. They argue that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police, and say that, as a matter of fairness, online retailers should be forced to collect the same taxes that brick-and-mortar retailers do. But with states scrambling for new sources of revenue during what may be a double-dip recession, pro-tax lobbyists are hoping that they'll have better luck this year. The National Conference of State Legislatures applauded Delahunt's legislation, saying he should be commended for allowing states to collect as much as $23 billion in new taxes. Comments
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Futurama Weirdly Removes eyePhone Reference From Online Clip
Comedy Central got the message loud and clear that the parody of the iPhone wasn't fully appreciated by someone at (presumingly) Apple Headquarters. The original clip was removed without fanfare. Did Steve Jobs purchase Comedy Central while no one was looking? Maclife has the videos side by side—not embedding it here, so click on over to see it on their site, since they deserve it. (It's their find after all.) But it is strange that any network would change an already-posted clip for no reason, meaning that someone, somewhere objected to that mention and made them take it out. There's only really one party that would object to the word "eyePhone". Comments
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Starbucks Free Unlimited Wi-Fi: A User's Guide
We ran an article several weeks ago about Starbucks and their new unlimited Wi-Fi policy, so this is a follow up on how to navigate this new benefit to its maximum. As with any free policy, there will be limitations and catches. The article outlines some of the good and the bad. Starbucks is offering free Wi-Fi at all of its company-operated locations, which means most of the Starbucks locations you visit on a daily basis will have free Wi-Fi. The exceptions will be the stores inside special locations such as airports, Target stores and Barnes & Noble locations. Free Wi-Fi access at these locations may vary. Use the Starbucks Store Locator to find the closest shop near you. Comments
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Apple Hopes to Re-enter the Living Room
Apple may not be through with its world dominance just quite yetÂ….there is still the TV market to capture. The once touted Apple TV was shelved, but looks like it may be in the spotlight again sooner than most think. According to several people familiar with Apple's television-related efforts, the company is working on an update to its television software, and will offer a completely redesigned interface for it. These people refused to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about Apple's upcoming products. And company officials declined to comment about any plans for the Apple TV or for other television-related products. Comments
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Ongoing Research May Enable the Blind To Drive
Researchers at the National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech are developing new technology that will allow a blind person to drive a car independently. "We're exploring areas that have previously been regarded as unexplorable," said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. "We're moving away from the theory that blindness ends the capacity of human beings to make contributions to society." Comments
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President Announces Broadband Jobs Grants
As part of the ongoing federal stimulus package, the federal government has made available $800 million in loans and grants to expand broadband service across the United States. The FCC plan set several goals to increase the number of people who have subscribed to high-speed Internet, provide greater access to families and institutions that lack broadband and help wireless companies get more airwaves to meet the expected growth in wireless devices. The projects Obama announced will include laying communications lines to homes, hospitals and schools and expanding computer facilities in libraries, community colleges and other public areas. Comments
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