photo credit: Rider Safety Tips

USRider provides roadside emergency assistance for equestrians. Members simply call the toll-free number on the back of their membership card from their cell phone. USRider is in its ninth year providing emergency roadside assistance to horse owners. This is all well and fine as long as your cell phone battery isn’t dead. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Free Gmail Calls

Google introduced phone call capabilities through Gmail back in August. Google promised calls in the US and Canada would be free until the end of 2010. On December 20th, Google announced Gmail phone calls would be free until the end of 2011. They must have been moved by the holiday spirit. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Free SafeLink Cell Phones

Phone booths on every street corner are a thing of the past. With so many cell phones out in the market, phone booths have become almost extinct. So if you can’t afford a cell phone or home phone, what do you do? Rely on neighbors? One solution is a decades old federal program, started in the 1980’s, commonly known as Lifeline and Link Up, which provides low income people with telephone service. This federal program is funded by the little Universal Service Fee on phone bills (both land line and cell phone bills) and this year payments into the fund were expected to reach $1.4 billion. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Lookout App to Protect Your Droid

It was only a matter of time before malware hit the Smartphones. A new Android Trojan that displays some botnet characteristics has emerged from China, Lookout Mobile Security warns. This Trojan is called Geinimi, and can compromise a significant amount of data from a user’s Android Smartphone, sending it to remote servers. Once installed on the phone, it could allow the server’s owner to control the mobile device, says Lookout. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Technology 2000-2010

We are at the end of a significant decade for technology. Probably more than any previous decade, technology has shaped our society and culture. Wolfgang Gruener, Tomshardware.com, has listed what he thinks are the top 10 technologies that have most affected us since 2000. I am not sure I agree totally with his list, but here’s the list from Gruener. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Windows 7 Tablet

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will show off “a slew of new slates” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. This is according to a report in the New York Times. Microsoft did the same thing last January, and sales were flat for the Windows 7 tablets. HP then postponed their launch of the Windows 7 tablet supposedly because they bought Palm because the WebOS was more suitable for tablets. When HP did launch the Slate 500 in October, no one was impressed. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Tweet from Times Square

Are you planning to tweet “OMG It’s 2011” tonight from Times Square? You’re in luck because AT&T has expanded the hot spots around Times Square to accommodate all the users tonight. The “hotzone,” as AT&T calls it, is part of the company’s response to all the complaints about its 3G network. AT&T’s connection problems will be magnified by the 1 million people expected to gather in Times Square tonight to watch the ball drop. Many will want to send photos, e-mails and text messages from the celebration. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Top Windows 7 Phones

Windows 7 Phones may just surprise you. While Windows 7 Phone sales are still way behind the Android and iPhone, (there are currently about 300,000 Android devices and over 3 million iPhones have been sold), Bonnie Cha, CNET, touts the Windows 7 Phone features as “more to love than not love.” Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Windows 7 Phone

Microsoft announced that despite a slow start, Windows 7 Phone sales have reached over 1.5 million in 6 weeks. It is important to note, however, that these figures reflect phones sold to retail outlets as well as consumers. There are no figures yet for phones sold and in the hands of consumers. According Bonnie Cha, CNET, Microsoft was a little soft on the details of the sales expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Nokia Windows 7 Rumor

Rumors are flying at the close of this year. There is of course the ever-present rumor that Verizon will have the iPhone. Also in the rumor mill is that Finnish cell phone manufacturer, Nokia, will be releasing a Smartphone based on the Windows 7 Phone platform. Nokia is reportedly in negotiations with Microsoft about producing a Nokia branded Windows 7 Smartphone. Read the rest of this entry »