No more unlimited data-use plans for new AT&T customers

Just in time for the release of a new iPhone, AT&T will stop letting new customers sign up for its unlimited internet data plan for smart phones and iPads and charge more for customers who use the most bandwidth, reports the Associated Press. AT&T hopes to ease congestion on its network, which has drawn complaints, particularly in big cities. But the approach could confuse customers unfamiliar with how much data it takes to watch a YouTube video or fire up a favorite application. Current subscribers will be able to keep their $30-per-month unlimited plans, even if they renew their contracts. But starting June 7, new customers will have to choose one of two new data plans for all smart phones using AT&T’s network, including iPhones and BlackBerrys. Subscribers who use little data—like those who get dozens of eMails a day, but don’t watch much video—will pay slightly less every month than they do now, while heavy users will be dinged with higher bills. The move takes effect in time for the expected unveiling of Apple’s new iPhone next week. Analysts expect other phone companies to follow; with no caps on consumption, they say, data use could swamp wireless networks while revenue for the operators remains flat…

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Higher education’s best mobile technology programs

The University of Missouri last fall required all incoming journalism students to have an iPhone or iPod Touch.
The University of Missouri last fall required all incoming journalism students to have an iPhone or iPod Touch.

With small private campuses and large research universities alike teeming with iPhones, iPod Touches, BlackBerries, and other mobile devices, a college counseling company has highlighted five institutions in particular as the best landing spots for students attached to their gadgets.

IvyWise, a New York-based counseling company that released a list of the most environmentally friendly colleges in April, recently unveiled another list to help college applicants, this time focusing on schools that leverage the power of mobile devices to store and deliver recorded lectures, syllabi, homework, tests, and a host of other information that can be accessed any time, anywhere on campus.

The list, compiled by IvyWise counselors and released May 12, includes Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., Stanford University, the University of Maryland’s College Park campus, Ohio State University, and the University of Missouri.…Read More

Tech-savvy university grows mobile learning with $1.8M award

ACU gave iPods and iPhones to about 1,000 incoming students in 2008.
ACU gave iPods and iPhones to about 1,000 incoming students in 2008.

Abilene Christian University, among the leading users of mobile technology in higher education, will use a $1.8 million award from AT&T to build a studio for mobile learning experimentation and a K-12 professional development program that will train teachers to use education technology devices such as eReaders and internet-ready phones.

This isn’t the first time AT&T has partnered with ACU, a campus of almost 5,000 students in Abilene, Texas. The phone giant and Alcatel-Lucent helped develop the university’s Wi-Fi internet network earlier this decade. AT&T also gave $1 million to ACU in 2007 for the computer infrastructure in the school’s Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center.

The wireless network powers the thousands of mobile devices—mostly Apple iPods and iPhones—that ACU has doled out to incoming students in recent years. The school pays for the mobile hardware, while students pay for the monthly AT&T service plan, according to ACU officials.…Read More

Top U.S. carriers plot faster gadgets, services

Reuters reports that the next generation of high-speed internet services, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile gadgets could arrive faster than you would expect. The two biggest U.S. phone companies, AT&T Inc and Verizon Wireless, are stepping up plans to speed up their networks and deliver advanced devices to consumers as early as this holiday season with partners such as Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics. AT&T said it is planning to triple speeds for home internet services, and double speeds on its wireless network, while Verizon Wireless said it will be ready with a slew of high-speed phones earlier than it had previously suggested. “We still have a tremendous amount of opportunity in wireless,” John Stankey, AT&T’s operations chief said, dismissing suggestions from some telecoms analysts that the industry’s exponential growth days were over. “We’re at the front of that 10-year (growth) cycle in the mobile space today,” he said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York on May 14. While wireless carriers have to depend on data services for growth, because most people already have cellphones, Stankey sees opportunities in business applications. As industries add wireless connections to their equipment, such as medical devices and security systems, each business vertical could eventually generate a $1 billion a year in revenue, he said…

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Wireless users opt for service without commitment

For wireless subscribers, commitment is out and short-term relationships are in, the Associated Press reports. This year, customers have been making a big shift away from two-year contracts toward “prepaid” cell phone service, which often costs less and does not require contracts. This is happening even though contracts are needed to get popular phones such as the iPhone and the Droid. Now prepaid service looks like it will get even more attractive, with further price cuts. That’s because wireless carriers have hit a wall when it comes to finding new customers who will sign contracts. “I would love to have an iPhone. I just can’t swallow the $70 or more bill that would come with it,” said Jeff Finlay, a 45-year-old stay-at-home dad in San Antonio who uses a prepaid plan.

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eBook restrictions vex users

Publishers suggest that eBook restrictions are the result of device makers’ policies.
Publishers suggest that eBook restrictions are the result of device makers’ policies.

As more and more eReading devices flood the market, users are beginning to feel the restrictions imposed by copyright and digital rights management (DRM)—restrictions that some fear could hold back the use of eBooks in education.

Imagine this: You’re in the market for an eReader device and decide to buy a Kindle. Books for your Kindle must be purchased through Amazon’s eBook store. You can download the books you buy to your computer and/or your Kindle device.

Now, imagine that you’d like a Barnes & Noble Nook instead: Can you upload your Amazon eBooks to your Nook? Can you lend the books you’ve downloaded on your computer to friends? The answer to these questions is no, leading some to question whether purchasing an eBook for an eReader device is really buying the book at all.…Read More

After ballyhooed debut, some schools see problems with iPad

Some schools say despite connection problems, their networks will be ready for the iPad.
Some schools say their networks will be ready for the iPad this fall, despite early connection problems.

The euphoria that greeted the Apple iPad on college campuses has waned somewhat in recent weeks, as technology officials at a handful of universities have issued warnings that the much sought-after eReader might not be compatible with school web networks or could overwhelm campus bandwidth capabilities.

Education technology officials on campuses that can’t currently support the iPad say their networks and internet security will be iPad-friendly by next school year. Meanwhile, some other institutions—such as Rutgers University, George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., and North Carolina State University—embraced the popular eReader just days after its release.

George Fox’s incoming freshmen will receive a new iPad when they come to campus next fall, and North Carolina State students and faculty can rent the device for four-hour intervals from the school’s library.…Read More

Steve Jobs attacks Adobe Flash as unfit for iPhone

For iPhone users who’ve been wondering whether their devices will support Flash technology for web video and games anytime soon, the answer is finally here, straight from Steve Jobs, reports the Associated Press: No. In a detailed offensive against the technology owned by Adobe Systems Inc., Apple’s CEO wrote April 29 that Flash has too many bugs, drains batteries too quickly, and is too oriented to personal computers to work on the iPhone and iPad. This is not the first time Jobs has publicly criticized Flash, but the statement was his clearest, most definitive—and longest—on the subject. In his 1,685-word “Thoughts on Flash,” Jobs laid out his reasons for excluding Flash—the most widely used vehicle for videos and games on the internet—from Apple’s blockbuster handheld devices. He cited “reliability, security, and performance,” and the fact that Flash was designed “for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers” as some of the reasons Apple will continue to keep the program off its devices. But he said the most important reason is Flash puts a third party between Apple and software developers. In other words, developers can take advantage of improvements from Apple only if Adobe upgrades its own software, Jobs wrote. Adobe representatives did not have an immediate comment. But in a March 23 conference call, President and CEO Shantanu Narayen said his company is “committed to bringing Flash to any platform on which there is a screen.”

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Apple iPad: The evolution of home computing

I have seen the future of home computing, and it is the iPad. I’m convinced of it, PC World’s Kenneth van Wyk reports. Yes, iPadurday has come and gone. Many of us have Wi-Fi iPads in our grubby little mitts. Early reviews have been mostly stellar. The device–and more importantly, the software running it–is superb, but certainly not perfect. And now we’ve seen Steve Jobs outline the next release of the operating system, iPhone OS 4.0. That’s all well and good, but largely secondary to my point. I’ve discussed the app store model here a couple of times , and the security ramifications it carries. Well, let’s consider the iPad in that light, now that it has been released. When I got my iPad, I immediately installed several software packages on it. Most of it was for entertainment (e.g., Netflix, ABC Reader), but I also installed a couple of apps that could at least ostensibly be used for business (e.g., Pages, Keynote). Each installation was simple: I ran the App Store application, found the tools I wanted, and clicked the purchase icon. Within moments, each package installed…

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Author: ‘iGeneration’ requires a different approach to instruction

A new book asserts that students who have grown up with constant access to mobile technology learn - and need to be taught - differently.
A new book asserts that students who have grown up with constant access to mobile technologies learn—and need to be taught—differently.

The students entering college today learn much differently from students just a few years older—and that’s mainly because they’ve never known a world without the internet or cell phones, says psychology professor and author Larry D. Rosen, whose research could give educators valuable insights into the needs of today’s learners.

Children born in the 1990s, dubbed the “iGeneration” by Rosen, live in a time of rapidly changing technology, in which they are constantly connected to a number of mobile technologies. Rosen said the “i” stands for both the technologies these students use—such as the iPod, iPhone, and Wii—and the individualized ways in which students use these tools.

“iGeners are growing up with portable technology. Literally from birth, these children are able to grow up using mobile technology,” he said. “But I also look at the little ‘i’ as reflecting the individualized culture—reflecting our needs and desires.”…Read More

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