The honeymoon is over, AT&T has announced that starting June 7th, 2010. They will no longer provide unlimited data to new
iPhone users, current users will be grandfathered into their current unlimited plans but will have the option to switch to the new plans. The new plans are outlined below.
DataPlus – 200 MB of data for $15 per month
- Designed for people who primarily surf the Web, send email, and use social networking apps.
- On average, 65% of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 200 MB per month
- If you use more than 200 MB, you’ll receive an additional 200 MB of data usage for $15, replenished as often as necessary during the billing cycle.
DataPro – 2 GB of data for $25 per month
- Designed for people who regularly download or stream music and video, or use other high bandwidth applications
- 98% of AT&T smartphone customers use less than 2 GB in a month on average
- If you exceed 2 GB, you’ll get an additional 1 GB of data for only $10. Each time an additional 1 GB is used up during a cycle, you will automatically receive another 1 GB at the same low price.
To soften the blow for heavy users, AT&T will over unlimited use of WIFI at its more than 20,000 hotspots around the country.
Smartphone customers who choose the DataPro plan can add tethering for an additional $20 per month. With tethering, you can use your smartphone as a modem to provide a broadband connection for laptop computers, netbooks, or other computing devices. Note that any data you use on your laptop will go towards your monthly limit.
To see how this specifically applies to me and my wife, I looked at our bills for the last 6 months and I was shocked to see that I routinely used over a gigabyte of data each month while my wife usually comes in under 100mb, she came close to a gigabyte only once and mostly because of our 2 year old son watching videos.
The free WIFI is an attractive alternative but with the iPhone barely able to get me through a busy workday on a full charge, do I really want to turn on the WIFI to add more battery drain.
Why the big gap between data plans? After talking to some close friends that use iPhones; if there was a middle ground, say 500mb or a gigabyte most them would fit nicely in that slot.
As someone who is looking into iPhone development, I now have to consider how my app accesses the internet with users having a limit on the amount of data they can use. Will people buy less apps or update them less frequently? My last question is AT&T said previous users would be grandfathered into the new plan, what happens when I upgrade to the iPhone 4G? Will I still be able to keep my unlimited data plan?
I was recently listening to TWIT 235 (This Week in Tech) with Leo Laporte and I listen and laughed at people who did a Google search for “Facebook Login” they got to this page on ReadWriteWeb. The article was title “Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login”. People who found the site through Google thought they were on the Facebook Login Page and started leaving comments that they couldn’t login to Facebook.
The comments ranged from
- “when can we log in?”
- “please give me back the old facebook login this is crazy……………..”
- “This is such a mess I can’t do a thing on my facebook .The changes you have made are ridiculous,I can’t even login!!!!!I am very upset!!!”
- “Why has the url changed to readwriteweb? I can’t comment on my friends walls or even read their walls. And how do I log in or update my status?”
This forced ReadWriteWeb to post the following message
Dear visitors from Google. This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services. You can however click here and become a Fan of ReadWriteWeb on Facebook, to receive our updates and learn more about the Internet. To access Facebook right now, click here. For future reference, type “facebook.com” into your browser address bar or enter “facebook” into Google and click on the first result. We recommend that you then save Facebook as a bookmark in your browser.
The craziest thing is that a large number of the comments were made using Facebook accounts. This served to remind me that I live in a a tech bubble and my technology usage is not the same as normal people.
I must say that the updates on the PlayStation 3 are getting ridiculous. I tried to play an online game today and I had to go through the process of updating my system software.
System Software Version 3.10. You know the new features it added?
The display method for photos in the [Photo] category has been changed. Photos are now displayed in a matrix instead of a vertical display so that you can see more photos at one time.
So I had to quit my game and go through the inconvenience just to change the way photos are displayed?
Just about a week ago Apple released Itunes 8.2.1 which broke the Pre’s Itunes syncing capability.
Now today Palm released the Pre webOS 1.1.0 which resolved the issue. The Pre now syncs with Itunes again!!
The following article is a repost from the website of the New York State Attorney General. Congratulations to them to being forward thinking and realizing that this is a big issue online today. I know e commerce stores that hire dedicated staff to do this or outsource this to specialized firms overseas. In the article the practice is called astroturfing, a google search reveals that is a commonly used term although I never heard it used before this article.
ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO SECURES SETTLEMENT WITH PLASTIC SURGERY FRANCHISE THAT FLOODED INTERNET WITH FALSE POSITIVE REVIEWS
Cuomo’s deal is first case in nation against growing practice of “astroturfing” on Internet
’Lifestyle Lift’ Will Pay $300,000 in Penalties and Costs to New York State
NEW YORK, N.Y. (July 14, 2009) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a settlement with cosmetic surgery outfit Lifestyle Lift over the publishing of fake consumer reviews on the Internet.
Under the settlement, Lifestyle Lift will stop publishing anonymous positive reviews about the company to Internet message boards and other Web sites, and will pay $300,000 in penalties and costs to the State of New York. The case is believed to be the first in the nation aimed at combating “astroturfing,” a growing problem on the Internet.
Lifestyle Lift employees published positive reviews and comments about the company to trick Web-browsing consumers into believing that satisfied customers were posting their own stories. These tactics constitute deceptive commercial practices, false advertising, and fraudulent and illegal conduct under New York and federal consumer protection law. The settlement marks a strike against the growing practice of “astroturfing,” in which employees pose as independent consumers to post positive reviews and commentary to Web sites and Internet message boards about their own company.
“This company’s attempt to generate business by duping consumers was cynical, manipulative, and illegal,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “My office has and will continue to be on the forefront in protecting consumers against emerging fraud and deception, including ‘astroturfing,’ on the Internet.”
Lifestyle Lift has more than 40 locations across the U.S., including Manhattan, Long Island and Syracuse. The company engaged in a concerted effort to bombard Internet message boards with positive stories about themselves. Lifestyle Lift’s president believed that negative Internet postings had significantly hurt the company’s reputation and thought the success of the company hinged on controlling messages posted online. Company employees were directed to create accounts with various Internet message boards and pose as satisfied customers of Lifestyle Lift. Employees also attacked legitimate message board posters who criticized Lifestyle Lift and tried to get those posts removed from message boards.
Internal emails discovered by Attorney General Cuomo’s investigation show that Lifestyle Lift employees were given specific instructions to engage in this illegal activity. One e-mail to employees said: “Friday is going to be a slow day – I need you to devote the day to doing more postings on the web as a satisfied client.” Another internal email directed a Lifestyle Lift employee to “Put your wig and skirt on and tell them about the great experience you had.”
In addition to posting on various Internet message board services, Lifestyle Lift also registered and created stand-alone Web sites, such as MyFaceliftStory.com, designed to appear as if they were created by independent and satisfied customers of Lifestyle Lift. The sites offered positive narratives about the Lifestyle Lift experience. Some of these sites purported to offer forums for users to add their own comments about Lifestyle Lift. In reality, however, Lifestyle Lift either provided all the “user comments” themselves, or closely monitored and edited third-party comments to skew the discussion in favor of Lifestyle Lift. Examples of these narratives can be downloaded at www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/internet_bureau/pdfs/LifestyleLiftStories.pdf.
According to the Attorney General’s settlement, Lifestyle Lift employees will no longer pose as consumers when publishing on the Internet. The company will not promote Lifestyle Lift’s services on the Internet without clearly and conspicuously disclosing that they are responsible for the content. The company will also pay $300,000 in penalties and costs to New York State.
The investigation was handled by Chief of the Internet Bureau Justin Brookman and Investigator Vanessa Ip, under the direction of Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Michael Berlin.
original article can be found here
