6:14 PM
Scientists do not understand why an upper layer of atmosphere gas shrunk so quickly. This contraction can affect the movement of satellites:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/16/nasa.upper.atmosphere.shrinking/index.html?hpt=T2
82 of 141 companies that have received Hawaii's state technology investment tax credits had NO full-time employees in 2008. The other 59 businesses, including movie and TV producers, had 697 people on their payrolls. Act 221 gives Hawaii residents a 100% state income tax credit for money they invest in high-tech companies, but considering that 58% of the companies receiving the tax credit had no full-time employees, it would seem that the $1.2 billion in forgone income tax revenues could have been spent better! No wonder that Hawaii is 46th among states with high-tech jobs, with just 15,000 high-tech workers:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20100718_Data_cast_some_doubt_on_Act_221s_benefits.html
Leaked documents seem to provide Verizon's 4G plans and shows that Verizon is on track to serve up to 100 million connections by the end of this year. The 5-12 Mbps downlink would be great and the 30ms latency will be even better...but the 4G tablets planned for next year could really change some things:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/18/verizons-lte-rollout-is-imminent-computers-updated-for-4g-sim/
Nokia and RIM responded sharply to Apple's claims that other smartphones have the same problems as the iPhone 4. Part of RIM's statement: "Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable." and another part said: "One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity." I like that the powerpoint slide has 5 min bars and 1 max bar:
http://www.pocket-lint.com//news/34366/nokia-rim-respond-apple-antennagate
HTC hasn't released a full statement in response to Apple's claim that the Droid Eris has the same problems, but they did point out that Apple said that only 0.55% of iPhone 4 users complained about the iPhone 4's signal or antenna problems...and the Droid Eris only has 0.016% of customers complaining about signal or antenna problems (34x less complaint rate):
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/34374/htc-droid-eris-antenna-complaints
Upload speeds on AT&T's 3G network dropped dramatically over the 4th of July weekend and the network *still* hasn't returned to normal speeds 2 weeks later despite the promise of a temporary fix from AT&T. Long latency speeds and slow data rates must make users trying to upload data to really notice a change on the network. At least it appears that San Diego and Hawaii have avoided this problem:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/att-3g-upload-speeds/