7:49 PM
Researchers made a significant discovery--a mother's stem cells could be used to treat and cure genetic diseases before birth. Using a mother's stem cells to treat birth defects could be a powerful way to improve the lives of countless families:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110118122737.htm
Auburn researchers are testing a new system that enables remote control of police and military dogs. The system uses a non-invasive harness with a GPS unit, radio, sensors that can be remotely controlled by a computer, with vibrations and audio commands guiding the dog. Dogs can avoid obstacles that robots may have difficulty with and dogs are less suspicious than robots in some situations (like locating drugs):
http://news.discovery.com/tech/dog-remote-guidance-system-110119.html
Illinois is one of 12 states with eavesdropping laws that make audio recording someone without their consent illegal. One man is facing 15 years in prison for recording someone with an Olympus voice recorder and a woman is facing 15 years in prison for using her Blackberry to record someone's voice:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/22/using-your-blackberry-in-illinois-could-send-you-to-prison/
A British team is going to send an Android phone into space to see how well it survives the trip and whether or not it could be used to control a satellite:
http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/53706-team-to-send-android-phone-into-space
Google Voice users can now port their mobile phone number to the Google Voice service. With the early termination fees and other drawbacks, I'm not sure how many people will be doing this...but, it does basically give free unlimited texting and all the other benefits to users:
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html
Verizon added about 1 million new subscribers last quarter, including 65,000 LTE subscribers (those are for LTE modems since Verizon didn't have any LTE phones). They also revealed that for a limited time they will offer their iPhone subscribers a $30/month unlimited data plan--remember, AT&T ended their unlimited data plans and charges $25/month for 2 GB of data. They are also getting rid of their $15 smartphone limited data plan right before they start having the iPhone:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-nets-65000-lte-subs-details-iphone-data-pricing/2011-01-25
Verizon has a trade-in program that will give AT&T iPhone users a credit...but they would get a LOT more money by selling their phones on eBay or Craigslist:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-well-give-you-credit-your-att-iphone/2011-01-25
AT&T may implement speeds and tiers in their 4G data plans--people will pay more for faster data speeds:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/21/att-may-implement-speed-and-data-tiers-for-4g-lte-service/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110118122737.htm
Auburn researchers are testing a new system that enables remote control of police and military dogs. The system uses a non-invasive harness with a GPS unit, radio, sensors that can be remotely controlled by a computer, with vibrations and audio commands guiding the dog. Dogs can avoid obstacles that robots may have difficulty with and dogs are less suspicious than robots in some situations (like locating drugs):
http://news.discovery.com/tech/dog-remote-guidance-system-110119.html
Illinois is one of 12 states with eavesdropping laws that make audio recording someone without their consent illegal. One man is facing 15 years in prison for recording someone with an Olympus voice recorder and a woman is facing 15 years in prison for using her Blackberry to record someone's voice:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/22/using-your-blackberry-in-illinois-could-send-you-to-prison/
A British team is going to send an Android phone into space to see how well it survives the trip and whether or not it could be used to control a satellite:
http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/53706-team-to-send-android-phone-into-space
Google Voice users can now port their mobile phone number to the Google Voice service. With the early termination fees and other drawbacks, I'm not sure how many people will be doing this...but, it does basically give free unlimited texting and all the other benefits to users:
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html
Verizon added about 1 million new subscribers last quarter, including 65,000 LTE subscribers (those are for LTE modems since Verizon didn't have any LTE phones). They also revealed that for a limited time they will offer their iPhone subscribers a $30/month unlimited data plan--remember, AT&T ended their unlimited data plans and charges $25/month for 2 GB of data. They are also getting rid of their $15 smartphone limited data plan right before they start having the iPhone:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-nets-65000-lte-subs-details-iphone-data-pricing/2011-01-25
Verizon has a trade-in program that will give AT&T iPhone users a credit...but they would get a LOT more money by selling their phones on eBay or Craigslist:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-well-give-you-credit-your-att-iphone/2011-01-25
AT&T may implement speeds and tiers in their 4G data plans--people will pay more for faster data speeds:
http://www.bgr.com/2011/01/21/att-may-implement-speed-and-data-tiers-for-4g-lte-service/