CES Buzz

We are 1 day away from the start of the largest consumer electronics event of the year, CES International in Vegas. Already there are a few gadgets and manufacturers that are creating quite a buzz even before the official start of the trade show. CES is the one time of year when everyone brings their best and this years trade show is sure to deliver some firsts.

Toshiba is showing off the worlds thinnest tablet dubbed as the REGZA and a groundbreaking glasses-free 3D Smart TV. The Toshiba REGZA is 7.7mm thin (substantialy thinner than the iPad 2) and sports a 5 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front facing camera, a Texas Instrument OMAP dual-core chip, impressive.

Lenovo is releasing a 55 inch LED TV powered by Android 4.0 ice Cream Sandwich. The set features perks like a dual-core processor, facial recognition security, voice commands and a 5megapixel webcam and 8 GB of storage. This Google TV will initially launch only be available in China with other contries to follow later in the year.

Verizon and OnStar are revealing a future ready, fully connected 4G LTE Chevy VOLT. The vehicle features multiple connections for gaming and media devices and OnStar RemoteLink mobile control through smartphones. This vehicle also sports home and smart grid connectivity, with the ability to manage home energy and real-time vehicle diagnostics.

This is only a small peek at what will be discovered over CES week which excites me even more about what the tech elite have in store. What are you looking forward to most about CES. Do you have a favorite gadget category of do you just like to take it all in? Please share in the comments below.

Via CES and CNET

Verizon Suffers More Outage Issues

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Verizon Wireless prides themselves in how advanced and reliable their 3G and 4G LTE wireless coverage is. They are known to tout this reliable reputation as the reason why they are not only the largest US wireless carrier but according to them they are also the best US wireless carrier. As of late they have faced some technical challenges that have resulted in uncharacteristic outages in some of their major wireless markets over the past month or so. Many users reported some small network interruptions in November that only affected a small number of service areas, but the more recent and widespread outages have all occurred in December affecting both 3G and 4G networks and affecting more subscribers. Verizon's VP of Network Engineering Mike Haberman offered an explanation today to shed light on what occurred. (Full statement below)

Haberman explained that the outages were all due to (IMS) IP Multimedia Systems not responding correctly on their 4G LTE network. He also noted that LTE customers were rerouted to their 3G connection during the outage to insure that those subscribers had active data connections and that they are making software upgrades while working closely with those who provide their network infrastructure to resolve the issues quickly.
 

Verizon 12/29/11 Statement: 

In light of recent events, Verizon Wireless shared the following statement about its 4GLTE Network:

The Verizon Wireless 4GLTE Network is BY FAR the largest and the most advanced 4GLTE wireless network in the world. It is available in 190 US markets and covers more than 200 million people, providing the fastest 4G Network in the US.

Being a pioneer comes with growing pains. The recent issues that affected our customers’ 4GLTE service were unforeseen despite careful, diligent planning, deployment and ongoing upgrade programs.

Problems customers experienced affected connectivity to the 4GLTE Network and data service. Several times, we have proactively “moved” 4GLTE customers onto our 3G Network to ensure all would have a data connection. For brief periods, such as on Wednesday (12/28), 4GLTE customers could not connect to the 3G Network as quickly as we would have liked.

Nonetheless, we estimate that 4GLTE connectivity has been available approximately 99 percent of the time this year.

Why have these issues occurred with our 4GLTE Network? Each incident has been different from a technical standpoint. Our engineers have successfully diagnosed those past triggering events, and they have not re-occurred. We also work diligently to rectify technical problems in the Network before they affect any customers.

Our 3G and 1X Networks continue to reliably process calls, texts and data for customers with 3G devices and, when necessary, 4GLTE devices. It continues to perform at the high level that established it as the nation’s largest and most reliable 3G Network.

We are taking a number of steps, working closely with our network suppliers, to ensure the integrity of our 4GLTE Network. We continue to fortify and improve its performance, and our goal is that our 4GLTE Network meets the same high standards that our 3G Network has set for performance and reliability.

Among the numerous measures we have taken or will take are: geographic segmentation, which enables us to isolate, contain and rectify network performance issues, and maintain service to the majority of customers when an issue does develop; and software fixes that we have developed, tested and applied regularly – and will continue to do so. Both will improve performance and reliability.

And finally, we are learning from these issues and applying the same gold standard to our 4GLTE Network that make our 3G Network the nation’s largest and most reliable.

Verizon Wireless is a leader and pioneer in this cutting edge technology that provides very fast wireless data speeds, enabling customers to enjoy the best experience in video and other wireless data usage. Clear unbuffered streaming video, super fast file downloads and wide availability are among the advantages we offer to customers. The capabilities of 4GLTE have exceeded many expectations.

We will not rest until our 4GLTE network performs at the very highest levels that our customers have come to expect from us.

Source: Gigaom

T-Mobile Stepping Up Small Business Wireless Effort

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T-Mobile is on a roll with new feature offerings and an improved wireless portfolio for 2011. They reported a slight financial gain of 1% over 2nd quarter results and added 126,000 to their overall subscriber base in the 3rd Quarter earnings report for 2011. They have revealed a renewed game plan focusing marketing efforts more on their Value Plans and Monthly 4G (No Contract Plans).  First the launch of the highly competitive T-Mobile Value Plans featuring T-Mobile's Best Plan Ever (2 Lines/ $49.99 each Unlimited Data, Talk and Text), then on November 16th at a Google Android event in Los Angeles, they introduced exclusive music offering (T-Mobile Free Tracks) showcasing the ability for (T-Mobile customers exclusively) to pay for Google Music downloads on their monthly wireless bill.

Now the magenta carrier has revealed a competitive offer on T-Mobile Small Business. For a limited time customers can receive a $15 monthly discount every month for a year on a 2 year T-Mobile Small Business agreement ($49.99/month). T-Mobile Small Business customers on Blackberry plans can also receive free Premium Blackberry apps worth over $100 between now and December 31, 2011. This move allows them to the opportunity to gain some ground on what competitors like Sprint, AT&T and Verizon are doing in their small business sectors as the year finishes out. We are keeping an eye on this and other moves that T-Mobile is making to stay competitive in these challenging times in wireless business. Share your thoughts in the comments area below. Let us know if you think T-Mobile is on the right road or headed towards a dead end.

Via T-Mobile Small Business

Google Music Is Official !

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Google Music was made official today, November 16th, 2011 at a launch event in Los Angeles. This is big news for music artists and fans alike because of the new Google Music Store. The Google Music Store is an intuitive platform for both hit making top 40 superstars and aspiring newcomers alike. Google's database of over 13 million songs starting at 99 cent will be available immediately, with more music soon to follow.

Google Music aims to be a much needed bridge for unknowns to be discovered and get their music out to the world. Jaime Rosenberg ( Google Director of Digital Content for Android ) outlined how the new platform allows the artist to control their own music and set pricing for it to be downloaded. This along with loads of exclusive content, music sharing and recommendations between Google+ Circles, set it apart from other music platforms like iTunes.

During the announcement, they discussed  Androids recent and dramatic growth. The Android platform occupies 52.5% of the current smartphone market. In light of that, Google Music users will enjoy integration with Google+ and their music content will be available via Google cloud service on their Android phones, tablets and computers. Google Music customers will enjoy the convenience of being able to access and play up to 20,000 music tracks across any browser including iOS devices free.

T-Mobile was also on hand for todays announcement and they boldly displayed their commitment to Android as they will be the first wireless carrier to fully support Google Music. T-Mobile wireless subscribers will have access to free and exclusive music content, additionally T-Mobile is the only carrier to allow Google Music subscribers to pay for their music downloads on their monthly wireless bill. This seems logical as T-Mobile was the first wireless company to partner with Google as they launched the very first Android phone the HTC built (Google G1) in 2008 on T-Mobile exclusively. This partnership has continued and T-Mobile currently offers the largest line-up of  Android phones running on Americas Largest 4G network which currently reaches over 200 million people nationwide in 208 major markets .

With their entry into digital music sales, they will be mixing it up with Apple and Amazon to claim their portion of the 6.8 Billion dollars in digital music sales projected for 2012 by Gartner, a leading tech research firm. Google has done their homework and as they shared at the launch event, they intend to apply what they learned during Google Music BETA to make this service a compelling digital music offering that can compete among giants.

Via Google Music, T-Mobile, Gartner Research