Verizon set to roll out Cloud storage in the coming weeks.

In the coming weeks, Verizon said Tuesday, it will deliver cloud-based storage for smartphones and tablets.

The company's customers will receive 500MB of storage at no charge, but can get up to 125GB of storage. Verizon is offering four storage plans to customers:

• 500MB: Free
• 25GB: $2.99 per month
• 75GB: $5.99 per month
• 125GB: $9.99 per month

"The secure storage app gives customers a place to back up and access their information," Verizon public relations manager David Samberg said Tuesday in a blog post. "Additionally, as customers use multiple devices, sometimes running on different operating systems, Verizon Cloud will allow for the transferring of some content between Android and iOS devices, making it accessible across smartphones, tablets and computers."

Verizon's cloud storage will roll out in the coming weeks on Android first. Support for iOS devices will be "following soon," Samberg said, while support for other operating systems will come "later this year."

Source: CNET

Microsoft turns Forbes magazines into Wi-Fi hot spots.

In a promotion that melds the dying world of magazines with the living world of Wi-Fi, select copies of Forbes are enjoying a Wi-Fi router, which oozes 15 days of free Wi-Fi through T-Mobile.

This fetching gift was first noticed by someone on the Slickdeals forum -- handle BigMacG4 -- who wondered whether anyone else had been fortunate enough to be gifted this way.

It all seems to be part of a promotion for Microsoft Office 365.

Indeed, a Microsoft spokesperson told Mashable: "The custom 4-page insert with Wi-Fi hot-spot capabilities ran in the May 6, 2013 issue of Forbes and was sent to a limited number of technology and business professionals."

It's not easy to make the cloud seem interesting, so this is one way of at least attempting to inspire.
Those who receive this fine gift ought to remember that they have to charge it first and they should get around three hours of Wi-Fi with every charge.

The router can apparently satisfy as many as five devices at once, which might make your evening commute slightly more entertaining.

Source: CNET

Congratulations NYC subway riders, you now have free wifi!

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transit Wireless announced on Thursday that wireless and Wi-Fi service is now available at more than 30 underground subway stations in New York City.

The project has been in the works for five years, and Thursday's announcement marks the first phase in a multi-year plan to bring wireless communications to 277 NYC subway stations. Transit Wireless CEO Bill Bayne held a press event inside the Times Square subway station, which is among those getting service. "It is a befitting tribute to our mission to enable state-of-the-art wireless service to all of the underground subway stations by kicking it off underneath the most famous crossroads in the world: Times Square," Bayne said in a statement.

In addition to Wi-Fi service, commuters will have access to cellular networks underground. Both Verizon Wireless and Sprint have signed on as cell service providers at 36 stations -- from 14th Street to 96th Street -- joining T-Mobile and AT&T. Other partners include Alpha Technologies, which is proving backup power for the underground system, and SOLiD, which is supplying antenna system equipment.

Transit Wireless and the MTA launched a pilot program in 2011, offering Wi-Fi and cellphone service at select stops on the L, A/C/E, and 1/2/3 subway lines. Wireless service is expected to be available at the remaining 241 subway stations by 2018 or sooner. Stations in Queens and Midtown Manhattan will be next, followed by the East Side of Manhattan and the Bronx. Subway commuters can check if their stop has access at NYCsubwaywireless.com.

Transit Wireless spent approximately $200 million to design, build, operate and maintain the system, initially partnering with Wi-Fi hotspot provider Boingo, AT&T and T-Mobile. Transit Wireless said it would split revenue generated by the system with the MTA, which is estimated to be $40 million over 10 years. The latest development is part of New York City's continuous effort to broaden wireless network services available to residents, commuters and tourists. Ongoing projects include pay phone kiosks in the streets, "micro-trenching" fiber-optic cable to neighborhoods and wireless access in public places. On May 4, AT&T and the MTA will host a "hackathon," where developers will compete to create apps that "solve real-world problems and enhance the transit experience of MTA's 8.5 million daily riders." Dubbed MTA App Quest, the challenge will award a total of $50,000 in prizes. Developers will have the option of building their apps using the MTA's public data and APIs.

Source: Information Week 

Texting and driving is still bad...even when using voice-to-text apps.

New research suggests it's just as unsafe to use a voice-to-text mobile app while driving as it is to text manually.

The new study is by the Texas Transportation Institute, which says this is the first research on whether there are driving safety advantages in using voice-to-text apps.

Thestudy involved 43 licensed drivers in a 2009 Ford Explorer. They each drove four times for about 10 minutes at 30 mph: while not texting at all, while texting manually, while texting with the voice-to-text app on the iPhone, and while doing so with the Android smartphone voice-to-text app.

The study found that driver response times were slower no matter which method of texting was used. Drivers took about twice as long to react as when they weren't texting and spent less time looking at the road no matter what texting method they used, the study says.

Interestingly, the researchers found that driver performance was roughly the same with both methods, although manual texting actually required slightly less time than using voice-to-text.

Each driver completed five text messaging tasks: send one, read and reply to three, and simply read one. The texts were from a short script: "They were things people would say in text messages, short phrases, like, 'hey, what are you doing tonight,'" says Christine Yager, associate transportation researcher at the institute. "They would get a reply, and follow up, 'yes, where do you want to meet?' "

Wireless providers and mobile app developers created voice-to-text apps to reduce the effects of manual texting. Drivers in the study reported feeling safer when using a voice-to-text app than when texting manually.

"That is not surprising at all," says John Ulczycki, vice president of the National Safety Council. "We have believed that for some time, that voice-activated texting is not any safer. There are two reasons for that. First, the technology is not yet perfected. Messages often come out garbled, which can take even more time. And second, it's really the same kind of mental concentration that's involved here. They're still taking their mental concentration off the road."

Corporate officials from iPhone did not reply to a request for comment; Android officials declined to comment.

In 2011, 3,331 people were killed and 387,000 injured in distracted-driving crashes, according to the Transportation Department. In 2010, 18% of all injury crashes involved a distracted driver.

"Texting is advancing so rapidly," Yager says. "It's important to ask questions about how this new technology affects driver safety and behavior. It's a constantly evolving process to understand distracted driving because technology is improving every day.

"We're not necessarily saying you shouldn't use Siri (on iPhone) or Vlingo (on Android)," she says. "What we are saying is in this particular study, the voice-to-mail texting and manual texting are virtually the same in how they can compromise safety."

Source: USA Today

BlackBerry users rejoice...Skype is finally available!

BlackBerry announced that Skype will be available for both the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 sometime next month. The exact timing is unclear; BlackBerry said only that Skype will pop up in BlackBerry World at about the same time the Q10 goes on sale. The Q10 is expected to go on sale in the U.S. by the end of May (with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless).

Skype's main calling point (pun intended) is that it lets users make free Skype-to-Skype calls through the Internet. Though it's not all that important a tool within the U.S. now that long-distance fees (and to a lesser extent, mobile voice minutes) are a thing of the past, Skype is essential for controlling costs when traveling abroad. Using local Internet connections, travelers can dial up Skype users at the home office for free and avoid paying for costly roaming minutes. Skype also lets users conduct live two-way video calls and instant-messaging chats.

These features are already available on the Z10 and Q10 without Skype; BlackBerry's own BlackBerry Messenger does all three. Some of these features are duplicated by yet other apps, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Viber. Skype, however, has far more mindshare when it comes to providing VoIP-based communications: It boasts some 280 million monthly users, many of whom are mobile. Source: Information Week

Some toddlers now need treatment for iPad addiction. Does iPad Anonymous exist?

Ever since the iPad came along, with its bright colors and infinite range of games and pictures, it has seemed like an ideal tool to keep baby happy. This happiness, however, is one that baby does not want to ever, ever stop. So much so that some toddlers are now said to be iPad addicts.

There are examples of toddlers being engrossed in their tablets for up to 4 hours a day. This might not seem like much, until one realizes that many of the very youngest are only awake 10 hours a day.

The Sunday Mirror reported on a case of a 4-year-old who, it claimed, is Britain's youngest iPad addict. It quoted psychiatrist Dr. Richard Graham who runs the Capio Nightingale Clinic in London. The clinic specializes in digital detox, weaning the dependent off their gadgets.

Graham, to whom the 4-year-old was referred by her mother, said that he believes such an addiction is common and not unlike alcoholism or drug dependency.

"Although at this stage her use isn't a sufficient concern to warrant in-patient care, it would be if her addiction continues to the age of 11, when she has access to other platforms like smartphones and the Internet," said Graham.

Graham thinks it might be a good idea for Internet use advice to be a core element of ante-natal classes.

Perhaps this all begins with mimicry. The children see their parents' deep involvement in their machines and want to do the same.

The machines themselves are vastly enjoyable. Indeed, visit any bar or restaurant and see supposedly adult humans seemingly unable to focus on anything but screens.

Psychologists are now worrying that when toddlers grow up they won't be able to have normal, human interactions with their contemporaries.

Sources: The Sunday Mirror, CNET

Photojojo introduces the iPad telephoto lens.

This amazing piece of technology is brought to you for only $25!

Enter Photojojo, the company known for making smartphone and photography accessories. Their new iPad Telephoto Lens adds an optical zoom to your iPad or iPad Mini. The kit adds a snap-on back cover to your iPad. The lens is removable, unscrewing from the mount area when you don't need it.

In exchange for that bit of inconvenience, the lens adds a 10X optical zoom to the iPad 3/4 and 12X to the Mini. That's a pretty respectable bump, especially considering that the current optical zoom is 0X.

As always, Photojojo offers a bit of self-deprecating wit in pointing out its products' slight deficiencies: "The iPad telephoto lens has a manual focusing ring to give you added control over its delightfully shallow depth of field. It also adds just a bit of vignetting and a dreamy lo-fi look."
In other words, this ain't no fancy Nikon lens. But it will bring you much closer to the action, vignetting and "dreaminess" notwithstanding, with far better resolution and focus than you could ever achieve with digital zoom.

Source: CNET