That new prepaid business for the anti-power user crowd that Sprint was fixing to launch? Yeah, it’s here and it’s official: meet Common Cents Mobile. Billed as a way to help folks “cut unnecessary costs,” Common Cents Mobile is about as simple as it gets, offering pay-as-you-go 7-cent minutes and 7-cent text messages, plus unlimited messaging for $20 a month and data for $1 per megabyte per day. The bigger news, though, might be that voice minutes round down, which is a first in the US market as far as we know (in other words, frugal customers will want to make sure they hang up 59 seconds into the minute). As you might expect, the handset selection is bare-bones and easy on the pocketbook, consisting of the LG 101 at $19.77, the Samsung M340 at $39.77, and Kyocera’s portrait QWERTY S2300 coming in at $69.77 — all totally contract-free, of course. Look for these all to launch in select Walmarts across the land starting this Saturday, May 15. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Common Cents Mobile becomes Sprint’s latest prepaid brand, exclusive to Walmart

Common Cents Mobile becomes Sprint’s latest prepaid brand, exclusive to Walmart originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Next generation iPhone unscrewed from Vietnam (update: video!)

Next generation iPhone unscrewed from Vietnam (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 03:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oops, looks like The Street leaked RIM’s big unveil for later this morning at its WES show: the BlackBerry Bold 9650 (pictured left looking very Tour like) and BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The Bold 9650 boasts 802.11b/g WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel cam, GPS, and support for US EV-DO Rev A networks or UMTS/HSPDA when abroad — look for it to launch next month on Sprint. The Pearl 3G is headed to Bell, Telus, and Rogers in Canada with a 3.2 megapixel camera, 802.11n WiFi, GPS, and triband HSDPA data with quadband GSM / EDGE. Both feature RIM’s new optical trackpad. Hold tight while we wait for more detail from RIM.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlackBerry Bold 9650 and Pearl 3G outed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What a week.

First, the training center. I found that the Ncomputing machines were not a good fit. Most of the training we have is on DVD and with the nComputing setup, only one machine has a DVD drive. So we replaced that table with the machines sent from Whitewolf. Unfortunately, we blew three of the power supplies. The first was because I’m a bonehead and the power supply was set to 115V. The second was because the switch was broken on the supply, and even though it said it was set to “230v”, internally it was still set to “115v”. Guh. The third was because one of our helpers plugged the monitor power cord into the computer (which was set to “230v” so it shouldn’t have mattered). So now, that table has to be set to 110 completely (monitors included) so we have no more mistakes. We did manage to get one of the power supplies fixed in Kampala, and one is toast. The jury’s still out on the third.

The center’s doing well though. We have some customers and we’ve shifted the hours because no one was coming in the morning and lots more people were coming at 4:30 when we were about to close. We’re open from 11:00am – 7:00pm Mon-Fri, and part of the day on Saturday. The DVD-only  content is going to be a problem, especially if more than one person wants to train on the same course at the same time, but I’m going to email TotalTraining to see if they will allow us to use more than one copy of their training. We have a staff, though!

We have Gerald and Josh working most days, and Henry and Teo volunteering their time in the center in exchange for training. I’m excited to have Ugandans working in the center. The prospect of running day-to-day operations in the center was overwhelming, considering everything else I’m doing.

That brings me to the topic of the cafe. There are times when I have my doubts. We’ve been led every step of the way with this thing, but it’s a ton of work. We don’t know the first thing about running a restaurant, but all the pieces are in place. We picked up some restaurant management books while we were in the US, and thankfully, Jen is reading them and running with her new knowledge. Now that the Training Center is at least functional, I need to jump in to the work at the cafe. That’s funding everything, so it’s important.

I had a gig scheduled in Quebec but thanks to the VAV (Volcanic Ash Victory) my flight was canceled. We really (really) needed the money from that gig, and I was looking forward to the conference. The organizers and attendees were great the last time I was there, and the hotel was fantastic. But they offered an alternative, and will accept a video copy of the preso. So yesterday I filmed No-Tech Hacking in my back yard. It was a family event. We set up a podium, set up the video and wireless mic (thanks, Syngress, for the gear from that Stealing The Network video shoot) and recorded the talk. I was up until 3:30am compiling the video, let it render until 8:30, then started the upload process. The video is about 450MB which is MASSIVE for the bandwidth we have. But it’s doable, as long as FTP cooperates, which it didn’t. For some reason I’m getting a 500 I won’t open a connection to 172.17.1.130 (only to 196.x.x.x) when I try to upload to my web server. This can only be bypassed with quote pasv and passive run from the command line, but I need a graphical FTP client so I can resume if (when) the power goes out or the Internet goes down. SSH was too slow (don’t get that really) insisting that the upload would take anywhere from 12 to 16 hours. The connection kept dropping, and after a bit of rsync to resume, my approximate upload time jumped to days, not hours. I don’t have that kind of time. If the video isn’t in their hands by tomorrow, I don’t get paid. I honestly thought about Amazon S3, but I don’t have the time to muck with that right now. So MobileME came to the rescue, and that’s plugging along nicely, telling me I’ve got about 6 hours to go. Fingers crossed.

If this works, I might see if anyone’s interested in playing the video at their con. It’s cheaper than flying me over. =)

Gotta go. I have a ton of email to get through, and I have to rescue our front age before May 1. Thanks so much, sproutbuilder. Wix, here I come. Can’t somebody build us a decent web site? Sheesh. =D

Talk about random gifts from the ether. British Android device owners are waking up this morning to discover their robot-themed operating system has gone and upgraded itself overnight. We’ve confirmed for ourselves that Google Maps Navigation — yes, the free turn-by-turn stuff with voice directions — has made its fully functional way across the Atlantic. This is the 4.1.1 Beta released on April 6 to US customers, but as we say, it’s now working over in Blighty as well. We’ve tested it out on a Desire and Nexus One from HTC, with the latter offering the extra-cool option to orally instruct your Google search bar to “navigate to” your destination. Check out the gallery below for some visual edification.

[Thanks, Tes]

Update: We’re now also sure the full Navigation service works on at least some Android 1.6 devices, such as the Dell Mini 5 and a reported Sony Ericsson X10 success over on the xda-developers thread.

Update 2: Numerous users have reported successfully using turn-by-turn Navigation on the 4.1.0 version, leading us to believe that the capability was in the Google Maps app all along and it’s only now that the company has chosen to activate it. If you aren’t yet on board, direct your Android 1.6 or above device to the Android Market and get navigating.

Google brings free turn-by-turn Navigation to UK Androids (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uh oh. Looks like all that US popularity has taken Apple by surprise and the European arrival for the iPad will be shifted back from the earlier promised “late April” to the end of May. Citing more than 500,000 tablets sold in the first week of American availability, the Cupertino brain trust urges its international audience to look forward to May 10, which is when availability and pricing for the rest of the world will be specified.

Update: Rogers has come forward and confessed that it’ll be offering the 3G iPad “from the end of May in Canada,” though it’s keeping monthly price points close to the chest for now.

iPad international launch delayed until the end of May originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our man Thomas Ricker was just wondering how long it would take before Apple determined the fate of Opera Mini for iPhone, and we’ve got some good news — it’s been approved and will be available for free on the App Store within 24 hours! Can’t say we were expecting that, since non-Safari-based browsers have typically been verboten from Apple’s little kingdom, but we’re certainly happy to be surprised. We’ll do up a full hands-on when we see it in the store, but for now check the demo video after the break.

Update: We’re getting reports that UK and Australian readers are already able to download and enjoy this surprising little addition to the app store — be sure to give this iTunes link a shot and see if it works in your region, mmkay?

Update 2: We just got our hands on Opera Mini for the iPhone, and the first thing we noticed is, in fact, how fast it renders pages. When we open the app, we are quickly introduced to the default Opera Screen, with links to Facebook, Twitter and the like. Opening a new tab is a single touch and loading virtually any homepage is quick. While scrolling through the loaded page, some images don’t fully render until you stop over them. Multitouch is enabled to some extent — you can pinch to zoom, and double tapping only fully zooms in and out, with really no inbetween. Something else we noticed that we’d been looking for in OS 4, is the ability to Find in Page. It works really well, and the words being searched are highlighted for an easy find. This browser totally kicks safari out of the water, and we’re definitely looking forward to updates for Opera Mini.

Update 3: It looks to be live in the US now! Hit up that iTunes link and go wild!

Continue reading Opera Mini for iPhone approved, will be available for free (update: hands-on)

Opera Mini for iPhone approved, will be available for free (update: hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pirates for Charity?

This would make a great T-Shirt. What say we add it to our collection of head-turning T’s?

So what’s the deal? Well, this is about our training center in Uganda, and the others we’d like to see elsewhere around the world.

A few companies have provided express consent for us to use some of their training material in our center. However, thanks to various donors, we are in possession of tens of GB worth of training material, some of which was obviously downloaded from the Internet (torrents, RapidShare, etc).

This puts us in an interesting predicament. The “Robin Hood” in our hacker brain loves the idea of using this stuff in a non-profit capacity to help some of the poorest people in the world find gainful employment in ICT. The Christian (Johnny) / Non-Profit (HFC) / Conservative (Johnny again) side of us feels as though it’s wrong on some moral / ethical / legal way.

The justifications are plentiful:

• There are no laws against pirating in Uganda (yet) so it’s OK.
• Johnny’s an American, so it’s a crime, so it’s not OK.
• The content was donated, not directly downloaded or purchased, so it’s not really even pirating (so it’s really OK).
• It’s to help poor people, so it’s OK.
• Johnny should wear his hacker / Christian hat so it’s OK / Not OK.
• The courses aren’t being sold, and the use of them is free, so it’s OK and OK.
• If training companies found out you used their stuff in this manner, they would never partner with you legitimately, so it’s not OK.
• If training companies found out you used their stuff in this manner, they might see a new charitable / humanitarian / life-changing use for their product they had never thought of and partner with you anyway, and make their competitors look like self-absorbed in-it-for-the-money mavens so it’s OK (the partnering part, not the making your competition look bad, which is borderline).
• Etc, etc, ETC, so it’s Ok, not ok, OK!

Even our most faithful / fervent / spiritual / l33t supporters are aggressively split on the issue, so we’re not sure what to do.

All we know is that people are lining up to get into our center and we’re at capacity. Each one is desperately seeking training so they can get a good job and pull their families and villages out of abject poverty. They’re psyched about web design, graphic design, music, programming, networking and more… bit-heads that are soaking up an education that their university-educated peers have never had access to. And to feed that hunger and really mke a difference we need lots more content… much more than we have legitimately.

We tried our hand at approaching one of these companies requesting that they allow the use of this donated content in a non-profit capacity in our center in Uganda and they refused, encouraging us to “remember that great things are achieved by hard work and dedication” and letting us know that “[we] will only hurt [our] cause and those [we] are trying to help by taking shortcuts or engaging in activities which are illegal or unethical”. I will leave the story there, because revealing more about the story will reveal more than we want to about that company. But suffice it to say that the end result of taking the “high” road was a rather staggering “loss” of content.

The more I thought about that situation, the more I realized the futility of approaching training companies in search of partnerships and donations. I mean, look at us, we’re just a bunch of shady, good-for-nothing, bright (but often misguided) hackers. So what does that mean? Just because we’re hackers, does that mean we can just blaze ahead, set our (not Uganda-based) OC-768 bit-pipes to full suck mode and SITERIP every commercial training site at a glorious 50Mbps?

I don’t think so. We’re about more than helping and training the poor. We’re about showing the world there’s more to hackers than meets the eye. So we have to have a higher standard, methinks.

But indecision means we lose training content because we can’t afford to buy everything we need. As it is, we’re on a shoestring budget with every penny going directly to our work.

If it was just me, I’d let it rip. I’d use the content and do some good with it. But as an organization, we’ll take a lot of heat and scare off potential donors if I just use the stuff.

So about that header, “Pirating for Charities”. I’m trying to draw attention to our plea. Is there a company out there that will come along side us in our quest to educate and empower the hungry here in East Africa? We’d love to see this training spread to other areas around the world, not just in Africa, but in the poorest sections of the US, Great Britain, Asia and more. Even Greenland. (Yes, there are 57,600 people in Greenland. Guess how many training centers they have? Like one, in an expensive hotel, with 8 stations.)

Below you will find a list of the content that has been donated to us. If this content is yours, and like the first company we approached you want us to delete the content, we will…and we will never again darken your door with the plight of the poor. If, however, you want to help, contact us and allow us to use the content we’ve “inherited” here in Uganda, and perhaps allow us to use other content as well. It would make a real difference.

We’re going to hope that someone will come alongside of us and provide us with training content so that we can erase all the borrowed content and go fully “legit”. We’re determined that our “shortcuts” and “creativity” are strengths, not weaknesses, and we’re going to send the loud-and-clear message that despite the perception, hackers aren’t “evil”… that the overwhelming majority of us are non-criminal. We’re brilliant and creative. We have jobs and ethics and morals and families, and we can make a difference.

And yes, we’ll take shortcuts to disrupt poverty whenever we find them. No apologies there.

On to the list. This is what’s on our drive:

CBTNuggets content:

• 642-444 CIPT Cisco IP Telephony.iso
• 642-504 SNRS Securing Networks With Cisco Routers And Switches.iso
• 642-524 SNAF Securing Networks With ASA Fundamentals.iso
• 642-533 IPS Implementing Cisco Intrusion Prevention Systems.iso
• 642-642 QOS Quality Of Service.iso
• 640-863 DESGN Designing For Cisco Internetwork Solutions Exam.rar
• CCIE Certification Package.iso
• CCIE Video Practice Lab.iso
• 640-816 ICND2 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 2.iso
• 640-822 ICND1 Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1.iso
• 642-812 BCMSN Building Converged Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks.iso
• 642-825 ISCW Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks.iso
• 642-845 ONT Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks.iso
• 642-901 BSCI Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks.iso
• CISCO.CCVP.EXAM-PACK.642-436
• Mac.OSX.Training
• CompTIA.Network.PLUS.2009.Certification.Package
• Microsoft.PRO.Windows.Server.2008.Server.Administrator.70.646
• 70-228_1 Installing, Configuring, And Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition.iso
• 70-228_2 Installing, Configuring, And Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition.iso
• 70-229 Designing And Implementing Databases With Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition.iso
• 70-236 Configuring Exchange Server 2007.iso
• 70-237 Designing Messaging Solutions With Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.iso
• 70-238 Deploying Messaging Solutions With Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.iso
• 70-270_1 Installing, Configuring, And Administering Windows Xp Professional.iso
• 70-270_2 Installing, Configuring, And Administering Windows Xp Professional.iso
• 70-271 & 70-272 Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician.iso
• 70-282 Planning, Deploying, And Managing A Network Solution For The Small And Medium-Sized Business.iso
• 70-284 Implementing And Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.iso
• 70-285 Designing A Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Organization.iso
• 70-290 Managing And Maintaining A Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment.iso
• 70-291 Implementing, Managing, And Maintaining A Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure.iso
• 70-293 Planning And Maintaining A Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure.iso
• 70-294 Planning, Implementing, And Maintaining A Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure.iso
• 70-297 Designing A Windows Server 2003 Active Directory And Network Infrastructure.iso
• 70-298 Designing Security For A Windows Server 2003 Network.iso
• 70-299 Implementing And Administering Security In A Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network.iso
• 70-350 Implementing Microsoft Internet Security And Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004.iso
• 70-400 Configuring Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.iso
• 70-401 Configuring Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007.iso
• 70-431 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Implementation And Maintenance.iso
• 70-443 Designing A Database Server Infrastructure By Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005.iso
• 70-444 Optimizing And Maintaining A Database Administration Solution By Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005.iso
• 70-450 Designing, Optimizing And Maintaining A Database Administrative Solution Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008.iso
• 70-451 Designing Database Solutions And Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008.iso
• 70-528 Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 – Web-based Client Development.iso
• 70-620 Configuring Microsoft Windows Vista Client.iso
• 70-621 Upgrading Your MCDST Certification To MCITP Enterprise Support.iso
• 70-622 Supporting And Troubleshooting Applications On A Windows Vista Client.iso
• 70-624 Deploying And Maintaining Windows Vista Client And 2007 Microsoft Office System Desktops.iso
• 70-631 Configuring Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.iso
• 70-640 Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration.iso
• 70-649 Upgrading Your MCSE On Windows Server 2003 To Windows Server 2008.iso
• 77-601 Using Microsoft Office Word 2007.iso
• 77-602 Using Microsoft Office Excel 2007.iso
• 77-603 Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007.iso
• 77-604 Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.iso
• 77-605 Using Microsoft Office Access 2007.iso

TrainSignal content:

• Train Signal (Lab 01) – Active Directory
• Train Signal (Lab 02) – File Servers
• Train Signal (Lab 03) – Web Servers
• Train Signal (Lab 04) – DNS Infrastructure
• Train Signal (Lab 05) – DHCP Servers
• Train Signal (Lab 06) – WINS Infrastructure
• Train Signal (Lab 07) – Internet Gateways
• Train Signal (Lab 08) – Virtual Private Network
• Train Signal (Lab 09) – Routers And Packet Filters
• Train Signal (Lab 10) – Server Security
• Train Signal (Lab 11) – Network Security
• Train Signal (Lab 12) – Advance Security
• Train Signal (Lab 13) – Windows XP
• Train Signal (Lab 14) – Group Policy
• Train Signal (Lab 16) – Sites And Services
• Train Signal (Lab 17) – Exchange Server 2000
• Train Signal (Lab 18) – Exchange Server 2003
• Train Signal (Lab 19) – Cisco Routing
• Train Signal (Lab 20) – Wireless Networking
• Train Signal (Lab 21) – ISA Server 2004
• Train Signal (Lab 22) – Linux Networks
• Train Signal (Lab 23) – CCNP – BSCI
• Train Signal (Lab 24) – CCNP – Switched Networks
• Train Signal (Lab 25) – CCNP – BCRAN
• Train Signal (Lab 27) – CCNP – ISCW
• Train Signal (Lab 28) – CCNP – ONT
• Train Signal (Lab 29) – Cisco Ccent 640-822 Exam ICDN1
• Train Signal (Lab 30) – Cisco Ccent 640-822 Exam ICND2
• Train Signal (Lab 31) – CCNP BCMSN
• Train Signal (Lab 32) – Windows Small Business Server 2003
• Train Signal (Lab 33) – Windows Vista
• Train Signal (Lab 34) – Exchange Server 2007
• Train Signal (Lab 35) – Microsoft Virtualization Server
• Train Signal (Lab 36) – VMware
• Train Signal (Lab 37) – VMware ESX Server
• Train Signal (Lab 38) – CompTIA A+
• Train Signal (Lab 39) – SharePoint Server 2007
• Train Signal (Lab 40) – Introduction to Windows Server 2008
• Train Signal (Lab 41) – Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Training
• Train Signal (Lab 42) – TrainSignal – TCP-IP and Networking Fundamentals Bonus
• Train Signal (Lab 43) – TrainSignal – Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Training, MCITP 70-643 Exam

Professor Messer’s Free CompTIA Network+ Certification. Although this is listed as “free” there is a cost associated with downloading the videos, which we have not paid.This is good training, and it seems inexpensive. We have purchased the A+ content and are trying to download it, but the speed here in Uganda is too slow.

The Shon Harris CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) Collection.

Linux+ Training with Mike Myers. This is of unknown origin. I don’t know if it is sold commercially or not.

Get the word out. Raise some eyebrows. And maybe we’ll get someone’s attention. If we do, we’ll make a huge difference and I promise, we’ll make the T-shirt.

“Pirating for Charities?”

Let’s not go to extremes.

Not yet.

We heard some pretty ridiculous estimates over the weekend, but these figures are straight out of Cupertino’s mouth: over 300,000 iPads were sold on April 3rd. Specifically, that many were moved in the US as of midnight (PT, we’re assuming) on Saturday, though this does include deliveries of pre-ordered units to customers, deliveries to channel partners (such as Best Buy) and sales at Apple Retail Stores. We should point out, though, that just because Best Buy purchased a bundle of ‘em doesn’t mean that end users have (yet), but still, this is a pretty impressive feat for something that not everyone was convinced that they “needed” in January. If you’ll recall, Apple only sold 270,000 iPhones during its first 30 hours on the market, yet it moved over a million iPhone 3GS units during that handset’s opening weekend. In related news, iPad users also downloaded over a million apps and over 250,000 ebooks from the iBookstore during launch day, with Steve Jobs himself noting that “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.” Now, let’s see if these guys can keep pace through the first full week.

[Thanks, Tal]

Apple sells over 300,000 iPad tablets on US launch day originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This probably isn’t a response to the 3D onslaught or even “superbit” releases like the upcoming Avatar 2D disc, but just in case the standard 50GB Blu-ray discs were beginning to feel a bit — how do you say… cramped? — the Blu-ray Disc Association’s rolling out a new BDXL format capable of holding up to 128GB (write-once) or 100GB (rewriteable). Before you get too excited, you should know that you’ll need a new player to access these — even a firmware update won’t save the PS3 this time — since they go up to three or four layers deep and will likely need a more powerful laser. While our home movies can be compressed just fine, corporations currently still using other mediums for archiving might appreciate the extra space, as well as the new IH-BD discs, designed with one 25GB read-only layer, and one 25GB rewritable layer on the same platter. If you’re looking for a place to permanently back up that super high-res “amateur photography,” take heart — a consumer version is in the works, though it will first be aimed at markets where Blu-ray Disc recorders are popular, or available at all (read: maybe Japan, definitely not the US). No word when the new hardware will actually hit the market, but final specs are due “in the next few months.” In the meantime, check out the full details after the break.

Continue reading Blu-ray Discs expand to 128GB under new BDXL spec

Blu-ray Discs expand to 128GB under new BDXL spec originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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