Tag Archives: SIM

Automobiles

Official: Audi first to bring LTE to the car later this year

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By Jonathon Ramsey

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It appears Audi will be the first to market with in-car LTE service later this year. We knew that BMW was working on LTE integration last year with its ConnectedDrive, and we’ve been told that, by the end of 2015, most General Motors products will have it, but LTE can be ordered on the S3 Sportback (pictured) as soon as July. Other models in the A3 line-up will add the option in November.

Inserting an LTE-enabled SIM card into the Audi’s MMI navigation will make the S3 a WLAN hotspot that can quickly shuffle high-definition content from the cloud to the cockpit. It will also bolster Audi Connect services like Google Earth, Facebook and Twitter, e-mail, and streaming internet radio.

We’ve been told that we’ll be offered the LTE option when the 2015 A3 sedan gets here in the spring of 2014. Since the service requires you to provide a SIM card, we expect that costs and data caps will be a matter between you and the service provider; speaking of which, Audi hasn’t announced yet who that provider will be on this side of the Atlantic. The press release below has more details.

Continue reading Audi first to bring LTE to the car later this year

Audi first to bring LTE to the car later this year originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog

Linux

Martin Pitt: umockdev 0.4: Mocking phone calls

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umockdev 0.3 introduced the notion of an “umockdev script”, i. e. recording the read()s and write()s that happen on a device node such as ttyUSB0. With that one can successfully run ModemManager in an umockdev testbed to pretend that one has e. g. an USB 3G stick.

However, this didn’t yet apply to the Ubuntu phone stack, where ofonod talks to Android’s “rild” (Radio Interface Layer Daemon) through the Unix socket /dev/socket/rild. Thus over the last days I worked on extending umockdev’s script recording and replaying to Unix sockets as well (which behave quite different and quite a bit more complex than ordinary files and character devices). This is released in 0.4, however you should actually get 0.4.1 if you want to package it.

So you now can make a script from ofonod how it makes a phone call (or other telephony action) through rild, and later replay that in an umockdev testbed without having to have a SIM card, or even a phone. This should help with reproducing and testing bugs like ofonod goes crazy when roaming: It’s enough to record the communication for a person who is in a situation to reproduce the bug, then a developer can study what’s going wrong independent of harware and mobile networks.

How does it work? If you have used umockdev before, the pattern should be clear now: Start ofonod under umockdev-record and tell it to record the communication on /dev/socket/rild:

  sudo pkill ofonod; sudo umockdev-record -s /dev/socket/rild=phonecall.script -- ofonod -n -d

Now launch the phone app and make a call, send a SMS, or anything else you want to replay later. Press Control-C when you are done. After that you can run ofonod in a testbed with the mocked rild:

  sudo pkill ofonod; sudo umockdev-run -u /dev/socket/rild=phonecall.script -- ofonod -n -d

Note the new --unix-stream/-u option which will create /tmp/umockdev.XXXXXX/dev/socket/rild, attach some server threads to accept client connections, and replay the script on each connection.

But wait, that fails with some 

   ERROR **: ScriptRunner op_write[/dev/socket/rild]: data mismatch; got block '...', expected block '...'

error! Apparently ofono’s messages are not 100% predictable/reproducible, I guess there are some time stamps or bits of uninitialized memory involved. Normally umockdev requires that the program under test sticks to the previously recorded write() parts of the script, to ensure that the echoed read()s stay in sync and everything works as expected. But for cases like these were some fuzz is expected, umockdev 0.4 introduces setting a “fuzz percentage” in scripts. To allow 5% byte value mismatches, i. e. in a block of n bytes there can be n*0.05 bytes which are different than the script, you’d put a line

  f 5 -

before the ‘w’ block that will get jitter, or just put it at the top of the file to allow it for all messages. Please see the script format documentation for details.

After doing that, ofonod works, and you can do the exact same operations that you recorded, with e. g. the …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

Do it yourself

Need a suitable substitute motherboard…

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By CMil

After finally having the chance to do some diagnostic work, I’ve come to the conclusion that the motherboard in my old office computer is done. It’s a Hewlett Packard xt973 with the ASUS A7V8X-LA motherboard and an AMD Sempron CPU. Pretty sure it’s a micro-ATX form factor board; measures 9.6″ x 9.6″, has 3 PCI expansion slots and 1 AGP slot. It also suppports a multi-format SIM card/memory card reader in the front panel of the computer and a host of USB ports front and back. Lastly, there are ethernet and 1394(?) ports on the back, as well as PS2 mouse and keyboard ports. Is there a reasonably affordable replacement motherboard that would pretty much be plug-and-play? I’m not married to the AMD processor, as this will not be primarily a gaming computer. But that’s not to say I would prefer an Intel, either. I just want to put in the board, plug all the stuff in, install windows on a new hard drive and get to work. I’m not running any cards inside the box, so expansion slot format is not an issue, although I think I would like PCI and PCI-E. Also, if the board came with or would accomodate a faster CPU, That would be fine, too. I’ve put a lot on the plate with this post – I hope someone with a LOT of patience AND knowledge picks it up! Thanks in advance – Chris:coffee:

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Source: DoItYourself.com

Computers

SIM card vulnerabilities easy to fix, researcher says

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A pair of severe security problems in millions of SIM cards should be easy for operators to fix, according to the German security researcher who found the issues.

Karsten Nohl of Security Research Labs in Berlin previewed research earlier this week that millions of SIM cards are likely still using an outdated, 1970s-era form of encryption to authenticate over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

Nohl found it was possible to trick some kinds of SIM cards into divulging an encrypted 56-bit DES (Data Encryption Standard) key, which can be decrypted using a regular computer. He discovered that by sending a bogus OTA update to a phone, some SIMs returned an error code containing the weak key.

A device could then be sent spyware which accesses critical phone data through the card’s Java Virtual Machine, a software framework present on almost every SIM sold worldwide.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

SIM card hack has severe implications for business

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It’s amazing it took so long. More than 20 years after its initial development, the SIM card has been hacked. A German cryptographer named Karsten Nohl will be presenting findings to that effect at the annual Black Hat computer security conference at the end of the month.

The impact of hacked SIM cards, one of the few stalwarts in the high-tech industry that has not seen a serious exploit, could be monumental. The exploit involves simply sending a specially configured, hidden SMS to the phone, giving the attacker an easy way around that phone’s built-in encryption. Ultimately this would then give the attacker the ability to do all manner of nasty things, from having the phone send pricy for-pay text messages to recording telephone conversations. While some seven billion SIM cards are in use today, Nohl estimated that roughly half a billion mobile devices worldwide would currently be vulnerable to this type of attack.

Fixes are already in the works, but as any IT manager who’s survived an old-fashioned Windows virus onslaught knows, a fix does not necessarily equal a solution. Even if patches are made available, that’s no guarantee they’ll be universally rolled out in a timely fashion. SIM cards can be updated invisibly over the air by network operators, but that poses a secondary problem. Because users have no visibility into whether their phones are vulnerable to the attack or not, wireless customers won’t know whether or not their devices are safe.

For individuals, the risk of someone hijacking your phone and listening in on calls or making phony purchases is bad enough.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Science & Technology

SIM sleuth finds security flaw that may affect 750M phones

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Yet another path to smartphone break-ins and fraud? Trouble-seeking cryptographer and security researcher Karsten Nohl, the managing director of Security Research Labs, based in Berlin, Germany, has revealed that some mobile SIM cards can be compromised as they carry encryption and software flaws. How massive is the potential damage? We are talking about a vulnerability that could affect 750 million phones. Nohl’s company has an ominous front page with a note showing handwriting, “Forever yours, Sim.” The elegant note was below a headline, “SIM cards are prone to remote hacking.” Nohl can back that up. He and his team tested close to 1,000 SIM cards for vulnerabilities, exploited by sending a hidden SMS. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Computers

SIM cards vulnerable to hacking, says researcher

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Millions of mobile phones may be vulnerable to spying due to the use of outdated, 1970s-era cryptography, according to new research due to be presented at the Black Hat security conference.

Karsten Nohl, an expert cryptographer with Security Research Labs, has found a way to trick mobile phones into granting access to the device’s location, SMS functions and allow changes to a person’s voicemail number.

Nohl’s research looked at a mobile phones’ SIM (Subscriber Identification Module), the small card inserted into a device that ties it to a phone number and authenticates software updates and commands sent over-the-air from an operator.

More than 7 billion SIM cards are in use worldwide. To ensure privacy and security, SIM cards use encryption when communicating with an operator, but the encryption standards use vary widely.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Religious Discussion

World Youth Day and mobile phones

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Hi guys, just looking for some advice. Apologies if this post is in the wrong place.

So I’m off to World Youth Day next weekend in Rio (yay!) and I need a phone to catch up with some old friends and just keep organised in what is sure to be an awful lot of people. I don’t want to take my regular phone as the roaming charges will be ridiculous. I was told a local SIM would be the best way, but it turns out Brazilian SIM cards are really hard to get hold of if you’re not a brazilian. I was about to give up and leave my phone at home, when a friend recommended a site called Telestial that sells roaming sim cards.

They’re based in the US and I’m based in the UK, so this may not be the be the best site, but I did a bit of research and came across some others, like ekit, GOSIM and truphone. They seem quite similar to each other, but if they work, it looks like a good solution – but my question is, has anyone here used anything like this before? Was it worth it, and did it work okay? Any advice gratefully received. At the very least, it would be nice to catch up with my friend again and buy her a drink for solving my problem!

Thanks!

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Source: Worthy Christian Forums

Linux

Specifications: Correct when writing, Gentle when reading

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I got a BlackBerry Z10 a few days ago.

I had not tried to use it as my main phone until yesterday since it needed a MicroSIM and i had a regular one.

Yesterday I got myself a MicroSIM and put it on the device to find out I could not access the 3G data network.

No problem, my operator has a website where you put the make and model of the phone and they send a SMS to the phone that autoconfigures it.
I went there and was surprised to see there was no BlackBerry listed at all.

OK, time to write the APN settings by hand, so I went to the Settings and started to look where to write the APN details, found them and realized they were disabled(greyed out) so I could not write the correct values.

After lots of searching I have come to understand that the phone obeys a indicator of the SIM that can say “I know how to connect to 3G data, no need to letting the user edit it” and when that happens, the BlackBerry Z10 happily complies and locks you out from editing them.

Problem is, my operator SIMs are wrong, they say “I know how to connect to 3G data, no need to letting the user edit it” and then provide wrong data.

And BOOM! I have a nice paperweight worth 600€

BlackBerry fan forums are full of people that say “BlackBerry is just doing what the spec says, blame your operator”.

I say to them “I’ve used that SIM in Apple devices, Samsung devices and Nokia devices and had never any problem connecting to the Internet”. Because the manufacturers were smart enough to let me edit the APN settings and write there the correct values if I wanted.

And this brings us to one of the mantras of engineering, be Correct when writing stuff but be Gentle when reading. It’s good the BlackBerry browser is following that mantra, otherwise you’d hardly be able to render any webpage.

So people at BlackBerry, please come of your senses and let people edit stuff. This way maybe I’ll get to use your device and people around me will see it and will want to buy one.

Otherwise I’ll just wait until the Ubuntu Phone is a bit more usable and start using it. It may not be as polished (at the moment) but at least it’s open source and I can fix crazy stuff like this.

From: http://tsdgeos.blogspot.com/2013/04/specifications-correct-when-writing.html

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

No, T-Mobile Has Not Killed iPhone Subsidies

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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T-Mobile’s been stirring the pot in recent months, launching an ambitious “Un-carrier” initiative and touting its new unsubsidized strategy. Contrary to popular belief, T-Mobile hasn’t been able to quit subsidies quite yet (they are rather addictive, after all).

I can’t quit you
The magenta carrier has axed service contracts, but is still offering to foot part of the device bill, even if it’s not being entirely forthright about it. I noted the discrepancy between Apple‘s retail pricing and T-Mobile’s installment plan totals when the device was announced last month, but now investors have more evidence regarding the arrangement.

For starters, Apple now sells T-Mobile iPhones through its own online store, and they’re unlocked and contract-free. These models are sold at full retail pricing of $649 to $849. Unlocked iPhone buyers can choose to have a T-Mobile SIM pre-installed or get one SIM-free. It makes no difference to Apple.

Source: Apple Online Store.

If you mosey on over to T-Mobile’s online storefront and compare full device cost, there’s exactly a $69 difference between its prices and Apple’s prices.

Buy From

16 GB Model

32 GB Model

64 GB Model

Unlocked?

T-Mobile

$580

$680

$780

No

Apple

$649

$749

$849

Yes

Difference

$69

$69

$69

—

Sources: Apple and T-Mobile. iPhone 5 pricing shown.

That missing money has to be coming from somewhere. There are exactly two candidates for who’s covering the difference. Hint: It’s not Apple.

Not something for nothing
It’s not as if T-Mobile is giving away the $69 for nothing. The vast majority of consumers will opt for the installment plan, and those devices will be locked to T-Mobile’s network while you’re still on the hook for 24 monthly payments. The carrier will unlock the device for you once it’s paid off and you can call it your own. For $69, T-Mobile still has a good shot of getting two years of loyalty, just not through a service contract.

In theory, a customer could go purchase an iPhone from T-Mobile at full price for $580 and have them unlock it immediately and then go use the savings to buy an Apple Wireless Keyboard, but T-Mobile is playing the odds and hoping very few people care enough to do this.

BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk also noticed this difference, and believes it’s a “promotional subsidy within T-Mobile’s new strategy.” Furthermore, Piecyk believes the promotion will expire eventually and T-Mobile iPhones will go back up to full retail pricing, even if they’re available on installment plans.

Been there, done that
T-Mobile actually isn’t the only carrier to offer these types of promotions. Other prepaid carriers do the same.

Leap Wireless‘ Cricket brand offers a $150 rebate, bringing the entry-level iPhone 5 down to $500. Cricket is also a prepaid carrier with no contracts, and Leap absolutely pays subsidies. On the most recent conference all, CFO

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/16/no-t-mobile-has-not-killed-iphone-subsidies/

News, Politics, Government

UK police identify man who fell from plane

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British police say they have finally identified a man whose body was found on a suburban London street in September after falling from the undercarriage of a plane as it prepared to land at Heathrow Airport.

Police identified the man Thursday as Jose Matada from Mozambique.

Police initially believed the man was from Ghana because he was found with currency from that country in his jeans and because a jet from Ghana was overhead shortly before his crumpled body was found in the suburb of Mortlake.

They eventually determined his identity by calling numbers found on a SIM card he was carrying. But efforts to locate his next of kin have failed so far. Police are still holding the body for repatriation.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/a_ltpuVckN4/

Computers

Mobile phone apps view private data more than necessary, says French study

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Mobile phone apps are accessing users’ private data and transmitting it to remote servers far more than appears strictly necessary, while users have inadequate tools to monitor or control such access, according to a new study by two French government agencies.

The French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) studied the behavior of 189 apps on six iPhones equipped with monitoring software and analysis tools developed by the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA). The goal was to improve general understanding of the way apps use private data, not to point the finger at particular developers, CNIL President Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said Tuesday at a news conference to present the research.

Rather than study apps in laboratory conditions, CNIL took a real-world approach, asking six volunteers to put their own SIM cards in the phones and use them as they would their own between mid-October and mid-January. One volunteer downloaded almost 100 apps, and one added just five to those installed by Apple.

One in 12 of the apps accessed the address book, and almost one in three accessed location information. On average, the users had their location tracked 76 times a day during the study. Foursquare and Apple’s own Maps app requested location information the most often — perhaps understandable given their purpose — with AroundMe and Apple’s Camera app close behind.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Computers

Doodad SIM cards deliver international data on the cheap

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International travel is enough of a hassle without having to worry about insanely high roaming charges, which is exactly what you’ll pay if you try to check e-mail, use maps, or pull down some Web pages.

A new service called Doodad aims to minimize the hassles and expense of international data. The company sells prepaid SIM cards you can pop into your smartphone or tablet for flat-rate data access in any of 54 countries.

What’s the catch? The SIM (mini or micro, your choice—nano is coming soon) requires an unlocked device, which might prove more complicated owing to the idiotic phone unlocking ban that went into effect in January. Best bet: ask your carrier if they’ll do it for you. AT&T and T-Mobile reportedly will if you’re an existing customer and your device is out of contract.

Alternately, a little Web searching will reveal lots of services that will sell you unlock codes, usually for under $10. (I recently used one to unlock an iPhone 4, and it worked perfectly.)

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Only Place Amazon Can Go

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

It’s nearly a certainty at this point that e-tail giant Amazon.com is preparing to launch a smartphone, which is now casually known as the “Kindle Phone.” This isn’t just unfounded speculation anymore; there’s plenty of evidence that such a device is en route.

CEO Jeff Bezos has all but confirmed his interest in pursuing a smartphone, saying the hardest part will be to remain differentiated and not simply be another “me, too” device. Over the past couple of years Amazon has also been slowing hiring smartphone talent in the form of former Microsoft Windows Phone execs.

Make no mistake: a Kindle Phone is coming. But where is it going?

Where in the world is Amazon’s content?
When it comes to geographical regions, Amazon’s content offerings are strongest in the U.S., with little to nothing in most other parts of the world. Amazon has been expanding recently, most notably and naturally with e-books, but its music, TV shows, movies, and apps availability is focused primarily in the U.S. with a pinch of European offerings.

Amazon will have to launch the Kindle Phone in the U.S. first, since it won’t seek hardware margins and will rely on its content catalog.

The process of elimination
Of the four primary carriers, chances are that Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel won’t be carrier partners since they operate CDMA networks. If Amazon wants to truly be disruptive, it will follow in Google‘s footsteps and try to sell its device unsubsidized, unlocked, and off contract. Unlocked smartphones are typically GSM models because they have easily swappable SIM cards, leaving just AT&T and T-Mobile.

Amazon already has deals with AT&T as the service provider for its cellular-equipped tablets, and Amazon even finagled some incredibly cheap data plans, albeit with small data allowances. However, AT&T has always been predominantly an Apple iPhone carrier — a trend that has intensified over the years.

Source: SEC filings and conference calls.

Last quarter, the iPhone comprised 84% of all smartphones activated on Ma Bell‘s network. Amazon might launch on AT&T, but there’s not a lot to go around outside of Apple’s flagship, especially since AT&T is deeply entrenched in the subsidy model that I’m assuming Amazon is trying to skirt.

Pick a carrier, not any carrier
That leaves the “Uncarrier” as the perfect candidate for Amazon to focus on. T-Mobile is shifting from subsidies to financing programs, while pitching more affordable service plans. At the end of 2012, the No. 4 carrier had 26.1 million banded customers (excluding wholesale and MVNO connections).

While T-Mobile has ditched subsidies, it’s also concentrating very heavily on beefing up its product portfolio. Not only is the carrier now finally getting the iPhone, but it’s also Google’s only official Nexus 4 carrier. T-Mobile will also carry the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and BlackBerry Z10. These are all devices that Amazon will compete with.

To its Amazon’s credit, T-Mobile’s device pricing is …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

DOODAD launches the world's easiest pay-as-you-go travel data SIM card

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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DOODAD launches the world’s easiest pay-as-you-go travel data SIM card


Keeping international travelers connected, when in roam.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– DOODAD, the data-only MVNO for people who travel internationally, today launched the simple, affordable, headache-free way to get international data around the world. DOODAD works in unlocked GSM smart phones and tablets, snapping out as either a mini or micro SIM (with Nano on the way), and is powered by a simple pay-as-you-go system. Place the DOODAD in your device, add some DOO-DATA, and you’re able to access the Internet in 54 countries around the world with no contracts, no fine print and no nonsense.

Rather than relying on expensive and limited carrier-based data plans, the DOODAD works on a simple tier-based structure. For example, use your DOODAD in australia and you’ll pay just 30 cents/MB, while in the UK it’s 60c/MB. In comparison, a single megabyte of Data Roaming through most carriers sits around $20/MB in either of those countries – easy to push into the hundreds of dollars in a single day.

“We rely upon our data for a lot of things, business, getting directions, finding where to eat, and staying in touch with the people who matter. So we found it odd that when traveling internationally, data was complicated, inconvenient, or just way too expensive,” said Sarah Neill, CEO of DOODAD. “So we launched DOODAD. You control how much you want to spend each day, so you can stay connected, without worrying.”

Over 70% of people turn off Data Roaming while overseas to avoid these outrageous data charges. But people need not go without any longer. Get a DOODAD, load it up with DOO-DATA, and use it each time you travel away. DOO-DATA lasts 365 days, so any you don’t use, is ready for your next trip.

With the data access DOODAD provides, you can look up maps and find your way around, keep in touch with your loved ones, make VoIP calls, check your email, and keep using Facebook without coming home to bill shock.

So don’t drop off the grid when you next travel – get a free DOODAD at GETADOODAD.com

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/getadoodad

TWITTER: @getadoodad

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's What to Expect From Intel in Mobile

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By Steve Heller, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Intel may have only just begun its big push into smartphone and tablet devices, but it’s already made tremendous progress. In a few short years, Intel’s x86 chip architecture has gone from too power-hungry for mobile to making its way into seven smartphones, which are available in 20 countries. Thanks to Intel’s heavy investments into cutting-edge manufacturing processes, the company is nearing an inflection point where it will pose a greater threat to its mobile archnemesis, ARM Holdings . In the coming years, Intel’s power-hungry reputation is likely to become a thing of the past, and should drive greater overall acceptance for Intel to power more mobile devices.

It’s wide open down there
Currently the world has only reached about 25% smartphone saturation, suggesting that the lower-end smartphone market offers some seriously untapped growth potential. Intel’s Lexington smartphone platform aims to capture share in the value segment of smartphone industry, which is expected to reach an annual shipment rate of 500 million devices by 2015. Smartphones based on the Lexington will be able to support front- and rear-facing cameras, 1,080p video viewing, HSPA+, dual SIM cards, wireless video streaming via Intel’s WiDi technology, and the ability to hyper-thread its 1.2Ghz core. In other words, the Lexington chipset should prove than adequate for the lower-end smartphone market.

Naturally, Intel won’t be stopping here. Its upcoming Merrifield chipset due out later this year offers enhanced power efficiency and performance on a smaller 22-nanometer design. Intel will be the first chip maker with 22-nanometer design for smartphones and tablets, giving it a potentially sizable advantage against Qualcomm‘s  leading-edge 28-nanometer designs. If Intel’s technological advantage on paper can translate into real-world advantages, the entire mobile computing industry has the potential to be disrupted.

8-inch Windows
Although Microsoft Windows 8 sales have been rather bleak, the company recently approved lower-resolution screen specifications for Windows 8 tablets, paving the way for 7- to 8-inch Windows 8 tablets to be developed. Last quarter, one out of every two tablets shipped was a device with a screen size less than 8 inches.

In theory, Microsoft OEMs should be able to bring $200-$300 Windows 8 tablets powered by Intel’s upcoming Bay Trail quad-core processor to the masses. Not only would this development give Google Android some serious competition in the lower-end tablet segment, it would eliminate the need (and confusion) surrounding Windows RT. Additionally, Intel’s Bay Trail processor will be the only 22-nanometer tablet chip on the market — a full generation ahead of the ARM competition. In other words, a competitively priced 7- to 8-inch tablet that’s running the full version of Windows 8 could do wonders for both Intel and Microsoft.

Integration and beyond
Qualcomm’s success in mobile computing can be largely attributed to the innovation it brought by integrating more components onto a single piece of silicon. Intel has taken a page out …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Wireless Giants May Have More Than Unlocked Phones to Worry About

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By Dan Radovsky, The Motley Fool

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More than 114,000 people signed the We the People petition asking the White House to decriminalize the unlocking of cell phones. That cry was heard, answered, and clearly agreed with by the administration.

“Neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation,” wrote R. David Edelman, the White House senior advisor for Internet, innovation, and privacy.

But will this support from the highest levels of government finally get jailbreaking cell-phone owners out of darkened alleyways?

Not if the major wireless carriers can stop it, and they have every business reason to try to do so.

First, carriers spend billions of dollars on building their network infrastructures and keeping those networks up to date. Then they must obtain the most desirable handsets from the phone manufacturers and subsidize the high cost of those phones to attract consumers to sign long-term contracts.

CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents the larger carriers, such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, in its comments to the U.S. Copyright Office of the Library of Congress last month, characterized locked cell phones as common and important to its members’ business: “According to a recent survey, 36% of wireless customers received a free phone from their carrier, and many more received heavily subsidized handsets.” That practice of subsidizing phones, CTIA wrote, was a “key component to keeping wireless service accessible and affordable.”

That played off Librarian of Congress James Billington’s notice in October that locked phones played “an essential part of the wireless industry’s dominant business model.”

But once a cell phone is unlocked, the carriers still have ways to make changing carriers with that phone a pain in the neck, if not just plain impossible.

In the U.S., much of that pain is produced because of two incompatible wireless protocols used that the different carriers use: the GSM standard at AT&T and T-Mobile USA, and the CDMA standard at Verizon and Sprint Nextel .

The 4G LTE technology that most carriers have been moving to was supposed to remove the protocol mismatch by allowing subscribers to take their handsets with them to different carriers just by changing their subscriber identity modules, or SIM cards. But Verizon and AT&T rutted up that road by requiring phone makers to provide handsets that work only on each of those networks’ wireless frequencies.

A game-changer?
However, there are market forces coming into play that may pose an even bigger threat to the wireless status quo than just unlocked phones. With the growth of the “connected car” concept, vehicles with built-in wireless technology will need the capability of changing carriers as they are driven from one network coverage area to another. A “wirelessly locked” car is not practical, nor is having to physically change SIM cards when driving along.

That brings up the concept of the virtual SIM (also referred to as an embedded SIM, a soft SIM, or a white SIM), …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

AVG Technologies Offers Tips and Advice for Removing Data from Old Mobile Devices

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

AVG Technologies Offers Tips and Advice for Removing Data from Old Mobile Devices

Data often lingers after factory reset

AMSTERDAM & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– AVG Technologies N.V. (NYS: AVG) , the provider of Internet and mobile security to 146 million active users, today released valuable tips on how consumers can remove their personal data before they recycle or throw away their old smartphones. In an era of frequent and seamless device upgrades, it’s easy to ditch an old handset and move on to the next. However, chances are the old device has personal information lingering on it, putting consumers at a greater risk of identity theft.

“Think about all the personal data stored on your phone: text messages, emails, even intimate photos of you or your significant other,” said Tony Anscombe, senior security evangelist at AVG. “Consumers are now carrying more and more personal information on their devices, and AVG wants to ensure everyone is well equipped to wipe out that data when the time comes. Your identity is essentially yours to lose, so take every precaution possible to stay safe.”

While the factory reset button seems like the logical place to start, numerous industry and security experts report that even after consumers carry out this exercise, personal information often remains. The following tips will help ensure private information is erased:

  • Remove the memory and SIM cards. Both store personal data and are best kept safe in your possession or destroyed.
  • Use a data removal application to ensure data really is deleted. Android users can use AVG AntiVirus Free™, for example. For other platforms there is a list of apps available on the CTIA web site.
  • Once the data is deleted, then run a factory reset. Instructions can be found on manufacturers’ or carriers’ websites.
  • If you are going to simply throw away your mobile phone, older handsets can contain toxic materials. Consult your local authority or drop it off at a mobile phone retailer, where they will be able to dispose of it correctly. Additionally, there are specialist companies that will take it apart and recycle each component.
  • Of course, recycling or handing it on for use is a good option; …read more
    Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance