The nation’s “fastest” (and often most frustrating) 3G network (i.e. AT&T) is adding another netbook to its lineup of 3G portable devices, the Samsung Go. So what exactly is said Go? Well, according to Sammy, it’s “a compact and lightweight netbook with instant access to broadband speeds powered by the nation’s fastest 3G network and the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition operating system.”

Don’t you just love the redundancy – “compact and lightweight netbook.” Ahem, isn’t a netbook compact and lightweight by definition?! Anyhoo, the creatively named Go weighs in at 2.8 lbs. and features a handsome midnight blue “soft texture” design, complete with rounded corners and a pebble-style keyboard.

Not to be confused with those old-school netbooks of yesteryear, the Go comes with a LED-backlit, borderless glass display that is purportedly “scratch resistant and provides users with photo-like image quality, greater viewing angles and better text legibility, reducing eye strain and boosting productivity.”

Here are the rest of the Samsung Go’s specs:

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition
• Processor: Intel® Atom™ processor N270
• Webcam: 1.3 MP
• Storage: 1GB of system memory, 160 GB HDD
• Battery: 4-cell (4000 mAh) – up to 4 hours on a single battery charge
• I/O Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, external VGA port, headphone/speaker/line-out port, microphone-in jack
• Communication: WWAN: Option GTM382W module (based on Qualcomm MSN 7225) / HSPA (7.2/5.1 Mbps): 850/1900/2100 MHz / GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz / SIM lock (device locked to AT&T network)
• WLAN: 802.11 b/g WiFi
• Other: Ethernet (10/100 Mbps)
• Display: 10.1” 1024 x 600 pixel resolution
• Dimensions: 10.3” x 7.3” x 1.1”

But enough about the sexy Go for the moment…how ’bout we take a look at the AT&T side of things. With regards to data plans, AT&T offers two DataConnect plans for netbooks: a 200MB plan option for $35 / month OR a 5GB plan for $60 / month. Like the rest of AT&T’s DataConnect plans, Go owners will also get free access to AT&T’s more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots nationwide.

Finally, the info you’ve all been waiting for: The Samsung Go will be available starting November 22 through AT&T retail or online at www.att.com/netbooks for $199 (after MIR and purchase of a 2-year AT&T DataConnect service agreement – prices start at $35 per month).

Couple problems here. First, I don’t own a home and I’m not looking to buy one anytime soon. Second, I’d probably look for a reputable lender. Nicholas also said, “You can basically assume that if someone has a 718 area code they at least have a small knife on them at all times.” I’m just not comfortable meeting with knife-wielding mortgage lenders at this stage in my life.

Third, I’m not going to blame AT&T for this particular message. I can’t say for sure that they sold my phone number – I doubt they did. If anything, my new number is someone else’s old number – a number that could have been entered into one of thousands of web forms, reputable or otherwise. Whatever the case, it’s out there now.

I will, however, blame US wireless carriers in general for charging people to receive text messages, wanted or unwanted. If I didn’t have an AT&T texting plan – I do, I pay $5 per month for 200 messages – then I would have had to shell out 20 cents to receive this unsolicited text. So it’s either add a texting plan or pay for every text message that gets sent to me. What a racket.

Now to be fair, I could turn off text messaging completely by calling up AT&T customer service and telling them to nix all text messages to and from my account. But what if I was a guy who wanted the ability to send a few text messages each month? I’m exactly that guy.

I’m okay with spending 80 cents to send four text messages every month, I’m not okay with paying 20 cents for each text message that my dumb text-happy friends want to send me and I’m really not okay with paying 20 cents for Liberty Mortgage to invite me to a Beat It-style knife fight over a mortgage I don’t need.

If someone calls me and I don’t answer, I don’t use any of my plan minutes. That makes total sense. If someone sends me a text message I don’t want, my options are to either pay 20 cents or to add what I believe to be a wildly-overpriced texting package.

Doesn’t seem right.

AT&T teamed up with TerreStar to release the new phone, called the “Genus”. The new smartphone will combine both standard cell phone connectivity (via the AT&T network) and the option to use the satellite connection. The new phone will be aimed at users in the US, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, and will switch between the satellite network and the cellular network as needed. No word on pricing as of yet, however the phone is expected to be released sometime during first quarter 2010.

[via Reuters]

[AT&T Facebook page via Gizmodo]

A bit of an update to that whole AT&T-linked senators story from the other day. Well, our complaining must have worked because the senators will no longer try to block Net Neutrality. USA!

A Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee (that’s where Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who first made the proposal, resides) staffer told this to the Washington Post:

While we are still generally opposed to net neutrality regulations, we have decided to hold off on the amendment because [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski] approached us and we are beginning a dialogue.

So, a small victory for Net Neutrality for the time being. I’m hesitant to dance in the streets because they’re still “generally opposed” to the regulation. And why wouldn’t they be? When you’ve got the likes of AT&T funding your campaigns to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, you better damn well know what side your bread is buttered, so to speak.

That’s the beauty of lobbying: AT&T makes how many million dollars per year, and yet it only takes a couple thousand to totally skew the legislative process to its favor. Amazing political process we’ve got here.

via DailyFinance

Nicholas “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a reality. So remember, kids: when you think of a free and open Internet, don’t think of the GOP. It’s not your friend here.

The Senators involved are: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas; Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas; Sen. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina; Sen. John Ensign of Nevada; Sen. John Thune of South Dakota; and Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana.

It literally took two seconds to look up these guys’ top contributors, and you’ll be absolutely shocked at the findings. Guess who is Sen Brownback’s top donor this cycle? AT&T at a cool $11,000 so far! Sen. Brownback? Oh my, looks like AT&T has given him some $35,000 thus far! And what about that Vitter gentleman? Yeah, AT&T has given him $19,500 this cycle.

So that’s three out of the six senators who have a huge financial incentive to see to it that AT&T doesn’t have to play nice by the Net Neutrality rules.

You folks are free to draw your own conclusions, but if I were you I’d make a cool Twitter hashtag like “#ATTSENATORS.” I’m sure I’m not the only person who finds it a little bit suspicious that three of the senators who have attached their name to the amendment are sucking at the teat of AT&T.

But whatever. It’s just the Internet. Who cares about that?

You’re apparently able to use your existing plan minutes for no additional charge aside from the cost of the device, or for $20 per month you get unlimited minutes for up to ten registered phones. Mind you, these are unlimited minutes while you’re within range of the MicroCell. When you’re out and about, you’re using your plan minutes.

However, if you initiate a call at home and then walk outside and hop on a bus, the call will be counted as a MicroCell call even though you’ve left your house. So that’s something, eh?

I tried a few different zip codes but was unable to get actual pricing info because none of the areas I tried (Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle) are covered yet. There’s some Internet Nerd Rage (TM) going around about the $20-per-month charge, although it appears from the awful, awful informational videos on AT&T’s site that the $20 fee is only if you want unlimited at-home minutes. Otherwise, it seems that just using your regular plan minutes carries no extra charge.

If you have AT&T Home Phone and Internet service, though, you can get unlimited MicroCell calling for free. If you have either Home Phone or Internet (but not both), you can get it for $10 per month according to Engadget.

This stuff still isn’t totally official yet, although the AT&T MicroCell website is real. I’d be most interested to learn the actual price of the device, if any. If you’re able to get your zip code to work, maybe you could drop a line in the comments detailing the upfront costs.

UPDATE: Apparently it’s only available in Charlotte, North Carolina right now. I tested a zip code there and was directed to visit an area AT&T store for more information.

UPDATE 2 (from AT&T):

“The site is supporting a public trial of AT&T 3G MicroCell in Charlotte, North Carolina. No other announcements to make at this time.  I’d also note that one of the things we are trialing is the pricing structure, as you’d expect from a consumer trial.

We have not announced any national plans, including pricing.

For this market trial, customers can purchase the device for $150, or if they choose a $20 monthly plan to get unlimited calling for the subscribers individual or FamilyTalk lines, they can enjoy a $100 rebate for a best price of $50 for the AT&T 3G MicroCell.”

AT&T 3G MicroCell [AT&T]

Well, AT&T just decided to be proactive and sent out a one page document to all iPhone users describing the World Packages. It’s succinct and includes some helpful tips like turning off Fetch and Data Roaming. It’s better late than never, I suppose, and should save some unsuspecting study abroad students next month.

To sign up you have to call 1-866-662-4548. You cant’ do it online.

NASA already has major budget issues so it’s a damn good thing the agency didn’t turn to AT&T to provide the wireless data coverage for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Because AT&T charges $0.0195 per kilobyte over a 5GB cap, it would cost roughly $231,883 for the daily data transmission of the 461GB. That’s $83,709,763 per year assuming AT&T didn’t come up with some charge for interplanetary roaming. All joking aside, this Moon satellite has an impressive data transmitter.

Somehow electrodes in a vacuum tube boosts microwave signals to high levels that are idea for transmitting large amounts of data. This amplifier can send data at a 100 megabytes a second back to Earth, more than 238,800 miles away. Similar designs were used on Kepler and Cassini, but the LRO’s system is the most powerful. And it has to be if it’s taking high-res photos of the Moon’s surface.

There’s two ways to look at the story that many of the country’s biggest ISPs have refused government stimulus money for broadband infrastructure investment. One, the ISPs patently don’t need the money, and are more than capable of delivering broadband to as many Americans as possible with their own capital. Two, the ISPs could use the money, but they’d prefer not to accept it lest they be beholden to all sorts of government-imposed restrictions, one of which relates to net neutrality.

Let’s take the first one, that the ISPs, including Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, have a sufficient amount of capital to invest and build the country’s broadband infrastructure. (I write this using Cablevision’s Optimum Online Ultra, which is pretty much unnecessarily fast.) Since they have the capital, they don’t need to accept any government stimulus money, unlike, say, GM, which was about two minutes away from bursting into flames had it not received sweet, sweet government loans. That really is a Perfect World, Kumbaya scenario, I think. If the ISPs are so flush with cash, how come people complain on a daily basis about how rubbish Comcast is; how come they have to impose bandwidth restrictions on connections? If their networks are so robust—made robust, mind you, with all that money they supposedly have lying around—then they shouldn’t have to worry about Timmy High School Student streaming tons of video all day long.

Hence, the second way to look at this, that the ISPs damn well could use the money to invest in this country’s broadband infrastructure. No one expects rural Georgia to be zipping along the Internet at South Korean or Swedish-esque speeds, but surely the days of dealing with “slow Internet” should be behind us. This has to do with net neutrality. In taking the broadband stimulus money, the ISPs would have to agree not to “favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others.” So if AT&T, for example, strikes a deal with Video Site A instead of Video Site B, AT&T can’t turn around and give Video Site A preferred access to its network. That’s the crux of net neutrality, ISPs want to cut deals with their preferred partners at the expense of everyone else. It hampers innovation—Develop a cool Web site? Better cough up the bucks, otherwise people accessing it will be bitching about the slow speeds that’s entirely not your fault!—and rewards the smoke-filled-room shenanigans that have been a detriment to consumers for years.

Of course, no ISP will admit, on the record, to refusing stimulus money because they’re afraid of all the restrictions and unwanted attention.

Not that I’d worry about it: as we all know, the Market solves every single problem!

To quote Grandpa Simpson, “Oh, bitch, bitch, bitch.” Today I woke up to reports that AT&T was being Evil, blocking access to certain sections of 4chan, which you’ll see described as anything from a “Wild West” to a “hornet’s nest.” (That blocking has since stopped, by the way.) I like to describe it as the last honest place on the Internet. People are creative like that. Anyhow, before you e-riot or whatever, consider this posting by an admin at unWired, another ISP that was blocking access to 4chan.

And I quote:

I said it could be, not that it is. Thanks for pointing that out. However, I
believe the reason they are being blocked at AT&T is the main reason I supplied
on my first post. The DDoS attack issue is the main ticket here. It’s not
because of content, or to piss people off. It’s to protect their network, as any
of you would do when you got DDoSed on your own networks. It’s damage control,
essentially, until they find out who is involved and block them, then they’ll
likely lift the block. This ISN’T the first time this has happened. Especially
to 4chan. You can check their status page and see most of the entries revolve
around them being down because of DDoS attacks.

And this quote from Slashdot further explains what’s going on:

4chan is being SYN flooded, various ISPs were getting a lot of collateral traffic from the resulting ACKs going back to spoofed IPs. Since those ISPs had nothing to do with either the attacker or 4chan, there was nothing they could do but pull the plug on the source of the collateral ACKs (4chan). i.e. the ISPs who blocked 4chan weren’t trying to protect 4chan from an attack, they were protecting their own networks from the fallout.

Sadly, like you, the vast majority of users are clueless and won’t investigate to see what is only going on. I’m sure there will be a kneejerk reaction against AT&T and the other ISPs who tried to protect themselves and everyone will make out that they are the bad guys.

I’m first in line to bash AT&T for being, generally speaking, rubbish, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything wrong here. So once again it’s a case of people overreacting without really understanding what’s going on in the background.

We’re waiting for AT&T to write back, but I would imagine their official statement would address to underlying issues.

Basically, script kiddies are ruining it for everyone.

UPDATE Ok, here’s what AT&T just told us. It’s exactly how I described it above:

Beginning Friday, an AT&T customer was impacted by a denial-of-service
attack stemming from IP addresses connected to img.4chan.org. To
prevent this attack from disrupting service for the impacted AT&T
customer, and to prevent the attack from spreading to impact our other
customers, AT&T temporarily blocked access to the IP addresses in
question for our customers. This action was in no way related to the
content at img.4chan.org; our focus was on protecting our customers from
malicious traffic.

Overnight Sunday, after we determined the denial-of-service threat no
longer existed, AT&T removed the block on the IP addresses in question.
We will continue to monitor for denial-of-service activity and any
malicious traffic to protect our customers.

via BBG

AT&T

Thanks for the tip, F!end!

This isn’t going to end well.

Plastic Logic has just announced that it has partnered with AT&T on its upcoming eBook reader that’s slated to launch in 2010. Said reader will be about the size of a piece of paper and will be less than ¼ inch thick. Luckily the device will come packing Wi-Fi like the Kindle. Oh, it’ll have touchscreen, too. The PL reader features a unique plastic screen that will allow users to view PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations!

Why not partner with Verizon?

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, JULY 22, 2009 – Plastic Logic announced today that AT&T’s* 3G network will provide the mobile broadband connection for the Plastic Logic Reader, the eReader created for mobile business professionals, when it launches in 2010.

The Plastic Logic Reader, which is also Wi-Fi enabled, is the ideal companion for busy, on-the-go business professionals who want to keep up to date on key information and who need to read and review multiple documents throughout the day. The Plastic Logic device is about the size of an 8.5 x 11 inch pad of paper, less than a ¼ inch thick and weighs less than many print magazines. The innovative eReader features the largest screen in the industry and an intuitive touch screen user interface.

“We’re extremely proud to be able to offer the Plastic Logic Reader with the nation’s fastest 3G network through AT&T. This alliance is a pillar in our strategy to provide mobile business professionals with a device that delivers a great reading experience, and is fully connected through 3G and Wi-Fi to deliver easy access to digital content,” said Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic.

The Plastic Logic Reader is unique among its competitors due to its plastic display, which is based on the company’s revolutionary plastic electronics technology. The eReader features the first ever, commercial high-quality plastic display and an outstanding E Ink reading experience. Its battery lasts days, instead of hours. Designed specifically with mobile business users in mind, the Plastic Logic Reader will connect its users with their desired business and professional newspapers, books, periodicals and magazine content and will support the document formats business users need, including PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents.

“The Plastic Logic Reader is an impressive device and we look forward to providing the wireless connectivity that will keep business professionals connected to the news, information and entertainment they desire while on the go,” said Glenn Lurie, president-Emerging Devices and Resale, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “There is tremendous market potential for electronic reading devices and we look forward to powering this revolutionary device with the nation’s fastest 3G network.”

Users will be able to connect to content and download it wirelessly through AT&T’s 3G network, which offers the best wireless coverage worldwide. Built on the GSM family of technologies, the de facto wireless world standard, AT&T’s 3G wireless network brings enormous economies of scale to electronic manufacturers who are eager to cost-effectively incorporate wireless technology in specialty devices. AT&T devices work in more than 200 countries and regions. AT&T is also the nation’s largest Wi-Fi provider, with more than 20,000 hotspots in the United States and more than 90,000 hotspots globally in 89 countries through roaming agreements.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Pricing and availability of the Plastic Logic Reader will be announced when the product begins shipping in early 2010.