08
Apr
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In California, Using Your Maps App Is Just As Illegal As Texting While Driving, Court Says

Posted by in Legal, News

Texting and driving is a pretty heinous crime. Bad enough that it's spawned entire ad campaigns devoted to educating the public on the dangers of such acts. Of this, you are no doubt aware. What you may be less aware of is the fact that figuring out where you're going is exactly as dangerous as sending someone a message that says "Doesn't the Peachoid look like a giant..."

California, despite having no known Peachoids, knows this very well and a court has ruled that using a mapping application is just as bad (and illegal) as texting behind the wheel. This isn't the first time California has come down hard against GPS in cars.

18
Dec
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Sprint Lights Up Six New LTE Markets, Including Indianapolis, Santa Rosa, And Hanover, PA

Posted by in News, Sprint

You know the drill by now. It's time for some new LTE market announcements! Woo! Party hard. The network rollouts today are coming to Pennsylvania, California, Indiana, Virginia and Puerto Rico. This comes on the heels of Sprint announcing its intention to purchase the remaining shares of Clearwire that it didn't already own.

Here's the list of new cities:

  • Indianapolis/Carmel, Ind.
  • Santa Rosa/Petaluma, Calif.
  • Vallejo/Fairfield, Calif.
  • Southern Puerto Rico (including Ponce, Coamo and Guayama)
  • York/Hanover, Pa.
  • Franklin County, Pa.
  • Page County, Va.
  • Enhanced 4G LTE coverage around Shenandoah County, Va.

Not a bad set of additions. There is still much to be seen in regards to Sprint's LTE network rollout, particularly over the next year.

13
Apr
2012-04-13 03h53_52

Verizon Announces Expansions To A Ton Of California Markets, Including Fresno, Sacramento, And San Francisco Bay Area (Plus Reno)

Posted by in 4G, News, Verizon Wireless

Say what you will about Verizon's data plan costs (and we all will), but at least the company works for that money. The LTE rollout continues as Verizon announces expansions to what professionals are calling "a whole lot" of California markets, as well as Reno, Nevada. Most have already had LTE, but if you've ever yelled in frustration when you lose that precious LTE signal while driving down Highway 99 in Fresno, your commute is about to get easier.

The list of markets that are getting expanded coverage areas include:

Additionally, Reno is receiving some expanded coverage.

05
May
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[Not As Good As It Sounds] Judge Forces Oracle To Throw Out 129 Of Its Patent Claims Against Google

Posted by in Android OS, News

File this under "things that look good on paper." On Tuesday, a federal judge for the Northern District of California issued an order forcing Oracle and Google, in their fight over various Java patents allegedly infringed by Android, to reduce the number of patent claims and defenses thereto to a "triable" number. That number? Three. And Google will be allowed eight "prior art references" to defend against those claims. (Note: A "prior art reference" is a way of showing that a patent was trying to patent something someone else had already invented prior to the filing, a complete defense against patent infringement, invalidating the patent in question)

Oracle's complaint ended up amounting to 132 patent claims against Google's Android mobile operating system - a staggering number for any court.

27
Dec
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Sprint Officially Launches 4G (WiMax) In The SF Bay Area For San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, And Oakland

Posted by in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Earlier this year, on June 16th (which also happens to be my birthday), I stepped out of a train in Mountain View and, to my delight, caught my first ever 4G signal in the Bay Area. It seems I was not alone, and soon many of you were reporting seeing a weak signal, which slowly grew stronger and spread across the Bay.

Fast forward 6 months, and the announcement is finally here - Sprint just unleashed the 4G hounds and is officially supporting San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Oakland in full capacity. The new WiMax connection has smaller latency and is over 5 times faster than 3G, although the coverage area still lacks quite a bit.

29
Nov
Is Sprint About To Release 4G To The Bay Area?

Sprint 4G In The San Francisco Bay Area To Launch December 28th, 2010

Posted by in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Along with hundreds of thousands of people inhabiting the San Francisco Bay Area, I've been waiting for the Sprint 4G launch ever since Google graciously gifted us the EVO 4G powerhouses back at the I/O conference. In fact, it was June 16th, which happens to be my birthday, when I first noticed a strong 4G signal in Mountain View, not too far from Google's own headquarters. Little did I know back then that the wait was not over, and we wouldn't be getting 4G until the very end of the year.

I am glad to report that the cat is out of the bag, and the tentative when was finally let out by a Sprint rep via twitter.

28
Nov
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Sprint 4G Launches In Los Angeles, CA; Washington, D.C.; Miami, FL; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, OH

Posted by in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

As the Thanksgiving weekend is coming to an end, residents of Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus can say thank you to Sprint today as well. The nation's 3rd largest mobile carrier announced that 4G, otherwise known as WiMax, is officially live in the aforementioned cities. This puts the Los Angeles area full 2 days ahead of schedule, as the 4G launch there was expected on December 1st. SF Bay Area next, please (the launch there is expected sometime in December)!

Go ahead, fire up your EVOs and Epics, and give the network a good test using the official Speedtest.net app (download below) - after all, your speeds should have increased about 10 times compared to 3G.

21
Sep
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Sprint 4G Now Being Tested In San Francisco - Rollout Imminent?

Posted by in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

If you remember, a few months ago, I found a nice, strong 4G signal around Mountain View/Santa Clara, right in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Sprint promised 4G in the Bay Area by the end of the year, so it was only logical to see them starting some testing. Today, it looks like Sprint kicked the testing up a notch and lit up San Francisco, according to reports by both IntoMobile and Engadget.

Being a San Francisco resident, I was unable to confirm around the Ingleside district, so the coverage is likely to be spotty and concentrated on the downtown area for now.