08
Mar
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Most of the time, major corporations like to cushion their words so that, in the event of a PR disaster, it's easier to walk back its statements. Today, an AT&T exec in charge of public policy decided to throw that caution to the wind and announce in no uncertain terms 'the Librarian’s ruling will not negatively impact any of AT&T’s customers.' Well. That sure is blunt.

We're not apt to take any AT&T rep at their word, and there are certainly some things to raise eyebrows over. For starters, at one point in the post, the author says the following:

As we make clear on our website, if we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer, AT&T currently will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days; whose account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement commitment.

31
Jul
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In an e-mail sent out to Play Store developers earlier, Google announced several updates to its developer program policy. The e-mail mentioned changes in policy including clarification to payment policy regarding subscription billing, the restriction of the "use of names or icons confusingly similar to existing system apps" (a statement that brings back memories of Facebook's "Messenger" gaffe), clarification regarding dangerous products, and practices that violate the Play Store's spam policy, all in addition to a stringent new Ad Policy.

Here's the full text of the e-mail:

Hello Google Play Developer,

We are constantly striving to make Google Play a great community for developers and consumers.

02
Jul
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One of the changes to the Play Store announced at Google I/O as "coming soon" was the ability for app developers to publish links to their privacy policies, thus making their intentions more transparent right out of the gate. By using Android apps, we allow a lot of personal information to travel through the tubes, and it's in everyone's best interests to disclose just what exactly happens to it in an open way.

Here's the relevant bit from the Google I/O session I was talking about earlier:

The privacy policy links are now live in both the updated Android app (version 3.7.11) and the Play Store website.

16
May
googlemusictiny

Well, that didn't take long. Earlier today, we reported that Google was limiting the number of devices that can be deauthorized from your Google Music account. The official limit on Google Music devices was 10 active devices, with the proviso that up to 4 devices could be removed from your account every year. As of this moment, the Google Music help page still echoes this, but Google might be back pedaling. We're hearing reports that some users are able to deauthorize devices after being told just this morning that they'd reached their limit. Cameron, who had already reached his limit this morning, tried it out and lookie here:

sorrrrrydeauth camdevicespost

Earlier this morning (left), and around 3:30 EST (right)

While it's unclear how Google's stance on this has changed (we've reached out to Google for comment), it does seem very clear that some customers are now able to deauthorize devices that, just hours ago, they could not.

16
May
googlemusictiny

The problem with any account-based music streaming service, from a corporate standpoint, is that end users are a shared password away from getting access to free media. Really, who hasn't shared their Netflix account once or twice? In an effort to prevent this kind of abuse, Google Music (likely at the request of the music labels) has instituted a cap on the number of devices you are allowed to deauthorize: Four. Per year. It gets worse, though.

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For the uninitiated, here's how it works: you are allowed a maximum of ten devices that can be associated with a single Google Music account.

06
Jul
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When we published a piece reporting on the recent decision of game developer Bithack to pull its popular title Apparatus from the Amazon Appstore, we contacted Amazon asking for comment on the whole situation.

Earlier this week, Amazon got back to us and wanted to sit down and discuss the Appstore and some of the issues that developers and customers alike have had. While Amazon could not specifically discuss the complaints of Bithack for confidentiality reasons, they were able to generally talk about some of the concerns Bithack raised.

Today, I spoke with Aaron Rubenson, Category Leader (essentially, head of business) of the Amazon Appstore.

27
Jun
20110224233315!Android_Market

Well, this is an interesting turn of events for the Android Market's universally-despised 15-minute app return window. According to the Taipei Times, the Taipei City Government was recently alerted to Google's Android Market return policies - policies that violate Taiwanese consumer protection laws requiring any product bought over the internet to have at least a 7-day "trial period."

Earlier this month, the Taiwanese government gave Google a 15-day ultimatum to revise its app return policies to include the mandatory 7-day trial period, but Google refused to comply. Faced with a $1 million fine for non-compliance, Google, after negotiations with the government broke down, decided yesterday to remove all access to paid apps for Android devices in Taiwan.

01
Apr
attDeathStar
Last Updated: April 4th, 2011

Update: BGR just confirmed with AT&T that the early upgrade price bump listed for iPhones applies to all smartphones - that means early upgrade pricing for 2-year agreement customers will go up by 50 bucks on all Android phones.

Well, there's not a lot of ways to spin this positively, and it's pretty clear what's going on - AT&T is disincentivizing its 1-year and no contract plans in order to goad customers into making more economical 2-year agreements. Customer retention method much?

If you want to go month to month (no contract) on AT&T, the full retail price of your smartphone of choice will shoot up by $50, for no apparent reason other than to discourage you from making that decision.

10
Dec
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Last Updated: December 11th, 2010

Note:

Let me direct you all to our most up-to-date post on this issue:

Our Response To Rohan's Blog Posting

Please leave comments there - this thread is getting a little unwieldy.

Thanks,

David

Update #4: If Notion Ink is planning to unveil Adam at CES, why are they not listed in the CES exhibitors list?

Update #3: Rohan Shravan has posted, in response to many users' concerns, some information on his blog regarding many of Notion Ink's policies, shipping costs, and warranty.

Rohan has also stated that on December 18th, a video demonstration of the Adam will be posted for all to see.