Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Google is getting ready to launch their Street View technology in the UK, and it isn’t being met with open arms. Although the mapping tool is already in place in some major US cities, folks in the UK are protesting the implementation on their turf.  Street View works by taking photos of, logically enough, streets to match maps. However the photos also include any people on those streets. This is where the problems come in for the UK folk. They feel this is a blatant disregard for privacy; and that permission should be granted by any individual photographed since the pictures are being used in a commercial regard. 

Personally, I don’t see how Google is getting away with this. As a freelance photographer myself, I know that any photographs that I take (even in a public setting) must have release forms signed by each recognizable person in the photo, if I am to be using them in any way for profit. (They even consider a person to be “recognizable” if the photo only shows the back of them for the record.) Apparently, Privacy International, a UK rights group, agrees. They believe the technology clearly breaks data protection laws. 

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While Canada, or more specifically Rogers has never been know for their fairly priced data plans for phones, they have just added a few additional plans designed for the BlackBerry. These do seem to be an improvement, but sadly they are not as low-priced as we would have hoped, and they still are not offering any unlimited plans, of course from what we have seen in the past nothing is ever truly unlimited, so that may be a blessing in disguise.

The new plans offered include a 300MB option for $30, or 1GB for $60, 3GB for $80 and a 6GB plan for $100. While expensive I think most people would be surprised how little data they actually use, and most would probably be OK with the 300MB plan if not the 1GB for sure, but at the same time it would be nice have an unlimited offer and just not have to worry.

Lets just hope the soon-to-be-released 3G capable BlackBerry Bold will not encourage users to take full advantage of data use and start going over their service plan, because one thing is for sure, overages are expensive.

Via [BGR]

After several cries and complaints, Sprint has finally explained its decision to cap its “unlimited” data usage plan to 5GB a month, plus 300MB a month of off-network roaming. According to Sprint, the new limit is plenty enough, since it only affects 0.5% of customers. Sprint also notes that the limit applies to both existing and current consumer and individual accounts, but not corporate, business, public sector, or government contracts. The company states that the Simply Unlimited plan is exempt from the new rule—as the limit only applies to data cards and phone-as-modem plans. Interestingly, Sprint is permitting customers to go over the limit only if they do not exceed the limit in two out of three consecutive months—otherwise, termination is possible. However, Sprint is being gracious enough to inform users of the new limits prior to termination, giving customers a chance to change their usage habits. To aid monitoring data usage, the company will allow customers to check their data usage via Sprint.com starting June 8.

If 99.5% of customers are not going over the 5GB limit, than why is Sprint enforcing it? Granted 5GB of bandwidth should be plenty for most users, is it really worth losing the 0.5% of its “hardcore” customer base? Wouldn’t keeping the 0.5% and removing the limit give Sprint the competitive edge its needs, by being the only wireless provider to offer a true “unlimited” data plan?

Via [MobileCrunch]

Sprint is probably the only wireless carrier to offer a true unlimited data plan. However, according to a Sprint employee on the SprintUsers forum, this may no longer be the case. A reportedly leaked internal memo has revealed that Sprint is now enforcing a monthly 5GB data usage cap on its Phone as Modem (PAM) and data card plans, thus, joining the other carriers that are also limiting data usage to 5GB (AT&T and Verizon). Additionally, the memo says Sprint users that roam on another network will only be allowed 300MB of data per month.

“Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5GB per month in total or 300MB/month while off-network roaming. Check your subscriber agreement rights on Sprint.com”

It should be noted that there has not been any official announcement by Sprint, so at this point it’s only a rumor at best. But, the leaked memo mentions that Sprint will be updating its Terms of Service to put the new limits into effect on July 13. Despite the new revelation, it is unknown whether or not the wireless company will actually be enforcing the new rule. What exactly does “reserve the right” mean? Does this only apply to heavy users, or to the entire member base? Regardless, the good news is that Sprint customers may be able to terminate their contracts earlier, due to the change.

Read [SprintUsers]

Following up on the recent confirmation that Rogers will be indeed offering the iPhone “later this year” we are now left to wonder just how affordable their data plans will be. The latest word has it that they will be offering an unlimited plan for just $7-a-month, which sadly at this time is nothing more than a rumor and speculation as it has come from the wonderful “un-named source.”

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Sony has made available a slew of tiny USB flash drives in its Microvault product line, branding these babies as the USM-L. The drives measure in at 0.69 x 0.33 x 2.44-inches and weighing only around 0.32-ounces, who would think that the USM-L flash drives can store as much as 16GB of data? Well, that’s how flash drives are nowadays, the smaller they get, the larger their storage capacities are, and this is particularly true with the Sony USM-L flash drives.

As if the USM-L flash drives were not small enough, Sony even made use of the Click mechanism which makes it shorter when it is connected to your machines. This also enables Sony to do away with the common USB flash drive design that comes with a cap that you have to pull out to reveal the flash drive’s USB connector. With the USM-L, all you have to do is to slide out the flash drive’s body to reveal the USB connector. 

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Looking for a creative (albeit a bit expensive) way to banish your computer’s data? EDR Solutions might have just the right thing for you. Cleverly disguised as a seemingly hibernating war machine, the Hard Disk Crusher will offer to ‘drill’ through your hard drive’s spindles, effectively killing it just like how crunch waves do brain cells. A standard 110V outlet should be enough to give this monster some juice, but in the unlikely event that you need to use this where there’s no electricity available, you can use an emergency hand-pump and crush hard drives 15 pumps at a time. How much is one Hard Disk Crusher to destroy all your unwanted data easily? $11,500 (including a one-year warranty, at $995 per year extended). The comfort in knowing that nobody will ever find all your precious “YouTube videos?” Priceless.

Via [Oh Gizmo]

LaCie has upgraded its most popular product - the all-terrain Rugged Hard Disk with some 500GB of storage goodness. If you will recall, this external hard drive was recently upgraded to 320GB, but it seems LaCie will not stop upgrading its capacity until they hopefully pack in one terabyte or more.

But for now, you will have to be satisfied with 500GB of storage. If you’re not so much into photography and music, 500GB is already a lot, and possibly more than you would need. With 500GB you can store around 710 movies, 135,000 songs or 550,000 photos. And with the hard disk’s scratch-resistant aluminum shell as well as its shock resistant rubber bumper, you are assured that your data files are secured from everyday bumps, bruises and hard knocks. This ruggedized data storage package is available with USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 versions and was designed to interface smoothly with any computer.

The 500GB LaCie Rugged Hard Disk is now available and retails for $299.

Read [LaCie]

Kingston has introduced one of its most secured data storage device yet with the new DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB). We’re finally talking about real data security here with a 256-bit hardware-based AES encryption that automatically locks itself after ten unsuccessful password attempts. Even the US Government was excited about the DataTraveler BlackBox, so much so, that it has given it an FIPS certification. FIPS certification is given to data devices which have passed the Federal standard for data management and security.

Going back to the USB drive itself, we learned that it comes in 2GB, 4GB or 8GB storage capacities and retail for $165, $242, and $424 respectively. While the DataTraveler BlackBox is more expensive than your standard USB flash drive, its not a bad price to pay for ensuring that your personal data security will not be breached.

Read [DTBB Demo] Via [Crunch Gear]

Startup BillShrink aims to assist cell phone users in finding the cheapest available plan with various add-ons to suit your individual personal needs. With so many cell phone plans available on the market, users often find themselves ending up with something that they don’t actually need. Often times wasting tons of money for add-ons they paid for and will not actually use. BillShrink hopes to address that problem and aims to help users avoid spending money they do not need to.

So, how does BillShrink plan to help users minimize cost on cell phone plans? By analyzing individual usages and needs. Users will be asked to enter their cell phone number and password associated with the account. BillShrink’s technology will then analyze usage patterns of that particular mobile account, taking into consideration the most-called contacts and networks, user’s average phone bills, calls per minute made by users, and some personal information such as user’s home zip code. After analyzing these data, BillShrink will then present a comparative list of less expensive plans available for the users.

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