Various brands manufacturing computers and computer peripherals have launched a wide range of products in the market. These days, computer speakers are made using the latest audio technology and keeping in mind the ever increasing demand for them. This demand is in view of the popularity of computer games, digital music and digital video editing.

The market for computers has been flooded by various brands. Though computers usually come with a set of these peripherals, users often go for the best brands in the market. Some of the top level gadgets of this category are as follows

Altec Lansing manufactures some of the best speakers with features like wired connectivity, subwoofer and two satellite speakers and is compatible with your personal computer. The bass quality of the speakers is pretty good. The speakers are reasonably priced and therefore fit into your budget easily. Most of the speakers are equipped with aux inputs and produce a stereo quality sound.
Bose speakers are compatible with your personal computers and come with a number of characteristics like high impedence of 48 ohms, high RMS rating. Bose speakers are designed in a way that complements movies, movies and games. There 5.1 speaker system produces surround sound of the highest quality.
Creative is also another significant brand among the range of gadgets available. The various features of these gizmos differ according to the models. Creative is one of the leaders in computer speaker systems. The speaker systems are provided with plug in options that enable private listening. The design and sound quality produced by the speakers leads to an unmatched auditory experience.
Logitech speakers have prominent features like wireless network, remote control unit battery, different ports or interfaces, LCD displays and more. Logitech speakers are also provided with a stowaway cradle and a headphone jack. The Logitech 2.1 speaker system offers high quality sound. The speakers have a total peak power of 50 watts and come with a couple of years warranty.
The speakers manufactured by Pioneer are also popular among the techsavvy clients of the modern world. The features include wired connectivity, high impedence, and integrated audio amplifier. Pioneer has introduced a range of channel speakers that boast a sleek look and occupy minimum space. The input impedence of these speakers is 6 ohm and they are compatible with most personal computers.

These peripherals of personal computers enhance the utility of the machines and add to the experience of using the machines. The different types of speakers available in the market include wireless speakers, USB speakers, digital speakers, portable speakers, surround sound speakers, headphone speakers, microphone speakers, and so on.

These gadgets are useful mostly for the purpose of entertainment. You can listen to your favorite music compositions or indulge in a memorable auditory experience with these products. The perfect accessory for your personal computer, the speakers help in enhancing the experience of using your machine. Some of the speakers for your personal computer have integrated audio amplifiers, subwoofers and such other features to enhance the quality of the sound. Computer speakers come in a number of models complete with various features; you need to keep your requirements and budget in consideration while buying one

Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a company that makes chips for a range of high tech products, communications equipment, cellphones, etc, has planned to launch a new kind of computer. The company has named it Plug Computers. Like its name this device would be plugged in to home electrical sockets and would be of socket like size. Yet it will have enough power to manage user's digital media and enable them to view it over the Internet from outside the home.

In today's digital world we store each and every information in the digital form as texts, images, videos in digital cameras, cellphones, notebooks. In such a way we are storing our personal information in dispersed style in the form of files, that make them inefficient as well as risky. Losing a laptop or mobile phone will cost us losing a precious photo or video.

Marvell is promoting the plug computers as a perfect solution for this. The idea is to have an ultrasmall computer plugged into an electrical socket. Despite the small size the plug computer will have enough processing power and network connectivity to manage and serve media stored on an attached thumbdrive or hard drive. You can access the plug computer over your home network, enabling you to get at your files from wherever you needed in your house.

However this idea is not new and Apple's Time Capsule works a little like that. It acts like a central repository for data by wirelessly backing up all the connected Macs. HP's MediaSmart Servers are a host of smart external hard drives connecting a PC via USB and store your media longterm, and serve it to connected TVs and audio systems without needing the PC's intervention.

Marvel is planning to miniaturize all this technology and make it small and convenient. The company is also emphasizing on the green aspects as well by maintaining the eco friendliness of the plan. Plug computers are supposed to draw less than 5W of power that is much less compared to a PC running as a media server.

Gartner is reporting a 6.5 percent decline in worldwide PC shipments for the first quarter of 2009, according to numbers released on April 15 that put the quarters figure at 67.2 million units shipped.

 
In terms of worldwide numbers, HewlettPackard took the lead over Dell, with 19.8 percent of the firstquarter market share, to Dells 13.1 percent. With a 13 percent share, Acer ranked just behind Dellwhich this calendar year has released a spiffy, ultrathin laptop, a lineup of enterprise solutions, and intentions to debut encrypted solidstate drives and a new mobile security suite.

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Fourth place went to Lenovo, with 6.6 percent of the firstquarter market share, and Toshiba followed in fifth place, with 5.5 percent market share.
 
In the U.S. market, everyone held their same positions except for Lenovo, which was bumped from the equation and replaced by Apple, with a fourthplace U.S. market share of 7.4 percent for the first quarter of 2009a figure that represents a 1.1 percent loss from the first quarter of 2008.

 
Gartner reports that Apples relatively higher average selling price for Macs created challenges for it in the tough economy, but that its deft control of inventories limited its shipment decline.

 
IDC also recently reported firstquarter PC shipments numbers, giving Apple a slightly more generous 7.6 percent market share, though dropping its market share by 1.2 percent from the first quarter of 2008.

 
The lower ASPs of mininotebooks and netbooks, such as those offered by HP, Acer and Toshiba, helped to keep PC shipments in the United States somewhat stabilized. The 3 percent fall in shipments, notable in a struggling economy, was attributed to a move by consumers to more portable, and less expensive, devices.

The Wall Street Journal released a free Apple iPhone App that features breaking news, video, radio podcasts and customized navigation. The price point will perhaps come as a surprise to Journal readers already paying more than 100 per year for an online subscription to the paper.

A similar free application already exists for the BlackBerry, which is no surprise given that devices businessuser orientation.  

The decision to release its news content for free is particularly ironic given Journal Editor Robert Thomsons April 6 comments to The Australian.

In an interview with that newspaper, Thomson said, It's certainly true that readers have been socialized wrongly I believe that much content should be free.

He further said that sites devoted to aggregating free news content are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet.

However, The Associated Press, ABC News, The New York Times and other news outlets offer similar iPhone Apps at no cost, suggesting that decision makers at the Wall Street Journal felt seizing mobile market share would be more of an uphill battle if they charged for their own application.

Those Journal decision makers may also see iPhone App users as falling into a different category of reader than its subscribers, minimizing the potential for cannibalization. While the iPhone has been making inroads into the enterprise, it is still viewed by many as a consumer, as opposed to a corporate, device.

As print media have suffered through their own upheavals and users increasingly receive their news online, questions have arisen over how much leeway third parties have to collect and disseminate news corporations content.

The AP announced on April 7 that it plans to start aggressively hunting down unauthorized users of its online content. Google says that it has already struck a deal with AP over distributing content on Google News, but other sites may not be so fortunate.

Google was previously a target in 2006 of a 17.5 million copyrightinfringement lawsuit by Agence FrancePresse. That suit was eventually settled out of court.

Sources quoted by The Wall Street Journal WSJ say telecommunications giant AT&Ts CEO, Randall Stephenson, is pushing to extend the companys exclusive contract with Apple for the popular iPhone, which people familiar with the matter say expires this year. The WSJ reported that Stephenson is looking to extend the relationship through 2011.

Apple refused to comment on the report, noting only that they have a great relationship with AT&T, which has experienced a revitalization of its brand since it started carrying the iPhone in 2007. The continued, and expanding, popularity of Apples touchscreen smartphone, which has become an iconic device, suggests AT&T would be wise to fight hard to keep its exclusive deal with the iPhone. AT&T has benefited tremendously from the contract picking up 4.3 million iPhone subscribers in the second half of last year, of which 40 percent were newly acquired customers.

Apple and AT&T have negotiated contract extensions before, in fact. In August 2008, the two companies agreed to extend their relationship through 2009 after AT&T came to Apple with a 300periPhone subsidy in lieu of a revenuesharing model. While Stephenson admitted the move would dilute earnings through 2009, the company could now offer the featurepacked iPhone 3G for 199 with a twoyear contract.

Stephenson told the WSJ that the deal was indeed a multiyear contract but declined to elaborate, and said substantial investment in wireless technology would be made regardless of the companys involvement with Apple. This business cycle is going to cycle, Mr. Stephenson told the WSJ. You got to make sure that you're positioned when it cycles back out to be the leader in the industry, and to do that you have to be the leader in mobility, first and foremost.

This March, AT&T announced it would offer iPhones without the twoyear plan for 599 or 699, although those phones are locked to AT&Ts network. Apple quickly followed suit in its own retail stores. All told, Apple has sold more than 17 million iPhones in less than two years. In August 2008, Gene Munster, an analyst with investment firm Piper Jaffray, boldly predicted Apple would sell 45 million iPhones in 2009. More conservative estimates put the figure closer to 25 million.

Online auction house eBay is making it clear that it expects VOIP company Skype, which the company acquired in 2005 for 2.6 billion, to start pulling its own commercial weight. April 14, eBay announced plans to separate Skype from the company, beginning with an IPO intended to be completed in the first half of 2010.

The company released a statement saying the decision to separate Skype was based on a timeline outlined by eBays president and CEO, John Donahoe. At one point, the company said it would spend a year evaluating Skype and its potential synergies within the eBay portfolio before making any decisions about Skype's future. Donahoe said it is clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPay, eBays online payment service.

Skype is a great standalone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum, Donahoe said in a prepared statement. We believe operating Skype as a standalone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential. This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications.

In 2008, Skype generated revenues of 551 million, up 44 percent from 2007, and segment margins of approximately 21 percent. Registered users reached 405 million by the end of 2008, up 47 percent from 2007. eBay has said it expects Skype to be a billiondollar company by 2011, nearly doubling 2008 revenues. However, eBay has written Skype down to 1.7 billion on its books. Donahoe said separating Skype will allow the company to focus entirely on its two core growth enginesecommerce and online payments.

There were signs earlier this year that eBay was focusing more intently on Skype, which allows users to make calls for free SkypetoSkype accounts or to call mobile phones and landlines for very low rates, aiming to expand the usage of Skype for business purposes. Donahoe also installed a new management team at Skype led by Josh Silverman, which the company said has driven stronger momentum and improved performance.

In March, Skype announced Skype for SIPa beta program for a limited number of users that will bring VOIP voice over IP service to the office PBX. Some analysts have suggested that as PBX systems reach retirement age, Skype is positioned to enable enterprises to make better use of existing SIP PBXes and to alter the impression of Skypes capability in the business world.

Skype also made two other large announcements in March, one pertaining to the upcoming availability of Skype on BlackBerry smartphones, widely used by business professionals, and the other about the availability of the service on Apples popular iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple has ordered 100 million units of 8gigabit and 16gigabit NAND flash memory chips, mostly from Samsung, according to an April 13 research note from Daniel Amir of Lazard Capital Markets.

The chips will likely go toward the new iPhones Apple is preparing to launch in June, according to the report.

The majority of the order is expected to favor the 16gigabit memory chips, CNET reports, signaling that a 32GB iPhone is in the works. Amir predicted the latter in a March 31 note, along with a lowend 3G versionor junior iPhone, as Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu has called it.

The two new iPhones are expected out in June, likely at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, which starts June 8.

Amirs research note, primarily focused on the semiconductor market, additionally noted that Toshiba is expected to lower its wafer load in the second quarter to 60 percent, compared with the 70 percent of the first quarter.

 
In March, SanDisk units increased 15 percent, and Lazard expects a further increase of 10 to 20 percent in April.  

Toshiba and SanDisk have joint ventures. In October 2008, SamsungApples main iPhone chip providerwithdrew a bid to purchase SanDisk, after Toshiba and SanDisk announced an agreement that turned over 30 percent of SanDisks share of its manufacturing capacity for its joint ventures with Toshiba to Toshiba.

Apple sells an average of 90 iPhone 3G handsets, 123 Macs and 240 iPods per day in its New York Fifth Avenue location and other flagship storesthough in an average retail store, those numbers drop to 16 iPhones, 20 Macs and 27 iPods.

 
These numbers were compiled in an April 15 research note from research outfit Piper Jaffray.
 
Piper states it spent 25 hours counting iPod, iPhone and Mac sales in Apple retail stores throughout the country during the second week of April.

Based on what it saw, it is predicting that iPhone units will be flat to down 15 percent on a sequential basis in the March 2009 quarter. While iPhone units per day per store dropped during the period from Nov. 28 through March 22, the company believes expanded international availability in recent months takes some pressure off of domestic Apple stores.

 
During a March check, Apple sold approximately 22 iPhones per day in a single store, versus 28 iPhones per day in a November 2008 check.

 
Mac units are expected to be inline or slightly above estimates of 2.2 million in the March 2009 quarter. On a quartertoquarter basis, Piper Jaffrey is modeling for a sequential decline.

 
But Apple is selling 28 Macs per day on average, indicating a slight upside, according to Piper.

 
During the time of the companys checks, Apple had released its updated Macs, with new Intel processors. Though Piper expects the impact of new models may show its checks to be only slightly overstated.

 
During March counts, the average Apple store sold 28 Macs per day, versus 36 during November 2008.

 
This year was the first that Piper counted iPods, so it couldnt offer yeartoyear comparisons, but its checks showed iPod numbers to be twice that of iPhones, which was in line with its modeling.

We believe the iPod number should be inline with Street estimates of approximately 10 million units, helped by the 3/11 launch of the iPod shuffle, stated the research note.

 
An April 8 research note from Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu anticipated a June or September quarter rollout of new iPhone hardware, most likely to coincide with the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

The debut of Apples iWork 08 includes acrosstheboard improvements, such as new templates and text effects, and a few snazzy bells and whistles to its presentation program, Keynote.

As with the rest of the iWork 08 suite, Apple is stressing Keynotes ease of use, billing the application as a means for anyone to create cinemaquality presentations.

eWEEK Labs tested out a number of the applications souped up features, such as Keynotes newly unveiled Smart Builds tool, which enables users to create animations with a minimum of hassle. I was impressed with the Smart Builds tool, and found that it makes good its promises of sophistication without excessive complication, but the feature took a bit of practice to nail down.

Another significant new feature of Keynote is the programs point A to point B animation, which enables users to move object, image, shape, chart, and the like from one location on a slide to another.

For all the presentationbuilding magic that Apple has managed to pack into Keynote 08, the trick that this application doesnt pull off seamlessly is compatibility with Microsofts Office file formats. Keynote will open and export to Offices Powerpoint file formats, butas with every nonMicrosoft consumer of Offices formats that eWEEK Labs has testedcertain formatting inconsistencies seem impossible to avoid.

iWork 08 is reasonably priced, at 79 or free with the purchase of any new Mac computer. The suite requires Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later.

Keynote Presentation

The first thing I worked through during my testing of Keynote 08 was the heavily hyped Smart Builds feature that enables users to include animated elements in presentations. According to Apples Web site, all I needed to do to achieve instant animation would be to simply drop a photograph or any other image of my choosing into the appropriate spot in my presentation.

I opened up the Smart Builds feature by clicking on its icon located in Keynotes toolbar which brought forth a separate pane for working with and customizing animated elements, along with a second pane, called a photo window, that appeared at the bottom of the screen. I could drag photos or images into the photo window from Apples iPhoto Library, or from OS Xs Finder file manager.

I dragged a series of test images from iPhoto folder into a series of rectangles that appeared in the photo window at the bottom of my screen. As I dragged an image into one of the rectangles, another, blank rectangle automatically appeared. I dragged in four images to fill out a spinning cube animation, which Id selected from a dropdown menu within the Smart Builds action pane. From there, I was able to further modify the animated object by specifying its direction, alignment, and perspective.

The action pane also let me further define whether I wanted the cube to move from left to right, or how many times I wanted the cube to spin before it settled on displaying one of the four images it was built to showcase. I could set different timings for each photo by opening the aptlynamed Build Order drawer from the Smart Build pane. I could also select whether I wanted the images Id selected to be scaled to a common size by selecting a box located inside the photo window.

To remove an image from the build, all I had to do was grab it and drag it out of the photo window, or rightclick the image and select delete. To rearrange the order in which I wanted the images appear, I simply dragged the image to place within the rectangle sequence where I wanted it to appear. The entire process ran rather smoothly, and it was actually pretty fun to do. Whats more, the resulting slide was significantly snazzier than my nonanimated slides.

I also tested Keynote 08s groovy AtoB animation feature. I highlighted an image on my test presentation that I wished to move across the slide, opened Keynotes Build Inspector tool, and clicked the action button. From here I was able to choose the move option listed under the Effect menu. Once I did, the image appeared on my presentation slide with a red line that connected my original image, or Point A, to its next destination, Point B. Point B was designated by a ghosted image of my original image. I could also add a series of other destinations.

When I viewed my slide with this added effect, the result was great. I could choose to have my image move from pointtopoint on either a straight or curved path when I clicked the Path option located on the action pane. Even better, I was able to shape the path of my image any way I chose by grabbing one of the nodes used to illustrate the images destined path. I could make the path as curvy and unique as I wanted.

Review Warts aside, Apple's word processor refresh is worth a look from current and prospective iWorkers alike.With the latest release of Apples office productivity suite, iWork 08, the Pages application moves into the ranks of fullfledged word processing applications.

Previously known more for its page layout capabilities than for its word processing capabilities, Pages now enables users to switch seamlessly between writing and designing documents.

In addition, the application offers 140 document templates and a snazzy trackchanges feature, both of which work to position iWork 08 as an apt rival to Microsofts Office 2004 for Mac in the OS Xcompatible office productivity arena.

However, Pages still has a way to go before it can displace the wellentrenched Microsoft Word and hold off the upandcoming slate of Webbased word processors such as Google Docs in the allimportant areas of file format compatibility and document collaboration. For one thing, documents stored in Pages default format can not be attached to email messages without first compressing them or converting them to .DOC or PDF format.

I also encountered issues with file format conversion when exporting and importing Microsoft Office documents, which wasnt a surprise, since every nonMicrosoft application that consumes Offices blackbox binary file formats seems to encounter at least some level of mistranslation.

Pages does offer Microsoft OOXML Office Open XML supportfunctionality that Microsofts Office 2004 for Mac notably lackshowever, I found this support to be incomplete. It lacks, for example, a complete form component and field support. Companies that are standardizing on Office 2007s new formats should pay particular attention to these issues before relying on Pages to fill in the format support gaps in Office 2004.

Even with Pages warts, the application refresh should be welcome for current iWork users, and other OS X users would do well to download the evaluation version of Apples suite to try it out for themselves.

iWork 08 is reasonably priced, at 79 or free with the purchase of any new Mac computer. The suite requires Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later.

Perusing Pages

The first thing I did when testing the new version of Pages was check out the newlyseparated modes for page layout and word processing. Previously, Pages shoehorned all word processing operations into the applications page layout mode, whichas one would expectwas a more comfy fit for piecing together newsletters and brochures than it was for writing letters and the like.

When I opted to open a new file in Pages, the program launched its template browser, which grouped the templates under the Word Processing subhead, or the Page Layout subhead. I chose to open both a new, blank word processing document and a new, blank page layout document. Both documents opened on the same screen, and I was able to toggle between each respective document mode with the greatest of ease.

The next feature I took to task was Pages new track changes feature, which is a collaboration capability for many companies. I found Pages version of this feature very handy. As I made changes to a document, caption boxes appeared in the documents margin describing the changes I had made, with arrows that connected these boxes to the text passages to which they referred.

I could click on an X icon within each box to dismiss the changes, or click on a checkmark icon to approve the change. Deleted phrases appeared as such with a strikethrough key, and changed text appeared in a different color to distinguish it from the unchanged text.

EW YORK Reuters Apple Inc and major music labels are betting that the launch of threetier pricing at the iTunes Music Store will boost music sales with a new mix of songbased packages and give consumers more options.

Apple will announce its new threetier price points at 69 cents, 99 cents and 1.29 on Tuesday, according to several people familiar with its plans. Since opening in 2003 all songs in the iTunes store have been priced at 99 cents.

The previous 'one price fits all' strategy has long caused friction between Apple and the music labels, who argued that songs should be priced differently to reflect their perceived value by consumers.

The labels will finally get their wish.

While the majority of songs will still be sold at 99 cents, a certain number of new hit songs will now be raised to 1.29. Many older catalog songs will now go for 69 cents.

Perhaps anticipating a consumer backlash against price increases executives, who spoke to Reuters on background ahead of the launch, pointed out that for every one song they raise to 1.29 they will be reducing 10 songs to 69 cents.

But these executives said the biggest advantage of the new pricing would be flexibility to create new digital products beyond the album.

We're thinking outside of the disc to reach a new generation of consumers who are able to consume music on any device, it's not just the track any more, said one music label executive, who was involved with the talks, but did not want the label identified ahead of the launch.

For instance, a label could sell a brand new song and its music video for 1.29 or package it with a ringtone. The lower pricing could eventually mean that iTunes can sell albums at more competitive prices though early indications are that album prices will not change right way.

Major label owners like Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group and EMI Music say they can make money with more flexible prices and possibly help make music retail a profitable enterprise again.

If we can gain traction with 1.29 that will be good for greater margin, said another label executive, also involved in discussions, but who did want to identify the record label.

Music sales have plunged as traditional retail outlets for CDs have shuttered and the growth in digital sales have slowed in 2008. Data from Nielsen SoundScan show album sales, once the profit engine of the music business, fell by 14 percent in the U.S.

Industry estimates show that 10 to 15 percent of albums account for 90 percent of all sales, according to Digonex, a dynamic pricing software company which has worked with major music companies including Warner Music.

This is an opportunity for the labels to get the maximum they can for the music, said Michael Wanchic, vice president of digital media at Digonex. The beauty of variable pricing is that if the prices are too high customers simply won't buy.

APPLE'S ROLE

According to NPD Group, 87 percent of digital music buyers in the U.S. used iTunes to download music in 2008 versus just 16 percent who used Amazon.com's digital music store.

Apple has already been experimenting with new packages at different prices. In February it partnered with EMI Music to announce the first iTunes Pass with Depeche Mode, offering fans the album, exclusive singles, remixes, video and other content for 18.99.

All parties are also betting that the new lower 69cent song offering will boost sales of catalog music described as older songs and albums released about 18 months or more earlier.

According to one of the label sources, 35 to 40 percent of iTunes music sales are of catalog songs and albums, and that share is growing as labels digitize more of their older songs.

CUPERTINO, Calif. If you think people can do a lot of things on their iPhones now, wait until the new version of the operating system becomes standard later this year.

It won't be too long before you're listening to a fellow iPhone user's iTunes music collection, computing your insulin dosage in seconds if you are diabetic, or following a turnbyturn Google Maps geopositioning application to your destination.

At a fullhouse event on its campus here, Apple on March 17 previewed its muchanticipated iPhone OS 3.0 software and announced the immediate availability of a beta software release to registered developers.

The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes an updated software development kit featuring more than 1,000 new APIs application programming interfaces, including InApp Purchases; new peertopeer connections; a new application interface for accessories; access to the iPod music library; a new maps API, and push notifications.

While the Apple iPhone OS 3 is in beta right now, the company plans to roll out the full version by the summer. The software development kit, or SDK, is available for developers right now. Apple also announced that its App Store now contains 25,000 apps for the iPhone.

There are more than 100 new features in iPhone OS 3.0. More than 800,000 downloads of the previous iPhone SDK have been made, and the paid developer community now numbers more than 50,000, said Scott Forstall, Apple's senior vice president for iPhone software.

Forstall highlighted several of those new capabilities. Here are some of them

InApp Purchases When using a paid Web service, such as reading the Wall Street Journal or subscribing to a sports or gaming service, you can choose to maintain your subscription or membership without having to leave the app itself. See Page 6 of the accompanying slide show. The new OS brings up a service that links to the site you're using and conveys the payment.

Cut, Copy and Paste Amazing as it seems, this relatively simplesounding tool has not yet been available on the iPhone. With OS 3.0, users will be able to select type, photos or graphics from a Web site, for example, copy them, and then enter into another application such as email or a text message as needed. It took a while longer to develop, Forstall said, due to security concerns.

New PeertoPeer capability Users of the new OS will be able to link up with other iPhone users via stereo Bluetooth; thus, they will be able to browse another user's iTunes collection of music and videos, and even stream them to their own iPhones. The fellow iPhone users have to be within range of Bluetooth, of course. Other users will be able to play games against each other think kids in the back of a car on a long trip; no WiFi network is needed. All the iPhones will find each other automatically.

New Push Notifications help scale out business apps This is a unified, generic service for all platforms and developers, and it is located in Apple's own server farm, Forstall said. The ESPN app that sends out 50 million news alerts per month is a good example; it can scale out with impunity using this capability. Lots of other applications are expected to follow suit.

Improved Maps In partnership with Google Maps, Apple has made the core of the map application available free to developers, so they can consider using them in the applications they intend to build. Included are all the features currently in Google Maps regular map view, topographic view, and street view; annotations and location tracking is also in the SDK.

Accessories More connections to iPhone accessories will now available. For example, stereo soundbalancing and other, more granular finetuning features can be added to the iPhone when it plugs in to a portable speaker set to play music.

Apple iPhone OS 3.0 will include a copyandpaste feature, according to Digg.com founder Kevin Rose during a Q&A session at the South By Southwest 2009 conference in Austin, Texas.

Rose, who apparently got the information from a friend who was right before, said that copyandpaste will be revealed as part of the iPhone OS 3.0 release on March 17, and explained how it functioned. But Rose didnt say who the friend was, or how they came across the information.    

The way it works is that you doubleclick on the word, like you doubletap on the word, and it brings up kind of like the magnifying glass a little bit Rose told the audience. And it has two quotes on the end, and you drag the quotes around the copy that you want to copy and paste and you go out or back, and you can do copy, paste or cut.

Video of Rose speaking can be found here.

Apple remains silent about any specific updates to iPhone OS 3.0. A recent Gartner report has Apples share of the smartphone operating system market growing 111 percent between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2008. Rumor has it that Apple will also use the March 17 event to detail an updated version of the software development kit SDK for the iPhone.

Whether or not the copyandpaste rumor pans out, the iPhone OS 3.0 has nonetheless excited intense speculation. Apple also faces potential competition in a few months with the rollout of the Palm Pre, which was designed with the help of Jon Rubinstein, most famous for his role in the development of the iMac and iPod before leaving Apple in 2006.   

The Pre, which will include both a 3.1inch multitouch screen and a real keyboard, has been touted as an iPhone killer by Palm investor Roger McNamee; Pre subsequently backed away from his statement in an SEC filing.

Few analysts, if any, short the Apple companys stock any more and fewer still were surprised the PC maker posted positive, and record breaking, quarterly PC sales figures, which were announced Oct. 22.

But few expected the pace Apple is making in PC sales.

The manufacturer moved 2,164,000 Macs in the third quarter of 2007, up 400,000 from a year ago and eight times the industry average growth rate, propelling it to the number three PC manufacturer in the U.S., all despite the delay of Leopard, the new version of its OS X, which kept some potential buyers on hold.

More surprising still is the fact that more than half of those Mac sales went to first time buyers, prompting the question what is selling Macs at eight times the rate of any other PC on the market

Peripherals are selling the PCs at Apple, according some industry watchers and insiders. Apples wildly popular iPod and iPhone are luring former Microsoft Windows devotees to the Apple brand and Macintosh PCs.

It is primarily the halo effect driving the jump in Mac sales, said Van Baker, a research vice president at Gartner in San Jose, Calif., that is mainly realized in the Apple stores, he added. Consumers come in to buy an iPod and stop to check out the MacBook Pros while they are there.

iPod and iPhone sales were also strong in the quarter, with the former seeing a 17 percent yearoveryear growth, and the latter selling 1,119,000 units in the third quarter.

Read more here about how Apple has topped its targets.

Apple continues to gain ground in the PC market and more and more people are drawn into the Apple stores due to their interest in iPods and iPhones, agreed Tim Bajarin, the president of Creative Strategies, based in Campbell, Calif.

But the fact that 50 percent are new to the Mac suggests something bigger, Bajarin said. It points to the fact that the Mac is viewed as an easier system then competitive operating systems and more and more people are feeling comfortable with the Mac for use as their own personal computer.

This quarters numbers are impressive and shows that Apple is making the right technology and marketing decisions to help them become an even more powerful force in the PC market, Bajarin added.

Bajarin said that Leopards delay might have slowed computer purchases early, but were compensated for by Apples midOctober announcement of its ship date.

Mac sales did get a bump from the Leopard launch, he said, but I dont think this is the major driver of Mac sales. It is an important technology milestone but peoples interest in the Mac is high because of its ease of use and the halo effect of the iPod and the iPhone.

From their projections, Apple should have a great holiday quarter, he said.

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst for Technology Business Research, also saw nonMac products boosting Apple.

Apples iPod business continues to generate profits, he said. The innovative iPod Touch was not available until the last two days of 3Q07, and apparently did not affect iPod sales. iPod units increased 17 percent over last year, but revenues were up only 4 percent, a similar pattern to recent quarters. TBR Technology Business Research believes the market for the more expensive iPod media players is mature, and Apple is benefiting from selling more of the lowerprice units, which appear to be more profitable. The iPod Touch is a different product, addressing a different market, and TBR believes it will be successful in 4Q07.

Gottheil also noted that iPhone sales were strong, and received a boost after Apple announced a price drop. Due to the nature of the product, Gottheil said, its financial effect on Apple has to be seen differently.

Because the company is recognizing iPhone revenues on a twoyear subscription basis, Apple reported only 118 million revenue in 3Q07, but the company is assured a continuing revenue stream from those sales, he said.

He reiterated that the iPhone will be a strong halo product for Apple.

TBR believes the iPhone will be a profitable product for Apple, and will introduce the Apple brand to many new customers, he said. Note that the 1.1 million iPhones is more than onehalf the number of Macs sold in 3Q07.

Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research, looked at the iPhone section of Apples businessand was pleased at what he found.

I see the sales as quite strong, he said. And considering that theyve yet to launch in Europe, the sales appear to be well on target to meet or exceed the 10 million by yearend 2008 target.

However, Golvin was a little more cautious about assigning credit to halos.

The debut of Apples iWork 08 includes acrosstheboard improvements, such as new templates and text effects, and a few snazzy bells and whistles to its presentation program, Keynote.

As with the rest of the iWork 08 suite, Apple is stressing Keynotes ease of use, billing the application as a means for anyone to create cinemaquality presentations.

eWEEK Labs tested out a number of the applications souped up features, such as Keynotes newly unveiled Smart Builds tool, which enables users to create animations with a minimum of hassle. I was impressed with the Smart Builds tool, and found that it makes good its promises of sophistication without excessive complication, but the feature took a bit of practice to nail down.

Another significant new feature of Keynote is the programs point A to point B animation, which enables users to move object, image, shape, chart, and the like from one location on a slide to another.

For all the presentationbuilding magic that Apple has managed to pack into Keynote 08, the trick that this application doesnt pull off seamlessly is compatibility with Microsofts Office file formats. Keynote will open and export to Offices Powerpoint file formats, butas with every nonMicrosoft consumer of Offices formats that eWEEK Labs has testedcertain formatting inconsistencies seem impossible to avoid.

iWork 08 is reasonably priced, at 79 or free with the purchase of any new Mac computer. The suite requires Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later.

Keynote Presentation

The first thing I worked through during my testing of Keynote 08 was the heavily hyped Smart Builds feature that enables users to include animated elements in presentations. According to Apples Web site, all I needed to do to achieve instant animation would be to simply drop a photograph or any other image of my choosing into the appropriate spot in my presentation.

I opened up the Smart Builds feature by clicking on its icon located in Keynotes toolbar which brought forth a separate pane for working with and customizing animated elements, along with a second pane, called a photo window, that appeared at the bottom of the screen. I could drag photos or images into the photo window from Apples iPhoto Library, or from OS Xs Finder file manager.

I dragged a series of test images from iPhoto folder into a series of rectangles that appeared in the photo window at the bottom of my screen. As I dragged an image into one of the rectangles, another, blank rectangle automatically appeared. I dragged in four images to fill out a spinning cube animation, which Id selected from a dropdown menu within the Smart Builds action pane. From there, I was able to further modify the animated object by specifying its direction, alignment, and perspective.

The action pane also let me further define whether I wanted the cube to move from left to right, or how many times I wanted the cube to spin before it settled on displaying one of the four images it was built to showcase. I could set different timings for each photo by opening the aptlynamed Build Order drawer from the Smart Build pane. I could also select whether I wanted the images Id selected to be scaled to a common size by selecting a box located inside the photo window.

To remove an image from the build, all I had to do was grab it and drag it out of the photo window, or rightclick the image and select delete. To rearrange the order in which I wanted the images appear, I simply dragged the image to place within the rectangle sequence where I wanted it to appear. The entire process ran rather smoothly, and it was actually pretty fun to do. Whats more, the resulting slide was significantly snazzier than my nonanimated slides.

I also tested Keynote 08s groovy AtoB animation feature. I highlighted an image on my test presentation that I wished to move across the slide, opened Keynotes Build Inspector tool, and clicked the action button. From here I was able to choose the move option listed under the Effect menu. Once I did, the image appeared on my presentation slide with a red line that connected my original image, or Point A, to its next destination, Point B. Point B was designated by a ghosted image of my original image. I could also add a series of other destinations.

When I viewed my slide with this added effect, the result was great. I could choose to have my image move from pointtopoint on either a straight or curved path when I clicked the Path option located on the action pane. Even better, I was able to shape the path of my image any way I chose by grabbing one of the nodes used to illustrate the images destined path. I could make the path as curvy and unique as I wanted.

Review Warts aside, Apple's word processor refresh is worth a look from current and prospective iWorkers alike.With the latest release of Apples office productivity suite, iWork 08, the Pages application moves into the ranks of fullfledged word processing applications.

Previously known more for its page layout capabilities than for its word processing capabilities, Pages now enables users to switch seamlessly between writing and designing documents.

In addition, the application offers 140 document templates and a snazzy trackchanges feature, both of which work to position iWork 08 as an apt rival to Microsofts Office 2004 for Mac in the OS Xcompatible office productivity arena.

However, Pages still has a way to go before it can displace the wellentrenched Microsoft Word and hold off the upandcoming slate of Webbased word processors such as Google Docs in the allimportant areas of file format compatibility and document collaboration. For one thing, documents stored in Pages default format can not be attached to email messages without first compressing them or converting them to .DOC or PDF format.

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I also encountered issues with file format conversion when exporting and importing Microsoft Office documents, which wasnt a surprise, since every nonMicrosoft application that consumes Offices blackbox binary file formats seems to encounter at least some level of mistranslation.

Pages does offer Microsoft OOXML Office Open XML supportfunctionality that Microsofts Office 2004 for Mac notably lackshowever, I found this support to be incomplete. It lacks, for example, a complete form component and field support. Companies that are standardizing on Office 2007s new formats should pay particular attention to these issues before relying on Pages to fill in the format support gaps in Office 2004.

Even with Pages warts, the application refresh should be welcome for current iWork users, and other OS X users would do well to download the evaluation version of Apples suite to try it out for themselves.

iWork 08 is reasonably priced, at 79 or free with the purchase of any new Mac computer. The suite requires Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later.

Perusing Pages

The first thing I did when testing the new version of Pages was check out the newlyseparated modes for page layout and word processing. Previously, Pages shoehorned all word processing operations into the applications page layout mode, whichas one would expectwas a more comfy fit for piecing together newsletters and brochures than it was for writing letters and the like.

When I opted to open a new file in Pages, the program launched its template browser, which grouped the templates under the Word Processing subhead, or the Page Layout subhead. I chose to open both a new, blank word processing document and a new, blank page layout document. Both documents opened on the same screen, and I was able to toggle between each respective document mode with the greatest of ease.

The next feature I took to task was Pages new track changes feature, which is a collaboration capability for many companies. I found Pages version of this feature very handy. As I made changes to a document, caption boxes appeared in the documents margin describing the changes I had made, with arrows that connected these boxes to the text passages to which they referred.

I could click on an X icon within each box to dismiss the changes, or click on a checkmark icon to approve the change. Deleted phrases appeared as such with a strikethrough key, and changed text appeared in a different color to distinguish it from the unchanged text.

An article in the April issue of Virus Bulletin by two Symantec researchers says malware for the Apple Macintosh from January was used to create a botnet, and that the botnet attempted a denialofservice attack.

The malware attacks at the time were noteworthy They hid inside what apparently pirated copies of Apple's iWork software and Adobe Photoshop CS4. The programs were spread through BitTorrent and other peertopeer networks.

Symantec identified the malicious code as OSX.Iservice. According to Mario Ballano Barcena and Alfredo Pesoli of Symantec Ireland, OSX.Iservice created a backdoor on the systems that allowed control to be issued from a small number of specific hosts. A remote attacker could use a vocabulary of 31 commands socks, system, httpget, httpgeted, rand, sleep, banadd, banclear, p2plock, p2punlock, nodes, leafs, unknowns, p2pport, p2pmode, p2ppeer, p2ppeerport, p2peertype, set, get, clear, abortall, p2pihistsize, p2pihist, platform, script, sendlogs, uptime, uid, shell, and rshell.

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Barcena and Pesoli identify this as the first attempt to create a botnet of Macs, and say that in January the botnet attempted to perform a DoS attack on a Website. They find the Photoshop version of the bot especially interesting in that it abuses some of the Mac OS' own authorization interfaces.

The iBotnet, as it has been dubbed, spread to only a few thousand Macs before it was identified, and is said to be easy to identify and remove if you are looking for it. The question, as I see it, is why you would look to identify it if you had been infected to begin with. The sort of person who installs a pirated program and runs an installer as root, which is required for this attack, isn't likely to be running an antimalware program. Few enough innocent users on Macs run antimalware software.

Kevin Haley, director of Symantec Security Response, noted that the pirated applications aren't actual working copies of the programs, and it's possible that some would notice that. It's not so clear that they would remove the application or that removing it would remove the bot. This is even clearer with the Photoshop version, according to Haley. It is quite possible that the user might never know the malware had been downloaded. However, the user might notice some problems on his or her machine. But even if thousands of Mac bots of this type are still out there, they're likely harmless at this point as they won't be connecting to a C&C.

What's important about this episode is that it does prove the concept of a Mac botnet. Like Linux and Vista, the Mac runs with users unprivileged by default and attempts either to fail or raise the prominence of potentially infectious activities such as installing privileged services.

But give a credulous or unsophisticated user a reason to install a privileged service, such as to install what they think is iWork, and they'll do it. There's your bot; nothing on the Mac makes it all that hard to do, and the really weak link is on the other side of the keyboard.

                                                            
More rumors surrounding Apples iPhone are springing up this week, this time related to content as opposed to software features such as highspeed 802.11n WiFi capability.

Silicon Valley Insider quotes a pluggedin industry executive as saying a Hulua joint venture of NBC Universal and Fox News Corp that allows users to stream highquality television and filmsapplication is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch soon and is reportedly badass.

The report comes ahead of Apples secondquarter report on Wednesday, when the company will disclose earnings made between January and March 2009. The report cites the source as saying the Hulu application will be as good as the Website and is only months away from finding a home on the iPhone.

A recent report by digital marketing intelligence firm ComScore found Hulu was ranked sixth in sites used to watch video online. Googles ubiquitous YouTube site ranked first.

While mobile video is still a nascent market, thanks mainly to poor quality and limited availability, in March mobile video solutions provider QuickPlay Media commissioned an independent Market Tools survey focused on mobile TV and video consumption in the United States. The results imply the market is poised to grow quicklyand soon.

The online survey of approximately 1,000 U.S.based mobile subscribers between the ages of 18 and 35 suggests consumers are confident in the uptake of mobile TV and video, with 78 percent expecting an increase in usage by 2010. Additionally, the number of people watching TV and video content on their mobile device has remained steady from 2008 to 2009 at 35 percent.

The survey found for those who have not tried a mobile TV and video service, perceived cost continues to represent the biggest barrier to adoption, with 58 percent indicating that it is the No. 1 reason they have not viewed TV and video on their mobile phone. The results also found that while slightly less than a quarter of consumers are using a multimediaenabled phone 24 percent, these devices will play a critical role in enticing consumers to watch TV and video on their mobile phone.

Mobile video requires a lot of bandwidth to view properly, and while that may be a roadblock to further adoption by carriers, the survey shows customers are increasingly demanding the option to watch video on their mobile device. The survey found 38 percent said if they were considering changing wireless carriers, their ability to offer the latest multimediaenabled PDA or smartphone would impact their decision to choose that carrier, while 41 percent of respondents stated that they would be more likely to watch TV and videos on their phone if they owned a multimediaenabled PDA or smartphone.

Before purchasing a big screen television, one should first determine the right size TV for the room you're planning to put it in. After that, it can be a challenging process figuring out which TV is right for a person's circumstances. Here is a quick guide to make things easier.

LCD Liquid Crystal Display TV

Advantages

• LCDs typically produce a brighter picture than a plasma.
• LCDs are better for PC connectivity. Therefore, if you're wanting a TV that can also serve as a computer monitor, LCD's your best bet.
• LCDs don't have a glare problem. Unlike plasmas, LCDs aren't an issue with glare. If the TV's going to be put in a bright room, or a room where the sun is going to hit it a lot, LCDs might be a better option, because you won't have to close the blinds every time you want to watch TV during the day.
• LCDs aren't prone to burn in like plasmas.
• Like plasmas, LCDs don't take up much room like a DLP. However, LCDs are also lighter than plasmas.
• Newer LCD technology has become more reliable. Manufacturers of top brand LCDs claim their televisions can last 50,000 to 65,000 hours.
• LCDs are more energy efficient than same size plasmas.

Disadvantages

• Unlike plasmas, which produce a contrast of 14501 and sometimes greater, the best LCD TVs are up at 10001 at best.
• LCDs don't generally have as good of color accuracy, but depending on the layout and type of room the TVs going in, it may not be much of a factor.
• LCDs can have trailer effects with fastmoving pictures. In other words, pictures can sometimes blur, or the image can sometime seem out of step with the motion in LCDs.
• LCDs have less of a viewing angle than plasmas only about 120130 degrees.
• LCDs cost more than plasmas.

LCD Synopsis The disadvantages of an LCD may or may not be deal breakers depending on the room it's to be placed in and the usage it's meant for. If the television will be facing a large window where the sun comes in through during the day, LCD might be a better option, as it doesn't have the same glare problems a plasma does. LCD is also a good option for those planning to play a lot of video games where there's still images, or wishes to plug his or her lap top in to use it as a larger monitor.

Advantages

• Plasmas have a much higher contrast ratio than LCDs. Many manufacturers claim it to be as high as 30001, while others suggest it's probably more like 14501 typically.
• Plasmas generally have better color accuracy than LCDs, which makes the image sometimes seem more lifelike with warmer colors.
• Plasmas have a great viewing angle 160 degrees.
• Plasmas are great with fastmoving images.
• Newer plasmas have good longevity. Many manufacturers claim their plasmas have a half life of 60,000 hours.
• Plasmas typically cost less than LCDs.
• Plasmas are wallmountable.

Disadvantages

• Plasmas can have burn in problems. If a still image is on the screen for a long duration, it can burn into the screen. However, newer models have resolved this issue to a point, so it's not really an issue unless you plan on leaving a still image of, say, a paused video game or movie on overnight.
• Plasmas have glare issues. In other words, if your TV is facing a large window where the sun comes through, it might be tough to see the television during that time without closing shades.
• Though plasmas are wallmountable, they are heavier than LCDs.
• Plasmas have issues at high altitudes, unlike DLP and LCD TVs.

Plasma Synopsis The burn in problems plasmas are known to have isn't nearly as big of an issue as it used to be. Most suggest its even overhyped. Yet, it is something to be concerned over. Though some models of plasma do offer PC Connectivity, if that's a major selling point for a person, LCD might be a better option. That being said, video games are still very good on a plasma screen. In fact, a plasma's ability to handle fastmoving images better than an LCD might make it an ideal option for gamers. Other noteworthy qualities of a plasma is that it's cheaper than an LCD and one can get it in a larger size. Moreover, it typically has richer colors. Really keep in mind the layout of the room it's going into, though. If there is a bright window in front of a plasma, it will make watching television difficult unless there are blinds or shades

Electronics containing materials such as metals, plastic, are valuable to the recycling companies. Disposing of electronics through a recycling company will result in fewer electronic devices going into landfills and lower carbon emissions.

Recovering Raw Materials Recycling electronics involves recovering raw materials from the electronic equipment. Materials such as steel, copper, wires, aluminum, brass, plastics, glass,etc., are extracted and sold to smelters so they can create raw materials. Depending on the type of metal being extracted, they can be processed and used in products required by such businesses as the steel, construction and cement industry. Plastics and wood can be used as fuel to provide heat to industrial furnaces which converts to steam. Metals such as copper are sold to metal refineries.

Plastics Plastics from such items as computers, computer mice, and keyboards, are sent through shredding processes and machine sorted. They are then sent to other recyclers for further processing.

Larger Electronics Items such as televisions and computer monitors are dismantled by hand. The leaded glass cathode ray tubes are removed and disposed of safely. Plastics, copper, and circuit boards are removed, separated, and processed.

Hazardous Items Toxic items are removed from electronic devices and disposed of safely. Toxic substance can include leaded glass, rechargeable batteries, nonrechargeable batteries i.e.alkaline, lead acid, cell batteries mercury in lamps and switches, parts containing polychlorinated biphenyls, as well as ink and toner cartridges. The remaining non toxic materials are processed and the recyclable materials are recovered. The materials are shredded and separated according to type. For instance, they can be divided into such materials as steel, copper, aluminum, and plastic.

Refurbished Electronics There are now many companies that acquire used computers, repair and update them, and resell them at a much lower price. This is a great way to keep electronics out of landfills and make technology more affordable.

Donate Your Computer If you are getting rid of your old computer because of a recent upgrade, consider donating it to charity. Many schools and non profit organisations are in need of computers. There are companies and businesses that will take your computer, refurbish it, and donate it to a needy cause. Make sure your computer is wiped clean of all information before donating it. Donating your computer helps the community and the environment.

We are fast becoming a technology dependent society. When it comes to protecting and conserving our environment, we have to adapt and change our technological practices to ensure a sustainable future. Recycling electronics is a great way help the planet.

CD players run the gamut from inexpensive to deluxe models. Take some time to decide which features you really want before going to a store. Then be sure to listen to each model carefully before you buy.
	Steps
1.	Check productcomparison charts online.
2.	Review the available features and decide which ones you want.
3.	Check Audio Review's Web site for reviews of models that seem worth trying out.
4.	Shorten your list to a handful of candidates.
5.	Take a few familiar CDs to your favorite consumer electronics store.
6.	Listen to several songs on each of the available CD players from your list.
7.	Pick the two models that sound most enjoyable, unless one sounds much better than all the others.
8.	Make your buying decision based on in order sound quality, price, features, manufacturer's limited warranty and the service provided by your salesperson.
9.	Consider upgrading from the stock cables that will be included with your unit.
	Tips
	A CD changer will generally not sound as good as a singledisc player and will be less reliable.
	A unit with digital outputs may give you an upgrade path, but many experts believe that Toslink outputs degrade sound quality.
	Some manufacturers offer system remotecontrol units that control various components of the same brand.
	At any given price point, you will pay for some combination of marketing, sound quality and convenience features. Decide which is most important to you.
	Monster cable, sold by most consumer electronics stores, will rarely provide better sound quality than comparably priced cables made by other manufacturers.
	As the laserhead assembly in a CD player will get out of alignment and a changer mechanism is susceptible to many problems, a service contract can be a good value. However, make sure the store offers more than just an extended warranty.
	If you are interested in home theater, consider buying a DVD player instead of a CD player, since DVD players play CDs and may eventually replace them.

What genius said competition makes everything better If you've shopped for mobile phone service lately, you know that the variety of service plans and phones is overwhelming. Carriers entice customers with hot new phones, but that's the last item you should think about. First choose a carrier, then a service plan, then your hardware.
Compare competing carriers' coverage
	Steps
1.	Make sure a prospective carrier's service works where you do. Carriers provide maps of their service areas. If you travel a lot, look for national coverage.
2.	Ask friends and colleagues which carrier they use and how satisfied they are with its service. Then ask them to check reception by making some calls in your home and officethere's nothing worse than a dead spot where you spend all your time.
3.	Check where data servicessuch as email, Internet access, games and picturesare available if you want these services.
Compare service plans
	Steps
1.	Look at your needs. If you stay close to home, a plan with unlimited local or regional calling may suit you. But if you travel a lot, a national plan can save you money. Roaming charges can add up in a hurry.
2.	Watch the clock. If you use your phone throughout the day, more anytime minutes can be a better deal since day rates are higher than lots of night and weekend minutes.
3.	Remember where you call. Mobile phone plans can include free long distancea big moneysaver if you frequently make long distance calls.
4.	Ask that standard features such as call waiting, voice mail and caller ID be included in your plan at no extra charge.
5.	Look for a plan with rollover minutes that don't expire at the end of the month if your calling pattern varies over time.
6.	Watch for rounding up. Most carriers round phone time up to the nearest minute.
7.	Check into package plans for data services if you plan to use their services heavily. They can add an extra charge per month often at a cost per kilobyte of data.
8.	Look for a plan with a low cancellation fee if you think your needs might change. But before you pay such a fee, ask your carrier to switch you at no cost to a plan that makes better sense for you in the future.
Select a telephone
	Steps
1.	Ask about free phones. You can get some great fullfeatured phones when you sign a one or twoyear contract.
2.	Make sure the phone's basic features work simply and well an easytouse keypad, clear sound, long battery life, voice dialing, a minute counter, and voice mail are important for most people.
3.	Insist on a handsfree headset with your phone.
4.	Consider advanced features, like color screens, speakerphone operation, builtin cameras, address books that synchronize with your computer, or custom ring tones.
5.	Look for Global Positioning System GPS location capability on highend phones, good if you need to be found in an emergency.
6.	Consider a combination mobile phone and PDA if you rely on these services heavily. They are costly, but can reduce the load in your briefcase or purse.
	Overall Tips
	If you know you'll use data services heavily, the right phone may be even more important for you than the right service plan.
	Mobile phone companies are supposed to give you the ability to take your mobile phone number with you when you move to a new carrier by late 2003. However, this mandate has already been postponed several times.
	Most mobile phone companies including all nationwide carriers let you terminate a contract without paying a cancellation fee if you do so within a set time, usually 14 to 30 days.