John Beckett's Real Estate Blog

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When the iPhone 4 came to Verizon Wireless earlier this month, the wireless giant said that initial online sales were the highest ever from any previous Verizon launches.

But subsequent online and store sales have been falling short of expectations, according to reports.

According to Boy Genius Report, a source from Apple said that unit sales from Verizon Stores and Apple Stores during the first five days of availability were far from stellar, and came in below Verizon expectations. Also, the Apple source noted that online preorder sales totaled around 550,000 units.

Reports that iPhone sales were falling short of expectations were so rampant that Verizon’s CEO Daniel S. Mead needed to go on record to refute such reports.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Mead said that the iPhone sold better than any previous launch, including the highly touted Motorola Droid and Droid X. The previous numbers were solely based on several individual stores and did not include online sales, Verizon said.

In addition, Mead shared that Apple is ready to launch a 4G device on its network, possibly the iPad 2. “They understand the value proposition of LTE, and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it,” Mead said.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Sales of the iPhone 4 on Verizon likely were not as high as Apple had hoped, but for Verizon, the phone was a success. Early adopters of the device on Verizon’s network are mostly current Android and Blackberry owners.

A few prominent factors prevented the phone from selling as well as Apple or Verizon hoped for. In February, an unusual cold spell blanketed much of the Northeastern United States. A main reason, some experts say, is that most people who would like to switch carriers are locked in at AT&T and would be subject to hundreds of dollars in termination fees should they switch carriers to own an almost identical phone on a different network. That’s a high price to pay in today’s economy.

Verizon also made a few mistakes during the iPhone launch that could have helped sales, according to Gerson Lehrman Group, a business consulting and research firm.

Verizon, for one, did not allow side-by-side retailing at Apple Stores, pitting its version of the iPhone right next to the AT&T version, and allowing potential consumers to decide the difference. Perhaps the biggest misstep, according to Gerson, was that Verizon was too busy targeting current AT&T iPhone owners to realize that current Blackberry owners were the biggest targets to convince them of a switch.

After the Verizon iPhone 4 went on sale, it was discovered that roughly one-third of sales went to current Blackberry owners, and only 14 percent were AT&T iPhone owners switching carriers.

Read at:  http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/verizon-iphone-sales-tepid-at-best-52105.html

I am constantly losing my keys and my phone. Either they get buried under a pile of gloves on our front table, or my 2-year-old decides that my keys would be much safer wedged between the sofa cushions. And, it’s always when I’m about to run out the door that I realize one or other has gone AWOL. However lost keys, cell phones, wallets, TV remotes or whatever can be found quickly when you have a locator tag or service attached to them.

Finding stuff at home
Item locators are two-piece systems: There’s the small tag you attach to the thing you want to track, and the receiver that tracks them. Before using the tags, you register them with the receiver. Some systems come with pre-paired tags, others let you input the name of the tagged item into the locator. When an item is lost, the locator will search for the item’s unique tag and give you auditory and/or visual directional signals to point you in the right direction. For a basic model, check out the Click ‘n Dig Key Finder ($37; clickndig.com). The system comes with two key-fob tags and two thin receiver tags that you can affix to items with double-sided tape. The system comes with two key-fob tags and two thin receiver tags that you can affix to items with double-sided tape. To find an item up to 60 feet away, you just press the colored button that matches your item’s tag and the tag will beep. On the high end, there’s the Loc8tor Plus ($170; loc8tor.com), which has a listed maximum range of 600 feet. It comes with four tags, but is capable of tracking up to 24 items. When you select the tag you want to find on the receiver’s display you’ll see the direction and range of the tag as well as hear it. There’s also an Alert Mode, which will trigger an alarm as a tag moves outside a pre-set range. Of course the maximum ranges for item locators reflect ideal circumstances. If your keys are prone to being buried in the sofa cushions, like mine are, you can expect the range to be about half the listed distance. And if my 2-year-old discovers the flushing-down-the-toilet trick, all bets are off!

Finding my lost phone
If I lose my phone, and I know that it’s not stuck between the sofa cushions, it’s time to turn to the tracking app I have loaded on my phone. For my iPhone, I use the Find My iPhone app (free; iTunes App Store). Since I’ve activated tracking on my phone, I can log into my account on my computer to locate my phone on a map, lock it or even wipe any personal data from it. Find My iPhone is integrated into Apple’s MobileMe service, which will run you $100 per year, but it’s also now a free service if you have an iPhone 4, iPad or the latest generation iPod Touch. There are similar services for other smart phones. There’s the Phone Locator app (free; BlackBerry App World) for BlackBerry, which shows your phone’s location. iTag (free; itag.com) for Android devices let you locate and lock your phone, as well as back up your contacts and wipe the data. And Windows Phone 7 devices can be located by logging into your Windows Phone 7 Live account.

Finding my sanity
With these tools, I’m now ready to walk out the door in half the time it took me before. And better yet, I can stress less knowing that even if I lose my phone, all is not really lost.

Read at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41251793/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

The annual remodeling of the Apple  iPhone has made it less of a tech tool and more a fashion accessory. As a result, the iPhone is the tech equivalent of Angelina Jolie — people just can’t get enough info.  Though the iPhone 4 is less than two months out of the box, it’s time again to start the rumor mill about the next round of upgrades for 2011 and beyond. And this goes far beyond the buzz of a handset that is compatible with Verizon. A look at some recent Apple patents reveals some radical changes in the works for the next generation of iPhones. Here are five of the most compelling patents and prospective upgrades:

Your iPhone will remember your favorite snack: Imagine that you’ll only need to get your iPhone on the same table as a bag of chips for it to know how many calories there are per serving. Based on a patent published in early July, that’s exactly the kind of intelligence future iPhones will have.  The patent hints at “Products+,” an app that will use near-field communications technology to research products. It’s essentially a weak version of WiFi between your iPhone and microchips inserted in products by their manufacturers. The patent for “Products+” also describes a feature that would let you see a device’s user manual after scanning its bar code. Don’t know how to set the clock on your microwave? Scan it, press “View Extras” in “Products+” and find out how.

Your iPhone will recognize you: The next iPhone won’t just know more about your favorite snacks — it will also know more about you. An Apple patent entitled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users on Electronic Device” was revealed just this week, and it describes not only how iPhone 5 security may work but also how your family can share an iPhone. The technology would recognize a user by scanning his face, recognizing his voice and even monitoring his heartbeat. Any irregularities, and the iPhone won’t unlock. It will even look out for unusual activity like hacking or “jailbreaking,” and it will report the activity to you via text message, e-mail or phone call. The tech described could also be used to set up multiple users for a single machine. This means that when you hand your son the phone so he can play games in the car, the iPhone will know not to let him access the e-mail app when he’s done with “Frogger.”

iPhones will replace business cards: Getting current iPhones to share information with one another isn’t very convenient. Two iPhones first need to detect each other as wireless devices and then must be synced before they can exchange basic user information like phone numbers or data like photos.  The “Exciter” technology revealed in an Apple patent just two weeks ago would make the process much smoother by letting iPhones exchange certain information as soon as they were within a specified proximity to each other. That means when you meet a new client, all you have to do is tap iPhones and voila — contact info is exchanged.

An iPhone keyboard: Apple’s “Multi Touch with Multi Haptics” patent revealed earlier this summer describes a new iPhone touch screen that provides a whole new level of feedback to users. Rather than just creating tactile resistance to make it feel like you’re pressing buttons on the screen, the new patent describes a technology that will trigger vibrations in specific parts of the screen when you’re touching multiple spots. It would add a greater level of sensitivity to an already versatile machine and open new doors in app development.

A solar-powered iPhone: The next iPhone might have the best battery life of any model yet, provided you spend time outside. A patent revealed in January describes a new power system for Apple’s mobile devices that would allow the next iPhone to get its juice from both an internal battery and solar cells lining the device. The Energy Saver in the iPhone’s preferences would even allow users to set how much solar power the device should save up to be used later on.

Read at: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1795087&_blg=1,1795087

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that Verizon Wireless will begin selling the Apple iPhone next year — next January, in fact. The business news service said that the iPhone’s long-awaited move to a second carrier was confirmed by two anonymous sources who were privy to the matter. Representatives from Apple or Verizon Wireless (or its parent company, Verizon Communications) were unable to confirm the report. The fact that the iPhone’s second U.S. carrier would be Verizon is not a surprise — it’s the largest U.S. carrier based on subscriber numbers. Also, the fact that there would be a Verizon iPhone in 2011 seems likely, as it would coincide with the introduction of Verizon’s new faster 4G wireless network. (The iPhone’s sole current carrier, AT&T, said it will roll out a similar 4G network in 2011.) The only thing surprising about the Bloomberg report is that it said Verizon’s iPhone would be “available to customers” in January. To be sure, January is a month when Apple likes to make news, but it’s rare for hardware companies or carriers to launch new products into the marketplace in January, when consumers are exhausted from the holiday spending season. Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in January 2007 to much hullabaloo, but the first iPhone wasn’t sold until the end of June.

Story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38002805/ns/technology_and_science-wireless

What makes a bad neighbor?

Most of us have probably have had a bad neighbor at some point in our lives. If you had one you know that they can be the bane of our existence. Moving away is not always practical or affordable, and why should you move when they are the problem? Because sometimes the stress becomes too much and it is the only logical choice. Everyone will have their own idea about what makes a bad neighbor, depending on their own like and preferences. To some people a bad neighbor is a noisy neighbor; to others a bad neighbor may be one who doesn’t invite you to his backyard barbeque.

Read more at: http://hubpages.com/hub/Good-Neighbor-Bad-Neighbor