AT&T, T-Mobile partner up to share networks for affected Sandy customers

Those having trouble finding signal in the wake of Hurricane Sandy will be glad to know their coverage is now temporary expanded thanks to a T-Mobile/AT&T partnership.

Those in New York and New Jersey may have experienced a shortage in network over the past few days in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, so cell providers T-Mobile and AT&T have decided to put their rivalry aside to offer customers extra coverage. The companies have just announced that they will be joining forces to share their networks for the affected NY and NJ areas to help those having difficulty in their search of a working signal.

AT&T and T-Mobile customers would not have to sign up for any extra features to enable the functionality. Instead, they can go about using their phones as they normally would, and hopefully the added coverage will help provide a wider range of network. The shared network agreement is possible since both companies rely on similar GSM-based networks, and data charges will still be billed to the provider that user is originally under regardless of which provider allotted the signal during the duration. Theoretically, if your phone receives both the signal from AT&T and T-Mobile networks, it will run on whichever signal is stronger.

No words on when the temporary arrangement will last, but this is a compassionate act by both AT&T and T-Mobile to offer a little bit of help while they can. As of today, there is still no power in areas below 34th street in New York City. Limited public transportation service has been reinstated, though buses are not running downtown after nightfall due to the lack of street lights, making it a “dangerous condition” for commuters and local residents. Although Con Edison recently announced that approximately 225,000 customers have had their powers restored,  the rest of Manhattan will have to wait until Friday or Saturday to be back up in lights.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/att-t-mobile-partner-up-to-share-network-for-affected-sandy-customers/

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Apple ditching Siri processor provider

Is Apple switching up Siri?

Siri voice control may become a bit more robust and stretch it legs in the near future, according to an announcement from digital signal processing company Audience.

Apple uses Audience noise suppression technology, called earSmart, in the iPhone 4S to boost Siri's signal processing abilities. It's believed to be one of the reasons the voice command software was only available on the iPhone 4S.

But it looks like Siri won't need the extra hand moving forward.

In an investors’ statement, Audience said it believes Apple won't include the company's processors in future iPhones.

“Audience now believes that it is unlikely that [Apple] will enable Audience's processor IP in its next generation mobile phone,” the statement read.

“Audience is not aware of any intended changes by [Apple] to its use of Audience's processors or processor IP in prior generations of [Apple's] mobile phones.”

Siri grows up

Nothing Earth shattering, but this could foreshadow what's to come in Siri's future.

For starters, it could mean Siri's finally ready to shed its beta status, even though the digital assistant launch just under a year ago.

This might also be good news for users who own an iPhone older than the 4S. If Siri's voice recondition software becomes more robust it won't have to rely on the newest mobile chips.

Previously, Apple said the 4S with its A5 processor was the only iPhone with enough horsepower to run Siri. However, a developer has ported Siri to an iPhone 4 without many problems, and many hack enabled it on older devices.

This is all reading the tea leaves though. Last time we heard about Siri coming to older devices, Apple said it had 'no plans' to do so. Yet the company has promised to bring Siri to the iPad 3 when iOS 6 rolls out in the fall.

We'll be sure to know more about Apple's plans for the future at its September 12 press conference, where it's rumored that the tech giant will announce the iPhone 5.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/apple-ditching-siri-processor-provider-1095667

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