That slide above is no joke — it comes from a marketing webinar put on by two companies that count Verizon, AT&T and Vodafone as clients, and it describes a system that identifies customer internet activity and charges a different rate for using Facebook than watching YouTube, while allowing access to Vodafone services for free. Yes, that’s basically the nightmare scenario for net neutrality advocates. The two companies behind the slide are Allot Communications and Openet, which sell subscriber-management tools to carriers around the world — tools that Allot’s director of marketing says can scan even encrypted packets to determine what service customers are using and charge accordingly. We’re not making this up — here’s the direct quote from the webinar:

[We use] a number of different methods to accurately identify the application — methods like heuristic analysis, behavioral and historical analysis, deep packet inspection, and a number of other techniques. What’s key is that we have the best application identification available on the market, which means that even applications that are encrypted or use other methods to evade detection will be correctly identified and classified… We essentially feed this real-time information about traffic and application usage into the policy and charging system. Each subscriber has a particular service plan that they sign up for, and they’re as generic or as personalized as the operator wants.

Yeah, that’s not how anyone actually wants the internet to work — except carriers, who’ve been saying increasingly insane things about charging even smartphone manufacturers for customer data usage lately. What’s more, it’s rumored that the FCC will cave to Verizon and AT&T and exempt wireless internet service from major parts of net neutrality regulation it’s expected to pass next week, so this nonsense could very well hit the US sooner rather than later. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things — we’ll let you know.

Wireless carriers openly considering charging per service originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re in the market for a good — or at the very least, free — RSS reader for your BlackBerry, a new app from RIM itself might be a good place to start your search. The aptly-named BlackBerry News Feeds looks to be a serviceable app from the screen shots that RIM has sent us, offering the ability to share the gold you dig up in your feeds through countless conduits — email, text, BBM, Facebook, and so on. It’s launching both through BlackBerry Beta Zone and App World’s Test Center today, so if you’re feeling adventurous — and you like yourself some newses — you might want to have a look.

BlackBerry News Feeds hits the beta wires originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Mobile Podcast: if you listen long enough, a special audio Easter Egg happens. It’s online.

Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Myriam Joire (tnkgrl)
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Daestro – Light Powered (Ghostly International)

00:01:05 – Verizon LTE plans start at $50/month for 5GB of data (update)
00:16:35 – Motorola split wraps up on January 4th
00:25:47 – Motorola Olympus shows up in the wild, demonstrates unyielding commitment to Motoblur
00:28:00 – Motorola Olympus hitting AT&T in ‘December or January,’ says now-deleted Facebook post
00:30:00 – Motorola Mobility’s mystery gadget streams video to tablets and phones
00:31:15 – Motorola’s Milestone XT720
00:43:16 – RIM buys TAT, BlackBerry UI in danger of becoming awesome
00:52:16 – Samsung ships 3M Galaxy S devices in the US, becomes top Android supplier in the country
00:56:20 – Sprint wouldn’t mind if T-Mobile bought 4G spectrum from Clearwire
01:11:27 – ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review
01:12:42 – Sony Ericsson LiveView review
01:17:58 – ChevronWP7 unlocking tool pulled in hopes Microsoft decides to play along
01:19:53 – Dell Venue Pro finally available to order: $99 on contract, shipping December 9th
01:25:48 – AirSync for doubleTwist brings wireless syncing to Android phones

Hear the podcast

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Download the podcast
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Contact the podcast
podcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com.

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 065 – 12.04.2010 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re surprised it took this long, but what good would it do to live in the past? Google Reader is now available to download as a native app for Android, care of Google Inc. itself. Multiple accounts are supported, preferences are synced, search is enabled, and since it’s native, you can send to other apps (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Bluetooth). Should make for a better experience than the web-only client, but hey, you be the judge.

Google Reader gets native Android app originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We joked that the Droid 2 didn’t need a marketing campaign, the leaks were getting so much press, and lo and behold, its Droid 2 Global refresh hit shelves without a single official word from Verizon. We figured the wireless carrier had taken our idea to heart and would rely entirely on word of mouth to sell the 1.2GHz worldphone, but if that’s the case, Big Red’s bending the rules — it’s given the handset a quick Facebook plug to speed that process along. At 215 characters, the status update is a little bit long to retweet, but you can Like it all you want… or even use it as a soapbox if you really must.

Verizon gives Droid 2 Global a Facebook shout-out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 04:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Japan’s not the only one that’ll have Froyo on a five-inch tabletphone this year — Dell’s official Facebook account confirms that Android 2.2 will be rolling out to the Dell Streak starting this very month. That date’s just for the UK, mind you, as Dell plans to stagger the release from country to country for that winsome Stage UI. That said, if you’re a particularly astute diner you may be able to get your sweet spoonful sooner than some, as just last evening Dell directed a number of Streak owners to the website pictured above. While that “Continue with Update” button reportedly didn’t work and the website has since been pulled, it seems that Dell’s considering the idea of letting users directly download Android 2.2 themselves. See what that update might include in our gallery below.

[Thanks, Naz]

Dell Streak Android 2.2 update imminent in UK, other territories on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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French citizens have been enjoying webOS 2.0 with their morning baguette for over two weeks, but it’s one step closer to home today — Pocket-lint reports that the Palm Pre 2 will launch in the United Kingdom this Friday. What’s more, the 1GHz handset won’t be chained to a British carrier, but rather released into the wild completely SIM-free, which probably means future Just Typists will need to buy it direct from HP. As for the promised pre-orders for US students, we’re sorry to say they’ve failed to materialize; the Facebook page that once clearly stated “preorders begin 11/8″ now simply reads “Palm Pre 2 coming soon.” Soon enough for you?

Palm Pre 2 swims across the English Channel in three days, launches November 12th in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been over two months since it was first submitted for approval, but the Skyfire 2.0 web browser for iPhone is now finally, officially available for download, complete with the ability to play Flash videos… sort of. To get around the iPhone‘s Flash restrictions, the browser actually transcodes the video in a way that lets the phone only see HTML5, and it compresses all videos by about 75 percent in the process to ease bandwidth concerns. Of course, that workaround also means that Flash video is the only type of Flash that the browser supports, and the company also notes that Hulu is currently blocked but that “scores of other premium sites are supported.” Skyfire also points out that the browser has more than just Flash going for it — it’s a full-fledged Webkit browser in its own right, and packs a few other tricks like easy sharing to Facebook and Twitter, and a so-called Facebook Quickview mode. Head on past the break for a quick video overview, and hit up the App Store now to grab the browser for the “special early adopter price” of $2.99.

Continue reading Skyfire browser for iPhone hits the App Store, ready to play your Flash videos

Skyfire browser for iPhone hits the App Store, ready to play your Flash videos originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re in the holding area here at Facebook’s “mobile event” in San Francsico, and so far we’ve seen reps from the GSM Association and LG — in other words, we could very well see some hardware. The event starts at 10:30AM PDT, check back at the times listed below!

07:30AM – Hawaii
10:30AM – Pacific
11:30AM – Mountain
12:30PM – Central
01:30PM – Eastern
05:30PM – London
06:30PM – Paris
09:30PM – Moscow
02:30AM – Tokyo (November 4th)

Continue reading Live from Facebook’s mobile event!

Live from Facebook’s mobile event! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook admitted during its mobile event today that the app for Android devices has been lagging behind other clients and has already made a push to correct that with a new version, 1.4, now available on the Android Market. Not much has changed, but the list of fixes indicates it now supports check-ins with Places, Groups and some much needed improvements to notifications. Check out the gallery for a few screens of the new functions in action or snag the QR code after the break.

Update: It looks like the iPhone app is getting an update as well. Unfortunately, some folks are having trouble downloading it. Let us know how it goes for you.

Continue reading New Facebook app for Android available, adds Places, Groups & improved notifications (update: iPhone, too)

New Facebook app for Android available, adds Places, Groups & improved notifications (update: iPhone, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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