AT&T filed a scathing letter with the FCC earlier today complaining that Google's exhibiting a blatant double standard with Google Voice by blocking customers' access to numbers hosted by carriers that charge higher interconnect fees -- something that's specifically forbidden for traditional telephone carriers under so-called common carrier laws. The argument essentially revolves around the fact that Google's move helps it compete unfairly against AT&T and others by arbitrarily blocking calls to numbers that'd cost it too much to connect, which AT&T says puts Google in an "intellectual contradiction" given its "noisome trumpeting" (ouch!) of support for net neutrality.

It is pretty interesting that Google wants a free, open internet with the left hand while it's blocking certain telephone calls with the other, but Mountain View wasted no time in responding to the communication, posting an quick blog piece where it says there are "many significant differences" that should exempt it from common carrier legislation (some sound reasonable, though the argument that "Google Voice is currently invitation-only, serving a limited number of users" makes us think they're digging pretty deep to come up with reasons they shouldn't have to pony up the cash to get these calls connected).

If there's a bright side to the bickering, it's that both AT&T and Google can agree on one thing: rural carriers' continued ability to charge high connection fees hurts everyone -- it's a "badly flawed" system, in Google's words, and it'd be great if the FCC would do something about it. Whether this whole spat ultimately influenced the outcome of the Google Voice iPhone app debacle is unclear, but it's obvious that AT&T's been stewing about this for a while -- so let it all out, guys, mommy FCC's here for you, and one way or another we suspect GV's going to have to end up going legit if it wants to grow its user base by any significant measure. Check out the gallery for AT&T's letter and follow the read link for Google's shorter, slightly less aggressive response.

Filed under: Wireless

AT&T, Google trade barbs over Google Voice while FCC listens in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It might not look like much -- in fact, we're not sure what it's trying to look like -- but that there is what Freecom purports to be the world's first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 hard drive. Dubbed the Hard Drive XS 3.0, the drive will be available mid-November in 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB sizes, with a surprisingly accessible starting price of 119 Euro (about $175 US). Of course, it takes more than just a speedy cable to up hard drive speeds, but we'd say 130MB/s ain't a bad start. The drive can handle AES 256 bit encryption, is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, and the fanless, rubber-clad enclosure weighs in at 1.9 pounds.

[Via PCLaunches]

Filed under: Storage

Freecom announces world's first USB 3.0 hard drive, the XS 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We'd heard Apple was pushing the Financial Accounting Standards Board to change the rules by which Cupertino's accountants reported iPhone and Apple TV revenue, and it looks like the effort was successful. The new rules allow Apple (and other companies like Palm) to report revenues on products that bundle hardware and software all at once, instead of parceling out the revenue over time using subscription accounting to enable free software upgrades. For investors, that means Apple's quarterly earnings reports will more accurately reflect the state of the company's cash flow, but we're more interested to find out if this means iPod touch OS updates will be free now, since the previous rationale for charging was that iPod revenue wasn't recorded using subscription accounting. We've got a feeling Apple's all too happy to take your $4.95, but we can hope, right?

[Via MacRumors]

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

Standards board changes subscription accounting rules, Apple CPAs drunk with power originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Pre's proven to be an eminently hackable platform pretty much from day one, and given that, it stands to reason that major "missing" features are going to either be added in the hard way or a few good programmers are going to die trying. The virtual keyboard developments are seen as a big win for users, and next up is true video recording -- something inexplicably missing from the device considering its ample (well, theoretically ample) processing power. Work on homebrew recording tools seems to be moving along nicely, with some open-source tools already available -- so far, they're apparently able to push it to 480 x 320 at 30fps, but it comes out encoded strangely and doesn't resemble anything your average end user would want to be dealing with. That's where Palm hopefully comes in with a future webOS update, but for now, at least we're able to play around. Follow the break for video of the hack in action.

[Via PreCentral]

Continue reading Video recording hacks for the Pre making nice progress

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Video

Video recording hacks for the Pre making nice progress originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you needed another reason to frown upon the state of the North American wireless industry, allow us to go ahead and turn your attention to Exhibit A here. What you're looking at is some promotional material backing up earlier rumors that the HD2 / Leo is en route to O2 in the UK, but what's especially upsetting (though not terribly surprising) is the knowledge that customers will be able to scoop up HTC's new ultra-high-end WinMo beast for zilch on an O2 1200 tariff -- a plan that runs something like £45 (about $72) a month. Oh, and that's on an 18-month contract, not 24. Meanwhile, we'll be lucky to ever see the Leo land in its natural, original, HTC-approved state on a carrier at any price in the US, but hey, at least we've still got some more Touch Pro2 launches to look forward to, right?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Leo looking confirmed for O2 UK debut, will be free on the right plan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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