Computers

I recently switched from using a Windows PCs and Android phones to all-Apple products, all the time. My new iPhone 5 and MacBook Pro are definitely really cool. But when I was a PC/Android user (with an Acer laptop and phones by HTC and Samsung), Apple fans gave me the impression that angels sang every time they opened a MacBook, and that I'd never want to go back to the intolerably uncool world outside the iPhone. Instead, I was surprised to learn that some parts of the Apple universe are a few steps behind the pace. Using Apple gadgets actually made my life harder, in some ways.There's no "menu" button on the iPhone. In Android, whenever you get lost you just hit the menu button and you get a bunch of options — such as settings — to help you fix whatever you want to change. There's no menu button on iPhone. Instead, the home button mostly pulls you out of whatever you are doing and drops you back on your home screen. Sure, many of the apps and menus inside iPhone have a "back" button. But it's not the same. In iPhone, you have to get used to taking the long way around. In iPhone, if you want to phone someone you're texting with, you have to scroll all the way up to the top of the message chain to hit the call button. In Android, you just tap the person's name anywhere and a call option pops up. It feels as if my iPhone is going to break at any moment. My new iPhone 5 may be made out of pretty metal, but it scratches easily. And although I'm told that the rate at which the iPhone screen smashes is small, the world seems to be filled with busted iPhone screens, even among my own colleagues. Yes, all smartphones can get dings and scratches, but I liked that my old Android phone was made of plastic, which made it more resistant to wear and tear. See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Uh oh... if you don't have a stable Internet connection, the Xbox One may not be for you.

The Boost Mobile Wallet service acts as a virtual bank for people who can't get bank accounts.

Sprint introduced three unique new high-speed modems at CTIA. We took a look.

Brian Krzanich outlines re-org in internal memo two days after taking the helm of the world's biggest chip maker. View the full article HERE.

There's a report floating around claiming that early Tumblr investor Union Square Ventures (USV) netted a 5,000X return when Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for the social-blogging site. The same report, which comes from PrivCo, an private firm that reports on startups, claims to have exacting details about how much each employee made on the deal. USV partner Fred Wilson has responded to the report on Hacker News, saying, "Total garbage. There is not one fact in this privco thing that is close to right. The numbers are good but nowhere close to that good. This is the same firm that predicted Foursquare would be out of business this year which will also prove to be nonsense." Early Tumblr backer Bijan Sabet is also knocking down the report on Twitter saying, "that article and the corresponding privco report is complete garbage and incorrect." Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Americans continue to spend big on their internet needs, and that is reflected in the robust demand for broadband during the first three months of 2013. Data collected by Leichtman Research Group, a Durham, NH-based market research company, shows that the top broadband providers in the U.S. added 1.1 million (net) new connections over that period, bringing the total number of broadband subscribers to about 82.4 million. According to their research, cable companies have about 47.5 million broadband subscribers, while the remainder are with the phone companies. Cable companies added about 800,000 new subscribers, about 72 percent of the total for the month. The top two phone companies — AT&T and Verizon — saw a decline of 696,000 DSL accounts but added a total of 919,000 fiber subscribers. FIber-based broadband now accounts for about 40 percent of AT&T and Verizon’s total broadband customer base. Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, pointed out that typically the first quarter is better than the second and third quarters of the year, and “2013 began with another strong first quarter.” Net broadband additions in Q1 2013 were about 500,000 more than in Q4 2012, and that bodes well for rest of the year. A resurgent housing market and stronger economy along with our growing need for speed and connectivity are the reasons why demand for U.S. broadband is booming. Here are some numbers to give you an idea as to who is winning and who is losing. Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.Who and what to watch in the new era of the living roomWhat the shift to the cloud means for the future EPG12 tech leaders’ resolutions for 2012

Hot on the heels of Optus' 4G expansion announcement this week, Telstra has passed its own milestone, activating its 1,500th 4G tower.The telco claims that the LTE network is well on the way to reaching 66 per cent population coverage by the end of June this year, by which stage it plans to have more than 2,000 towers pumping out 4G signals.It's been a rapid expansion for Telstra's 4G network, with more than 2.1 million devices connecting to the LTE service, and coverage jumping from around 40 per cent at the start of the year to the 66 per cent Telstra hopes to achieve by the end of the financial year.Long road aheadIt's going to require a lot of hard work for Telstra to pull off its plans though. The goal of hitting 2,000 active 4G towers within six weeks is going to challenging.Especially when you consider that it took the telco 12 months to activate its 1,000th LTE tower, and has only activated 500 in the past 12 months.Still, Telstra Networks Executive Director Mike Wright has claimed that the rollout is on schedule."The program is now running at pace and is on target – our technicians are now installing literally dozens of 4G base stations each and every week. It's great to mark the 1,500th milestone but we've committed to installing over 2000 base stations by the end of this financial year and we'll keep working to meet this target," Wright said in a statement.

IBM on Tuesday announced that it will offer Watson -- its artificial intelligence software package that won the Jeopardy game show -- as a customer service solution called Watson Engagement Advisor, a cognitive computing assistant that rapidly learns, adapts and understands a company's data. Watson's data-crunching capabilities will be offered as part of IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative for automating a business's marketing, sales, procurement, supply chain, and service functions.

During her keynote address at the opening session of the CTIA 2013 wireless industry trade show in Las Vegas, acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn spoke of continuing the work of her predecessor -- with a slight shift from focusing on rural communities to addressing the needs of the underprivileged. Clyburn, in her second day in office, stepped in as a late addition to the keynote lineup on the conference's first day. Because of her interim position, she should avoid risks, she said.