The Lumia 800 was one of the most beautiful phones ever built in the long history of phone-building. It is widely acknowledged as the best Windows phone around. The next version, the Lumia 900, is bigger, faster, and—maybe most surprisingly—cheaper.

The Lumia 900 is a phone that every single person should consider owning.

Why It Matters

The Lumia line is—let’s face it—maybe the last chance Nokia has to make anyone care about its brand again. Nokia, as a manufacturer, has a legacy of excellent hardware. The company used to make some truly terrific phones—ones lots of us grew up with. Simple and nearly indestructible, these cellular candy bars set lasting standards. They were lovely, square, and ubiquitous. Today, they are endangered.

Nokia and Windows Phone are star-crossed lovers, pulled together by gadget fate. They both have a mutual respect for artfulness, geometry, and clever design. They’re also both screwed if people don’t start caring about each of them very, very soon. Each company knows this, and the price plan for the 900 shows it: The device being sold for a liquidation-level $100 (or even $0!), despite its LTE alacrity and a design reminiscent of an alien treasure chest.

If the 900 bombs, it might not be a blunder Nokia or Microsoft can just brush off. This phone needs many, many people to notice it, adopt it, and truly love having it in their lives.

CONTINUED at Gizmodo. Video at link.

AT&T has confirmed that the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone will be available on April 8th. For $99. No, there is not a number missing.

For a shit-hot LTE smartphone running the objectively beautiful Windows Phone OS, $100 with a two-year contract is an absolute steal.

We first got our hands on the Lumia 900 a few months ago, and we loved it. The big question remained when we would actually see it in the US and what it would cost us. At $100, it’s a ridiculous bargain considering just over a month ago, Nokia started offering the Lumia 800—which isn’t LTE—as a crazy $800 bundle. If you held out for the Lumia 900, your patience has been rewarded. [CNET]

Source: Gizmodo.

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum hopes Michigan Democrats can help him earn a victory in Tuesday’s primary.

That’s right. The former Pennsylvania senator’s campaign paid for a robocall asking Democrats to vote for him in Tuesday’s primary.

Recent polls show chief rival and Michigan native Mitt Romney and Santorum virtually even heading into the primary.

“We know that if we can get a Reagan Democrat in the primary, we can get them in the fall,” said Hogan Gidley, communications director for Santorum. He confirmed the campaign paid for the call.

Political observers say the move is just another sign of how close the GOP race is — and a “logical ploy.”

As Santorum has done during numerous Michigan visits the past two weeks, the call attacked Romney’s stance on the auto bailouts, saying the former Massachusetts governor’s opposition “was a slap in the face” to Michigan workers, according to audio obtained by online political news outlet Talking Points Memo.

Santorum also opposed the auto bailout, but said his consistent stance against all bailouts, including the Wall Street bailout, sets him above Romney.

CONTINUED at the Detroit News.

MI5, MI6, GCHQ want official real time access to all communications.

The British government has dusted off previously shelved plans to create huge databases, enabling spy agencies to monitor every phone call, email and text message as well as websites visited by everyone in the country.

The Telegraph reports that under the plans, the government will force every communications network to store the data for one year. The plans also extend to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and gaming sites.

The plans, drawn up by MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, the government’s secret eavesdropping agency, may be officially announced as soon as May, according to details seen by the Telegraph. Those agencies would have real time access to the records kept by companies such as Vodafone and British Telecom.

The records would allow the spy agencies to monitor the “who, when and where” of every phone call, text message and email sent, while also allowing for internet browsing histories to be matched to IP addresses.

Unassumingly titled the Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP), the new scheme is set to be implemented under anti-terrorism laws, with the spy agencies saying it will allow them to more closely monitor suspects ahead of the London 2012 Olympics in July.

Critics and civil liberties advocates are calling for mass opposition to the plans, noting that the scheme is open to abuse not only by spy agencies and communications companies themselves, but also by hackers and online criminals.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Android: We’ve discussed several ways you can stay on top of the fight against SOPA, and ways you can get around it, but Boycott SOPA is an Android app that turns your smartphone into a powerful tool to speak with your dollars, and avoid financially supporting companies that support the bill.

Once installed, use Boycott SOPA to scan the barcodes of books, CDs, magazines, DVDs, and other media to see if the producer or publisher is a member of the RIAA, MPAA, the BSA, or another organization that’s publicly supported SOPA. As Extremetech explains, It’s no surprise that most media will trigger a positive, considering how many media companies are part of the RIAA and MPAA, but the app does give consumers a way to check if their money is going to the companies that support this bill before they spend it.

Much like the No SOPA Chrome add-on, Boycott SOPA is designed to warn you if you’re about to support a company or product that in turn supports the bill. The developers behind the app promise that the list of supporting organizations—currently about 800 brands and companies—will be regularly updated as positions change, and invites users to help curate the list on their web site. The Android app is completely free, and available now in the Android Market.

Source: Lifehacker.

The holidays can be tough. The stress of strained finances. Getting felt up at the airport on your way to be ridiculed by your family. Fortunately, there’s someone you can call. Actually two people you can call, Hall and Oates.

Dial “Callin’ Oates” 719-26-OATES (719-266-2837) to be given the option of listening to one of four glorious Hall and Oates songs. The Emergency Hall and Oates Hotline options are as follows:

Press 1 to hear One on One
Press 2 to hear Rich Girl
Press 3 to hear Maneater
Press 4 to hear Private Eyes

The Verge talked to the creators of the hotline. If I didn’t already have these songs on my iPhone, I’d be using up all those roll over minutes.

Source: Gizmodo.

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices Tuesday, following its investigation into a deadly accident last year in Missouri.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman discussed the recommendations during a press conference after a meeting on that accident.

“According to [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration], more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents,”she said. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”

While the NTSB investigates transportation and pipeline accidents and makes recommendations on safety rules and regulations, it has no power to implement them.

The NTSB’s recommendations urge all 50 states and the District ”to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task).” According to theGovernors Highway Safety Association, 35 states, including Maryland and Virginia, and the District ban texting while driving.

The NTSB has been investigating a deadly crash in Gray Summit, Missouri last year. A 19-year-old pickup driver sent 11 texts in the 11 minutes before before the accident, according to the NTSB, including one “right before impact.” The accident killed two people and injured 38.

“We will never know whether the driver was typing, reaching for the phone, or reading a text when his pickup ran into the truck in front of him without warning,”Herman said in her opening statement.

“But, we do know he had been distracted — cognitively, manually, and visually — while driving.

“Driving was not his only priority.”

CONTINUED at the Washington Post.

*Taken from the Telegraph.

CONTINUED..

*Taken from CNN. Video at link.

A line began to form at the Apple Store here on the eve of the iPhone 4S release, as is often the case around the world during the company’s product launches.

At the front of this particular line Thursday, Steve Wozniak sits in a Pico armchair, sipping Diet Dr Pepper and scanning e-mails from his white iPad.

The Apple co-founder, who gets a paycheck of “a couple hundred dollars every two weeks” and still maintains his status as employee No. 1 in company records, hasn’t been able to stay put for long. Crowds of Apple fans, family friends and people who have seen him riding his Segway around the neighborhood stop to say hi, take pictures and ask for his autograph.

CONTINUED..

*Taken from USA Today.

Apple introduced the sequel to the popular iPhone 4 Tuesday, the 4S, which it says will be available to Sprint customers for the first time and will offer faster processing and downloads, a greatly improved camera and voice-activated assistance.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers already have access to the iPhone. The new iPhone 4S will be priced at $199 for a 16 gigabyte model with a two-year carrier contract; 32 GB and 64 GB models are $299 and $399 respectively.

The iPhone 4 will cost $99 and the iPhone 3GS will be free. Preorders will be accepted starting Friday. The 4S will be available on Oct. 14.

CONTINUED..