Despite numerous reports today on Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, and i4u.com Samsung will most definitely not be delaying the release of its upcoming Blu-ray drive, the BD-P1000. I just talked to Jim Sanduski, senior vice president of marketing for the Digital Video& Audio group at Samsung and he says the plan was always to release the player in the U.S. in June, in Korea in July, and in Europe in September. European bloggers may not like it, but that was always the plan. The rest of the buzz was just rampant (and errant) blog propagation.

Anyway, the BD-P1000 players are already in the U.S. In fact, Sanduski says thousands of units are on their way to retailers in the U.S. for floor demonstrations right now. The player will be on sale on June 25 for about $1,000.

If Samsung hits that date, and I think they will, it will be the first Blu-ray player on the market. After the lackluster launch of Toshiba's HD-A1, I can't wait to see it. Although some folks here at PCMag are slightly less enthusiastic about Blu-ray's prospects.

If you haven't been following this whole net neutrality battle, then basically what's going on is that Broadband Internet providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, want to control which sites and services load slow or fast, or don't load at all. So basically, all of the "mom and pop" sites will be threatened by corporate sites who have the means and capital to ensure that their sites will load faster. Not to mention they could limit the kinds of sites and applications we visit/use.

Why? Because these providers obviously care more about control and making money to offer this kind of "tiered" Internet access to content and applications, and may want to establish exclusive relationships with Web sites or search engines. For instance, an Internet service provider could establish a relationship with only Google, which in turn would be the only search engine you would be able to use with that provider's service. Or they could make a search engine site pay them to have its search site load faster than others.

So why are musicians pissed off? Because net neutrality "means they should have the unfettered ability to make their work available to potential fans without undue interference from corporate gatekeepers" (SaveTheInternet.com). And if the free and open internet is threatened, how will this affect the availability of music online? Service providers would be able to steer you toward a more expensive music service because they would control what you go to.

As a music fan and heavy Internet user, I'm pissed too. The Web should be free and open, right?! We should be free to use any site or service as we darn well please. Seriously, how much more do these companies want us to pay for things? It's bad enough we get charged up the a$$ for cable, cell phone, and Internet service as it is (can you tell I'm living on my own and try and conserve my money?)...now they want us to dish out even more and only get "certain" access? It would be like paying to go to Six Flags and you're only able to go on certain rides. I DON'T THINK SO!!

In order to fight back, PCMag's reporter Bary Alyssa Johnson reports that songwriters Jill Sobule, Kay Hanley, and Michelle Lewis are spearheading SaveTheInternet.com with a new single entitled, "God Save the Internet." These female rockers call their group "The Broadband" to "educate the masses on the current net neutrality controversy...to bring IT issues on Capitol Hill into the public eye."

You can download "God Save The Internet," for free, and the song is set to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man".

Tune into this week's Gearlog Radio show (available on Friday), when we'll be discussing the song.

Here's a sneak-peek at the song's lyrics:

"All I want is to be free to choose where I get my music and my news/From left to right we're joining hands, folks pissed off all over this land." "Put a paper cup to your ear, or send a letter it could take a year/Shout it out and hope someone hears, or just ignore it and drink a beer."

Other artists fighting the cause are Moby and R.E.M. Now that Paris Hilton is a singer, maybe she'll step up, too.

If you want to join the fight for net neutrality, then sign this online petition and warm up your vocal cords, people! For more information on net neutrality and its advantages/disadvantages, read PCMag.com's report.

The Turks & Caicos Islands leads the world in cell phone subscriptions, with 1.6 subscriptions per person, according to new numbers from research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. In fact, 30 countries have more cell phone subscriptions than people -- and the US is way down on Informa's list with a penetration rate of only 72 percent.

So what do the Turks & Caicos, Aruba, Luxembourg, Israel, Greece, and the UK have that we don't? Informa analyst Kathryn Bushnell explained:

For some of the smallest countries on the list, subscription numbers are pumped up by tourists or migrant workers, who aren't counted as part of the population. That doesn't explain the gap with Europe, though.

The phone business in the US and Europe works very differently, Bushnell said. The US is a land of cheap fixed lines, which aren't generally charged by the minute. To lure people away from their home phones, US mobile operators typically use long-term contracts with huge minute buckets, so callers can have the same chatty habits on their cell phones they do at home.

US phones are also generally sold at deeply discounted prices and locked to one carrier, which aims to make back the discount through a long-term, exclusive monthly relationship.

In Europe, on the other hand, home of the happy Nokia models you see on the left, 60% of cell phone accounts are prepaid, and up to 20% of users in some European countries have more than one. Because all European phones work on the GSM system with interchangeable SIM cards, and many are sold unlocked, you can easily swap cards to take advantage of special offers on different networks.

The US focus on long-term contracts also squeezed out folks with lousy credit, who for years were stuck with expensive TracFone accounts. That's changed in the past few years with the growth of less expensive prepaid carriers like Net10 and Virgin Mobile, though. That was never a problem in prepay-happy Europe.

For Informa's full list of the 30 countries with more than one cell phone subscription per person, click here.

Courtesy of research firm Informa Telecoms & Media, here are the 30 countries with more than one cell phone subscription per person.

Penetration (%)	Mar-06
Turks & Caicos Islands	161.8
Aruba	150.8
Luxembourg	140.7
Lithuania	139.9
Cayman Islands	136.4
Netherlands Antilles	134.0
Grenada	133.3
Israel	125.9
Italy	122.4
Cyprus	121.5
Macau	121.3
Bahrain	117.8
Greece	114.7
Czech Republic	114.0
UAE	113.9
Jersey	113.6
Sweden	112.5
Hong Kong	110.8
UK	110.1
Estonia	108.6
Spain	108.0
Austria	107.3
Ireland	107.0
Norway	106.1
Antigua & Barbuda	104.6
Iceland	| Stumble | Digg | del.icio.us | Slashdot Posted By:  Sascha Segan Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday June 13, 2006 Summer Lovin' Gadget Countdown: Handheld Weather Forecaster with Alarm Clock Categories:   Gadgets & Gizmos Tags:

Summer Gadgets Countdown #8: Handheld Weather Forecaster with Alarm Clock Too often do I forget to check the weather. And rather than flipping through the news channels on TV, I boot up my computer real quick to check weather.com. But, this all takes time, and time is something I don't have in the mornings (I'm tired as it is). But, if I had this nifty wireless weather device, then I could check the weather as soon as I get out of the shower (and maybe I'll set the alarm too so that I don't spend too much time in there--I can't help it, the hot water feels so nice!). Design: Made by Oregon Scientific, the Handheld Weather Forecaster with Alarm Clock is a very compact device, measuring 2.25L x .5D x 3.5H inches and displays the weather with 70 to 75 percent accuracy. Features: Displays 12- to 24-hour weather forecasts including temperature and humidity within a 19 to 31 mile radius; digital clock and calendar with alarm and snooze; moon phase, severe weather alert, and barometric pressure indicators; and operates at temp ranges of -4.0°F to +144.0°F. Comes with a belt clip and includes 2 CR2032 watch batteries.   How It Works: To get a temp/humidity reading, slide the °C / °F switch (which is located inside the battery compartment) into the desired location. Press MEM to toggle between current, maximum (MAX) and minimum (MIN) weather records. To get the phases of the moon, first set the calendar. Then press + or – to view the moon phase for the next or previous day. Press and hold + or – to scan quickly through the years (up to 2099). Price: The Handheld Weather Forecaster with Alarm Clock sells for $39.95 on OregonScientific.com. Lovin' Factor (1-10): 8 | Stumble | Digg | del.icio.us | Slashdot Posted By:  Jen the Weird Hunter Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday June 13, 2006 Wall-Climbing Robot: The City Climber Categories:   Robots & Robotics Tags:

UPDATED 6/14: New images are up of the real City Climber. Click on them to see the robot up close.   Thanks to PC Magazine Editor of Reviews Lance Ulanoff for his report! Wall climbing looks fun when Spider-Man does it, but it's serious business for companies and landlords trying to figure out the health of their high-rise buildings. Now researchers at the City College of New York have developed a wall-climbing bot, called the City Climber rover, that can climb walls, transition from walls to a ceiling and even haul four times its own weight. According to a report from Discovery News, the robot was developed by Jizhong Xiao, a professor in the colleges' Computer Science, Electrical Engineering Dept. Xiao, who currently teaches advanced mobile robotics at CCNY, has been developing the ideas since the days of his doctoral work at Michigan State University. The first version of the robot was, according to a research paper on the Michigan State University Web site, a microbot based on a Texas Instruments Digital Signal Processor chip and had two suction cups attached to a hinge. The City Climber has no hinges, uses a vacuum and pressure to flatten itself against wall and ceiling surfaces, and weighs around 1 kilogram. There's no word on what CPU it uses. Discovery News reports that a future version will feature a camera. All we can say is, Ladies, close your blinds. Tune into this week's Gearlog Radio show (available on Friday) to hear Lance discuss this robotic project. | Stumble | Digg | del.icio.us | Slashdot Posted By:  Jen the Weird Hunter Permalink | Comments (1)

Tuesday June 13, 2006 Blu-Ray Discs Make Lovely, Upscale Coasters Categories:   Gadgets & Gizmos, Hard Drives & Storage Tags:

The truly well-off geek doesn't rest his soda can on an ordinary CD coaster. No, certainly not. He (or she) should use the newest, top-of-the-line model: the Blu-Ray coaster! This $17 circle of protection was created when reviewer Joel Santo Domingo moved his mouse and closed a few windows in the middle of a Blu-Ray disc burn, resulting in 22GB of useful dryness under the Diet Cokes here at PC Labs. Click on the photos to take a closer look and make sure that yes, this isn't an ordinary DVD-R coaster: it resists almost five times the spills and sweating of those more primitive discs. What really hurts is that a Blu-Ray burn takes 45 minutes; after all, it's laying down a truly massive amount of data. That's a whole TV episode taken out of your life. Joel will have more details in his review. Tune into this week's Gearlog Radio show (available on Friday), when we'll be speculating and ruminating about Blu-ray. | Stumble | Digg | del.icio.us | Slashdot Posted By:  Sascha Segan Permalink | Comments (3)