By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) met on Thursday to discuss an emergency order which would ban the use of cell phones by train operators. While individual companies may have had such rules in place, there was no law backing up the rules.

In a unanimous vote, the CPUC approved the order. The ruling comes less than a week after a Metrolink commuter train ran head-on into a freight train, killing 25 people and injuring more than 130 others, after the operator failed to stop at a stop signal.

The NTSB requested the cell phone records of the Metrolink train engineer, Robert Martin Sanchez, 46, from Verizon Wireless. Verizon has already turned over some of the records to the NTSB, and it’s been determined that he was text-messaging on his cell phone while on duty. Authorities have not determined if he was texting just prior to the crash, however.

Sanchez was killed in the accident.

However, one would think that common sense would say that if many states have banned talking on cell phones sans a hands-free setup while driving, it would be obvious that texting and emailing while driving is far more distracting. I can’t see anyone with an ounce of common sense disagreeing. So why is it that almost all states haven’t addressed this?

Is there a strong Blackberry lobby I don’t know of?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

On Tuesday, at a session at its Google Developer day in London, Google’s Mike Jennings demonstrated a working Android mobile phone for “the first time in Europe.” The slides (one above) clearly seem to resemble the HTC Dream, though branding was redacted.

Jennings said:

“The cool stuff is running your own apps! I spent two hours writing my own apps using a background thread and surface view to access the hardware buffer.

“Manufacturers are not going to be charged for putting this on their phones. Lots of people use mobile phones. Lots of people in Europe have two. We wanted to get into that. We’re really hoping the mobile community comes round this and continues to bring it forward. We think it’s cool. You’ll be able to write apps and distribute them to friends very easily.”

When asked to make a call on it, he continued, “I can’t show it off any more, I’ll be out of a job.”

Jennings did indicate that Android can be used on any embedded device.

At the same time, while prior reports had a launch (and pre-sales) occurring as early as Sept. 17th, sources said the launch event will be in New York on Sept. 23rd, with devices in-store by Oct. 17th.

While the in-store date is still unconfirmed, the launch date is, with media being sent invitations to the event on Wednesday (shown below):

Excitement, anyone?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

While the NTSB sought to determine if the engineer of a Metrolink commuter train was text messaging before a crash with a Union Pacific freight train, the head of the California Public Utilities Commission said he would seek an emergency ban of cell phone use by California train operators. 25 people were killed in the accident.

There is, as yet, no evidence — except for statements by two teenagers, who say they were texting with the engineer up to a minute prior to the crash — that the engineer was text messaging prior to the crash. It is true, however, that he ran a stop signal before the crash, and investigators said on Tuesday that the signals were operating properly at the time.

In a press release, Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission said:

“On behalf of the CPUC, I would like to express our condolences to the family and friends of those involved in the Metrolink accident. The CPUC is the principal state agency for rail safety and we are leaving no stone unturned in our investigation of this accident, including interviewing the former spokesperson for Metrolink who resigned from the agency, allegedly after her candor in assessing responsibility for the accident was questioned by her superiors. Further, I will ask my fellow Commissioners on Thursday to approve an emergency order prohibiting the personal use of cellular communication devices while operating a freight or passenger train anywhere in California. Some railroad operators may have policies prohibiting the personal use of such devices, but they’re widely ignored. Our order would make it the law and we’ll go after violators. We owe it to the public.”

At the same time, Peevey said that he will ask the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to require Automatic Train Stop (ATS) systems immediately on all freight and passenger trains that share tracks in California. With ATS installed, trains automatically stop when required at signals.

The NTSB has requested the engineer’s cell phone records from Verizon Wireless, and has given Verizon five days to respond. The Coroner’s Office has identified the engineer as Robert Martin Sanchez, 46, of La Crescenta.

While only four states have banned texting while driving (Alaska, Minnesota, New Jersey and Washington), 16 other states are considering such a ban, and in August the California Legislature sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bill that would outlaw texting while driving.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

While some states have implemented hands-free cell phone laws for drivers, there hasn’t been such attention paid in terms of text messaging or emailing, despite studies that have found as many as 30% of drivers text while behind the wheel.

There have been auto accidents in which texting has been implicated (though not proven), but could last Friday’s tragic commuter rail crash be the final straw which ends up creating laws over texting while operating any sort of vehicle?

The NTSB is investing last Friday’s tragic collision between a commuter rail train and a freight train in Southern California. The crash resulted in 25 deaths. The NTSB is planning to review the cell phone records of two 14-year-old boys and the engineer after the teenagers told CBS2-TV that they received a text message from the engineer just prior to the crash.

The engineer, who was killed in the crash, ran a stop signal prior to the accident.

According to the LA Times,

A woman who identified herself as the mother of one of the teenagers, but asked that her name not be used to protect her 14-year-old son’s privacy, said that he and some of his friends often rode the Metrolink train on Friday afternoons and had become friendly with the engineer. Investigators had spoken to some of them, she said.

“They knew the engineer very well,” she said Sunday, “and they are mourning the loss of this gentleman. They all aspire to be engineers.”

At this point this is all conjecture. Investigators have not recovered the engineer’s cell phone, if it’s even in the wreckage. But while it’s all still unconfirmed, it’s true that last year a Harris Interactive study indicated 89% of those surveyed felt that texting while driving should be banned.

And while there may in fact be no connection, text messaging is far more distracting than a phone call while operating a vehicle. It makes sense that we should enforce a “no text messaging while operating any vehicle” law.

Why do we continue to wait on this? Do we really need an accident that we can be 100% confirmed to be caused by texting before we do the common-sense thing?

What do you readers think?

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

The iPhone 2.1 software update, which has been long awaited (long, because despite only being announced at Tuesday’s “Let’s Rock” event, long-suffering 3G users have been waiting for an improvement in 3G support since the iPhone 3G’s launch), has arrived.

Interestingly, once again it installed “Apple Mobile Device USB Drivers,” which had also been installed by iTunes 8.0 when I installed that yesterday (yes, on Vista). The download is 237.8 MB, and for once Apple is fairly open about the changes.

Not only does the software show release notes when downloading (above), they’ve even gone so far as to put up a web page with details.

Here are the details (emphasis mine):

The iPhone 2.1 software update contains many bug fixes and improvements. To get it, connect your iPhone to your computer using iTunes 8 and click Check for Update.

Update includes:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

The question is, does “improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength” display mean it’ll just show different bar results, but still perform poorly when compared to other 3G phones in the same area (within inches, in my informal testing)?

Still updating, will update this post when I’m done testing. More

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

On Wednesday RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone. Yes, it’s the first BlackBerry to come in a flip version. Some love this type of form factor (though not me!), and as such the new phone gives RIM another weapon in its arsenal.

Quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE), the new phone weighs in at 3.6 ounces and measures 3.9″ x 1.9″ x 0.7″. It sports a 65,536-color 128×160 pixel external display and a 65,536-color 240 x 320 internal LCD, along with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.

Naturally it includes the prerequisite media player features just about everyone wants nowadays, and as a Pearl it has a trackball navigator and SureType (bleh) keyboard.

Not many surprises, as Pearl-ish as it is it keeps in line feature-wise with the Pearl 8120. And, as expected, the Pearl Flip 8220 will be exclusive to T-Mobile. It will launch in the vague “this fall” timeframe. Pricing details are similarly vague (”later”).

Flip-style phones are popular, but flip-style smartphones — not so much. So, the question remains: will users flip over this new Blackberry?

Check out RIM’s full press release here.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Many are getting a bit weary of waiting for an iPhone 3G fix, which was previously promised in a supposed Steve Jobs email for sometime in September. A second lawsuit has been filed, joining the first which was filed last month by Jessica Alena Smith.

Just as in the previous suit, the plaintiff, William J. Gillis Jr., is asking for class action status for his lawsuit, according to freelance journalist Justin McLachlan.

Previously an “unnamed AT&T source” had disclosed that the issue with the iPhone 3G centered around power requirements for the iPhone 3G being too high, saturating towers.

The lawsuit goes on to say (basically) that because of the high volume of iPhone sales, the AT&T network has become overtaxed. In other words, the darn this is too popular for its own good.

Gillis wants Apple and AT&T to not just pay restitution to members of the class action (if granted), but also punitive damages.

Now, before people go on about this guy trying to get a big payday, remember that in class action lawsuits, there’s nearly nothing paid out to members. Usually just enough to make people (relatively) happy.

However, he’s building his case mostly around Internet reports, according to AppleInsider. And as I keep harping on:

• It’s happening worldwide, even on mature 3G networks
• The device isn’t dropping into EDGE; it’s staying in 3G even with nearly no signal
• Other 3G devices in the same area (within inches) have no issues while the iPhone is nearly unusable (and no, I don’t mean “bars,” I mean being able to make calls, browse, get email
• Even when forced into EDGE, the iPhone will sometimes fail calls while other devices are working fine - in 3G

So, while I appreciate anything that will give Apple a kick in the pants, I’m still waiting for the promised September fix. Please!

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

You’ll remember NetShare, the iPhone tethering app that showed up on the App Store a couple of times before vanishing, seemingly forever. The advantage of a tethering app for users is that they could use their iPhone as a modem for their laptop or PC, in a pinch.

The disadvantage for the carrier is all the additional bandwidth required, quite naturally.

A seemingly Steve Jobs-ish email (meaning terse and noncommittal) in response to a user’s question seems to point to a possible tethering agreement between AT&T and Apple.

Currently, the Terms and Conditions for AT&T’s plans seems to include language that specifically forbids tethering (under the Prohibited and Permissible Uses section):

“Furthermore, plans (unless specifically designated for tethering usage) cannot be used for any applications that tether the device (through use of, including without limitation, connection kits, other phone/PDA-to-computer accessories, Bluetooth or any other wireless technology) to Personal Computers (including without limitation, laptops), or other equipment for any purpose.”

There is that little clause about “unless specifically designated for tethering usage,” though. Is Apple trying to get such a plan set up for its iPhone?

According to Gizmodo, here’s the exchange between the two:

User:

AT&T offers data plans for BlackBerry that include tethering for an additional $30 per month (a total of $60 per month for the BlackBerry+tethering plan).

It seems ludicrous that the same thing is not offered with the iPhone. I understand the desire to prevent tethering with the current data plan, but I am willing to pay more money to allow tethering! With such an advanced device, why can I not do so?

“Steve”:

We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.

Steve

Sent from my iPhone

As we know, occasionally an email to Jobs is responded to in the above fashion: terse, and probably from a rep and not Jobs directly. However: “sent from my iPhone” tends to make it a little less credible to me, as that implies it was actually sent from his personal device. Not really likely.

I’d rather see the 3G issues fixed once and for all before a tethering plan is complete. Who wants to tether in EDGE?

Still, why not have such a plan? What about you readers? Would you pay extra for a tethering plan for your iPhone?