In this week's review of the Libre eBook Reader Pro, the bottom line is that its a good, cheaper e-reader alternative -- that is, if you don't mind it lacks some of the top-of-the-line features, like downloading books over Wi-Fi and being able to subscribe to newspapers and magazines.
You can read my full list of ups and downs in today's print review. The price ranges online, usually around $120, but my contact for the Libre said the price is going down to $99.99 this week at Borders stores. I saw it for $99 last week at Dell.com, but now Dell has jacked it back up to $150.
AT&T Wireless has activated two new cell sites in Miami, one in Hollywood and one along Alligator Alley. The carrier also increased capacity in parts of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
This year, AT&T's has invested in its South Florida's network by adding eight new cell sites to Indian River, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The company added 3G service to three sites in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.
About 50 cell sites got a boost of capacity to handle more voice and data demand in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The new cell site in Hollywood is on N. Ocean Drive near the intersection of Sheridan Street and A-1-A, which adds mobile broadband coverage north to Dania Beach Boulevard and south near Hollywood Boulevard.
In Miami, the cell site expands coverage along S.W. 8th Street and S.W. 177th Avenue, also called Krome Avenue. Another one was added to S.W. 60th Street, improving coverage to the residential area near S.W. 56th Street, also called Miller Road, and S.W. 107th Avenue.
Along I-75, a site was added along Alligator Alley near mile marker 53.
Here are the areas that will benefit from the added capacity AT&T added to cell sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach:
Miami-Dade County
Kendall
Pinecrest
Three Lakes
Richmond Heights
Palmetto Estates
South Miami Heights
Goulds
Naranja
Homestead
downtown Miami
West Miami along Flagler Street
Bird Road
S. Red Road and S.W. 22nd Street
Along Opa-Locka Boulevard, Le Jeune Expressway and N.W. 135th Street
Broward County
western Tamarac
Sunrise
Plantation
Lauderhill
Melrose Park
Lauderdale Lakes
W. Broward Boulevard
Palm Beach County
Florida Atlantic University campus and surrounding residential community
W. Lantana Road
Melaleuca Lane
S. Military Trail
along Okeechobee Boulevard
along Southern Boulevard
in the Golden Lakes community in West Palm Beach
AT&T reported plans to add 65 new cell sites in Florida by the end of the year, and upgrade nearly 200 additional sites to 3G speeds. It also said it would add more capacity to "several hundred" sites to satisify growing demands.
A few weeks after I reviewed the FLO TV hand-held personal television, the company has discontinued selling the device to consumers. I'm told service will continune until Spring 2011 for anyone subscribed to watching the personal units, but there's the chance it may end sooner.
Qualcomm, the parent company of FLO TV, "will make approprite refunds" if they discontinue service, the company said. Details about such a thing would be revealed before the plug is pulled. And it seems some FLO TV employees will lose their jobs as a result.
Qualcomm declined to disclose subscriber numbers.
There's no news about the FLO TV for mobile phones, or the FLO TV made for vehicles. As of now, nothing has changed for those devices. And the company worded it in such a way to leave open the option that it could go back on sale sometime.
The official statement from Qualcomm:
As we previously indicated in our July 2010 earnings call, we have been examining strategic opportunities for FLO TV. We have been engaging in conversations with a wide range of partners for both the network and the spectrum. We are seeing strong interest in using the FLO TV network or spectrum to capitalize on the growing imbalance between mobile data supply and demand, the growth of tablets, and consumer demand for high quality video and print content, and a richer user experience. While this process continues, we are suspending our direct to consumer sales of new devices. We anticipate we will maintain the network so that current direct to consumer subscribers will continue to receive FLO programming into Spring 2011. Service provided to handsets purchased through wireless operators is unaffected at this time. In the event of a discontinuance of service, FLO TV will make appropriate refunds, the details of which will be communicated prior to discontinuation. While we are working to redeploy impacted employees, we anticipate that there will be some layoffs.
I enjoyed testing device -- it worked well, but didn't have the rights to show NFL games. That was a major gripe among those who bought it as a way to tune into a game from anywhere. The company recently announced it's working on FLO TV for iPhone and Android devices.
Below is my review that ran a few weeks ago, and a comparison of it to Kula TV, a competitor that is taking a different approach by using streaming Internet channels. For me, I thought it just made more sense to have FLO TV on a phone rather than carry around another device. Perhaps that's one of the reasons Qualcomm discontinued it.
South Florida will be one of the first metro areas to get Verizon Wireless 4G data speeds, the company announced Wednesday, giving users speeds up to 10 times faster than what's currently available.
In the initial launch later this year, Florida will have more metro areas covered by Verizon's fastest wireless network than any other state. Verizon's 4G technology, called LTE (Long Term Evolution), will be offered across Florida in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville metro areas.
The news comes as The Wall Street Journal reported on its website Wednesday that said Apple is making a new iPhone 4 that will work with Verizon's network, and will be sold in the first quarter of next year.
The new iPhone will use computer chips, made by Qualcomm, that work with Verizon's CDMA wireless network, the Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. Although AT&T, Apple and Verizon have not commented, the news would mean the end to AT&T being the sole carrier of the iPhone.
Verizon does not currently sell mobile phones that could take advantage of the 4G speeds, and it's unknown if the new iPhone could. But customers who use Verizon's mobile broadband devices to connect laptops to the Internet, such as aircards, would be the first to benefit.
Verizon has not announced if customers will need to pay more to access 4G speeds, or when exactly this year the 4G switch will turn on.
Verizon's 4G network technology will be rolled out to 38 areas in the U.S. and more than 60 airports, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Palm Beach international airports.
In a heavy use environment, Verizon expects average 4G data speed for downloads to be 5 to 12 megabits per second. The 3G download speed for Verizon ranges from 600 kilobits per second to 1.4 megabits per second.
In South Florida, the 4G network will be available from Kendall to Jupiter, and includes western suburbs such as Plantation, Tamarac and Palm Beach Gardens, Verizon said.
AT&T will also use LTE technology for it's upgrade to 4G, which the company said will happen in mid-2011.
In late August, T-Mobile began to roll out its 4G service in South Florida, using network technology called HSPA+.
Sprint was the first carrier to launch 4G wireless download speeds this year in the U.S., although it's not yet activated in South Florida. Sprint uses WiMAX, a different type of 4G technology than Verizon or T-Mobile.
"All 4G is not created equal," said Verizon spokesman Chuck Hamby. "We're not worried about being first to market. We're worried about being best to market."
