Tech Week in Review 3-19-2010

Google Nexus Coming To Sprint

A lot of people I know have Sprint, which boast the largest voice calling area in the US. This is twice the coverage of AT&T and 10x the coverage of T-Mobile. If you’ve been waiting in the wings, hoping that by some miracle Google would make it’s phone available in CDMA format, the wait is over.

“Nexus One is a powerful device that belongs on a powerful network. This is another step in our continued partnership of innovation with Google,” said Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development. “Sprint customers already have the option of two amazing Android devices with Samsung Moment(TM) and HTC Hero(TM). It is a natural fit for us to add Nexus One to the list of choices available for Sprint customers who want the best value in wireless with the best in Android.”

Google just recently added AT&T to the line up of available carriers. The difference here is that you can’t actually buy an AT&T plan from Google. You have to just buy the unlocked version of the phone for $529. With Sprint, you will be able to choose a plan, possibly reducing the price of the phone.

Will You Opt Out of Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a simple way to get detailed stats about your blog or website’s visitors. It helps you figure out what works and what doesn’t. What your visitors like and what they don’t. It’s a very powerful and free tool which may soon be handicapped.

Over the past year, we have been exploring ways to offer users more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics. We concluded that the best approach would be to develop a global browser based plug-in to allow users to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics. -Google Analytics Blog

Personally, if site visitors can opt out completely from being tracked by analytics, the analytics are now tainted and useless. This won’t make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things if Google simply counts the user as a visit and ignores everything else, but if a visitor completely goes ghost I’ll need to find another analytics package.

Square is Great for Political Contributions

Square (our coverage) is a way to easily take credit card payments using a mobile device. You attach a simple device to your phone and you’ve got a mobile credit card machine. Square has been used for everything from retail payments to taking donations for charity. Now, it’s being used to allow political candidates to take campaign donations. It’s usually a pain to take credit card donations because of the paperwork involved and the privacy concerns (your credit card number and associated info written on paper in a 3rd party’s hands). Square erases these concerns and makes the process simple and easy.

Is Yelp Bad For Business?

Yelp has been hit with yet another lawsuit. This is the third in a matter of weeks. Each business is pretty consistent in saying that Yelp is basically extorting them. This new lawsuit has been joined by at least 9 other businesses. Yelp obviously denies these allegations but, given the number of accusers, I find it hard to believe they’ve never given someone an offer they couldn’t refuse.

The business claims that after declining a request to purchase advertising on Yelp, a number of positive reviews from his business’ listing on the reviews site mysteriously disappeared, downgrading the company’s rating on the site. Levitt claims that ten out of eleven five star reviews were removed from his company’s page following his decision not to purchase advertising on Yelp.

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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