AT&T Launches New App for the November 2012 Election; VoterHub is an Easy-To-Use, All Encompassing Voter Information and Sharing App

AT&T and the Pew Center on the States and Politics-360 announced the 2012 debut of VoterHub, a smartphone application designed to serve as a nonpartisan clearinghouse for essential voter information for the upcoming November 2012 General Election. The VoterHub app provides voters with national and statewide candidate information, and also provides a platform for voters to connect and share with one another.

The smartphone app hosts many additional features such as: voter registration information, voter specific polling place information, sample ballots, access to Associated Press real-time election coverage, videos, candidate and local ballot initiative information, and election results. VoterHub also allows the user to set up alert reminders and notifications for key dates and results.

In addition, the app allows users to share content easily through several different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and email.

“Voting is an important civic duty for each one of us,” said Tracy King, Vice President of Public Affairs for AT&T. “This is why we are thrilled to launch VoterHub which brings together all of the critical information voters need in one easy-to-use app. VoterHub aims to educate voters and encourage Americans to have their voices heard by voting in the upcoming election.”

VoterHub uses information from a variety of national organizations to inform voters and encourage them to take part in the November election. The Voting Information Project-a joint effort of state and local officials, the Pew Center on the States, Google Inc., AT&T and Microsoft Inc.- provides the VoterHub app with critical and official information for voters including state-specific voter ID laws, national and local candidate information, and details on local ballot initiatives. Other sources VoterHub uses include Rock the Vote, Turbo Vote, Google Election Center, official state election websites, Vote Smart, and Pollster.

“We are proud to launch a voting app with AT&T that is a one-stop-information-shop for the upcoming elections,” said David Becker, Director of the Pew Center on the States’ Election Initiatives. “By using official data from the Voting Information Project, this app helps bring critical polling place, ballot content and registration information directly to voters on their smartphones on and before Election Day.”

The VoterHub app is available today for Android and Windows Mobile users in their app stores, and will be available in the Apple app store soon. The mobile web app is available on any mobile device with a browser at http://voterhub.us.

Facebook reached a new milestone this week, topping more than a billion people who log onto the social network each month. Its population has doubled since reaching the 500 million milestone in July 2010.

Nearly half of the world’s 2.5 billion Internet users now use Facebook, according to the International Telecommunications Union. 

Some general characteristics about the Facebook population: 

• The longer people use Facebook, the more “friends” they accumulate. Facebook users who have been signed up for two years have on average about 305 friends. Facebook users who signed up in 2006 average about 600 friends.
• Facebook has 600 million mobile users, meaning that many people are logging onto the social network using their phone rather than a computer. 
• The median age of Facebook users is 22. 
• About 8.7 percent of its population has duplicate or false accounts. 
• The biggest users of Facebook around the world are from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and the United States. Eighty-one percent of Facebook users live outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Source: “Facebook Tops 1 Billion Users,” Associated Press (Oct. 4, 2012)

Ever wondered what happens when you send an email and how it ends up on a smartphone? Take a journey with Gmail and find out. 

This interactive infographic is super cool. It shows the path our data travels, from a simple Gmail message on a home laptop, through to the Google data center and all the Internet infrastructure it passes through before it finally goes up the cellphone tower and beams to the recipient’s phone. 

Check it out at:
 http://www.google.com/green/storyofsend/desktop/#/it-starts-with-send

While supplies last we are offering a free cordless phone to any of our customers who activate an AT&T Wireless Home Phone.  Start saving money today with home phone service starting at just $9.99 per month.

Plus, we are now provide free professional installation support. Installation of the wireless home phone is normally very easy, but if for some reason you have a more complex installation than normal there is no need to worry.  We will send one of our professional trained installers to you home to help you complete the installation.  

AT&T Wireless Home Phone service uses a wireless device to give you everything you love about your home phone at a better price.  You can keep your existing home number and continue using your home phones.  It’s never been easier or more affordable to have home phone service. 

Get more.  Save more.

• Plans as low as $9.99 or get unlimited nationwide calling for just 19.99
• Free equipment with a 2-year service agreement
• No need to change phone numbers
• Keep your existing home phones
• Unlimited night and weekend calling
• Unlimited mobile to mobile calling
• Rollover minutes
• Voicemail
• Caller ID
• Call waiting
• 3-way calling
• Back-up battery operation

Check out these tips on how to get around broken buttons on your smartphone.  These tricks could buy you some extra time until your are ready to upgrade your phone.

Check out the blog from Lifehacker for more information at http://lifehacker.com/5944957/what-to-do-when-your-phones-buttons-stop-working

One plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices, with unlimited talk and text on your phones.  

Add a tablet for only $10 per month.  The more data you share, the more you save.

Savings is in comparison to lower-tiered Mobile Share plans. Unlimited Talk and Text for phones only.
Smartphone required. Additional monthly charge per device. $15 per GB for add’l data. Activation fee may apply. Additional deposits and other restrictions may apply. Access to corporate email, intranet sites, and apps available for $15/mo. per device. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PS Vita is a trademark of the same company. Screen images simulated. ©2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. Service provided by AT&T Mobility. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.  All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Amazon just released some great changes to their Cloud Player music service.  These changes will make it extremely easy for those interested in moving their music from iTunes or ripped CD to an Android device.  

Email Received at One-Stop from Amazon:
When you sign into the updated Cloud Player, we’ll upgrade your music to high-quality 256 Kbps audio at no additional charge.

We’ve also made it easier to get your music from your computer to Cloud Player. We’ll match your songs to Amazon’s 20 million song catalog. All songs we match – even music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs – are instantly made available in Cloud Player.

Plus, MP3 songs and albums you purchase from Amazon – even those you purchased in the past – will be automatically saved to Cloud Player, which means you’ll have a secure backup copy of the music you buy at Amazon, free of charge. Learn more.

Cloud Player and Cloud Drive are now separate services. Music you previously imported intoCloud Drive will remain in Cloud Drive at its original audio quality, and won’t count toward your Cloud Drive storage limit. Music you import to Cloud Drive in the future will no longer be available in Cloud Player.

You’ve been enjoying a free promotional subscription to Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. After it ends, you will be limited to 250 imported songs in Cloud Player.

Customers who are over that limit and close to expiration receive 30 days to test out our new features. Once you log in, you have 30 days to enjoy your music, everywhere. If you’d like to keep using Cloud Player for free, remove songs from your ‘Imported’ playlist until your library is below the 250 song limit before the 30 days are up. At the end of the 30-day free upgrade, if you have more than 250 imported songs in Cloud Player, you will not be able to play your previously imported music in Cloud Player – but you can start fresh and re-import up to 250 songs. Music you imported before July 24th will remain stored in Cloud Drive.

When you upgrade to Cloud Player Premium for $25 per year, you can import up to 250,000 songs. Upgrade before your promotional subscription ends and get 50 GB of Cloud Drive storage at no additional cost. Learn more.

Do you know where your phone is?

• $7 million worth of phones are lost daily around the world.
• 4 phones are lost on an average day at Niagara Falls.
• 2 out 3 phones are lost between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.

You just may want to consider insurance for your phone.

Source: Lookout Mobile Security 

AT&T customers will soon have more options in choosing the plan that’s right for them and their mobile devices. With new AT&T Mobile Share plans, available in late August, new and existing customers can share a single bucket of data across smartphones, tablets, and other compatible devices, plus get unlimited talk and text. AT&T Mobile Share plans make it easy for customers to manage their data, voice minutes and texting, without needing to keep track of multiple plans.

Customers can select one of the new shared data plans or choose one of AT&T’s existing individual or family plans. Current customers are not required to switch to the new plans, but can choose to do so without a contract extension. There are no changes to AT&T’s device upgrade policy, which means customers eligible to upgrade to AT&T’s best device price are not required to switch plans. The new plans will also be available for business customers.

With AT&T Mobile Share plans, customers start by choosing how much data they want each month, then choose up to 10 devices to attach to their shared plan, one of which must be a smartphone. Each plan includes tethering and unlimited domestic calls and texts for smartphones and basic or quick messaging phones. The larger the data bucket you choose, the less you pay per gigabyte and the less you pay for each smartphone added to the shared plan

AT&T Mobile Share allows customers to essentially build a plan to fit their devices and usage. Customers who are more data-centric can choose a larger data bucket. Customers who typically use more voice than data can add multiple smartphones and basic phones and opt for a smaller data bucket.

“We offer customers a broad choice and the best lineup of plans, now enhanced by Mobile Share,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. “With these new plans, the more you share, the more you save. They’ll be a good fit for a variety of new and existing customers. But if customers want to stay on their current plan or choose from our existing plans, they can do that, too. It’s their choice. 

“Today we think of people’s smartphones and tablets sharing a bucket of data. But in the future we’ll see health care monitors, connected cars, security systems and other devices in the home all connected to the mobile Internet,” said Christopher. “Our Mobile Share plans are simple, easy and a great value for individuals or families with multiple mobile Internet devices.”

Mobile Share plans give customers more control over how, where and on what device they use data — which has become more important as people use more data devices. You can choose to use more of your data bucket on your tablet, for example, or tap into your data bucket only when needed for devices you use occasionally. And by consolidating data plans, you can take advantage of any data you currently have unused each month by efficiently sharing it across devices.

“The ‘more you share, the more you save’ concept is one that will resonate well with customers because of the value provided through the Mobile Share data plans themselves and in smartphone connection fees,” said Roger Entner, Founder and Lead Analyst of Recon Analytics. “AT&T also is providing its customers with flexibility and choice by keeping its existing data plans and not requiring customers to move to Mobile Share unless they want to. It’s a win-win for both AT&T and its customers.”

To help customers track their data usage, AT&T keeps users informed with courtesy alerts as they near their data allowance for the month. Also, customers can check their usage at anytime online, through the myAT&T mobile app, or by calling *DATA# from their mobile phone.

Each data plan also includes access to more than 30,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots — the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network** among wireless carriers — at no additional charge. Wi-Fi usage at public hotspots, home or office does not count toward the monthly wireless data plan usage.

Customers can learn more about the new plans and determine which plan is best for them atwww.att.com/mobileshare.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

** Largest based on company branded and operated hotspots. Access includes AT&T Wi-Fi Basic. A Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for details and locations.

Smartphone required. 3G, HSPA+, LTE devices only. Up to ten devices per plan. Additional monthly charge per device. Tablets sold at a discounted, 2-year contract price not eligible. $15 per GB for add’l data. Activation fee may apply. Additional deposits and other restrictions may apply.