unlimited

Facebook launches video calling

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook unveils video chat features

Amazon offers unlimited cloud music storage

Spotify makes official U.S. launch

Civ World comes to Facebook

Mac Blu-ray a possibility now

Motorola Droid 3 launch date

Hands-on: Amazon Cloud Player's new iPad Web app

I thought I could refuse Amazon's Cloud Player. I guess I was wrong.

Amazon unveiled official browser support on the iPad for Cloud Player. For me, and for many others, that's huge news. Previously, iOS devices hadn't been working too smoothly with Amazon's Cloud Player music-storage service. The newly updated Safari Web app isn't surprising, but it does work as advertised. iPad owners, you can officially rejoice.

Albums, playlists, and songs load up just like they would on a normal computer browser. Even better, the song list can be scrolled through with a single finger swipe. Songs play smoothly, and track-skipping and other controls work as expected. The best part, though, is that the Web app works well outside the browser in multitasking, too. … Read more

Amazon offers unlimited Cloud music storage

Amazon today announced a number of enhancements to its Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, including an unlimited music storage option and a Cloud Player for iPad.

For a limited time, Amazon customers who purchase a $20 annual Cloud Drive storage plan will receive unlimited storage space for their MP3 and AAC (.m4a) music files. Previously, Amazon Cloud customers automatically started with 5GB of free storage, upgradable to 20GB with the purchase of an Amazon MP3 album. Additional storage space could then be purchased in plans beginning at $20 per 20GB per year.

In comparison, Google Music Beta offers free … Read more

Verizon's new pricing plan is a godsend for Sprint

commentary Verizon Wireless' move to a tiered data plan will cement Sprint Nextel's role as the go-to carrier for heavy data users.

On Thursday, new Verizon customers will have to sign up for a usage-based data plan to go along with their handset. With AT&T having already moved to a tiered model and T-Mobile USA slowing down excessive data hogs, that leaves Sprint as the only national carrier offering unlimited data with no strings attached.

It's a rare advantage for Sprint, which routinely gets outgunned by AT&T and Verizon both in marketing clout and … Read more

Ask Maggie: Can I really live without unlimited data?

Starting July 7, new Verizon Wireless customers can kiss unlimited data plans good-bye. But what do the pricing plan changes mean for existing customers? Can people really live without unlimited data?

It's been no secret that Verizon has planned to eliminate the unlimited data plan. The company's executives have been saying it for months. So it was no shock when last week word leaked of the company's new plans. The only real news was when it would happen. Since then, my inbox has been flooded with questions from desperate and confused smartphone customers asking me what they … Read more

Barebones photo organizer

The ease and inexpensiveness of digital photography makes it easy for even the casual photographer to quickly become overwhelmed by the number of photos she has taken and needs to organize. SSuite Office - Photo Gallery is a basic program for organizing images in albums. It's pretty bare-bones as photo organizers go, and although it works just fine, there's not much about it that really interested us.

The program's interface is plain and fairly easy to navigate, with most of its major features represented by buttons down the left side. You can create photo albums and easily … Read more

On Call: Lost iPhones, unlimited data plans, and Nokia's device strategy

On Call runs every two weeks, alternating between answering reader questions and discussing hot topics in the cell phone world.

It's been a few months since I've used On Call to answer reader questions, but this week offered the perfect opportunity. Being that tomorrow, June 29, is the fourth birthday of the original iPhone, I wanted to tackle a great query on replacing a lost Apple device. Plus, the ongoing AT&T-T-Mobile merger has produced a lot of reader questions on the status of unlimited data plans, and the recent introduction of the Nokia N9 has cause … Read more

Ask Maggie: Wait for iPhone 5 or take Verizon's unlimited data?

The Ask Maggie column is a year old this week. And the No. 1 question I consistently get is about the next iPhone. So it was only fitting that for the first anniversary of this column, I highlight yet another "When is the next iPhone coming?" question.

In this week's Ask Maggie, I help one reader decide if he should wait for the next-generation iPhone or buy the iPhone 4 before Verizon Wireless gets rid of its unlimited data plan. I also explain to another reader when I think more Windows Phone smartphones will hit the market. … Read more

Looking for a smartphone bargain? Check out prepaid

As unlimited data plans from traditional wireless carriers go the way of the flip phone, savvy bargain hunters have another option: prepaid services that offer cool new smartphones with cheap unlimited data plans.

After months of anticipation, Verizon Wireless is expected to introduce a new pricing scheme July 7, which will eliminate its unlimited data plan. AT&T did something similar a year ago. While Sprint and T-Mobile USA, the smaller of the four national carriers, still offer unlimited data, there are signs that pricing will increase. Sprint already charges customers $10 more a month for phones that can … Read more