AT&T T-Mobile

AT&T T-Mobile, AT&T yesterday killed its deal to purchase T-Mobile USA, which generated hurrahs from consumers, businesses, and government officials who saw the buyout as terrible for the US wireless industry.

I agree that the deal would have been, in general, user-hostile, but the aftermath leaves AT&T and T-Mobile in worse shape, and it’s caused confusion in the wireless — and wireless Internet — industry.

When AT&T in March announced its intention to purchase T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom, I thought the deal would eventually go through. But the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) didn’t buy AT&T’s ridiculous arguments that reducing the number of cellular competitors would increase competition and jobs and spark innovation.

In addition, massive grassroots efforts emerged by consumers and other organizations that saw T-Mobile as a scrappy competitor offering good airtime prices and excellent customer service. They didn’t want AT&T — with its abysmal customer service and expensive airtime plans — to kill a competitor.

As far as I’m concerned, the good guys (and gals) won. But now what?

AT&T Mobility LLC will continue to construct its US cellular network without T-Mobile. Indeed, one reason (of many) the buyout wasn’t approved by the DoJ and FCC was a memo by a law firm working for AT&T that said the cellular operator could expand its LTE (Long Term Evolution) network without T-Mobile’s spectrum, though the move wouldn’t be economically justified. Also, AT&T wants to purchase spectrum from Qualcomm’s defunct MediaFLO mobile television business, and I assume US regulators will approve that plan.

So I’m not crying for AT&T. I’m reserving some tears for T-Mobile, because the country’s smallest top-tier cellular operator really doesn’t have enough spectrum to roll out true 4G — that is, LTE. T-Mobile continues to call its HSPA+ network “America’s Largest 4G Network,” but it’s a lie. (See my video.) HSPA+ is 3G, although it’s much faster than older 3G technology.

Atlanta Newspaper

Atlanta Newspaper, When Mike Smith came to town, there were 78 Mike Smiths in the telephone directory Atlanta. He became the 79th.

I know at least a dozen Mike Smith in the sport, the famous jockey, an NHL goalie, a linebacker, a professional golfer, a boxer, a sports reporter and a sports chiropractor. And there are probably a dozen others that have escaped my attention. But not this one, the football coach.

Mike Smith is my favorite. There is nothing sexy about the name or person. I do not know a man who came to this city and captured the hearts of the people without putting a ball, swinging a kick or one that Mike Smith. (This is the only name he knew. The Falcons media guide lists him in plain “Mike Smith.”)

There was nothing fancy about him. He grew up one of eight children in Daytona Beach, where his parents were teachers. In the summer break, her father painted houses and Mike painted alongside. When he was a senior at Father Lopez High School, he broke a leg and has talked about leaving the coach to stay as a helper, and it was the beginning of what would become his career? (And I’ll tell you this; he was a child of good appearance, as in beautiful.)

He was able to get get scholarshipped by East Tennessee State, which has since dropped football, and twice was linebacker leading the team. Subsequently, he managed to find a job in San Diego State, and drove across the country in a rattling old Volkswagen. Then came Morehead State and Tennessee Tech 14 seasons in the “bush leagues” of college football.

Then, for the Baltimore Ravens and the Jaguars, and I’m not sure how it was that drew the attention of Thomas Dimitroff, who had attracted the attention of Arthur Blank, Rich McKay and the Falcons.

After walking through five seasons and four coaches (if you include Emmitt Thomas, who sat through the Bobby Petrino fiasco), the Falconery finally landed.

I suppose if you had to settle on anything that goes tick Mike Smith is the fact that he came here not only to coach but also to teach. Rod Woodson, who had been with the Ravens when Mike was there, had this to say:

“I think that education is a lost art in the NFL. There are many coaches who can put an X and O on the edge, but they cannot teach a man why they did it. Mike can do. It will be a good teacher. ”

Not only that, but as coaches go, Mike is an extraordinary human being, and Dimitroff and forged a kind of leadership, Arthur Blank struggling to find through these first five seasons. That’s it, is man, the 79th Mike Smith in the telephone directory, and once again the Sporting News Coach of the Year. My kind of man, not just the coach.

Furman Bisher is one of the deans of American sports writing. Sports journalist of long standing is a member of Atlanta Georgia and Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame and in addition to newspaper articles is the author of several books on major figures such as Hank Aaron and Arnold Palmer. He writes regular columns for the citizen.

Green Bay Packers Schedule

Green Bay Packers Schedule, “The hardest thing for me to be used are not able to get the game,” said Rob Miller, a truck driver and trainer for Schneider National. “Now we can obtain both the Packers dissemination and diffusion of the other team.”

Many pilots have over 13,000 Schneider loyalties Packers and spread the gospel of Green Bay on the road this weekend.

“If the Packers to cross Atlanta, it will actually increase,” said Pat Murphy, also a pilot and instructor. He noted that drivers should be on the road during the Packers-Falcons division playoff game tonight will not be relieved of their appointed rounds.

“Hey, we’re a service industry,” Murphy said. “If the fire department receives a call during the game, they will not wait for fourth-and-a game is finished.”

Miller was on the road to Oklahoma in 1998, when the Packers NFC Championship game played in San Francisco. After checking with his dispatcher, he learned he had time to watch the match at a truck stop.

“I told them that if the Packers won that game and went to the Super Bowl, I took a vacation,” said Miller.

Most jokes football at truck stops in a good mood, Miller and Murphy said, but they said they prefer Chicago Bears fans in Minnesota Vikings fans.

“I like going to the East Coast because they are more respectful of Green Bay there,” Miller said. “They (other drivers) assume that because it is the smallest city we all have season tickets. But they are all about football over there, whereas in the South and West, is NASCAR. ”

Murphy said one of his regular activities when working with a new group of trainees from outside the region is a trip to Lambeau Field.

“They are fascinated,” Murphy said. “They think it’s too cool.”

Source: http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110115/GPG0101/101150690

Duracell Mygrid

Duracell Mygrid, MyGrid Duracell boot iPhone is a wireless charging platform to charge all mobile devices. This can plop up to 4 devices to the grid on the mat charger for immediate loading. No load cables have to worry about and no clutter of cables and loads faster than standard USB 2.0 charger.

The only cable that is feeding a myGrid. The Kit comes with Starter iPhone and iPhone myGrid Power 3G/3GS manga.

MyGrid also supports Power Duracell clips, which works the same way as the manga, but not a full case for the device.

Power clips are compatible with a much wider range of phones.

Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals, Coach of the defending champion of what can be more difficult division football; Marvin Lewis has a lot on his mind before 2.2 Cincinnati Bengals enjoy their bye week. Heading into their match at home against Tampa Bay, Lewis tries to find a way to keep pace with the Baltimore Ravens (3-1) and Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1).

A potential distraction, though, is where Lewis’ contract pending: Twelve weeks from now (or more if the Bengals return to the playoffs), the eighth head coach of the year may be saying goodbye.

But in the last year of the extension of five years and her Bengals owner Mike Brown negotiated after the 2005 season, Lewis is a lame duck as a potential work stoppages possible looms. The timing is particularly curious given that Lewis is the reigning NFL coach of the year after leading Cincinnati to a surprising season last AFC North title, their second division crown in five seasons for a franchise that, before his arrival, had not made the playoffs since 1990.

“He has done so much to change the atmosphere here, and we really value him as a coach,” Bengals Carson Palmer quart (Notes) said Lewis. “I’m not really thinking about the contract situation of Marvin – I’m pretty much just concentrate on football -. But it would be great if they got something ”

Lewis and Brown declined to comment, but two sources familiar with the matter said there had been no serious negotiations on a new agreement. Late summer, Brown approached Lewis with an informal offer to extend his contract for what is essentially his current salary, a pay level characterized by a source familiar with the NFL coaching salaries that rank somewhere in the middle of the League and substantially lower than the average head coaches on their second contracts with their respective teams.

Although Lewis is represented by Octagon, and the president of the organization respected athletes and celebrities, Phil de Picciotto, is personally handling the negotiations, Brown has so far been reluctant to engage in formal discussions. (De Picciotto also declined to comment.)

As the Carolina Panthers coach John Fox, who is also the last year of his contract, Lewis is expected to attract interest from other NFL teams if he would enter the open market. But while Fox would win more than 6 million in 2010, Lewis was much lower in the food chain, and commanding an annual salary somewhere in the 3.5-and 4.5 million range.

To put things in perspective, one of the above sources, said Lewis is much less a season of two other peers who have not yet taken their teams to the Super Bowl, the Jaguars’ Jack Del Rio and the Packers Mike McCarthy. Lewis has a 58-57-1 record during the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs, with only two losing seasons of his tenure.

According to Lewis, a highly successful defensive coordinator for the Ravens and Redskins, he signed his initial contract of four years in January of 2003; Brown had the habit of adding additional years to the pact. He negotiated and Lewis one-year extensions following the ’03 and ’04 seasons and, after the Bengals won the division title in ’05, the agreement was extended until 2010. Both parties have restructured the contract after the ’07 season, but no additional years were added and the total value remained essentially unchanged.

Although the Browns have a reputation for frugality, Lewis enjoys coaching in Cincinnati and enjoys benefits like a pension plan fully funded, no cost health coverage and an unlimited budget to hire assistant coaches. However, people close to Lewis said he thinks the Bengals lack of a training procedure causes a competitive disadvantage at the end of the season, and he wills likely push for the construction of a practice bubble should increase negotiations.

“I do not know the specifics of the situation of Marvin and I’m sure it looks great, but I think most of all he has to win,” said Palmer. “We want to win, and he wants to give us any edge he can.

“It would be nice to have a bubble, especially when it’s late in the season, or when we get to the playoffs, and we have to play in a warm place, like San Diego or in [a domed stadium] as Indy. Especially if we go to an 18-game season and we play later in the year – it would be really great to be able to have practice inside. Outside bad weather, is difficult for us to practice quality ”

In the past, the Bengals traveled 20 minutes each way by bus to a training complex in Mason, Ohio, sometimes in traffic during rush hour, but it is not considered a preferable option logistics. Most NFL teams in cold weather cities have indoor facilities on site; with the Redskins – Off Lewis coaches before – join the Bengals as notable exceptions.

“I do not know exactly why we did not,” said Palmer. “You hear rumors of various reasons we do not – it is something which owns the land around our facility. But that’s the way it is. Just make the most of it. ”

Meanwhile, Lewis tries to make the most of what may be his last season in Cincinnati. The next step, presumably, is Brown.

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