falling

When U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker dropped his iPhone 4 more than 1,000 feet out of a plane traveling 150 miles per hour, he was pretty sure his relationship with his phone (unlike his contract with his carrier) had just been terminated.

Walker is a jump master who makes sure the plane is in the right position before handing parachute jumpers over to the mercy of gravity. When he leaned out of the plane somewhere above North Carolina to take a look at landmarks below, he says, his iPhone slipped out to take on a new role as a real-life math and physics SAT question.

Once back on the ground, and with the help of MobileMe, a friend, and an ATV, Walker says he was soon reunited with the phone, which he declares was completely unscathed in its Griffin Motif TPU case. He originally shared his story and photos with iLounge.

Walker says he believes the phone's fall may have been broken by leaves and pine needles in the forested area where it landed (rather than the nearby lake or two-lane highway, fortunately.) The iPhone's survival credibility has also been demonstrated through more wet encounters, but I know a good reason to geek-out algebra style when I see one: if an iPhone 4 is traveling at 150 miles per hour on a 3G network and falls 1,000 feet, when does the plane get to Charleston? And does it drop your call?… Read more

This video might just amuse but only because no one was hurt in the making of it.

At least not seriously hurt, as in decapitated.

Here is a 10-year-old Italian boy, deeply engrossed in his PSP game. Here he is wandering along a subway platform in Loreto, Milan.

And there he is not noticing that the platform has a limit, after which it becomes, well, railway track.

According to the Daily Mail, it was an off-duty policeman, Alessandro Micalizzi, who leaped down to rescue the boy before a train ruined his life expectancy.

Micalizzi was quoted in the Mail as … Read more

Some events make us stop and think. Then there are the events that make us stop, think, laugh, and propagate until we can't think of anyone else to send them to. This, surely, is one of those events.

This enthralling video seems to have been posted to several sites (including YouTube), and it's become quite popular. It may well have originated at BuzzFeed, though it was sent to me by a kind reader who enjoys the handle Super2online. And can only hope that it is real. (It certainly seems to be.)

The video shows a girl wandering around … Read more

Today on preGame, we'll brave the post-apocalyptic Mojave desert in search of the man who tried to kill us! Tune in as we try our luck with a demo of Fallout: New Vegas.

But first, Mark and Jeff reminisce about a console celebrating its 25th birthday this week. That's right, the original Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES for short) is a quarter-century old. We'll chat about the first time we remember firing up the system, cartridge blowing, and much more.

Making headlines this week are the top-selling video games of 2010 this far. There are a few … Read more

It's no secret; the gaming biz--like everything else--has taken a hit in 2010 thanks to declining sales and a more value-conscious consumer. However, with the holiday gaming season officially under way, so is the expectation for blockbuster, must-have titles. But with Sony and Microsoft focusing on their respective motion control initiatives, we think the conventional release list feels a bit light.

Regardless, though it may be a bit underwhelming compared with holiday seasons past, this year holds a few gems that we think are worth checking out. Click through to our gallery of picks for this fall and be sure to let us know what you're looking forward to playing as well.

For the latest news and live demos of all of this season's hottest games, be sure to catch preGame every week. Or, you can jump over to a list of titles we've recently had some hands-on time with.… Read more

We missed a show last week due to CTIA so we had a lot to discuss this week. And if the load of Android news from CTIA wasn't enough, Microsoft debuted its first load of Windows 7 devices at a big event in New York City two days ago. Bonnie was there to capture it all with hands-on analysis of the handsets and her predictions about how they'll fare against the other smartphone operating systems on the market. We also get to our latest reviews where, guess what? Bonnie loves the T-Mobile G2! Kent refuses to say "… Read more

If you live in the Midwest, or you're a Chicago White Sox fan, there's a good chance you're familiar with U.S. Cellular. As the sixth largest wireless carrier in the country after the "big four" (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T) and MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular serves 6.1 million customers in 26 states scattered around the center of the country, New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeast.

For much of its life, Chicago-based U.S. Cellular appeared content with serving its home network area and offering its customers a relatively uninspiring lineup of handsets that you could also find with other CDMA carriers like Verizon Wireless. In the last couple of years, however, the carrier has awakened from its slumber. It secured roaming agreements with other operators to form a nationwide network, it activated 3G data services, and it began to introduce exclusive high-end smartphones like the HTC Desire and Samsung Mesmerize. And just two weeks ago, it introduced the Belief Project, which is a program that rewards long-term customers with a variety of benefits such as quicker phone upgrades and a cap on overage fees.

Last week at CTIA in San Francisco, I chatted briefly with Mary Dillon, U.S. Cellular's president and CEO. Formerly the global chief marketing officer and executive vice president for McDonald's Corporation, Dillon arrived at U.S. Cellular four months ago. She's not only the first female CEO at the company, but also the first woman to take the top spot at a major wireless carrier in the United States. John Coyle, the carrier's senior director of customer strategy, joined us to talk about the Belief Project, 4G, Android, and growing a nationwide network.

Q: Last week U.S. Cellular introduced the Belief Project. What's the story behind it and what do you hope to accomplish? Dillon: We're very excited about the Belief Project because we expect that it will help grow our business. We expect we'll get new customers and, because of what the Belief Project is offering, keep returning customers at an even greater rate. It's all about rewarding customers and addressing that pinpoint in the industry. U.S. Cellular is the first to bring about this rule-changing way of business to the market.

Q: Some of the Belief Project's benefits, like letting customers buy a discounted phone without signing a contract and eliminating upgrade fees, are unusual for the bigger carriers. Will we see more of this? Dillon: Listening to what is on customer's minds is good for business. Being new to the industry, I see there is a real opportunity to have a human relationship to customers instead of it being all about the contract. Our competitors may follow suit down the road, but I think that we can deliver this better than anyone else. While others might try to replicate pieces of it, we're bringing it to life now.

Also, we've just won a J.D. Power call quality award for the tenth consecutive time in [the North central region]. That, along with the Belief Project, gives us a way to differentiate. It's an ongoing way of doing business. … Read more

We admit that we expected CTIA Fall 2010 to be rather slow, as the fall version of the wireless trade show is usually not as eventful as the one in the spring. Boy, were we wrong. More than 10 new devices made their debut this past week, pushing the holiday gadget season into full swing.

Motorola kicked off the festivities with the announcement of five new Android smartphones--three for AT&T and two for Verizon Wireless. They are the Motorola Bravo, the Motorola Flipside, the Motorola Flipout, the Motorola Citrus, and the Motorola Droid Pro. The Motorola Droid … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--If you feel like you've seen the LG Optimus T before, don't fret. The Optimus T does look a lot like the Optimus One slated for Europe, and it also has very similar specs to the Optimus S for Sprint. The main differences between the Optimus T and the Optimus S are that the T doesn't have Sprint ID of course, and its button placement is slightly different. It also doesn't have the camera button on the side like the Optimus S, and as the Optimus T is slated for T-Mobile, it has the added … Read more