CDC: One in four U.S. homes ditch landlines

Nearly 25 percent of all U.S. households have eliminated landlines in favor of mobile phones, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed in a recent study.

According to the CDC, during the last half of 2009, 24.5 percent of all U.S. households had at least one mobile phone and no landline telephones, representing a 1.8 percent increase compared to the first half of 2009. And approximately 15 percent of U.S. homes had a landline but received the vast majority of calls on their mobile lines.

The CDC collects phone usage data, and corresponding demographic information, in conjunction with its telephone-based National Health Interview Survey in order to ensure that the NHIS is effectively targeting a survey group that reflects the current state of nationwide health. For the period from July to December 2009, the agency garnered its data on household telephone status from 21,375 households containing more than 40,000 adults (aged 18 and older) and nearly 15,000 children.

The CDC, which has been conducting the survey of cell phone use since 2003, has witnessed rapid growth of mobile-phone-only homes. In 2003, for example, fewer than 5 percent of homes had ditched landlines for mobile phones, the CDC reported, while the survey results released in May 2009 showed that just over 20 percent of households had only mobile phones.

That growth could continue. The CDC found that 22.9 percent of American adults now live in a home without a landline, and nearly 26 percent of children live in homes with only mobile phones. The agency also reported that about 2 percent of American households, accounting for 4 million adults and 1.4 million children, have no telephone service of any kind.

Age was a key factor in whether an American household has a landline. According to the CDC, 48.6 percent of households with adults aged 25 to 29 were wireless-only. That number declined significantly in older age brackets. For example, just 5.2 percent of people 65 and older live in homes with no landlines.

Finally, the CDC found that renters are more likely to live in wireless-only households than homeowners, and those living in the Northeast are less likely to ditch the landline than those living in the West, Midwest, or South.

Click here to see the entire CDC study, "Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, July-December 2009" (PDF).

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Microsoft goes outside for Kin's Mac sync

As promised, Microsoft is offering software that will allow Kin owners to share photos and music between a Mac and the new, youth-oriented phone.

Although the Kin is designed to work with Microsoft's Zune software for Windows, Redmond tapped sync software specialist Mark/Space to create software for sharing photos and music with a Mac.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

One new wrinkle, though, is that Microsoft went with a third-party firm to develop that software. Mark/Space, which is known for its software for syncing mobile devices and the desktop, created Kin Media Sync for Microsoft.

The free software download lets users transfer music, photos, videos, and podcasts from a Mac to the Kin, though it won't work with copy-protected songs or videos purchased from iTunes.

My colleague Donald Bell wonders why Microsoft hasn't done something similar for its Zune, given the amount of e-mails he has gotten from readers looking for Zune-Mac support.

Meanwhile, for Mac and PC users alike, Thursday marks the day that the Kin goes on sale at Verizon Wireless stores. Did anyone out there hit the stores and pick one up?

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Google turns Nexus One strategy upside down

Google's Nexus One will soon be a retail-only device, an abrupt shift from Google's original strategy.

(Credit: CNET)

Google announced big changes in its Nexus One strategy Friday: it's moving from online to retail.

Google's Andy Rubin, head of the company's Android efforts, announced the changes in a blog post. Google plans to stop selling the Nexus One through its Web store as it increases the availability of the device in retail channels, as it has done recently in the U.K. through Vodafone.

"While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not," Rubin said in the post. "It's remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from."

The abrupt shift comes after several setbacks for Google's original strategy, in which Google hoped to offer a family of Nexus devices through the Web store to change the way consumers purchase phones. However, only T-Mobile has agreed to support the Web-only model by offering a monthly plan, with Verizon and Sprint backing out after having pledged their support.

It's difficult to see where Google goes from here with the Nexus One. In less than five months since the breathless introduction of the Nexus One, Google will wind up doing exactly it swore up and down it was not going to do: directly competing with its Android partners at retail with its own-branded phone.

Google refused to make executives available to discuss the closing of its Web store, or the broader strategic implications. There are many: how will carrier partners be instructed to sell the Nexus One against other Android phones like the Droid Incredible or the Evo 4G? Will Google be forced to advertise the Nexus One in more traditional channels--such as television--in order to compete? Now that three of the four major U.S. carriers have refused to support the Nexus One, where exactly does Google plan to distribute this phone now that the Web store is on its way out?

A company representative would not comment on plans for marketing and advertising as well as whether or not other carriers are slated to come on board. The representative also declined to confirm how many Nexus One phones have been sold to date, something the company has refused to address for several months.

Google's Nexus One plan was always peculiar, given the broader success of Android over the last several years as a true mass-market smartphone operating system. Why did Google decide to throw a wrench into that plan with the Nexus One introduction, which clearly has not been well-received by its partners?

In January, Google answered that question by saying it wanted to set a higher bar for hardware designers and change the way smartphones are sold, pitching itself as the catalyst that would break up an entrenched industry with exclusive phones, two-year contracts, and control over application platforms. Less than five months later, it has declared that strategy a failure by closing its Web store, and the Nexus One's hardware advantage was quickly erased by the Droid Incredible and Evo 4G, two phones Google had to know were in the pipeline when it announced the Nexus One.

It's not hard to believe that the Nexus One itself might fade off into the sunset soon after the Web store closes, a curious reminder of the limits of Google's ambition. Perhaps a few Google employees agree: just this week,Google lost two key Android and Nexus One team members, Erick Tseng and Cedric Beust, to other companies.

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The good-as-gold edition

Too busy bidding adieu to space shuttle Atlantis this week to keep your eyes on Crave? Here's what was happening here on Earth while you were looking toward space.

• We went full Steam ahead on four Macs.

• One guess what the iiView M1Touch looks like.

Got a few hundred to spare? (Click for a larger view of the Gold To Go ATM.)

(Credit: Ex Oriente Lux)

• Hot new way to cool gadgets?

• This Abu Dhabi ATM is golden.

• Panasonic's Toughbook got even tougher.

• Lenovo trotted out IdeaCentres aplenty.

• DNA robots: Putting the "nano" in nanobots.

• David Carnoy breaks down the iPad/piracy link.

• Finally, when and how-much details for the HTC Evo 4G.

• And speaking of how much, how much would you shell outfor a Nintendo online gaming service?

See anything we missed? Send all those 14-carat story tips to crave at cnet dot com.

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SpeedDate iPad app complicates love quest

Hello there, Jaquy. You are so hot!

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Admit it! When you bought an iPad, possibly against your better financial judgment, you secretly hoped that each time you pulled the shiny new gadget out in a bus or cafe, attractive singles would flock around you to stare and say hello. If you've since found that the attention-magnet-wannabe gadget hasn't sufficiently enhanced your charm quotient, there's now an app to hopefully offset the difference.

SpeedDate.com, the site that brought its dating app to the iPhone last year, announced on Friday a version for the iPad. The company claims this is the first dating app for the iPad and hints that the device's larger screen is synonymous with a higher chance of finding a date. After all, it seems apparent that the larger screen would let you see more search results in one page than the iPhone, as well as finger-swipe through photos more conveniently.

SpeedDate says the new free app allows for instant notification alerts when e-mails or "winks" have been received and when a person of interest is online. On top of that, more detailed search filters narrow the matching process further by sorting singles based on physical attributes, lifestyle, special interests, and other criteria. You can also use the tagging feature to ensure that all of your favorite profiles are stored and easily accessible.

Hello singles! The Members tab shows a list of potential dates in one long page.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

I tried downloading the app to my iPad and immediately found out that my account, which I created a year ago for my previous post on the iPhone version, couldn't be used to log in. This is interesting as it still works when I try logging in at the Web site.

To use the app I had to create another account by surrendering another e-mail address and entering a few personal details including name, birthday, and location. I went ahead with the process. The old account didn't give me much luck in the past year anyway.

Once I created a new account and was able to log in successfully, I was greeted with a long list of (supposed) singles in my vicinity who I could quickly flirt with, wink to, add to my favorites list, or even send a private message to. Trying to do what singles probably want to do most, however--view photos--proves disappointing. The pictures are all very low resolution and show up at the same size as they do on an iPhone screen. On the iPad they look tiny, and there's no zooming function to judge just how hot he or she is.

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Microsoft Office 2010 all details

This isn't just Office 2007 with a fresh coat of paint. Office 2010 is a feature-rich productivity suite that deserves strong consideration.

Microsoft officially launched Office 2010, a remarkably attractive upgrade to Office 2007 that will please power users with its dazzling array of new features that refines Office 2007's somewhat confusing interface, adds cloud computing elements for road warriors, and offers a much deeper user-experience.

For example, Sharepoint 2010 (the business collaboration and content management platform included in Office 2010), has received major upgrades that see e-mail and social networking integration, new Web design tools, a focus on collaboration, and the now-familiar Ribbon interface that has finally been integrated with all products in the Office suite (Outlook, which didn't have the Ribbon in Office 2007 gets it for 2010, too). Microsoft hasn't excluded smart phone users; Office Mobile 2010 (a free download from the Windows Mobile Marketplace) will let Windows Mobile 6.5 smart phone user browse, edit, and sync documents.

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Besides feature upgrades, Microsoft Office 2010 offers another change: Microsoft is no longer offering upgrade pricing discounts. Microsoft representatives have stated that this change was implemented due to the way typical users acquire Office—they tend to purchase new versions when they buy new PCs, so there isn't really sufficient demand for upgrades. You can check out our detailed breakdown of Office 2010 pricing for more information.

Microsoft Office 2010's price starts at $99 (Office Professional Academic) and tops off at $499 (Office Professional), so investing in the suite should be done with some consideration. Although Office 2010 offers many enhancements to usability (such as a 64-bit version that supports massive Excel spreadsheets, and multi-threading for faster open and closing), this might not be enough of an improvement for those who are already happy with Office 2007. In fact, Google has suggested that users forgo upgrading to Office 2010 and take a look at Google Docs instead. We analyzed the features of both Google Apps for Business and Microsoft Office 2010 to help you decide which is best for your business.

Why did we make the above comparison for businesses only? Because currently, Microsoft Office is only available to corporate customers (via TechNet or resellers)—boxed, retail versions will arrive in June, and we'll compare suites with individual users in mind closer to the in-store on-sale date. We'll also be publishing plenty of tips and advice for Office 2010 in the coming weeks, too. In the meanwhile, if you're a business owner considering upgrading today, or a consumer wanting an advance look, check out our full review of Microsoft Office 2010.

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