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Four out of five consumers said they recorded a video with their mobile device over the holidays.

The latest survey by Denver-based Photobucket shows why carriers are scrambling for spectrum, expanding 4G network coverage and raising rates on mobile data plans. It also highlights the continuing decline of the stand-alone digital camera.

Mobile video is surging, with 80 percent of 2,200 consumers surveyed by Photobucket in January indicating that they recorded a video at least once during the holidays with their mobile device. That’s up from 59 percent in Summer 2011.

Half of those surveyed Read more…

Leading ski glove maker Swany wants you to talk to the hand. Literally.

At this week’s SIA Snow Show in Denver, the Gloversville, N.Y.-based company is showing off a pair of g.cell gloves that double as a phone. It features built-in Bluetooth technology that allows users to pair the gloves with a cellphone.

The gloves vibrate near your wrist to notify you of an incoming call. Tapping on a Read more…

JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images

A masked hacker from the Anonymous group, which briefly knocked the FBI and Justice Department websites offline in retaliation for the shut down of Megaupload.

The U.S. government’s crackdown on file-sharing sites such as Megaupload.com could have a substantial impact on network operators that generate millions of dollars in annual revenue carrying Internet traffic for the services.

One Internet service provider, Cogent Communications, reportedly received $30 million from Megaupload between 2009 and 2011.

“It remains unclear how many other similar file-sharing sites may be at risk and the additional bandwidth-related revenue exposure for companies such as Cogent, Level 3 and Global Crossing,” analyst David Dixon wrote in a research note last week, according to Bloomberg.

For its part, Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications, which acquired Global Crossing last year, said just a small portion of its revenue Read more…

Hyoung Chang / The Denver Post

From left, Jeremy Tanner, Megan Alpert and Andy Miller meet at MapQuest's Denver headquarters. The company's GM called high tech "the basis of all the inventions that are being created."

Technology professionals in the Denver area saw their average annual pay increase 4 percent in 2011 to $86,590, outpacing the national increase of about 2 percent, according to a latest salary survey by tech job site Dice.com.

Tech job postings in Denver are up 16 percent year over year, also higher than the national tech job growth rate of 11 percent. On any given day, there are more than 1,500 tech jobs in Denver on Dice.com.

Nationally, after two straight years of wages remaining nearly flat, annual salaries for tech professionals on averaged increased to $81,327 last year from $79,384 in 2010. Read more…

Pew Internet

Pew says 19 percent of Americans now own a tablet.

The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from mid-December to early January, driven by the launch of low-priced tablets from Amazon and Barnes & Noble

The number of adults who own a tablet surged from 10 percent in mid-December to 19 percent in early January, according to a report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

The report said the same surge in growth applied to ownership of e-book readers, such as the basic Kindle, which also increased from 10 percent to 19 percent over the same period. Read more…

Screen capture/AppAdvice

AT&T began throttling heavy data users late last year. A test by AppAdvice shows the speed differences are significant.

Just weeks after it began throttling Internet speeds for heavy users, AT&T has announced that it is raising data plan prices.

Perhaps most significant about the changes is that the entry-level smartphone Internet plan is now $20 for 300 megabytes of data a month, a 33 percent increase, though users are allotted 50 percent more data. Previously, the lowest plan was $15 for 200 MB of data. The carrier will now charge $30 for 3 gigabytes of data, up from $25 for 2 GB of data. The new prices take effect Sunday. Existing consumers will be allowed to keep their current plans.

Even with the price hike, AT&T’s data rates are still lower than chief rival Verizon Wireless. Verizon’s entry-level plan is $30 for 2 GB of data, with the next-tier increasing to $50 for 5 GB of data. Read more…

Nielsen

Android continues to hold the mobile OS market share lead.

The number of smartphone users is growing quickly, and Apple’s latest iPhone is playing a big role.

The launch of the iPhone 4S in October had an “enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone,” market research firm Nielsen said in a new report today.

Among “recent acquirers,” those got a new mobile device over the past three months, 44.5 percent surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone. That compares Read more…

Attributes of gadgets that stood out at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show: thin, smart and transparent.

Thousands of products were showcased at the annual tech-fest, with many already in the market and others slated for release soon. Some were prototypes that may never reach consumers.

A quick look at some notables (my full recap will appear in Monday’s TechKnow): Read more…

Andy Vuong/The Denver Post

The case in Web surfing mode with sockets popped out.

University of Colorado philosophy professor David Barnett this week launched a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise $12,000 over 35 days to fund the manufacturing of his PopSockets iPhone case.

He’s raised nearly $11,000 in five days. The PopSockets iPhone case has two sockets that pop out like accordions to serve as a kickstand, belt clip and headphone wrap, among other uses.

Barnett’s funny video (warning: it features some pretty bad dancing on the professor’s part) is embedded below the live blog stream. He is making the rounds at CES and says he’s received positive feedback from gadget lovers as well as some investor interest. He started the PopSockets venture as a side project after the Fourmile Canyon Fire destroyed his home.

Read more…

A real-time stream of my posts and tweets is below, along with a quick preview of some of the day’s plans.

4:07 P.M. | 3D motion sensing technology – The 2011 CES showcased some motion sensing technology for remote control purposes. The preview below at this year’s event from PrimeSense Natural Interaction shows more capabilities based on apps tailored for 3D motion sensing.
Read more…