11/06, 12:00am
Droid launches at 34th St store
As promised, Verizon tonight launched the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris at its primary retail store on 34th Street in New York City. The midnight opening is the first official launch in the country but follows numerous reports from those who have visited Best Buy and Walmart stores and successfully obtained the phone ahead of its official street date. Walmart Super Center stores are also typically opening sales at midnight, though the next earliest opportunity will involve the 7AM and 8AM openings at some non-mall Verizon stores.
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11/05, 4:35pm
iPhone 3GS 8GB may combat Moto Droid
Apple and AT&T may use an 8GB iPhone 3GS as a 'secret weapon' against the launch of the Motorola Droid if a rumor proves accurate. Two separate sources of BGR's say the two iPhone partners are considering replacing the existing 8GB iPhone 3G with a 3GS variant, preserving the same capacity and $99 price. The move would undercut Verizon by offering the latest iPhone at the same price as the less ambitious Droid Eris.
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11/04, 6:35pm
LG targeting iPhone, BlackBerry, Pre
LG now considers the iPhone one of its largest competitors in the smartphone space, CEO Yong Nam said in a Washington presentation today. He dismisses both market leader Nokia and Sony Ericsson as rivals and instead says most of LG's energy is now focused on beating Apple, Palm and Research in Motion. The Korean company is now "investing heavily" in smartphones and is putting most of its focus on touchscreen devices like the Android-based Eve and multiple Windows Mobile phones.
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11/02, 12:15pm
Citi urges selling Palm, RIM stock
Citigroup analyst Jim Suva today signaled a major rethink of its approach to cellphone shares by downgrading both Palm and Research in Motion stock to a "sell" recommendation. The about-face comes as a direct result of the Motorola Droid and a belief that the Android phone is a dark horse which will upset phones like the BlackBerry range or the Pre by upstaging them both at work and through sheer publicity.
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10/29, 11:10pm
Palm sync again stopped by iTunes patch
Palm Pre owners tonight discovered that iTunes 9.0.2 once again breaks sync with iTunes. It's unclear what Apple has done to deny a native presence and, unlike with some past iTunes updates, there are no direct allusions to altering compatibility. Users are known to still have use of gateway apps such as DoubleTwist or Missing Sync.
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10/29, 11:35am
Best Buy undercuts Verizon Droid pricing
Best Buy this morning scored a minor win by revealing that it will sell the Motorola Droid for $200 on contract, but without the $100 mail-in rebate that Verizon demands at its own stores. The retail chain adds that it will start taking pre-orders later today, just over a week before Verizon opens sales itself.
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10/29, 8:30am
Sprint loses $478m cash, 135K customers
Sprint today reportedsignificant losses for its summer quarter. The carrier's net losses widened from $326 million a year ago to $478 million but were softened by losing a relatively modest 135,000 cellphone customers; the number is Sprint's smallest loss in customers in the past two years. It now has a total of 48.3 million subscribers and remains the third-largest provider, above T-Mobile but well below AT&T's 81.6 million.
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10/27, 2:50pm
Study shows iPhone 3GS unseating BBerry
The success of the iPhone 3GS could lead to Apple's device overtaking the BlackBerry, a ChangeWave study has found today. Since unveiling the phone in June, Apple has jumped five percent in its market share among those in the study, to 30 percent, and is within a "striking distance" of just 10 percent of RIM's BlackBerry, which fell a point to 40 percent. Palm is flat at 7 percent but successfully used the Pre to stave off the constant declines it has faced for the past three years.
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10/26, 10:40am
Palm Pixi due in three weeks for Sprint
Sprint today set final launch details for the Palm Pixi on its network. The smartphone will ship to the carrier's stores on November 15th and cost $100 on contract after both a $50 immediate discount and a $100 mail-in rebate. It's also now known to work with the Touchstone inductive charging dock but needs both the $80 add-on as well as a $20 back shell to charge without using wires.
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10/23, 5:50pm
Moto Droid previewed well
Although not due to be unveiled until next week, Motorola's Droid stands to be Verizon's best phone to date, a preview finds. The first look at BGR characterizes it as one of the best Android devices to date, with high build quality, a fast processor with PowerVR graphics, good call quality and a long-lasting battery that can run for an entire day. Android 2.0 is also significantly more polished and brings a much improved browser and e-mail.
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10/19, 11:20am
O2 says Pre strong, gives no iPhone look
O2's British division today said that the UK launch of the Palm Pre was successful. A spokesperson declined to say how many had been sold but told TechRadar that the carrier sold more Pres on Friday than it normally does all other phones. Many of these were also often buying one or sometimes two of Palm's Touchstone inductive charging dock.
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10/17, 2:50pm
Verizon ad campaign to attack Apple
Verizon today sent signals that it's about to launch an aggressive campaign against Apple through a combination of marketing and devices. A leaked note regarding an upcoming ad series, nicknamed "iDoesn't," specifically targets the "iDevice" and will allegedly focus on all the features the iPhone doesn't have. The details Engadget sees are vague regarding the ads themselves but do mention that Verizon will keep branding to a minimum.
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10/14, 8:50am
Acer Liquid carries Android 1.6
Acer on Wednesday made a new claim to the fastest smartphone available with the Liquid. The company's first Android phone, it's one of the first to ship with Android 1.6 but is also the first Android phone to ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Using the 1GHz chip makes it faster than the 800MHz Samsung Moment and helps drive the 800x480 touchscreen as well as speed up 3D and Android's already accurate web browser.
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10/12, 12:35pm
TNS sees Palm pre-launch better than iPhone
The launch of the Palm Pre on O2 could generate more attention than the iPhone did just two years earlier, a TNS study finds today. About 26 percent of 1,000 UK residents polled say they will or probably will buy a Palm Pre for its October 16th British launch; by comparison, only 17 percent planned to get an iPhone when it debuted in fall 2007. Switching is considered just as probable, as 32 percent of those on other UK carriers said they would be willing to switch to O2 to get the Pre.
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10/09, 10:45am
MS Pink and Danger team at risk
Microsoft's Pink phone project may be on the verge of falling apart even before its first product ships, according to a controversial set of leaks supposedly confirmed today. Backing a scoop from earlier in the week, a source for AppleInsider says Microsoft has poorly managed the project and squandered the acquisition of Sidekick creator Danger from 2008. Rather than implement Danger's advice, the larger company has watched the majority of the team either fired or leave in frustration as the majority of their advice is ignored.
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10/09, 4:00am
Video hints at unique hardware
Several videos have surfaced that claim a revised Palm Pre may be heading to Mexico's Telcel carrier, allegedly with the addition of a MicroSD card slot. The videos, originating from the Mexican site Matuk, contain a preview of the Pre sporting a Telcel icon. The person in the video makes a reference to a memory card slot.
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10/08, 11:00am
JD Power says iPhone tops, hurts normal phones
The iPhone today claimed an even larger edge in satisfaction versus its rivals in JD Power's second phone satisfaction study of 2009. Apple's smartphone climbed ten points from an earlier score to 811 out of 1,000 while its closest rival, LG, managed just a four-point increase to 776. The two were the only smartphone designers to score above the industry average.
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10/07, 10:30am
Android 2nd place in share in 3 years
Google's Android will be the second-largest smartphone platform in as little as three years, according to Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney estimated on Wednesday. While it trails today, the mobile OS is predicted to climb to 14.5 percent of the market, or about 76 million phones sold per year, by the end of 2012. As a consequence, it would whittle Symbian's market share down to 39 percent (203 million phones) and just slightly overtake the iPhone, which in this view would have 13.7 percent of the market or 71.5 million devices.
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10/06, 5:05pm
Palm Pixi GSM spotted in Vietnamese leak
A Vietnamese site's access to a prototype has confirmed that Palm is developing a GSM version of the Pixi for use on carriers beyond Sprint and outside of the US. The dissection shows a superficially identical device but, apart from the choice of network, that the phone may carry just 4GB of internal storage instead of 8GB in the version first headed to the US. Its 2-megapixel camera and GPS should remain intact.
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10/05, 11:25pm
Palm spurs open-source apps, web downloads
Palm at a special event tonight staked out its differences with Apple by making key changes to its developer program. The smartphone developer is one of the first after Google to foster open development and said it will dismiss its usual $99 app submission fee for any developer whose webOS apps are open-source. Back end data on app downloads and other sales info will also be available to all developers on request.
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10/05, 3:10pm
BlackBerry Dakota and Essex get early info
Two of RIM's more important future QWERTY BlackBerries have been spoiled today through a pair of slips of details as well as photos. Formerly known as the Magnum, the Dakota should be RIM's first smartphone to have a touchscreen in a conventional shape, like Palm's devices. Salomondrin adds that its camera may be unique in the industry as a whole: it would use a "liquid lens" system that changes the shape of the lens itself to refocus without needing a thick and at times unnatural mechanical focusing system.
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10/05, 7:55am
Adobe unveils Flash 10.1 without iPhone
Adobe at its MAX show launched Flash 10.1, a major update to its plugin that promises video on devices that normally haven't been capable. The release adds hardware graphics acceleration on computers and should make HD Flash video possible on netbooks and ultraportables and standard definition possible on smartphones. NVIDIA already promises that its GeForce, Ion and Tegra chipsets will speed up the Flash update when available.
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10/03, 11:25am
Palm webOS 1.2.1 fixes iTunes, Exchange
Palm today quietly circumvented Apple's protective measures again with webOS 1.2.1. Its second update in a week is the first to restore iTunes syncing for the Pre since iTunes 8.2 and will let the Pre take media from iTunes 9.0.1 as though it were a native device in the jukebox software. It even adds deeper integration and will now sync photo albums as well as lower-resolution versions that save space on the phone.
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10/02, 4:50pm
Palm Pixi still with vague holiday date
A contradictory rumor this afternoon claims that talk of the Palm Pixi arriving on October 20th is inaccurate. Claiming to have an insider who would "definitely have a better perspective" on the release, Engadget says the date is incorrect and that a launch before the holidays is still the only likely target. No price information or other corrections were made available.
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10/02, 12:15pm
Acer next to use Android over Win Mobile
Acer is the next smartphone maker to move much of its attention away from Windows Mobile, sources within the field hinted today. Even though as recently as February it promised mostly Windows Mobile phones, DigiTimes has heard the company is now switching its attention to Google's Android and should ship "at least half" of its 2010 phones with the mostly open-source OS. The first Acer-made Android phone, the A1, is now estimated to ship in November.
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10/02, 8:00am
Sony preps strong wireless power
Sony finished the week with word of one of the first wireless power systems that could supply significant amounts of energy. The approach uses a magnetic resonance technique that has the device operating on a frequency receptive to that of the energy itself. In doing so, the current form of the invention can supply up to 60W of power over about 19.7 inches, or enough to power many notebook computers and some smaller TVs.
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10/01, 8:50pm
Service launches October 2nd
Palm is allegedly ready to launch its paid app service for webOS devices, a source has told PreCentral. Content will linked with the user's Palm Profile, enabling deleted apps to be re-downloaded without requiring a second purchase. After purchasing a new Pre or Pixi, all of the apps can be transferred to the new device.
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10/01, 6:10pm
Palm Pixi may show in three weeks
Palm's Pixi may already be in stores in less than three weeks' time if a leak proves true. A new but seemingly realistic source for BGR claims that the phone will be in stores on October 20th. The release would be complete and include not just Sprint's own stores but Best Buy and other third-party chains as well.
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10/01, 3:35pm
SlingPlayer coming to Palm Pre, as per job post?
A job listing at Sling Media, the maker of the Slingbox streaming TV hub, suggests that both Android and webOS versions of the streaming TV application are in develpoment. The job calls for a Senior Mobile User Interface Designer knowledgeable in these platforms as well as in platforms that already have SlingPlayer apps, such as BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile.
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10/01, 2:20pm
Win Mobile usage to triple by 2013
In spite of common perception, Windows Mobile could take second place in the smartphone market in as little as four years, an iSuppli study predicted today. Analysts estimate that the phones shipped will triple from 27.7 million by the end of this year to 67.9 million in 2013, or enough to give it 15.3 percent of the industry behind Nokia's predicted 47.6 percent. Microsoft is expected to slip to third this year but to recover over time.
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09/30, 3:35pm
AdMob August 2009 gives iPhone the lead
Apple's iPhone OS has successfully overtaken Symbian for the lead in all mobile web traffic, according to the latest data from AdMob. The combined iPhone and iPod touch share has jumped from 33 percent in February to 40 percent in August. Symbian, meanwhile, has almost exactly traded positions with Apple and fell from 43 percent near the start of the year to 34 percent in August.
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09/30, 1:00pm
iPhone leads CFI phone happiness study
Modern touchscreen phones like the iPhone, Android devices and the Palm Pre are proving to be much more enjoyable to use than conventional smartphones -- at times in spite of their networks, according to a CFI study. About 83 percent of US iPhone owners are satisfied with their phones while the other two touch-first platforms, Google's Android and Palm's webOS, are close with 77 percent each. In comparison, 73 percent of BlackBerry owners can say the same while those using Palm Treos of different varieties claimed 70 percent satisfaction.
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09/30, 11:55am
Palm may be cutting jobs
Palm is engaging in a fresh round of job cuts due to disappointing sales of the Pre, according to a pair of assertions made today. One tip has the smartphone creator laying off some staff within the US. Numbers and the particular divisions affected aren't mentioned by CoolSmartphone; the move is only known to be prompted by "restructuring."
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09/29, 3:30pm
T-Mobile details Moto Cliq launch
T-Mobile this afternoon set out official launch details for the Motorola Cliq, its newest Android phone and Motorola's first touchscreen smartphone. Pre-orders for existing users should start on October 19th while the phone should ultimately arrive in stores on November 2nd; those who order in advance may get the phone early, T-Mobile said. The handset itself is priced at the same $200 on contract as its tougher competition, including the iPhone and BlackBerry Tour, though it's more expensive than the $150 prices of the Palm Pre or T-Mobile's own myTouch 3G.
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09/28, 11:55pm
Update does not fix Apple's compatibility block
Palm on Monday announced that it is set to launch webOS 1.2, an update to the Pre firmware. The Palm Synergy service has been expanded to support LinkedIn contact syncing, with profiles presented in the Pre contacts. The e-mail function now allows users to filter the results in the current folder by typing in a search term. While navigating the Internet, files can be downloaded directly from within the browser.
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09/28, 7:40am
Orange UK to carry iPhones in 2009
Orange UK this morning said it has struck a deal with Apple to carry both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS "later this year." The carrier doesn't yet have information regarding phone prices or service plans but does say it will sell the handsets both online, at retail, and at "selected high street partners." No mention is made of Carphone Warehouse, which handles third-party sales for the iPhone today.
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09/27, 12:20pm
Directors of Palm Developer Relations team
Two Web-based programming advocates, Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith, announced on Friday their departure from Mozilla, stepping into new roles as directors of the Palm Developer Relations team. Almaer voiced concerns in his blog about the control companies have over the apps people can use on their phones saying "some view this revolution as a chance to seize power in downright Orwellian ways by constraining what we, as developers, can say, dictating what kinds of apps we can create, controlling how we distribute our apps, and placing all kinds of limits on what [we] can do to our computing devices."
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09/25, 4:50pm
Palm Pre down to $100 at Amazon
The Palm Pre smartphone is now being offered for $100, its lowest price thus far. The device launched at $199 on a two-year contract from wireless provider Sprint, with Amazon now selling the handset on its site for the record-low price. As always, to qualify for the $100 price, a new two-year contract from Sprint is required.
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09/25, 3:20pm
Palm Pre still seen coming to Verizon
Rumors that Verizon is dropping the Pre aren't accurate, according to a note from Deutsche Bank today. The institution cites "checks" that have another version of the Pre still being built that should be destined for the CDMA carrier. There is also "healthy carrier demand" for Palm's phones on other networks if Sprint's exclusive is finished by early 2010.
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09/25, 1:45pm
RIM stock drops 19 percent
Research in Motion's stock fell a sharp 19 percent on Friday in a reaction to the company's mixed performance in its latest quarter. Investors were upset with both the steep quarter-to-quarter drop in net profit as well as a relatively conservative outlook that saw its own estimates only slightly above what it managed during the summer. Analysts had been expecting much higher numbers with the usual fall sales spike and new BlackBerries known to be in the pipeline.
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09/25, 11:50am
Leak details Palm webOS 1.2 and iTunes
Palm's webOS 1.2 may not show until next week but could come with iTunes syncing back in place, a supposed leak from a source says. Sprint's own need to test the revamped App Catalog is said to have triggered a short delay and forced Palm to move to 1.2.1 instead. However, it's now said by the PreCentral contact that the software will give the Pre native sync for the first time in iTunes 9.
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09/24, 6:25pm
Verizon may not carry Palm Pre
Although claiming to be on the rise, Palm may have been dealt a serious blow through a rejection by Verizon, a rumor hinted this afternoon. Supposedly in touch with those near discussions, TheStreet claims Verizon has dropped the Pre from its future plans. Why this would be hasn't been explained.
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09/24, 9:25am
Palm Pre O2 ships Oct 13 and 16
O2 today finally committed to specific dates for launching the Palm Pre in Europe. The multi-touch smartphone should ship in the UK and Ireland on October 16th and Germany on October 13th. While prices vary by area, UK pricing notably matches the iPhone's and will give the phone away for free on any voice/data plan, which starts from £34 a month. Those who prefer shorter 18-month contracts can get the phone for free with a £44 or £73 monthly rate.
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09/23, 10:55am
Palm faces App Catalog backlog
Palm's decision to open development to everyone has left it facing more webOS app submissions than it can take, the company's Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach admitted this week. After developers complained that they weren't getting responses regarding their own apps, the official told those affected that more have arrived "than we could handle well" and that three extra people have been recruited just to streamline app testing.
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09/23, 9:55am
May prevent future Pre sync support
By means of an official letter, the USB Implementers Forum has criticized Palm for using a workaround to sync the Pre with Apple's iTunes software. The letter is in response to an earlier complaint from Palm, which accuses Apple of violating its USB-IF membership agreement by deliberately blocking third-party devices through iTunes updates. The updates exploit USB Vendor ID numbers, according to Palm, in a way that breaks the "letter and spirit" of USB-IF terms.
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09/17, 5:00pm
Palm summer quarter 2009 results
Palm today reported a turnaround in its results for its just-ended summer quarter. Compared to the spring, the company's smartphone shipments surged 134 percent and topped 823,000 devices, nearly all of which were successfully sold. The number is a 30 percent drop from summer a year earlier but is believed to have stemmed much of the rapid decline in the company's influence.
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09/17, 11:55am
Sprint argues for exclusivity limits
Sprint and AT&T revealed signs of tension between carriers this morning over cellphone exclusivity in back-to-back presentations at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. Speaking at the New York City event, Sprint chief Dan Hesse said it would be a "fair question" for the US government to challenge the length of exclusive phone deals and implied that he might agree to shortened periods of sole access to a given model.
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09/16, 6:30pm
WebOS 1.2 said to be ready next week
Palm may be ready to launch WebOS 1.2 on the Pre as early as next week, an unnamed source told PreCentral. The company is also expected to debut its new app portal on September 24th, which would fit with the previously announced time-frame.
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09/10, 8:45am
Sprint Any Mobile now official
Sprint acted on its rumored plans and launched Any Mobile, Anytime, a major addition that promises to change its calling plans. Anyone with an Everything Data individual or family plan ($70 or more) now gets unlimited voice time when calling a cellphone on any other US network, regardless of distance. The service only stipulates that customers have to be on the Sprint network and not roaming on another's during the call, though the 450 or more minutes from existing plans remain intact.
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09/09, 6:15pm
Apple prevents Palm Pre sync with latest iTunes
Apple has made sure to prevent Palm Pre owners from syncing their smartphones with the iTunes 9 update released Wednesday, according to several user reports posted on PreCentral's forums. The company has worked to prevent compatibility, starting with iTunes 8.2.1, after publishing a technical note warning users that third party phones would not be able to sync.
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