AT&T brings enhanced push-to-talk app to iPhone

AT&T has unveiled an iOS app that turns the iPhone into a walkie-talkie for the business world.

Known as Enhanced Push-to-Talk (Enhanced PTT), the new app brings two-radio features to the iPhone 5 and 4S. With PTT, mobile users can talk to one person via a private call or a large number of people though a group call. And like a walkie-talkie, a phone equipped with the app can switch between talk and listen mode with the touch of a button.

The app supports up to 250 people, gearing it for certain types of workplaces and first responders, according to the Associated Press.

Enhanced PTT uses Voice over IP technology to send the conversation over an AT&T Wi-Fi network or the carrier's 3G and 4G networks.

In its description of the app, AT&T touts a number of features, including fast call setup times and low latency, several advanced push-to-talk features, the ability to support large contact lists, and an admin tool for managing users of the app.

Business users who download the app also need to activate it and work with AT&T to set it up.

This is the first time a U.S. carrier is offering push-to-talk capabilities on the iPhone, AT&T said on Monday.

"Across industries such as manufacturing, engineering, hospitality, construction, and government, organizations need instant communications in challenging environments," Mike Troiano, vice president of Advanced Mobility Solutions for AT&T Business Solutions, said in a statement. "From the start, AT&T Enhanced Push-to-Talk was designed specifically for AT&T's speedy 4G LTE networks and now we are offering even more devices so our business customers can communicate faster and to larger talk groups."

Stay away from meetings with iRobot Ava 500 telepresence bot

(Credit: iRobot)

iRobot wants to help you stay away from work meetings, a sentiment we can all applaud.

Trundling along on the heels -- or wheels -- of its RP-VITA medical robot, the AVA 500 was introduced Monday by the company as an enterprise-grade telepresence robot.

Developed with Cisco's TelePresence technology, the autonomously navigating machine is like a large, rolling webcam that lets remote users take part in "meetings and presentations where movement and location spontaneity are important."

Ava 500 incorporates a Cisco TelePresence EX60 21.5-inch HD screen on a full-size platform that can roll along through places like plants, laboratories, or customer experience centers.


En route, the machine can stop for an impromptu chat with someone, and will automatically return to its charging station when the meeting is over.Users control the bot with an iPad, tapping a map location where they want to send it, and it drives itself there. Their face can be displayed on the screen while the robot moves around, or it can be set to "private" mode so the screen is blank.

Officially called a "video collaboration robot," the Ava 500 will join many competing telepresence platforms when it becomes available (to Cisco partners) in early 2014.

Will it become the Roomba of the office? Telepresence is still a foreign concept to most companies, but its ability to eliminate costly, inefficient travel will likely see more and more businesses adopting the tech in the next five years.

Meanwhile, Ava 500 will be on display at InfoComm 2013 in Orlando, Fla., this week. Check out the promo vid below.

Online gambling toes a confusing legal line

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

After a big 2011 crackdown on Web-based poker, the world of online gambling is slowly crawling back.

But the road to change is murky: The rules vary by state, and they're dependent on the very specific legal definitions of "gambling" versus "betting."

Currently, 37 U.S. states allow online betting on games that require at least a moderate degree of "skill." Only three states -- Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey -- have legalized gambling on games of "chance," which, under the law, includes poker.

"The game-of-skill space has not been very well understood," said Andrew Paradise, the CEO and founder of Skillz, which launched a U.S. betting platform for skill-based mobile games in April and partnered with Glu Mobile (GLUU) in May."The determination can be confusing between games and between states, both for players and companies. But the business opportunity is big."

Globally, it's huge: Analysis firm Juniper Research estimates that gambling on mobile devices will hit $100 billion worldwide by 2017.

The U.S. gambling industry wants to legalize online chance games across the country, and its lobbying efforts are gaining some momentum. Meanwhile, smaller upstarts like Skillz are taking advantage of the larger skill-based gaming field.

As of now, both gambling and betting apps have to tiptoe the divergent laws currently on the books.

Games of chance vs. skill: Some games are easy to classify. Chess is considered a game of skill, for example, while a slot machine is a game of chance.

But some are less clear cut: Despite rewarding skill, both poker and blackjack are considered games of chance. That means residents of 47 states can't play them online for money.

The delineation can get squishy, and states use a handful of tests to help them classify, according to Paradise, the Skillz CEO. But the states still vary on which tests they use, and how they interpret the results -- for example, some states say any degree of luck makes a game "chance-based," while others allow some bit of chance in what they deem skill-based games.

Some use the "predominance test," which says that if a skilled player beats an unskilled competitor at least 75% of the time, that's a game of skill. A "material element" test discovers whether chance is an important component in determining the outcome of a game. The third test figures out whether a game requires a player to bet on his or her own ability to win a game (games of skill do, but games of chance don't).

Skillz hopes that widespread pickup of skill-based betting "may be a precursor to [gambling on] games of chance," Paradise said. "But I think it will take five or more years before we see that really happen. It's one of the biggest discussions in the industry."

Related story: The hottest trend in games? Free

The poker problem: The No. 1 most-debated issue in the field, however, is the Big Kahuna of online gambling -- poker.

Poker is generally considered a game of chance under the law, but that determination is hotly debated. In a case last year, a federal judge in New York ruled that poker is skill-based, adding another wrinkle to the state-by-state differences.

Today, the only legal online poker service is the Las Vegas-based Ultimate Gaming, which launched UltimatePoker.com exclusively for Nevada residents in April. New Jersey officials didn't reply to a request for comment on where its online poker plans stand, and Delaware Lottery director Vernon Kirk said his state hopes eventually to cut deals for its residents to play against people in other states.

Ultimate Gaming's co-founder Tom Breitling said he thinks online poker will spread through the United States in one of two ways: Either federal legislation will legalize poker specifically and give states the right to opt out, or games-of-chance legislation will slowly be passed in the majority of states.

"We're focusing on poker right now, but online gambling is a lot bigger than just that," Breitling said. "And it could be so much bigger. It took a lot of work to get to this point, but now that it's here I just don't see it stopping."

Sprint Vital coming June 14th for $100: 5-inch 720p display, 13MP camera, 1.2GHz dual-core processor

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The Sprint Vital is now more than just a phone featured in a simple leaked video -- it's a reality. The Now Network has publicly unveiled the ZTE-made device, confirming it's on course for a June 14th release for $100 with a two-year commitment. The specs are all there as well: as expected, the device will boast a 5-inch 720p IPS panel, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, a 13MP rear camera paired with a 1MP front-facing cam, 2,460mAh battery, NFC, 8GB internal storage and microSD support for up to 64GB. On paper, it's not too bad for a solid mid-range device, but how will the final product turn out? We imagine we'll find out soon enough.