AT&T curtails data for heaviest smartphone data users
AT&T smartphone customers with unlimited data plans will begin experiencing reduced speeds starting October 1 when their usage reaches a certain level.

Looking to address the growing demand for mobile data and to provide a better experience for all smartphone customers, AT&T said it will curtail the data usage of the heaviest users in a billing period. These customers will have their speed reduced once their data usage puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These customers will still be able to use unlimited data and their speeds will be restored at the next billing cycle.

AT&T said the top 5 percent of its heaviest data users on average use 12 times more data than the average smartphone data customers. The activities that typically put these users into this group are streaming large amounts of video and music on a daily basis over the wireless network. The company also points to certain types of applications as being data hogs, including streaming video apps and remote Web camera apps. 

Amazon locks out German app developers over "appstore" fight
Amazon is not accepting new app submissions from developers located in Germany due to legal claims by Apple that seek to prevent the online retailer from using the term ?appstore.?

Amazon recently sent app developers in Germany an email informing them that no submissions would be accepted. The company said it believes Apple?s claim is without merit and is contesting it. Amazon also hopes to begin accepting new apps from German developers soon.

In United States, Apple?s attempts to block Amazon from using the term ?appstore? have meet with some resistance. A judge in the case recently said that she is probably going to deny Apple?s motion to stop Amazon from using the term because Apple has not been able to demonstrate confusion among consumers.

Mobile population grew in June: Nielsen
Google Search lead unique mobile visits in June The top five mobile Web sites based on unique visits in June were Google Search, Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Weather Channel, per data from Nielsen.

The total mobile population was up 114 million, up from 111 million last month.

The leading content sites based on unique visits were The Weather Channel, with 13.3 million unique visits, Pandora with 7.4 million, ESPN 7.4 million, WeatherBug 4.9 million and Food Network 4 million.

Amazon was the most popular retail site in mobile with 12.3 million unique visits.

Adobe has early preview of HTML5 design tool
Adobe Systems Inc. is making the first public preview of its new HTML5 design tool Adobe Edge available so that users can provide feedback and help shape the final product.

The Web motion and interaction design tool allows Web designers to bring animation to Web sites using standards such as HTML5, JavaScript and CSS.

Adobe said that, because of rapid changes around HTML5, it is adopting an open-development strategy for Adobe Edge and is releasing the software on the Adobe Labs site before it reaches beta and much earlier than normal in the development process.

The public preview will be available as a no-charge download that Web designers can explore and provide feedback for.