Wondering why AT&T is hustling to get that 4G LTE network up and running ahead of schedule? AT&T has been ranked worst among the four major wireless carriers in the U.S. according to the J.D. Power and Associates U.S. 2011 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study. The major nationwide survey looks at overall network performance for the four major U.S. cell phone service providers as well as top regional carriers from around the country. Among the big four — Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — Verizon Wireless found itself atop the list in each of the six regions where J.D. Power performed its tests. On the other end of the spectrum, AT&T was either last or tied at the bottom in five out of the six regions. Read on for more.

Updated with AT&T’s statement below.

In the North Central, Southeast and Southwest regions, AT&T tied for last place with Sprint. In the Mid-Atlantic region, AT&T sat in a three-way tie behind Verizon Wireless, and AT&T was alone at the bottom in the Northeast region. In the Southwest, the only region where AT&T was not found to be at the bottom, the carrier tied Sprint for second-best performance while Verizon sat at the top and T-Mobile was ranked worst. “Based on the varying degree of consistency with overall network performance, it’s critical that wireless carriers continue to invest in improving both the voice quality and data connection-related issues that customers continue to experience,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. J.D. Power ranked network performance in 10 key areas for this study: dropped calls; calls not connected; audio issues; failed/late voicemails; lost calls; text transmission failures; late text message notifications; Web connection errors; email connection errors; and slow downloads.

UPDATE: The following statement was sent to BGR via email by an AT&T spokesperson:

Over the past year, third party drive tests have shown consistently strong call retainability for AT&T. Nationally, we are within two calls out of a thousand behind the only higher score, and we are focused on continued improvement to deliver the industry’s best call retainability for our customers. AT&T is constantly working to deliver the nation’s most advanced wireless experience, and as a result our customers have access to the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, with the ability to talk and surf the Web at the same time and access to the broadest international coverage of any U.S. provider.

We’re going to incredible lengths — and investing billions of dollars — to make our customers’ experience even better. And further improving the customer experience is the motivation behind our proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA.

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According to Consumer Reports, Apple’s various lines of laptop computers are the best notebooks in the world. Recent rankings published by the popular nonprofit consumer product tester place Apple computers at the top of every relevant laptop category. Apple’s low-end MacBook Air topped competitive offerings from Dell and HP in the 11-inch category, and its computers took the top five spots in the 13-inch class — the 13-inch MacBook Air was No. 1, followed by three different configurations of the 13-inch MacBook Pro and then Apple’s standard 13-inch MacBook. In the 15-inch category, various configurations of the MacBook Pro took the top three spots, and Apple’s high-end MacBook Pro beat out HP’s Pavillion and the Dell XPS for top billing in the 17-inch category. The only category Apple did not dominate was the 14-inch class, but Apple does not currently offer a 14-inch notebook.

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NASDAQ on Tuesday announced that it will adjust the weighing of several companies in the NASDAQ-100 index to better reflect their market capitalizations. The NASDAQ-100 index is comprised of the 100 biggest non-financial stocks on the NASDAQ exchange. The adjustment, which will take place on May 2nd, is the first of its kind since 1998. Apple will take the biggest hit as its weighting will be adjusted down from 20.46% of the the index to 12.33%. The Cupertino-based company’s representation on the NASDAQ-100 is currently six times that of the No. 2 company, Microsoft, which will see its weight doubled on May 2nd. A total of 82 stocks will be adjusted downward while 18 companies including Microsoft, Google, Intel, Cisco and Oracle will get larger shares.

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Apple’s iPad 2 has topped Consumer Reports’ tablet ratings according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Consumer Reports has taken an odd stance on Apple’s mobile products in recent history, particularly where the iPhone is concerned. Apple’s iPhone 4 for AT&T and its iPhone 4 for Verizon Wireless both received Consumer Reports’ highest ever ratings, but the independent buying guide recommended against purchasing the phones due to their infamous antenna attenuation issues known as the death grip. With the iPad 2, however, antennas don’t come into play in the same way. “So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Consumer Reports’ electronics editor Paul Reynolds in a statement. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.” In addition to the iPad2, Consumer reports tested tablets from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung and ViewSonic, and noted that Apple’s chief competition for the time being is found in the Motorola XOOM. Hit the break for the full release.

Apple’s iPad 2 Tops Consumer Reports’ Tablet Ratings

Top-rated tablet faces stiff competition from Motorola Xoom in lab tests

YONKERS, N.Y., April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — After almost a year in which the Apple iPad has been virtually the only game in town in tablet computers, some serious competitors are finally hitting the market. Yet in Consumer Reports latest tests of the 10 most-promising tablet computers, the Apple iPad 2 with Wi-Fi and 3G topped the Ratings.  The full report including Ratings of tablets is available at www.ConsumerReports.org.

In Consumer Reports lab tests, the Motorola Xoom revealed itself as the iPad 2′s chief rival.  Like the iPad 2, the Xoom boasts a 10-inch screen but adds conveniences that the iPad lacks, including a built-in memory card reader and support for the Flash videos and animations found on many Web sites.

“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”

Consumer Reports tested tablets from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic, as well as several models from Apple. Each tablet was evaluated on 17 criteria, including touch-screen responsiveness, versatility, portability, screen glare, and ease of use, and testers found several models that outperformed the rest. The Apple iPad 2 with Wi-Fi plus 3G (32G), $730, topped the Ratings, scoring Excellent in nearly every category.  The first-generation iPad, $580, also outscored many of the other models tested but tied with the Motorola Xoom, $800.

The largest gap in performance among the 10 tested tablets was evident in Consumer Reports’ battery-life test, measured by playing the same video clip continually on each tablet and timing how long it played until the battery ran down.  The top-scoring iPad 2 lasted 12.2 hours, but the lowest-rated tablet, the Archos 70 Internet Tablet, $270, lasted just 3.8 hours.

Before choosing a tablet, Consumer Reports recommends that consumers consider the following:

Many features are almost universal.  Easy-to-use touch screens based on capacitive technology are now widely available.  All the models Consumer Reports tested feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a front-facing webcam, and GPS capability.  Android-based models can be expanded using built-in USB ports or slots for SD flash-memory cards, but the iPad 2 lacks both.

You get what you pay for. With prices for the best tablets still too high for many budgets, consumers may be tempted by lower-priced competitors. Don’t be, says Consumer Reports, whose tests have found the performance of models costing $300 and under to be at best mediocre.  Buying a tablet with a data plan may lower the initial cost of the device, but cancelling early may result in a stiff penalty.  Otherwise, it might be cheaper to buy a 3G-capable model without a contract.

Future-proofing will pay off. Hardware specifications don’t tell the whole story.  Portability, storage capacity, and weight are important.  But less obvious differences in software, connectivity, and upgradability are critical too.  And with faster 4G data networks becoming more widely available, 4G capability (or at least the ability to upgrade to it) is also a plus.

For additional buying advice and model recommendations, check out the May 2011 issue of Consumer Reports on newsstands April 5th.  And for the latest Ratings of tablet computers, go towww.ConsumerReports.org.

A recent post by Google seems to indicate that the company will require application content ratings on all present and future applications listed in the Android Market.

“Please use our application ratings to help users determine whether your application and its content is appropriate for them,” reads the post. “This includes all the content in your app, including user generated content and ads, and content that your app links to.”

Applications can be rated all, pre-teen, teen, or mature and Google notes that “hate speech” is not permitted in the Android Market; Google is also mandating that applications that use location not be categorized for all users. There are several other category pre-requisites. Hit the jump to have a look at all of them.

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doubleTwist, a company whose vision is “to create a unifying media platform that connects consumers with all their media and all their devices,” has just released a full-featured media player for your Android device. Sporting a very appealing UI, the new media player allows users to sync and update media from the doubleTwist desktop client (available for both Mac and PC) directly to their Android device. A new, and fairly huge, feature that the doubleTwist Android player packs is the ability to recognize metadata from an iTunes library. This gives long time users of iTunes — who don’t fancy the iPhone — a choice of media players and a legitimate exit strategy from iTunes. Users can change media players — while retaining the ability to sync seamlessly with a mobile device — and not give up playlist, song rating, and play count data accumulated over days, months, or years of iTunes. Go ahead and give the new doubleTwist Android media player a shot, and do let us know what you think.

NOTE: you can also checkout Songbird as a cross-platform iTunes alternative.

[Via LifeHacker]

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In a move guaranteed to attract well deserved controversy, Andy Burnham, Britain’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has publicly stated that delegates from the British government hope to meet with members of the Obama administration to pitch the idea of creating a content-based rating system for all English-based websites. Essentially what Burnham is proposing is having the internet follow the same rules as British TV where it is against the law to air violent programs before 9pm. But since the internet is very different in nature from TV, Burnham suggested that a time-based filter be created in which websites must block “offensive” and “violent” material. For extra precaution, ISPs would be asked to offer rating-based “child-safe” packages in which it is only possible to access websites that are pre-approved as inoffensive and appropriate for those of a young age.

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