56141805
submission
zacharye writes:
Can you negotiate the cost of cell phone service just like pay TV and Internet service? Thanks to pressure from T-Mobile, the answer might be yes...
55887043
submission
zacharye writes:
We see plenty of iPhone users switch to Android for a period of time and then write about their experiences. For example, we recently read an account from an Apple fanboy who couldn’t stand using the Nexus 5 even for a full 24 hours. We also see plenty of stories from Android enthusiasts who try to stomach the iPhone for a period of time. These stories are often written from the perspective of fanboys on both sides, however, so they rarely offer much substance. One iPhone user took to Reddit on Thursday to describe his experience using Android for six months though, and he provided an uncommonly succinct and level-headed account of his impressions after moving back to his iPhone 5...
55587115
submission
zacharye writes:
According to a study conducted recently by Cowen and Company, Verizon Wireless customers pay more for wireless service each month on average than any other customers in the country. Verizon is widely known as the most expensive carrier in America though, and many of its subscribers have come to accept the high cost of service in exchange for fast LTE data and outstanding coverage in most areas across the country. The least expensive carrier, unsurprisingly, is T-Mobile...
55535905
submission
zacharye writes:
In a federal copyright-infringement lawsuit filed recently in Philadelphia, Comcast is suing a former employee over the rights to software he developed while working for the pay TV giant in Colorado. Defendant Robert Orlowski helped form the company Tuning Analytics, LLC to market and sell software he developed that tracks a TV watcher’s viewing habits by being installed on his or her set-top box. Orlowski also filed two patents protecting the technology used in his software. According to Comcast’s suit, however, it has rights to Orlowski’s software and to all related patents...
55362617
submission
zacharye writes:
It’s every air traveller’s worst nightmare, and one passenger aboard a flight off the coast of Kalaupapa, Molokai in Hawaii recently gave the world a first-hand look at what it’s like to go down in a plane crash. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and other portable cameras like the GoPro, we now often see firsthand accounts of events that only a lucky few — or a very unlucky few, in this case — could experience in the past. The latest example comes from Ferdinand Puentes, who pulled out his GoPro camera and began filming recently when an airplane he was aboard abruptly fell out of the sky off the coast of Hawaii...
55158849
submission
zacharye writes:
T-Mobile is working hard to expand its coverage, and there is no question the carrier is making progress at an impressive rate. T-Mobile’s LTE network now covers 209 million people. This time last year, it covered zero people. And the company is showing no signs of slowing down, having just announced a $2.37 billion deal to acquire more spectrum from Verizon. But the scrappy carrier's problem is very real and it won't be solved by its CEO's showmanship...
55088145
submission
zacharye writes:
Microsoft probably had a good idea that Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai and his team would talk up the PlayStation 4 during his opening keynote at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday, so it preemptively announced a huge milestone for its own next-generation video game console: 3 million Xbox One units sold in just 40 days of availability in 2013. The figure is very impressive indeed, but Sony just announced an even bigger number for Xbox One rival: Sony has sold more than 4.2 million PS4 consoles as of December 28th, 2013...
54728211
submission
zacharye writes:
The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and flexible computer Apple has ever created, and it’s also extremely expensive — or is it? With a price tag that can climb up around $10,000, Apple’s latest enterprise workhorse clearly isn’t cheap. For businesses with a need for all that muscle, however, is that steep price justifiable or is there a premium “Apple tax” that companies will have to pay? Shortly after the new Mac Pro was finally made available for purchase last week, one PC enthusiast set out to answer that question and in order to do so, he asked another one: How much would it cost to build a comparable Windows 8 machine?...
54635977
submission
zacharye writes:
As Google’s share price soars beyond $1,100, it seems like nothing can stop the Internet juggernaut as its land grab strategies continue to win over the eyes of its users and the wallets of its advertising clients. But an analysis published over this past weekend raises an interesting question surrounding a new business model that could someday lead to Google’s downfall. Do we want an erasable Internet?...
54557273
submission
zacharye writes:
Target confirmed earlier this week that approximately 40 million credit card and debit card numbers belonging to patrons who shopped in the company’s stores on or around Black Friday were stolen in a massive security breach that took place between November 27th and December 15th. Now, the reporter who broke the story is back with some more bad news for Target customers: Those stolen credit card numbers and associated data are now available for sale on several black market websites...
54553271
submission
zacharye writes:
Of all of the dramas currently unfolding in the tech world right now, Microsoft’s is undoubtedly among the most intriguing. Years ago, just before Windows Phone was first released, industry watchers warned that unless Microsoft could make serious strides in the smartphone market, it would undoubtedly be doomed. Then the iPad and Android tablets began eating into PC shipments and analysts warned that unless Microsoft launched an immediate and aggressive attack on the tablet market, it would be steamrolled by Apple and Google. Fast forward to today and Microsoft’s global smartphone market share still sits in the low single digits. Microsoft’s new tablet platform, Windows RT, is all but dead. And yet despite all that, Microsoft is still thriving, having racked up a $5.24 billion net profit on more than $18.5 billion in revenue during its most recent quarter. But the Redmond, Washington-based giant is hardly in the clear...
54243869
submission
zacharye writes:
When we reviewed Google’s Nexus 5 early last month, we didn’t mince words. In fact, we called it the only smartphone Android fans should care about this holiday season. But what about Apple fans? Should they care about it as well? There’s a lot to like about the Nexus 5 and with a price tag starting at just $349 off contract, it’s a shockingly good value — perhaps the best there is for the time being. It’s a deal that looks so good, a self-professed “eternal Apple fanboy" couldn’t help but give it a shot...
54102899
submission
zacharye writes:
Are you a cable TV subscriber who might be considering cutting the cord? Did you already take the leap and dump your TV service? Cable TV doesn’t want to see you go, and it wants you back if you’ve already left. And what better way to convey that message than with a nice little campaign put together by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the main trade association for cable operators in the U.S. Behold: The Hole Saga...
53955365
submission
zacharye writes:
AT&T wants subscribers to have a merry Christmas this year. It also wants some of the people who have been fleeing its network in searching of cheaper smartphone plans to stay put. As such, the carrier on Thursday announced a brand new set of service plans that are far more consumer-friendly. AT&T is still making plenty of money on them, of course, but several of the plans offer significant savings compared to the older plans they replace. What’s more, the new plans finally — FINALLY — take smartphone subsidies into account to an extent, and they automatically drop in cost by $15 per month once your phone is paid off. Or, if you bring your own phone or opt for one of the carrier’s AT&T Next plans, your service is $15 cheaper per month from day one...
53069229
submission
zacharye writes:
Nokia, as we know it, is going away. The company itself will remain, of course. It might even be consistently profitable some day. But the face of Nokia that most consumers are familiar with will be a thing of the past. Nokia will soon sell off its devices and services business to Microsoft for about $5 billion as part of a $7.2 billion deal. But in the meantime, the company has a product pipeline to clear and the new Lumia 1520 is certainly one of the more interesting devices Nokia will be launching before the big changing of the guard. The 1520 marks Nokia’s first foray into the increasingly popular phablet category and if not for Apple, Nokia would be the last major smartphone vendor to enter the space. But is the company’s new 1520 just a bigger Lumia phone, or is it also a better Lumia phone that continues moving in the right direction and picks up where the Lumia 1020 left off?...
