AT&T desperate, why would anyone switch from T-Mobile?

Desperate AT&T will give you $200 to switch over from big, scary T-Mobile | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Ricardo Bilton: "AT&T’s switcher credit, however, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. For one, T-Mobile rid itself of service contracts last year, so any customer who wants to leave the carrier really has nothing standing in their way. More, I suspect it’s going to take a lot more than $200 to convince T-Mobile customers to willingly go back to AT&T. To put it simply: AT&T officially sees T-Mobile a serious threat. And that’s not something I thought I’d ever write..."

Expri Editor's Note: T-Mobile is THE CARRIER if you are in the US. T-Mobile is, by far, the best choice for smart consumers -- $30 month for unlimited text and data (internet--5GB at 4G) and 100 minutes voice, OR $50 month for unlimited voice, data, and text. NOBODY can match that in the USA. Order your smartphone directly from Motorola (Moto X or Moto G) with the T-Mobile SIM already installed (#s needed to activate will be on the outside of the box) so you can activate everything with one call to T-Mobile, the Uncarrier. (Note: all expri.com editors' recommendations are unpaid and unsponsored, and based on personal experience and reviews.) 

T-Mobile CEO John Legere isn't too impressed with AT&T's latest promotion
DailyTech
Earlier today, we reported that AT&T is seriously gunning for T-Mobile customers by offering up to $450 in incentives to switch. $250 of that incentive package comes in the form of trading in your smartphone, while the other $200 is a straight cash bonus to ...

CES: Five Big Consumer Electronics Trends Hiding Behind the Gadgets
eWeek
NEWS ANALYSIS: Five big trends are shaping the consumer electronics market in 2014, but they will get lost among all the HDTVs, smartphones, tablets and other gadgets on the show floor. The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starts next week.

Google Nexus 5 Review: Top 11 Best (And Worst) Features Of The ...

International Business Times
Google and LG have teamed up again to offer the Nexus 5, the latest smartphone to offer a completely unadulterated Android experience. How does ...

International Business Times AU

Was Microsoft's Surface Saved by Christmas?

Bloomberg
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Chitka's Mobile Division General Manager Matt Kojalo discusses the sales of Microsoft's Surface tablet over the holiday ...

Tech Times

Apple slides late in mixed day for tech stocks

MarketWatch
Other decliners included Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) , eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) , Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Micron Technology ...

ITProPortal

'Cool' Apple iWatch Coming Out This Year: White

Bloomberg
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Cantor Fitzgerald Global Head Technology Hardware and Software Brian White and Bloomberg's David Kirkpatrick discuss ...

Google to Discontinue Bump and Flock Services

Indiatimes.com
Google is clearly on a killing spree. 2013 was the year when some of the most remarkable Google services were killed, despite protests and even ...

Indiatimes.com

Microsoft's Xbox One Almost Went Entirely Disc-less After E3

Forbes
Microsoft was scrambling in the wake of E3 to alter the Xbox One after a wave of negative feedback about the company's policies regarding the system ...

Last Year's Apple Rumors? Mostly Bogus

TIME
Black Friday shoppers walk past an Apple Store inside the Glendale ... of evidence to prove that the majority of Apple rumors shouldn't be trusted.

Microsoft Releases Linux Integration Services 3.5 for Hyper-V

eWeek
Microsoft is making room for more Linux distros on its virtualization platform with the release of Linux Integration Services 3.5 (LIS 3.5) for Hyper-V.

eWeek

100-Million-Year Old Amber Fossil Preserves Ancient Flowers Caught In The ...
International Business Times
Researchers have discovered a “perfectly-preserved” example of sexual reproduction in flowering plants in a 100-million-year old amber fossil. Amber Fossil A 100-million-year old amber fossil contains flowering plants in the middle of sexual reproduction.

Lyrics Site Rap Genius Returns to Google Search
Entrepreneur
One site that was banned by Google is back in the search giant's good graces. Lyrics site Rap Genius tried to manipulate the way it turned up in Google search results by soliciting bloggers to link to its pages in exchange for exposure via Rap Genius' social ...

Fuhu, Inc. and DreamWorks Animation Launch the DreamTab
Wall Street Journal
EL SEGUNDO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 3, 2014) - Fuhu, Inc., creator of the award-winning nabi(R) tablet, and DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA) have joined forces to unveil the DreamTab, a state-of-the-art new tablet designed from the ground-up just ...

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Verizon Wants To Kill Net Neutrality, YouTube, Netflix

During oral arguments in the case, Levy said, Verizon claimed a First Amendment free-speech right to curate what kind of content is transmitted across its broadband networks. "Verizon believes it should be able to edit the Internet, much like the way a publisher has control over a newspaper," Levy said. (source infra)

Net Neutrality Lawsuit Threatens Netflix, YouTube - Tom's Guide: "The appeals court could go many ways with its decision in Verizon v. FCC. The court might choose to strike down some, or all, of the net neutrality rules on the grounds that the FCC lacks authority to impose such rules. It might also cite legal precedent that suggests the FCC already has the authority, but just hasn't explicitly claimed it, which would reject Verizon's argument. It’s also likely that a decision that favors one side over the other will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.... if the FCC wants to protect net neutrality, it needs to reclassify broadband and mobile networks as "common carriers." These are public utilities, such as the telephone network, that everyone needs and that can be regulated by the government."(read more at the link above)

Julie Larson-Green, Executive Vice President, Devices and Studios at Microsoft, November 21, 2013 - UBS_LarsonGreen.docx: "So I think there will always be for a long time, for my lifetime, there will be desktop computers where people are doing precision movements with a mouse which are highly tuned towards productivity and typing, as well as maybe something on your wrist, or something on your head, or something in your pocket that you will want to interact and see your e-mails, hear notifications, get access to corporate data that you need to do your job, as well as interact with friends and family...."

Apple's new Mac Pro signals commitment to professional computing
PCWorld
Apple is sending a signal that it hasn't abandoned the professional computing market with the latest Mac Pro, which will ship next month. But the workstation faces competition from its own sibling iMac as computer buyers weigh purchases. Loyalists of...

Motorola's Unlocked Moto G Smartphone Heads to U.S. Ahead of Schedule | Maximum PC: "Motorola has a holiday surprise for the mobile crowd. The company announced that its unlocked and affordable Moto G smartphone is now available to purchase in GSM form from Motorola's website with no contract, no SIM lock, and an unlocked bootloader for $179 with 8GB of storage or $199 with 16GB of storage. Those are full retail prices - you own the device outright for "

Google-backed 23andme ordered by FDA to stop selling genetic tests

San Jose Mercury News
MOUNTAIN VIEW -- In a harsh warning letter made public Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered Google (GOOG)-backed 23andme to stop ...

Times of India

Apple's latest deal is a gesture to the future

MarketWatch
Apple, as it typically does whenever it makes an acquisition, declined to comment further ... Microsoft, too, has been touting the potential of gesturing and voice.

Mirror.co.uk

Google Maps scrubs image of dead California teen, updates satellite ...

New York Daily News
The image of what appeared to be the dead body of a California teen was removed from Google Maps by early Monday — a week after the victim's father said he ...

New York Daily News

Apple Defeats Patent Claim Over Invention of Smartphone

Bloomberg
Apple Inc. (AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, was found by a federal jury not to infringe the patent of a 70-year-old electrical engineer who ...

The Mac Observer

Microsoft and the Rise of Hardware Walled Gardens

TIME
The recipe that won Microsoft its once-dominant stance in the market is not the ... they simply can't do so with a proprietary software ecosystem like Apple can.

Apple's new iPad Mini: With a Retina Display, it's a Mini in name only

Computerworld (blog)
Computerworld - It took Apple two and a half years after the debut of the first iPad to rollout the smaller, more mobile-friendly iPad Mini. Soon after it was unveiled ...

Computerworld (blog)

Inside Google's Ecosystem

Wall Street Journal
Here's the existential dilemma I weighed when I visited Google's GOOG ...ham and maple-brined roasted turkey were the desserts—the homemadeapple cider ...

Wall Street Journal

Microsoft still open sources more technologies than many think

ZDNet
Summary: Don't look now, but Microsoft is continuing to open source many of its ... Meanwhile, competitors like Google grabbed the off-the-shelf Linux kernel and ... for OS X. Apple was the main force behind the open-source WebKit browser.

Microsoft, suspecting NSA spying, to ramp up efforts to encrypt its Internet ...
Washington Post
Suspicions at Microsoft, while building for several months, sharpened in October when it was reported that the NSA was intercepting traffic inside the private networks of Googleand Yahoo, two industry rivals with similar global infrastructures, said ...

Microsoft Xbox users' accounts suspended after swearing
BBC News
Users of Microsoft's Xbox One console caught swearing in video clips are having their accounts suspended. Files containing "excessive profanity" will be taken down and their owners will have access to some features on Xbox Live removed. Microsoft said ...

Apple's new iPad Mini: With a Retina Display, it's a Mini in name only
Computerworld
Soon after it was unveiled in October 2012, it quickly became Apple's most popular iPad -- its portability and light weight trumped the faster performance and sharper Retina display on the larger, heavier models. With the debut last month of the 2013 ...

Apple supplier Biel Crystal violates workers rights: HK activists
Reuters
BEIJING (Reuters) - Biel Crystal Manufactory Ltd, a Hong-Kong based company that makes screens for Apple Inc, is violating workers' rights at its Chinese factories, a Hong Kong rights group alleged in a report. The Students & Scholars Against Corporate ...

Google Street View Lands In Airports
InformationWeek
Google aims to help travelers find their way by providing first-person access to 16 airports and more than 50 train and subway stations around the world. Travelers can now use Google Street Views to see a preview of the stops along their journey, be it ...

Google brings automatic voice search to computers running Chrome
PCWorld
Laptop and desktop users can now do a Google search without typing just by speaking aloud, with a Chrome extension that Google made available on Tuesday. The browser extension, Google Voice Search Hotword, can be downloaded from the Chrome ...

Why Does the Seahorse Have Its Odd Head? Mystery Solved
National Geographic
For the seahorse, the shape of its head, along with its stealthy approach and lightening speed, literally makes a meal of some of the ocean's most sought after prey: the copepod, according to a new study. ...

Comet Nears Sun, Offering Planetary Clues
New York Times
A comet that spent the first 4.5 billion years of its existence in the farthest reaches of the solar system will almost graze the furnace of the sun on Thursday...

Google Earth spies unreported fish traps, study reveals
NBCNews.com
This Google Earth image shows a fishing weir along the Persian Gulf. Fish swimming close to shore get trapped by the weirs at low tide. Fishing traps known as weirs that jut from coastlines may be snaring six times more fish in the Persian Gulf than what is ...

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Moto G $179 Unlocked! Roll over Apple, Samsung, Nokia

Launching now in Brazil and Europe, launching in US in early January 2014 with Android Kit Kat -- Looks like a BIG winner for consumers and Motorola - Replay video on YouTube  more info on Motorola website:  http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/moto-g/moto-g-pdp.html

Motorola Makes The Moto G Official, A “Premium” Phone Starting At $179 Unlocked | TechCrunch: "The 8GB version in the U.S., unlocked and contract free is just $179. The 16GB version is just $199 unlocked, so still sub $200. At these prices, Google and Motorola might be able to steal away a big chunk of the low-cost feature phone market that Microsoft aims to transition to Windows Phone with its acquisition of Nokia. It’s on sale today in Brazil and parts of Europe, and will launch in the coming weeks in the rest of Europe, Canada (at Telus and Koodo within the month) and more. In the U.S., and a number of other countries it’ll launch early next year."

Chrome will now save its users from unexpectedly noisy browser tabs | Ars Technica: "The release of the sound indicators in tabs is in the latest release of the Chrome beta. The release also includes indicators for tabs that are being Chromecast-casted to a TV."

Amazon's original television series set for debut

San Jose Mercury News
CULVER CITY -- There's a new kid on the block at Culver Studios. Inside a towering soundstage, just around the corner from where such television comedies as ...

Washington Post

Microsoft does away with stack ranking

ZDNet
Summary: Stack ranking, an employee-evaluation process that has been roundly criticized by many current and former Microsoft employees, is being abolished ...

New York Times (blog)

Google Ventures Backs LendUp to Rethink Payday Loans

Wall Street Journal (blog)
A startup called Flurish Inc., better known as LendUp, has raised $14 million in Series A financing to offer an online alternative to traditional payday loans, ...

Apple's Steve Jobs Inducted Into Bay Area Business Hall Of Fame ...

Forbes
Steve Jobs was inducted into the Bay Area Council's Business Hall of Fame last week, with co-workers, family and friends paying homage toApple Apple's ...

Women Citizen

Amazon's Sunday Delivery Scheme And The Attempt To Forever ...

Forbes
Amazon and its brick-and-mortar competitors are on a collision course. ... Google is partnering with Whole Foods, Staples, REI, Target, Walgreens and .... arrangements, like the ones it has reached with Samsung and Microsoft. .... If You Think Apple Customers Are Loyal Now, Watch And See What's In Store 176,513 views ...

Apple Dictionary Definition of 'Gay' Includes 'Stupid,' Student Alerts ...

ABC News
When looking up the definition of the word "gay" on her laptop, she saw that Apple's dictionary also included its informal definition, meaning foolish or stupid.

ABC News

Google Gmail users can now preview attachments before ...

Los Angeles Times
Google said the new feature will begin rolling out to Gmail users over the next few days. ALSO: Google Glass will soon be able to play music ·Apple says iPad ...

RedOrbit

Google Fiber begins installations in Provo

Salt Lake Tribune
Google has begun wiring up Provo residents for its Google Fiber network, the ... A Google representative was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but Provo ...

Android Headlines - Android News

Google adds more shortcuts to Gmail

Computerworld
Taming email overload remains a challenge for many users, and webmail providers like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo regularly add tools to their services for ...

NDTV

Google's Portable Native client lets one app run on any hardware in ...

Michael Gorman
Since 2011, Google's Native Client has been enabling developers to write ... Confirmed: Microsoft'sBelfiore To Take On Some Internet Explorer Duties, Will Retain ... Amazon. Amazon Kindle HDX 8.9. $379+. Vivo. Vivo Xplay. $530. Fitbit ... Pebble's iOS7 app has been approved by Apple, so you should be able to get it from ...
Engadget RSS Feed

New game systems push technology envelope: "Want one of the hot new video game systems from Sony or Microsoft? Get ready to get in line. At bat first is Sony, with its PlayStation 4 ($399), in stores Friday. In addition to better-looking games, the PS4 has a revamped controller with a small touch-screen pad and a "Share" button to send video clips online for friends to see. The Xbox One ($499, out Nov. 22) has a more powerful Kinect controller that can biometrically recognize your face and serves as your Skype camera. . . ."

Microsoft debuts its cloud-based complement to Visual Studio

ZDNet
Summary: Microsoft is starting to roll out Visual Studio Online, a set of Windows Azure-based tools designed to complement its Visual Studio development-tool suite. Mary Jo Foley. By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft | November 13, 2013 -- 15:30 GMT ...

Sony PlayStation 4 Terrific, but Not yet Essential
ABC News
Video-game fans who reserved Sony's PlayStation 4 several months ago won't have any regrets when it goes on sale in North America on Friday: The PS4 is a terrific game machine that will feel familiar to PlayStation 3 owners while delivering the flashier eye ...

Motorola's Moto G Targets Emerging Markets
InformationWeek
Motorola thinks the Moto G can win over smartphone buyers who want more performance at a lower price point. Motorola has introduced the Moto G, a smartphone ...

Average User Rating
CNET
The good: The Jawbone Up24 is an incredibly easy and enjoyable fitness tracker that counts steps, sleep, and calories. The Up24 is water resistant, light, and comfortable to wear. The device syncs with phones over Bluetooth. The bad: The Jawbone Up24 ...

SPACE, the FINAL FRONTIER: These are the images of the star probe Cassini
Register
OK, we don't have starships yet. But on some days a space enthusiast can smile anyway - on days like these, when NASA releases new and tremendously cool photos, in this case from the probe craft Cassini - now nine years into its twenty year mission to ...

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Motorola Low-Cost Phones, Moto G announcement LIVE

Moto's big announcement Wednesday LIVE -- Moto G
London 2 pm
São Paulo 12 pm
Toronto/New York 9 am
Mexico City/Chicago 8 am



Motorola Plans Low-Cost Phone - Digits - WSJ: " . . . “One of the areas that we think is really open for Motorola is building high-quality, low-cost devices,” Woodside said at the time. “The price of a smartphone is $650? That’s not gonna persist.” Apple’s iPhones accounted for 52% of its revenue in its most recent quarter. Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., estimates that the phone carries a gross profit margin of roughly 45%. Samsung derives two-thirds of its operating profit from its mobile business. . . . The new Motorola phone will have to compete with Apple’s and Samsung’s marketing muscle . . . The Moto G, which will be formally introduced at an event in Brazil on Wednesday . . . "

Amazon Again Beats IBM For CIA Cloud Contract

InformationWeek
When Amazon.com won a ruling last week that that upheld Amazon Web Service's ... MapReduce originated at Google and distributes data to server disks in a ...

ITProPortal

Apple's long-rumored, unannounced TV rumored to be on hold again

ZDNet
Summary: Apple's long-rumored but as yet highly elusive TV is rumored to be ... "For Apple, selling hardware is partly a way to sell more software and content," ...

Apple Insider

Apple begins selling new iPad Mini with Retina display, but supply in doubt
San Jose Mercury News
CUPERTINO -- Amid reports of manufacturing issues that could limit the supply, Apple(AAPL) began selling its newest iPad Mini on Tuesday, less than two weeks after its latest full-sized iPad debuted in the United States. The technology giant's second ...

Google Glass explores music features
USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Google's Glass project is getting musical for the first time as the Internet search giant looks to add new features that will make its wearable technology platform more useful. Google has launched sound search on the Glass gadget.

Google sells out of black 16GB Nexus 5 ...
CNET
The phone comes with Google's version of Android 4.4, aka KitKat, with none of the extra software and user-interface changes that other Android device manufacturers such as Samsung and HTC typically add in. The phone comes with a 5-inch 1920x1080 ...

Google adds more shortcuts to Gmail
PCWorld
Taming email overload remains a challenge for many users, and webmail providers likeGoogle, Microsoft and Yahoo regularly add tools to their services for filtering, prioritizing, organizing and sorting inbox messages. In May, Google introduced a ...

Google patenting an electronic 'throat tattoo'
CNN
Other wearable tech either on the market or the horizon includes smartwatches from Samsung and Sony, with Google, Apple and Microsoft expected to join the fray soon. A Motorola spokesman said the company has no comment about the patent filing at this ...

Apple vs. Samsung: Hundreds of millions at stake in smartphone patent retrial
San Jose Mercury News
This slimmer version of last year's trial also gives Apple another shot at its true rival,Google, whose Android operating system runs Samsung's increasingly popular products. But legal experts say the retrial is another important stage in a legal ...

Microsoft fixes Windows 8.1 mouse issues, but not for all games
PCWorld (blog)
Microsoft appears to be getting a handle on Windows 8.1's gaming problems, releasing a fix for mouse-pointer issues in certain games. A software update is now available to download for both x86- and x64-based versions of Windows 8.1, along with ...

Android, Windows Phone grow in smartphone share, while iPhone drops
Computerworld
Computerworld - Android grew to 81% of all smartphones shipped globally in the third quarter, while Apple's iPhones slipped to 12.9% compared to 14.4% a year ago, according to IDC. The latest data from IDC, released Tuesday, also notes that Windows ...

Google Barge: 10 Informative Images
InformationWeek
Google Barge: 10 Informative Images. When Google's floating cultural exhibit opens to the public, you probably won't see many Apple devices on board. Take a closer look at what we've learned so far...

Google extends App Engine for mobile-app back end
PCWorld
Google has released a new collection of hosted tools and libraries for ramping up and running the supporting infrastructure for Android and iOS mobile ...

Apple maps: how Google lost when everyone thought it had won

The Guardian
Apple's maps have turned out to be a hit with iPhone and iPad users in the US - despite the roasting that they were given when they first appeared in September ...

The Guardian

Microsoft Zero-Day Spurs Calls for Software Upgrades

CIO Today
Users should not still be running Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007, Windows XP, and ... If you removed that Microsoft software, this zero-day would not exist.

CIO Today

Google to celebrate Children's Day with a doodle created by Pune ...

IBNLive
New Delhi: A class 10 student from Pune was awarded here Tuesday for designing the doodle for Google India, which would go live on the Children's Day ...

IBNLive

Microsoft Shows Off SkyDrive on Xbox One

PC Magazine
Microsoft today provided a sneak peek at the SkyDrive experience on the upcoming Xbox One, which will tie your photos and videos more closely to Redmond's ...

TechSpot

Google Relents on YouTube Ad Measurement

Wall Street Journal
Nielsen disclosed late last week that Google was allowing advertisers to test Nielsen's online ad measurement product when they negotiate ad buys on Google's ...

Your Face and Name Will Appear in Google Ads Starting Today

Adam Clark Estes

Exactly one month after announcing the move, Google has updated its terms of service, allowing the company to use your profile information in ads. That means ...
Gizmodo

Xbox One multimedia services propel Microsoft ahead of Apple ...

Dave Cook
Xbox One's suite of multimedia options and apps is keeping it ahead of Apple and Google in the quest to connect and capture the living room. That's the view of ...
VG247

Apple's Spaceship Campus Detailed in 27 New Renderings ...

Jacob Kleinman
The building won't be complete for several years, but today we're getting a good look at what life inside the Steve Jobs-designed campus will look like.
TechnoBuffalo

Microsoft Fails to Fix TIFF Windows, Office Exploit in Latest Patches ...

Konrad Krawczyk
Patch Tuesday is tomorrow, but Microsoft's latest updates will not address the TIFF exploit found to affect multiple versions of Vista, Office, and more.
Digital Trends

U.S. Postal Service to Deliver Amazon Packages on Sundays | KTLA 5

anitabennett
Giant online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is turning up the heat on rivals this holiday season and beyond under a new deal with the U.S. Postal Service for ...
KTLA 5

Google Chrome Blog: Track down those noisy tabs
Have you ever shuffled through your tabs to figure out where that sound or music is coming from? We hear you! With today's latest Chrome Beta release, you can ...
chrome.blogspot.com/2013/.../track-down-those-noisy-tabs.ht...

Battle over 3rd party sales pits Amazon vs. J&J: Report - CNBC.com
Amazon.com is clashing with Johnson & Johnson amid complaints the online retailer hasn't stopped... Tech giant Apple is developing a new iPhone design that incorporates a curved screen and ...Microsoft narrows the list for its next CEO ...
www.cnbc.com/id/101187118

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