T-Mobile Has Surpassed Sprint says CEO John Legere (video)

Wireless Carrier T-Mobile Has Already Surpassed Sprint says CEO John Legere (video above) - T-Mobile CEO John Legere discusses the T-Mobile's expansion plans and subscriber base. He speaks on Bloomberg's “Market Makers,” February 19, 2015.

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Security Risks to Shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday (video)

Security Risks to Shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday: Video - Bloomberg:
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Shape Security Director of Product Security Michael Coates discusses the security risks of shopping during the holiday season. He speaks on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg 11/25)


CNET
No more lies, T-Mobile US: Download speed caps magically vanished on speed ...
Register
T-Mobile USA has agreed to stop twiddling with subscribers' mobile broadband speeds to hide the fact they were being capped. The telco was caught switching off download and upload bandwidth limits when people visited internet speed test websites.

Game Informer
New Sony Ad Markets PlayStation With 'Sexy' Female Doctor
Huffington Post
Women may represent nearly half of the gaming market, but video game companies are still catering first and foremost to heterosexual men. A new ad reportedly published to Sony's European YouTube channel on Friday has drawn criticism for its depiction of ...


Reuters
Samsung Electronics wins $3 billion Vietnam project license
Reuters
The company logo is displayed at the Samsung news conference at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 7, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking. Stocks. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. 005930.KS. ₩1,197,000.00. -23,000.00-1.89%.


VentureBeat
BlackBerry offers up to $550 to trade your iPhone for a BlackBerry Passport
VentureBeat
BlackBerry today announced a new trade-in program to woo Apple users over to its latest flagship device. In short, the company is offering iPhone owners up to $550 for their device, as long as they purchase a BlackBerry Passport. The BlackBerry Passport ...


USA TODAY
Nexus 9 tablet is a serious contender to iPad's throne
USA TODAY
Unlike in some other product categories, finding the best tablet is often less about having the fastest hardware than about the experience the software provides. It's the reason why Apple has kept churning out iPads that sometimes lose the spec sheet war, but ...


Yahoo Tech
Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro Review: A 2-in-1 MacBook Air Killer?
Yahoo Tech
Laptop or tablet? Tablet or laptop? Which should you buy? That's the question a good number of people will likely be asking themselves this holiday season while they sit at their old computers or stand in the electronics aisles of the nearest big-box stores.

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5 Ways Apple iOS8 Changes How You Use Your iPhone (video)

Apple's iOS8: Five Ways it Changes How You Use Your iPhone -

Apple's latest iOS update--iOS 8--is here. While last year's iOS 7 was mostly a design change, this operating system is all about function. Sam Grobart reveals the five biggest changes that will change the way you use your iPhone. (Source: Bloomberg-Sept 17)

Hey, Android Users, Don't Buy the New iPhones - Businessweek: ".... there are two kinds of Android users who will end up buying the new iPhones: those who have always wanted one but couldn’t live without a bigger screen, and anyone who really wants the Apple Watch—although those people probably have iPhones already."

Alibaba Closes Up 38% at $93.89, Volume Falls Off - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com: "Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA), after opening at $92.70, up 36% from its offer price of $68, slipped in afternoon trading then steadily worked its way back up to close at $93.89, up 38%. The stock hit a high of $99.70 early in the session. Volume dried up noticeably from over 50 million shares at the open to less than a million in the afternoon, before rallying to a little over a million shares. The day’s gain gives the company a market cap of about $231.44 billion, based on 2.47 billion shares outstanding following the offering."

Exclusive: France's Iliad sets mid-Oct deadline for T-Mobile US bid - sources | Reuters: "French low-cost telecom operator Iliad has set a mid-October deadline to decide whether to improve its bid for T-Mobile US or walk away as it faces resistance from seller Deutsche Telekom, several people familiar with the situation said."


ABC News
Yahoo finds way to blow Alibaba riches
USA TODAY
Yahoo (YHOO) might be celebrating its $8.3 billion windfall from selling Alibaba shares. Here's the problem: It could have made $11.3 billion.
Alibaba IPO to Give Yahoo Windfall - Wall Street Journal
Alibaba Overtakes Amazon as Most Highly Valued Online Retailer - Bloomberg
Yahoo Seen Relying on Alibaba Even as IPO Sales Begin - Bloomberg


The New Yorker
You May Love Apple, But Can You Trust It?
The New Yorker
But, for the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, and the Apple Watch, which Apple ...

MiamiHerald.com
Apple fans in Miami line up to wait for a new iPhone 6
MiamiHerald.com
Paul Menendez and Manuel Llanos brought junk food. Lots of it. Combos, SunChips, an emergency Pixy Stix straw in case they needed a sugar rush.
Apple's new big-screen iPhones draw long lines as sales start - Chicago Tribune


CNNMoney
Will Yahoo use Alibaba cash to buy AOL?
CNNMoney
But it's not clear that a combined Yahoo and AOL would be able to do a better job of stealing online ad dollars away from Google, Facebook (FB, ...

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Amazon China Takes On Alibaba, Apple Watch Disappoints, Apple Pay video

Apple Pay Is a Game Changer: Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster

True Ventures' Om Malik and Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster discuss the launch of Apple Pay. They speak with Emily Chang on "Bloomberg West." (Sept. 9, 2014 Bloomberg)

Alibaba Grabs The IPO Money But The Future Belongs To Jeff Bezos And Amazon China - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Pending:BABA) | Seeking Alpha: "While Alibaba touts itself and raises $20 billion from US investors, Jeff Bezos is busy in China with his Alibaba-killer business. Bezos has precision-targeted Alibaba's key weaknesses and is positioning Amazon China for long-term dominance. Amazon in typical style reveals nothing about its strategy or operations in China. Everything is secret. They're clearly spending heavily, but with outstanding results so far."

Wolverton: Apple Watch underwhelms - San Jose Mercury News: "....That need for an iPhone link is likely to greatly limit its appeal. Even if you already own an iPhone, you may wonder why you need to buy an extra device... The other big problem with Apple Watch is its price, which starts at $350... it's a high price to pay for what is basically a phone accessory. It's also likely to be a high hurdle for many young people, especially since many of them have yet to be convinced that they need to wear a watch at all... its screen is generally turned off. To turn it on, you press a button or raise the watch to your face. That's annoying... at first glance, I wasn't convinced it's a device that most people need -- or may even want."

Alibaba's IPO covered in two days - Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Pending:BABA) | Seeking Alpha: "Within just two days of its launch, Alibaba (Pending:BABA) has collected enough orders for its IPO to cover the entire deal, although there still is no indication to where most of the demand is within its $60-$66 per share price range.At the top end of expectations, Alibaba would raise $21.1B as the largest ever tech IPO, smashing Facebook's $16B listing in 2012."

T-Mobile will give you a customized router for better Wi-Fi calling — Tech News and Analysis: "T-Mobile will start providing a customized Wi-Fi router to subscribers that prioritizes voice calls over other packets. The device, called the T-Mobile Personal CellSpot, will require a $25 deposit and can work alongside an existing household router."


Google Hangouts Gets Google Voice Integration And Free VoIP Calls | TechCrunch: "Google has long said that Hangouts is the future of Google Voice. The regular Google Voice service and site will still continue to work for the time being and most importantly, Google says that if you have a Google Voice number today, it has no interest in taking that away from you. “The important thing that users should take away is that the number they have will be carried forward and the feature and functionality set will be growing,” said Google VP of Engineering Chee Chew in an interview last week." (To make use of these calling features, you have to have the latest version of Hangouts (2.3) and also install a special dialer app.)

Google Should Buy MasterCard - Google Inc. | Seeking Alpha: "It's unfortunate for Google that Apple is receiving all the attention right now for launching a service that Google has already been providing for three years. An acquisition of MasterCard would provide a definitive statement that Google is here to stay in digital and mobile payments. It would also provide an ever-growing boost in revenue and earnings for years to come, as the world gradually switches from paper to plastic, and from plastic to digital."

America's new class system: Column: "California now has the wealth distribution — and, in some disturbing ways, the political underpinnings — of a Third World country. In Silicon Valley, a group of super-wealthy tech oligarchs live lives of almost unimaginable wealth, while only a few miles away, illegal immigrants live in squalor."

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Apple's Big Day LIVE, iPhone 6, iWatch, iWallet and more!

What To Expect From Apple’s iPhone Event On September 9:  iPhone 6; iWatch; iWallet; iOS 8; iPad Air 2.  Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 11:00 AM EDT - 1:00 PM EDT  - Join our CNET live coverage of Apple's September 9 media event in Cupertino. Among the new products widely expected to be announced: the iPhone 6, and -- possibly -- a wearable product. LIVE Blog:

LIVE Apple Event April 9th

Technology News:
Five ways Apple's iPhone 6, iWatch launches may transform its business model | ZDNet: "Apple's iPhone 6 and wearable preview is likely to be the beginning of a series of product launches that could lead to more software and services growth."

Only 5 percent of Android users will switch to iPhone 6, says survey - CNET: "A survey insists that only a small proportion of Android users will switch to Apple's new phone. But could that change when they actually see the iPhone 6?"

Why Does The European Union Consult Microsoft On How Google Should Operate?: "Why on earth should Google’s page be set up so as to favour Microsoft’s offerings? The two companies are competing in the search space, correct? Well, go compete then instead of whining to the politicians."

Meet the shadowy tech brokers that deliver your data to the NSA | ZDNet: "These so-called "trusted third-parties" may be the most important tech companies you've never heard of. ZDNet reveals how these companies work as middlemen or "brokers" of customer data between ISPs and phone companies, and the U.S. government."

T-Mobile sues Chinese telecom giant Huawei | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times: "T-Mobile USA has sued Huawei Technologies, claiming the Chinese telecommunications giant stole its software, specifications and other secrets for a cellphone-testing robot nicknamed “Tappy.”"

HP alleges Autonomy email warning of falling revenues and 'imaginary deals' shows fraud - Telegraph: "Chief financial officer wrote to founder Mike Lynch demanding 'radical action' prior to disastrous takeover by Silicon Valley giant"


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Broadband Internet, Worst State (video)

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Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) –- If being online is the future of business, what future does a business have if it can't get online? That's the billion-dollar question in the state of Maine, where internet service is among the worst in the nation. Bloomberg's Michael McKee went to Maine to look for answers. (Source: Bloomberg)

Most of the US has no broadband competition at 25Mbps, FCC chair says | Ars Technica: "But will the FCC block Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger? Wheeler doesn't say."

T-Mobile's next Uncarrier event coming September 10 - GeekWire: "T-Mobile’s “Un-carrier” train just keeps on rolling. The company sent out invitations to members of the press today inviting them to the Un-carrier 7.0 event hosted on September 10 in San Francisco... the image bears a tagline saying “This time it’s personal.” It’s unclear what that means, though."

Baidu Builds Largest Computer Brain for Online Queries - Bloomberg: "With about 100 billion digitally simulated neural connections, Baidu’s computing cluster will be 100 times more powerful than the 2012 Google Inc. project dubbed “Google Brain,” Andrew Ng, chief scientist at the operator of China’s biggest search engine, said in an interview yesterday. Engineers at a Baidu lab in Silicon Valley are designing the project, which will be built in Beijing and completed in about six months, according to Ng."

Not Safe For Not Working On | Dan Kaminsky's Blog: "But noise doesn’t matter if nobody is listening.  Authentication systems could probably do more to detect brute force attacks across large numbers of accounts.  And given the wide variety of systems that interface with backend password stores, it’s foolish to expect them all to implement rate limiting correctly.  Limits need to exist as close as possible to the actual store, independent of access method."

Tim Cook Says Apple to Add Security Alerts for iCloud Users
Wall Street Journal
In his first interview on the subject, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said celebrities' iCloud accounts were compromised when hackers correctly ...
After nude celebrity hacking, Apple's Tim Cook says company will improve security - Washington Post
Apple boosts iCloud security measures after celebrity photo hacks - CBS News


Wall Street Journal
5 Things To Expect From Apple's iPhone 6 Event
Forbes
Apple is three days and 23 hours away from unveiling a new slate of shiny ... Google, LG and Nokia have all installed NFC chips, the technology has ...
How Apple Can Make Mobile Wallets Actually Work - Businessweek
Apple's 'iWallet' payments seen as unlikely to earn much money, but will lock in users to iPhone ... - Apple Insider


Wall Street Journal
Apple's Next Big Focus: Your Health
Wall Street Journal
Apple on Tuesday is expected to unveil a smartwatch embedded with more than 10 sensors to monitor health and fitness signs, according to people ...

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How Long Before We Can Stop Using Passwords? (video)

How Long Before We Can Stop Using Passwords?: Video - Bloomberg:
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MicroStrategy President and Chief Legal Officer Jonathan Klein discusses the company’s alternative to passwords. He speaks on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg July24)

France's Iliad Makes Bid for T-Mobile US - WSJ: "... Iliad said it offered $15 billion in cash for 56.6% of T-Mobile US, or $33 a share. T-Mobile US later confirmed it had received the offer but said it had no further comment...."

T-Mobile Adds 1.5 Million More Customers, Swings to Profit on Spectrum Sale | Re/code: "T-Mobile said Thursday that it added a further 1.5 million customers to its network in the second quarter, making this the fifth straight quarter of million-plus customer gains. The company posted a net profit of $391 million... “We have completely reversed T-Mobile’s trajectory and started a revolution that is changing the rules in wireless,” CEO John Legere said in a statement..."

China's Xiaomi Becomes World's 5th Largest Smartphone Maker: "Global smartphone sales are still growing, but the market’s star performer in the last three months wasn’t Apple or even Samsung. It was China’s Xiaomi. The young electronics firm run by billionaire Lei Jun captured a remarkable 5% global market share in the last three months, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics, shipping 15.1 million smartphones in the quarter. It now has a 5.1% share of the market, up from 1.8% this time last year...."

Is Huawei Eating Samsung’s Lunch? - Digits - WSJ: "... Chinese smartphone makers Huawei Technologies and Lenovo Group 0992.HK -2.23% gained market share at the expense of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics in the second quarter, according to the latest data released Tuesday by research firm IDC. Huawei’s shipments in the quarter jumped 95% from a year earlier, while Lenovo enjoyed a 39% increase, IDC said. Both companies outpaced the 23% growth in the overall smartphone market. Shipments at Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, declined 3.9%. While China’s smartphone market is becoming more saturated, demand is strong in emerging markets in Asia, Latin America and Africa, where many consumers are still replacing their basic feature phones...." (read more at link above)


Forbes
Amazon Cloud Luster Fading? Look Closer
InformationWeek
Some skeptics say Amazon's cloud dominance wears thin. I say Amazon's destiny in the cloud is in its own hands -- and you can't say that for IBM, ...


IBNLive
Facebook App Brings Free Internet To Zambia
InformationWeek
The Internet.org app, available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia, gives users free access to 13 websites, including AccuWeather; Google Search; Go ...


Wall Street Journal
Amazon Ups the Ante in India With $2 Billion Investment
Wall Street Journal
Amazon said Wednesday that it would invest $2 billion to expand its India operations, a day after Flipkart, India's biggest homegrown e-commerce ...


TIME
Amazon Will Pay You to Accept Slower Deliveries
TIME
A worker watches as boxed merchandise moves along a conveyor belt to a waiting truck for delivery at the Amazon.com Phoenix Fulfillment Center in ...


Economic Times
Judge: Microsoft must turn over emails stored in Ireland
San Jose Mercury News
Its arguments were joined by large technology companies, including Apple, Cisco Systems, Verizon Communications and AT&T. The judge stayed the ...


Reuters
Amazon quickens push into tough local services market
Chicago Tribune
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Seattle audio and video technician Todd Mueller showed up last year for what might have been a routine job except for ...


Times of India
Google to face anti-trust probe in Europe over Android
Times of India
Android's 80% market share is at a level akin to Microsoft's Windows, itself the target ... grant better shop-window placement to rival services from Microsoft and Yahoo. ... "In fast-moving technology markets, protracted adversarial antitrust .... Apple leveraging enterprise apps to boost iPad sales in India; 3.


Economic Times
Microsoft's Device Strategy: 3 Unanswered Questions
InformationWeek
InformationWeek: Connecting The Business Technology Community ... Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's scaled-down device strategy creates new questions ... aren't strictly about chasing market share, let alone challenging Apple. ... Microsoft showed off a prototype blade that could be used to mix music, ...

Case tests limits of post-Snowden privacy
Politico
Eighteenth-century rights clash with 21st-century computer technologies Thursday, when a court hears an appeal from Microsoft against a warrant it says tramples the Fourth Amendment. The case — in which Microsoft is resisting a U.S. warrant to turn over ...

Why the Security of USB Is Fundamentally Broken | Threat Level | WIRED: "YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER A USB INFECTED AND THROW IT AWAY AS SOON AS IT TOUCHES A NON-TRUSTED COMPUTER"

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FTC, T-Mobile, Cramming, Slamming

T-Mobile Sued for Adding Bogus Charges to Bills: Video - Bloomberg:
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T-Mobile US Inc. was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over claims the wireless carrier placed unauthorized third-party charges on customer bills. Bloomberg’s Yang Yang reports on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg July 2, 2014)

FTC probably a little late -- it was a problem, a year ago --

FTC: T-Mobile knowingly added bogus charges to bills: "..."It's wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. "The FTC's goal is to ensure that T-Mobile repays all its customers for these crammed charges.""

DailyTech - FTC Calls Out T-Mobile for Fraudulent Charges on Phone Bills, CEO Lambasts Claims: "...T-Mobile CEO John Legere has since responded to the FTC complaint, saying that it is "unfounded and without merit." Here's Legere's full statement:  We have seen the complaint filed today by the FTC and find it to be unfounded and without merit.  In fact T-Mobile stopped billing for these Premium SMS services last year and launched a proactive program to provide full refunds for any customer that feels that they were charged for something they did not want.  T-Mobile is fighting harder than any of the carriers to change the way the wireless industry operates and we are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to file this action against the most pro-consumer company in the industry rather than the real bad actors..."

Famed investor Tim Draper wins auction of Silk Road’s 29,655 bitcoins | Ars Technica: "A relatively unknown Silicon Valley Bitcoin startup named Vaurum announced that one of its primary investors, Tim Draper, has won the government auction of an enormous trove of 29,655 bitcoins seized from Silk Road—currently worth over $19 million. “Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market economy with weak currencies,” Draper, a founding partner at the well-known venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), said in a statement posted by Varurum on Wednesday morning. DFJ manages over $7 billion in global investments and was an early funder of Hotmail, Skype, Tesla Motors, and the Pebble watch. Vaurum said in its statement that it will partner with Draper to “leverage the pool of [around] 30,000 bitcoins as a liquidity source” as a way to develop trading platforms in “developing economies.”..."

Google's Latest Buy Is Full of Hits
ABC News
Google's latest acquisition is already a hit. The search giant announced today that it had scooped up Songza, a music streaming and curation service.

Microsoft accidentally borks legit websites while hunting malware in No-IP takeover
PCWorld
Microsoft admitted Tuesday it made a technical error after it commandeered part of an Internet service's network in order to shut down a botnet, but the ...

Amazon Defends Its Stance Against Hachette
Wall Street Journal
In its standoff with Hachette, Amazon wants a larger share of e-book ... The Justice Department in 2012 brought a civil antitrust lawsuit against five major publishers and Apple Inc., ... 

Amazon Resisting FTC On In-App Purchases By Children
Wall Street Journal
In a letter to the FTC Tuesday, Amazon said it was prepared to "defend our ... He said Amazon's app store included "prominent notice of in-app ... and has updated its app store to conform to the standards the FTC set for Apple. ... App stores, such as those operated by Amazon, Apple and Google Inc., ...

Facebook policy didn't mention 'research' at time of controversial experiment
San Jose Mercury News
Facebook argues it had users' consent to carry out the test, based on ...

Microsoft sides with Qualcomm in showdown over connected home
Reuters
Microsoft on Tuesday joined 50 other members in the AllSeen Alliance, including ... AppleInc, known for strictly controlling how other companies' products interact with its own, ... Last week, Google said it partnered with Mercedes-Benz, Whirlpool Corp and light bulb ...

Amazon Strikes Back With Lower Cost Instances
InformationWeek
Amazon Web Services has introduced a lower cost, general-purpose instance type for users who want both a modest CPU and also an ability to burst ...

Amazon seller sues Amazon, Apple over deleted listings
CNET
An independent electronics accessories retailer is suing tech giants Amazon and Apple on a multitude of allegations that include stopping the ...

Microsoft, Google form Ethernet consortium for data center networks
ZDNet
Five tech giants including Google and Microsoft have formed a consortium to push ...Facebook: Unethical, untrustworthy, and now downright harmful ...

Facebook Faces Investigation In UK Over Emotion Experiment - The Next Web
By Kaylene Hong
Facebook posts, comments and likes related to the World Cup have already ...Facebook's brewing trouble in Europe comes as Google has started ...
The Next Web Top Stories

Microsoft Communication Applications - AT&T Business
AT&T Managed Application Services for Microsoft can provide hosting, monitoring, management, and support across the application lifecycle. We can ...
AT&T - Enterprise Business Services

Google in Deal for Songza, a Music Playlist Service
New York Times
In a sign of growing consolidation in the digital music business, Google announced on Tuesday that it had bought Songza, a three-year-old app that competes with Pandora and others in making customized playlists of recommended songs. The price was not ...

ray turns out to one of world's deepest divers
New Zealand Herald
A ray known for basking on the ocean surface has turned out to be one of the natural world's deepest divers, able to forage at submarine-crushing depths, scientists said this week. Researchers attached data recorders to 15 Chilean devil rays (Latin name ...

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T-Mobile CEO says AT&T and Verizon Raping You (video)

T-Mobile CEO: Duopolists AT&T, Verizon Raping You: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play)
T-Mobile chief executive officer John Legere, a self-styled rebel, told a crowd at the company's Uncarrier 5.0 event that duopolists like AT&T Verizon are "raping" customers because the companies "hate you." (Source: Bloomberg, June 19th)

Google's Nest buys Dropcam to connect the home further
PCWorld (blog)
Google said late Friday that its Nest connected-home division had agreed to purchase Dropcam in a deal that will extend Google's control into the ...

Amazon Fire: 6 Key Points
InformationWeek
Amazon's Fire smartphone might convince people to buy more stuff from ... Further, the Fire Phone doesn't include the Google Play Store, which is ...

Microsoft and Google, taking cue from Apple, add kill switch
San Jose Mercury News
Following Apple's lead, Google and Microsoft will add "kill switches" to their next smartphone operating systems -- a measure that has apparently led ...

Apple Plans Multiple Designs for Smartwatch
Wall Street Journal
Facebook; Twitter ... Apple Plans Multiple Designs for Smartwatch ... wearable devices from rivals such as Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Google hosts all-girl coding party
CNNMoney
google made with code Actress and producer Mindy Kaling was the host at an event geared toward getting more young girls interested in tech.

Microsoft Accidentally Confirms Surface Mini
InformationWeek
Microsoft -- ostensibly by accident -- just confirmed that its long-rumored Surface Mini was, and possibly still is, a real project. The Surface Pro 3 User ...

Facebook, Twitter, Google score during World Cup
San Jose Mercury News
NEW YORK -- Twitter and Facebook lit up in a World Cup frenzy this week as millions of people around the world took to social media to share in the ...

Google Invests $50 Million to Close the Tech Gender Gap
TIME
Google has promised to do all it can to recruit more women into Silicon Valley, and now the company is putting its money where its PR is. On Thursday ...

Google Considering Investment in New Trans-Pacific Cable
Wall Street Journal
"The newcomers like Google and Facebook are filling in the gap." ... A Microsoftspokeswoman said the company is in talks to help build a cable ...

Microsoft reveals Office 365 roadmap, offers opt-in previews
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft on Thursday delivered on a promise made earlier this year to provide a roadmap to future Office 365 enhancements and ...

Great White Shark Making Comeback in US Waters
ABC News (blog)
Nearly 39 years to the day since “Jaws” first terrified audiences, a new report shows that the real thing is making a comeback — the US is seeing a boom of great white sharks. Related: Track a great white shark as it makes its way toward Texas. According to a ...

'Neanderthal-Like' Skulls Reconstructed From Pit In Spain Hint At Human Evolution
Fox News Latino
In Spanish, the world for jigsaw puzzle is “rompecabezas”—literally, a head breaker. Researchers in Spain flipped that process, taking hundreds of pieces of ancient bone that were found in a cave north of Madrid near Burgos called the “Pit of the Bones” and ...

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John Legere on AT&T and Verizon Short-Term Trickery (video); FCC Wants To Kill the Internet

Legere: AT&T, Verizon Plans Are Short-Term Trickery: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play)
Legere says AT&T and Verizon Plans Are Short-Term Trickery (video above) - T-Mobile US President and CEO John Legere discusses the company’s customer growth on Bloomberg Television's “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg, May 1)

T-Mobile adds another 2.4M customers in record quarter, within shouting distance of Sprint - GeekWire: T-Mobile added a net total of 2.4 million customers in the first quarter — the biggest growth in its history — including record expansion of 1.3 million customers in the coveted category of branded postpaid accounts. The continued growth takes the Bellevue-based wireless company to more than 49 million customers overall, up from 34 million a year ago. T-Mobile is now within 6 million customers of Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier....

Meanwhile the FCC is trying to kill the internet with "fast and slow lanes" OR internet for the rich --
Netflix brings net neutrality concerns to U.S. regulators | Reuters: "..."Tolls coming for the Web thanks to FCC. What is the FCC thinking?" Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings posted on his Facebook page last week when the news of the proposal leaked out. In a blog post on March 20, Hastings took a sharp stance against allowing Internet providers to charge fees for connections, including in deals known as "interconnection" or "peering" agreements that have traditionally been outside the scope of net neutrality as regulated by the FCC...."

I'm worried about how Net Neutrality will affect gaming! | The Tech Guy: "       Episode 1079 Rusty from Los Angeles, CA Rusty makes video games and he's concerne with the FCCs new Net Neutrality rules. Leo says that the FCC is now taking public comments via email at openinternet@fcc.gov. Leo says that latency through buffering would kill video gaming as players would be too frustrated with it. So a free and open internet would be vital for gaming. And the big guys would be able to pay for unhindered access, but the indy's won't be able to. And innovation doesn't work that way."

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s lame excuses for his net neutrality proposal.: " . . . . his proposal is the same plan offered by the largest cable and phone companies, which have tried to kill network neutrality for almost a decade. Since 2006, the phone and cable industries have proposed a world where they won’t “block” any websites, but they will simply create a lane for all websites and then charge anyone who wants better service for a fast lane....the cable and phone giants want this world to have no clear rules—just vague principles about what might be “commercially reasonable,” which is an invitation for small companies to sue the giants if they’re unhappy. Since the cable and telephone companies have more FCC lawyers than most companies have employees, they will scare off most potential companies suing and then beat the rest in “FCC court.” That’s basically what the chairman is backing—the often proposed AT&T/Verizon plan. It’s the plan that President Obama repeatedly opposed, beginning in 2006. It’s the plan that network neutrality advocates have fought against for eight years...."

Hate Chrome hiding Web addresses? It may be the future - CNET: "...Chrome today shows the complete address, but with the new approach shows it only when you click the origin chip. You also can continue use the existing keyboard shortcuts of Ctrl/Cmd-L to reveal the full address. The origin chip itself changes from gray to green to signify a Web site with valid security credentials. The feature has been activated for some users of the Chrome browser. "This is a new UI experiment that's deployed to a small fraction of users," said Paul Irish, a Google developer advocate, in a Hacker News discussion about the feature Thursday. Change often generates a backlash, and that's exactly what happened here. One newly filed Chrome bug seeks to excise the origin chip. "This change is not needed at all, and I don't find it convenient at all. It's the newest crap that Google made after the 'great' idea of removing the scrollbar arrows. Glad that the scrollbar arrows are back. Now I would like the address bar to be back too," the bug submitter complained. More people are piling on to reinforce the opinion, too...."

Facebook's mobile ad network is shockingly unambitious
GigaOM
Facebook's first real ad network has a surprisingly narrow scope. App developers will probably take to it, but other advertisers should stick with Google ...

Why Is Facebook Promoting Bogus Stories in Its Related Links? | Mediaite
By Luke O'Neil
It's well established that Facebook is where we go to find phony news stories and misleading clickbait, but you may have noticed in recent months that ...
Mediaite

Scientists Confirm The Existence Of Element 117
Forbes
The official Periodic Table of the Elements is one step closer to adding element 117 to its ranks. That's thanks to an international team of scientists that was able to successfully create several atoms of element 117, which is currently known as Ununseptium ...

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Heartbleed Password Changes, Security Experts Warning

Heartbleed: don't rush to update passwords, security experts warn | Technology | theguardian.com: "...But suggestions by Yahoo and the BBC that people should change their passwords at once – the typical reaction to a security breach – could make the problem worse if the web server hasn't been updated to fix the flaw, says Mark Schloesser, a security researcher with Rapid7, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Doing so "could even increase the chance of somebody getting the new password through the vulnerability," Schloesser said, because logging in to an insecure server to change a password could reveal both the old and new passwords to an attacker...." (read more at link above)

Google Services Updated to Address OpenSSL CVE-2014-0160 (the Heartbleed bug)

We've assessed this vulnerability and applied patches to key Google services such as Search, Gmail, YouTube, Wallet, Play, Apps, and App Engine....Android - All versions of Android are immune to CVE-2014-0160 (with the limited exception of Android 4.1.1; patching information for Android 4.1.1 is being distributed to Android partners)....
googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/.../google-services-updated...

Amazon Fire TV misses the same marks as Ouya, other media boxes | Ars Technica: " When we looked closer at the Fire TV, we saw some solutions. But these fixes are too half-baked and too limited in scope. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't appear to be looking for an answer to the big media box issues as much as it's interested in finding less-glaring ways of cutting the same corners. As a result, functionality is expended for Amazon's own self-absorption."

T-Mobile CEO teases Uncarrier 5.0, says 'we are by far not done' - CNET: "...T-Mobile launched its "Simple Starter" plan, a $40 option for customers who don't necessarily use a lot of data on their phones (it's capped at 500 megabytes). But that's just the beginning. Legere said he plans to make two more announcements -- one on Thursday and a third on Friday. He wouldn't provide any details, saying only that they would be "equal or greater" to the Simple Starter plan. Legere also teased that T-Mobile would be holding "at least" one more Uncarrier event this year -- Uncarrier 5.0 -- suggesting a much larger promotion or program in the works..."

Jony Ive shakes up Apple’s software design group, iPhone interface creator Greg Christie departing | 9to5Mac: "...Following friction between top Apple Human Interface Vice President Greg Christie and Senior Vice President Jony Ive, Apple’s hardware and software design is being dramatically shaken up, according to sources familiar with the matter. After adding human interface design direction to his responsibilities in 2012, Ive will soon completely subsume Apple’s software design group, wresting control away from long-time human interface design chief Christie, according to sources briefed on the matter. Previous to this shakeup, all Apple software design has been led by Christie, who has reported to Craig Federighi, and Ive has been attending interface design meetings and providing instruction…"

Comcast Quietly Preps Challenge to Wireless Carriers - The Information: "Comcast officials recently told people outside the company that it was considering a mobile phone service, which would rely on a combination of Wi-Fi and leased capacity on cellular networks...."

Will Facebook-Oculus purchase advance virtual reality?
USA TODAY
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was 9 years old when the Sega VR headset graced the cover of Popular Science. Virtual reality in 1993 was a ...

Microsoft suspends Windows 8.1 Update release to businesses
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft on Tuesday suspended serving Windows 8.1 Update to businesses that rely on WSUS (Windows Server Update Services), ...

Facebook feud fires alarm over public service snoop plans
Sydney Morning Herald
Federal government departments are using increasingly powerful cyber-snooping equipment to monitor the social media lives of millions of ...

Apple's Top Product Pundit Predicts 2014: Here's What You Need To Know
Forbes
Because Apple Apple rumors come and go faster than the latest celebrity gossip, it's often challenging to to know whether they are worthy of your ...

Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg rules out run for public office
San Jose Mercury News
Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg sought Wednesday to spike persistent rumors that she may ... or google.com/+BrandonBaileyOnline or on Facebook at ...

Google exec reiterates commitment to mobile payments
CNET
Google Payments chief Ariel Bardin tells attendees at a payment conference that .... There are also several other potential competitors, such as PayPal and Amazon. ... (The latest rumor is that Google and Apple have each talked to Square about possible ...Microsoft to Windows XP users: The jig is up.

How Google forced Microsoft to change its business
USA TODAY
Last week, Microsoft (ticker:MSFT) made a radical change to its business model, effectively doing away with the strategy that helped it dominate ...

Twitter and Facebook Wield Little Influence on TV Watching - NYTimes.com - NYTimes.com
By By VINDU GOEL
While many Twitter and Facebook users don't post updates on those services while ... Listen to executives at Twitter and Facebook talk about how we watch ... female employee who was left out of her 5-person start-up's acquisition by Google. ... Readers Respond: How Should Apple Spend Its Billions?
NYT Bits

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ adds NFC tap-to-connect for simple set up of security-protected Wi-Fi® devices and networks | Reuters: "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ now offers consumers a simplified option to set up Wi-Fi connections, even on devices without a user interface. Users can now connect devices certified for this capability by simply tapping them together, activating a security-protected Wi-Fi connection."

New 'Switch' Could Power Quantum Computing
MIT Technology Review
A light lattice that traps atoms may help scientists build networks of quantum information transmitters. By Peter Dizikes on April 9, 2014. Using a laser to place individual rubidium atoms near the surface of a lattice of light, scientists at MIT and Harvard ...
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T-Mobile fastest 4G LTE network, but goodbye BlackBerry

Sprint is the worst -- no wonder Sprint is trying to take over T-Mobile --

T-Mobile ranked fastest 4G LTE network in the US, Sprint the worst: "If you’re lucky to live in an area where T-Mobile has a good 4G LTE coverage, then you’re using the fastest 4G LTE network in the U.S. According to a report conducted in February, T-Mobile has the fastest 4G LTE network in the US, study from OpenSignal concluded...."

BlackBerry Ending US Licensing Deal With T-Mobile - ABC News: "BlackBerry's existing licensing agreement with T-Mobile U.S. Inc. expires on April 25."

Amazon announces $99 Fire TV set-top box, available now | The Verge: "Apple and Roku have a new competitor in the living room. Amazon just announced its own video streaming device: the $99 Amazon Fire TV. It starts shipping today. "We need to invent and simplify on behalf of customers," said Amazon's Peter Larsen. During the presentation, Larsen went over three pain points of current devices: search, performance, and "closed ecosystem." Fire TV promises to avoid the problems that plague other living room hardware, according to Larsen."

Microsoft announces Cortana smartphone voice search
USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Wednesday announced new features for ... a widely anticipated Siri- and Google Now-like voice assistant called Cortana. ... e-mail and the like, similar to what you find on Android and Apple devices. Microsoft also announced new features for the Start Screen and a ...

Apple and Samsung Reprise Patent Fight (With Google a Shadow Presence)
New York Times
SAN JOSE, Calif. — As lawyers for Apple and Samsung made their opening statements in their patent trial in a federal courthouse here, they could not ...

Microsoft demos touch-focused Office apps at Build
PCWorld (blog)
Less than a week after introducing Office for iPad, Microsoft showed off the progress of touch-friendly Metro Office apps at its Build conference keynote ...

Microsoft Battles Google, Amazon In Cloud Price War
InformationWeek
Microsoft executives have previously said they planned to match AWS pricing, but that was before both Google and Amazon enacted steep drops in ...

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Now Among Billionaire CEOs Earning $1 Salary
Forbes
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now the company's ... Zuckerberg — worth $27.8 billion mostly in Facebook stock — requested an annual ... Google's Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page, worth roughly $30 billion a ...

Google's 'evil' stock split
Fortune
It's been almost 10 years since Google famously told the world in its filing for an initial public offering that ... Google now is worth more than Microsoft.

Apple patches Safari's Pwn2Own vulnerability, two-dozen other critical bugs
Computerworld
Apple on Tuesday patched the security vulnerability in Safari that was ... Of the others, more than half were reported by the Google Chrome security team, ... 

HP agrees to pay $57 million to settle shareholder lawsuit | Reuters: "...The lawsuit was filed after former Chief Executive Leo Apotheker shocked investors on August 18, 2011 by announcing plans to refocus the company on business services and products. He also revealed plans to scrap WebOS, whose rights HP had obtained when it bought Palm Inc in 2010; pay $11.1 billion for British software company Autonomy Plc; and possibly spin off HP's personal computer business. The company also halted sales of the TouchPad, after just seven weeks on the market....The case is Gammel et al v. Hewlett-Packard Co et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 11-01404."

How Gmail Happened: The Inside Story of Its Launch 10 Years Ago Today | TIME.com: " . . . One remarkable thing about Gmail that wasn’t obvious in 2004: Its creators built it to last. The current incarnations of Outlook.com and Yahoo Mail have nothing to do with the email services Microsoft and Yahoo offered 10 years ago. But Gmail–despite having added features more or less continuously and gone through some significant redesigns–is still Gmail. “I can’t think of another app that has existed so close to its original form for 10 years,” says Fox. “Someone who had only used Gmail in its first iteration and suddenly used it today would still understand Gmail. They’d know how to use it for virtually everything they’d want to do.”..."

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T-Mobile to Verizon: "Don't Tread On Me!"

T-Mobile to upgrade 2G network to 4G LTE, takes on Verizon | Mobile - CNET News: "T-Mobile isn't slowing down when it comes to its network upgrade. The upstart wireless carrier said on Thursday that it plans to add 4G LTE to its slower 2G network, adding coverage and speed to additional customers....T-Mobile also said it was taking legal action against Verizon in an effort to get it to stop using its network coverage map in its advertising, which T-Mobile argues is "cherry-picking"...."

Google Drive Gets A Big Price Drop, 100GB Now Costs $1.99 A Month | TechCrunch: "Google today significantly dropped the prices for its Google Drive online storage service. The first 15GB of storage remain free, but 100GB now costs just $1.99 per month instead of $4.99. Even more impressively, though, you can now get a terabyte of online storage for $9.99 a month, down from $49.99..."

The NSA Responds To Allegations It Impersonated Facebook And Infected PCs With Malware | TechCrunch: " . . . Regarding the claim that the NSA doesn’t impersonate ”websites,” it’s worth pointing out The Intercept’s original wording regarding the alleged activities: “In some cases the NSA has masqueraded as a fake Facebook server, using the social media site as a launching pad to infect a target’s computer and exfiltrate files from a hard drive.” I’ll leave it to you to decide if that is a distinction with, or without a difference. The NSA’s spate of bad publicity doesn’t appear to be abetting, nor is there an end in sight. Snowden himself appeared at SXSW to answer questions, and declare that the NSA is “setting fire to the future of the Internet....”

Google removes underlined links, says goodbye to 1996 | The Verge: ""We've increased the size of result titles, removed the underlines, and evened out all the line heights," says Google lead designer Jon Wiley. "This improves readability and creates an overall cleaner look.""

Apple's iOS 8 to be speedier, pre-bundled apps modified, report says
Los Angeles Times
9to5Mac, which is known for its impressive track record of Apple scoops, this week released numerous reports explaining Apple's plans for the eighth version of its mobile operating system. For starters, Apple plans to make iOS 8 much faster than iOS 7, ...

Amazon Raises Prime Membership Fee
New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon announced on Thursday that it would raise its annual shipping fee by 25 percent, right up to — but not over — the psychologically important $99 level. It had originally said it would increase the fee as high as $119, which ...

How Google and Microsoft Can Halt a Product
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Case in point is Asustek's decision to indefinitely postpone sales of a tablet that runs both Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows operating systems, as reported in The Wall Street Journal Friday. The incident illustrates how Google's and Microsoft ...

Microsoft adds personal Office 365 subscription
PCWorld
If you don't need the family plan offered by Microsoft's Office 365 Home Premium, relax—Microsoft announced an individual subscription on Thursday. Dubbed Office 365 Personal, the new Office subscription works with just a single computer (either a Mac ...

Google Redesigns Search Results on PCs
ABC News
Google Inc. rolled out the new design on PCs with little fanfare, even though it will be seen by almost everyone who searches for information on personal computers. That's becauseGoogle processes about two out of every three search requests made on ...

Google's Flu Project Shows the Failings of Big Data
TIME
Big data: as buzzwords go, it's inescapable. Gigantic corporations like SAS and IBM tout their big data analytics, while experts promise that big data—our exponentially growing ability to collect and analyze information about anything at all—will ...

Google Encrypts Search, Aims To Foil China, NSA
Forbes
Google Google is moving to encrypt search globally, aiming to bypass government censorship – and inhibit NSA snooping. Its latest step is to start automatically encrypting searches made in China, in an effort to counter the censorship system known as ...

Google cameras take rafting trip at Grand Canyon
Fox News
In 2011, Google mounted its Street View trike on a boat and went up the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, Tuxen-Bettman said. The company also has used push carts and snowmobiles to map places where vehicles cannot travel. In late 2012, Google ...

All major browsers fall during second day of Pwn2Own hacking contest
PCWorld
Security researchers demonstrated zero-day exploits against Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Flash Player during the second day of the Pwn2Own hacking competition Thursday, racking up total prizes of ...

Plex Expands Chromecast Support to All
PC Magazine
Media management app Plex is now available to all Chromecast users, not just those with a Plex premium account. Plex allows you to consolidate all your music, movies, and photos into the app for easy access. In December, it released Chromecast support ...

Microsoft's Tech Advisor Bill Gates is talking about tech (again)
ZDNet
Rolling Stone's Jeff Goodell said to Gates that Google was supposedly looking at possibly buying WhatsApp. Gates' response: "Yeah, yeah. Microsoft was willing to buy it, too. . . . I don't know if it was for $19 billion, but the company's extremely ...

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