Verizon announced a new promotion today that offers an additional gigabyte of sharable data when customers activate a new smartphone or upgrade a new smartphone on one of the carrier’s MORE Everything plans. In order to take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to be on a MORE Everything plan that uses at least 1GB of data.
About a month ago, word broke that Samsung was interested in acquiring home automation firm SmartThings and today the two companies have made things official. A blog post by the company’s founder and CEO, Alex Hawkinson acknowledged the deal and stated that SmartThings will continue to act as an independent company under Samsung’s Open Innovation Center group.
In the world of wireless, words like “unlimited data” have their restrictions if you take the time to read the fine print of a carrier’s service agreement and it appears that T-Mobile is not exempt from such practices. An alleged internal memo obtained by TmoNews details how the company will address customers suspected of using its network to access peer-to-peer file sharing services.
Microsoft announced today that a new system update for its Xbox One game console will soon let users stream live TV to their iPhone or iPad. Set to arrive in the next few months, the Xbox One’s SmartGlass companion app will be equipped with the option to watch television via a local network connection without interrupting a gameplay session.
Google recently released a 64-bit version beta version of Chrome for Windows 7 and 8 users and for an encore the company has turned its efforts towards Apple’s OS X. The search giant has silently added 64-bit support to its Chrome Canary and Dev channels for Mac users. If you’re running the latest version of Canary on your Mac, the software should read as 64-bit capable in its About tab.
The great smartwatch boom is starting to consume electronic makers and HP is not exempt. The company is partnering with designer Michael Bastian to produce its own next-gen timepiece. Hewlett-Packard’s timekeeper won’t be dedicated to a single mobile platform and will instead serve as a companion device for Android and iOS smartphones similar to how Pebble watches work.
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6Wunderkinder released a new version of its Wunderlist productivity app today and according to the company this is the software’s biggest revision yet. Wunderlist 3 ships with over 60 improvements, however its standout changes are a retooled design and real-time sync which keeps your lists up to date across multiple devices.
Today, Square announced a new version of its popular mobile payment system that will support EMV chipped credit cards. EMV is a joint effort from MasterCard and Visa to help improve security credit and debit card transactions and is set to become a standard in the US by October 2015. In addition to EMV-equipped credit cards, the new version of Square’s payment system will still feature support for legacy magnetic strips, so customers will still have the option to swipe and sign.
Apple’s next earnings release is scheduled to take place on July 22nd, and to help get you ready for next week’s festivities, Jan Dawson, the founder and chief analyst of Jackdaw Research, has put together a massive profile discussing the state of the company.
A marriage of detailed charts and raw data, this exceptional presentation examines reporting information directly from Apple, along with some projections provided by Jackdaw Research.
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Lenovo’s $2.91 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google is still pending regulatory approval, however it looks like the company is already mapping out a new strategy. Despite being one of the world’s largest PC makers, Lenovo is halting the development of Windows tablets under 10 inches in size and migrating its remaining inventory to markets like Brazil, China and Japan where there’s more of a need for low-cost slates.
Apple, in turn, has had a huge success with the 7.9-inch iPad Mini which quickly became one of its best sellers after its introduction almost 2 years ago.
Although summer is in full swing, the folks at T-Mobile are getting ready for back-to-school season and to make things easier on starving students, the carrier is adding accessories priced from $69 – $250 to its Equipment Installment Program (EIP). This new setup lets T-Mobile customers purchase items like headphones and speakers with a 24 month payment plan for no money down.
Football season is only a few weeks away and while you’re busy making preparations for your office’s annual draft, ESPN has updated its Fantasy Football app. In addition to a refined UI, the revitalized software lets users create a team or league directly from within the app, tracking trades, injuries, scores and more.
Those pesky regulatory symbols on the back of your smartphone or tablet may soon be going digital if a new bill being presented to the US Senate gets approved. The E-Label Act is a bipartisan bill that would give electronics manufacturers the option to use digital stamps instead of branding devices with government-mandated tattoos.
The internet is a strange place. While you’d probably think that the World Wide Web’s rapid pace would be filled with short-lived trends, some things are making a comeback. The Graphics Interchange Format better known as the GIF was created by Steve Wilhite and introduced by CompuServe way back in 1987.Extremely popular in the 90s, these retro animated images have returned to the web and are flooding social media networks. Not being outdone by its competition, Twitter has finally adopted this classic piece of web culture, but you probably gathered that already by reading the title of this news article.
CEOs from massive tech companies like Apple, AOL Facebook, Microsoft and Google recently issued an open letter to the US Senate regarding the growing concerns about internet surveillance. Normally competitors, this unusual alliance agrees that change is needed and that the version of the USA Freedom Act that recently passed through the US House of Representatives needs some work.
Today, Microsoft released a highly anticipated update for its SmartGlass mobile apps for Xbox One. Following suit with a full system update for Redmond’s newest game console, this refreshed companion app adds fast access to all of your TV and app channels with the introduction of OneGuide support. Also new to SmartGlass are the abilities to compare Achievements, filter recorded game clips and organize your console’s pins remotely. But the standout new feature here is the addition of a universal remote that can be used to control your cable, satellite box or TV.
The folks at Hulu have expanded their recent Chromecast efforts and thanks to a new update the company’s iOS app now moonlights as a remote control for the Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 game consoles. Users can pause, stop fast-forward and rewind content directly from their mobile device. This will definitely come in handy, because it takes the strain off your controller’s battery, which should be reserved strictly for gaming.
