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At this point, a deal between wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint seems all but inevitable.  The talks are close to wrapping up, according to Bloomberg, which pegs an announcement coming by the end of the month, likely during one of the companies’ earnings reports. The two sides are just deciding on the final exchange ratio for the stock swap deal, …

Apple has announced that hundreds of new emojis will be available in the iOS 11.1 update. The new icons include more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals and mythical creatures. More characters will also be announced on World Emoji Day, such as “Woman with Headscarf,” “Bearded Person,” and “Breastfeeding.” “The new emoji are designed to reveal …

Farewell, AIM.  AOL Instant Messenger, a popular form of communication in the early days of the internet, goes dark on Dec. 15, AOL, now a unit of Verizon’s Oath, said on Friday.  AIM was once one of the dominant instant-messaging platforms on the internet, helped by the massive number of dialup subscribers using AOL internet service. After launching in 1997, …

Trying to get tickets for a sell-out production at London’s National Theatre is difficult enough at the best of times, but if you’re hard of hearing, it’s trickier still. Not only must you book tickets for one of a small handful of “captioned” shows, but you must also try to secure the seats in the part of the auditorium that …

China has given HP the green light to buy Samsung Electronics’ printer business, but the deal comes with conditions. HP has received approval to buy Samsung’s printer business for $1.1 billion — along with restrictions meant to keep the company from monopolizing the market and engaging in unfair practices, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. The Chinese government’s approach to …

BlackBerry‘s back. Again.  The company’s latest phone, an all-touchscreen affair CNET reported on in August, will be called the BlackBerry Motion. That’s courtesy of an image and information from Evan Blass, a serial leaker with a strong track record for accuracy.  The BlackBerry Motion is a follow-up to the KeyOne, the first phone released under TCL’s licensing agreement with BlackBerry …

“Alexa, order Vicodin.”  Can you imagine a future where Amazon is your pharmacy — where a single click or a simple voice command could have prescription medicine winging their way to your door? According to a CNBC report, the giant retailer is about to decide whether to make a move on the prescription drug market.  Don’t get too excited just …

A central, driving force for Jony Ive and Apple’s team to create the iPhone was the pedestrian lousiness of cellphones 10 years ago. “When we worked on the iPhone, certainly a significant part of our motivation was the loathing we had for the phones that we were using,” Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, said during a rare public interview at …

For 2017, Google’s Daydream View is getting comfier — and the VR headset supports more phones than ever. But at $99, it also costs $20 more than the original. To sweeten the deal, Google’s throwing in a bundle of five free games through the end of the year, in the United States, which normally retail for around $40. The obvious …

With iOS 11, Apple‘s iPhones can now automatically silence all notifications and alerts when the phone determines you’re driving — to keep you focused on the road. Now, Google is cribbing that handy feature for the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. The new Pixel Ambient Services app, which will come preinstalled on Google’s latest flagships, includes the feature …

Google’s new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones do something most devices don’t: they’ll launch an app when you squeeze the sides. Just one app, though: Google Assistant. Sounds kind of cool, right? If you’re grabbing your phone out of your pocket or purse and want to light up Google Assistant to ask a question, clasping a Pixel 2 …

Another Samsung phone has gone up in flames. But it’s not Samsung at fault this time. A man in Indonesia was seen falling onto the ground trying to rip his shirt off after his phone exploded in his left breast pocket and set the garment aflame, Channel News Asia reported Thursday. The phone in question was a Samsung Grand Duos …

Google’s new Pixel phones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, are ready to square off against the iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30.  The smaller-sized Pixel 2 has a 5-inch OLED screen, while the larger Pixel 2 XL comes with a 6-inch display. These two Android Oreo phones are Google’s high-end devices for the leadup into 2018, and so far, …

Sure, the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL don’t have headphone jacks. But their USB-C charging and data port might be more versatile than most.  According to Google engineer Benson Leung — the man who’s been saving us from crappy USB-C cables, by the way — the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones support up to 27-watt …