When it comes to communications mergers this year, it’s all about the bundle. Attention will focus on federal regulators this year as they now have not one but two major communications mergers to consider. So far, chances look good that AT&T and DirecTV will be allowed to consummate their $48.5 billion proposed merger. The best …

CNET Apple and Samsung reportedly are giving truce talks another shot in an effort to settle their legal differences out of court. The two combatants have recently “resumed working-level discussions” with the key topic being how to dismiss all lawsuits, the Korea Times said Monday, citing information from people directly involved with the matter. Apple and Samsung emerged from yet …

The school at the center of the allegations. Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET Educators aren’t always comfortable with students having cell phones. While some might argue phones are a classroom distraction, other teachers face a different problem with mobile devices. It seems there’s too much temptation hidden within them to discover everything about their students. An incident in the UK offers …

AT&T will eventually sell DirecTV service in its stores. Josh Lowensohn/CNET For AT&T and DirecTV, the sales pitch begins. The companies have a lot of convincing to do. Consumer advocacy groups have already bashed the deal as the creation of another media industry giant, while financial analysts remain skeptical about the potential advantages of combining the second-largest wireless carrier in …

DirecTV The blockbuster deal between AT&T and DirecTV proves one thing: that the National Football League Sunday Ticket package is the crown jewel in the satellite-TV provider’s programming package. DirecTV’s relationship with the NFL and maintaining the Sunday Ticket package is critical enough to the $48.5 billion merger with AT&T that it is deemed a deal breaker. If DirecTV doesn’t …

Cricket stores get a new look under AT&T. Cricket The Cricket Wireless brand got a new lease on life thanks to AT&T, which re-introduced the prepaid wireless service on Sunday with a new set of competitive offers. AT&T inherited the Cricket brand through its $1.2 billion acquisition of Cricket-parent Leap Wireless, which closed in March. As a result of its …

PhoneArena While the earlier Bluetooth listing didn’t quite confirm the Galaxy S5 Prime (supposedly due in June), this set of leaked photos published on PhoneArena is further evidence of the existence of Samsung’s forthcoming metallic update to its flagship phone. The three photos show off the phone’s aluminium chassis with brushed-metal edges, with a new speaker grill located at the …

The Surface Pro appears set to get new Intel processors. Brooke Crothers Signs point to Microsoft updating the Intel internals of the Surface Pro on Tuesday. And Windows Phone Central is claiming it has more details. The site lists a variety of models — or possibly just different SKUs — based on a range of Intel Core series processors and …

Cricket Customers of AT&T’s newly-relaunched Cricket Wireless will get new rate plans, a heap of new phones, and a new network backbone. What they won’t get is the old Cricket’s signature Muve Music service. Related stories Muve Music’s 2M subscribers: Music to Cricket’s ears Muve Music makes leap to all Cricket Android phones AT&T relaunches Cricket, kills Aio Launched in …

As seen in a cached version of the page, Dick Smith advertised Chromecast pre-orders before pulling the page from its website. Screenshot by Claire Reilly/CNET Unveiled by Google in 2013, the media streaming device was launched across 11 countries in March 2014, though Australia was left off this initial list. While Google would not comment on an official launch date …

AT&T is set to buy DirecTV. Screenshot by Roger Cheng/CNET AT&T said on Sunday that it had agreed to buy DirecTV in a cash and stock deal worth $48.5 billion, marking the second proposed deal this year to shake up the pay-television business. DirecTV shareholders will receive a total of $95 per share, with $28.50 to be paid in cash …

Trip Hawkins’ latest project is called If. Screenshot by Roger Cheng/CNET It was more than a decade ago, but gaming trailblazer Trip Hawkins remembered the day that he got admonished by his children for being rude to a waitress. His children attended the Nueva School in Hillsborough, Calif., which included in its curriculum training in social and emotional learning (SEL) …

From tracking lost luggage to turning your smartphone into a wireless microphone to making it even easier to troubleshoot your customer-service calls, AT&T engineers have been cooking up some interesting new applications to make your life easier. The company showed off some of these new software driven applications at a technology innovation showcase in New York City on Friday. None …

Intel powers the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. Samsung Intel has managed to get the cost of Android tablets that run its chips competitive with the price of ARM-based systems, as it continues to pour money and resources into spurring growth, according to Digitimes Research. “Android-on-Intel tablets’ costs are already lower than those of the same level Android-on-ARM models,” Digitimes …

Samsung’s Galaxy S5. Andrew Hoyle/CNET Those of you who visit Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport as of May 19 will notice a new name courtesy of Samsung. Starting Monday, Terminal 5 will unofficially be redubbed “Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5 ” in line with a new two-week promotion, Samsung announced on Friday. The new name will pop up on all signage …