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How your smartphone uses its co

This year, the smartphone world pushed forward with new generations of some of the most popular mobile processors, including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800, Nvidia’s Tegra 4, and Apple’s 64-bit A7. Along with that, recent smartphone introductions have cast light on the coprocessors that handle specific — some might say mundane — tasks. But what those coprocessors …

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Why the FCC needs to get with the times, finally

We don’t make phone calls the way we did a century ago. Regulations need to get with the times, too. U.S. Army We are in the midst of a transition away from copper wire-based communications services to broadband Internet-based services — a transition that then-FCC commissioner Michael Powell called the “Great Digital Broadband Migration” way back in the year 2000. …

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Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus won’t get an official KitKat update

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, one of the older devices in Google’s Nexus program, won’t be updated to Android 4.4 KitKat. Google says the phone is outside its 18-month window for updates. (Credit: Google) The Galaxy Nexus was released in November 2011 and debuted Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It has had constant updates since then and currently …

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T

Those of you new to T-Mobile will be out of luck if you’re hoping to walk into a T-Mobile store and walk out with a tablet and 200 megabytes of free data without putting any money down. After promising to fix an “executional mistake” that forced new customers to sign up for a $10 On Demand plan, T-Mobile clarified to …

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HTC One getting Android 4.4 KitKat within 90 days

HTC has said that it plans to push the latest version of Google’s Android operating system to its range of One smartphones as soon as possible, with all North American variants receiving the update in 90 days or less. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) HTC North America boss Jason Mackenzie told Engadget that all carrier variants of its HTC One would be …

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Netflix testing 4K Ultra HD streaming

US-based video-on-demand service Netflix has been testing streaming 4K Ultra HD files, with an aim to having a large catalogue of shows available next year. Netflix showing off 4K streaming at CES this year. (Credit: Nic Healey/CNET Australia) While TVs capable of Ultra HD resolution have arrived from most of the major manufacturers, the problem with 4K remains the content …

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Google to Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners: No KitKat for you

Owners of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus won’t be able to bite into Android 4.4 KitKat. In a new FAQ, Google broke the news that the latest flavor of Android won’t be available as a system update for the 2-year-old Nexus. The company said that the phone falls outside the 18-month time frame in which devices traditionally receive such updates. However, that …

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Cerberus, Qualcomm may join bid with BlackBerry co

Just days before Fairfax Financial Holdings is set to firm up its $4.7 billion offer for BlackBerry, bidding for the embattled smartphone maker has become more intense. Cerberus Capital Management is now officially in talks to team up with BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin for a possible joint bid for the smartphone maker, according to The Wall Street …

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Kixeye moves to mobile, shows free

SAN FRANCISCO — Walking through Kixeye’s headquarters here in downtown San Francisco, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the offices of a triple-A studio. Military sound bites blast out of the speakers of its bunker-themed elevator waiting hall, a space awash in glowing red light and protected by an actual armed guard. Once inside, old-school arcade machines pop …

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