The four big broadcasters in the US — Disney‘s ABC, CBS, Fox and Comcast’s NBCUniversal — are suing a small, nonprofit streaming service, called Locast, which grabs over-the-air channels and makes them available to stream. The Locast service is available in 13 cities, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The suit is the first attack against …
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The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rereleased its drones app, this time with useful information on where you can and can’t fly your drone in the national airspace system (NAS). The B4UFLY mobile app is free in the Apple App Store and Google Play store as of Wednesday. The app now has a clear status indicator of whether it’s …
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Verizon is continuing to expand its 5G deployment, nearly doubling its count of next-generation network locations with four additional cities Wednesday. New to the live list: Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington, DC. All cities were part of Verizon’s previously announced list of areas due to get 5G in 2019, with service in the new locations going live today. The carrier …
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AT&T is giving DirecTV Now a makeover, but the new name and app may cause more trouble than it solves. On Tuesday the telecom giant announced that it would be rebranding its struggling streaming service as AT&T TV Now. The new name will be rolled out later this summer and work with a new AT&T TV app. Current DirecTV Now …
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Next time you hear “Cleanup on aisle 5,” it could be a robot making that observation. AT&T is working on 5G autonomous robots for retail stores that would identify any out-of-stock, mispriced or misplaced products in a store, as well as finding store hazards. AT&T has partnered with Badger Technologies for the project, which was announced Tuesday. 5G, the next-generation mobile technology, …
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AT&T has won a $984 million, 15-year contract to help upgrade the US Department of Justice’s technology systems. The deal will see AT&T move more than 120,000 DOJ employees in 2,100 offices to a new communications platform for mobile voice and data, cybersecurity and cloud services. While it doesn’t cover 5G for now, the next-generation networking service could be added …
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With the Department of Justice finally giving T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion merger with Sprint a thumbs-up, the US wireless industry can begin preparing for its new reality. Sprint is going away, T-Mobile is getting a lot bigger and Dish — after years of hoarding spectrum — is set to become a fourth wireless competitor. With the wide reach of the deal, …
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Embrace it or disdain it, the 5G data revolution is coming either way. 5G’s ultrafast speeds will soon land on new phones, starting at the high end. But we’ve already learned what these first-generation 5G phones will be like, and they shed light on some of the challenges that everyone might face in these early days of 5G. We’ve tested 5G speeds in …
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After more than a year of regulatory battles, T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint is this close to happening. Justice Department antitrust head Makan Delrahim said Friday that the DOJ will approve the deal because T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom signed an agreement to sell off several Sprint assets to Dish Network, creating a new nationwide wireless carrier. Under the agreement, …
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Happy Friday, cheeps! A few quick housekeeping notes: First, my summer vacation starts next Tuesday, so Cheapskate duties will be in the hands of my super-savvy CNET colleagues. When I return, be ready for big news regarding the next Cheapskate Mystery Box! It’s happening, and soon. Second, you’ve probably noticed this sentence in recent posts: “Note that CNET may get …
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