I’ll admit it. With monthly bills, network data caps, cracked screens, privacy invasion risks and guilt pangs about being glued to a gadget, my smartphone has lost much of its appeal. The novelty is gone, and the chime of a notification elicits more anxiety than excitement. But a broken water pump helped restore my faith. …
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AT&T, Time Warner merger trial: What’s happened so far
AT&T and Time Warner are done making their case that the US government needs to get out of the way of their marriage. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, and John Stankey, the AT&T executive in charge of the merger, all took the stand this week to defend the $85 billion media deal, which the …
Read More »LG’s V40 and V35 phones could come soon after the LG G7
LG is making us wait a little bit longer for its LG G7 ThinQ phone, but once it arrives, the floodgates may open. LG is rumored to release two new V-series phones, the LG V35 ThinQ and LG V40 ThinQ, soon after the LG G7, according to mobile tipster Evan Blass. Although the LG G-series can be viewed as the …
Read More »How to set up parental controls on a Chromebook
Chromebooks can be kid-friendly once again. Google is adding Chrome OS support for Family Link, the company’s parental control service for Android devices. The move, first reported by Chrome Unboxed, comes months after Google did away with supervised users in January, promising to add improved parental controls in the future. Now that the company has made good on its promise, …
Read More »LG G7 ThinQ gets dedicated Google Assistant button
The upcoming LG G7 ThinQ smartphone will have a unique, physical connection to Google Assistant. The flagship phone, slated to be unveiled in a New York event on May 2, will sport a dedicated hardware button specifically for Google’s digital assistant, according to people familiar with the smartphone. The Google Assistant button will be on the left side of the phone, while …
Read More »ZTE says US trade ban on the company is “unacceptable”
It’s been a bad week for ZTE. On Monday, the US Commerce Department banned all American companies from selling their software and hardware to ZTE. This, the Chinese phone and telecommunications company said, is unacceptable. “It is extremely unfair to ZTE and we cannot accept it!” the company said in a statement, according to Reuters. “Refusal orders will not only …
Read More »iPhone X and Galaxy S9 comparison: Which to buy
Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus have come to fight for Apple’s phone crown with new features and supercharged cameras. But the iPhone X won’t go down easily, and deciding between the newest Galaxy and iPhone may prove tougher than ever. Now that we’ve reviewed both phones, we can help break down how each performs to help you decide which …
Read More »Google pauses Allo work amid RCS push dubbed Chat
Google is putting its Allo messaging app on the backburner as it concentrates on an Android alternative to Apple’s iMessage. The tech giant said in a blog post Thursday it’ll “pause investment” in development of Allo, confirming a report in The Verge. The move was made to focus resources on Rich Communications Services, or RCS, a standard known as Chat that …
Read More »ZTE’s potential catastrophic Android problem (The 3:59, Ep. 388)
On this podcast, we talk about: ZTE potentially losing the right to use Android thanks to a US Commerce Department ban. Amazon partnering with Best Buy to sell smart TVs. California’s net neutrality bill taking one more step toward becoming a law. Our uber-profile of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The 3:59 gives you bite-size news and analysis about the top …
Read More »VR systems Oculus Rift, HTC Vive may be vulnerable to hacks
Virtual reality systems like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are so immersive that they require digital barriers so you don’t run into a real wall in the middle of an intense game. But there’s nothing stopping an attacker from changing what you see in VR, according to researchers from the University of New Haven in Connecticut. The researchers found …
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