The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to adopt a new mechanism for distributing subsidies to rural broadband providers. But Democrats want to see better data from a new broadband mapping effort first. At the agency’s August meeting, the FCC voted on two related items that commissioners say will help close the digital divide. First, …
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There aren’t many good Android tablets, and Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S6 is aiming to be one of the best. After trying it out briefly in a demo in New York, I did admire a few things Samsung’s doing with their newest tablet — because they’re things Apple’s iPad still doesn’t do yet. All three would be helpful. But it’s …
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If you’re looking for a new, weird thing to do with your next phone, consider hands-free use. Google’s upcoming Pixel 4 is going to throw a hands-free twist to its front-camera array: In addition to facial recognition, it’ll sense motion and hand gestures. This technology, originally called Project Soli, uses radar to detect 3D movement in space. And that’s in addition …
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Take a five-minute walk behind Qualcomm’s main office in San Diego and you’ll find an unlikely kind of lab. The cavernous room, previously used for storing office furniture and boxes, has become the mobile chip giant’s testing ground for new wireless technologies, where it’s working on 5G in ways you may not be expecting. While 5G means super-high speeds on our …
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Apple is teaming up with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter on a project to build an easier way for people to transfer data into and out of online services. The iPhone maker has officially joined the Data Transfer Project, or DTP, a collaboration that launched in July 2018. The DTP is working to build a “common framework with open-source code” …
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Battle royale game Fortnite has become a phenomenon. The free video game from developer Epic Games has generated billions of dollars and become an obsession for gamers of all ages. That surge in popularity has brought Fortnite tournaments for eager esports gamers to watch and compete in. The biggest of them all is the Fortnite World Cup, and the one …
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It’s mid-summer, and that can mean only one thing: School is coming. (Sorry, kids.) And with a new school year often comes the need for a new laptop. For college students in particular, it can be tough to pick the right model. How much should you (or, more likely, your parents) plan to spend? How much horsepower do you really …
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Firefox Reality, Mozilla’s virtual reality browser, now supports Facebook’s Oculus Quest headset. It already worked with the HTC Vive Focus Plus, the Lenovo Mirage and some other VR headsets. But the $400 Oculus Quest, with no wires tethering your headset to a PC, is a new, high-profile option in the world of VR. My colleague Scott Stein says the Quest’s …
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Microsoft has a message for Xbox gamers: It’s removing virtual assistant Cortana. Instead of talking to Cortana via their headset, users will have to use the Xbox Skill for Cortana via the Cortana app on iOS, Android or Windows, or use a Harmon Kardon Invoke speaker, according to a blog post by Microsoft Wednesday. The change comes at a time …
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Facebook was hit with a $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday. As part of its settlement with the FTC, the social network will change how it handles user data. This also means adjusting the information that its partners can access. Facebook said Wednesday that data integrations with partners should already have “wound down” but that it was …
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