AT&T Velocity
I’m using the ZTE-built AT&T Velocity WiFi hotspot as I write up my quickie review of the device here, and sure enough it’s providing me with ample speed as I fact check on the web during this process.
The basic purpose for the device is to provide you with 2.4- or 5-GHz WiFi Internet access – via an AT&T 4G LTE connection -- when you can’t find free or safe WiFi in the wild. You just need to make sure you’re not somewhere that blocks usage of such devices – a practice frowned upon by the FCC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple revealed Wednesday that iOS 8, released to the public in September, can now be found on 77% of iOS devices accessing the Apple Store. That's up from 68% in January.The iOS 7 edition of Apple's software for iPhones and iPads now accounts for just 20% of devices. Some have balked at moving to iOS 8 because of the space required to download it, while others have been spooked by buggy releases (I'm aware of at least one iOS 8 holdout in the office who says he doesn't have the space on his iPhone to download the new operating system).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
T-Mobile is crowing about making a list as one of the 2015 World's Most Ethical Companies. My guess is that voting must have taken place after December, when the FCC announced that T-Mobile would be paying at least $90 for cramming -- that is, "for billing customers millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services."Then again, it's all relative. AT&T got whacked earlier last year by the FCC for $105M for doing something similar. The State of California also nailed AT&T late last year for almost $24M in a hazardous waste dumping case. Verizon paid up for privacy violations and Sprint got fined last year for not honoring the do-not-call rules. And of course take your pick with Comcast: How about "borrowing" customers' routers to use as WiFi hotspots?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
T-Mobile is crowing about making a list as one of the 2015 World's Most Ethical Companies. My guess is that voting must have taken place after December, when the FCC announced that T-Mobile would be paying at least $90 for cramming -- that is, "for billing customers millions of dollars in unauthorized third-party subscriptions and premium text messaging services."Then again, it's all relative. AT&T got whacked earlier last year by the FCC for $105M for doing something similar. The State of California also nailed AT&T late last year for almost $24M in a hazardous waste dumping case. Verizon paid up for privacy violations and Sprint got fined last year for not honoring the do-not-call rules. And of course take your pick with Comcast: How about "borrowing" customers' routers to use as WiFi hotspots?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As College Humor videos go, this is one of the more SFW ones I've seen (just a couple of naughty words). Anyway, Apple once again begs for parody videos to emerge with the official, official, official introduction this week of its Apple Watches. Here's why the gold watch costs $10K, according to the humor site.
An earlier Apple Watch parody video, too.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Florence Hudson, Twitter
Florence Hudson, Internet2 CINO
Florence Hudson, most recently IBM's director of Internet of Things Business, has been named Senior VP and Chief Innovation Officer for computer network consortium Internet2.
Internet2 had been on the hunt for a CINO since October.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Wikipedia
Apple, whose stock market value recently ballooned to more than $700 billion, later this month will take AT&T's place on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Net neutrality, even after last week's big FCC vote in favor of it, continues to be a term many don't quite get. SNL took advantage of that this past weekend to spoof tech pundits, and even works a Vint Cerf character into the mix. (FYI, NSFW).MORE: Most Memorable SNL Tech Skits & Bits To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
MIT researchers this week are demonstrating a design for new radio chips that could be used to efficiently power the Internet of Things.The researchers, led by MIT Professor in Electrical Engineering Anantha Chandrakasan, are presenting their work at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, where the show theme is "Silicon Systems -- Small Chips for Big Data." The MIT paper is titled "A +10dBm 2.4GHz Transmitter with sub-400pW Leakage and 43.7% System Efficiency."MORE: Internet of Things to bring new economic boomTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
AOL
Apple has alerted AOL subscribers who use their credentials to access iTunes and other Apple services that they will need to switch over to an Apple ID for access as of March 31.And yes, according to AOL's latest financials, there still are more than 2 million domestic subscribers of its services. Subscribers have been able to use their same AOL credentials to access iTunes, the Apple App Store and iBooks store.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
wikipedia
The Apple community is buzzing today over a report from 9-to-5 Mac that the iPhone and iPad maker will be holding its first public open beta for iOS next month.
This would be Apple's latest effort to do away with buggy releases for its mobile operating system. Early adopters of iOS 8 ran into various troubles, as did those early to download the first updates to that OS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
wikipedia
The Apple community is buzzing today over a report from 9-to-5 Mac that the iPhone and iPad maker will be holding its first public open beta for iOS next month.
This would be Apple's latest effort to do away with buggy releases for its mobile operating system. Early adopters of iOS 8 ran into various troubles, as did those early to download the first updates to that OS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the wake of SNL celebrating its 40th anniversary this past weekend (complete with a free SNL 40 iOS app), we take a trip back through some of Saturday Night Live's most memorable techie skits and bits. Feel free to hit me up if there are good ones I missed (I purposely left out a few NSFW ones).With smartphones, computers and the Internet going mainstream in recent years, tech has become a much more prevalent subject on the late night show.Google Glass
Tech's diversity problemTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A revived and bi-partisan supported Wi-Fi Innovation Act has been introduced this week by U.S. Senators and is backed by U.S. House members with a companion bill of their own.The legislation, originally pitched last summer, urges the FCC to test the feasibility of opening up spectrum at the higher end of the 5GHz band (5850-5925) for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. Cable and other tech companies are all for this, while automakers and their partners are opposed, citing possible interference with car safety systems they are becoming more mainstream.MORE: How Not to Get Slammed by the FCC for Wi-Fi BlockingTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bob Brown