AT&T Archives - VR World

Breaking, Business, Internet, News, VR World

AT&T Acquires Time Warner Inc.

AT&T Inc. has reached an agreement to buy Time Warner Inc. for $85.4 billion in a deal that would transform the phone company into a media giant. The wireless carrier agreed to pay $107.50 a share, evenly split between cash and stock. The companies said they expect the deal to close by the end of 2017. AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson would head the new company, as the surviving entity. The companies said Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes would stay for an interim period following the close of the deal to help with the transition. The combined business would pair the carrier’s millions of

Analysis, Auto, Breaking, Business

72% of All Cars to be Connected by 2021?

It is estimated that in 2015 over 88 million new cars were bought. Almost 53 million came out of just six manufacturers: Toyota, Volkswagen Group, General Motors, Renault-Nissan, Hyundai and Ford. If you add five million from FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), that’s almost 60 million vehicles. It is of no surprise that traditional PC and mobile names such as NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel all see the automotive industry as a key battlefield. Tens of millions of processors promise advanced telemetry, self-driving or automated driving capabilities, new level of infotainment, and ‘always online’ vehicles. In a research document called Automotive Safety and Autonomous Driving Service, ABI Research put out a

Amazon, Android, Business, Companies, Operating Systems

Report: Amazon Will Forego Future Phone Development

According to a story on Wall Street Journal, Amazon will forego any further phone development. While not ruled out completely, the development of the next-generation Amazon phone is extended “indefinitely.” Sources of the paper say that a significant volume of Fire Phone engineers have been sacked, which marks the first round of layoffs in history of Lab126, Amazon’s secretive hardware division. The failure of Fire Phone (no longer available for sale) took Amazon in a direction of rethinking their hardware strategy. With the aformentioned device, even heavy subsidizing didn’t help – the phone wouldn’t sell even when the price was dropped from $199 – $0.99 in an effort

Auto, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Reviews, Software Programs

2015 Cadillac ATS Coupe: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The 2015 Cadillac ATS coupe is an attempt to improve upon something that is already quite good and sort-of misses the mark in more than one way.

Android, Business, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World

AT&T Nexus 6 Bloated with Non-Nexus 'Customizations'

The AT&T carrier version of the Google Nexus 6 and has been found to be SIM-locked and a tethering check built into the ROM.

Android, Business, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World

Why is AT&T's Samsung Galaxy Note Edge $100 More than Sprint's?

For some reason, AT&T’s Galaxy Note Edge is costing consumers $105.99 more than the Sprint version, yet Sprint’s version sells for $40 more on-contract.

Analysis, Business, Cloud Computing, Opinion, Technology Security, VR World

Ted Cruz Falsely Likens Net Neutrality to Obamacare

In a new political move by the Senator, Ted Cruz has likened Net Neutrality to Obamacare after the President announced his support for a Title II status.

Analysis, Business, Mobile Computing, VR World

French Telecom Company Iliad Pulls T-Mobile Offer

French telecom company Iliad today announced their intention to pull their second offer for the acquisition of T-Mobile from parent company Deutsche Telecom

Android, Apple, Business, Companies, Mobile Computing, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World, Windows Phone

AT&T Might Owe You a Refund for Cramming

AT&T just paid a $105 million fine to the FTC to settle a cramming lawsuit where the company charged its customers bogus charges on their bills

Analysis, Mobile Computing, Opinion

AT&T-Vodafone Venture: Good Times Ahead For Global Mobile Industry?

The world’s mobile industry is on the brink of a major shakeup. With European Vodafone Group (LON: VOD) having divested its stake in US carrier Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) , the stage is open for a possible deal with yet another American player, AT&T (NYSE: T). Sources close to both Vodafone and AT&T have said that executives from the two companies are laying the groundwork for a possible acquisition, merger or partnership, which will boost the combined network’s coverage to about 500 million subscribers — second only to China Mobile’s (HKG: 0941) 740 million. In a deal estimated to reach US$175 billion at Vodafone’s current market capitalization, AT&T is

Hardware, VR World

Nvidia Commences Pre-Orders Of LTE-Enabled Shield Tablet

After stating that an LTE-enabled version of the Shield Tablet was in the works, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is making good on its word by commencing pre-orders for the device. In addition to LTE connectivity, Nvidia is doubling internal storage to 32 GB. The pre-order price of the gaming-focused tablet is at $399 in the US, which is $100 more than what the Wi-Fi only version retails for in the country. Nvidia mentions that the Shield Tablet LTE is fully certified to run on AT&T’s data network, and is incentivising the tablet to AT&T customers by offering a $100 credit to all users activating the tablet on

Analysis, Business, Mobile Computing, VR World

Sprint to Dump T-Mobile Bid and Replace CEO

Today is not a good day in Sprint land as according to a report the Wall Street Journal, the company’s board of directors has voted to abandon the acquisition of T-Mobile USA amid insurmountable regulatory hurdles. Sprint originally made an offer to buy T-Mobile USA to the tune of $32 billion dollars with the parent company of Sprint, Softbank, leading the negotiations and discussions about where the combined company would move post-merger. The problem with this deal was that it was met with a lot of regulatory concern from virtually every single governmental agency involved, not to mention tons of public outcry. The Department of Justice (DOJ),

2014, Comic-Con, Event, Gaming, Hardware, Mobile Computing, VR World

2014 San Diego Comic-Con: Day 1 Pictures

On day one of the 2014 San Diego International Comic-Con we got a chance to check out some of the off-site events going on around the show as well as walk some more of the show floor and take a look at what people are doing. On Day 1 there were a lot more people dressed up in costumes than during Preview Night, but there were also a lot more people in general. Day 1 was a pretty great success because we got a chance to play laser tag with people from Nerdist and 2K in the Borderlands the Pre-Sequel laser tag. They also had

Android, Event, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World

BSN* and Snapdragon Contest Winners Announced!

Hello everyone, we managed to pick the winners of our BSN* and Qualcomm Snapdragon contest giveaway where we picked, at random, two winners to give an HTC One M8 smartphone. Many of you left us very thoughtful and heartfelt responses and we read them all. Some of you should seriously consider careers in writing if you don’t already have them. Either way, we’re glad to have gotten a lot of feedback from you all about the giveaway and the review and we’ll continue to push forward with more of these kinds of giveaways in the future. We also wanted to thank Qualcomm for being so

Android, Gaming, Hardware, Mobile Computing, Operating Systems, Software Programs, VR World

Nvidia Announces Tegra K1 Shield Tablet for Gaming

Nvidia has been doing a lot of their own consumer products lately, with the original Shield handheld gaming console and the Tegra Note 7 tablet. Each of these devices was actually surprisingly good and they were very good values for the money, especially if you got them at their cheapest ($199 each). Nvidia has learned a lot of lessons from each device and they’ve done a fantastic job of updating both the Shield and the Tegra Note 7. Their updates are so frequent and regular that I almost feel like they’ve got the leg up on almost every other Android manufacturer out there. They are

Business, Cloud Computing, VR World

Verizon FIOS Speeds Go Symmetrical

For the longest time, Verizon’s FIOS service was considered the fastest in the land and everyone oogled over living in an area that offered Verizon FIOS. It also had some of the best upload speeds available at the time, which would make anyone looking to upload their own content an incredibly happy camper. However, Verizon’s FIOS service was an assymetrical fiber optic service which meant that users were getting services like 50 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload, and 100 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload. However, in some other countries their fiber services are symmetrical, meaning that 100 Mbps download also has a 100

Analysis, Business, Cloud Computing, VR World

650,000 Comment on FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

Nearly 650,000 people have left comments on the FCC’s website regarding their proposed Net Neutrality rules, which were proposed roughly 2 months ago. The comments have been open since May 15th, and will be closed on July 15th, likely with over 650,000 comments on the topic, many of which are criticizing the FCC for not taking a strong enough stance to protect consumers. The FCC’s very own Chairman Tom Wheeler even tweeted about the milestone on Friday, reminding people to continue to leave their comments. We’ve received about 647k #netneutrality comments so far. Keep your input coming — 1st round of comments wraps up July

Business, Cloud Computing, Entertainment, Opinion, Rumors, VR World

San Diego Not Getting 300, 200 or 100 Mbps

In one of the most depressing rumor squashings I have ever had to personally experience, I am reporting to you today that Time Warner Cable’s rumored 300 Mbps, 200 Mbps services are not rolling out on July 7th. In fact, after speaking with Time Warner Cable’s representative for the San Diego area we got some even more depressing news. According to Bret Picciolo of Time Warner Cable, the company will not be rolling out their 300 and 200 Mbps services in the San Diego area. This is in spite of multiple CSRs indicating to myself and other people that such services would be available starting

Business, Mobile Computing, Opinion, Software Programs, VR World

T-Mobile's New Free Music Streaming Violates Net Neutrality

Normally, when a company violates something such as Net Neutrality it generally is in the company’s best interest and they are looking for ways to make things more profitable and less valuable to consumers. A perfect example of that is with what Comcast is doing to Netflix (and others) in terms of requiring them to pay for prioritization in violation of Net Neutrality. This ultimately hurts Netflix and Netflix users that might be on Comcast, resulting in everyone but Comcast losing. Now, T-Mobile as part of their Uncarrier 5.0 and Uncarrier 6.0 initiatives made an announcement that they would be allowing users to stream music for

Business, Cloud Computing, VR World

FCC Broadband Report Finds US ISPs Failing to Deliver on Many Levels

The FCC recently released their fourth Measuring Broadband America report, which I believe to be their most damning. This year’s broadband report hit on five major points: Speed consistency Download speed performance varies too much DSL is lagging behind fiber and cable speeds Consumers continue to move to faster speeds Upload speeds vary sharply In terms of speed consistency, The FCC stated that very few ISPs were delivering 100% of the speeds that they were promising to consumers. Most of the broadband ISPs claim their speeds as ‘up to’ in order to save their skin, however some ISPs like Cablevision are delivering 100% or better of