News

Are you suffering from smartphone fatigue? (Poll)

There are days when it's so challenging to be a technology writer, I can only imagine what it's like to be a technology consumer.

For example, and I'm just ballparking here, there are some 37,000 smartphones you can buy today. Whoops, hang on, just got a press release from HTC; make that 37,001. Oh, and here comes Android 4.3 -- wonder when I'll be able to load that on my S3. Hey, Best Buy took $50 off the iPhone last weekend. Must mean Apple's announcing a new model at next month's WWDC, … Read more

Google exec sees Google Fiber as a 'moneymaker'

KANSAS CITY -- Google is in it to win it when it comes to building fiber broadband networks. Despite speculation to the contrary, Google sees its Google Fiber broadband business as a moneymaker, and not just an overpriced test network.

And it's very likely that the company will continue expanding the service into other cities willing to partner to keep costs down.

Speaking at the Fiber-to-the-Home Council meeting here late Wednesday, Milo Medin, vice president of access services for Google, told an audience of city planners, engineers, and city mayors that Google is not just building a testbed for … Read more

Google shows off vision of connected life

NEW YORK--Google wants to play a bigger part in your life.

That's the message the company was likely conveying with its model home here in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Google took over a building on Thursday to show off its many newer services and hardware, including Google Now, Hangouts, and Google Glass.

Google Now is a big initiative and appears to be the glue that ties many of its products together. Google Now on Android, which is called Google Search on iOS, uses your device's GPS, e-mail, calendar, and other personal information to deliver relevant and … Read more

Bluestacks extends GamePop's free console giveaway

GamePop will continue to hand out free gaming consoles for the next month in the hopes that it will spur preorder interest for the upstart game system that plays Android games on your TV, its maker announced on Thursday.

BlueStacks, which also makes an eponymous desktop Android app player, has extended the GamePop console giveaway, saying in a prepared statement that "...due to the high demand of preorders it is extending its offer of giving the console itself away free to the end of June." You can preorder the console for free at GamePop.tv. … Read more

EC leader calls for unified European mobile networks

International barriers in the telecommunications industry such as roaming fees are hurting consumers and should be eliminated within a year, a top European Commission official said today.

"I want you to be able to go back to your constituents and say that you were able to end mobile roaming costs," said Neelie Kroes, the EC vice president in charge of its digital agenda, in a speech to members of a European Parliament committee on Thursday. "Whether they need it for travel, for trade, or for transactions -- our people need this reform."

With roaming fees, the … Read more

Galaxy S4 Mini gives Samsung's flagship a smaller sibling

Samsung announced its Galaxy S4 Mini on Thursday, delivering a smaller, lower-end cousin of its hot-selling high-end Android phone with a 4.3-inch screen.

The Korean electronics giant has been steadily pushing smartphone sizes larger, but not everyone is ready for a the 5-inch screen of a Galaxy S4. And the new model will ensure Samsung a place in the market for more cost-conscious buyers, though the company hasn't yet said how much the device will cost or when it will go on sale.

Although the new phone has many of the S4's software features -- tools to … Read more

Carpool creation site open for business

Launching with an ethos of "Keep it simple," the Group Carpool site is designed around the idea of making it easy for large groups of people to organize drivers and passengers.

James McBryan, programmer of Group Carpool, says he grew frustrated with using Google spreadsheets to match up drivers and passengers for backpacking trips. He set up this new Web application to provide a means of arranging transportation for specific events.

To create a carpool, you don't need to register for an account or log in with Facebook. It merely takes clicking the "Create a carpool&… Read more

AT&T's LTE network blankets more than 200 million people

AT&T announced on Wednesday that 11 new markets are seeing the faster data speeds from the carrier's 4G network. What's more, another seven markets are receiving expanded LTE coverage.

The new markets are: 

Dover, Del. Leonardtown, Md. Ocean City, Md. Asheville, N.C. Goldsboro, N.C. Salem, Ore. Culpeper, Va. Roanoke, Va. Longview, Wash. Port Townsend-North Whidbey Island-Camano Island, Wash. Shelton, Wash.

As for the expanded markets, the growth is spread out over a half dozen states. They include areas near Chicago, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

With the newly expanded 4G LTE coverage, AT&… Read more

Verizon issues major software update to Samsung Galaxy S3

Verizon Wireless has a rather massive software update ready to issue for the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone.

Expected to roll out over the next few days, the 129MB file delivers handy features such as multiscreen and multiwindow. Other noteworthy changes include the "Best Shot" camera feature, the ability to bill Google Play apps to a Verizon account, and an option to tag weather, people, and places in photos and video.

Indeed, the software update is not all major improvements and new features; bug fixes and minor tweaks are also found throughout. NFC, for instance, is easier to toggle … Read more