FCC Hints at Incentive Auction Aims, Freeing Wireless for Next-Generation Data and WiFi

The Federal Communications Commission just divulged some of their plans to free up wireless spectrum in the U.S. If successful, the FCC's plan will allow for more open airwaves that could lead to better WiFi, Bluetooth, and wireless broadband innovation, but setting it up is not an easy task.

Apps of the Week: Carousel by Dropbox, Google Camera, and Android iTunes Remote Retune

This week saw a couple of new photography-based apps that can expand your smartphone camera's abilities, and can make saving, backing up, and sharing photos easy. Also, we discover an older Android app that's infinitely useful if you own a Mac computer.

Social Media Saturday: Facebook Begins Unpacking Its App, Twitter Introduces More Ad Products, and LinkedIn Reaches 300 Million Users

This week in social media, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed how serious he is about the company's "multi-app strategy," Twitter continued its evolution toward profitability with more ad products, and LinkedIn reached a milestone, thanks to expanding mobile. It's time for Social Media Saturday!

German Media Titans Are Afraid of Google and Facebook: Should We Be, Too?

Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, a huge European multimedia company based in Germany, made a big splash this week when he wrote an open letter in a German newspaper saying that he and other European executives "are afraid of Google."

Future Friday: Most Americans Have Optimistic, But Contradictory Views on Tech 50 Years From Now - Pew

The Pew Research Internet Project just released one of the most interesting reports in a while - a study of American views on the future of technology in the next 50 years. What Pew found was that most Americans are optimistic, but interestingly, a lot are skeptical about some technologies that Google happens to be working on.

Smartphone Kill Switches Coming in 2015: Some Say It's Not Enough

In the beginning of April, Samsung decided to allow users to access anti-theft apps, including a so-called "kill switch" for its Samsung Galaxy S5 on select carriers. Where Samsung goes (and where Apple pretty much already is with "Activation Lock"), so goes the rest of the smartphone industry.

Netflix Streaming on Comcast Has Improved: But Who Won?

If you're a customer of Comcast cable broadband, you might have noticed an uptick in the streaming quality of your Netflix videos - or at least an end to constant buffering and blocky video. Netflix released data showing that its bandwidth deal with Comcast has boosted average connection speeds in recent months, begging the question: Was it worth paying the toll?

Latino Entrepreneurs: Inside Voto Latino's VL Innovators Challenge, A Competition for Millennial Latinos to Improve Lives Through Technology

As we previously reported, Voto Latino, a non-partisan Latino organization that encourages civic engagement and voting among millennial Latinos, recently turned 10 years old. As part of the celebration, Voto Latino introduced the VL Innovators Challenge, which officially opened a few days ago. Here are the details.

PSA: Beware of Scam Calls From "AT&T" Claiming To Give You Money

From personal experience, and reports online, it's clear that the phone scam - purporting to be from AT&T and offering customers hundreds of dollars if they go to a specific website - is on the rise. Here are some details so you don't get defrauded, or worse.

Google Project Ara Developer Conference Reveals New Details

We said there'd be more details on Google's futuristic modular smartphone initiative, Project Ara, when the first-ever developers conference took place, and that's true. Here's one: according to Google's Project Ara chief, you might get your first crack at a next-generation customizable smartphone January of next year.

Reporters Publishing NSA Revelations Win Highest U.S. Journalism Prize

The two foremost news organizations behind reports about the National Security Agency's cybersurveillance programs have won the top award for journalism. On Monday, The Washington Post and the U.S. branch of The Guardian were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism, for their reports based on ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden's leaked documents.

Square Adds Spanish-Language Support in Expansion to Latino Small Businesses

Square, the small business credit card service, has decided to tap into the U.S. Latino small business market with a new Spanish-language version of their point of sale app. Beginning this month, Square is pushing into Latino-heavy business markets across the country.

Google Acquires Titan Aerospace, The Drone Maker That Facebook Originally Wanted

On Monday, Google bought Titan Aerospace, developer of solar-powered drones that may purportedly fly uninterrupted for years. It's yet another move in the ongoing race between Google and Facebook to build (and control) the next big expansion of the internet - in developing countries.

NSA Denies Prior Knowledge of Heart Bleed Bug

The National Security Agency has denied that it knew about, and exploited, the much-feared Heartbleed bug for two years without informing anyone. The unequivocal denial comes after a Bloomberg News report alleged that the spy agency used the security vulnerability to collect data.

Google Protestors Rail Against Evictions and Gentrification, Targeting Google Lawyer

Protestors in San Francisco blocked Google's busses again this week, while also making it personal - again. Rallying against evictions and the gentrification of historically Latino and Black neighborhoods, some of the same protestors also singled out another Google employee at his home.

Social Media Saturday: Twitter Redesigns (While 44 Percent of Users Have Never Tweeted), Facebook Gets WhatsApp, and Instagram Rules with Teens

This week in social media, Twitter began its attempt to mainstream its user interface in earnest while finding out that 44 percent of "users" had never tweeted a word, Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp became official, while all other messaging got consolidated into one app, and we found out that while Facebook isn't the biggest hit with teens, Facebook-owned Instagram is. It's time for Social Media Saturday!

Comcast Arguing For Merger With Time Warner Cable

Comcast put forth an argument this week in favor of its merger with TWC. In the final of a five part series, we look at contradictions in Comcast's argument.

Comcast's Competitors? Cable Giant Sees Many Rivals in Arguing For TWC Merger - Part 4: Net Neutrality

Cable giant Comcast started making its argument for buying up the second largest cable operator in the U.S., Time Warner Cable, this week. In part four of our series "Comcast's Competitors?" we'll look at net neutrality - a recently troubling issue that Comcast says will be bolstered by its takeover of TWC.

Opinion: Colbert Replacing Letterman on Late Show - Mixed Feelings and Worries of a Fan

After David Letterman announced his retirement from the "Late Show," there was an ever-so-brief period before Stephen Colbert was officially announced as Letterman's successor.

Google Glass "Release Date": April 15, But Only For A Day - Report

Have you been looking for an opportunity to get your hands on Google's new smartglasses? Your time might have finally come. In the middle of April, Google might make Glass available to anyone who wants to buy a pair, but only for one day.

Aereo to Stream to Chromecast, If It Survives Long Enough

Chromecast continues to add new apps to the roster of services that support Google's $35 HDMI streaming dongle, but the latest addition is particularly interesting. Broadcast TV streaming service Aereo announced an upcoming update for its Android app on Thursday to bring live TV to Chromecast.

Be More Like Netflix, Says FCC's Tom Wheeler to Broadcasters

While the internet has become the place for young Americans to get all forms of entertainment and news, TV broadcasters are being left in the dust by online media. This week, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission both accused each other of being asleep at the wheel.

Comcast's Competitors? Cable Giant Sees Many Rivals in Arguing For TWC Merger - Part 3: Digital Divide

Cable giant Comcast has put forth a long, complicated argument in favor of its acquisition of cable giant Time Warner Cable. In part three of this series "Comcast's Competitors?" we'll look at Comcast's argument for expanding its efforts at bridging the digital divide - the nationwide problem of internet access and affordability for low-income families - to TWC's territory.

Comcast's Competitors? Cable Giant Sees Many Rivals in Arguing For TWC Merger - Part 2: Wireless

Comcast filed its bid for buying Time Warner Cable with the Federal Communications Commission this week, and outlined its arguments in a blog post as well. In part two of a long, hard look at Comcast's arguments, let's discuss the rivals the largest cable operator in the U.S. sees in wireless telecoms.

Comcast's Competitors? Cable Giant Sees Many Rivals in Arguing For TWC Merger - Part 1: DSL and Fiber

In its FCC filing on Tuesday, Comcast put forward its argument why a merger with Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable company in the U.S., would be beneficial to consumers, market competition, and Comcast's survival in the new media landscape.
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