Tag Archives: cell phones

Axios reports: Americans send and receive more text messages on Christmas than any other day of the year, according to wireless carrier data shared with Axios. AT&T’s busiest day last year was Christmas. Group messages and photo or video messages were especially popular. It’s also the busiest day for T-Mobile, whose network saw 3 billion messages last year. Read the …

The Washington Post reports: About 73 percent of American adults lived in a household without a landline at the end of last year — a figure that has tripled since 2010. The latest survey shows that landlines are far more common among homeowners (34 percent have them) than among renters (15 percent), while Hispanic Americans (20 percent) are less likely …

CNBC reports: The FBI has warned consumers against using free public charging stations, saying crooks have managed to hijack public chargers that can infect devices with malware, or software that can give hackers access to your phone, tablet or computer. The Federal Communications Commission has also warned about “juice jacking,” as the malware loading scheme is known, since 2021. Consumer …

Bloomberg News reports: Members of the European Parliament voted to force companies such as Apple Inc. to adapt products that don’t already feature a standard USB-C charger to use one. This would include iPhones, in Apple’s case. A total of 602 lawmakers voted for the plan on Tuesday, with 13 against, and eight abstaining. The deal, provisionally agreed in June …

USA Today reports: Olympic athletes from several countries – including the United States – are being encouraged to leave their personal cell phones and laptops at home next month due to cyber surveillance concerns at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant first reported Tuesday that the Dutch Olympic Committee is “anticipating Chinese surveillance during the Games” and …

The New York Times reports: To legions of executives, journalists and politicians — even the leader of the free world — they were once-indispensable devices for staying connected when ordinary cellphones wouldn’t suffice. Anything else was for amateurs. The devices, with the quirky-sounding name BlackBerry and the QWERTY keyboard that conditioned many people to type with their thumbs, were more …

The Washington Post reports: Shattered screens and aging batteries in iPhones used to require a trip to the Apple Store — or a local repair shop — to fix. But starting in early 2022, iPhone owners in the United States who want to try repairing their ailing device can do so with some help from Apple itself. Apple surprised “Right …

MacRumors reports: Apple today announced the iPhone 13 Pro and ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro Max at its “California Streaming” event, featuring brighter Super Retina XDR displays with ProMotion, improved rear cameras, a more powerful variant of the A15 Bionic chip, up to 1TB of storage, a new Sierra Blue color option, and more. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro and ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro …

CNET reports: Apple’s iPhone 13 is on its way with an online-only event set for Sept. 14. The new iPhone is expected to debut with a collection of new features, upgraded camera specs, new color options (maybe even bubblegum pink) and an updated design with a notchless display. Although we’ll likely see the new iPhone next week, rumors about the …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The hacker who is taking responsibility for breaking into T-Mobile US Inc.’s systems said the wireless company’s lax security eased his path into a cache of records with personal details on more than 50 million people and counting. John Binns, a 21-year-old American who moved to Turkey a few years ago, told The Wall Street …

Reuters reports: T-Mobile US Inc said on Wednesday an ongoing investigation into a cyberattack on its systems revealed that some personal data of about 7.8 million of its current postpaid customers were compromised. The company was made aware of the attack late last week, it said in a statement, after an online forum claimed that personal data of its users …

The Verge reports: The United States Justice Department has approved the $26 billion merger deal between T-Mobile and Sprint. After over a year in regulatory limbo, the merger received the green light from the last federal agency to hold out, with the Federal Communications Commission already signaling that it will approve the deal. The Justice Department finally approved the deal …

NBC News reports: The Trump administration’s ban on goods produced by a Chinese tech giant would seem to have little to do with rural America. But rural cell service providers across the U.S. are almost entirely dependent on the company, Huawei, which produces inexpensive wireless communications equipment. These small telecom companies now face billions of dollars in costs or the …

The Verge reports: On a party-line vote, the FCC today approved a controversial measure that gives mobile phone carriers more power over text messages. The agency’s Republican leadership has pushed for the measure, which would classify text messaging as an information service. The move will give carriers leeway to stop spam texts without fear of breaking the law, Chairman Ajit …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump uses a White House cellphone that isn’t equipped with sophisticated security features designed to shield his communications, according to two senior administration officials — a departure from the practice of his predecessors that potentially exposes him to hacking or surveillance. The president, who relies on cellphones to reach his friends and millions of Twitter followers, …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The boards of Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed to an all-stock merger that, if allowed by antitrust enforcers, would leave the U.S. wireless market dominated by three national players. It is the third time in recent years that the two rivals have attempted the combination. New technology, stiff competition from wireless rivals and an aging …

Roll Call reports: The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a major privacy rights case about whether police must get a warrant to obtain historical cellphone records to track someone’s location and movements. The case centers on the increasingly detailed information that companies keep on texts and calls to and from a cellphone, as well as the relatively precise location …

ABC News reports: A Texas couple is suing Apple, claiming that its FaceTime app distracted a driver who rammed into the couple’s car, killing their 5-year-old daughter. Parents James and Bethany Modisette are suing Apple for damages on the basis that the electronics giant failed to install and implement a “safer, alternative design” for FaceTime that would have helped to …

Surprisingly lovely. Via Gizmodo: Musician Tony Ann recreated popular ringtones—like the iPhone’s Marimba and T-Mobile’s jingle—with a piano. Though hearing other people’s ringtones in real life is totally annoying, listening to their piano arrangements is quite nice (in a “hey, I know this tune but can’t quite figure out why I know it” sort of way). Now, to use Ann’s …

Arstechnica reports: Under the first-of-its-kind legislation proposed in New York, drivers involved in accidents would have to submit their phone to roadside testing from a textalyzer to determine whether the driver was using a mobile phone ahead of a crash. In a bid to get around the Fourth Amendment right to privacy, the textalyzer allegedly would keep conversations, contacts, numbers, …