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AT&T cuts Next pricing, iPhone 5 now $27 a month

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2013

AT&T's new device upgrade program called Next has managed to enrage rival T-Mobile, which thinks the initiative is just plain "sneaky and underhanded." The early upgrade program is indeed a bad deal for consumers so the nation's second-largest telco has tweaked pricing earlier today, making a number of devices more affordable.

This includes Apple's iPhone 5, which can be now had for $27 per month for the entry-level model with sixteen gigabytes of storage. That's $5.50 per month cheaper compared to the previous $32.50 per month iPhone 5 pricing under AT&T's Next.

Sticking it to Verizon, the new $27 per month tier is also a buck per year cheaper versus Verizon's Edge plan...

President Obama outlines four government surveillance reform initiatives

Cody Lee ∙ August 9, 2013

Following a series of meetings with tech executives a government leaders this week, President Obama held a press conference this morning to describe his plan to assuage concerns among Americans and foreigners regarding the legality of US surveillance activities.

During his speech, the President said that the surveillance programs in use by government agencies right now are "operating in a way that prevents abuse." But the question for his administration, he posed, is how does it make "American people more comfortable?"

So he outlined the following four initiatives...

Apple’s request to suspend e-book ruling denied

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Today's a big day for Apple as the company faces some major legal showdowns. First, the United States International Trade Commission handed down its final ruling on the long-running complaint against Samsung, ordering an import ban on infringing Samsung smartphones and tablets, which will take effect at the end of the 60-day Presidential review period.

It's a major win for Apple in its long-standing dispute against Samsung. However, the company is also waging another major battle, this one concerning the U.S. government's e-book price fixing allegations.

Apple's agency business model - where publishers get to price their iBooks themselves, with Apple keeping its standard 30 percent cut - has unfortunatelly suffered a major setback as its request to suspend Judge Cote’s ruling in e-book case has been denied...

Apple wins ITC ban on Samsung products

Cody Lee ∙ August 9, 2013

Apple picked up another major victory in its ongoing patent battle with Samsung this afternoon. The International Trade Commission has just handed down a decision in the company's case against Samsung, finding the Korean tech giant guilty of infringement.

The final ruling on the complaint, which Apple first lodged in July 2011, finds several Samsung products guilty of infringing on two of Apple's patents. An import ban has been ordered on those products, and will take effect at the end of the 60-day Presidential review period...

Chain Reaction – Connect The Dots, a relaxing game for a relaxing weekend

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Sometimes, you want to play a game that takes up hours of your day. Sometimes, you feel the need for speed and want a game that will make your palms sweat. Some days, you just want to sit back, relax and let your game be a sort of meditation.

Chain Reaction is a very simple game that doesn’t require a whole lot of skill. The only thing you need is patience and a bit of luck…

Cincinnati Bell landing the iPhone 5 on August 16

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2016

Another regional United States telco is about to land Apple's iPhone 5 soon.

Cincinnati Bell, the leading wireless carrier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, will start offering the Apple smartphone next Friday, August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper has confirmed.

Although the device will be priced a bit higher versus other prepaid carriers, the launch festivities are said to include a nice $100 trade-in promo. I've included the full details after the break...

Blizzard posts StarCraft II World Championship Series streaming app

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2013

Blizzard, the maker of the award-winning Starcraft and Diablo series, has released a new iPhone and iPad app, called Blizzard WCS. As the name suggests, it's basically a client designed to allow for live streaming of the StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS). If you can't make it to the WCS, the app will "keep you updated, informed, and entertained all the way through the Global Finals of the World Championship Series and beyond," Blizzard promises...

Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar begins its journey today

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

In the early 1980s, the Ultima series began. Fans of sorcery and adventure were transported to another land to fight dragons, loot dungeons, and become the hero of a world under attack from an evil wizard.

Nearly a dozen follow-up games were released in the Ultima series, but fans haven’t seen or heard a squeak for over a decade. Today, fans of the original Ultima Forever campaign can play a modernized version that follows the early storyline, but offers a completely new look…

DoJ again accuses Apple of conspiring with publishers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

In another twist to the e-book case involving Apple and five major book publishers, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday said Apple and publishers have “banded together once again," arguing strict regulation is necessary. Apple of course argued a stay. The government may be attempting to gain leverage here by accusing (again) Apple of conspiring with publishers ahead of today's decision on punishment in the e-book antitrust case...

Without iPhone exclusive, China Unicom now turns to low-cost handsets

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 9, 2013

There is a surge of demand for low-cost smartphones in China. Latest to ride the wave: local carrier China Unicom, which lost its exclusive deal to sell iPhones in 2012.

Apparently, the shift toward inexpensive phones is paying off, the company reporting a 55 percent jump in profits for the first half of 2013.

While there is still room for high-end smartphones, vast growth is seen selling inexpensive handsets to emerging markets, such as China and India. Apple could unveil a plastic iPhone aimed at first-time smartphone owners and still make "decent profitability" one analyst said Thursday...

Kid Tripp for iOS is no child’s game

Lory Gil ∙ Updated May 3, 2017

When I was really young, I didn't have a gaming console. I didn't own a NES until I was nearly a preteen. That didn’t stop me from falling in love with Super Mario Bros. and other side-scrolling platformers at a young age.

Kid Tripp captures your youth by recreating the pixelated imagery that defined a generation, while offering a measure of fast-paced challenge that is not typical of games in the genre…