Latest news

Thanks to spectrum they acquired when merging with MetroPCS, T-Mobile USA has begun rolling out their faster LTE network in major metros.

The carrier will eventually offer the faster (20-by-20) service to "90 percent of the top 25 U.S. markets" which will offer double the amount of spectrum as the company's current LTE network.

T-Mobile's initial LTE service is available in 40 of the U.S.' top 50 markets.

The news comes on the heels of Verizon Wireless announcing the launch of AWS LTE, which offers speeds theoretically as high as 150 Mbps with an expected rollout for the next year. Additionally, Sprint says it will be boosting LTE speeds in the next three years, as well, using spectrum acquired from Clearwire.

All LTE-capable T-Mobile devices will work with the new network.

The US DOJ has announced that thirteen 'Anonymous' members have pleaded guilty for their part in a 2010 attack on PayPal.

All of the defendants admitted to carrying out the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack at the time, which temporarily took down the PayPal site and service.

The attack was retribution for PayPal suspending the accounts of WikiLeaks.

Ten of the hackers plead guilty to felony charges, but they can change it to a misdemeanor if the defendants do not violate their agreements before sentencing.

The defendants will be sentenced next December.

Nowadays, it seems like every other week a major corporation or website is seeing an attack on their databases, with email addresses, passwords and other personal info being stolen by the attackers.

A new website wants to make it easier to see if your information has been stolen, by integrating the stolen databases into one larger database that you can search by your email.

Computer scientist Troy Hunt created "Have i been pwned?," allowing you to search the hundreds of millions of accounts exposed by the breaches at Adobe, Gawker, Yahoo and Stratfor (among others).

For example, thankfully my two main emails were not "pwned" but an older one was found to be part of Adobe's leak. As explained by the site: "Adobe. The big one. In October 2013, 153 million accounts were breached with each containing an internal ID, username, email, encrypted password and a password hint in plain text. The password cryptography was poorly done and many were quickly resolved back to plain text. The unencrypted hints also disclosed much about the passwords adding further to the risk that hundreds of millions of Adobe customers already faced."

Earlier this week we reviewed the excellent and cheap Motorola Moto G smartphone, which retails for $179 (8GB) or $199 (16GB) unlocked and off-contract.

A new teardown of the powerful device reveals that the components within the 16GB model cost Motorola about $123, leaving thin margins for its maker, especially when compared to high-end devices like the iPhone 5S, HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

At $123 for component costs, and including expected costs for R&D, marketing and shipping (along with operating expenses), Motorola makes under $10 per unit sold, razor thin margins. By comparison, Samsung has about a 28 percent margin on its S4, and Apple has a 31 percent margin on its iPhone 5S.

Verizon has quietly acquired CDN provider EdgeCast Networks for $350 million, gaining access to the company's roster of large clients.

EdgeCast provides CDN for major tech startups like Hulu, Twitter and Pinterest, among others.

Enterprise sales and growth has stagnated for Verizon, who expects EdgeCast to provide a new profitable revenue stream right out of the gate. Verizon recently acquired digital media streaming company UpLynk, as well, in their ongoing efforts to stream more content over their network.

Outside of standard CDN offerings, EdgeCast launched a CDN service for just e-commerce companies, and a DNS routing service.

EdgeCast has over 6000 clients.

A new image has been making its way across the web this week, promising Xbox One gamers a way to enable dev kit mode for their console and add backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games.

Microsoft has quickly dismissed the method, stating that you will brick your console if you try the six-step method.

Rather than give you backwards compatibility, Microsoft warns the console will stay in a constant reboot cycle.

Bungie and Activision's upcoming blockbuster 'Destiny' will be released on September 9th, 2014, giving the publisher ample time to perfect the game.

The game had originally been scheduled for "the spring" but it appears that the game was not ready, at least not by Bungie's standards:

"We promised to redefine what players should expect from a Bungie game. We said we wanted to change the way people play games together. We set our bar high. For us, Destiny represents a once in a lifetime opportunity," Bungie adds. "We believe this is the right decision for our game, our studio, and our passionate community."

PlayStation 3 and 4 gamers will get an exclusive beta over the summer, and Xbox gamers will get the beta at a later date.

The most recent gameplay trailer:

Major computer hardware maker MSI has unveiled what it calls the world's first 3K-resolution gaming notebook.

Featuring 2880 x 1620 resolution, the 15.6-inch display promises "sharper, brighter and crisper graphics resulting in an unmatched visual experience," says the company of its new GT60 2OD-261US notebook.

Under the hood is a Core i7-4700MQ processor, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card, 16GB DDR3 RAM, a 128GB SSD/1TB HDD combo and a Blu-ray ROM.

"Gamers demand the most out of their systems and are constantly trying to attain a more complete experience, starting from system performance to multimedia effects. The GT60 with 3K graphics immerses the portable gamer into a realm never before experienced," stated Andy Tung, vice president of sales for MSI Pan America Region. "The 3K graphics in our latest workstation gives professionals an edge by increasing efficiency and productivity."

Just one month after being sworn in as FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler has already made a controversial move.

The TV spectrum auction would have opened up the spectrum currently held by broadcast television to wireless carriers, but the auction is said to be one of the more complex in history. Wheeler is the third FCC head since 2012, when the auction was first announced.

"Policy challenges are only part of the picture," Wheeler wrote in his announcement. "We must also get the enabling technology right."

WaPo explains what the auction would entail: "According to the basic framework, TV station operators will be offered money in exchange for relinquishing their rights to the airwaves. The affected stations will then have to decide whether to share a channel with existing operators or exit the industry entirely. Then the FCC will auction off the reclaimed spectrum to wireless carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, who intend to use it to upgrade their cellular networks."

All four major carriers are expected to bid significantly on the spectrum.

After the failure that was Google TV and the success that is the Google Chromecast, a new report claims that Google is preparing an Android set-top box for next year dubbed the 'Nexus TV.'

The new device will run on the latest Android and include access to popular streaming apps like HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Vudu and also include access to gaming (like Ouya). The device is rumored to also include a Kinect-esque motion sensor and can be controlled from any Android device.

According to the report, the set-top will be ready to ship in the Q2 2014. Former Android boss Andy Rubin is said to have demoed the device at this year's CES event but it has never been officially promoted by the company.

The new report suggests that a touchpad remote could also be included, as well, for those without Android devices. Additionally, the device will be "aggressively priced," says the report, which could suggest a sub-$50 price tag.

The Supreme Court has announced this week that it will review software patent law, most specifically what kinds of software are eligible for patent protection.

Alice Corporation, which holds a patent for a computer system that facilitates financial transactions, has had the patent challenged by CLS Bank International in the case watched by the whole software industry.

The court's eventual decision will decide the circumstances in which companies can be sued for using software in their products.

Giants like HP, Google and Facebook have all asked the Supreme Court to also look at another similar case, one brought by a company called WildTangent. What is at stake is huge, and could spell the end of patent trolls that destroy innovation and bleed companies, large and small.

Patent 'trolls' file lawsuits against tech companies using (usually) extremely vague patents, forcing the companies to spend money on litigation rather than research and development. Trolls hold and hoard patents the single intent of suing companies with them.

The Motorola Moto X continues to see its Android 4.4 KitKat rollout.

U.S. Cellular subscribers are starting to get the OTA update, following T-Mobile USA, AT&T and Verizon which received it in the last week. Outside of the Nexus 5, the Moto X is the only device to have Android 4.4, not even last year's reference device, the Nexus 4, has it.

Remaining carriers without the update include Sprint, who has not given a timeframe, and Republic Wireless, which said the update is coming early next month.

The Moto X runs an almost stock version of Android, but includes so very nifty applications for migrating data from old devices, and more.

Android 4.4 adds aesthetic enhancements, updated to the phone dialer, the camera/gallery and enhanced NFC support.

Apple paid its lead law firm over $60 million to help the company in its patent battles against rival Samsung.

The revelation comes via Apple legal documents filed this week.

Apple has so far been the big winner in the ongoing war, with juries awarding Apple damages of nearly $1 billion over the last two years.

The Cupertino giant is asking U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to order Samsung to pay a quarter of Apple's legal fees, which would amount to a bit above $15 million. "Awarding fees to Apple 'flows quite naturally' from the jury's willfulness verdict as well as Samsung's extensive record of willful, deliberate, and calculated decisions to copy the iPhone, in blatant disregard for Apple's IP," Apple's attorneys added in the filing.

Apple also added that it received a significant discount from its lead firm, Morrison & Foerster's, due to their longtime relationship. It is unclear how much more the company would have had to pay had they been a smaller company with less clout.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally has committed to stay with the automaker until at least the end of 2014, says the company's board director, ending much of the speculation that the executive would jump ship to take the helm at tech giant Microsoft following the retirement of Steve Ballmer.

Since Ballmer's announcement earlier this year, most reports had slated Mulally as a favorite for the position as far as external candidates went.

Mulally, when asked, said he preferred to talk about the new global Mustang and that "there is no change to the plan," of him staying with the carmaker. He added, when asked about hearing his name repeatedly for the job: "I think that people are looking for leadership, and I can understand that, but I love serving Ford."

Ballmer, who was with Microsoft for over 30 years and replaced founder Bill Gates as CEO, will be stepping down by next August but the board is looking to replace him quicker than that.

Other 'top' choices include Stephen Elop, the former CEO of Nokia, Microsoft's business development boss Tony Bates (former CEO of Skype) and Satya Nadella, the head of cloud and enterprise.

It's a rare sight whenever you see rivals Sony and Microsoft working together, but the giants are working together at least for one service, the Xbox's music matching service.

Xbox Music is powered by Gracenote, which provides music recognition, metadata and most other features of the service. Gracenote is owned by Sony's digital music division.

The service is available across all of Microsoft's platforms, including Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Windows RT and is also available on iOS and Android.

To get access to the Gracenote-powered features, you will have to purchase Xbox Music Pass which allows you to identify music tracks (and albums), "unlock them in the cloud, and stream them across their devices." All purchased tracks, no matter where they were acquired can be stored in the cloud. The pass costs $10 per month.

"A big frustration for music fans is having to completely rebuild their collections when switching between streaming or download services," added Stephen White, the president at Gracenote. "Gracenote music recognition and data will make it easy for Xbox Music users to migrate their collections to the cloud without searching, repurchasing, or even uploading."