A big tech deal was announced between two international companies today. Japan-based SoftBank bought UK-based ARM for $32 billion, a sentence that’s meaningless to most of us. But put another way, it starts to make a whole lot more sense: the company that owns Sprint just bought the company that makes the parts that make your iPhone actually work. [More]
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Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Active Fails The Dunk Test
By 7.8.16
When a product says it’s water resistant, you probably aren’t going to test that claim out yourself (at least not intentionally). That’s why we’ve got the fine folks at Consumer Reports, who recently subjected the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active to a “dunk test” to see if the phone would live up to its watertight claims. [More]
Chinese Tech Company You May Have Never Heard Of Plans To Be Bigger Than Samsung Or Apple
By 6.3.16
If you’re reading this on a smartphone in the U.S., odds are high that you’re using either an Apple iPhone or one of Samsung’s many Android-based devices. However, Samsung’s sales are flat and Apple’s phone sales are declining, all the while China’s Huawei is drinking their milkshake. [More]
Samsung Thinks Adding More Ads To Its Smart TVs Is A Solid Business Idea
By 5.31.16
Despite what its actual customers say, for several years now, Samsung has believed that putting ads on their customers’ smart TVs is a really good idea. The idea really delighted the company when they first started slapping ads on smart TV home screens back in 2012, and customers remain exactly as not thrilled about it now as they were then. [More]
Government Asks Wireless Manufacturers & Carriers About Device Security Updates
By 5.9.16
At the same time as their counterparts at the Justice Department are trying to circumvent smartphone security, the folks at the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission are talking to manufacturers about how to make these devices more secure. [More]
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Samsung V. Apple Patent Case
By 3.21.16
The ongoing patent battle between smartphone standouts Samsung and Apple will get its day before the Supreme Court this year, as the nation’s highest court has decided to hear arguments about one facet of the long-simmering dispute. [More]
Six Flags Adding Virtual Reality To Roller Coasters
By 3.4.16
Don’t get sufficiently nauseated from the ups, downs, turns, and loops of riding a roller coaster? Then plan a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is tacking on a virtual reality aspect to one of its coasters.
[More]
U.S. Court Bans Samsung From Selling Certain Smartphones That Infringe On Apple Patents
By 1.19.16
Apple has won another round in the seemingly endless battle with Samsung over patents: a U.S. court has banned Samsung from selling certain smartphones that infringe on three patents held by its rival. [More]
Report: New Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Owners Will No Longer Be In Danger Of Sticking Stylus In The Wrong Way
By 1.18.16
Fear not, Galaxy Note 5 owners, you’ll no longer need to rely simply on a warning sticker to keep from accidentally breaking your stuff: Samsung’s next generation of the devices will only allow the stylus to be inserted the correct way, thus avoiding the danger of damaging the entire thing. [More]
Samsung Debuts Fridge With A Larger Screen Than Most Laptops, Washing Machine With Forgotten Sock Door
By 1.5.16
Remember the refrigerators of your youth? Far from sleek, shiny, or Internet-connected, they were at least magnetic, which meant they doubled as the home’s bulletin board for reminders, calendars, and shopping lists. Now that everything is stainless steel, Samsung thinks it has a substitution for those old fridge magnets, by way of a 21.5″ touchscreen on the front of its newest refrigerators. [More]
Samsung Pay Expected To Roll Out To U.S. Online Shoppers Next Year
By 12.29.15
Now that Samsung has tried its best to woo some more customers into signing up for its mobile payment app, the company is giving people the chance to actually buy stuff with Samsung Pay by allowing shoppers in the U.S. to use it next year for online purchases. [More]
Samsung Galaxy S7 Will Reportedly Charge Faster, Have Pressure-Sensitive Screen
By 12.14.15
Back in September, Apple unveiled its more responsive “3D Touch” display for the iPhone 6S, so it should come as little surprise that Samsung may have something similar in its back pocket for the upcoming launch of its flagship Galaxy phone. [More]
Samsung Agrees To Pay Apple $548M To Settle 5-Year Patent Battle
By 12.4.15
It’s been a long time coming, but Samsung and Apple’s ongoing patent battle has finally come to an end: a little under five years since the two technology giants first clashed in court over patents, Samsung has agreed to pay $548 million to settle the long-running dispute with Apple. [More]
Wireless Companies Have A Plan To Make Your Mobile Data Faster And Better… But It Might Break WiFi
By 10.19.15
Over the last couple of years we’ve all finally gotten used to 4G LTE being the mobile standard our phones use… so of course, the next network tech is already in development. The wireless companies’ plans for expanding LTE networks sound simple: piggyback off spectrum that’s sitting right there, available for anyone to use, so the metaphorical pipes can be bigger. Except that could cause big problems for basically all the wireless tech we already use. [More]
Tech Company Central To Samsung Pay’s System Breached, Consumer Info Not Targeted
By 10.8.15
Mobile payment software company LoopPay – which provides much of the nuts and bolts for Samsung Pay – announced Wednesday that it became the victim of a hack attack back in March. Despite the breach, Samsung and its smaller subsidiary assured users of its mobile payment system their information was never at risk. [More]
Netflix Deal With Oculus & Samsung Means You’ll Actually Have Something To Watch With That VR Headset
By 9.24.15
So you’ve got your cool virtual reality headset, and you’re just dying to try it. But what are you supposed to watch on it? Until now, there’s been a limited amount of content available for VR headsets. That’s all changed now, as Netflix announced a deal with Oculus and Samsung that includes a virtual reality version of Netflix’s entire library. [More]
Samsung Reportedly Getting Into The Direct Phone-Leasing Business As Well
By 9.21.15
Maybe the mobile phone industry is finally coming to understand what consumers want. What many of us want is to have the newest and shiniest flagship smartphone, and then cast that phone aside when another phone that is shinier comes along a year later. Forget two-year contracts: why don’t we just rent the darn things? Carriers like Sprint are doing this, and Apple itself has joined the rental party. Why not Samsung’s Android handsets, too? [More]
Sony’s Virtual Reality Headset Is Called…. PlayStation VR
By 9.16.15
After spending more than year referring to its virtual reality headset with the over-the-top working title Project Morpheus, Sony finally revealed the true identity of its immersive accessory, and it’s a bit of a letdown: PlayStation VR. [More]
