Category: Articles

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Sprint Offers up to $650 for Customers Switching to a Framily Plan

sprint framily plan bad commercialNo longer pushing unlimited plans, Sprint looks to be creating the 21st century equivalent of the party line with their new Framily plans. Get a group of people together to sign up for service and everyone pays less per line.

Now, if you’re porting your number over and recycling your current phone Sprint will offer up $300 in credit and also hand you a Visa pre-paid card worth up to $350. It’s the same experiment tried at T-Mobile and AT&T to varying levels of success. Sprint’s been a little quieter about their plans and deals, but their new slate of Framily plan commercials are quirky even if they don’t tell you as much about the service as they showcase talking hamsters.

Get it? Talking hamsters? Because you talk on your phone? And you’re probably not a hamster? Random!

The deal is good through May 8th, so if you were thinking of signing up you and your favorite eclectic mix of friends and family to Lil’ Yellow, the full PR is below with more details on the Switching Bonus.

Continue reading “Sprint Offers up to $650 for Customers Switching to a Framily Plan”

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Qualcomm: Quickcharge 2.0 Phones and Tablets on the Way

Qualcomm-Snapdragon-410 lte worldOne important aspect of battery life is how quickly you can get back up and running when you’re out of juice.

Qualcomm took the wraps off of their Quickcharge 2.0 tech, which will be built into new phones and tablets sporting the Snapdragon 800 chipset. Quickcharge 1.0 delivered 10 watts, 2.0 will deliver 60 watts. Quickcharge 2.0 will rely on a combination of the power management gear in the phone and the charger plugged into the wall, though 2.0 and 1.0 devices will be cross compatible for legacy support and future proofing.

The power efficient radio management should keep you out in the field longer, and when you do need to juice up, you shouldn’t have to stay tethered for long.

Full PR below with more info on specs and compatibility.

Continue reading “Qualcomm: Quickcharge 2.0 Phones and Tablets on the Way”

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Top five of the week starting March 31st – Leef, Lumias, and a Potato?

What a week! Tons of hot tech news dropped, and we got to have a little fun as well. Here’s a run down on your favorite stories from the last seven days!

micromax and prestigio

5- Microsoft BUILD 2014 Kicks Off With Windows Phone 8.1

Developers were the focus, but consumers finally got official word on all of the updates coming down the pipe for Windows Phone 8.1. Along with a pair of new Nokias, Microsoft looks to be building a much stronger portfolio as the third place mobile competitor.

Google-Fiber1

4- Google Looks to Become Wireless Carrier in Fiber Areas?

A little nugget from the rumor mill, but one welcomed by the internet community at large. With their reputation for market disruption, and the small successes they’ve found in delivering fiber internet to homes, it would seem many consumers would strongly consider doing business with Google as a cell phone carrier…

reddit banner

3- Corrupting User Moderated Web Sites: r/Technology Bans Tesla Stories?

When your site or service is built on volunteer workers, there’s always the potential that some of them might be corrupted by outside influences. Reddit had a meltdown when it was discovered that r/Technology had been shadowbanning any story with the word Tesla in it. Rogue moderator, or example of social news site corruption?

leef access microsd otg reader for android

2- Review: The Leef Access MicroSD card reader for Android Phones

As not all Android phones come with SD cards any more, this is a handy little gadget which can help you add and manage storage while you’re out and about!

potato unboxing long term review somegadgetguy

1- Potato Unboxing, 1st Impressions, Full Review, and Comparison to the LG G2

We decided to play along this April Fools Day, and produced this ridiculous 18 minute long video unboxing and review of one of our favorite sources of starchy carbs. Little did we now that many people online feel the same way about unboxing videos as we do…

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Phonebloks shows off new details for Google’s Project Ara modular phone

project ara prototype boardI’m really excited for modular phones. Replacing pieces when they get worn out, instead of having to buy a whole new phone.

Phonebloks took a tour around Google’s lab to see some of the new design work happening on Project Ara, recently acquired from Motorola. Discussing design and aesthetics, one of the highlights is the discussion on magnets for holding all the pieces together.

Here’s to hoping we see a full prototype in action soon!

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Free WiFi Calling For All Through Facebook Messenger

facebook messenger android free wifi callingIf you’ve been rocking the BETA, then you’re already aware of this, but it’s finally rolling out for all consumers.

If you’ve got the separate Facebook Messenger app installed, you can now call your Facebook friends over WiFi for free! The update to FB Messenger 4.0 brings this to all users alongside better support for creating chat groups and the ability to create shortcuts to specific chats on your homescreen.

Hit the update and get calling!

Facebook Messenger (Google Play)

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Best Buy and Microsoft REALLY want you to stop using Windows XP

windows xp microsoft trade in creditNo really. You HAVE to let go of Windows XP. It’s time.

Support for XP is really ending, for real, we mean it this time. You’re off the reservation, no more updates. Those who write malware will be able to find exploits to damage your system.

To ease the transition both Microsoft and Best Buy are offering up $100 trade in to give up your older XP system and move up to a shinier new system. I’m sure both companies would prefer you take the plunge on a Windows 8 machine.

Microsoft’s trade in deal is already live, and Best Buy should be unveiling theirs over the weekend. Let’s get a move on people. Windows XP is almost thirteen years old. We’ve moved on from there…

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WSU Engineers Teach One Computer to Teach Another Computer How to Play Pac-Man

Pac-Man (1980), will go on show at MoMA in New York in 2013Well I for one welcome our robotic overlords…

Matthew E. Taylor, Allred Distinguished Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Washington State University has published a paper detailing a system where one computer can share information and processes with another computer. The first practical demonstration? Video games!

One system “taught” another how to play Pac-Man, and the “student” system was eventually able to surpass its “teacher”.

A system for delivering “advice” could be an exciting breakthrough, especially if these systems can share information and processes between computers with different hardware builds. Often a set of instructions wont work if you change hardware parameters.

If you’re worried about Skynet happening soon, Taylor had this to say:

“They’re very dumb.”


(via WSU News)

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Google Completes Stock Split – Shares Trading at $570

google stock price split april 2014Google’s been planning on splitting this stock for a while now, and following several months of trading at over $1100, the split has finally arrived.

Today, in a straight up 2 for 1, if you’re lucky enough to own some Google Stock, you just doubled your shares. This split also creates a “Class C” stock where people can own a chunk of the company but forfeit voting rights. It’s a smart play for Google as it helps insure company control as stocks are often used for acquisitions and employee compensation.

It’s not without a little controversy however as some analysts are claiming this move is intended to dilute voting rights.

Shares split today and traded as high as 580, at the time of this writing they’ve settled down to the high 560’s. Do you own any Google stock? Will this split affect your investments?

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