Let's Talk Tech
Get your tech week started off right!
Yahoo sells Flickr to SmugMug. Google walking away from Allo? Asus intros a new brand for AMD GPUs. Apple cutting HomePod production. New Surface Phone Rumors surface as Windows Phone disappears. AT&T and Verizon allegedly colluded to prevent eSIM. California voting on state Net Neutrality bill. Huawei is leaving the USA? Whew… That’s a lot…
Download this week’s podcast – SGGQA 036 (RSS subscription links below)
57% of people are more likely to stop driving distracted if a friend or passenger pressures them to. That means half of people are just waiting for someone to tell them to stop!
AT&T has kicked off a social media campaign, during this, Distracted Driving Awareness Month, to get people to do just that! The company is encouraging everyone to #TagYourHalf in social media channels and take the “It Can Wait” pledge.
AT&T launched the It Can Wait campaign in 2010 to address the dangerous habit of texting and driving. But as smartphones have evolved, drivers are doing more than just texting while driving; they’re surfing the web, taking selfies, video chatting and more. The It Can Wait campaign message is now focused on this simple but vital message: Distracted driving is NEVER ok. You’re never alone on the road, when you’re alone in your car.
Cleaning off my desk before we head out to MWC, I came across this interesting little device. A brand new flip phone in an age of ultra cheap smartphones? Can you go back to a “dumb phone”? Let’s take a look!
The future of multimedia is becoming more fluid. Consumers seek to stream content to any screen, at any time, anywhere they want.“We are looking at these offerings differently than others in the market. We often hear from customers who want more content from streaming services, or who can’t get or can’t afford a traditional pay-TV service,” said John Stankey, CEO – AT&T Entertainment Group.
Continue reading “DirecTV Introduces BYO Internet Content Streaming Later this Year”
As we’ve seen another carrier struggle recently with unlimited video streaming, and the Net Neutrality implications of throttling or degrading performance for network stability, AT&T looks to be returning to a business model consumers will understand easily: Unlimited Data.
Of course there’s a small catch. Unlimited data plans will be offered as part of a bundled service with AT&T TV (formerly DirecTV).
Earlier this week, Big Blue took the wraps off of their new Unlimted plan for DirecTV, AT&T TV, or U-Verse TV subscribers. They’ll pay $100 a month for the first phone, additional phone lines will cost $40, and the fourth phone line will be free.
It’s an exciting move. Instead of cherry picking a handful of individual services or apps, a fully bundled AT&T customer will have few restrictions on streaming any content they desire. As of now, the only limit appears to be a vaguely worded footnote that at 22GB of usage in a month “reduced speeds may apply”. How that might be enforced is still unseen, but it’s a fairly healthy chunk of mobile data for folks looking to move up from plan that often start users off around 10GB per month.
You can read the full AT&T press release below.
Continue reading “AT&T Revives Unlimited Data for AT&T TV Subscribers”
Let’s work together to make our New Year’s resolutions happen! I’m giving away a FitBit Charge, an LG Tone Active BT Headset, and a CoolGear beverage infuser courtesy of my pals at AT&T! Check out the contest widget below for more details on how you can win some cool gear to get your 2016 started off right!
Competition folks. I want more competition. AT&T is pushing forward with their GigaPower fiber internet roll out, and it looks like a major ISP finally has their sights on the Los Angeles Metro area.
“Fast, affordable Internet is essential for today’s cities,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Having high-speed digital communications infrastructure is as important as ensuring that we can efficiently deliver electricity, transportation, clean water, and lighted streets to Angelenos. The ultra-fast AT&T Gigapower service will help L.A.’s students, entrepreneurs, and families succeed and help our city’s economy grow.”
Starting with West Palm Beach, Big Blue will be expanding their gigabit footprint over 2016 for businesses and residential areas. This expansion follows their merger with DirectTV which U-Verse customer can subscribe to for multimedia content.
It’s exciting news for those of us in Southern California. Hopefully soon we’ll have more competition for faster broadband services. You can read the full press release below. Continue reading “AT&T to Launch Gigabit Internet Service in Los Angeles”
Carrier stores are becoming primary stops for picking up new tech accessories. It makes sense that when you buy your phone, you’d want to be able to outfit it properly before you walk out the door.
Leading up to Black Friday, phones and tablets will be hot items for a lot of folks, and to help take some pressure off wallets and purses, AT&T is launching a series of specials and sales for some great accessories.
Headphones, cases, Bluetooth speakers, FitBit smartwatches and fitness trackers, even a sale on an emergency car jump start battery. The full list is below!
Continue reading “AT&T Holiday Shopping Specials: Speakers, Headphones, Smartwatches, and Cases”