After a recent update some AT&T phones now have a 5G E icon. This icon replaces the one indicated the phone is running on a 4G network. But here’s the thing: The phone is still on a 4G network. AT&T has played these games before, too.
This nonsense is a marketing ploy by AT&T. The so-called 5G E (5G Evolution) network is just a beefed-up 4G network and not true 5G, which is still far from being ready for general consumption. AT&T used the same deceptive tactics before launching its LTE network.
Right now only select phones in a few markets will see the change. The wireless carrier intends to roll out this madness to even more phones and even more markets throughout the year.
Disclosure: TechCrunch is a Verizon Media company.
Source: TechCrunch
A long-running class-action lawsuit filed after consumer electronics giant Vizio was caught spying on customer viewing habits can be settled, subject to a final approval, a court has ruled.
The group of Vizio customers alleged in its 2016-filed complaint that the company was covertly collecting viewing data from customers’ internet-connected smart TVs.
U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton said in a ruling on Friday that the settlement is preliminarily approved, subject to any final complaints or objections from Vizio. That will secure a settlement of $17 million for an estimated 16 million Vizio customers affected by the television tracking.
That should amount to a little over a dollar per affected customer, but will be drastically less after attorneys fees and expenses.
Vizio will also be compelled to make “certain business practice changes,” including displaying on-screen prompts and give the customer the ability to opt-out of data collection. Any historical viewing data collected to date must also be deleted, the proposed order says.
A spokesperson for Vizio did not immediately respond to a request for comment
The proposed settlement comes almost two years after the Federal Trade Commission took a shot at the company, fining the company a total of $2.2 million for its covert tracking.
According to the FTC, the company’s covert customer data collection was vast. Vizio collected a portion of the television display “on a second-by-second basis” to see if “matched to a database of TV, movie, and commercial content,” allowing the company to know exactly what consumers were watching at any given time.
Vizio captured “as many as 100 billion data points each day from millions of TVs,” according to the FTC’s initial complaint.
The company said that this was part of its “smart interactivity,” part of which was to suggest television and movie content based on what a customer has already watched.
But the FTC said that Vizio “turned that mountain of data into cash by selling consumers’ viewing histories to advertisers and others.” Not only that, this data was provided to data aggregators to build up profiles on unwitting consumers who were further targeted by trackers and advertisers.
And it did this without the user’s consent or knowledge. The FTC forced the company to stop tracking what its customers watch. Yet, as part of the FTC’s settlement, Vizio neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
A final decision on the class action suit will be held before the next hearing on May 31.
Source: TechCrunch
Okay, this is a fun surprise. In addition to all of the standard TV and appliance talk, Samsung used its CES press conference today to announce a number of different robots — an entirely new field for the consumer electronics company. The company offered a sneak preview of the Samsung Bot Care on stage at the event.
The rolling home robot is a health care assistant designed for elderly users and other people in need of home assistants. The robot can offer health briefings, give out medication and check a user’s vitals.
There’s also the Samsung Bot Air, which is an in-home air quality monitor and the Samsung Bot Retail, which brings that technology into a brick and mortar setting. In addition to all of these, we got the briefest sneak preview of Samsung Gems, a mobility assisting exoskeleton that appears to be targeted athletes.
Samsung really blew through all of that as a kind of “one more thing” at the end of an event in which it spent a majority talking about Bixby on washing machines and the like. Between that and the general lack of information around availability, I suspect we won’t be seeing any of these products in stores any time soon. Hardware is hard and robots are harder.
Still, a fun little glimpse at what might be around the corner from the company.
Source: TechCrunch
Identificar nuestros rostros en las imágenes plantea dilemas éticos importantes, ya que gobiernos y empresas podrían utilizar esta tecnología como una herramienta de vigilancia. Un influyente centro de investigación en el campo reclama que se tomen medidas urgentes para proteger a los consumidores
Source: MIT
China se convirtió por primera vez en el país que más cohetes lanzó a la órbita terrestre el año pasado. Su creciente programa espacial y el auge de las ‘start-ups’ espaciales con financiación privada están haciendo que se convierta en una potencia espacial similar a EE. UU. Y sus planes para 2019 son aún más ambiciosos
Source: MIT
The automaker’s CES concept uses multiple modes of locomotion to move through any territory.
Source: Wired
CES 2019 is the battle of the bezels. Every laptop is competing to see which can fit the most screen into the least space. Many contenders have entered, but it appears that we have a winner; Asus ZenBook S13.
The post Asus ZenBook S13 UX392 hands-on review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
Samsung’s laptops tend to feel a bit flimsy, without the reduction in price. The company’s latest 2-in-1 is an attempt to correct that. The redesign brings a full-aluminum chassis to the lineup, adding some much-needed rigidity.
The post Samsung Notebook 9 Pro hands-on review appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
Asus is joining the popular trends from CES and by revealing a new 43-inch ROG Strix XG438Q display alongside two new super ultrawide, HDR-friendly, high refresh rate gaming monitors.
The post The new ROG Strix gaming monitors from Asus are as big as your TV appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
For the new year, MSI is introducing the new GS75 Stealth laptop with the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 20-series GPUs, and a new PS63 Modern Prestige laptop aimed at content creators.
The post MSI revamps gaming laptops with face-melting Nvidia RTX 20-series GPUs appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends