Comcast joins top mobile carriers in 600MHz spectrum auction

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Comcast make FCC’s list of qualified bidders.

(credit: Comcast)

Comcast is getting ready to bid on spectrum as it prepares a move into the mobile broadband business.

Bidding under the name "CC Wireless Investment, LLC," Comcast submitted its application a few months ago and is now one of 62 qualified bidders announced by the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. These bidders have submitted down payments and met all the necessary requirements to participate in the auction, which is shifting 600MHz airwaves from TV broadcasters to wireless carriers. Bidding is scheduled to begin on August 16.

Comcast has said it will only buy spectrum if the price is right, but there are ample signs that it is planning a mobile data service. Comcast has activated a Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement with Verizon Wireless that will let Comcast resell the carrier's service, and it has created a new mobile division, Multichannel News reported. Comcast has also been developing a large network of Wi-Fi hotspots, in part by turning its cable Internet customers' home modems into hotspots.

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SpaceX sends cargo to the International Space Station, nails the landing

Falcon returns to land as Dragon heads on a two-day voyage to the Space Station.

The launch lights up night-time clouds, and is later followed by the landing. (credit: Elon Musk)

Early Monday morning, SpaceX achieved a successful launch and landing of its Falcon main stage, which sent a Dragon capsule loaded with supplies to the International Space Station. Unlike most previous attempts, the Falcon was able to return to Florida rather than dropping onto a barge in the Atlantic. The successful landing adds another item to the company's collection of lightly used boosters, some of which are intended to ultimately make return trips to space.

The Dragon capsule is expected to reach the ISS within two days. It contains a typical assortment of supplies and experiments in its pressurized portion. But it also carries a bit of hardware externally: an international docking adaptor, or IDA. The IDA is built to standards that different nations can adopt, allowing their hardware to interact with the system. According to NASA, "the adapter is built so spacecraft systems can automatically perform all the steps of rendezvous and dock with the station without input from the astronauts."

This is the second IDA sent to the Station, the first having exploded in one of SpaceX's rare failed launches.

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Amazon Video now lets you download content to Android SD cards

Letting you save movies and shows without taking up all your phone’s space.

Android users now have another, more convenient option to make use of their Amazon Prime Video subscriptions. Amazon pushed out an update that lets Android users download movies, videos, and other content from its Prime Video service to the SD cards in their handsets.

Previously, Amazon only allowed content to be saved to the internal storage on those smartphones. With this update, not only will users be able to save their internal storage for other content, but they could potentially download content to multiple SD cards, switch those cards in and out of their handsets, and watch all of that content offline. In addition to Amazon Prime videos, users can download any videos they've purchased to their SD cards.

This feature is something only Android users can take advantage of, since iPhones lack the requisite SD card slot. The feature is rolling out on Android tablets and smartphones starting today in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan.

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I may have invented the first GPS augmented reality game

My 2004 university thesis overlaid real-world coordinates on a text-based MUD.

(credit: PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Way back in the autumn of 2004, I may have invented the world's first GPS-based augmented reality game. In light of the stratospheric success of Pokémon Go, I'm wondering whether I should have perhaps attempted to patent my invention.

My game was called Augmented Reality Multi-User Dungeon, or ARMUD for short, and it was the topic of my university thesis. The idea seemed quite simple to me: I started with a text-based MUD, and then layered a real-world positional element on top of it. As you walked around the university campus you would move through the MUD's zones. In the real world you might be standing in the student union bar; in the game, reading the zone's description on your mobile device, you were actually inside an uproarious tavern full of stereotypically angry dwarves, behooded humans, and trixy hobbits.

If you bumped into another player, you could trade or fight or talk, or send in-game whispers if you didn't want to talk to the person in real life.

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Slimmed down 2TB Xbox One S hits stores August 2 for $399 [Updated]

Cheaper versions with smaller hard drives hit August 23

After leaking and then confirming news of the slim, white, Xbox One redesign just over a month ago, Microsoft today announced that its Xbox One S console hardware refresh will hit retailers on August 2. A 2TB system will cost $399 and will be available in "limited quantities" in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe on that day. Versions with 1TB and 500GB hard drives will be available for $349 and $299, respectively, at a later date.

Besides being 40 percent smaller than the original Xbox One (and sporting an internal power supply rather than that unsightly power brick), the new redesign adds support for 4K Blu-rays and streaming videos, as well as high-dynamic range (HDR) color support in certain upcoming games. The new system also comes with a slightly redesigned controller, featuring a textured rear grip and bluetooth support.

The Xbox One S shouldn't be confused with Microsoft's upcoming Scorpio update, also announced last month and promised for a holiday 2017 release. That system will be capable of true 4K gaming, as well as VR support, while being fully compatible with all existing previous Xbox One games, Microsoft says.

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Telefónica: Neue Blau-Tarife erhalten Datenautomatik

Telefónica hat neue Smartphone-Tarife der Marke Blau vorgestellt. Alle neuen Tarife kosten weniger, werden aber standardmäßig mit einer Datenautomatik versehen. Das ungedrosselte Datenvolumen steht allerdings nur für begrenzte Zeit zur Verfügung. (Telefónica, Mobilfunk)

Telefónica hat neue Smartphone-Tarife der Marke Blau vorgestellt. Alle neuen Tarife kosten weniger, werden aber standardmäßig mit einer Datenautomatik versehen. Das ungedrosselte Datenvolumen steht allerdings nur für begrenzte Zeit zur Verfügung. (Telefónica, Mobilfunk)

Landgericht Berlin: Preiserhöhung von Tele Columbus war wettbewerbswidrig

Angeblich waren alle Internettarife nicht mehr verfügbar. Eine Tarifumstellung auf höhere Preise war nicht legal, urteilte das Landgericht Berlin. Doch Tele Columbus will in die Berufung gehen. (Kabelnetz, Verbraucherschutz)

Angeblich waren alle Internettarife nicht mehr verfügbar. Eine Tarifumstellung auf höhere Preise war nicht legal, urteilte das Landgericht Berlin. Doch Tele Columbus will in die Berufung gehen. (Kabelnetz, Verbraucherschutz)

What it’s like to play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

New augs, new weapons, and a killer story. This is gonna be good.

Featuring brand new gameplay footage captured on PC (AMD), Mark takes Adam Jensen on his first mission into the heart of the aug ghetto Golem City. (video link)

I've spent the last hour hunting down an elusive black market ID syndicate in the heart of Prague, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's sprawling city hub. In the aftermath of a devastating worldwide attack, for which augmented humans were responsible, security is tight. Perhaps overly so. Manhandled by a prejudiced police department and endlessly scanned and monitored by robotic drones, augs have been shunned by society, forced into ghettos where resentment runs rampant, and violence becomes the answer. And so, even under the employment of Task Force 29 (an Interpol-led anti-terrorist group), super-aug Adam Jensen can't charm his way past a protected police post. He needs that ID, and I'm going to help him.

Which, when I stop and think about it, is odd, because that wasn't the reason Jensen was in Prague in the first place. Earlier, he'd fought his way through a sandstorm in Dubai, gunning down augmented terrorists on the hunt for weapons, before being caught out by an unfortunate explosion. The convenient result (for the developers in charge of player progression at least) was that Jensen's augmentations stopped working, and the only man who could fix them was a doctor living in Prague. That's the thing about Deus Ex: no matter how hard you try to stick to the mission, no matter how much you want to reveal the next snippet of the story, it's there, pushing and prodding you into one of its many side quests.

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HP Elite x3 smartphone coming August 29th for $699 and up

HP Elite x3 smartphone coming August 29th for $699 and up

As expected, HP’s Elite x3 smartphone will be available in the US soon. But it has a somewhat lower starting price than had been anticipated.

The HP Elite x3 is a Windows 10 Mobile smartphone with top-tier specs and support for Microsoft’s Continuum for phone software, allowing you to use the phone like a desktop computer when a keyboard, mouse, and display are connected.

The phone will start shipping in the US on August 29th for $699.

Continue reading HP Elite x3 smartphone coming August 29th for $699 and up at Liliputing.

HP Elite x3 smartphone coming August 29th for $699 and up

As expected, HP’s Elite x3 smartphone will be available in the US soon. But it has a somewhat lower starting price than had been anticipated.

The HP Elite x3 is a Windows 10 Mobile smartphone with top-tier specs and support for Microsoft’s Continuum for phone software, allowing you to use the phone like a desktop computer when a keyboard, mouse, and display are connected.

The phone will start shipping in the US on August 29th for $699.

Continue reading HP Elite x3 smartphone coming August 29th for $699 and up at Liliputing.

Ab-in-den-Urlaub.de: Unister meldet Insolvenz an

Nach dem Tod zweier Topmanager ist Unister nun insolvent. Der tragische Unfalltod des Gesellschafters bedeute auch “wirtschaftlich einen Einschnitt” für das Unternehmen. (Unister, Wirtschaft)

Nach dem Tod zweier Topmanager ist Unister nun insolvent. Der tragische Unfalltod des Gesellschafters bedeute auch "wirtschaftlich einen Einschnitt" für das Unternehmen. (Unister, Wirtschaft)