Swoop Archive

  • Australia to pay Telstra A$11 billion for entire copper network

    Australia to pay Telstra A$11 billion for entire copper network

    Posted on June 20, 2010 | No Comments
    The Australian government just found the infrastructure for its A$43 billion national broadband project and eliminated its largest competitor in one fell swoop -- pending shareholder and regulator approval, Telstra will receive A$11 billion of that money in exchange for its entire landline network. Telstra will decommission its monopoly of copper cables to make room for the government's fiber and migrate its customers to the resulting 100Mbps National Broadband Network (NBN) as those light-bearing threads roll out. While Telstra might become a smaller player in the internet and cable business without a land network of its own, it may get even larger in the wireless space -- the company says it's received "written confirmation from the Prime Minister" that it can bid on a chunk of precious LTE spectrum should the deal go through. Press release after the break.

    Continue reading Australia to pay Telstra A$11 billion for entire copper network

    Australia to pay Telstra A$11 billion for entire copper network originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Microsoft tweaks Windows Phone Marketplace policies for the better

    Microsoft tweaks Windows Phone Marketplace policies for the better

    Posted on June 7, 2010 | No Comments
    Previously, the $99 that Windows Phone devs paid annually to get access to the Marketplace covered up to five app submissions -- but Microsoft looks like it's willing to play ball in an effort to drum up more interest in third-party development ahead of Windows Phone 7's release by chucking the five-app cap. Well, sort of -- paid apps will have unlimited submissions, but free apps will still be limited to five per yearly cycle, with additional submissions running $19.99 each. Additionally, Microsoft is taking the wraps off its Trial API for helping developers enforce trial functionality prior to purchase, details on its push notification service, and a new option that lets publishes push their apps globally -- to every localized store in the Marketplace's reach -- in one fell swoop. The company says that it has "listened to developers and responded to changing customer behavior to make Marketplace an even better experience for all," and it certainly seems like a step in the right direction -- but we'll admit, we'd still love to see free app submissions go unlimited (what can we say, we've got a soft spot for freebies).

    Microsoft tweaks Windows Phone Marketplace policies for the better originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • FTC approves Google’s AdMob buy, cites Apple’s iAd competition

    FTC approves Google’s AdMob buy, cites Apple’s iAd competition

    Posted on May 21, 2010 | No Comments
    Google's attempt to swoop in and buy AdMob out from under Apple was looking like a Pyrrhic victory for a second there, as Federal Trade Commission approval of the deal hung in the balance based on concerns that El Goog would control far too much of the online advertising market. It's ironic, then, that Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless and the introduction of the iAd platform in iPhone OS 4 is what convinced the feds to let Google's acquisition go through -- the FTC says that Apple's entry into the market will provide significant competition to AdMob, regardless of whether or not it's owned by Google. That means Google's free to pursue all the ad-based initiatives in Froyo it announced yesterday at I/O, and it means we should see the already-heated rhetoric between Mountain View and Cupertino get another notch hotter. It's going to be a wild summer, folks -- get ready.

    Update: Here's a statement from AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui on the deal -- he's got a fuller piece on his blog, linked below.
    "We are extremely pleased with today's decision from the Federal Trade Commission to clear Google's acquisition of AdMob. Over the past six months we've received a great deal of support from across the mobile industry - and we deeply appreciate it. Our focus is now on working with the team at Google team to quickly close the deal."

    FTC approves Google's AdMob buy, cites Apple's iAd competition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • iPhone falls to hackers, all SMSes compromised

    iPhone falls to hackers, all SMSes compromised

    Posted on March 25, 2010 | No Comments
    Need to read what your loverly wife is sexting to the neighbor? It’s apparently quite easy. Some hackers – Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann – sent an iPhone user to a special site that was able to steal the phone’s entire SMS library in one swoop, winning the Pwn2Own challenge. The exploit isn’t openly available [...]

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  • Video: Jimmy Fallon Making Fun Of Billy Ray Cyrus Making Fun Of Miley Cyrus For Quitting Twitter

    Video: Jimmy Fallon Making Fun Of Billy Ray Cyrus Making Fun Of Miley Cyrus For Quitting Twitter

    Posted on October 13, 2009 | No Comments
    Continuing our ongoing coverage of the Miley Cyrus Twitter Crisis of 2009 (hint: she quit), here’s a video from last night’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in which the host plays dress up as Billy Ray Cyrus to make his own rap video. You’ll recall that Miley Cyrus quit Twitter (because her boyfriend told her to, or something). She then made a mock rap video about it. Now, Fallon is making fun of that video, Billy Ray, and Twitter all in one fell swoop. Impressive.

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  • Huawei 8220 heading to T-Mobile as the Pulse

    Huawei 8220 heading to T-Mobile as the Pulse

    Posted on August 17, 2009 | No Comments
    Details are still a bit sketchy on this one, but the powers of the Internets have uncovered yet another Android phone headed for T-Mobile. While its been known for some time that Huawei was crackin’ away at a couple of Android-powered pieces of kit, not a whole lot has been said thus far. Late last week, [...]

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