It sounds like the beginning of a bar room joke. Two self-driving cars are headed down the highway when the lead car decides to speed up to avoid being rear-ended by the second. That car, in turn, slows down to avoid hitting the first. Then a third car suddenly comes between the two, prompting…
India’s largest operator, Bharti Airtel, is to acquire the Indian mobile business of Norwegian carrier Telenor, in an apparent move to counter the impact of disruptive pricing by new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm. The deal is the latest among carriers aiming to consolidate their operations in India. Vodafone Group confirmed recently that it was in…
Samsung unveiled Thursday a new octa-core application processor that combines a custom CPU with a gigabit LTE modem and a separate processing unit for security applications, leading to speculation that it could be designed into the new flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone that the company is expected to launch soon. The Exynos 9 Series 8895 is…
Broadcom will unload the Ruckus Wireless Wi-Fi business for US$800 million when it takes over Brocade Communications Systems later this year. The buyer, Arris International, is a maker of video and broadband equipment, including cable modems and set-top boxes with Wi-Fi inside. As part of the deal, it will also acquire Brocade’s ICX business, which…
The seemingly harmless blinking lights on servers and desktop PCs may give away secrets if a hacker can hijack them with malware. Researchers in Israel have come up with an innovative hack that turns a computer’s LED light into a signaling system that shows passwords and other sensitive data. The researchers at Ben-Gurion University of…
U.K. network operator EE plans to deliver 4G internet access from a kite-like balloon first developed as an observation and communications platform for the military. The Helikite was invented in the 1990s and has also found favor with Antarctic explorers, disaster relief workers and emergency services. EE revealed its plans to deliver wide-area network coverage from…
Sick of manually organizing your messages? Microsoft was on the case, apparently testing its Focused Inbox feature in Windows 10’s Mail app. As of Feb. 22, though, it’s live for both Office 365 subscribers and Outlook.com accounts. A number of users recently told MSPowerUser they were seeing the feature on their PCs. The testing isn’t restricted to…
Disney Research has invented a new method of wirelessly charging mobile devices that could someday allow amusement park patrons to walk about freely while also getting their mobile devices charged. The technology, which Disney has dubbed “quasistatic cavity resonance” (QSCR), enables purpose-built structures such as cabinets, rooms and warehouses to generate quasistatic magnetic fields that…
Apple this week took administrative control of the icloud.net domain, the last notable web address it did not govern that users could have linked with its online sync and storage service. According to WHOIS searches today, Apple acquired control of icloud.net on Tuesday. Apple already ruled the primary top-level domains for iCloud, the cross-device, cross-OS…
The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday that it had approved two cellular base stations – one each from Ericsson and Nokia – to use LTE-U, marking the first official government thumbs-up for the controversial technology. FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement that the unlicensed spectrum – historically, the territory of Wi-Fi – can…