AT&T is jettisoning its long-time GoPhone brand, re-naming its prepaid service “AT&T Prepaid” (snappy!) and offering two free months of service on its $45 and $65 plans.
Same plan, new name, one AWESOME deal. 👋 hello to AT&T PREPAID: https://t.co/Njeb7Q9xx9 pic.twitter.com/PSohjDmxxp
— AT&T (@ATT) July 12, 2017
Meanwhile, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure has been talking up the importance of 5G network infrastructure investment — and friendly regulation to support it.
America’s most important infrastructure project is #5G mobile networkshttps://t.co/j1HPmEZLTp
— BroadForward (@BroadForward) July 13, 2017
He also makes a point about 5G and scale: when you’re dealing with the propagation characteristics of millimeter wave, 5G networks are going to have to be far, far more dense than any previous networks — and the industry has struggled to get small cells to scale for LTE. Not because of the equipment itself, but because in most cases the timelines and costs for the fundamental issues of siting/permitting, along with backhaul and power, haven’t changed enough from the macro tower model to make small cells the easy, low-cost densification solution that the industry has been looking for.
4/4 To prepare for our #5G future, public policy HAS to change. We need wise policy making to do it right in US. https://t.co/HyJ3NA5BoY pic.twitter.com/7TYVJkxpfq
— Marcelo Claure (@marceloclaure) July 12, 2017
Amid rumors that the next iPhone could cost more than $1,000, some analysts say that carriers will likely go back to offering device discounts. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, considering that upgrade rates have slowed dramatically as carriers have pushed more device costs onto customers with payment plans rather than subsidies.
#iPhone 8 will have carrier discounts, analysts say. Via @businessinsiderhttps://t.co/bc2PgKyVnX
— Mobile Labs (@MobileLabsInc) July 13, 2017
Have your Prime Dayboxes arrived yet? Amazon’s let’s-create-a-shopping-holiday-from-scratch event was wildly successful again this year, beating out sales for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
"Tens of millions" of Prime members bought something on #PrimeDay this year, up more than 50% than last year. https://t.co/getfbvC8Rj
— CNN Tech (@cnntech) July 13, 2017
With one of the most popular deals being an Amazon Echo Dot for $35, this is sure to put Amazon’s Alexa artificial intelligence into more homes — and possibly cars? I have personally caught myself wishing I had Alexa access while driving, and if my vehicle had Wi-Fi, I would absolutely try this set-up:
#Amazon #Alexa int he #car https://t.co/xQtWIIDFGL
— Rich Tehrani (@rtehrani) July 14, 2017
On the darker side of AI, though, researchers were able to create false video versions of President Barack Obama — although they didn’t use any words other than Obama’s own (creating new footage from old videos and speeches), one of the researchers said that wholly fake videos are “likely possible soon.” Which bodes really well for that whole “fake news” thing. 😐
https://twitter.com/DirkBernhardt/status/885504152725577730
More proof that nobody reads the fine print on … well, just about anything. Particularly not Wi-Fi terms of service. Purple, a public Wi-Fi provider in the U.K, put a paragraph into its terms of service that obligated users to activities including “cleansing local parks of animal waste. Providing hugs to stray cats and dogs. Manually relieving sewer blockages. Cleaning portable lavatories at local festivals and events. Painting snail shells to brighten up their existence” and more — which only one user noticed during a two-week-long period.
Read what you sign! – 22,000 people accidentally signed up to clean toilets because people don't read Wi-Fi terms https://t.co/eWAUmETOAS
— J.D. Gonzalez (@jdgonzalez) July 14, 2017
And now for something completely (well, mostly) different: KFC and Huawei are offering a mobile phone in China. It’s red and has an image of Colonel Sanders on the back, and an app which lets you choose which songs will play over the restaurant’s music system when you visit a location. Apparently 30% of KFC’s purchases in China are paid for with mobile devices.
KFC Has an All-New, Outrageously Weird Mobile Phone (and It's Going to Sell a Lot Better Than Facebook's) -… https://t.co/wEuwD34OBc
— Telecon News daily (@TeleNewsdaily) July 13, 2017
Also Alexa-related, I plan to spend the next couple of days exploring Game of Thrones Easter eggs ahead of the season premiere this weekend. Winter is coming!
https://twitter.com/News_Cult/status/885869302284464129
