Google is tweaking a practice that has drawn the ire of wi-fi providers, consumers, and international governments: It will now let wi-fi providers opt out of providing location data to Google services. The plan applies worldwide. The company has received much criticism both in the U.S. and overseas for what some call “aggressive” data gathering. READ MORE
Well, it’s not exactly the Kraken, but Verizon is set to reveal a $50 unlimited prepaid plan this week. The plan, called “Unleashed” will include unlimited talk, text, and web. READ MORE
From Monday to Wednesday in San Francisco, TechCrunch’s latest Disrupt Start-up Battlefield competition is showcasing entrepreneurs from 30 start-ups, all vying for a $50,000 prize by making six-minute-long pitches to a rotating panel of venture capitalists, tech influencers, angel investors and Silicon Valley players. Tuesday featured three more sessions of Start-up Battlefield, titled Customer-Friendly Enterprise, Local Networks and Increasing Understanding; here are the start-ups presented in session four: Customer-Friendly Enterprise. READ MORE
If the lawsuit filed by the Justice Department this week kills the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, some analysts say it could leave T-Mobile in a much worse position than it was before the deal was announced in March, reports The New York Times. READ MORE
Last week, Sony announced two Android-powered tablets, Tablet S and Tablet P, with the earliest deliveries of the former beginning later this month. Surprisingly–and commendably–Sony made some interesting design and functionality choices with their very first tablets. READ MORE
Sometimes, you can learn a great deal from a simple “No comment.” In Sprint’s case, however, not so much. In a recent memo, the company reportedly advised employees not to comment on rumors that they will soon carry Apple’s iPhone 5. READ MORE
Forget those small gray Dish Network satellites you see mounted and hooked into the building. It seems Dish Network may soon fore go any of those old-fashioned connections. READ MORE
You would think that Research In Motion’s tablet, the PlayBook, would accommodate email as nicely as the BlackBerrys handle it. Not so, and BlackBerry had to go back to the drawing board to fix the problem. Next month it will issue an update that corrects the situation. READ MORE
Consider Sprint’s race complete. The wireless company will sell the new Apple iPhone 5 when it debuts in mid-October. This is a huge boon for the beleaguered No. 3 U.S. carrier, which has just 52 million subscribes compared to market leader Verizon’s 106 million and runner-up AT&T’s 99 million. READ MORE
We all know somebody, or probably several somebodies, who have abandoned their old-fashioned land lines in favor of mobile phones and/or Voice over Internet Protocol. Last week, market research firm In-Stat revealed that the same trend is happening at America’s small businesses. READ MORE
