Joe Rossignol

Apple, AT&T, Google, and 30 other companies will join efforts with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission this year to crack down on automated phone calls, otherwise known as "robocalls," according to Reuters.AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will make the announcement at the first "Robocall Strike Force" meeting at the FCC later on Friday, the company said.The so-called "Robocall...

Apple has announced that it will be opening a trio of retail stores following construction and renovations over the next week. Apple's retail store at Westfield Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland will open at a new location within the shopping mall on Saturday, August 20. Apple did not provide a specific time, but the store opens at 10:00 a.m. local time on Saturdays. The store's new address...

The latest numbers from research firm Gartner reveal that the smartphone industry continues to be a virtual two-horse race between iOS and Android. The operating systems combined for a record 99.1% worldwide market share in the second calendar quarter of 2016, compared to 96.8% in the year-ago period. Android remained the world's most widely used smartphone operating system with 86.2% market ...

Sprint has announced a new plan called Unlimited Freedom that offers unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data for $60 per month. A second line can be added for $40 per month, while up to eight more lines can be added for an additional $30 per month each. The total cost for a family of four, for example, would be $160 per month, the same price as T-Mobile's new ONE plan for that many lines....

T-Mobile has introduced a new plan called T-Mobile ONE [PDF] that offers unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data for $70 per month. A second line can be added for $50 per month, while up to six more lines can be added for an additional $20 per month each. The total cost for a family of four, for example, would be $160 per month. T-Mobile ONE has some caveats to consider. First, unlimited video ...

AT&T has introduced new Mobile Share Advantage plans that eliminate data overage charges. Instead, after customers use all of their high-speed data amounts, all data usage will be reduced to a maximum of 128 kbps for the rest of their bill cycle, akin to what T-Mobile has offered for several years. Old Plans - 300MB for $20/month - 2GB for $30/month - 5GB for $50/month - 15GB for...

AT&T has announced that it is working with several global tech leaders to enable faster 5G deployment once 3GPP completes the first release of the official specifications, which will form the basis of the global standards for the next-generation wireless technology. Specifically, the carrier has entered preliminary discussions with Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, LG, Nokia,...

iPhone users that elect not to use iCloud storage will be pleased to learn that another source has thrown its weight behind at least one iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus model having 256GB of flash storage. DigiTimes, citing industry sources, is the latest to claim the iPhone 7 will feature up to 256GB of storage, corroborating previous reports from Chinese website MyDrivers and Taiwanese research...

While the consensus is that Apple will remove the 3.5mm headphone jack on new iPhones unveiled next month, in favor of an all-in-one Lightning connector for audio output, charging, and accessory connectivity, Intel continues to position USB-C as the open standard of the future for digital audio. At IDF 2016 this week, CNET reports that Intel architect Brad Saunders addressed the USB Type-C...

Nearly one month after Apple Pay launched in Hong Kong, the iPhone-based contactless payments service has expanded to The Bank of East Asia (BEA) and Hong Kong Telekom (HKT)'s Tap & Go contactless payments network. BEA customers can add eligible MasterCard and Visa credit cards to Apple Pay and receive 5,000 bonus points between now and August 22, while the first 30,000 customers that...

Hunter Fan Company has announced that Signal, the first ceiling fan with HomeKit support, is now available for $379 through its website, Amazon, Build.com, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards, and in lighting showrooms throughout the United States. The Symphony, a cheaper version with white blades, will launch in the fall for $329. Hunter Fan Company first introduced the Signal and Symphony at CES...

Apple has recently added Australian streaming service Stan to the universal search function on the fourth-generation Apple TV, marking the first third-party service outside of the U.S. beyond Netflix to be supported. For those unfamiliar with universal search, it's a feature that allows users to conduct Siri voice searches or text-based searches to find TV and movie content across a wide...

Apple chairman Arthur D. Levinson and general counsel Bruce Sewell recently sold approximately $7.6 million and $2.5 million worth of company shares respectively, according to SEC documents filed electronically this week. Levinson sold 70,000 shares of common stock on August 9 for an average price of $108.68, while Sewell disposed of 23,305 shares for an average price of $107.49 on August 5....

While multiple sources and leaked components have pointed towards iPhone 7 models having dual speakers, which could very well be the case, a new design drawing spotted by French website NWE suggests the additional holes may be purely cosmetic to give the bottom edge a symmetrical design. The text in the documents refers to the area that occupies the 3.5mm headphone jack on current iPhones as ...

Apple Pay holdout CVS today introduced CVS Pay, a new barcode-based mobile payment solution that integrates payment, prescription pickup, and its ExtraCare loyalty program into a single scan at checkout. CVS Pay is built into the newly updated CVS Pharmacy app for iOS and Android devices. CVS Pay works with all major U.S. credit cards, including MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American...

T-Mobile has announced that qualifying Simple Choice postpaid customers will automatically receive free unlimited data at up to 4G LTE speeds throughout Brazil until September 18, enabling visitors to celebrate the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro without worrying about roaming charges. The carrier is also offering free calls within Brazil and to the United States until September 18,...

Apple has announced that its World Trade Center retail store in Lower Manhattan opens on Tuesday, August 16 at 12:00 p.m. local time. The store will be located in the new Oculus transit and retail hub on the lower level. Apple's plans to open a retail store at the new World Trade Center have been rumored since 2013, and construction has been underway since earlier this year. It will be the...

Less than one month before Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Chinese repair shop GeekBar has shared the first photo of what appears to be the next-generation A10 chip destined for the smartphones on Weibo. The number of pins appears to be consistent with the A9 chip's 64-bit LPDDR4 interface. While the photo could easily be faked, the chipset is labeled with a 1628...

Santa Clara County police are currently searching in the San Jose neighborhood of Cambrian Park for three suspects who were reportedly caught burglarizing an Apple building this morning in Cupertino, California, where the company's headquarters are located, according to local affiliates ABC7 News and KPIX 5. Source: Matt Keller/ABC7 News It is unclear if the suspects were able to break into...

Apple's notebook shipments, including 12-inch MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models, totaled an estimated 3.3 million in the June quarter of the 2016 calendar year, compared to an estimated 2.5 million in the March quarter, according to new data published by market research firm TrendForce. TrendForce attributed the 30.3% sequential increase to the release of new 12-inch MacBook...