FCC nixes Charter’s broadband expansion requirement in competitive markets

Why it matters to you

You might see less competition for your broadband services dollars given a new FCC ruling regarding Charter’s merger agreement.

The new Republican-led United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has upended a few rules imposed by the Democratic former FCC chairman, including removing an opt-in requirement allowing internet service providers (ISPs) to sell web browsing information. Now, the FCC has removed a requirement regarding a recent major merger between two industry giants.

Specifically, the FCC has turned its sights on a requirement that was imposed when Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks were joined. The change alters how Charter is required to make its broadband internet services available to new customers, as Reuters reports.

More: The FCC just rolled back some of its privacy rules, reversing previous positions

According to the original ruling, Charter would need to offer service to 2 million potential new broadband subscribers within five years, as part of its agreement in receiving FCC approval for the merger. Furthermore, at least half of those new subscribers were required to be located in an area where a competitor was already providing service.

It’s that second “overbuilding” provision that the current FCC is taking back. Charter still needs to add 2 million potential new subscribers to its current second-largest customer base of 26 million residential and business customers across 41 states. It just doesn’t need to worry about where those potential subscribers are located.

The change has been implemented thanks to pressure from the American Cable Association, which represents smaller broadband service providers. According to the group, the overbuilding requirement was “stunningly bad and inexplicable government policy” that would result in devastating effects on the smaller broadband providers Charter will overbuild. Charter’s entry into its members’ markets could have put many of them out of business, the group asserts.

While the ruling has been characterized by some as benefiting incumbents at the expense of competition, others say that the ruling will provided more options to those potential customers who currently have no broadband options. Regarding the change, Charter itself said the ruling “enables Charter to more fully devote our resources and attention to building out high-speed broadband to areas without it today.”

Whether the FCC’s decision will be a benefit or a bust remains to be seen. But it’s obvious that the new FCC leadership intends to continue to make its impact felt in how internet broadband services are provided to customers across the U.S.

Best Connected Security Cameras

Always have a watchful eye on what matters most, no matter where you are, with these great security cameras.

Peace of mind is not always the easiest thing to come by, but a great security camera can relieve anxiety by keeping an eye on things when you’re not around. Each of these modern security cameras securely connects to the internet so you can even check out the feed from across town or across the globe.

Whether you want to keep an eye on your employees, your babysitter, or just your home while you’re away, we’ve rounded up some of the best security cameras you can find, so you can rest easy.

• Arlo Q
• Arlo Wire Free
• Logitech Circle
• Nest Cam
• Simplicam
• Canary All-in-One
• SpotCam

Arlo Q

Recording in full 1080p, the Arlo Q will make sure you never miss a moment.

It’s controlled by a handy free app that can connect to up to five cameras, allowing you to keep an eye on your whole home conveniently right from your Android phone.

Although the Arlo Q works via Wi-Fi and has 7 days of free cloud storage, it also has an SD card slot that can store your video (although an SD card is not included). If your internet goes down the camera will record your video to the SD card instead, ensuring you never have to worry about losing footage.

This security camera also has a built-in microphone and speaker. Not only can you hear what’s going on, you can also speak through the Arlo Q to communicate with the anybody nearby, allowing you to say hello to your kids — or warn an intruder you’re calling the police.

See at Amazon

Arlo Wire Free

The smaller cousin of the Arlo Q, the Arlo Wire Free has many same features. Seven days of free cloud storage, night vision mode, and smart alerts for motion and sound are all the familiar tricks, but there are a few key differences.

As its name suggests, the Arlo Wire Free is wireless and runs on CR123A batteries. The compact camera is easy to move around thanks to the handy magnetic mount, and small enough to be placed discreetly.

On top of being wireless, the Arlo Wire Free is also waterproof and certified for outdoor use, making it perfect to watch over your yard, garden, or garage without being damaged.

This little camera is a great option if you want to keep an eye on both the outside and inside of your home, plus they can work hand-in-hand with the bigger Arlo Q. They combine to create a great security network, though it’s important to note that the wire-free model only records in 720p rather than 1080p.

Logi Circle

Logitech has been in the internet camera game for a long time and is known for making quality products, and when it comes to security cameras they live up to their reputation.

The Logitech Circle records video in 1080p and instantly uploads it all to a free cloud storage that stores 24 hours of video. With their convenient app you can replay the last 24 hours of recorded video and you can also live-stream your video feed 24/7, so you always have a way to see what is going on. Plus, you can also view a daily summary, which shows you a 30 second montage of all the footage you captured that day, making it easy to spot anything out of the ordinary from while you were gone.

Another great thing about the Logitech Circle; it’s wireless. You can detach it from the charging dock and move it anywhere and it will record for about 12 hours on its battery alone, making it perfect for keeping an eye on the kids or pets while you are out for the evening.

See at Amazon

Nest Cam

Recording in 1080p, the Nest Cam has a pivoting stand that allows you to rotate the camera 360 degrees. Plus, it even has a magnetic base making it easy to find the perfect place to set it up and get the best viewing angle. It also has a great night vision mode that will automatically turn on when it’s dark, making sure you don’t miss anything that goes bump in the night.

The Nest Cam does offer both sound and motion alerts, so if anyone comes into your home you will get a notification on your Android phone or tablet.

See at Amazon

Simplicam

The Simplicam has just about everything you could want in a home security camera: high definition video recording, sound and movements alerts, and a convenient app that allows you to monitor the stream and control the camera all from your Android device.

You can program the camera to recognize faces, so it will know who is in your home. You can then customize certain options and notifications based on who the camera recognizes. For example, you can tell the camera to stop recording when it recognizes your face, meaning whenever you are home the camera shuts off. Or, you can tell the Simplicam to alert you when your kids enter the house so you can welcome them home on the its built-in speaker. Programming the facial recognition is very simple, and the Simplicam guides you through the whole process.

One caveat of the Simplican is there is no free cloud storage, so you will have to dish out for at least the $5 monthly subscription in order to replay your recordings.

See at Amazon

Canary All-in-One

The Canary All-in-One is way more than just a camera; it’s a whole security system wrapped up in one small package.

It records all video in 1080p and uploads it all to a free cloud storage space where you can view it for up to 30 days. It has a 147 degree wide-angle lens, night vision capability, and motion alerts so you always know what is going on in your home.

On top of being a fabulous camera, the Canary All-in-One also has a siren. You can set it up to automatically go off when it detects motion and/or sound — which is great if you’re on vacation — or you can activate it at your discretion, so if you notice an intruder in your house you can simply blast them with the 90 decibel alarm.

With the added bonus of monitoring the air quality of your home, the Canary All-in-One is a fantastic choice for all your security needs.

See at Amazon

SpotCam

With 720p video, a 110-degree viewing angle, and LED infrared night vision technology, the SpotCam will make sure you see everything you want.

SpotCam is not only good for home security, but it’s also great for sharing video.

What makes SpotCam a little different from its competitors is the ability to make your stream public. You can share your video feed live with the world directly on SpotCam’s website, giving you the ability to put on a show!

Of course, a more practical application of the feature is to have friends or family members look in on your stream while you’re disconnected.

See at Amazon

What is your favorite security camera?

Do you keep an eye on your home or business? Tell us which camera you use and why you love it. Leave us a comment below!

What is the Android Open Source project?

Google makes money from Android by giving it away to everyone else.

Android is a free open-source operating system. The AOSP (Android Open Source Project) is free to download, free to alter, free to build into a product that can power just about anything. But it’s probably not something you’ve ever used when you picked up a phone or other gizmo that runs “Android”.

Android is not a thing as much as something you use to make a thing.

At its heart, Android is nothing more than a platform that anyone can use to run applications plus the bits and pieces needed for it to talk to standard hardware. We tend to think of Android as an operating system for a phone or tablet (or even a watch or television), but it’s just a part of the software needed to get any device to turn on and do things. That being said, it’s one of the most important parts.

Having a huge library of code that anyone can use is great. Having all the things people build with it able to use the same applications is even better. It’s better for us because we will have a huge list of applications that work out of the box when we buy an Android-powered device. It’s better for the companies making the devices because we’ll want to buy them and they don’t have to put in the work to build their own application platform. It’s also great for Google because it means more devices will be able to use the internet and its services.

That last part is why Google maintains the AOSP. Google has always held the belief that everyone should have access to the internet. While some of the reasons may be altruistic and good-natured, the main reason Google as a company has these goals is because the internet is how it makes money. All companies exist to make mone, but with the AOSP, Google has found a new way to make money from everyone while giving away one of its most expensive products: Android.

This is done through the AOSP. Google maintains the Android source code. That means exactly what you think it does: It keeps things clean and tidy and up-to-date, then makes it available for other people. It also has people working full time to make improvements and add new features to Android. All of this is made available for anyone to freely use under a liberal license that allows changes to be made to the code and not submitted back to the maintainers. Samsung is allowed to do whatever it wants with the AOSP. So are you, and so am I. If we do something different, we can keep those changes to ourselves to offer a (hopefully) better product than anyone else can.

But the phones and gadgets we buy aren’t running the AOSP as an operating system. What we see is the end result of someone or some company using it to create software that is unique and their own. This can be done by changing the code or by adding more code or even adding applications that aren’t open sourced like the AOSP is. Every company that sells Android-powered gadgets, including Google itself, is doing this. But even this fits into Google’s methods to make money because there are some restrictions when a company wants to use Google’s popular applications and services.

The process is a circle. Google gives Android away. A company uses it on its phone. As consumers, we want Android phones that can use Google Play and Gmail and Google Photos and all the other things that make Android great. The company making the phone can bundle those features in for free as long as it makes sure its product can use every other application found in the Google Play store. Phone manufacturers, like Samsung, save time and money by not building their own application platform and application storefront; we get a phone with access to all the apps we love plus a market with over a million others, and Google gets a lot of people using its services and being on the internet to see Google’s ads.

By making Android a big piece of an operating system that anyone can use for free, Google’s investment in it pays off.

This couldn’t happen without Android being free to use, so the time and money Google invests in Android makes it a very lucrative part of its business. By providing Android as source code anyone can use instead of a standalone product like Windows, Google can reap the benefits while another company does the work of building and maintaining a living operating system. AOSP means everyone wins, and that’s the way we like it.

Android Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• Google Pixel + Pixel XL review
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus or Pixel
• Join the Discussion

Android 7.1.2 is now available for Pixel and Nexus devices

Android 7.1.2 is now available for your Pixel or Nexus!

As predicted, Android 7.1.2 is now available for select Nexus devices, as well as Google’s Pixel series. The update has gone through two beta iterations before reaching this point, and the final version brings a number of minor improvements to compatible phones and tablets, including bug fixes and speed optimizations, as well as enhancements for carrier-specific features.

Builds are available for the Pixel and XL, the Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and Nexus Player; the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 have reached end-of-life and will stay on Android 7.1.1.

The builds range from versions N2G47E and N2G47J on the Pixels to N2G47D on the Pixel C, N2G47F on the Nexus 5X and N2G47H on the Nexus 6P and Nexus Player.

Android 7.1.2 is available as an over-the-air update for people already running 7.1.1, or as a factory image for people who want to install over an older version or who want to completely start from scratch. In that case, we have the perfect guide for you.

How to install Android 7.1.2 on your Nexus or Pixel right now

The update also brings April’s security bulletin for Pixel, Nexus and other devices.

Android Nougat

• Android 7.0 Nougat: Everything you need to know
• Will my phone get Android Nougat?
• Google Pixel + Pixel XL review
• All Android Nougat news
• How to manually update your Nexus or Pixel
• Join the Discussion

Verizon is offering trade-in deals on your favorite tech accessories

Verizon wants to help upgrade your tech accessories this April.

Carriers frequently offer trade-in deals to upgrade your smartphone, but Verizon is looking to extend that offer to some popular accessories by offering a pretty sweet trade-in deal on select products.

Running until the end of April, you can get a $30 Visa prepaid card when you spend over $149.99 on a new smart thermostat, fitness tracker, or speakers and recycle your old gear. With summer just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to upgrade your old thermostat to the latest Nest Thermostat or trade up your Fitbit to the latest Charge 2 model.

If you’re interested in snagging some new speakers for the summer, bring down that old Bluetooth speaker and upgrade to the UE BOOM 2. The UE Boom 2 is one of the best portable Bluetooth speakers you can buy and, conveniently enough, Verizon has them on sale for $149.99 — 25% off the regular price.

Once you’ve completed your trade-in, you’ll need to head to Verizon’s Promotion Center and use the promo code RECYCLE along with receipt info and UPC barcodes to read the full terms and conditions and submit your form to complete the deal. You can trade in multiple devices at one time, but trades must be like for like; your old fitness tracker for a new fitness tracker, your old school thermostat for a new smart thermostat, etc.

Will you be using this deal to upgrade your accessories? Let us know in the comments!

Google and partners create PAX: The Android Networked Cross-License Agreement

In an effort to promote growth and build a safe harbor against patent litigation, Google and some of its major partners have created PAX.

PAX is the latest cross-licensing patent initiative where members provide royalty-free use of patents that cover everything Android-related. The companies involved feel that this will help keep innovation coming, spur future growth, and protect against legal threats across the board.

PAX members currently include Google, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Foxconn Technology Group, HMD Global, HTC, Coolpad, BQ, and Allview. The members collectively own more than 230,000 patents worldwide. As more companies join, PAX will bring even more patent peace and value to its members through more freedom to innovate.

Android itself is free to use and over 400 partners are taking advantage of this. In 2016 there were more than 4,000 “major” devices running Android released and there are more than 1.6 billion people using them. That’s a big draw for any company, no matter how large or small it may be right now. An agreement like PAX can help them all focus on spending time and money to drive their business instead of in court.

In the end, this should be a boon for consumers as well. When companies feel free to use and develop new ideas and features without the fear of standing alone in the face of a legal battle, the things we buy get better and better. Look for more companies to join the PAX initiative as time goes on.

Google Play Store adds Indie Corner for discovering great indie games

Google wants to help you to discover the great games being made by indie developers.

You gotta love Google for all that it’s done and continues to do to support indie game developers — from running fantastic contests that shine a light on outstanding indie games for Android to giving away a paid app for free each week. Now, it has added a new home for the best indie games in the Google Play Store.

The Indie Corner is a new section within the Google Play Store where you can easily browse through the best indie games available for Android. The page is broken up into three categories: latest releases, Google’s own picks, and “indie masterpieces”, which features some absolute must-play titles from recent releases like Reigns to older classics like The Room Three and Smash Hit. Every game is rated four stars or higher (and deservedly so), so we may as well consider this the cream of the crop for indie Android games.

Featuring a mix of both free and paid apps spanning all genres, you’re sure to find your next favorite game on this list. We’ve bookmarked this page in our browser and you should too.

Check out the Indie Corner in the Google Play Store

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Shape is a wall of sound that you’ll definitely want

Danish speaker brand Bang and Olufsen is no stranger when it comes to marrying high quality audio and innovation, and its latest product has a great case to be considered the perfect partnership.

• Bang and Olufsen at 92: A closer look at how the luxury brand found its success

Called the Beosound Shape, B&O’s engineers have created what can best be described as a wall of sound. The system is made up of several hexagonal tiles, with six tiles making up one set.

Behind each grille is a different component, whether it be speaker driver, acoustic dampener or amplifier and electronics. The basic six-tile setup comprises four speakers, one dampener and one ‘master tile’ with the amplifier and brains of the system. One amplifier powers up to four speakers.

The tiles effortlessly mount to your wall and each is connected with cables that are cleverly hidden in tracks around the outside of the tile, but still hidden by the tile’s grille. The tiles also have air vents built-in around the edges to make sure they don’t overheat, and because all the tiles have them, they create a chimney effect when connected together, so air that passes through the bottom tile can make its way to the top one. 

From our brief listening time we were impressed with the sound quality on offer, but the Beosound Shape’s real party trick is with the audio algorithms its sound engineers have come up with.

With regular hi-fi speakers, you have a left channel and a right channel. If you move left or right of the middle ‘sweet spot’, then your brain will be able to distinguish which speaker is closest, and you’ll only focus on that one. 

Pocket-lint

The algorithms within the Beosound Shape eliminate that, so no matter where you are in the room, you’ll get the same sound going to your ears. It’s clever enough to separate the different frequencies and aspects of music too, so vocals for example will remain in the centre, while instruments will be placed around, as if you have a band playing in your room. B&O calls this effect, the “band on the wall”.

We were able to experience this in our hands-on session, and we have to say, it really does work. Switching between regular left and right stereo and then with the DSP activated, it was as clear as night and day how well it manipulated the sound. 

• B&O Beoplay A1 by Bang & Olufsen review: Bluetooth speaker bliss

Bang & Olufsen says you can have up to 44 speakers and 11 amplifiers in one system, so you best make sure you have a big wall to mount them on, and a wallet deep enough to pay for it. 

B&O has also made it incredibly easy for you to design your own system. You don’t need to be an audio whizz to understand and work out what tiles need to go where, as an online shopping tool will take the measurements of your room and recommend the tiles you need and where to place them.

You control the entire system via an application, which when we went to see B&O at its headquarters in Denmark, wasn’t ready for a full public showing. But the engineers say you’ll be able to access a myriad of streaming services and choose the speakers within your system to want to use. 

The Beosound Shape system actually connects to a separate box, called Beosound Core, that houses all the connections and handles online streaming services. From this box, which is also hidden behind a tile, you can connect via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay and Google Cast.

• Bang & Olufsen BeoSound Moment wireless music system is fronted by touch-sensitive wood interface

It supports high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/96kHz and can work with other Bang & Olufsen and B&O Play products as part of a multi-room system. The Beosound Shape system will also accept digital optical and analogue sources, too, such as TVs and turntables.

B&O has made it so that the box can be switched out to keep up with any changes, in a similar way to Samsung’s OneConnect box that houses all the connections for its TVs. 

Pocket-lint

The Beosound Shape is very much a lifestyle audio product, B&O admits it’s not going after the audiophile with this one, but is for those who want to come home from a long day at work and put some music on in the background while they cook dinner or entertain guests, all in a stylish and effectively hidden package.

It’s an incredibly intriguing system and one we can’t wait to try out for ourselves. If you want to get the Beosound Shape in your own home, then prices start at €4,000 when it launches in August. 

Amazon Cash lets you shop online without a bank card – here’s how

If you don’t have a bank card, shopping online is nearly impossible.

People without access to credit and debit cards – including minors – are limited to using gift cards or throw-away refill cards when it comes to buying goods on the internet. Amazon, however, has introduced a new service that aims to change all that. The service is called Amazon Cash, and it essentially lets you apply cash toward your Amazon account balance so that you can finally have money to spend on Amazon.com.

Confused? Well, here is how it works.

What is Amazon Cash?

Amazon Cash lets you add money to your Amazon account balance. So, if you don’t have a bank card or a gift card hooked up to your Amazon account, you can use Amazon Cash to buy goods on Amazon.com.

How does Amazon Cash work?

Get your barcode

Go here to get your Amazon Cash barcode via text message. This barcode can be used every time you want to add money to your Amazon account balance. There is no need to generate a new code each time. When you generate your barcode on your smartphone, you have the option to save it to your digital wallet (for iOS users) or add a shortcut to your home screen (for Android users).

From the Amazon Cash barcode page in the Amazon App:

• iOS users: Select “Add to Apple Wallet” to store your Amazon Cash barcode in your smartphone’s digital wallet.
• Android users: Select “Add to Home Screen” to create a shortcut on your smartphone’s home screen.

It is not necessary to have a smartphone to take advantage of Amazon Cash, however. You can use Amazon’s print-at-home barcode option by visiting http://www.amazon.com/cash on a desktop browser and selecting “Get your barcode”.

Go to a store

You need to bring your Amazon Cash barcode into a participating store and show it to a cashier in order to add money to your Amazon account balance. You can only add an amount between $15 and $500 in cash during a single Amazon Cash transaction, but daily limits may vary by retailer. Funds are available immediately after the cashier hands you a receipt for your transaction.

Buy stuff online

Once you add money to your Amazon account balance, you can shop for millions of physical products and digital content on Amazon.com like you normally would if you had a bank card or gift card. In fact, Amazon said there is no difference between Amazon Cash and gift cards: “These are two different names for the same cumulative stored value balance you have available for use on Amazon.com.”

View your account balance

You can view your Amazon account balance here on Amazon.com.

Are there any fees?

There are no fees.

Which stores let you add Amazon Cash?

Amazon said it partnered with thousands of stores across the US, including CVS Pharmacy, Speedway, Sheetz, Kum & Go, D&W Fresh Market, Family Fare Supermarkets, and VG’s Grocery. A directory of all participating stores can be found at http://www.amazon.com/cash.

Where is Amazon Cash available?

At launch, Amazon Cash is only available in the US. As TechCrunch noted, more than a quarter of American consumers rely primarily or exclusively on cash, so this new service lets Amazon reach a wider audience in the States.

Want to know more?

Check out this Amazon Cash FAQ page.

US cracks down on the tech industry’s go-to work visa

The H-1B category of work visas is controversial for a few reasons, including how reliant the US tech industry is on it. But one of the biggest concerns is the idea that it facilitates the outsourcing of American jobs en masse to workers from other countries. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it would make a more targeted effort to combat “fraud and abuse” of the system, and the new measures revolve around focusing on-site spot checks on employers that look suspicious on paper.

You might recall the notorious case that put the H-1B visa category under intense scrutiny. A 2015 New York Times article detailed how American IT employees at Disney were made to train their foreign replacements, who were hired on H-1B visas, before getting laid off. Those workers later sued the company, as well as consultants HCL and Cognizant, for replacing US workers with foreigners — an act that is illegal. HCL and Cognizant are outsourcing companies that help organizations find and employ foreign workers, as well as secure the necessary authorization documents for the candidates. Such outsourcers game the balloting system by submitting multiple applications per candidate, so they have a higher-than-normal chance of getting one of the hard-to-get visas.

The measures described by the USCIS today include focusing on-site visits on H-1B-dependent companies, employers that cannot be validated with commercially available data, as well as “Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization’s location.” That last one appears to specifically address such outsourcing companies, who typically petition for workers of other organizations. This means that tech giants like Google and Microsoft might have less reason to fear the impact of these spot checks, as they are legitimate organizations, hire plenty of Americans alongside immigrants, and most likely carry out their own recruitment.

According to a news release, these steps allow the USCIS “to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B program may be more likely to occur, and determine whether H-1B dependent employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit U.S. workers.” These random and unannounced visits will continue nationwide, except there will now be a clearer focus on making sure the employer is legitimate.

While the announcement may cause some H-1B holders to worry, the USCIS said that these site visits “are not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system.”

Source: USCIS