T-Mobile tweaks its One plan to address your complaints
T-Mobile’s One plan rubbed a lot of people the wrong way: sure, you got unlimited on-device data, but anything better than 480p video or 2G hotspot tethering was going to cost you an arm and a leg. The (un) carrier isn’t deaf to your complaints, though. It’s modifying its strategy to not only tackle key gripes with the One plan, but add a second plan that covers what gaps are left. The base One plan (still $70 per month for the first line) now includes 512Kbps unlimited hotspot data instead of 128Kbps — still pokey, but you can at least do more than check your email. Also, you’ll have the option of daily HD passes that, at $3 per day, are decidedly more affordable when you only want high-quality video for a weekend trip.
As for that second plan? It’s called T-Mobile One Plus, and it really amounts to bundling all the previous add-ons into one more reasonable package. The $25 extra per line that you would have paid just for HD video now gets you unlimited HD passes (you have to turn it to always-on yourself, oddly enough), LTE hotspot data and twice-as-fast data roaming in over 140 countries.
Both the modified One plan and the new One Plus tier will launch on September 1st, or 5 days earlier than originally planned. Clearly, T-Mobile is feeling the heat from rivals who’ve stepped up their game — all four major networks now have at least ‘overage-free’ plans, and Sprint’s unlimited HD video plan is still less expensive than One Plus at $80 per month (albeit capped at 8Mbps for video and game streams). Not that we’re about to object to T-Mobile changing its tune. The One Plus plan doesn’t cap anything beyond the potential for throttling after 26GB, and those who stick to the base One plan are getting a much better deal before it’s even available.
Source: T-Mobile
Facebook will show bigger vertical videos in your News Feed
Facebook’s News Feed for mobile will become much friendlier to vertical videos in the near future, according to Marketing Land. It won’t exactly be optimized for the orientation the way Snapchat is, but it will apparently stop cropping and showing them as tiny squares. The publication says when the update rolls out for Android and iOS, you’ll start seeing vertical videos with a 2:3 aspect ratio (as opposed to 1:1) on your News Feed without having to expand them. “We know that people enjoy more immersive experiences on Facebook, so we’re starting to display a larger portion of each vertical video in News Feed on mobile,” a spokesperson told Marketing Land.
Thanks to the popularity of apps like Snapchat, Periscope and Meerkat, more and more people have learned to embrace the format. Daily Mail North America’s CEO Jon Steinberg once said that the publication’s vertical video ads have nine times more completed views than ones shot in horizontal view. By showing a larger part of vertical videos than before, people too lazy to view them in full screen — and, let’s face it, it’s a hassle navigating away from the News Feed sometimes — are more likely to watch them till the end. Facebook didn’t reveal when the feature will go live, but Mashable said the update’s going out in the coming weeks.
Via: Mashable
Source: Marketing Land
Privacy groups call foul on WhatsApp sharing data with Facebook
WhatsApp’s new terms-of-service are causing quite a stir among privacy advocates. Yesterday, the company announced it would begin sharing user phone numbers, profile data, status message and online status with Facebook, its parent company — a change that the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) claims violates a Federal Trade Commission consent order.
Specifically, the privacy group says it’s planning to file a complaint against the companies for violating statues of the Federal Trade Commission act that warns against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Here, EPIC is accusing WhatsApp of lying to users when it promised its 2014 sale to Facebook wouldn’t effect it’s privacy policy — which pledged never to share or sell “personally identifiable information” like the phone number, name and profile data shared under the new policy.
WhatsApp says it needs to share limited data with Facebook to test out new features designed to help users “communicate with business,” such as receiving fraud notifications from a bank or flight delays from airline companies. WhatsApp also maintains that all messages will still be completely encrypted, and unreadable by both Facebook and WhatsApp staff.
Users also have up to 30 days to opt-out of the sharing portion of the new terms-of-service, but according to EPIC, that doesn’t protect the companies from the FTC’s consent order. The order apparently requires the company to obtain an opt-in consent before asking them to agree to the new terms. WhatsApp does technically offer an opt-in option, but it’s not clear how to access it: one must click “read” to view the terms-of-service agreement before the opt-in checkbox appears.
It may sound like privacy groups are splitting hairs, but how user data is handled can have unforeseen legal consequences. It’s not just special interest groups who are concerned — The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner is also investigating the WhatsApp policy change to ensure it complies with the Data Protection Act. It’s a complicated little mess, but Facebook, at least, is confident it’s on the right side of the law. “WhatsApp complies with applicable laws,” a spokesperson said in a Motherboard interview. “As always, we consider our obligations when designing updates like this.”
Source: EPIC, Motherboard, BBC
Google Wallet introduces automatic transfers
Google has just pushed out an update to its Wallet mobile app that allows automatic transfers to your bank account. Previously, if you wanted to use money from the account elsewhere you’d have to go in and cash out your Google Wallet balance first. Omitting this part should be a boon for regular users who don’t have to remember an extra step just to have access to their cash.
Choose a debit card or bank account to link to your Google Wallet, which you can enable for automatic transfers (unless, as TechCrunch mentions, you’d prefer to keep your balance stored with Google, which is still possible). It will take some time to transfer to your debit card, but overall it’s a smoother solution than the old process.
It’s great to see Google Wallet updating to add more functionality, especially since it killed off the service’s linked debit card only a couple of months ago. This levels the playing field between other payment services like Venmo, Squarecash and PayPal, and helps put Wallet back on the map after its previous missteps.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Google Wallet (Google Play)
Ford’s app lets you find and pay for garage parking
Ford is making some canny moves to get its brand in front of the public, even for folks who don’t own one of its cars. Its latest update to the FordPass app lets your reserve a parking spot in garages at over 160 US cities. You just enter a destination and the time you need to park, and can view available spots and pricing on a map in real time from the eight garages Ford has partnered with. You can then reserve and pay for a spot using FordPay, a service that lets you store your credit and debit cards.
The automaker isn’t breaking new ground — ParkMe is perhaps the best known app hat lets you find and pay for spots, and it’s available in 4,200 cities around the world. That app also tracks street parking, and includes directions to lot entrances and a parking timer to help you avoid tickets. Other apps abound, and at one point, even Google had a service called Open Spot that helped you find metered spaces.
However, Ford brings some name recognition to the game, and the app is in keeping with its eBike and Transit programs that help folks get from suburb to city. It should appeal to those who don’t want to waste time looking for a spot but want to find the best price for normally expensive city garages. The app also lets you get directions to parking locations and save them as favorites. The feature is now available in the US via the latest update to the FordPass app.
Source: Ford
Sprint offers ‘Unlimited Freedom Premium’ for heavy video users
Not long after introducing its “Unlimited Freedom” option, Sprint has announced a new plan called “Unlimited Freedom Premium,” which offers high-definition video for $20 more than the vanilla plan.
Users will pay $80 for a single line for the HD video access and $140 for two lines. Previously when the original Unlimited Freedom plan was announced, we lamented the lack of option for special data plans like this one, so it’s an interesting move to offer it now after already rolling out a new plan so recently.
This likely comes in response to T-Mobile’s recent launch of T-Mobile One, which offers unlimited calling, texting and data for $70 a month in exchange for throttling video bandwidth for lower-quality video. It’s a cheaper plan, but it’s likely not tolerable for anyone looking to consistently stream HD video.
The Unlimited Freedom Premium plan includes HD music and streaming in addition to HD video at up to 8 megabits per second, and right now if you sign up for a new Unlimited Freedom account you can get Premium for free through October 31st to take it for a test drive and see if it’s worth the extra $20 for you.
Source: Sprint
EE’s latest perk is six months of free Apple Music
Hot on the heels of EE giving subscribers free access to BT Sport’s app for six months — big spenders get it for the length of their contract, too — the carrier is adding yet another tantalising perk. Starting September 1st, any new or upgrading pay-monthly customer on a handset or SIM-only plan can also enjoy a free, six-month Apple Music subscription. It’s the standard win-win scenario for both companies. EE hopes it’ll tempt users to stick with or move to the network, with Apple hoping you’ll cough up £10 each month to keep your subscription active after the trial period ends.
It’s not the first music streaming perk the network has offered. You may remember that once upon a time EE customers got a free Deezer account, which like Apple Music, could also be used across various devices. The new perk lineup isn’t altogether original, either. In fact, it’s very similar to Vodafone’s selection, with the carrier offering between six months and two years of either free Spotify, Sky Sports or Now TV access on most pay-monthly contracts.
Source: EE
Google is killing off the Device Assist app on Nexus handsets
Google is killing off its homegrown Device Assist app that helps navigate the ins and outs of certain phones. That means tools like speed tests, settings for battery saving and live tech support are going away in favor of website with tips and tricks. Affected fpolks with Android One, Google Play Edition or Nexus handsets will notice a “detected issue” card within the app, according to Android Police, with a link for Google Support when they try to use the application. It has already been removed from the Play Store, and 9to5Google writes that the app is still semi-functional and that no new tool tips will be added.
Via: 9to5Google
Source: Android Police
US banks will launch their Venmo competitor in October
In an attempt to add a little hipness to personal banking, a consortium of US banks has been quietly working on its very own Venmo competitor. While the details of the service are currently a little thin at the moment, the Wall Street Journal reports the banks have landed on a name: “Zelle.” As in: “Hey, I forgot to bring cash for this pizza, can I just zelle you some dough?”
According to one of the Journal’s sources, the name is meant to evoke “the speedy gazelle,” but (name aside) Zelle is intended to be the banking industry’s savior in the mobile payments space. The service has actually been available for some time under as clearXchange, but never saw much promotion. Although some banks offered the service to their users, it was buried within their proprietary mobile banking services and it lacked a dedicated app. Although it’s not a bank itself, Venmo is owned by PayPal and works with most bank accounts or debit cards.
In 2015, clearXchange was acquired by Early Warning, a joint fraud protection operation owned by Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, US Bank and Wells Fargo. The newly branded Zelle, however, is expected to debut at a payments industry conference sometime in October. Their target, meanwhile, has quietly been expanding beyond person-to-person payments and rolling out new features like more third-party support to allow purchases from a variety of merchants.
Source: Wall Street Journal
iPhone 7 could have tap-to-pay feature for Japan’s subways
Apple might give its upcoming iPhones an extra feature exclusively for people living in Japan. According to Bloomberg, the tech titan is planning to add tap-to-pay support for the country’s extensive subway system. To accomplish that, it will equip the devices with FeliCa chips, the Sony-developed mobile tap-to-pay standard in the country. Think of FeliCa as Japan’s equivalent to NFC, except a lot more people use it.
Since the feature would also require being able to store virtual transit cards to the Wallet application, Apple is reportedly in the midst of negotiating with providers. The feature’s launch with the next phone depends on the success of those talks. If Cupertino fails to hash out an acceptable agreement, it will have to delay the feature’s launch.
By installing FeliCa chips, Apple will also give people a quick way to buy from vending machines and convenience stores in the country. Those chips can also store e-money, see, and the technology can process payments in 0.1 seconds — much faster than the time it takes for Apple Pay to approve and process transactions.
While this particular info might not be as interesting if you live in other parts of the globe, there are quite a few leaks and rumors going around that could tide you over until Apple’s September event. In the same Bloomberg piece, for instance, the publication mentions that the next iPhones could drop the Home button completely to focus more on the display.
Source: Bloomberg
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