PHEW: The Sprint/T-Mobile merger is officially dead
The Sprint/T-Mobile merger’s new lease on life apparently was only good for a few hours. The Wall Street Journal brings us word that Sprint has officially given up its quest to buy T-Mobile for $32 billion and will instead try to go it alone in its quest to regain customers and repair its tarnished brand. Apparently Sprint found that U.S. regulators were so completely opposed to the idea of the two carriers merging that it wasn’t worth it to try to get the merger approved.
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Ingenious new app is a dream come true for lazy stoners everywhere
College kids across America, rejoice — your already cushy lives just got even easier. A new app called Push for Pizza has hit the iTunes App Store and it’s just as stupidly simple as Yo while also being vastly more useful. As the app’s name suggests, it’s literally a way for you to order a pizza to be delivered right to your address just with the push of a button.
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Best Buy to exclusively carry the Electric Blue Galaxy S5 for just $99
So let’s say you want a Galaxy S5, but you don’t want to pay full price for it. With a slew of new smartphones on the way this fall, you’re only willing to pay half price for Samsung’s 2014 flagship phone — well, you’re in luck. It was announced on Tuesday that the blindingly bright Electric Blue Galaxy S5 will be coming exclusively to Best Buy on August 17th for the low price of $99.
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EFF shames our patent system with its ‘Stupid Patent of the Month’ series
In its bid to change patent law to effectively protect useful inventions and prevent trolls from taking advantage of the system, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has initiated a somewhat humorous “Stupid Patent of the Month” series in which it plans to shame the current patent system.
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How LG plans to beat the Galaxy Note 4 at its own game
Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 4 on September 3rd at IFA 2014, and will likely release the handset in the following weeks in an attempt to beat the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 to market. LG is more than aware that the Galaxy Note 4’s arrival may threaten its G3 flagship handset, and the company is apparently already working on a device that’s supposed to neutralize the threat. No, the company will not launch a next-gen G Pro model already. All it needs to compete against the Galaxy Note 4 is a stylus and a slightly bigger display – after all, the G3’s gorgeous screen is almost as big as most phablets.
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Apple finds a new way to make Samsung lose $1 billion
Apple is making Samsung pay, and it we’re not just talking about patent lawsuits. The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung’s component supply business has taken a big hit recently because Apple has decided to branch out and use a wider variety of suppliers to cut down its dependence on the Korean electronics giant. While Apple has had mixed results in finding new supply chain partners and has even had to reportedly crawl back to Samsung on some occasions, the big picture is that Apple’s moves are still taking a bite out of Samsung’s bottom line.
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Windows fans can only pray that Microsoft’s first smartwatch looks as great as this concept
Microsoft is rumored to be working on worthy iWatch rival, a smartwatch of its own that will be compatible with various mobile operating systems and deliver certain smart features, including advanced health and fitness tracking capabilities. While the Windows giant has yet to announce such a product, designer Nadir Aslam has already imagined what a Windows watch will look like and what it will have to offer while posting several concept images on Behance.
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The market is about to be flooded with some of the weirdest ‘smart’ devices you’ve ever seen
We all have witnessed the depressing news flow about slowing smartphone and tablet sales growth over the past 12 months. But this week, Semiconductor Industry Association threw a curve ball by announcing that chip sales actually increased by a surprisingly robust 11% in the first half of 2014 compared the same period in 2013. SIA is actually hiking its annual growth estimate to 6.5% from earlier projection of 4.1% growth. How can chip sales growth be accelerating if phone and tablet markets are mediocre?
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This great-looking new Assassin’s Creed title will be for old-school gamers only
Even if you haven’t made the jump to the new generation of console quite yet, you’re still going to get an Assassin’s Creed title this holiday season. Game Informer revealed on Tuesday that Assassin’s Creed Rogue, a game exclusive to the PS3 and Xbox 360, will be gracing the cover of the September issue.
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Microsoft: Don’t expect any more major updates until Windows 9
Microsoft on Tuesday revealed that it’s not planning to release a major “Windows 8.1 Update 2” at any point in the near future, although the company will release several other smaller updates as part of its regular Windows 8.1 update release schedule.
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