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Sprint is enabling its 4G LTE network in areas, without officially announcing a market as "live." Areas including New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco are finding some locations are getting 4G LTE service, though not a blanket coverage of entire areas as usually associated with normal network rollouts.
AT&T has bought $1.9 billion in 700 MHz B spectrum from Verizon Wireless, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. AT&T says that the licenses should cover over 42 million people in 18 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. As a part of the deal, it will also get AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum in five of those markets.
Sprint has expanded its LTE 4G coverage to 28 more towns in the US, according an announcement. The new locations are spread out across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi, Minnesota, Washington, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts. Most of them are relatively minor; some notable names include Branson, Missouri, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Vague and unconfirmed reports that school gunman Adam Lanza periodically used violent video games for recreation have not gone unnoticed by lawmakers in Washington DC. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has put forth draft legislation that would require the National Academy of Sciences, in conjunction with the Federal Communications Commission, to "study the impact of violent video games and violent video programming on children," despite the fact that several such studies have already been done.
Microsoft wasted a vast amount of electricity last year in order to avoid paying a fine. According to the New York Times, “millions of watts” were deliberately used to meet estimations on a Washington data center's energy use. The penalty of $210,000 was avoided, but was then followed by threats to continue wasting energy until the fine was lowered.
In a surprise move, Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Washington DC today and met with US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). The speaker's office released a picture of the two men in mid-conversation, but did not release any details about what they talked about or the length of the meeting. Cook later also met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Politico reports that Apple has spent only $500,000 on federal lobbying and associated governmental programs thus far in 2012. By contrast, political action committees (PAC) formed by Google have dropped $5 million, and a separate Microsoft PAC has doled out $1.8 million in the same time period. Sources within Washington suggest that Apple will have a rocky road with DC lawmakers unless they start building a "Washington brand."
Netflix has formed a new political action group in an effort to gain more influence in Washington. Newly filed federal records show that the new group, called FLIXPAC, can officially make political donations directly to federal candidates of up to $5,000 for each election cycle. Politico argues that it gives Netflix a way in which it can push its pro IP, anti-piracy agenda.
Two or more planned Apple Stores in Australia could be in trouble following problems with a contractor, notes ifoAppleStore. Kell & Rigby is believed to be the structural contractor for all of Apple's Australian retail chain, but has been hunting for companies to buy parts of its business in order to avoid bankruptcy. Talks with several potential rescuers in the past two weeks have reportedly fallen through, leading the company to issue a "stand down" letter to workers, halting construction efforts.
Apple has unveiled plans for an iOS 5 Tech Talk World Tour. Apple experts are scheduled to visit nine cities during the tour, including Berlin, London, Rome, Beijing, Seoul, São Paolo, New York City, Seattle, and Austin. Events will start in Berlin on November 2nd and end in Austin on January 23rd. Registration for January 13th's New York City event is already full.
Microsoft is finally preparing to open its Seattle store, which has been placed directly opposite one of Apple's retail outlets. On the Microsoft Store official Facebook page, the company posted an image of the building, which is still under construction, along with a comment promising to open the University Village location sometime in the fall.
Apple is planning to move its Bellevue Square store in Washington to another space within the same mall, says ifoAppleStore. The current location is on the ground floor, and launched in 2003 with about 4,600 square feet. The new shop will reportedly take up twice the area of the old one, a feat accomplished by moving to a space on the second floor previously occupied by three different businesses.
A bevy of new Apple Stores are in the works for 2011, a report says. At least several of these are forecast to open in Italy by the middle of the year, including one in Bologna, a previously unexpected outlet in Florence, and a second Milan location. Possible addresses for the Milan and Florence stores remain unknown.
Apple will launch its first retail store in Spokane, Washington this Saturday, opening the doors at 10AM local time. The outlet is based in the River Park Square shopping center along West Main Avenue, and should have regular hours of 10AM to 9PM Monday through Saturday, and 11AM to 6PM on Sunday. No workshops have been scheduled so far.
In an unusual confluence, three new Apple Stores are set to open over the weekend. The most prominent is the Bondi location in Sydney, Australia, which will open at 8AM Friday morning at 213 Oxford Street. Much of the store's event schedule revolves around the iPad, which will see a simultaneous Australian debut. One iPad workshop is scheduled for 9AM, and several more are scheduled for subsequent days. The store will also host regular concerts, beginning with the Beautiful Girls on Sunday afternoon.
Workers at the Alderwood Mall Apple Store in Lynnwood, Washington have taken the unusual step of planning a walkout, accounts say. The action is currently expected to take place at 1PM on Saturday, October 3rd. Creatives, Geniuses and Mac Specialists will allegedly leave the building, gaining support from some of the outlet's former employees.
Sprint on Tuesday announced plans to expand its 4G WiMAX service to 17 additional cities in Hawaii, Idaho, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Washington. The carrier claims mobile broadband speeds reaching 10 Mb/s while downloading or between 3-6 Mb/s for uploads. The 4G service is said to exceed 3G speeds by a factor of three to five.
Information has been disclosed on three new Apple Stores, beginning with one in the British capital of London. Apple has announced an October 30th, 9PM opening for its White City store, located in Westfield London on Ariel Way. The first 1,000 people there will receive a free t-shirt, and Apple is attempting to lure in more customers with the chance of winning a new MacBook and a silver iPod nano. The shop is Apple's 20th location in the UK.
