Michelle Maisto

T-Mobile kicked off the first of three days of “un-carrier announcements” April 9, with the introduction of a new Simple Starter plan. Priced at $40 a month, with the promise of no overage fees ever, it’s designed for “value-conscious Americans” who want “predictability and affordability.” The plan will be available April 12 and includes unlimited […]

Comcast and Time Warner Cable (TWC) are taking the necessary steps toward joining forces, an intention they announced Feb. 13, as part of a $45.2 billion deal in which Comcast would acquire 100 percent of TWC’s equity and its roughly 11 million customers. The cable giants filed a 181-page application and public interest statement with […]

Samsung has filed a patent for a device it’s calling the Gear Solo, a smartwatch that, as the name suggests, can operate without the companionship of a smartphone, Patently Apple reported April 7. The Korea Herald reported the same day that it has also learned of the Gear Solo from a source and confirmed that […]

Smartphone maker HTC continues to coax the public to listen to its peers. “We can’t make this stuff up,” HTC said in a marketing email that went out April 7, showing mobile search results for “HTC One” packed with glowing reviews. The message is the same in a new HTC television ad starring actor Gary […]

Microsoft’s purchase of Nokia’s Devices and Services business has been approved by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the final organization required to give the deal its blessing. Microsoft originally expected the deal to be completed during the first quarter of the year, but on March 23 pushed the expected closing date to sometime in […]

Apple has begun the process of refunding customers for unapproved in-app purchases, following its $32.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Apple sent emails to customers whose accounts were charged for in-app purchases, and asked them to sign into their iTunes accounts and review their purchase histories. It directed anyone who finds an […]

Yahoo, under Marissa Mayer, has made streaming video a priority; but now, it wants a hit television show that can do for it what House of Cards—the political drama that in 2013 won three Emmy awards—has done for Netflix: Make it a video destination site. Yahoo is “close to ordering four Web series,” the Wall […]

Amazon has added the voice-recognition software it first showed off in its Fire TV set-top box to a new home-shopping offering called Dash. The goal of Dash—a roughly 6- by 1-inch wand that resembles the Fire TV remote control, but with a loop on its end to make it easy to hang on knobs or […]

Samsung and Apple are back in court in California, and documents released as part of the patent-infringement trial speak volumes about issues on which Apple has been publicly silent. While Apple executives have said that consumers like a phone they can use one-handed and reach a thumb across, and the company has stuck by its […]

NEW YORK—The Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo at the Javits Center here from April 2 to 4 offered a reminder that 3D printing is intended to change the world. On display were 3D printers for every type of user, budget and intention. Printed items ranged from a bicycle to a drum kit, a small […]