Todd R. Weiss

Apple reportedly is planning to offer a smaller, entry-level basic iPhone 6c to replace its dated iPhone 5s in early 2016, according to rumors about the company’s next handset. The rumored iPhone 6c would have a 4-inch display and be equipped with Apple’s latest A9 processor, which is more powerful than the A8 processor in […]

Smartphone Highlights of 2015: From Improved Displays to Windows 10 Smartphones continued to evolve in 2015. Among the smartphone highlights were a shatterproof display from Motorola and an LG phone with dual displays and front cameras. Motorola Introduces Super-Tough Moto ShatterShield Display Motorola unveiled quite an innovation in late 2015 for smartphone owners—a special shatter-proof […]

Samsung is refreshing its Galaxy A7 and A5 smartphones for 2016 while also introducing a less-expensive, less feature-intensive A3 model for users who need a more basic phone. The company unveiled the new models in a Dec. 2 announcement. The new models will debut in China in the middle of December and then be distributed […]

Five weeks after launching its fledgling YouTube Red streaming video subscription service, YouTube is now seeking to sign deals to license additional content from movie studios and production companies. YouTube is seeking the additional streaming rights to offer more to subscribers as it fights its way in a marketplace filled with competitors such as Netflix, […]

We had a power outage in my neighborhood on Dec. 1, and I’m glad it happened because it again proved to me the power of mobile phones, wireless communications, and corporate planning and readiness. The outage came as a surprise as I was finishing writing my last story of the day for eWEEK just before […]

Samsung has released a beta version of an optimized Web browser for Samsung Gear VR users who want to browse the Internet using their Gear VR virtual reality headsets. The new beta application, Samsung Internet for Gear VR, was unveiled Dec. 2 by Samsung and is available through the Oculus Store. Oculus is Samsung’s partner […]

Apple could be looking at dropping the long-established 3.5mm headphone jack on its next iPhones and replacing it with a thinner Lightning connector or Bluetooth to help make the phones even thinner. The latest rumors about the deletion of the headphone jack, which surfaced in 2014 as well, come from the Japanese technology Website Macotakara, […]

T-Mobile’s Music Freedom free music-streaming service has again been expanded, adding another 11 streaming-music services where T-Mobile customers can listen to as much music as they want without consuming their available high-speed data plans. The Music Freedom vendor expansion has been occurring steadily since T-Mobile started the initiative for customers who have Simple Choice mobile […]

Samsung replaced its longtime handset chief, J.K. Shin, with another executive as the global smartphone leader continues to seek a strategy to get itself out of a pattern of disappointing financial quarters. Shin will give up his day-to-day handset role to Dongjin Koh, who takes over as president of the company’s mobile communications business, according […]

Swiss watchmaker Swatch SA has signed a deal with Visa Inc. to allow Visa credit card holders to use Swatch Bellamy wristwatches to make instant payments by touching the watch to a special terminal without having to pull out a plastic credit card. Under the deal, which was announced Nov. 30, Visa card holders in […]

Sonos will connect the Apple Music streaming music service with its Sonos wireless speaker systems starting Dec. 15 so that users can pipe Apple’s music into their homes, offices or other locations as part of a beta preview. The addition of streaming music from Apple Music will bolster the wide variety of other streaming platforms […]

Amazon, which dropped sales of Apple TV devices in October because the devices didn’t offer dedicated access to Amazon’s streaming Instant Video offerings, is now apparently working on an Apple TV app that is rumored to be released soon. Word of the pending Apple TV app from Amazon was revealed in a Nov. 27 Twitter […]