Todd R. Weiss

Music streaming service Spotify just made it easier for party hosts to add a great playlist to their event with a new Spotify Party feature that brings professionally curated dance and party songs together from expert music sources, including DJs and music producers. Spotify Party, which was announced by the company Dec. 16, was created […]

Sprint is giving away free 32-inch Samsung LED televisions to new customers switching to Sprint or to existing customers who buy a new Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ or Note 5 smartphone as part of an upgrade or new line of service. The free TV offer starts Dec. 18 and runs through Dec. […]

Music streaming service Rdio will stop serving its customers on Dec. 22 as its music streaming technologies are brought into Pandora, which acquired Rdio in November for a reported $75 million. Rdio announced the shutdown in a post on its Website, which also included instructions on how users of the 5-year-old music streaming platform can […]

Samsung Pay is now being accepted by 19 more credit and debit card issuers, including PNC Bank, KeyBank, California Bank and Trust, and Pentagon Federal Credit Union, allowing customers to expand their use of the mobile payment service for purchases as they shop. Samsung announced the additional banks and credit unions on Dec. 15 as […]

Pebble smartwatches now can be used with the company’s own native Pebble Health app that provides health tracking information for wearers. In the past, Pebble smartwatch users had to use their devices with third-party health tracking apps to keep abreast of their calories burned, distance covered and more. The new Pebble Health app, which was […]

Apple has shut down its Topsy social media analytics operations just two years after acquiring the San Francisco-based company for $200 million in December 2013. “We’ve searched our last tweet,” the company posted Dec. 15 on its Twitter account, announcing its closure. Topsy, which began operations in 2006, described itself on its corporate blog as […]

Apple has a team of engineers working on new technologies for display production in a secret laboratory that was recently opened this year in Taiwan, with the aim of building some of its own displays in the future. The secret lab was revealed in a Dec. 14 story by Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources who have […]

Samsung is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. design patent laws as part of the company’s appeal involving an ongoing patent-infringement case with Apple. Samsung recently agreed to pay Apple $548 million in damages after a multi-year legal battle between the two companies, but now Samsung is appealing the matter and asking America’s […]

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is getting ready to announce that it will be bringing budget-priced handsets from its Honor smartphone division to sell in the United States sometime in 2016. The move will be unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January at an event the company is sponsoring at the […]

Operators of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for hobby and recreational use are now required to register their devices with the Federal Aviation Administration to be able to legally operate drones that weigh between 0.55 pounds and 55 pounds in U.S. airspaces. The FAA announced the requirements on Dec. 14 and unveiled a Website where […]