Hey there, here are your top news stories from eWEEK, sponsored by Dell and Intel. Today’s stories include news about Microsoft’s productivity apps, lawsuits being filed to block FCC network neutrality rules, an expanded FTC consumer fraud protection unit and an interesting battery experiment happening at Purdue University.
Microsoft is bringing the company’s productivity apps to more Android devices by inking some major new OEM deals. Samsung will begin shipping select Android tablets with Microsoft’s Office for Android apps during the first half of 2015, the companies confirmed in a March 23 announcement.
Upon turning on their Samsung Android tablets, users will be greeted with the Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype apps. Business buyers will have access to a setup service provided by Samsung, as well as the company’s Knox mobile device management platform and access to three versions of Office 365.
A telecom group and a Texas broadband provider are the first two organizations to file legal actions against the FCC to fight the latest network neutrality regulations that the agency adopted in February.
USTelecom, a Washington-based telecommunications trade group and Alamo Broadband, an Elmendorf, Texas-based broadband provider, filed separate legal actions on March 23 asking the courts to turn aside the new FCC rules.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has announced the creation of a new investigative unit that aims to better protect consumers from new kinds of consumer fraud that spring up constantly in connection with new technologies and services.
The new Office of Technology Research and Investigation will replace and build upon an existing Mobile Technology Unit that previously worked to fight deceptive and unfair business practices, according to a March 23 post on the FTC’s blog.
Researchers at Purdue University are conducting experiments to reuse packing peanuts by converting them into materials that can be used to create and build new lithium-ion batteries capable of powering mobile devices such as smartphones.
The experiments so far are showing how the packing peanuts can be converted into high-performance carbon electrodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that improve upon the conventional graphite electrodes presently used in such batteries.