Mobile recap: Pebble Time; Pixel 2 coming; Apple Watch questions, and more for Saturday, February 28, 2015

Mobile recap: Pebble Time; Pixel 2 coming; Apple Watch questions Kevin C. Tofel Feb 28 2015, 6:30am PDT After selling one million of its original Pebble watches, the company is zigging when the competition is zagging. Pebble Time is the next product in the line, and while it adds new features and a new interface, the watch isn’t likely to be confused with either […] Read More » Report: Ads are one step closer to coming to Tinder Carmel DeAmicis Feb 27 2015, 5:46pm PDT Tinder is working on building itself an ad unit, according to Re/Code sources. The dating company contacted both Facebook and Twitter to discuss a potential advertising partnership. There’s no more information on what these advertising units could look like, but Re/Code speculated that local bars or […] Read More » Think you’re locked into a mobile OS now? Wait until it runs your car Kif Leswing Feb 27 2015, 11:47am PDT Apple’s going to reveal more about the Apple Watch on March 9, but CEO Tim Cook has already started dropping hints during a trip to Europe. The latest tidbit comes from The Telegraph: The Apple Watch will be able to start a car. Which cars? That’s a […] Read More » One positive from Superfish: Less bloatware on Lenovo’s new PCs Kevin C. Tofel Feb 27 2015, 9:18am PDT Lenovo’s credibility took a big hit this month, courtesy of the Superfish scandal: Pre-installed adware on Lenovo computers resulted in a risk to user privacy and security. The company has since apologized but is now going an extra step, bringing some solace from the incident. Lenovo says […] Read More » Maybe I’m just a dumb millennial, but I’m going to keep using Venmo Kif Leswing Feb 27 2015, 7:54am PDT Venmo, a mobile payment app popular among college students and recent grads, has security holes “you could drive a truck through,” according to an article posted on Slate this week. The report was largely based on one man’s story about how a grifter was able to steal $2850 […] Read More » Ericsson seeks US iPad, iPhone ban as it sues Apple over patents David Meyer Feb 27 2015, 2:43am PDT Last month Apple and Ericsson went to war over the fees Ericsson is trying to charge Apple for the use of its mobile broadband patents. Apple sued Ericsson in an attempt to have the patents declared non-standard-essential (meaning they don’t automatically command royalties) or, if they […] Read More » The hyperloop could be a futuristic California city’s public transit Signe Brewster Feb 26 2015, 3:47pm PDT A county halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles would be one of the first sites to host a hyperloop track under a plan revealed today by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, an organization that has been working to make the futuristic form of transportation a reality since it was […] Read More » TiVo buys Aereo name, auction fetches under $2M Jeff John Roberts Feb 26 2015, 2:16pm PDT Aereo, the streaming start-up that was poised to upend the TV industry until the Supreme Court shut it down, has been sold for scraps. Aereo’s assets fetched under $2 million at auction, according to a person familiar with the sale. The figure is a far cry from the $90-$100 million that media mogul […] Read More » Net neutrality’s next chapter: How experts saw today’s milestone and next steps Stacey Higginbotham Feb 26 2015, 2:14pm PDT Pardon me while I catch my breath after all the celebratory dancing I’ve been doing in the wake of the FCC’s historic vote to reclassify broadband under Title II of the Communications Act in order to preserve true network neutrality. We’ve explained what this means for […] Read More » Three big questions before the Apple Watch event Kevin C. Tofel Feb 26 2015, 1:37pm PDT Apple is holding a press event on March 9, presumably to show off and start orders for the Apple Watch it introduced back in September. I’m all but certain here on the event topic based on the previously stated April shipment date for Apple’s first smartwatch; launching […] Read More » Google may separate Hangouts, Google+ and Photos Janko Roettgers Feb 26 2015, 12:46pm PDT Google is looking to further untangle parts of Google+: The company may separate Photos and Hangouts from Google+, according to statements made by Google’s product czar Sundar Pichai in an interview with Forbes Thursday. “Increasingly you’ll see us focus on communications [Hangouts], photos and the Google+ […] Read More » Microsoft joins Docker in announcing new container services Jonathan Vanian Feb 26 2015, 10:32am PDT Docker’s suite of orchestration services that the container-management startup first detailed in December are now available in beta for the public to download, Docker said on Thursday. These new orchestration services are just another step for Docker to tout its cloud-agnostic platform, geared for enterprise customers […] Read More » FCC votes yes on net neutrality in partisan spectacle Jeff John Roberts Feb 26 2015, 10:02am PDT It took four million public comments and a pitched political fight invoking everything from civil rights to Presidential power, but the FCC has finally passed new rules on net neutrality. On Thursday, the FCC voted to reclassify broadband internet providers as “common carriers,” as part of a new order that will […] Read More » This may be why the Pebble isn’t supported on Windows Phone Kevin C. Tofel Feb 26 2015, 8:31am PDT Earlier this week, I noted an internal Microsoft Windows Phone app that works with the Pebble smartwatch. Now a detailed report from Windows Central adds more background about the reason for the app and why Pebble itself isn’t working on adding Windows Phone support to its smartwatch. […] Read More » FCC votes 3-2 to override state bans of municipal broadband Jeff John Roberts Feb 26 2015, 8:25am PDT The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday morning voted to push aside laws in two states that restrict municipalities from building out their local high speed broadband networks. In a 3-2 vote, the FCC granted petitions from Chattanooga, North Carolina and Wilson, North Carolina that asked the agency to invoke […] Read More » Google & SolarCity partner on $750M fund for rooftop solar Katie Fehrenbacher Feb 26 2015, 6:00am PDT Solar installer and financier SolarCity announced on Thursday that it plans to raise a $750 million fund to invest in installing solar panels on the rooftops of home owners, and $300 million of that fund will come from tech giant Google. While Google has put over […] Read More » Net Neutrality day is here: a guide to today’s vote Jeff John Roberts Feb 26 2015, 4:30am PDT What is the right way to run the internet? After months of pitched debate over so-called net neutrality, the FCC will finally vote on a proposal that will prevent broadband providers from slowing down or speeding up certain websites. While there’s little doubt about the outcome of the vote, Thursday’s FCC […] Read More » The FCC’s other big vote: small cities await their broadband fate Jeff John Roberts Feb 25 2015, 9:28pm PDT The big battle over net neutrality will go to a vote on Thursday but, for many people in small cities, it’s the other item on the agenda that matters most: whether the agency will allow two towns to build their own broadband infrastructure. “It’s a way of letting local communities control […] Read More » Mark Cuban on net neutrality: FCC can’t protect competition Barb Darrow Feb 25 2015, 8:38pm PDT As someone who takes her cues on net neutrality from Gigaom’s resident expert Stacey Higginbotham or, failing that, John Oliver, this is hard to admit: Mark Cuban may have a point on why the proposed net neutrality regulations may be a cure that’s worse than the disease. If adopted, he […] Read More » Sooooo, what’s new with HP’s cloud strategy? Barb Darrow Feb 25 2015, 1:56pm PDT Look! Hewlett-Packard is doing something with Eucalyptus after all, at least according to a new web page touting HP Helion Eucalyptus, the “Open. Agile. Secure AWS-compatible private cloud.” HP bought Eucalyptus in September, put that company’s CEO, Marten Mickos, in charge of the overall HP cloud business and things […] Read More »