Comcast

The home of the future may be coming to a neighborhood near you.

A number of companies, including AT&T, Comcast, Lowe's, and Verizon are intent on making your home a smart home.

Imagine getting an alert when you leave the garage door open, or when your elderly parents fall down, or when your liquor cabinet is breached by wayward teens. Connected homes give residents the ability to remotely control thermostats, lights, and door locks through mobile devices.

The selling point is convenience; and routine.

"Every single day you get up in the morning and you leave … Read more

Streaming you the top Friday headlines with the latest in 2D technology:

Amazon scored a licensing deal with Warner Bros. to offer more shows for Prime streaming, including West Wing and Fringe. Amazon Prime continues to step up the competition with Netflix. Prime costs $79 a year, which works out to be less than a year's subscription of Netflix.

The fight between Viacom and DirecTV is finally over. The 20 million subscribers of DirecTV can now access 17 Viacom channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. On July 10, DirecTV turned off 26 Viacom channels over a payment dispute … Read more

Watch out, Verizon. Comcast may be making a play for Fios customers with the lure of faster download speeds.

The cable carrier is reportedly prepping a 305Mbps downstream service slated to reach markets currently covered by Verizon's Fios high-speed service by year's end.

Citing a "reliable source," Web site Broadband Reports said that Comcast streamed a live event to employees this week detailing future plans for its Xfinity service. Besides discussing the Olympics and more Spanish language programs, the carrier's president and CEO Neil Smit dropped hints about a faster service "soon" to … Read more

A group of hackers has posted to the Web today data that appears to include Comcast employee names, ages and salaries, as well as e-mails and passwords associated with AT&T VoIP service accounts.

Proclaiming the kickoff of "#WikiBoatWednesday...when all the members from @TheWikiBoat fight corruption, leak data, and bring down websites," the hackers released the data in two different posts to the Pastebin Web site. Several of the Twitter handles used by the group, including @AnonymousWiki, referenced the Anonymous online activist group, but the connection to the larger, decentralized collective is unclear.

"The first … Read more

Comcast has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a Federal Communications Commission probe into the cable giant's broadband marketing practices after its merger with NBC Universal.

The settlement came after an FCC investigation found that Comcast representatives were not adequately marketing its standalone broadband service, a violation of a condition for the carrier's merger with NBC Universal that required Comcast to "visibly offer and actively market" the standalone Internet service for three years.

"Today's action demonstrates that compliance with commission orders is not optional," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. &… Read more

Tired of your cable company's crummy DVR box? The gold-standard replacement has long been, and probably always will be, TiVo.

A typical refurbished TiVo runs $79.99, but while supplies last, Ben's Outlet has the refurbished TiVo Premiere HD DVR for $49.99 shipped. That's one of the lowest prices I've seen for the hardware.

Ah, but the service -- that's where they get you. TiVo charges $14.99 per month (down from the previous $19.99 per month, at least) and requires a one-year commitment. Alternately, you can pay for $499.99 for lifetime … Read more

Recent accusations that cable companies are giving preferential treatment to online video streamed on their own apps and services have apparently attracted the attention of antitrust regulators.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to suppress online video competition, people familiar with the matter tell The Wall Street Journal. Investigators have spoken with several major players in the sector, including Netflix, Hulu, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable about the monthly caps placed on the amount of data subscribers can download, the Journal reported.

CNET has contacted the companies mentioned above, as well as … Read more

If you're a Comcast TV customer, you can finally stream videos to your Android tablet and smartphone. The Xfinity TV Player app allows Comcast TV subscribers to watch TV shows and movies from networks like Showtime, Starz, HBO, and more. Here's how to get started with Comcast's Xfinity TV Player for Android:

Download and install the Xfinity TV Player for Android, then launch the app and log in using your Comcast account credentials.

On tablets, you'll see the app toolbar on the left-hand side. On Android smartphones, you'll need to press the menu key to … Read more

BOSTON -- Comcast is taking aim at wireless operators with new services introduced here at the NCTA's Cable Show that will undercut mobile carrier fees for text messaging and offer an alternative to mobile data services.

Over the past two days Comcast has made two new product announcements that could threaten revenue for wireless companies. At the same time, though, the company is also partnering with the nation's largest wireless provider, Verizon Wireless.

In the latest Comcast product announcement, the company said it will allow its voice subscribers to make phone calls and send text messages for free … Read more