News

Sprint gets OK from SoftBank to explore rival Dish offer

Sprint Nextel has received approval from SoftBank to continue talking to Dish Network about its rival takeover offer, the carrier said Monday.

Sprint has already agreed upon a deal in which it would merge with SoftBank, a wireless carrier based in Japan. But Dish last week launched a sweetened $25.5 billion bid for Sprint.

The carrier said Monday that it had gotten a waiver from SoftBank to clarify and obtain additional information on the Dish proposal. Sprint is now able to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with Dish, although it is not able to provide Dish with non-public information. … Read more

NASA cycles through another Great Moonbuggy Race

It may be more than 40 years since NASA last put a man on the moon, but those Apollo missions continue to serve as a driving force for some aspiring engineers.

On Friday and Saturday, the space agency hosted its 20th annual Great Moonbuggy Race. For these competitions, entrants from colleges and high schools have to to design, build, and race lightweight, human-powered vehicles -- think pedicabs on steroids -- that a pair of riders then must muscle over a half-mile course designed to simulate the lunar surface. NASA says that the "race teams face many of the same … Read more

Sticker collection grows on Facebook, Path

CNET Update dusts off the sticker book:

Social media has gone sticker crazy. Today's video explains Facebook's latest update to messaging and how rival network Path is playing cute-cartoon hardball (or should I say football?)

Also in this tech roundup:

- Twitter is testing ways to tell you what's being tweeted by users near you

- Nintendo releases a major system update to the Wii U

- Android notebooks may be hitting stores, priced as low as $200

- AT&T rolls out home security and monitoring service

- Charity auction for "power meeting" with Apple CEO has bids exceeding $500,000 … Read more

Galaxy S4 wins high marks for repairability from iFixit

Don't worry, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is easy to repair and disassemble.

The folks at iFixit gave Samsung's phone an eight out of 10 for repairability, citing its removable battery and straightforward assembly.

The company noted that Samsung "didn't reinvent the wheel" with the Galaxy S4, but noted that from a repairability perspective, that was a good thing.

"Samsung is doing the right thing for their customers and the environment," iFixit said about the battery.

The teardown uncovered how the Galaxy S4 reads hand movements. The phone has two infrared sensors on either … Read more

Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes debuts for iOS

I have unabashed love for the Lego series of video games, which have adapted a wide range of movie series -- "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones," "Lord of the Rings," and more -- into improbably excellent action-adventures.

Alas, only two of them have been ported from consoles to iOS: Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7. Great games, both, but with limited appeal unless you're a Harry Potter fan.

It was a long wait -- almost a year to the day -- but finally there's another Lego game for … Read more

Even Wall Street is left impressed with the HTC One

Will the HTC One be HTC's savior? Some Wall Street analysts are starting to come around to the idea.

HSBC upgraded the company's investment rating on Friday, citing the impressive flagship phone, according to MarketWatch. The ratings change comes after another firm, Daiwa, also raised its ratings and recommended buying the stock.

HTC has had a tough go at it recently, with sales and profits sinking with each successive quarter. On a marketing and distribution basis, Samsung and Apple have it completely outgunned, and its market share position remains anemic, not even breaching the top five smartphone vendors. … Read more

LinkedIn Contacts looks to boost relationships

CNET Update has much to say:

It's hard to remember everything. Apps can help. And LinkedIn's Contacts app wants to help make sure you remember more about your professional contacts.

If you're trying to make it in the business world but don't have time for networking and schmoozing, just pay a ton of money for the chance to become BFFs with Apple's CEO Tim Cook. Coffee is included.

Talking to people can be hard, but Facebook doesn't want you to be shy. It's encouraging more messaging by throwing green dots all over the place. … Read more

T-Mobile's no-contract offer in hot water with Washington AG

Contrary to what T-Mobile is promising, there are actually some strings to its new wireless service plans.

That's according to Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who ordered T-Mobile to change its alleged "deceptive advertising" that omits charges that consumers have to pay for leaving early.

"My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm," Ferguson said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Ferguson took issue with the component of … Read more

New malware variant targets Uyghur Mac users

One of the ongoing malware sagas is a political fight that is targeting Uyghur activist groups in China, where spam e-mail laced with backdoor Trojan horse malware has been continuously delivered to members of these groups in an Advanced Persistent Threat attack.

This week, security company F-secure uncovered yet another variant of this attack being used.

Like prior ones, the new variant takes advantage of old vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word, by sending attachments that will embed the malware in the affected system if the document is opened in an unpatched version of Word.

The malware used has changed a little … Read more