at&t

AT&T iPad hacker appeals conviction

A security researcher who was convicted of accessing a non-password protected portion of AT&T's Web site and sentenced to more than three years in prison has appealed his conviction.

Andrew Auernheimer, who goes by the nickname "Weev," was convicted by a federal jury last year of hacking and sentenced to 41 months in prison for exploiting a security hole on AT&T's servers to obtain the e-mail addresses of more than 100,000 iPad users.

Auernheimer and co-defendant Daniel Spitler were arrested and charged in January 2011 after they created a script to … Read more

AT&T LTE stretches into 35 new markets

AT&T flipped a few more LTE switches on Tuesday, flowing its fastest 4G data speeds to 35 more cities, for a total of 326 LTE-equipped markets (see below).

The carrier anticipates blanketing 90 percent of its 300-million-person coverage goal by the end of 2013, and the full 300 million people by 2014's close.

Additionally, AT&T has expanded its eco ratings to select prepaid Go Phones and accessories, the company also announced today.

AT&T's newest LTE markets:

Pine Bluff, Ark. Searcy, Ark. Chico-Oroville, Calif. Grand Junction, Colo. Silverthorne, Colo. Homosassa Springs, Fla. Palatka, … Read more

This e-mail will self-destruct in five seconds

Ever lose sleep over e-mails you've sent? Messages of an embarrassing nature that make you wish you hadn't clicked on "send"?

AT&T is thinking of you. It applied for a patent for self-deleting e-mail. Once sent, these missives won't hang around in some inbox waiting for someone to do what he pleases with them. They'll disintegrate, so to speak.

"Method, System, and Apparatus for Providing Self-Destructing Electronic Mail Messages" is U.S. patent application number 20130159436 and was recently made public. … Read more

Surveillance 'partnership' between NSA and telcos points to AT&T, Verizon

Want to play a game of "guess who?"

A newly disclosed top secret document lauds the National Security Agency's "productive" and long-standing surveillance "partnership" with a pair of telecommunications providers -- that permitted tapping into their fiber links -- but without naming names.

This is where things get interesting for clue sleuths.

Even in the top-secret document published by the Guardian today, the firms are described only as "Company A" and "Company B." But the NSA's inspector general did disclose that, at the time the program was being … Read more

Verizon hits 500 LTE markets as focus shifts to coverage over speed

Verizon Wireless is close to the finish line with its 4G LTE rollout.

The nation's largest wireless carrier by subscribers said on Thursday that its network has reached its 500th market with Parkersburg, W. Va. The company said it has virtually wrapped up its deployment, with a handful of markets left to get a 4G connection by the end of the year.

The milestone further cements Verizon's position as the leader in 4G LTE in the U.S., with by far the largest next-generation network among all carriers. In addition, the completion of the rollout means Verizon can … Read more

AT&T turns on 7 new LTE markets, expands in six areas

AT&T has expanded its LTE presence in the U.S.

The company announced Wednesday that it has turned on seven new LTE markets in the U.S. The new markets include Grand Rapids, Minn., Hot Springs, Ark., and Mount Vernon, Ohio. In addition, AT&T has expanded LTE coverage in Atlanta, New York City, and Columbia, S.C., among other areas.

With the new markets, AT&T now has 291 areas with LTE, covering over 200 million people across the U.S. By the end of this year, AT&T expects its LTE rollout to … Read more

AT&T hopes to bolster mobile life with new innovation centers

AT&T said on Tuesday that it plans to open two "innovation centers" as it looks to make good on its initiative to pursue more avenues of the mobile business beyond smartphones and tablets.

AT&T plans to open what it calls a "foundry" in Atlanta near Georgia Tech and focus on its Digital Life play, or connecting everything from homes to cars with cellular gadgets. The company plans to open a second facility in Plano to focus on machine-to-machine connected devices, such as ATM machines or digital billboards.

The two innovation centers are … Read more

AT&T's mobile chief: We've sold out of the Facebook phone

So, the HTC First wasn't a complete disaster after all.

AT&T managed to get rid of most of its inventory, according to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega. The move to a 99-cent price tag helped spur sales of the Facebook phone, which struggled to catch on with consumers.

"We sold a bunch more when we lowered the price," he said in an interview on Monday. "We sold everything we had on that."

It's unclear how many HTC First phones AT&T had in its inventory, and the … Read more

BlackBerry 10.1 OS update for Z10 phone posted in error

BlackBerry Z10 owners on AT&T still can't get the latest update to the BlackBerry operating system.

Earlier on Friday, the BlackBerry OS 10.1 update for the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone was rolled out via AT&T. But that update was actually posted in error, a BlackBerry spokesperson told CNET.

BlackBerry now advises Z10 users who receive a software update notification to disregard it. The company said it's working closely with AT&T to deploy the official update soon.

This means that AT&T and BlackBerry are still behind in launching BB OS 10.… Read more