auction

Signed Apple 1, other relics in Christie's auction

Pull out your checkbook (or your PayPal account), all you die-hard Apple fanatics. Just weeks after a working Apple 1 sold at auction in Europe for more than $600,000, another prototype of the original Apples constructed in Steve Jobs' parents' garage and designed by Steve Wozniak is up for bid, this time by Christie's in an online-only auction.

Ten lots of "iconic technology from the twentieth century" -- almost all of it old-school Apple swag -- is being auctioned off on Christie's Web site for the next two weeks. … Read more

T-Mobile says it has a fix to FCC auction rule debate

T-Mobile USA says it has the answer on how to make the upcoming spectrum auction fair for all participants without sacrificing potential revenue for the government, as larger carriers have suggested will happen if restrictive rules are imposed.

In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday regarding the 600MHz spectrum auction, T-Mobile described what it is calling "dynamic spectrum rules" that it claims will help preserve competition in the wireless market by not allowing the biggest wireless carriers with the deepest pockets to walk away with the bulk of the new spectrum, without sacrificing revenue that … Read more

Industry debates FCC auction rules for AT&T and Verizon

There's no question that wireless carriers large and small want to get their hands on more wireless spectrum. But deciding which carriers should get how much spectrum was the subject of intense debate on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The topic was front and center during a Senate subcommittee hearing in which representatives from the two main trade associations and other industry experts testified on the State of the Wireless Market.

Each of the experts called to testify reiterated a familiar request that the government make more wireless spectrum available for wireless broadband services. Without more spectrum, Steve Largent, head … Read more

Coffee with Apple CEO auction closes at $610K

After 86 bids, the coffee meeting with Apple's CEO has sold for $610,000.

The winning bidder is anonymous, and goes only by "a********s."

The "power meeting" was part of a campaign by auction site CharityBuzz to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It promises little beyond some coffee and facetime with Cook at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The auction is now officially tied for the highest-grossing CharityBuzz has ever had. It's matched up with last month's auction for a Lamborghini Aventador, which … Read more

Coffee with Tim Cook auction holds at $605K with a day left

There's less than a day left in the auction that will net one individual a brief, and very expensive, sit-down meeting with Apple's top executive.

CharityBuzz's buzzy auction for a coffee meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook ends just after 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, bringing to a close what is currently the group's second-highest auction ever at $605,000.

"We're truly amazed by the support for the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights through our coffee with Tim Cook online auction," Coppy Holzman, Charitybuzz CEO and founder said in a … Read more

Three centuries of geek-milestone devices in one epic auction

Attention early adopters: That first-edition Google Glass hardware is likely to be gathering dust a few years from now as the technology gets seriously revved (or falls victim to paranoid lawmakers and pub owners), but don't toss it out!

If an auction later this month of computing and other technological blasts from the past is any indication, it could pay off to hold on to those obsolete gadgets that were once on the cutting edge, even just briefly.

The highlight of the sale, planned for May 25 by German auction house Breker, is an original, working Apple-1, one of only 200 that were produced and 50 that are believed to still exist. Last year, Sotheby's auctioned off just an original Apple-1 motherboard for $374,500.… 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 $500,000Read more

Bidding for coffee with Apple's CEO hits $210,000

It's now more expensive to score a meeting with Tim Cook than to buy a brand-new Lamborghini Gallardo.

Bids for that meeting, which went on sale yesterday through charity bidding site Charitybuzz, were originally estimated at $50,000, but now stand at $210,000. They even reached $160,000 by the end of the first day.

The "power meeting," which promises half an hour with the CEO of the second most valuable company in the world, is part of a campaign to raise money for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. It's … Read more

Justice Dept. to FCC: Give small carriers a chance in next auction

The Department of Justice said today that Sprint and T-Mobile should be given a fair chance at acquiring wireless spectrum in the Federal Communication Commission's upcoming incentive spectrum auction.

The antitrust division of the Justice Department laid out its argument in a filing to the FCC.

"The Department concludes that rules that ensure the smaller nationwide networks, which currently lack substantial low-frequency spectrum, have an opportunity to acquire such spectrum could improve the competitive dynamic among nationwide carriers and benefit consumers," the Justice Department said.

The FCC is currently drafting rules for an upcoming auction that will … Read more

Pow! Bam! Original Batmobile sells for $4.6 million

There is one star of the original Batman television series that hasn't aged a bit in the decades since the show went off the air. The original 1966 Batmobile is still a beauty. If you had a big enough pocket book and were in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Barrett-Jackson auto auction over the weekend, you would have had a chance at driving it home for your personal collection.

The modified 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car commanded a whopping $4.62 million selling price, taking the crown as Barrett-Jackson's highest-selling car at the annual auction. As we've learned, the cost of being Batman isn't cheap, but this would surely put at least a dent in Bruce Wayne's ample budget.… Read more