auction

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 $500,000 … Read 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

FCC, stakeholders align on communications policy -- for now

LAS VEGAS--Peace appears to be breaking out between mobile Internet users and regulators.

During the three-day Innovation Policy Summit here at CES, members of Congress, FCC commissioners, industry representatives, and consumer groups found little to disagree on, whether the topic was incentive auctions for more broadband spectrum, retiring legacy copper networks in favor of native IP, sharing government spectrum in the 5 GHz band for high-speed Wi-Fi, or the continuing threat of international efforts to turn Internet governance over to repressive national governments so they can destroy it.

Some minor skirmishes broke out, of course, but the conversation this week … Read more

eBay launches selling helpers as way to lure new customers

As eBay comes up against more competition from the growing number of online retailers, it has to keep reinventing itself. The newest endeavor for the online auction house means coming offline and helping people sell their goods in person.

eBay has recently launched three new pilot programs that involve company representatives working with sellers and buyers to figure out how to best purchase or get rid of wares, according to All Things D.

"People make their living on eBay and that feels good, but to be the belle of the ball, we have to step it up. We can'… Read more