I've been paying for my set-top box for Xfinity months (The 3:59, Ep. 32)

We chat about Comcast's set-top box changes, the EU against Google and new words.

Ben Fox Rubin Former senior reporter

Ben Fox Rubin was a senior reporter for CNET News in Manhattan, reporting on Amazon, e-commerce and mobile payments. He previously worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and got his start at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

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Iyaz Akhtar Principal Video Producer

Iyaz Akhtar works tenaciously to make technology work for him so he can live a life of leisure. He's been in the tech sector as a writer, an editor, a producer, and a presenter since 2006.

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Ben Fox Rubin

Iyaz Akhtar

April 21, 2016 9:30 a.m. PT

A cable box for every idiot box may become a thing of the past.
Tannen Maury/EPA/Corbis

Comcast and its Xfinity cable service are looking to make it easier for customers to watch cable without a set-top box. Yet the timing of the change is just a tad questionable, coming soon after the Federal Communications Commission said it wants to open up the set-top box market and free folks from monthly payments for a cable box.

Also on the podcast, we debate the European Union's new claims that Google is abusing its dominance in phones and discuss some of the new words Merriam-Webster added to the dictionary.

The 3:59 gives you bite-size news and analysis about the top stories of the day, brought to you by CNET Executive Editor Roger Cheng (currently on parental leave), Senior Writer Ben Fox Rubin and Producer Bryan VanGelder.

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