White House responds to petition, says cell phone unlocking should be legalized

Posted by Jason Diaz Categories: Smartphones,

It started as a petition needing only 100,000 signatures requesting that the White House make an official response to the right of cellphone owners to lawfully unlock their cellphones. The Library Of Congress deemed unlocking one's cellphone illegal in October 2012; a ruling that would take affect in the new year. Now, the White House has officially announced that they too agree with the 114K petitioners. It recommends that cellphones be unlocked as long as the customers first meet their carrier's contractual agreement. The White House has even included tablets to the list of devices. Consequently, the Library of Congress has agreed and support the review their policy, which was strongly urged by the FCC.

"The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren’t bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It’s common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers’ needs."  - White House Administration

Click to continue reading White House responds to petition, says cell phone unlocking should be legalized

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BlackBerry Z10 software updated to 10.0.10.85, download now

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Software,

Today BlackBerry announced the release of the BlackBerry 10 software update 10.0.10.85, and with it comes a bunch of improvements that users of the BlackBerry Z10 have been asking for. For starters, third party application performance has been improved, as many were sluggish. Importing calendars and contacts gets some attention too, as does the camera, which now takes better photos in low-light situations. The Z10 web browser receives optimizations for viewing videos embedded into Web sites, and lastly, there are over 60 improvements made that go into extending the life of the battery. You'll definitely wanna grab this update if you're a Z10 user. To get it, just head to Settings on the device, select Software Updates, and then Check for Updates and follow the onscreen instructions. The update is about 150 MB, so you'll probably wanna make sure you're on Wi-Fi for this one.

Read More | BlackBerry

Apple seeds OS X 10.8.3 build 12D74 to developers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Software,

Two weeks after releasing OS X 10.8.3 build 12D68, Apple has seeded build 12D74 to developers. As has been the case with the last few 10.8.3 previews of Mountain Lion, there are no major changes, and no known issues. This one is just taking a while to finally be released to the public for some reason. Apple is asking devs to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, graphics drivers, and Safari. Go and grab it is you've got a dev membership!

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason fired due to poor quarterly results

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, News, Revenue,

Yesterday, Groupon hit us with a massively disappointing first-quarter earnings report, which saw its stock tumble by over 25% after hours, and now CEO Andrew Mason is out. Someone had to take the fall, and the burden came on the shoulders of Mason, who'll be replaced in the interim by Ted Leonsis and Eric Lefkofsky while the board finds a new CEO. Mason released a letter to employees, and also made it public, admitting that he knew it would leak anyway--give it a read after the break.

Click to continue reading Groupon CEO Andrew Mason fired due to poor quarterly results

Read More | Groupon

Pandora now limiting free mobile users to 40 hours of music per month

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Music,

If you love listening to Pandora when you're on the go, you may have to start paying up. Pandora has announced that it will now be capping mobile users to 40 hours of listening per month. If you reach that cap, the music will stop, and you'll need to pay a fee of $.99 if you'd like to continue listening for the remainder of the month. The reason behind this is the rising costs of the per-track royalty rates that Pandora has to pay.

"Pandora’s per-track royalty rates have increased more than 25% over the last 3 years, including 9% in 2013 alone and are scheduled to increase an additional 16% over the next two years. After a close look at our overall listening, a 40-hour-per-month mobile listening limit allows us to manage these escalating costs with minimal listener disruption."

Pandora says this should only affect about 4% of its users, so it shouldn't be a huge deal. Subscribers to the Pandora One service, which eliminated the ads altogether for $36 per year, are not affected.

Read More | Pandora

Grillbot: The BBQ grill cleaning robot does the dirty work for you

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Smart Home, Videos,

A Roomba for your barbecue grill. That's what the Grillbot is, and it sounds like something that many could use. Sure, it's just about the end of winter now, but those summer months are coming, and we'd bet there are plenty of crusty grills out there. the Grillbot promises to do the work for you, using its wire brushes to get everything shining again. The grill cleaning robot features push button operation, three motors with replaceable grill brushes, LCD display, timer, and alarm. You can get the Grillbot in orange, blue, red, or black beginning this June, selling for $69.95, or $99.95 for the premium model. Check out a video of how it all works after the break, if you don't mind ridiculous music.

Click to continue reading Grillbot: The BBQ grill cleaning robot does the dirty work for you

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Will the next Xbox require game installs, killing used games for good?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hardware, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

The big rumor on the street about the next Xbox is that Microsoft will block used games from working with the console. Reports from sources have hit various news outlets saying that the new Xbox, which should launch later this year, will require mandatory game installs to the hard drive of the console, and will require an activation code in order to get them to play. Once the code is used, that game is activated for that console specifically (or, maybe, that specific Gamertag,) and won't work on other consoles, effectively killing the used game market.

Click to continue reading Will the next Xbox require game installs, killing used games for good?

Read More | MCV India

Spotify for iPhone gets visual redesign

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Music, App Updates, Free Apps,

Spotify for iOS has just received a massive overhaul, bringing the UI in line with the look that Android's been sporting for a while. iOS users now get access to features like the swiping method for accessing different areas of the Spotify app (similar to what you can do in the Facebook iOS app.) The "Now Playing" area shows you the artist and track name no matter where you are navigating in the app, right above the play controls. You can swipe here to go to the next or previous track with ease. You also get bug fixes and overall improvements to stability, as well as the Ford SYNC AppLink Spotify feature that we mentioned yesterday. You can grab the update now from the App Store, and peep the full changelog after the break.

Click to continue reading Spotify for iPhone gets visual redesign

Read More | Spotify

Subscribe to the Gear Live newsletter for our top stories, early access to gadget giveaways!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Internet,

We post a lot of great stories every day here at Gear Live, and we realize that it's hard to catch them all, every day. That's why we offer our Gear Live newsletter, bringing you the best of Gear Live directly in your inbox each evening, and you can subscribe here. Oh, and we also announce all of our giveaways in the newsletter before we do here on the site, allowing our subscribers a head start.

Each day, we collect the best Gear Live stories and send them to you so you can take a peek when your day is done and you finally have a little breathing room, with links to our other recent stories so you can read more, if you choose.

If you're the social type and prefer to keep up with our stories as they happen, we're also available on your social network of choice. Here's how to find us:

Click to continue reading Subscribe to the Gear Live newsletter for our top stories, early access to gadget giveaways!

Leap Motion Controller shipping May 13, available May 19 at Best Buy

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, USB, PC / Laptop,

We're excited for the release of the Leap Motion Controller, and although it's missing the promised Q1 release date, Leap has now given us a specific ship date: May 13th for pre-orders, and May 19th for everyone else. It's now a sure thing, as Best Buy says it will be selling the Leap Motion Controller on May 19th for $80. If you're ready to get your gestures on, the 10-week countdown is now on.

Read More | Leap Motion