Articles about Verizon

Two days ago, the US House voted to destroy the rights of American web users, essentially putting their privacy up for sale.

Now, as reported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Verizon has announced plans to install software on Android devices that will track which apps customers download and use. This data will be shared with other Verizon companies, including AOL, and used to push targeted ads on you across the internet. If that doesn’t sound all that bad, the EFF points out the ads could be based on things such as "which bank you use and whether you’ve downloaded a fertility app."

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is not going to receive her annual bonus this year as the company punishes her for failing to react quickly enough to a security breach in 2014. Her bonus is to be shared between staff instead.

The security breach, followed by another in 2016 involving the use of forged cookies, meant Yahoo's sale to Verizon had to be renegotiated, slashing millions of dollars from the price. The company has revealed that around 32 million user accounts were accessed using forged cookies, and while this is nothing like the 500 million accounts affected by the 2014 breach, it rocked faith in Yahoo and Mayer felt it best to also pass on her stock award.

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Yahoo's frankly terrible track record with security just cost the company $350 million. Having originally offered to buy the company for $4.83 billion, Verizon has now revealed that it is dropping its offer to $4.48 billion.

The announcement from Verizon comes just days after it was rumored that the company was thinking of lowering its offer by $250 million in the wake of security breaches suffered by Yahoo. The two companies have also agreed to share "certain legal and regulatory liabilities arising from certain data breaches."

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Yahoo -- or, rather, its users -- have not been doing very well recently when it comes to security. Having already revealed details of a huge historic attack that led to the theft of details for millions of accounts, Yahoo is now notifying an unknown number of users that their accounts may have been breached by hackers using forged cookies.

At the same time, Bloomberg is suggesting that the impending deal with Verizon has been renegotiated. The latest revelations coupled with the previous security issues could have just cost Yahoo $250 million.

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Verizon Wireless is the best cellular carrier in the USA. While it is expensive comparatively, you get what you pay for. In my experience, the carrier offers the best coverage and speeds. Not to mention, it has excellent customer service. Unfortunately, Verizon got rid of unlimited data some years back, getting many customers to switch to tiered plans. Some folks, such as yours truly, have been grandfathered into the older unlimited data plan, fearful that one day it would be taken away.

Well folks, today, Verizon announces that not only will it not be removing the grandfathered unlimited plans, it is introducing an even better one. Starting tomorrow, users can have unlimited calling, texting, and data for a mere $80 per month. Families with four lines pay just $45 per month per line. Unlike the older unlimited plan, users can even use tethering too!

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For many mobile laptop users, tethering from their smartphone to get Wi-Fi is a fact of life. While this is convenient, there are some downsides. The data used by the laptop will count against the mobile data allowance, meaning potential data overages. Another pain point is that it can drain your phone's battery.

A good alternative to smartphone tethering is using a separate mobile hotspot. Today, Verizon announces the latest such device for its network -- the MiFi 7730L Jetpack by Novatel Wireless. This product is quite impressive, as it features a color display, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and USB-C storage support. It can even be used as a battery bank to charge your smartphone. Yeah, this thing looks incredible.

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Things are all change at Yahoo. The sale of the company to Verizon appears to be going ahead -- despite a series of setbacks along the way, including a high-profile data breach -- for $4.83 billion, and when the deal does go through, Marissa Mayer will step down from the board.

While many news reports today state that Yahoo is now called (or will be) Altaba, this is not strictly true. Verizon is not buying Yahoo in its entirety; a 15 percent stake in Alibaba and a 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan will live on as an investment company going under the new name of Altaba Inc. Details of the changes are revealed in an SEC filing.

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Yahoo, one of the earliest and brightest dot-coms, is a Hellhole at the close of 2016. It stinks of decay and neglect. The 1 billion active user accounts ravaged by hackers is a metaphor for the trendy neighborhood turned into gang-ridden slum. Verizon was, or maybe still is, buying Yahoo. Walk away, I say, unless Yahoo is willing to pay for the privilege of becoming part of the expanding VZN communications and media empire.

I typically make many changes at the start of the new year, and as 2017 begins, I take my advice offered to Verizon: Abandon Yahoo. First to go is its photo-sharing site, for many of the reasons stated seven months ago. My Flickr Pro account expires in September, and I will cancel a few weeks earlier to prevent auto-renewal. In the meantime, I consider my Flickr officially closed, and I will no longer use it. All photos will remain until the service makes them unavailable—and pursuant to the terms,

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San Diego, Calif. As a general rule I never connect to public WiFi networks, which is fine except when attending an event at a hotel ballroom where T-Mobile cellular is like an apparition dancing around a Halloween grave. So as Wendell Brooks, CEO of Intel Capital, begins his speech, I sit typing narrative offline rather than tweeting live. There’s irony, I suppose, reporting old style, about investments in new innovations.

Welcome to the trials and travails of the Intel Capital Global Summit, which kicks off today and goes through October 26. Looking at the lineup, I expect to hear about newfangled tech that would make news reporting so much easier if available—although 4G cellular data would be good enough for today.

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Whenever a major tragedy hits, there is an immediate need for communication. Whether it is a natural disaster, terrorism, or some sort of accident, friends and family want to confirm the safety of their loved ones. After 9/11, for instance, it was heartbreaking to see people not know the fate of the missing -- quickly connecting people can quell fears and anxieties.

Cellular phones and other technologies can make communication easier, but running out of data or talk minutes can make it useless. After all, if you can't connect to the internet or make/receive calls, what is the point? Some Verizon customers impacted by Hurricane Matthew will not have to worry about this, however, as the cellular provider is giving them unlimited data, text, and talk at no additional charge.

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The newly announced Pixel and Pixel XL caused great interest at the beginning of the week. Described by the company as being "the first phone made by Google inside and out" (even though we know that HTC is involved) you would expect that Android updates would be coming courtesy of Google itself.

If you thought that, you'd be wrong. Possibly. It depends where you buy your Pixel from. Buy it from Google, and Google will indeed be responsible for the update process. Buy it from Verizon -- Google's exclusive US partner -- and Verizon will be the one handling system updates, creating something of a two-tier system.

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Verizon Wireless is what I consider to be the best cellphone carrier in the USA. Yes, it is expensive comparatively, but you get what you pay for. Both coverage and speed is top notch across the country, meaning you should have a solid experience in many places where you travel.

Today, the carrier announces that its LTE is getting much faster. In 461 cities across the USA, it switches on the speedier "LTE Advanced" (LTE-A). Best of all, many existing devices are compatible. Wondering if your phone, tablet, or hotspot can take advantage? Read on for the list.

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After speculation and rumors, the deal has been done. Verizon has stumped up $4.83 billion in cash for Yahoo's operating business, including search, advertising and content.

The acquisition adds an extra one billion monthly active users to Verizon's customer base, and the deal comes just over a year after the company acquired AOL. Verizon's CEO says the company is in a 'highly competitive position' and the deal will 'help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising'.

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The world woke this morning to news that a trunk had been driven through a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France. With 84 people killed and many seriously injured, people around the world are not only shocked and appalled, but also concerned about friends and family in the area.

As has become worryingly common, Facebook today activated its Safety Check feature to allow people in Nice to let those they know that they are safe. In addition to this, Google and a number of phone providers are offering free calls and texts between the US and France.

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Android tablets are rather boring and uneventful nowadays. While the Nexus 9 was great, the 2013 Nexus 7 remains the best such tablet ever. This is a very sad state of affairs for the Android community. Google and manufacturers have just never been able to produce the elusive "iPad killer". Apple's line of tablets remain the best after all these years.

Today, ASUS announces a tablet that actually has me excited. Seriously, I haven't felt this way about an Android tablet in a while. The 7.9 inch LTE-enabled ZenPad Z8 -- which is a Verizon exclusive -- has a hexacore processor, USB Type-C, expandable storage, and Android M. While it may not be the Android tablet that "kills" Apple's tablet, the specs are quite impressive, and the price is amazingly low.

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