Category: Technology

T-Mobile to offer $15 phone plan, free 5G service, other freebies to remove hurdle on Sprint merger deal

Marivic Cabural Summers

T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) announced three big plans that are beneficial to consumers if its merger with Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) closes as expected next year. The $26 billion T-Mobile-Sprint merger already obtained approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). However, it is still facing a legal challenge from a coalition of state attorneys general, who believe that the deal will reduce competition and is harmful to consumers. On Thursday, T-Mobile used its Un-carrier event to make a compelling case about the merger by unveiling…

Read More

Apple pledges $2.5 billion to help California resolve the housing shortage

Marivic Cabural Summers
Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses company's land in San Jose for affordable housing

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced that it is committing $2.5 billion to help California resolve the housing shortage, which is impacting Californians in many ways. Californians are struggling to find affordable housing. As a result, some are forced to make the difficult decision to leave and move to another state where it is cheaper to rent or buy a home. Others end up living in their vehicles or worse in shelters. On Monday, Apple noted that “nearly 30,000 people left San Francisco between April and June this year and the…

Read More

FTC shuts down stalking apps developer Retina-X Studios

Dan-Reina Aquino

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against Retina-X Studios, owner and developer of stalking apps that compromise the privacy and security consumers’ mobile devices. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that Retina-X and its owner James Johns developed three stalking apps called MobileSpy, PhoneSheriff, and TeenShield. These apps monitored mobile devices on which they were installed. The company sold more than 15,000 subscriptions to all three stalking apps before stopping selling them last year. Consumers bought the apps to monitor their children or employees. The consumer watchdog alleged…

Read More

Telegram faces SEC lawsuit for allegedly conducting unregistered digital token offering

Dan-Reina Aquino
SEC-Lawsuit-Telegram

Telegram Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary TON Issuer Inc. are facing a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly conducting an unregistered digital token offering or initial coin offering (ICO). On Friday, the SEC announced that it obtained an emergency restraining order against Telegram, which raised $1.7 billion selling its digital token called Grams in the United States and overseas. In its complaint, the securities regulator alleged that Telegram sold approximately 2.9 billion Grams to 171 initial purchasers worldwide. In the United States 39 investors…

Read More

Equifax settlement includes $425 million fund for consumers affected by data breach

Marivic Cabural Summers

Equifax reached a settlement agreement to resolve a nationwide lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and 50 U.S. states and territories. The complaint was related to the 2017 massive data breach that affected approximately 147 million consumers. Details of the settlement agreement Under the settlement agreement, Equifax will pay up to $700 million to resolve the lawsuit as part of the comprehensive settlement with the FTC, CFPB and 50 U.S. states and territories. The settlement includes $425 million fund for consumers affected…

Read More

Facebook shares drop despite reporting outstanding quarterly results

Marivic Cabural Summers
Facebook

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) reported outstanding first quarter financial results, but its shares fell instead of going up during the extended trading hours on Wednesday. The social network giant’s stock declined 2.5% to $148.01 per share—a sign that investors are concerned about the company’s financial performance in the future. During the first three months of the year, Facebook generated earnings of $1.04 per share, up 7% from $0.60 per share in the year-ago quarter. Its revenue rose 49% from $5.38 billion to $8.03 billion. The social network giant exceeded the $0.87…

Read More

Facebook, Oculus, others to pay ZeniMax $500 million in VR lawsuit

Marivic Cabural Summers

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Oculus together with other defendants were ordered by a jury to pay a combined $500 million to ZeniMax Media in a lawsuit involving its virtual reality (VR) technology. Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion in a cash and stock deal in 2014. The social network giant made the acquisition because its CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that virtual technology would be the next great evolution and Oculus has the potential to become the most social platform. The video game publisher accused Oculus, its founder Palmer Luckey, CEO Brendan…

Read More

Nintendo shares fall as Nintendo Switch pricing disappoints investors

iRebyu Staff

  The stock price of Nintendo Co., Ltd (TYO: 7974) plummeted 5.75% to ¥23,750 in Japan on Friday after the company announced the launching of Nintendo Switch worldwide on March 3. The Japanese game console and software developer is selling the Nintendo Switch for $299.99 in the United States, £278.99 in the United Kingdom, and  ¥29,980 in Japan, higher than the price expected (between $250 and $280) by analysts and investors. Take note that the current retail price of the PlayStation 4 by Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE: SNE) is $260…

Read More

Tesla hires Apple software engineer Chris Lattner to lead its Autopilot team

Marivic Cabural Summers
tesla

Chris Lattner, the project lead of Swift programming language at Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) decided to leave the iPhone maker to join Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA). Lattner announced his departure from the company in a community forum on Tuesday. According to him, he will leave Apple later this month to pursue an opportunity in another space. He wrote that his decision wasn’t easy and “remained completely committed to Swift,” which is used by hundreds of millions of people.  Apple launched Swift in 2014 as its de-facto language for third-party app…

Read More