Google is making a fresh foray into mobile communications with today's launch of Allo, a messaging app that it hopes will stand out in a crowded field thanks to built-in artificial intelligence and search functionality. Allo will automatically suggest replies based on the conversation, show nearby restaurants if you're making dining plans and allow searches for things like movie times or directions from within the app.
[Kurt Wagner | Recode]
AT&T will begin testing a new broadband technology next year called AirGig that it says can deliver multi-gigabit wireless broadband using existing power lines — not by running through the lines, but by transmitting data via the radio waves that propagate along the lines. Commercial development is still several years away.
[Ina Fried | Recode]
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts confirmed that the company will launch its own cell service in mid-2017, using airwaves leased from Verizon and taking advantage of its 15 million Wi-Fi hotspots to carry much of the traffic.
[Shalini Ramachandran and Ryan Knutson | Wall Street Journal]
The nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica took a look at the way Amazon displays price comparisons for various products, and the bottom line is this: If you're not an Amazon Prime member and you don't plan on spending $49 or more on your order, scroll the results carefully. Products sold by Amazon or from third-party merchants that participate in its shipping service are ranked without the shipping cost added; with shipping factored in, cheaper options may be farther down the list.
[Jason Del Rey | Recode]
Samsung says 500,000 replacement Galaxy Note 7 devices will be available starting today at U.S. retailers and carriers to exchange for the units that have been recalled for dangerous battery overheating. Samsung says 25 percent of the one million or so original units sold in the U.S. have been exchanged so far, and a software update will nag those still using the defective version to power down and make the swap.
[Chris Welch | The Verge]
