AT&T-Mobile

Credit: Robert X. Cringely

AT&T is now acquriring T-Mobile for $39 billion. The fusing of the two will result in the US’s largest carrier, although the complete process will take a good year to go through. I suppose AT&T won’t have to worry too much about people unlocking to go to T-Mobile anymore, although I’m definitely curious to see how the buyout affects the quality of service. It’s a little concerning that AT&T wasn’t investing $39 billion in quantifiably bettering their network, although, granted, the acquisition won’t be in straight cash.

AT&T brings the hammer down on tetherers

It’s bad news for all of those out there running MyWi on jailbroken iPhones – AT&T is finally catching on. They’re sending out messages to tetherers letting them know they’ll have a plan added if they don’t stop. It’s interesting to see this start to happen right as the T-Mobile acquisition was announced; I’m curious if there’s some undisclosed agreement that AT&T would do this, or if they just decided to start cleaning up the network. Or make up for the $39 billion dent in their bank account.

IE9

Figured I'd stick with the Death Star meme.

In a vast improvement from IE6, Microsoft’s newly released IE9 is hitting the presses, being downloaded roughly 27 times per second. I’ve stayed as far away as possible from Internet Explorer in my entire life, but after giving IE9 a spin in a virtual machine, I actually don’t hate it. The user interface places lots of emphasis on the actual website; the browser seems to fade away. But regardless of how much improvement Microsoft’s made, it’s as much of a branding issue as it is a technical issue.

Full feature film promoted on BitTorrent

This is plain awesome. Paramount Pictures is actually leveraging BitTorrent in a positive way to get a new movie, Tunnel, out to the masses. They’re taking donations from individuals across the web, and will publish a torrent free of charge when production’s completed. I’m surprised at how easily  Paramount’s going along with this, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.