Tag Archives: smartphone plans

Weekly output: 5G patents, Shazam suggests local concerts, quantum computing, smartphone plans, Mark Vena podcast, Russian hacking

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This event treated me to not one but two conferences in D.C.–Satellite 2022 at the convention center, then ShmooCon at the Washington Hilton. I can’t remember when I last used Capital Bikeshare every workday in a week, but it can’t have been more recently than 2019.

Patreon readers got a bonus this week: a recap of my attempt to figure out how a reader’s wife’s browsing activity could have landed a PayPal promotional e-mail in his inbox.

3/22/2022: USPTO study: Everyone’s a winner in 5G patents, Light Reading

I wrote a couple of quick posts last week for my telecom trade-pub client to cover for an editor finally taking a vacation. This one poked yet another hole in the useless “race to 5G” trope.

Screenshot of story as seen in Safari on an iPad; it's illustrated with a photo of a band on stage3/22/2022: Shazam Now Suggests Nearby Concerts, PCMag

Writing this post about how the Apple-owned song-identification app will now show nearby concerts of the artists it recognizes made me miss seeing bands play live. By which I mean, seeing bands play live at Iota.

3/23/2022: Telecom needs to get ready for quantum computing, report warns, Light Reading

I don’t usually write about quantum computing, so this was a neat departure from the usual.

3/24/2022: The Best Cell Phone Plans, Wirecutter

The latest update to the guide that I started working on more than eight years ago covers 5G improvements at AT&T and Verizon, updates to Verizon’s unlimited offerings, and advice about 3G shutdowns at the big three carriers.

3/24/2022: S02 E13 – SmartTechCheck Podcast, Mark Vena

I used my part of this industry analyst’s podcast (also available in video form) to talk about the space-tourism possibilities I heard about at Satellite 2022.

3/25/2022: Department of Justice Reminds Us Russian Hackers Are a Serious Threat, PCMag

The DOJ’s unsealing of two indictments returned last year against Russian government employees came with a reminder to U.S. companies to step up their  own security efforts. Conveniently enough, two ShmooCon speakers had talked the night before about Washington’s latest attempts to warn American firms about Russian hacking, so I ended the post by quoting them.

Updated 3/29/2022 to add the Wirecutter update that had escaped my attention (by which I mean a Google search Sunday for mentions of my name in the last week didn’t surface it). 

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Weekly output: smartphone plans, online misinformation, Twitter perceptions, SpaceX Starship, cord cutting stats, online-privacy bill

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I have a short workweek followed by my first family-reunion Thanksgiving in two years.

Patreon readers got an extra post this week: a look at my attempts to ensure that the panels on which I speak aren’t filled out by people who look more or less like me.

Wirecutter phone-plans guide, as seen in Chrome on a Pixel 3a Android phone11/15/2021 The Best Cell Phone Plans, Wirecutter

This update–the first substantial revision to this guide since the summer of 2020–should not have taken this long, but it’s been a trying year for everybody.

11/15/2021: How Do You Combat Online Misinformation? Katie Couric, Prince Harry Have Some Ideas, PCMag

I wrote about a report on online misinformation from an unusual group of experts.

11/15/2021: We Read Twitter for Entertainment, Trust It for News (Unless We Vote Republican), PCMag

This post covered a pair of Pew Research Center studies about people’s attitudes towards Twitter. The most susprising finding: how many Twitter users misunderstood their own privacy settings.

11/18/2021: Elon Musk’s Starship rocket may launch to orbit in January, Fast Company

The SpaceX founder was scheduled to speak for 30 minutes but spent more than twice as much time at this virtual National Academy of Science meeting. I could have filed a vastly longer story, but I didn’t want to write myself into a bad per-word rate.

11/18/2021: Cord Cutting’s Latest Toll: 1.34 Million Legacy Pay-TV Subscribers Gone, PCMag

I decided to write up this report on pay-TV subscriptions by comparing the numbers involved to cities. Hence: “The top seven cable operators combined to lose 700,500 subscribers, a figure you may find easier to visualize as ‘almost the population of Denver’.”

11/19/2021: Who Owns Your Data? Calif. Congresswomen Try Again With Online Privacy Act, PCMag

The Online Privacy Act reintroduced by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D.-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D.-Calif.) seems to get a lot of things right, but it lands in a Congress that seems singularly incapable of passing even incremental privacy upgrades.

Weekly output: wireless service, Gmail phishing, social-media disinformation, DNA tests

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I spent most of this week in Las Vegas for the Black Hat and first DEF CON security conferences. I knew Black Hat from last year, but covering its sponsor-free, community-run counterpart for the first time left me feeling overwhelmed at how much of it I’d missed after just the first day. The Flickr album I posted earlier today may give you a sense of that fascinating chaos.

8/7/2019: The Best Cell Phone Plans, Wirecutter

This update took longer than I thought it would, but it now benefits from a simpler set of usage estimates that better align with how much data most people use. This guide also features new recommendations for value-priced service and shared-usage plans.

Fast Company Gmail-phishing post8/8/2019: We keep falling for phishing emails, and Google just revealed why, Fast Company

I wrote up a Black Hat talk that revealed new insights about why people fall for phishing e-mails and reinforced old advice about the importance of securing essential accounts with the right kind of two-step verification.

8/9/2019: Fake calculations… an electronic weapon in the hands of autocratic government, Al Jazeera

I took part in an episode of AJ’s “From Washington” show with Ryan Grim of the Intercept and my former congressman Jim Moran (D.-Va.), discussing disinformation campaigns on social media. At one point, Moran paused to say “Ryan and Rob are extremely intelligent and informative,” which I trust was equally effusive overdubbed into Arabic. The conversation later pivoted to the political scenario in Sudan, a topic I am maybe as prepared to discuss as any regular reader of the Washington Post’s A section.

8/10/2019: DNA Test Kits: Everything You Need to Know, Tom’s Guide

In this first post for a new client, I went about 2,000 words into the weeds on the privacy, legal and mental-health risks of taking DNA tests that may create facts you’d wish you could uncreate. That’s not my last post on DNA testing for Tom’s Guide, so if you have questions I didn’t get to in this feature, please ask away.