Communications

T-Mobile and Verizon Communications are in discussions to carve up U.S. Cellular, one of the country’s last major regional wireless carriers, in separate transactions that would give both buyers access to valuable airwaves. 

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin loved pulling pranks, so much so they began rolling outlandish ideas every April Fools’ Day not long after starting their company more than a quarter century ago. One year, Google posted a job opening for a Copernicus research center on the moon. Another year, the company said it planned to roll out a “scratch and sniff” feature on its search engine.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is going to begin rolling out audio and video calls for non-paying users.

Elon Musk, owner of the platform, shared the news several weeks ago that they would begin rolling out the feature to all users “as soon as we are confident that it is robust.”

The company launched the audio and video feature for paying subscribers who use iOS. It offered subscribers the option to call other people through the app. Android users also were provided the feature earlier this year, Engadget reported.

Thousands of Americans reported issues with their phone service Thursday morning, though it appears to be hitting AT&T customers the hardest.

According to Downdetector, more than 49,000 AT&T users reported an outage as of 7:20 a.m. ET. That’s up more than 50% from when the spike in reports began around 4:30 a.m. Around 2,900 Verizon and 1,200 T-Mobile customers also reported problems.

Soros Fund Management is positioned to become the biggest shareholder of Audacy Inc. when the radio and podcast company emerges from bankruptcy.

The investment firm founded by billionaire George Soros has scooped up more than $400 million of Audacy’s highest-ranking debt, bankruptcy court filings show. That makes it by far the biggest member of a group of lenders planning to swap their loans for stock in the broadcaster.

The poor state of Beijing’s communications with Washington is making some U.S. officials nostalgic for the Cold War, when shared rules kept the peace with Moscow.

What the world needs now is a new Cold War.

Yes, you read that right.

And jarring though it will sound to those who remember Cold War I, it is that thought that is motivating intensified U.S. efforts to prevent a contentious relationship with China from becoming steadily – perhaps dangerously – worse.

The influential American Medical Association (AMA) on Wednesday criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) revision of guidelines for quarantine and claimed it is confusing.

Last week, the CDC reduced its recommended quarantine time from 10 days to 5 days for people who have asymptomatic COVID-19. On Tuesday, the agency reaffirmed its decision and said most transmission of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, occurs early on during the infection.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a telebriefing.

Director Rochelle Walensky presided, along with two career scientists. The substance was notable — updated COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools.

But even more notable was the fact that the briefing was happening at all.

It was the first such briefing in months, despite the ongoing pandemic crisis.

Two days before Christmas, with the Omicron variant driving a near-vertical rise in new coronavirus cases, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted the White House that she planned to recommend that people infected with the virus isolate for five days instead of 10.

Searching the expansive property for a location that wouldn’t be too ostentatious, college student Maria Visone was attempting to find the shabbiest angle in her parents’ penthouse to Zoom into class from, sources confirmed Thursday. “Maybe I can kind of just point it against this corner and no one will see the home movie theater,” said Visone, who had reportedly ruled out the great room because of the obvious noise from the water feature as well as the downstairs guest bathroom due to the French windows showcasing the Golden Gate Bridge.