Over the weekend, AT&T agreed to purchase Time Warner for over $80 billion, making it one of the biggest telecom deals ever, and yet another example of consolidation in an industry already full of it.
This will have implications beyond the cynical view you made already have of big-wig executives rolling around in piles of money. For you, this will mean more zero-rating, as companies like AT&T attempt to incentivize you to sign up for yet more expensive wireless plans with promises of content — content that will stream and look its best on the AT&T network.
Beyond that, it means more exclusives: with AT&T buying Time Warner, it means owning HBO, and with it the treasure trove of current and back catalogues that is the current envy of the entire media business. Imagine HBO Now only available to AT&T customers. OK, that's unlikely to happen, but consider this: HBO holding the newest episode of Game of Thrones as an exclusive to AT&T customers for, say, three days.
Would that push you over the edge?
The Note line lives
So the Note 8 will be a thing, as we learned in a roundabout way from Samsung earlier today. The company says that it will offer substantial discounts to those who want to buy a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy Note 8 when they debut in spring and late summer of next year, respectively. The deal is only available to those who exchanged the Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, as was the most common trade-in. More
There will be lawsuits
Samsung is gearing up to fight a number of class action lawsuits in its home country over the Note 7 debacle, Bloomberg reports. These are the first of what is believed to be a worldwide revolt against the company. Samsung has taken heat in its home country, with activist investors using the disruption to call for a breakup of the company's family-run executive team. More
Smartwatch sales are steadily declining
IDC released a report today on the state of the smartwatch market. Its findings include sales of both Android Wear devices and the Apple Watch. Sales have declined about 51.6% since last year. Manufacturers managed to sell only 2.7 million units in the third-quarter of this year, compared to the 5.6 million units that shipped in the third-quarter of 2015.
Despite the grim news for wearables enthusiasts, IDC also tallied up the top five smartwatch vendors. They are Apple, Garmin, Samsung, Lenovo, and Pebble.
Samsung launches the Galaxy Tab A with dockable S-Pen
Bummed about the Galaxy Note 7 recall because you really wanted the S-Pen? Would you settle for a mid-range tablet instead? Samsung just announced the Galaxy Tab A, a 10.1-inch tablet with a dockable S-pen. It runs on an Exynos 7870 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 7,300 mAh battery. It also offers expandable storage, which you'll need because this tablet only offers a measly 16GB of onboard storage. The Galaxy Tab A will be on sale October 28 for $350.
Take a stab at reviving your old Galaxy Nexus with Android 7.1
Tinkerers, here's a fun project for you if you've got a Galaxy Nexus laying around. The Unlegacy-Android project released a ROM at XDA Developers that makes Android 7.1 work on the four-year-old Samsung-made device. However, the ROM isn't an entirely perfect version of Nougat as there appear to be issues with GPS and mobile data, as well as problems connecting to any 5GHz Wi-Fi connection.
Google partners with Visa and MasterCard to make online shopping better
Google announced that they have struck a deal with Visa and MasterCard that will bring Android Pay to websites that use Visa Checkout or MasterPass for a smoother and easier checkout. Once you've linked your Visa Checkout or MasterPass account with Android Pay, you can use your Google credentials to also pay in stores with your phone. More
Evernote adds app shortcuts in Nougat
Evernote is one of the first Android apps to add support for app shortcuts on Android 7.1 Nougat, which has rolled out to the Google Pixel and, as a developer preview, to the Nexus 5X and 6P. App shortcuts make it easy to perform actions from the home screen or app drawer without navigating menus within the app.
Time Warner has accepted an acquisition offer by AT&T for $85.4 billion
Things are going to get worse before they get better.
That's it from us today. See you tomorrow, y'all!
