Dan Frommer
Blocking T-Mobile’s last big merger turned out great for U.S. consumers. So what’s different now?
Why would the US government want to reduce competitiveness now by letting T-Mobile and Sprint merge? It’s not as if there are many up-and-coming challengers in the market — even Google’s attempts seem half-hearted. (Also, given the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the AT&T-Time Warner merger, it’ll want to eye this deal with the same scrutiny.)
These Cute, Tiny Sensors Will Soon Be Watching You Everywhere
One of the promises of the “Internet of things” is that it will connect the real-world with the virtual. Low-energy Bluetooth beacons are emerging as one of its stronger early technologies.
Estimote, one of the leading beacon startups, just launched new, tiny beacon “stickers,” which it will start selling to developers and hobbyists. Basically a battery and a tiny, low-energy computer, beacons send unique Bluetooth radio pulses, which a mobile device can recognize.
It’s important to note that beacons don’t receive information, so they aren’t actually watching you themselves. To be monitored -- at least how things stand today -- you will first need to install a specific app and give it permission to track your location.