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KFC expands its Beyond Meat test to Charlotte and Nashville
You knew KFC would expand its test of plant-based "chicken" when the Atlanta pilot sold out in five hours, and that expansion is close at hand. The fast food chain has announced that it'll widen the Beyond Fried Chicken test to restaurants in the Charlotte and Nashville areas between February 3rd and February 23rd "while supplies last." Charlotte-area residents can expect the meat substitutes at 19 locations in both Charlotte proper and surrounding towns like Denver and Salisbury, while people in the Nashville region can visit no less than 47 restaurants, most of them in surrounding cities.
Verizon 5G goes live in parts of Miami and five other cities
If it wasn't already clear that Verizon (Engadget's parent company) is in a rush to meet its 5G coverage goals, it is now. The carrier has switched on 5G in parts of six cities, including Miami, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Grand Rapids, Greensboro and Spokane. As with earlier deployments, though, you shouldn't expect far-reaching access. Miami's access, for example, is limited to parts of downtown along Biscayne Boulevard as well as landmarks like American Airlines Arena, Hard Rock Stadium and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G is available for pre-order at Verizon
Verizon (Engadget's parent company) has opened pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. You'll need access to 5G connections to get the most out of the device of course, so the provider has also named 20 more cities in which it will turn on its mobile 5G network this year.
AT&T expands its 5G network to North Carolina and Oklahoma City (updated)
AT&T's mobile 5G network will expand to three new cities this year. Folks in two of North Carolina's biggest population centers -- Charlotte (above) and Raleigh -- and those in Oklahoma City will have access to the faster wireless signal. Previously, it announced Atlanta, and Dallas and Waco in Texas. "We're deliberately launching with a mix of big and mid-sized cities," AT&T said in a press release. "All Americans should have access to next-gen connectivity to avoid a new digital divide."
Walmart expands grocery delivery with help from Postmates
Can't make it to one of Walmart's pickup towers to snag your online grocery order? Don't worry: Now you can have it delivered via Postmates. And it all sounds pretty simple, too. Either place your order via the Walmart website or grocery app and then pick a delivery window. There's a $30 minimum and a $9.95 delivery fee per order, which isn't too awful. There's even a promo that first-time customers can take advantage of that waives their first delivery fee.
Facebook's Safety Check was activated by protesters in Charlotte
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company was working on a way for users to activate its Safety Check feature back in August. During this week's protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, users of the social network employed the feature for the first time without the social network flipping the switch itself. Facebook confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it didn't activate the feature and this was the first time Safety Check was used during a protest.
TWC boosts its internet speeds to counter Google Fiber
It's amazing what the addition of a little competition into a natural monopoly can do. Google announced in January that it would be bringing high-speed Fiber to Charlotte, North Carolina. It didn't take long for Time Warner Cable, the (only) local cable/internet provider in that city, to increase its own broadband internet speed by up to 600 percent. The program, called "TWC Maxx" will be a 100 percent digital network meaning that every television channel will be in HD. Since each analog channel takes up three to four times as much bandwidth as a digital one, eliminating them will free up a significant amount of space. TWC plans to use that space to increase its broadband internet speeds at no additional charge to its customers.
Google Fiber is (possibly) heading to North Carolina
North Carolina residents might soon see Google Fiber vans driving down the streets. According to several publications, Mountain View has invited local Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham officials to a super secret "Save the Date" event on Wednesday, January 28th. The email invitation is reportedly devoid of any pertinent information, aside from the date, time and the promise that there will be "more details to come." While it could be for a completely different service, there's a reason why local authorities would think it's all about Fiber: Google has long named those locations as next possible sites for its Gigabit internet offering.
Sprint leak reportedly has LTE reaching Los Angeles, 20 other markets on April 12th (update)
Sprint has been teasing for weeks that its LTE network would soon launch in Los Angeles. If a fresh leak from Phone Arena proves true, we may at last be down to the final hours before the Now Network officially flicks the switch for those Angelenos -- and a good chunk of the US population, for that matter. The staff memo reportedly has LTE formally launching in 21 markets on April 12th, with LA being joined by larger cities across the US like Charlotte, Memphis, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News. Its schedule also has a number of sizable cities joining the mix across 10 states, with multi-city expansions on the way in California, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and (as you likely noticed) Virginia. Although the faster 4G service still won't be ubiquitous on Sprint if the rollout goes ahead as claimed, the expansion could be a very convenient complement to the HTC One launch. Update: Much like San Francisco, LA will be something of a soft launch: Sprint has noted that bits and pieces of the LTE network are in testing.
Time Warner Cable starts rolling out lightly refreshed guide with new color scheme, cloud VOD search
While it's definitely good news that Time Warner Cable is revisiting its Navigator guide again, the bad news is that at least in terms of appearance, very little has changed. The screenshots above show the old guide (left) next to the new one (right) and as you can see, other than a color scheme adjustment to match its new apps, things are almost entirely the same. In terms of functional adjustments, names have changed for some of the menus, and now the A button on the remote pulls up channels listed by category, the B button searches by title and the select button lets you know if features like Start Over, Look Back or VOD are available. According to CED Magazine, the guide's (slight) facelift also goes hand in hand with a new cloud-based video on-demand portal that includes with richer graphics and metadata, as a prelude to more cloud-provided navigation and IPTV set-top boxes. So far we're seeing notes that the new guide is being delivered in Syracuse and Charlotte, if you haven't received it yet Time Warner Cable says it will be running newspaper ads ahead of the change in each area -- people still read newspapers, right? Update: We're told that another new feature of the update is the ability to filter out any channels you want from the guide. Check one box on the Ben-o-vision form.
Apple staffer reportedly stole $16K worth of iPhones
When I worked in retail, I quickly learned all about "loss prevention," which is the program that most retailers undertake to try and (you guessed it) prevent loss or theft of product at whatever store they're running. Customer theft is obviously an issue anywhere you have merchandise sitting out in public, but an even bigger issue, surprisingly, is employee theft. And Apple isn't immune: Recently, an employee allegedly stole up to 25 phones at an Apple Store in Charlotte, North Carolina. The phones were taken out of a back room over about a month and a half in December and January, with the employee apparently just taking them out of the store. The total value of the property stolen was $16,000. The article in the local paper doesn't say if the police have found the thief yet, though presumably Apple would have all of their information. (The employee in question "had access to the Genius room," but may or may not have been a Genius Bar team member.) At the retail stores I worked at (GameStop and then Borders for a while), employees would have to go through "bag checks" every day, to make sure they weren't walking out of the store with product. I don't know about Apple's policies specifically (though I'll bet employees could fill us in on the comments below), but whatever measures were in place, it appears this employee was able to get around them. [via MacRumors]
Google Offers expands to five new locales, hipsters in Portland nonchalantly recall being first
Despite Mountain View's efforts to the contrary, neither Google Wallet nor Offers, have yet to set the payment sector alight. That doesn't mean the search giant's throwing in the towel, as it vehemently expands the latter into five additional cities here in the United States. Residents of Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa will soon be able to participate in all sorts of discounted debauchery, joining bargain-hunters in the service's existing 33 locales. Those eager ought to hit the source links to begin, but before leaving, regale us with an outrageous tale involving a discount in the comments below.
AT&T expanding LTE to 15 markets on November 20th
AT&T started out small, but it made a promise to blanket 15 cities with LTE by the end of the year, and by golly, it's going to keep it. In its press release announcing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, it also mentioned six additional markets to be graced by the super-fast speeds on November 20th. So by this time next week, customers in Charlotte, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis and San Juan, Puerto Rico will be able to make their HTC Vivid, Jetstream and Samsung Skyrocket go a-blazin'. New York City? Sorry, not this round, but we're making progress. Check out the press release tidbit after the break.
Three more Apple Stores open their doors this Saturday
Last weekend, Apple opened three new Apple Stores. Apple plans on opening three more stores this Saturday, well on the way to opening a total of 30 new retail outlets between July and September. According to ifoAppleStore, two new stores will open in the U.S. and one in France. The "Natural State," Arkansas, gets its first Apple Store on Saturday at The Promenade at Chenal in Little Rock. The store was originally scheduled for an October opening, but the construction apparently went into warp drive, allowing for an earlier debut. The other new American store is the second in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Northlake Mall store (not to be confused with the SouthPark store on the other side of Charlotte) is the fifth Apple Store in the state. The new French store is the eighth in the country, and the fourth in the Paris metro area. The Careé Sénart store is located in Sénart to the southeast of Paris. The U.S. openings leave Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Vermont as the only states without Apple Stores.
Electronic Arts opening EA Sports retail store in Charlotte airport
It's a situation that the non-sporting chapter of the games community is likely familiar with -- you stop by your local GameStop on an early fall evening to grab a copy of some non-athletic title therein, but are prevented from crossing the building's threshold by an impenetrable wall of Madden enthusiasts. We've got great news for folks living in the vicinity of the Charlotte Douglas International Airport: EA plans to open an EA Sports retail location in said airport's terminal, potentially limiting your run-ins with prospective wedgie-executors. News of the store's construction came from EA Sports VP of brand marketing Chris Erb, who told Forbes the megapublisher hopes the retail location will be the first of three stores opening across the nation. No details were given on where the other two locations will be planted, but we suggest they take their business to a place that's a little more accessible than an airport terminal. You know, like literally any other place on the planet.
Apple's North Carolina data center now visible on Google Earth
Apple's humongous data center in North Carolina is now visible on Google Earth and Google Maps satellite view. You can see the entire building and two roads leading in and out of the compound. Oddly, there is no space for on-site employee parking, at least not yet. An eagle-eyed reader picked out at least one parking lot on the south side of the building for about 80 cars. There may be more. The high-res image of the nearly completed compound just happened to appear the same day Apple confirmed its iCloud service would be unveiled at WWDC next week. Is this timing merely coincidental, or did Apple persuade Google to withhold its latest satellite imagery until Tuesday's press release was released?
Local TV station visits Apple's data center
A Fox affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina took a closer look at Apple's new data center in the town of Maiden. The news story and accompanying video is rife with speculation about the intended usage of this 500,000 square-foot building. Once you get past the references for Apple's supposed "Netflix-Killer" video streaming service, a rumor kicked off by analyst Peter Misek of Jefferies and Company, the video has some shots of the data center and pithy facts about the land Apple occupies. The short video takes a quick tour of the land around the center and the extensive amount of property that Apple owns. Besides the 180 acres on which the data center sits, the Cupertino company also owns 70 acres right across the street. The data center only takes up one-third of the 180 acre plot, and with over 190 combined acres of land available, some are speculating Apple may be looking to build an East Coast campus. Locals are certainly enthusiastic about this rumored opportunity. "I'm ready to get the phone call and to proceed with building anything they want," said Scott Millar, President of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation. Read on to watch the video from the Charlotte news team. [Via Apple 2.0/Fortune]
Panasonic, Charlotte Motor Speedway team up for the biggest HD screen ever
It's been a bad week for Jerry Jones. Not only are the Cowboys 0-2, but Panasonic and Charlotte Motor Speedway have announced plans to take away his record for the largest HD video screen anywhere. Scheduled to debut in May 2011, the 720p, 16,000 sq ft (200 feet wide, 80 feet tall, 165,000 lbs, more specs are in the press release after the break) LED video wall will be installed along the backstretch between turns 2 and 3 at the race track allowing fans seated on the frontstretch to still see drivers shake and bake all the way around the track. A quick perusal of Wikipedia's list of top videoboards reminds of former contenders for the title -- massive screens at stadiums hosting the Kansas City Royals, Tokyo horse racing, Longhorns football and Miami Dolphins will all drop one more notch on the list.
iPhone 4 launch: Line photos from Charlotte, NC
Reader David Platt is waiting in line for an iPhone 4 like so many others this morning. He sent in some photos from the South Park Apple Store in Charlotte, North Carolina. David tells us that he arrived in line at 5:30 AM and found "...a little under 1,000 people in line." Wow. When you look at the gallery, note that the line stretches through the parking garage. David says that about 150 people were let in at a time. At least you're under cover, Charlotte! It's raining elsewhere.
Sprint lights up WiMAX in NC, Chicago and Dallas, launches subsidized Mini 10
Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Or better yet, when a leaked roadmap doesn't get delayed in the slightest? After months upon months of waiting, broadband-lovin' citizens in the North Carolina Triangle and Triad will be celebrating alongside DFW residents and Chicago natives as Sprint's 4G WiMAX service rolls into town. As of right now (that's today, junior), consumers in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Charlotte, NC; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas and Chicago, Illinois can roll into a Sprint store and snag a U300 3G / 4G WWAN modem on a $69.99 monthly data plan. We're told that San Antonio and Austin will get lit up later this month, while Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Salem, Oregon and Seattle, Washington will join the fray before 2010. Oh, and did we mention that Palm's favorite carrier finally snagged itself a WWAN-equipped netbook? 'Cause the Dell Mini 10 is available starting today for $199.99 at select Sprint stores in the metropolitan Baltimore area. Update: Looks like Sprint changed "Baltimore" to "Bay Area." Odd. Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triangle Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triad Read - Sprint WiMAX in Charlotte, NC Read - Sprint WiMAX in Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX Read - Sprint WiMAX in Chicago, IL Read - Sprint's first netbook is Dell Mini 10
