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FordPass dongle adds LTE, WiFi and app control to older cars
Last January, Ford introduced a new gadget it would test in a pilot program that added connected functionality to old cars. The SmartLink plugged into the On-Board Diagnostic-II (OBD-II) port to function as a 4G WiFi hotspot with other features. Today, they're releasing it to the public, and 2010-17 model year Ford vehicles that don't come with modems will be able to buy and use them.
All Ford vehicles will have built-in 4G LTE by 2020
Ford's vision for the future is electric, connectivity and assisted driving. For the Blue Oval company, that means by 2020 its entire lineup will have 4G LTE connectivity and offer Waze navigation by way of AppLink and Sync 3. The former means that all aspects of a vehicle can be updated over the air rather than just the Sync platform. The latter is a bid to make the road safer by decreasing distracted driving that's caused by fumbling with your phone while behind the wheel; all cars with Sync 3 can start using Waze next month. And after studying how people use their trucks, the F-150 will have an available bed-mounted generator for the folks who need to export power on the job-site -- an idea Chevy experimented with on its ZH2 concept truck for the military.
LTE security holes could lead to fake emergency alerts
Vulnerabilities in cellular network technology definitely aren't things of the past. Researchers at Purdue and the University of Iowa have outlined exploits in LTE protocols that would let intruders conduct ten serious attacks, including spying on calls and text messages, tracking locations, knocking devices offline and even faking emergency alerts. Intuders can take advantage of three key protocol tasks (such as attaching a device to the network and maintaining a connection) to conduct authentication relay attacks that not only let them connect to the network without credentials, but masquerade as the victim's device. A hacker could not only compromise the network, but frame someone else for the crime.
Nokia and Vodafone will bring 4G to the Moon
German new-space firm PTScientists has been planning a mission to the Moon for many years now. It has partnered with Audi to produce and deliver two XPrize-winning quattro rovers to the Moon that will explore both the lunar surface and carefully return to the Apollo 17 landing site in 2019. Now the team has partnered with Vodafone and Nokia to create a Moon-based communications network using 4G LTE to bring high-def video of the moon to those of us here on Earth.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon X24 modem will enable 2 Gbps LTE speeds
Even as the race toward real-world 5G picks up steam, LTE technology as it exists will remain crucial for most of us in the next few years. Qualcomm's latest gigabit LTE modem, the X24, can reach speeds of 2 Gbps (where supported by carriers) -- a significant jump from the 1.2 Gbps promised by its predecessor, the X20. And just as that modem was eventually embedded into the Snapdragon 845 chipset announced in December, it's likely that the X24 will be integrated in Qualcomm's next premium mobile chip, which we can expect to power many of next year's flagships. In fact, you can expect it to show up in commercial devices in the first half of 2019, according to the company's announcement video.
EU fines Qualcomm $1.23 billion for abusing Apple partnership
Things just get worse and worse for Qualcomm. The European Commission has fined the company €997 million ($1.23 billion) for "abusing its market dominance" in LTE baseband chipsets. According to the Commission, Qualcomm prevented rivals from competing in the market by making hefty payments to Apple on the condition it wouldn't buy from anywhere else, which is illegal under EU antitrust rules.
Ask Engadget: Is LTE worth it on a smartwatch?
The support shared between readers in the comments section is one of the things we love most about the Engadget community. Over the years, we've known you to offer sage advice on everything from Chromecasts and cameras to drones and smartphones. In fact, our community's knowledge and insights are a reason why many of you participate in the comments. We truly value the time and detail you all spend in responding to questions from your fellow tech-obsessed commenters, which is why we've decided to bring back the much-missed "Ask Engadget" column. This week's question is a quick one about smartwatches enabled with LTE. Weigh in with your advice in the comments -- and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com! Are LTE-enabled smartwatches really worth the extra cost?
All 50 states opt in to AT&T’s FirstNet public safety network
FirstNet, the nationwide broadband network for first responders, will be the official public safety network for all 50 US states. The network has been a very long time coming. Having been initially proposed following the 9/11 attacks, the FCC approved LTE to be the standard on which it would function back in 2011. In March, AT&T was selected by the First Responder Network Authority to build and run the network and in June, the company began sending its plans to state governments for review. States had until yesterday to decide whether they would opt in or out of the program and all 50 decided to approve it. Washington DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands also opted in while American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have until March 12th to make their decisions.
Anyone can buy the Surface Pro with LTE on the Microsoft Store
As Microsoft had previously announced, it began selling Surface Pro models with LTE to business customers only on December 1st. But if consumers want to pick one up, the LTE-equipped commercial 2-in-1 is available for anyone to buy on the Microsoft Store.
Karma's anonymizing LTE hotspot arrives January 15th
Want to keep your internet activity under wraps regardless of what device you're using or where you are? You won't have too much longer to wait. Karma has revealed that its anonymizing Karma Black LTE hotspot will ship on January 15th, with pre-orders open now. Spend $149 ($249 after January 15th), plus $20 per month for security services, and you'll get a portable router that encrypts all your internet traffic while masking your location and other potentially identifying data markers. You can use it to boost the privacy of your home connection, too, and there's the promise of feature expansions that include Tor anonymity network services, antivirus safeguards, ad blocking and parental controls.
GM thinks you'll buy stuff through your car's dashboard
As more cars roll off production lines with WiFi and LTE capabilities as standard, brands are falling over themselves to find ways to monetize this connectivity. Jaguar and Shell have partnered for in-car fuel payments, while BMW and Ford are bringing Alexa to your dashboard. Now, General Motors (GM) has unveiled a new on-board marketplace where drivers can buy coffee and gas, and make restaurant and hotel reservations, without getting out of their car.
EE's next phone will be all glass and cost just over £100
It's been so long since EE launched a new own-brand smartphone, scan its online store and you won't find any handset bearing the carrier's logo on offer. It appears EE is planning to release such a device in the coming weeks, however, just in time to capitalise on the Christmas rush. A little birdie tells us it'll be an entry-level number available for free on cheap contracts, with a pay-as-you-go price of just over £100. (Apologies for the quality of the pictures -- little birdies aren't the best product photographers.) What we know so far is it'll have a 5-inch screen (likely a 720p panel given the price point), an octa-core MediaTek 6755 chip, a 13-megapixel primary camera and an 8MP front-facer.
T-Mobile more than doubles its gigabit LTE availability
At an event today in San Jose, Qualcomm and T-Mobile are getting together to demonstrate the power and speed of gigabit LTE. In conjunction with the event, the self-proclaimed Uncarrier announced that its higher-speed LTE Advanced speeds are now available in more than 920 markets, and, more importantly, that at least 430 of those markets are now gigabit LTE-ready.
Apple Watch Series 3 can stream up to seven hours of music over LTE
Yesterday, Apple released watchOS 4.1, allowing Apple Watch Series 3 users to stream music from their entire iCloud Music Library or through Apple Music rather than limiting them to tunes from playlists synced from their iPhones. And for Watch owners opting into the models with built-in LTE connectivity, the update now allows them to take advantage of these capabilities without having to tote around their iPhones. Now, as MacRumors reports, Apple has released a breakdown of how the Watch Series 3 battery fares during music streaming.
Microsoft's Surface Pro gets LTE Advanced option this December
Microsoft's business customers will be able to get their hands on the Surface Pro with LTE Advanced from December, as rumored earlier this year. In a blog post outlining the company's vision for workplace technology, the company says the release is designed to bring even greater mobility to its Surface Pro line, supporting half of the global workforce which will be mobile by 2020. Boasting a Cat 9 modem, it's the fastest LTE-enabled laptop in its class, supporting 20 cellular bands for global connectivity. There's no specifics on battery life yet, but this year's earlier Surface release promised 13.5 hours while watching video. It's not clear how LTE support will affect that, but if Microsoft's dream of a totally-mobile workplace is anything to go by, it'll have enough juice to let you work comfortably away from the office. The Surface Pro with LTE will ship on December 1 to business customers, with a base model price tag of $1,149.
Now T-Mobile is working with Project Loon in Puerto Rico
Last week AT&T announced it was the first carrier working with Alphabet's balloon-distributed wireless setup in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and now T-Mobile customers have access too. Project Loon started off in the X Labs at Google -- which are now a part of its parent company Alphabet -- and uses balloons floating 20km high in the stratosphere that beam internet to people below. T-Mobile didn't specify which phones are compatible so far, but this should provide daytime access to limited internet service (text messaging, basic web access and email) in areas where the towers are still out. The Team at X tweeted that Project Loon has already delivered access to "tens of thousands" of people in Puerto Rico, and this should add many more to that number. Residents who use it won't necessarily know they're on Project Loon however, since the team says it appears on their just like any other LTE connection.
AT&T's Netgear mobile hotspot promises twice the speed of LTE (updated)
AT&T has just announced the first mobile hotspot router, the Netgear Nighthawk, that can connect to the telecom company's "5G Evolution" network, which AT&T claims offers up to twice the speed of typical 4G LTE. The service is only available in parts of Austin and Indianapolis, and previously only to Samsung S8 users. The Netgear router will cost $50, and you'll need to have at least a $20 per month data plan to use it.
Qualcomm faces $774 million antitrust fine in Taiwan
Qualcomm's antitrust troubles aren't going away any time soon. Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission has fined the company the equivalent of $774 million over claims it abused its dominance of cellular chipsets in phones. The company effectively has a monopoly over CDMA, WCDMA (3G) and LTE chipsets, the Commission said, and it refuses to properly license its technology to others. Accordingly, the penalty will also have Qualcomm submit twice-a-year reports on negotiations with other companies.
T-Mobile pulls advertisement claiming it has the fastest network (updated)
It looks like T-Mobile will no longer be able to claim that its network is faster, newer or better than Verizon's. The National Advertising Division (NAD), part of the Better Business Bureau that reviews advertising for truthfulness, recommended that T-Mobile discontinue advertisements that claim as such. Verizon brought the challenge to the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council in lieu of a court case. NAD says that during the course of its review, T-Mobile discontinued the commercial that featured the claims. (See update below for T-Mobile's explanation below on why the ads were pulled)
Microsoft Surface Pro with LTE could arrive on December 1st
At one of its Ignite sessions yesterday, a Microsoft spokesman disclosed that the LTE Surface Pro would be available for purchase starting December 1st, according to Neowin. Microsoft declined to comment on the date or provide additional details.