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Bounty Hunter Successfully Tracked Down a Phone

Andrew Orr ·

AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile sell access to customers’ location data. As an experiment, Joseph Cox paid a bounty hunter to locate a phone, and it worked.

The bounty hunter did this all without deploying a hacking tool or having any previous knowledge of the phone’s whereabouts. Instead, the tracking tool relies on real-time location data sold to bounty hunters that ultimately originated from the telcos themselves, including T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint, a Motherboard investigation has found. These surveillance capabilities are sometimes sold through word-of-mouth networks.

The technology apparently works on all mobile networks, but there was some issue with Verizon. Shady practices like this are why we need an American GDPR, as well as a better FCC.

CES – Netgear’s Nighthawk AX12 Brings Wi-Fi 6 and Enhancements to Wi-Fi 5
Cool Stuff Found

CES - Netgear's Nighthawk AX12 Brings Wi-Fi 6 and Enhancements to Wi-Fi 5

Dave Hamilton ·

Netgear took the opportunity Monday at the CES Pepcom event to show off its latest dual-band router, the Nighthawk AX12. Billed as a 12-stream router, this device includes some significant Wi-Fi enhancements over its predecessors. First, of course, is support for 802.11ax, a.k.a. Wi-Fi 6. This operates over the same 5GHz band as Wi-Fi 5 (a.k.a. 802.11ac), but uses OFDMA signaling to fit more bandwidth into the spectrum. Full utilization will require Wi-Fi 6-compatible clients, and nothing from Apple currently supports that. However, this 5GHz radio also supports Wi-Fi 5, and has a couple of benefits: first, with 8 streams for that antenna your chances of getting connected to the best streams double over even the top-end routers out there. Second, the Nighthawk AX includes the very latest Wi-Fi chipset which now truly supports full, 160MHz connections, delivering real-world speed and range increases to existing Wi-Fi 5 devices. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we expect it to be north of $400. Interested users can sign up to learn more through NETGEAR’s upcoming Premier Beta program.

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CES Organizer Thinks Sex Toys are Immoral and Obscene

Andrew Orr ·

It seems as though the CTA had a problem with a sex toy. Company Lora DiCarlo planned to present its product, but its award was revoked and the company had to remove its exhibit.

But after ranking high enough and winning the designation, Lora DiCarlo was apparently told that its product didn’t comply with the rules. The show’s and award’s organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, allegedly cited rules saying products that are “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image will be disqualified.” It then backtracked and said the product simply didn’t fit in the robotics and drones category.

TMO Deals

Truebill 1-Year Subscription: $19.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on Truebill, a budgeting app. Truebill connects to your accounts and gives you a complete picture of your finances. It will help you manage (and cancel) unwanted subscriptions, allow you to view your cash, credit, and investment balances, gives you reports, and more. Our deal is for a one-year subscription for $19.99. There’s a three-year option on the deal listing, too.

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Here's How Many AirPlay 2 TVs There Are

Andrew Orr ·

Apple shared a full list of the number of AirPlay 2 TVs so far in the market. They include LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio TVs.

LG OLED (2019); LG NanoCell SM9X series (2019); LG NanoCell SM8X series (2019); LG UHD UM7X series (2019); Samsung QLED Series (2019 and 2018); Samsung 8 Series (2019 and 2018); Samsung 7 Series (2019 and 2018); Samsung 6 Series (2019 and 2018); Samsung 5 Series (2019 and 2018); Samsung 4 Series (2019 and 2018); Sony Z9G Series (2019); Sony A9G Series (2019); Sony X950G Series (2019); Sony X850G Series (2019 85″, 75″, 65″ and 55″ models); Vizio P-Series Quantum (2019 and 2018); Vizio P-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017); Vizio M-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017); Vizio E-Series (2019, 2018 and 2017); Vizio D-series (2019, 2018 and 2017).