Tech Today w/ Ken May

AT&T is now accepting smartphone trade-ins as vouchers toward new phone purchases on its network, according to a press release from the company in Monday. Customers who bring in old smartphones can receive “at least $100” off of a new smartphone. Even better, the discounts are stackable, even off-contract. In the event that customers are looking to get a new phone that costs $99.99 or less, a traded-in smartphone will get them that phone for free. Trade-ins can be valued at more than $100 and can be applied immediately to an in-store purchase. Customers may also opt to trade their phone in online, though they will have to wait four weeks for approval and their “Promotion Card” to come in the mail with the credit. In the press release, AT&T does not explicitly state whether the credits apply only to phones that are purchased on a new two-year contract or whether the credits are able to be applied to off-contract purchases. Still, the language of the press release seems to favor that scenario and an AT&T spokesperson told Ars that the trade-in discounts do stack and do not require a new contract. So if you bust up your current phone but complete a scavenger hunt for five functioning old smartphones, you might save yourself a little money. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Anton TwAng Apple is making headlines with rumors of a record-sized bond sale. According to reports, Cupertino is likely taking advantage of historically dirt-cheap interest rates on corporate debt by raising about $17 billion from a series of six types of bond papers. It’s not the largest non-bank bond sale in history, but it does rank near the top. Automaker General Motors raised $17.5 billion in bond financing a decade ago, for example. Then again, GM’s financing arm, then known as GMAC, sort of made a bank out of the car builder. Pharma giants Abbott Laboratories and Roche Holdings also issued $14.7 billion and $16 billion in bond debt fairly recently. Record-level or not, Apple’s sale certainly ranks right up there with the big boys. Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

While yes, the grieving process takes time, if you’re still too busy bemoaning the imminent death of your beloved Google Reader , you’re going to find yourself in a bind when it finally gets put out of its misery later this summer. Replacements abound , and there’s no question that $19 price tag is going to be a turn-off for some. But for those willing to buy their peace of RSS mind, you may have found a winner. Read more…        

Hulu’s future ownership may be in question , but the video streaming site is apparently doing fairly brisk business on the paid subscription front. During an advertiser event this morning, the site announced that it has managed to double its Hulu Plus accounts in the past year, up to four million. The site’s revenue also hit a record for the first quarter of the year, though Hulu’s not giving out any numbers. As with rivals Netflix and Amazon, the company’s making a big bet on original programming, with a number of exclusive series, including the animated The Awesomes and western Quick Draw . Filed under: Home Entertainment Comments Source: The New York Times

For a long time now, our smartphones have been getting more and more, well, smart. They do more things. You probably haven’t beaten your phone at chess in years. And the race to cram increasingly granular, eventually useless, features into them has defined the past few years of phone making. Except the next big waypoint won’t be some technological marvel like week-long battery life . It’s something much simpler: Plain old chat. Read more…        

For a long time now, our smartphones have been getting more and more, well, smart. They do more things. You probably haven’t beaten your phone at chess in years. And the race to cram increasingly granular, eventually useless, features into them has defined the past few years of phone making. Except the next big waypoint won’t be some technological marvel like week-long battery life . It’s something much simpler: Plain old chat. Read more…        

You have a ton of different options for cloud backup services these days. Whether you’re sick of Dropbox, or you happen to have a ton of space on Skydrive you’re not using, Mover is a web app that makes transferring files to a new service simple. Read more…        

According to the Wall Street Journal , Nielsen’s TV ratings are about to get some company, with a system that covers internet watchers . A “Nielsen Digital Program Ratings” pilot program will debut with participation from N BC, Fox, ABC, Univision, Discovery and A&E, tracking the viewership of streaming video they post on their websites. AOL (parent company of Engadget) is also reported to be participating, as the networks compare the data to their internal statistics before the ratings system gets a wider rollout. Of course, even the system they’re testing will only jump so far into the future — while it will track viewing on computers, it’s still leaving out phones and tablets. Networks want to track anywhere content is viewed — one of the issues we’ve been told they have with tech like Aereo or TWC TV — to sell ads against it, we’ll wait for more details to see if they’ll have any success extending the current model to other types of screens. Filed under: Home Entertainment , Internet , HD Comments Source: Wall Street Journal

Oh original iPhone, we’ll miss you. Roughly six years after its public launch, the original iPhone is about to become obsolete—at least in Apple’s eyes. Apple reportedly sent out internal documentation to its support partners, which was then passed on to 9to5Mac , detailing which of its products would no longer be considered current or recent devices as of June 11, 2013. The list doesn’t just include the original iPhone, though: it also includes a number of older iMacs, MacBook Pros, Xserves, and PowerBooks. According to the document , products that are considered obsolete—or perhaps for a more tasteful term, “vintage”—cannot be repaired or receive replacement parts unless they’re in the state of California, “as required by statute.” Californians can continue to get service and parts for their obsolete items through Apple retail stores, but the rest of us are pretty much out of luck. Apple notes that obsolete or vintage products can’t be serviced as mail-in repairs to AppleCare, either. This is pretty standard procedure for Apple; the other products in the list are about as old as the original iPhone, and some of them are even older (there’s a Mac mini on the list from 2005, and don’t even get us started on PowerBooks). All we know is that if you’re still actively using an original iPhone, you must have an amazing tolerance for outdated software and slow hardware. Good on you, but perhaps it’s time to think about an upgrade. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Back in February, Nevada officials rushed through a bill which made interstate online poker legal. Unsurprisingly, people have started taking advantage of the law change—and today sees the launch of Ultimate Poker , America’s first legal, real cash poker site. Read more…