The Comunicano Daily for Tuesday March 4th, 2014

 
 
 
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If you couldn't tell that Ellen DeGeneres was pimping for Samsung at the Oscars on Sunday nights telecast, now the jig is up.  To those of us with experience in product placement, it was obvious and one can actually question if $20 million was worth it.-Now on to the news.

 
 


 
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Ellen's preplanned Oscar selfie: a Samsung product placement

Samsung Electronics Co. spent an estimated $20 million on ads to run during breaks in the Academy Awards broadcast on Sunday night. But Samsung may have got more promotional mileage from Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres during the show itself.

 
 

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Make no mistake, drones are a hot topic. They have more application than simply military use. That is why FaceBook is interested in one of the hotter companies in the space. Why? Well imagine an Internet that can bypass the last mile operators….

 
 


 
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Facebook reportedly in talks to acquire drone-making company Titan Aerospace

Facebook just poured $16 billion into acquiring messaging company WhatsApp, and now it seems that the company is considering adding one more company under its umbrella. TechCrunch reports that Facebook is currently in talks to acquire Titan Aerospace, which specializes in drone technology, for roughly $60 million.

 
 

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If you're an Uber user of the black car or taxi like service who has been frustrated by surge pricing, you are about to see some relief.

 
 


 
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What Goes Up Must Come Down: Introducing Surge Drop

Last Monday, in his keynote address to the Launch Festival, our CEO Travis hinted at a new feature that would "help smooth out the demand spike" at busy times for driver-partners and give riders an option for bypassing surge.

 
 

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Skype in the browser was first talked about at an EComm conference a few years back. Now its really coming into play as Microsoft is binding the talk and IM service with Outlook.com, their online consumer email service.

 
 


 
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Microsoft Launches Skype for Outlook.com Worldwide

Microsoft today launched Skype for Outlook.com worldwide, expanding the service that was previously only available to a select few countries. At the same time, the company has added new features and fixed a few bugs in the previous version.

 
 

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The Emergency Broadcast System tones get television viewers attention. But putting them in a movie trailer isn't something the EBS folks took kindly to. The end result-FINES. BIG FINES.

 
 


 
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Cable Channels Hit With Nearly $2 Million Fine for Airing Movie Trailer

Remember the movie "Olympus Has Fallen," the 2013 popcorn flick about a guerrilla assault on the White House that is foiled by a heroic Secret Service agent? No? Viacom, NBCUniversal and ESPN are likely to remember it for years to come, after getting slapped with proposed fines of nearly $2 million for airing a film trailer that used the Emergency Alert System tones.

 
 

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Consolidation of mobile operators is a hot topic, not only in the USA but also in Europe. In France Bouygues, which has the most advanced network in France,  Long the "third" player in the space, the emergence of Free as a mobile operator, even as an MVNO, makes this far less challenging than it could appear. 

 
 


 
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Bouygues moves forward with SFR takeover plan

TeleGeography's free daily email summary of the world's top telecom news stories.

 
 

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Here in the USA Verizon Wireless is now looking to bolster its prepaid data user base. They are rolling out a 3G only plan that allows users to roll over their unused data bucket, but they are not offering LTE with the plans. This is a way to maximize the money they make on their legacy network infrastructure.

 

 
 


 
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Verizon tweaks its prepaid plans with rollover data

A A Verizon Wireless is overhauling its prepaid data plans for smartphones. Instead of offering different price tiers, Verizon has reverted to a single plan: $45 a month with unlimited text and voice and 500 MB of data.

 
 

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Verizon's new prepaid plan offers rollover data, but still no LTE

Verizon Wireless is working to simplify its approach to prepaid with a new Allset plan that costs $45 a month and includes unlimited voice minutes, unlimited messaging, and 500MB of data. Obviously some smartphone users will need a higher data cap than that, but rather than offer several different plan tiers, Verizon now wants its prepaid customers to add data a la carte.

 
 

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Om Malik has stepped down at GigaOm, but he's still writing. Beyond his own blog, he's contributing now to other publications. His first story in FastCompany is relevant to all startups.

 
 


 
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Masters of Their Own Destiny

Like clockwork, apple introduces an upgrade to its iconic iPhone each year. Sometimes it's thinner or less curved, but much like a new Porsche, you can look at it and think nothing's changed. And yet, like Porsche, a lot is different–if you peer under the hood.

 
 

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