With Friday and Monday being holidays in Canada and the United States respectively, there hasn’t been much going on in the last several days. The summer doldrums are definitely here. But there have still been a few things that caught my eye.
Telus Drops Visual Voicemail From Plans For New Subscribers
Forever looking to get every last dollar from the customer, as of this week Telus no longer offers Visual Voicemail on it’s $95 and $105/month plan for new subscribers. Instead, users are invited to pay an extra $5/month on top of the $95 or $105 they will already be paying for the privilege of Visual Voicemail.
For those not aware, Visual Voicemail allows users to check their voicemails via an app on their phone instead of having to call into voicemail like it’s 2002.
Existing customers will continue to have Visual Voicemail included in their plans, but new customers will not.
Squeezing that last dollar.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/07/05/telus-drops-visual-voicemail-option-95-50gb-plan/
Telus Announces Massive Investment in Ontario
Following announcements of investment in Alberta and Quebec, Telus will invest $23 Billion to upgrade its network infrastructure in the province of Ontario by 2026. While details are scarce, it is likely that the bulk of the investment will be to widely roll out the infrastructure necessary to support its 5G network, with upgrades to the backbone infrastructure needed to facilitate that. Telus says that 9500 jobs will be created in Ontario to support these upgrades.
Maybe all that extra visual voicemail money is what will pay for it.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2022/07/05/telus-investing-billions-across-ontario-over-next-four-years/
FIFA Will Use New Technology In Offside Calls During the 2022 World Cup
FIFA has actually been a sporting body that has used technology very well in the past decade or so. Video review has been integrated well, and the 2022 World Cup will use new technology to assist in making offside calls. The press release calls it AI, but it is likely really machine learning, and not much more than extremely high resolution video to get an accurate picture of the playing field.
Still, improving technology to help get the calls right is what every sport should be aiming for.
Microsoft To Stop Offering Xbox 360 Games In Games With Gold Program
This isn’t really news as much as it is a chance for me to remember that the Xbox 360 is a 17 year old console and that makes me sad.
The Xbox Games With Gold program offers 4 free games per month to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Two Xbox One games and two Xbox 360 games. But with no new games being produced for the Xbox 360 in a decade, the library of available games for the program has dwindled. As of October, Microsoft will stop offering Xbox 360 games as part of the program. How is the Xbox 360 that old?
https://www.thurrott.com/games/269648/games-with-gold-drops-xbox-360-games
ASUS Announces ROG Phone 6
The latest in ASUS’ line of Android Phones designed for gaming has been announced. The ROG Phone 6 is a monster in every sense of the world. It is big, it is heavy, it has a massive battery, it has two charging ports, and it has a hilarious clip on fan attachment. When you ask what this phone includes for any given specification, the answer is “the best” in all areas except for maybe the camera. The camera is supposed to be ok, but not stellar. But the average ROG phone buyer probably isn’t buying for the camera. I dare say though that having a best in class camera might make it more appealing to more people, since camera is usually the #1 thing on people’s list in a premium phone.
And a premium price this is. There is no North American pricing yet, but the ROG Phone 6 will launch in Europe at 1000 Euros
https://www.androidpolice.com/asus-rog-phone-6-announcement/