Google confirms it will offer carrier services, may operate Google brand across pre-existing network

Google has confirmed it intends to operate some type of phone service, likely in partnership with an existing carrier. Previous reports have floated the idea that Google might become a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), which would give it the ability to launch a comprehensive service over a partner’s wires without taking on the infrastructure expense or difficulty of building its own network.

Google’s senior VP, Sundar Pichai,has now confirmed that the search giant has a mobile service in the works, but has on been vague on its details or capabilities. In his discussion with journalists, Pichai likened Google’s experiments as a carrier with its work on the Nexus family or its various other products and testbeds.

Windows Phone 10 is dead before it even arrives

Windows Phone has a tech journalist problem. A lot of tech journalists, myself included, like Windows Phone. It’s stylish and attractive, and its UI makes sense — at least at the top level, and in a way Windows 8 never did on the desktop. But the way tech journalists get excited about an OS is to have a flagship device, and we haven’t had a really good one since the Nokia Lumia Icon, which Verizon never marketed, and the Lumia 1020 and HTC 8X before it.IDC has released its latest numbers for smartphone OS market share, and unfortunately, it means we can likely close the book on Windows Phone.

Nvidia kills mobile GPU overclocking in latest driver update, irate customers up in arms

Nvidia’s mobile Maxwell parts have won significant enthusiast acclaim since launch thanks to excellent performance and relatively low power consumption. Boutique builders and enthusiasts alike also tend to enjoy pushing the envelope, and Maxwell’s manufacturing characteristics apparently make it eminently suited to overclocking. Now, apparently, Nvidia is cracking down on these options with a driver update that removes the overclocking features that apparently some vendors sold to customers.