data

U.S. Cellular is jumping on the unlimited data bandwagon.

The carrier today announced a new unlimited data plan for customers living in one of its 4G LTE markets. For a limited time, customers can sign up for an unlimited 4G LTE plan for $40 per month with an option to add tethering for $20 more.

U.S. Cellular isn't likely to have much competition when it comes to higher wireless speeds; the company said it is the only provider to offer an unlimited 4G LTE option in most of its markets, having recently expanded in parts of Iowa, … Read more

Big data, one of tech's biggest buzz phrases of the moment, is about to get its own book. Fittingly, a really big, 7.5-pound book.

Called "The Human Face of Big Data," this is the latest project by longtime photojournalist Rick Smolan, the one-time National Geographic photographer who's best known for creating the "Day in the Life" series of books.

Smolan's approach for this work was the same as the one he's used for his main prior projects: He dispatched an small army -- in this case 100 photographers and 22 researchers … Read more

Walk into a T-Mobile store and a second cell phone payment option might catch your eye: the Value plan.

At first, the plan looks a bit like an interest model: a lower up-front cost for your purchase, say $50 less, followed by 20 months of equal payments of $20 apiece. In other words, you spend most of your two-year contract paying hundreds of dollars more for your phone.

But peer closer and the Value plan actually saves you over $100 during a two-year contract, and more if you keep the device longer than its typical two-year tenure.

How? You pay … Read more

In an extension of its data-center glasnost, Google is offering an in-depth profile of its evolving strategy in center management.

During the 7×24 Exchange conference today in Phoenix, Joe Kava, the VP of data centers for Google, delivered a presentation giving an intimate look at how the company's data-center strategy has evolved, according to a GigOm report. Kava began his presentation with a seven-year timeline of Google's data-center history that showed the progression of the search giant's strategy.

While profiling an industry shift in data-center strategy, Kava's presentation showed a progression of the search … Read more

Those of you interested in a 3G or 4G iPad can score $100 off the full price, but you'll have to pony up the monthly costs for a two-year contract with AT&T.

The carrier is selling both new and refurbished versions of the iPad 2 and the third-gen iPad. For example, a new third-gen Wi-Fi + 4G LTE model with 16GB of storage sells for $479, down from the regular price of $579. A refurbished edition of the same model goes for $429. Meanwhile, a new iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G and 64GB of storage will cost you $… Read more

Elections are all about winners and losers, who is up and who is down. Here's a CNET look at the winners and losers in the 2012 election in which President Obama bested former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, from a tech perspective.

WINNERS

Nate Silver: The FiveThirtyEight forecaster's algorithms correctly calculated that on election day President Obama had a nearly 92-percent chance of winning, and accurately projected the voting outcome in 49 states (Florida has not yet been called).

Read: Obama's win a big vindication for Nate Silver, king of the quants

Big data: Many, especially … Read more

Netflix users are turning into the biggest data hogs in North America, a new report suggests.

The report from Sandvine, a company that sells Internet traffic-management systems, finds that Netflix use accounts for 33 percent of all downstream traffic in North America during the peak hours between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. By contrast, Amazon and Hulu only account for 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent of downstream traffic, respectively.

During peak time, 65 percent of all fixed-line data traffic across North America is delivered through audio- or video-streaming services, so Netflix accounts for a little over … Read more

AT&T has agreed to pay $700,000 to the federal government to resolve complaints that that the company switched certain consumers to its mandatory monthly wireless data plans even though it had promised they could retain their existing pay-as-you-go data plans, the FCC announced Tuesday.

AT&T has agreed to refund excess charges paid by these "grandfathered subscriber," which could be as much as $25 to $30 a month, depending on data use, the Federal Communications Commission said in a press release. AT&T began transferring customers to to its monthly data plans in … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said his company's big hurdle is knowing how to mine the constant stream of photos being uploaded each day to the popular network.

"Instagram isn't necessarily a photo company, or a communications company as I like to say, we're also going to be a big data company," he said today at the GigaOm Road Map conference in San Francisco.

Systrom said the company, recently purchased by Facebook, needs to find better ways to organize the billions of photos shared on Instagram. That means looking beyond hashtags for looking … Read more