September 2024

Although a great deal of attention is on the 2024 elections at the national level, state elections could play a major role in how high-speed networks are rolled out, particularly in regards to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The need for reliable communications is very apparent in the state this week. Since Friday, September 27, Western North Carolina has been experiencing catastrophic flooding as a result of Hurricane Helene.

Fortnite maker Epic Games says it is suing Google and Samsung, alleging that the companies secretly colluded and imposed “onerous” restrictions on new third-party app stores. Epic alleges that Google and Samsung made it too difficult for consumers to download app stores made by outside software developers, a new possibility after Google lost a previous antitrust lawsuit brought by the videogame company. The tech giants conspired to make a feature called Auto Blocker active by default on Samsung’s newest smartphones, according to Epic.