On Monday, January 29, T-Mobile announced its plans to move to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2021. The “Un-carrier” is now committing $500,000 to a non-profit that is specifically dedicated to pushing clean energy initiatives. If AT&T and Verizon join in, T-Mobile will triple its total.
A video featuring John Legere, T-Mobile’s CEO and president, urges people to grab the attention of both AT&T and Verizon’s CEOs — Randall Stephenson and Lowell McAdam, respectively — by contacting them. If one of the two carriers commits to 100 percent renewable energy by June 1, then T-Mobile will throw in $100,00. If both carriers commit, then T-Mobile will raise the amount to $1.5 million.
Aside from referring to the two carriers as “dumb and dumber,” Legere also explains that while AT&T and Verizon use enough energy to power 2.6 million homes, only one percent of that energy comes from renewable sources. In order to get them on board with making the commitment to clean power, T-Mobile basically wants you to flood Stephenson and McAdam’s inboxes and social media notifications.
You will be able to do this two different ways. You can head over to Go Green America — an advocacy environmental research organization — and submit a pre-written e-mail to both CEOs stating you believe carriers should take action when it comes to addressing climate change. You can also tag both carriers on social media and use the hashtag “#CleanUpWireless.”
T-Mobile is the first carrier to join RE100, which is a global initiative that includes more than 100 businesses committed to the same cause. This includes tech companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and more.
To support its commitment, T-Mobile is also backing another wind farm project in Kansas with power generation scheduled to begin in early 2019. The first wind farm project went live back in December and is located in Oklahoma.
Combined, T-Mobile claims both will generate enough energy to meet about 60 percent of the carrier’s total energy needs across the country. The company also has plans to buy more wind power each year in order to reach 100 percent.
While the entire initiative may sound like T-Mobile’s way to gain some good publicity, it does raise awareness when it comes to climate change. Whether or not the campaign sparks a response out of Verizon and AT&T has yet to be seen.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.