Geek News

Amazon pledged to tackle counterfeiting in 2017, but its lax policies are still hurting inventors and small companies, one supplier says. In a blog post , Elevation Lab founder Casey Hopkins wrote that a Chinese manufacturer ripped off its popular under-desk headphone stand, "The Anchor" and is selling it cheap on Amazon and taking all its sales. Worse, he claims that Amazon is effectively abetting such counterfeiters and could do away with it via a simple change. According to Hopkins, the counterfeit seller "literally reverse engineered it, made steel compression molds, made the logo wrong, used fake 3M adhesive that's very thin and was die-cut smaller than the top, they used a lower durometer silicone so it flexes more, it has huge mold parting lines, and the packaging is literally photocopied then reprinted (you can tell by the lack of image contrast)." The result, he says, is that "customers are unknowingly buying crap versions of the product, whil...

AT&T recently revealed that it wouldn't carry Huawei smartphones, despite rumors that it would be the first US carrier to do so, raising suspicions that politics played a part in its decision. Now, Reuters is also reporting that US lawmakers did indeed pressure AT&T to drop its plans to carry handsets from the Chinese company. Furthermore, Senators and House members are also pressuring AT&T to end its collaboration with Huawei on standards for its next-generation 5G network. The government is telling companies that dealing with Huawei, China Mobile and other firms could harm their ability to procure government contracts. "The next wave of wireless communication has enormous economic and national security implications," said Michael Wessel of a US-Chain security review commission. "China's participation in setting the standards and selling the equipment raises many national security issues that demand strict and prompt attention." To back ...