Most smartphone users are sharing their location through at least one app, said a study released Tuesday by location app Life360 and online research company VeraQuest (http://bit.ly/1juVr9K). More than 60 percent of smartphone owners use at least one location-sharing app on their phone and 36 percent use two or more, and 41 percent of adult smartphone owners are more willing to share their location today than they were five years ago, the research found. VeraQuest surveyed 1,169 teens and adults who own a smartphone, it said.

The Mobile EAS Coalition urged the FCC to consider a more holistic and integrated approach to improving emergency notification procedures as it looks to improve wireless network reliability. This includes encouraging the voluntary deployment of M-EAS by TV broadcasters “and voluntary inclusion of M-EAS receiving capability in the devices distributed by wireless carriers,” the coalition said in comments in docket 13-239 (http://bit.ly/19LDSkP). The coalition asked the commission to look beyond the potential to improve the wireless broadband infrastructure itself, “and create incentives to improve overall emergency communications to citizens,” it said. The FCC also should support the recommendations of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council III and embrace the dual use opportunity presented by the M-EAS system, it said.

Sonos added fledgling subscription-based Beats Music to its roster of content services. Beats Music began streaming to subscribers Tuesday, claiming a library of 20 million licensed tracks from Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, and announced partnerships earlier this month with AT&T Wireless and Target. The service is $9.99 a month after a one-week free trial. Users who signed up at Target get a one-month free trial. Users enter musical preferences when they sign up for the service and a personalized selection of albums and playlists is delivered four times a day to their accounts, Beats Music said. In addition to musical preferences, the service bases curated selections on time of day, activity and “additional cultural and contextual clues,” it said. Beats Music will be available to AT&T Wireless customers on an individual plan basis and with a multi-line account for up to five family members and 10 devices for $14.99 a month with the first 90 days free, the company said. Currently, Target is the only retail source for prepaid Beats Music gift cards, which will be available in denominations of $10, $25 or $50. Beats Music didn’t immediately respond to questions about additional partners, including wireless music system partners.

The Consumer Electronics Association is sponsoring the “Mobile Medical Apps (MMA) Roadshow: Managing App Development under FDA [Food and Drug Administration] Regulation,” said a CEA news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/Ll80cj). The MMA “aims to demystify the FDA requirements for new entrant app developers and identify best practices” among app producers, it said. CEA joins six universities, more than a dozen industry trade associations and the FDA in support of the MMA, it said.

Sprint asked the FCC for a limited waiver of the agency’s Telecommunications Relay Services rules in order to permit federal video relay service toll-free “front door” phone numbers and 10-digit numbers into the Internet-based TRS Numbering Directory. “Permitting these federal ‘front door’ and ten-digit numbers into the database will increase the ability of taxpaying deaf and hard of hearing Americans to reach federal employees and will reduce the number of calls placed through the federal TRS fund,” Sprint said (http://bit.ly/1jaj4nH).

CTIA expressed concerns about a proposal by the Hearing Industries Association, which CTIA said would expand the breadth of the hearing-aid compatibility (HAC) rules to “universal regulatory coverage.” CTIA “has significant concerns with any requirement that all handsets offered in the United States meet HAC requirements,” the group told the FCC in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1gWwWkj). “Such a blanket approach faces significant legal challenges, as it appears to be inconsistent with Section 102 of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010."

T-Mobile representatives warned FCC officials about the dangers of package bidding, which both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have advocated for the upcoming incentive TV auction. The “drawbacks” of package bidding include “the creation of an excess supply of licenses upon the withdrawal of a package bid; the creation of new mechanisms to game the auction process; and the competitive risks associated with effectively granting package bidders an additional right to withdraw bids compared to individual license bidders,” T-Mobile said, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1dTnCdx). “Given the risks, drawbacks and complexities associated with package bidding, participants ... discussed alternative mechanisms that can reduce exposure risk without substantially increasing gaming opportunities or computational challenges. Reasonable spectrum aggregation limits, for example, can constrain exposure risk in a manner similar to package bidding, but without unduly increasing either auction complexity or gaming opportunities."

Apple filed for a patent for a “method to send payment data through various air interfaces without compromising user data,” in a patent application the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1eNIXZL). The patent is intended for a more-secure and touch-free form of mobile payment, said the filing.

Improved location targeting will create a “tipping point” for mobile advertising sales in 2014, said a BIA/Kelsey report released Thursday (http://bit.ly/LkbsUq). Currently, mobile encompasses 12 percent of consumer media consumption, but only 3 percent of U.S. ad dollars are spent on mobile, said BIA/Kelsey Vice President-Content Michael Boland, who wrote the study. “We see a few factors that will counterbalance this in the coming year, including location-targeted ads and the ability to measure effectiveness through attribution technologies,” he said in a release (http://bit.ly/1b6hT34). BIA/Kelsey is a local media consulting and research company. The report was produced with location-based mobile advertising company Verve Mobile.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology released modified rules for measuring spectrum emissions by level probing radar (LPR) devices operating on an unlicensed basis in the 5.925-7.250 GHz, 24.05-29.00 GHz, and 75-85 GHz bands. LPR devices are used to measure water basin levels and coal piles, among other applications, OET said (http://bit.ly/1dTpAum). “Manufacturers have had a difficult time demonstrating compliance with the rule’s low emission limits for certain types of level-measuring applications in fiberglass or polyethylene (plastic) tanks or in open air,” OET said. Certification of LPR equipment under the new rules requires “measuring emissions in the main beam of the LPR antenna, while adjusting the emission limits in Part 15 for devices so measured to account for the significant attenuation that occurs upon reflection of those emissions,” OET said. “These emission limits will protect any nearby receivers from encountering any increase in interfering signal levels."