Boost Mobile began selling Motorola's 4G moto g power online Friday for $99. The 6.6-inch Android smartphone has a 5,000 mAh battery and 48-megapixel triple camera system, said the carrier. Boost prepaid plans start at $10 a month.

OMB hasn’t addressed a previous GAO recommendation to broaden definitions for data centers in a cost-saving initiative, the auditor said. Based on GAO recommendations, agencies participating in OMB’s data center optimization initiative expect to close 230 such centers and save $1.1 billion over two years, GAO said. But in June 2019, OMB “narrowed the definition of a data center to exclude certain facilities it had previously identified as having potential cybersecurity risks,” the report said. The auditor recommended OMB reverse the 2019 decision “so that visibility of the risks of these facilities was retained.” GAO said an agency liaison on OMB’s ethics team emailed that OMB “had no comments.”

Top U.S. cable and telco providers gained 4.9 million net broadband subscribers last year, compared with a pro forma gain of 2.6 million in 2019, for the most additions since 2008, said Leichtman Research Group Wednesday. Cable companies ended the year with 72.8 million such subscribers (69% share); phone companies, 33 million (31%). Charter’s 2.2 million broadband adds were more than any company had since 2006; telcos had positive net annual broadband adds for the first year since 2014, said principal Bruce Leichtman, citing impact from the pandemic.

China “firmly opposes and combats” cyberattacks and cybertheft “in all forms,” said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson when asked Wednesday about Microsoft’s disclosures of a new “state-sponsored threat actor” based in China it named Hafnium. Microsoft said the hacking group preys on infectious disease researchers, law firms, universities, defense contractors and think tanks. China considers it “a highly sensitive political issue to pin the label of cyber attack to a certain government,” said the spokesperson. "We hope that relevant media and companies will adopt a professional and responsible attitude and underscore the importance to have enough evidence when identifying cyber-related incidents, rather than make groundless accusations.” Though Hafnium is based in China, it conducts its operations from leased virtual private servers in the U.S., blogged Tom Burt, Microsoft corporate vice president-customer security and trust. Hafnium uses “previously undiscovered vulnerabilities” to gain access to network servers by disguising itself “as someone who should have access,” said Burt Tuesday. It creates a “web shell” to control the compromised server remotely and uses that remote access “to steal data from an organization’s network,” he said. “We need more information to be shared rapidly about cyberattacks to enable all of us to better defend against them. That is why Microsoft President Brad Smith recently told the U.S. Congress that we must take steps to require reporting of cyber incidents.”

Zoom revenue grew 369% to $882 million in fiscal Q4 ended Jan. 31 “due to strong sales and marketing execution in online, direct and channel businesses as well as lower-than-expected churn,” said Chief Financial Officer Kelly Steckelberg on a quarterly webinar Monday. “Demand was widespread.” The increase in customers generated about 80% of the “incremental revenue,” up from 59% in Q4 a year earlier, she said. “We continue to add customers of all sizes and across industries that we anticipate will provide future upsell opportunities.” Zoom continued to benefit from significant growth in customers with 10 or fewer employees, she said. Customers in that segment generated 37% of revenue, nearly double that of Q4 a year earlier, she said. For the full year of fiscal 2022 ending in late January, Zoom expects revenue to be $3.76 billion to $3.78 billion, which would be 42-43% year-over-year growth, she said: “Although we remain optimistic on Zoom’s outlook, please note the impact and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic and people returning to in-person contact still remains largely unknown.” The stock closed down 9% Tuesday at $372.79.

More than 12 million U.S. households have canceled home broadband, using only mobile, reported Parks Associates Tuesday. More than 3 million additional households never had a home internet subscription. Cost is the leading reason for cutting this cord, but consumers also reported slow speeds and poor customer service, said analyst Kristen Hanich. Smart Wi-Fi or mesh networking products can stem churn: 75% of households likely to switch providers would stay if offered such a solution, Hanich said. Some 94% of U.S. broadband households use Wi-Fi at home; more than half report problems with their experience, she said. As of September, 41% of households were engaged in remote work or schooling, renewing customers’ focus on their broadband speeds, she said. The COVID-19 pandemic drove 9% of households to upgrade broadband service.

The federal government should commit $35 billion over five years for semiconductor R&D, manufacturing and other artificial intelligence-related investments, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence urged Monday. It recommended $15 billion for federal microelectronics manufacturing grants, $12 billion for microelectronics R&D, $7 billion for microelectronics infrastructure and $500 million for DOD trusted and assured microelectronics. The Semiconductor Industry Association welcomed the report, noting its call for “a national microelectronics strategy, revitalizing domestic microelectronics fabrication, and ramping up microelectronics research.” President Joe Biden should follow the report’s recommendation to create a national AI strategy, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Center for Data Innovation policy analyst Hodan Omaar.

Rivada Networks withdrew an application at the FCC to be a spectrum access system administrator and environmental sensing capability operator in the citizens broadband radio service band, said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-319.

Facebook will address 11 of 17 of the company’s oversight board recommendation areas, taking action on such things as Instagram policy updates and improving automated detection, Facebook announced Thursday. The company is “committed to action” on 11 items, “assessing feasibility” of five items and not taking action on one item, “since it relates to softening our enforcement of COVID-19 misinformation,” Facebook said. The board recommended the company adopt “less intrusive measures” in cases where “users post information about COVID-19 treatments that contradicts the specific advice of health authorities and where a potential for physical harm is identified but is not imminent.” The company disagreed “the content implicated in this case does not rise to the level of imminent harm.” Facebook is assessing feasibility of how users can appeal moderation decisions, information about automation in cases of enforcement action, expansion of transparency reporting, community standard specifics and the recommendation to provide a public list of “dangerous” organizations.

Consumers are becoming “increasingly digitized” during COVID-19 stay-at-home protocols, and consumer awareness about the need for online security “continues to increase,” said McAfee CEO Peter Leav on a quarterly call Tuesday. “These trends will continue to fuel the growth of an already large addressable market.” A McAfee-commissioned survey of 11,000 internet-connected adults globally found “high levels of concern around cyber risks and online crime,” said Leav. “Proliferation of devices within the household, increased internet connectivity, the explosive growth in online transactions, the use of personal information in those transactions and more work-from-home policies” drove higher security software purchases among consumers, he said. “The study also showed a broad increase in the usage of online banking, online financial planning, online doctor visits and personal shopping, with the expectations that post-pandemic, these activities will remain at high levels.” McAfee's consumer revenue grew 23% in fiscal Q4, ended Dec. 26, and it added 668,000 “net new core direct-to-consumer subscribers,” similar to its net adds in Q3, said Leav.