Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re lucky and if you do things right, then you’ll probably only have to plan a marriage proposal only once in your entire lifetime. So why not expend the right amount of effort and pour excessive loads of creativity and thoughtfulness into it to give your significant other the proposal of her (or his) lifetime?

Redditor rad_rob gave it a shot with his iPad proposal. Eddie wowed his girl (and thousands of geeks worldwide) with his Iron Man arc reactor proposal.

Matthew, on the other hand, popped the question with a Kinder Surprise Egg.

Matthew and Lori used to buy and gift each other with Kinder Surprise Eggs all the time before they were banned a few years ago. So Matthew decided to use it as the basis for his proposal and painstakingly took the chocolate egg apart and replaced the toy inside with a robot figure that, when assembled, forms a tiny MatthewBot on bended knee.

Of course, the ring itself was also inside. And in case you were wondering, Lori said yes.

[via SwissMiss via Neatorama]

I got a ton of presents this Christmas, and I hope you did, too. There were some I liked, some I didn’t, and some that I absolutely loved. But regardless of the actual gift in the box, it’s the thought that counts, so I guess I can say that I loved everything I got. What about you?

There were some unexpected presents, for sure, but I’m sure the person who got the most unexpected gift of all was the recipient of Redditor rad_rob.

The box you see above was gifted to his girlfriend. And while it’s the box for an iPad, it doesn’t actually contain an iPad inside. Instead, it holds something that’s more like the key to her future – and his as well, if everything works out.

Yep, that’s right: rad_rob wrapped up his proposal and an engagement ring in an iPad box and you’d be surprised at the lengths he went through to get it right. You can check out the gallery below to see exactly what he did.

Good luck, Rob – I hope you got an “I Do!” and not a “Where’s my iPad?”

[via BuzzFeed]

FCC meetings can be momentous occasions under the right circumstances, although it’s seldom the case that we see the agency pass two potentially far-reaching measures in one sitting, like we just saw on Friday. To start, regulators have voted in favor of a proposal that will review spectrum sale rules and might drop the case-by-case determinations in favor of a more consistent screening mechanism. The reexamination will also consider a change to the ownership rules surrounding wireless frequencies that treats bands below 1GHz differently than those above — the better to address a chorus of smaller carriers that don’t like all the prime spectrum going to the companies with the most existing clout, namely AT&T and Verizon. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski argues that reform could spur innovation through more competition, although dissenting Commissioner Robert McDowell is worried that consistent rules will somehow create “uncertainty.”

Side-by-side with the review, the FCC is proposing an incentive-based reverse auction strategy to have TV broadcasters voluntarily give up their spectrum for cellular and data use. The multi-phase approach would have TV providers set the price at which they’re willing to sell their spectrum to the FCC; those that just can’t bear to part with their airwaves would be corralled into a tighter band range to make for larger available frequency blocks in the auction that follows. As with other FCC proposals, there’s likely to be a long interval between the auction vote, the review and any definitive rulemaking, let alone an impact — auctions by themselves can take years to play out. Still, any success with the measures could head off spectrum crunches while simultaneously preventing any solutions from consolidating too much power and creating their own problems.

[Tower photo via Shutterstock]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

FCC votes in favor of rethinking spectrum holding rules, goading broadcasters into wireless selloffs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink FierceWireless, Ars Technica  |  FCC (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

AT&T is close to securing a major victory in its battle against the spectrum crunch. While it’s not quite a done deal, FCC chairman Genachowski has submitted a proposed order to FCC commissioners that would authorize AT&T’s deployment of its LTE service within a 20MHz portion of the 2.3GHz (WCS) band. The deal is unique in that the spectrum is currently reserved for satellite radio, and the reallocation would mark the first of its kind within the WCS band. As you may recall, AT&T previously conceded to a 5MHz dead zone on both ends of Sirius XM’s operating frequency in order to mitigate interference concerns, and it seems the move was sufficient to gain the chairman’s support.

Also looming on the FCC’s to-do list is the decision of whether to approve AT&T’s purchase NextWave and its unused WCS spectrum. If it’s any indication, however, Chairman Genachowski seems bullish on the reallocation and has suggested that the agency may authorize another 30MHz of the WCS band for mobile broadband use. AT&T has previously said that it could feasibly deploy LTE over the 2.3GHz spectrum within the next three years. One group fighting the deal is the Competitive Carrier Association, which posits that AT&T’s purchase of such a significant chunk of spectrum on the secondary market is anti-competitive in nature. It’ll no doubt be interesting to see if the argument gains any traction with the FCC. In the meantime, you can view remarks from the agency’s spokesperson after the break.

Continue reading FCC chairman green-lights AT&T’s use of WCS spectrum for LTE with proposed order

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

FCC chairman green-lights AT&T’s use of WCS spectrum for LTE with proposed order originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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People are probably starting to feel the pressure when it comes to proposals with all this news about guys coming up with ingenious ways to propose to their girlfriends (and vice versa).

30-year-old Russian businessman Alexey Bykov is no exception. So he thought long and hard and finally decided to give his bride-to-be the proposal of her dreams nightmares.

Photo Credit: Sina

Here’s what Alexey did: he covered himself in a lot of blood and had a group of co-conspirators pretend that he had figured in some bad car accident. Ambulances and mangled cars surrounding him at the scene of the purported accident help make the entire thing more believable.

His girlfriend says: “When I arrived there were mangled cars everywhere, ambulances, smoke, and carnage. Then when I saw Alexey covered in blood lying in the road a paramedic told me he was dead and I just broke down in tears.”

When Alexey had seen enough, he brought himself back from the dead and proposed to her. Lucky for him, she said yes. If that were me, I would’ve probably slapped him silly before giving my answer. I doubt there’d be any girl out there who’d be pleased with an “I’m-dead-but-not-really” type of proposal.

So why’d he do it? Alexey explains: “I wanted her to realise how empty her life would be without me and how life would have no meaning without me. I think it worked but I promise it’s the last time.”

That sounds a little thick-headed but apparently, it worked. At least, for him.

[via Gawker via Geeokologie]