Technologies

Dish Says It Has Hit Its Latest FCC Deadline for 5G Network Buildout

Dish says it now covers 70% of Americans with its new 5G network.

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Dish Network’s long road to becoming a fourth major wireless carrier hit a notable milestone on Thursday, with the company announcing that it now covers 70% of the US population, or over 240 million Americans, with its new 5G network. The news comes as Dish was facing a June 14 deadline by the Federal Communications Commission.

Per a press release, the company says it has «satisfied» all of its June 14 FCC obligations «including launching over 15,000 5G sites.»

Dish offers access to its network in a few ways. It owns a number of wireless brands including prepaid option Boost Mobile as well as its postpaid sibling Boost Infinite. It also has Project Genesis, another postpaid brand aimed towards early adopters that allows users to give feedback on Dish’s network.

Postpaid plans, where users pay their phone bill at the end of the month, are the common format of wireless plans offered by larger networks AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

In addition to being able to connect to Dish’s own 5G network, the Boost brands also are capable of tapping into AT&T and T-Mobile’s respective coverage when Dish’s service isn’t available or if a user’s device doesn’t have the right network support. The Genesis brand can also roam on AT&T’s network in areas where Dish’s network isn’t available.

For now, Project Genesis users will be able to connect to the new network whenever they are in the coverage area. Boost users are able to tap into Dish’s network in «over 50 markets,» with the company promising additional markets coming «throughout the year.»

While the network milestone is noteworthy, it is just another step in what remains a long road for the satellite TV provider. Dish still needs to get device manufacturers to include the proper bands that would allow phones, tablets and other devices to connect to its 5G offering.

As of today, only a handful of phones have proper support for Dish’s spectrum (with the primary band known as Band 70) including the 2022 and 2023 Moto Edge Plus, Samsung’s A23 and Boost’s own Celero 5G Plus. The iPhone 14 line technically has the hardware support for Dish’s 5G spectrum, but Band 70 has yet to be activated inside Apple’s phones.

Dish says in its press release that more devices with proper network support are also coming this year.

With this milestone reached Dish now faces its next FCC deadline of covering 75% of the US population with 5G service by June 2025. As Light Reading has reported, this may require another 15,000 cell sites to expand its network with the outlet saying that analysts expect Dish to also need to spend another $2 billion or $3 billion. The money could become a challenge for the company, which has seen its share price fall over 55% this year.

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage.

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.