Sennheiser bowed $299 true wireless headphones with active noise cancellation Friday. The Momentum True Wireless 2 has seven-hour playback, which stretches to 28 hours using the supplied case, said the company. The earbuds incorporate Apple Siri and Google Assistant; a smart pause feature halts audio playback when the earbuds are removed and resumes when they're placed back in the ears. Availability is April.

A spiraling number of federal, state and local courts are restricting access or pausing cases due to coronavirus concerns, with more expected. Caught between the public's constitutional right of access to court proceedings and health risks, courts are probably going to opt for a "Goldilocks response" of reduced use of in-person proceedings, replaced with technological alternatives and written filings, University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell, a former U.S. District Court judge, told us.

With the FCC expected in April to tackle order on the 6 GHz band, CTIA remains committed to licensed use of part of the band, Jen Oberhausen, director-regulatory affairs, said during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council teleconference Thursday. CTIA is fighting what some think is a losing battle to get the FCC to reconsider a plan to open all the spectrum for unlicensed use.

With the FCC expected in April to tackle order on the 6 GHz band, CTIA remains committed to licensed use of part of the band, Jen Oberhausen, director-regulatory affairs, said during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council teleconference Thursday. CTIA is fighting what some think is a losing battle to get the FCC to reconsider a plan to open all the spectrum for unlicensed use.

The American Petroleum Institute asked the FCC not to act on a proposal to reconfigure the 900 MHz band to allow for broadband until proponent Anterix “has undertaken the necessary work and conversations to understand the impact of its proposals on the critical narrowband communications of API members.” API and members met Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and Wireless Bureau staff, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-200. Members such as ExxonMobil and Phillips 66 use their 900 MHz narrowband channels around the clock “for emergency and safety communications,” the group said: “The amount of spectrum at stake is small, but critical to API members’ narrowband communications and to safety inside and outside of their facilities.” The proposal got mixed reviews in comments last year (see 1907030028).

With the FCC expected in April to tackle order on the 6 GHz band, CTIA remains committed to licensed use of part of the band, Jen Oberhausen, director-regulatory affairs, said during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council teleconference Thursday. CTIA is fighting what some think is a losing battle to get the FCC to reconsider a plan to open all the spectrum for unlicensed use (see 2003050058).

Telecom groups withdrew a 2014 emergency petition for waiver, said a filing posted Friday in docket 10-90. Parties are NTCA, WTA, NECA, Eastern Rural Telecom Association, Frontier Communications and Windstream. They had asked for a pause in intercarrier compensation rates for originating intrastate toll VoIP traffic "until full implementation of Connect America Fund phase II" (see 1407090083). "With five-plus years having passed now and those universal service reforms having been put into effect in the intervening period, the request was somewhat moot," emailed an NTCA spokesperson.

The livestream of monthly commissioners' meetings have had technical problems making it difficult for people to watch, several users said in interviews Friday. The problems seemed to have increased for Friday's gathering versus others this year and in late 2019, some said. We experienced problems streaming this gathering, both at the commissioners' meeting itself and offsite. Users told us the live video on the regulator's website would unexpectedly pause or entirely stop working. Several of those we spoke with had tweeted about the issues, including here and here.

The Disability Advisory Committee approved a resolution Wednesday at the FCC asking the regulator to pause before issuing a public notice indicating the telecom relay service user registration database (URD) is ready to receive user registration information. Commissioners approved an order a year ago integrating IP captioned telephone service into the URD, with data submission and verification rules largely aligned with those for video relay service (see 1902140032). A Further NPRM approved then proposes to require IP CTS providers to add user account identifiers to call records submitted for compensation.

Sol Republic bowed its third-generation true wireless earbuds, its first with active noise cancellation. The $199 Amps Air Plus claim six hours’ on-board battery life with ANC on, 24 hours with it off. Features include Bluetooth Low Energy, sweat resistance and tap controls for play-pause, track advance and ANC on-off. USB-C quick charge technology delivers two hours’ operation from a 15-minute charge, said the company.