Mobile

The number of wireless devices in use in the United States now outnumbers the nation's human population. The figures include tablet devices but the numbers are mainly driven by cellphones. If anything, the numbers are an understatement as they are ... based on subscriptions to wireless services. That means people who have devices such as the iPad but only use them via a WiFi connection aren't considered. On the other hand, the numbers do include people who have 3G data subscriptions for portable computers. According to CTIA, the wireless industry's trade body, there were 327.6 million wireless ... (view more)

A Florida woman got the shock of a lifetime this week when she opened her cellphone bill only to find the total roughly equal to the price of a slick Ferrari sports car. Even more surprising, the bill wasn't a mistake on the part of T-Mobile, ... meaning the woman was on the hook for the full charge. Celina Aarons, a resident of southern Florida, was recently charged $201,000 for a single month of charges to a cellphone registered in her name. Aarons was stunned to find that charge because she hadn't made any phone calls over seas, and immediately contacted her cellphone provider. Phone Bill ... (view more)

Just when it seemed things couldn't get much worse for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), the company has been slammed by a massive service outage that has left smartphone users around the world unable to make calls or send text messages. ... Reports suggest BlackBerry users in Europe, the Mid East, South America and Africa have been the hardest-hit by the recent outage. It's estimated that about 10 million Research in Motion customers are affected by the outage, which started early Monday morning, Eastern Standard Time. The problem has prevented BlackBerry users from completing phone ... (view more)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away last Wednesday at the age of 56. Although Jobs had been suffering on-and-off from pancreatic cancer for seven years, the news of his death sent most people -- techies or not -- into a head spin. Virtually every media ... outlet and Apple fan have taken considerable time to remember the popular businessman and innovator. (Source: mercurynews.com ) To get an idea of how important Steve Jobs was to the tech industry, you don't necessarily need to focus on all the nice things said about him by U.S. President Barack Obama or fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak. Just pay ... (view more)

A hardware manufacturer has revealed that applications designed for smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system (OS) will work on PCs running the next edition of Windows. It's believed that this could encourage developers to ... turn their attention to the phone OS. At the moment, there are an estimated 30,000 applications available on smartphones running Windows Phone 7. That may sound a lot, but it's only around one-eighth of the number available on Android phones, and less than one-tenth of those available for Apple's portable devices. Chicken and Egg Situation This ... (view more)

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a legal bid to block a planned merger of cellphone giants AT&T and T-Mobile. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has hinted it may also raise objections. The proposed merger between ... the second- and fourth-largest cellphone networks respectively would create a new market leader, with a combined subscriber base of 130 million overtaking the current number one, Verizon. From the moment the deal was announced, speculation began that regulators would be wary of the "big four" becoming the "big three". Concerns Result in ... (view more)

One of the primary reasons people buy a smartphone is for the ability to download all kinds of different mobile applications, otherwise known as "apps." However, a new study finds that many of these programs inevitably lead to the loss of personal ... data. The study comes to us from ViaForensics, a digital forensics and security firm. It tested 100 different applications found on both the Google Android and Apple iOS platforms, and gave each app a rating of either a pass [safe], warn [not-so-safe], or fail [dangerous]. (Source: betanews.com ) Failed Apps Neglect to Protect User ... (view more)

Less than a month after BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) announced it would lay off thousands of employees , Sprint has now revealed that it will not release the RIM's PlayBook 4G tablet, dealing the already hurting firm yet another blow. ... According to Sprint, the decision to not release the PlayBook 4G was reached mutually with RIM, and is related primarily to technical incompatibility. RIM, Sprint Headed in Different Directions "We apologize for any inconvenience but the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook tablet that was announced in January for summer availability will no longer be coming to ... (view more)

Social networking has been blamed for helping promote rioting and looting in the United Kingdom. But the culprit is not, as some have assumed, Twitter. Riots broke out in the Tottenham area of London this past Saturday after a protest about the ... shooting of a local man by police two days earlier. The initial riot has been followed by numerous outbreaks of violence and looting in other areas of the city. Twitter Users Ahead of Media in Reporting Violence The events have been discussed extensively on Twitter, with local residents reporting on incidents before they are covered by mainstream media ... (view more)