NEW YORK–It’s been a long time coming, but the mobile-payment revolution may finally be here. MasterCard, one of the major credit card issuers eyeing the market for years, is set to launch its service in the U.S. with partner Google. The company is the exclusive credit card issuer for the launch of Google Wallet, a …

Waiting for the iPhone 5 has been like watching a glacier melt. It feels like it’s taking forever. Since 2007 when the first iPhone was released, eager Apple fans have come to expect a new iteration of the perennially popular smartphone every summer. When June came and went this year with no iPhone, the masses and the blogosphere predicted a …

New research suggests that wireless operators may unwittingly be degrading performance on their networks as the technology they use to shuttle traffic around their networks gets more and more complex. Researchers from the computer science department at University of Michigan along with experts from Microsoft Research discovered that “middleboxes”–or network hardware that performs tasks such as firewalling, deep packet inspection, …

Microsoft is encouraging application developers to get apps for its latest version of the Windows Phone operating system into its Marketplace ASAP. Microsoft’s latest version of its Windows Phone operating system known as Mango is set to launch this fall. It’s the biggest revamp to the software since it was announced last year. CNET Matt Bencke, general manager at Microsoft, …

The next big battle in mobile could be over who will dominate the untapped local search and advertising markets. Google, the Internet giant of giants, has been adding local marketing to its core suite of services for the last few years. It’s launched a local daily-deal effort with Google Offers. And it’s been pushing its local search and location-based services …

Wireless broadband startup LightSquared says it has found a solution to its critics’ claims that the company’s network will interfere with high-precision GPS devices. Jeff Carlisle, the company’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs and public policy, told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday that the company has partnered with a leading GPS manufacturer to develop a prototype device …

President Obama included authorization for incentive wireless spectrum auctions and spectrum reallocation for public safety as part of his American Jobs Act. On Monday, the White House released a fact-sheet detailing President Obama’s jobs bill, which he first talked about last week in his address to Congress. As part of this legislation, he is calling for wireless auctions that would …

Verizon Wireless may not be getting Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S II Android phone. But does it really matter? Word on the street is that the carrier may end up with something better. Late last month, Verizon disappointed many of its customers when it confirmed it would not get the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S II. The carrier didn’t offer much …

Ten years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. is still without a nationwide network that would let first responders from different agencies and jurisdictions communicate with each other over emergency radios. In late August, the National Security Preparedness Group pointed to the lack of the national interoperable radio network recommended by the 9/11 Commission. And the commission itself …

Andrea Mancuso was working just north of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when two planes struck the towers. Soon after, she was the only person around who seemed to have cell phone service. “I walked from downtown to Lincoln Center (about 4.5 miles) before I was able to hail a cab with four strangers,” she said. “Everyone …