The Beeb plans to axe its yoof-centric comedy and reality TV channel BBC Three from Freeview, the corporation has announced — but it won’t die completely, moving its, er, distinctive programming online to become the first iPlayer-only channel. Its Freeview slot will be taken by a time-shifted BBC One, letting tardy viewers catch up on …

Consumers looking for a 3G or 4G iPad can save some cash via Best Buy. Starting Wednesday and running through Saturday, the retailer’s latest sale brings down the cost of a cellular iPad to that of a Wi-Fi model. The details of the sale are tricky, but here’s how it all plays out. Buy any cellular model iPad at Best …

Back in October, Lenovo signed up Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher as a product engineer. And this year the company will launch its first range of tablets designed by Kutcher, Lenovo has said. Lenovo’s chief marketing officer David Roman told Re/code about the company’s plans. He insists it’s not a publicity stunt, but that Kutcher will actually have a hand in the …

BlackBerry is attempting to draw a line in the sand when it comes sponsored ads reaching BBM users. In a blog posted Tuesday, BBM product and brand marketing head Jeff Gadway acknowledged that BBM Channel creators will be able to send sponsored posts and invites to their subscribers, but such content won’t seep into the actual chats. The sponsored content …

Clinkle, the mobile-payments startup that doesn’t want to talk about what its product actually does, has snagged yet another noteworthy figure in tech: the guy who used to lead Twitter’s design efforts. Clinkle has hired Josh Brewer to be its vice president of design. This will be the fifth senior-level hire for Clinkle in the last six months. The company, …

The upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat hasn’t only added some cool new features to Samsung’s best phones — it’s cleaned up their reputations too, according to a new report. Ars Technica ran the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 through a gamut of tests to compare their performance before and after the update, and the mighty mobiles are no longer …

A Google executive claimed Wednesday that Android has seen the fastest and most successful adoption of any operating system in history. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Nikesh Arora, senior vice president at Google, said the following, courtesy of Seeking Alpha: I mean, look, in the history of operating systems, I think Android has been the …

Telco Medion has provided a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC after misrepresenting its Aldi Mobile Unlimited Pack, which had significant usage restrictions. (Credit: Medion) Medion, which took over providing service for Aldi Mobile after ISPOne entered voluntary administration in August last year, was found to be misrepresenting its 30-day “Unlimited Pack” available through the Aldi Mobile website, the ACCC …

Verizon Wireless is trying to quell its competitors’ claims that they offer better performing wireless networks than it does with results of a new study published by RootMetrics. On Wednesday, Big Red highlighted findings from a recent RootMetrics nationwide wireless test, which shows that Verizon dominated in five out of six categories that were tested by the wireless analytics company …

Flipboard, the magazine-style news reading app, is buying competitor Zite from CNN, the companies announced Wednesday. The deal includes an advertising partnership between CNN and Flipboard, which will phase out Zite as a standalone app while adding the Zite recommendation technology into the Flipboard app. The majority of the Zite team, sans CEO Mark Johnson, will join Flipboard. Neither CNN …

Windows Phone users can now download Facebook Messenger. Already available for iOS and Android devices, the social network’s dedicated chat app is now nestled in the Windows Phone Store. A spinoff of the full Facebook mobile app, Facebook Messenger lets you chat with one or more of your friends, share your location, and perk up your chats with pictures and …

Samsung is letting loose its extra-large Galaxy TabPro 12.2 tablet this month and has released some more details about perks, price, and shipping date. The TabPro 12.2 is expected to start shipping on March 9; it will be available on Samsung’s Web site, along with a host of retailers, like Best Buy, Walmart, Newegg, and Amazon, according to Engadget. Related …

No one likes to think about it, but scary and potentially life-threatening situations happen all the time: assaults, robberies, stranger danger, medical emergencies, and so on. You can call for help, of course, but only if you have the time (and capability) to get your phone out of your pocket or purse, unlock it, tap the phone app, dial 911, …

Will BlackBerry recover from its financial struggles and once again turn a profit? BlackBerry Chief John Chen is at least honest — and sees the company’s future as a coin toss. In an interview with the Financial Times conducted during last month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and published Tuesday, BlackBerry’s CEO said that recovery and restructuring strategies have a …

Want to protect your phone calls and data from the feds, hackers, and other snoops? FreedomPop’s new Privacy Phone promises to do just that. Nicknamed the “Snowden phone” after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the phone is actually a Samsung Galaxy S2 that FreedomPop rejiggered into a call- and data-encrypting device. Equipped with 128-bit encryption, the phone aims to secure your …