Are you gearing up for Black Friday already? When it comes to smartphones, you may want to pause and reconsider any purchases. As with many Black Friday and Cyber Monday “deals,” a majority of the items on sale are outdated models, less-than-desirable devices, or just products that the carriers and retailers are looking to unload. …

London dwellers rejoice, it looks like EE is bringing free Wi-Fi to the London Underground — though the 4G network says the exciting news was revealed in error. Update: Virgin Media has confirmed that both EE and Vodafone customers will be getting the free Wi-Fi service. That means EE, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone mobile customers will get free …

The 3D version of Independence Day has reportedly been cancelled, with studios opting to ditch the 3D remake of the 1996 Will Smith-em up. Now that’s what I call a close encounter! Den of Geek reports that Fox is ditching the flick, which was slated for a 3 July release next year. I’ve contacted 20th Century Fox to request confirmation that …

The shopping phenomenon known as Black Friday, with its “insane” doorbuster deals, comes around only once a year. While there are a couple of nuggets hidden in there, it’s also an excuse to clear stock of items people aren’t that interested in anyway. If you see any of the following TVs for sale on the day, grab them! For our …

Sony’s promised “preloaded, native 4K entertainment” with its AU$25,000 TV is a US-only offer. (Credit: Sony) As reported earlier in the week, Sony has said on its blog that it will be providing “the world’s first 4K Ultra HD delivery solution, complete with preloaded, native 4K entertainment” on its 84-inch KD-84X9000 Ultra HD TV. The promise was for “full-length feature …

HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou said today that he was happy with the settlement reached with Apple, and called the estimates floating around “outrageous.” Earlier this month, Apple and HTC struck a 10-year cross-licensing agreement, putting to bed a long-running and bitter legal battle. While the companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, analysts had surmised that HTC was …

Here’s another signal that might be pointing to a BlackBerry swan song — the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is ditching the device for Apple’s iPhone 5. This is the latest in a growing number of government agencies that have turned their backs on the mobile phone. The government agency announced its plan in a government filing last week, according …

EE has kicked off its SIM-only deals — but some customers are already talking about quitting the UK’s first 4G network. A month after launch, EE is now supplying SIM cards to put in your LTE phone, no matter where you bought it. But some customers are stuck without any service as they’re unable to activate their SIM. Other customers …

Tablet shipments will eclipse laptops for the first time in North America, driven by price and variety, says NPD DisplaySearch. Popular $199 models and a wider variety of sizes will propel fourth-quarter tablet shipments to 21.5 million units, “far exceeding” the 14.6 million laptops that are expected to ship in the same period, according to a forecast today by DisplaySearch’s …

Google Play Music has pressed play on a deal that brings Lady Gaga, Rihanna and 5 million more new songs to your Android phone’s music store. Google has done a deal with European licensing and publishing groups to add more than 5.5 million tracks, including meat-decked GaGa and good girl gone bad RiRi. The deal folds the UK and American …

Nokia is going all in on mapping services for iOS. The company yesterday launched Here Maps, a free application that provides a host of features for travelers. The mapping application is powered by Navteq data, the same information used in the majority of in-car navigation systems. Users are able to view maps and get real-time traffic data on a particular …

BlackBerry 10 is a portable brain that plugs into any computer — so you won’t need a laptop. That’s according to eternally optimistic BlackBerry boss Thorsten Heins, who reckons the humble laptop will be obsolete in three years. “Whenever you enter an office, you don’t have your laptop with you, you have your mobile computer power exactly here,” says Heins, …

Samsung is rumoured to be working on a new 8-core CPU design for its smartphones and tablets, but the focus could be more on power efficiency than grunt. ARM’s V2P-CA15x2_A7x3 reference design with its big.LITTLE processor arrangement. (Credit: ARM) EE Times is reporting that Samsung will unveil a new Exynos processor in February next year, which is believed to reference …

Let’s be honest: family and friends are swell, but food is really the star of the show whenever the November holiday rolls around, right? That means that whether you’re celebrating at home or heading out to a potluck, the heat is on to make something oh-so-delicious for the festivities. To help you in your endeavor, we’ve got a list of …

Vodafone and Visa have joined forces to preview a new near-field communication (NFC) payment product for smartphones, demoing the Vodafone SmartPass app in Sydney before its commercial release next year. The Vodafone SmartPass app in action. The red tab at the bottom of the screen can be hidden so that your balance isn’t visible to all around you. (Credit: CBSi) …