A year and a half ago, T.A. McCann was working on a BlackBerry version of his contact manager app Gist. T.A. McCann Research in Motion Today, he is running two of Research in Motion’s crown jewels — BlackBerry Messenger and Contacts — while ensuring that current and upcoming lines of BlackBerrys are properly tied into …

On the heels of last week’s global launch, Samsung has officially announced U.S. pricing for its 10-inch Galaxy Note tablet. The tablet, whose standout feature is its pressure-sensitive S Pen stylus and compatible apps, comes in two colors, deep gray and white. It also comes in two storage capacities. A 16GB model costs $499, but $549 gets you 32GB for …

Nokia and Microsoft’s New York invitation. Nokia If you’re bummed that you can’t make it to Nokia World in Helsinki this year, don’t fret — the mobile company will be holding another event here in the United States on the very same day. Related stories Your Phone Screen Is Gross. Here’s How to Clean It Without Causing Damage Nokia’s Newest …

Samsung Electronics has sold 10 million Galaxy Notes in the past nine months, according to Younghee Lee, head of global marketing for the conglomerate’s mobile division. Lee made the comment in the middle of Samsung’s unveiling of the Galaxy Note 10.1 today in New York. The company previously said it sold 5 million 5.3-inch Galaxy Notes in five months. The …

Microsoft’s Surface tablet could be dirt cheap, if fresh rumours that claim the upcoming tablet will cost as little as the Google Nexus 7 prove true. Engadget cites an “inside source” that was apparently present at Microsoft’s recent TechReady15 conference, where the beans were supposedly spilled on how much the Surface would cost to buy. The price was reportedly revealed …

If you wish your Nokia Lumia 900 did a little bit more, you may be in luck. Nokia began rolling out another update today to its premier, polycarbonate smartphone that includes a few little enhancements like the popular and ever-useful muting of calls when you flip the phone face-down. Related stories Nokia, Microsoft hold NY event Sept. 5 Nokia CEO: …

Now playing: Watch this: Phone News: Galaxy S3 Jelly Bean and Bond’s blower 2:52 Prepare your brain for all the phone news it can handle — from Jelly Bean to James Bond we’re rounding up the week’s mobile happenings, so click play on the video above to edify yourself. All the week’s major tech stories are covered, starting with hot-off-the-press …

Watch out, Google Wallet. There’s a new mobile-payment service in the works. A consortium of of retailers today announced that they have launched a mobile-commerce company, called Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX). Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s are among the many companies that have signed up for the initiative. The companies combine to generate a whopping $1 trillion in sales …

Samsung’s all-new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet has been unveiled in its final form, and looks to be getting a software upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean before the end of the year. The stylus-sporting Note 10.1 will launch running the older Android Ice Cream Sandwich, much to the consternation of Android enthusiasts who are eager to nibble on the latest …

Now playing: Watch this: Kyocera Rise: A keyboard phone with a scoop of ICS 0:56 Sprint and Virgin Mobile announced today that they will carry the Kyocera Rise, a slideout QWERTY keyboard phone that we first caught a glimpse of in May during CTIA 2012. In addition to its four-row keyboard, the Rise runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. …

If you’ve been following the Curiosity rover’s progress even a little, you’ve probably seen the cool 360-degree Mars panorama that hit the Web a couple days ago. As CNET’s Amanda Kooser pointed out, it’s “about as close as you’ll get to being there.” Now you can get even closer, virtually speaking. It turns out that the panorama works with gyroscopes, …

Hewlett-Packard is rebranding its WebOS Global Business Unit as a new company called Gram, according to an internal company e-mail. Penned by HP Senior VP Martin Risau, the August 11 memo obtained by CNET encourages employees to tell outsiders little about the company other than it is operating in stealth mode: Thank you for all of your enthusiasm at yesterday’s …

Just like two cute little snuggle bunnies! James Martin/CNET Anytime a major vendor releases a new tablet, I inevitably get asked the following question: can it take on the top dog? That “top dog” being the iPad, of course. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is the latest such device to get the “How does it compare with the iPad?” treatment. …

Geoffrey Morrison/CNET CNET reader Doug asks: Hello! I was watching a movie on Blu-ray the other day filmed in the 21:9 aspect ratio and I realized that it technically wasn’t “1080p” since about 1/4 of the screen was taken up by the horizontal black bars (called “letter boxing,” correct?). Anyway, I was just wondering how many pixels were being used …

Motorola has confirmed that the Verizon Droid 4 is now officially undergoing its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. A late Monday tweet from the handset maker advises that the update is rolling out in phases. As is the case with other Android 4.0 builds, the Droid 4 will get features such as face unlock, data management, and a friendlier …