Verizon Wireless’s new Family Share plans were supposed to simplify pricing for Verizon Wireless customers. But since the new plans were unveiled earlier this week, it seems like wireless users are more confused than ever. In this edition of Ask Maggie, I’m going to handle things a little differently than usual. Typically I select a …

Cricket Wireless is expected to soon carry another Android-powered Huawei handset, or says a source close to PhoneArena. Featuring a portrait QWERTY keyboard below a 3.2-inch display, the smartphone will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The full details remain unclear, but an official user manual found online advises there is a rear camera and microSD expansion. Called the Ascend Q, …

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for Nokia, Moody’s steps in with a downgrade of its debt rating. Moody’s lowered its rating to junk status, citing earnings pressure and cash burn that is larger than the firm previously expected. The move comes after Nokia said yesterday that it would cut 10,000 jobs and warned its second-quarter financial result …

Microsoft could be about to unleash a branded tablet, taking the fight for slate supremacy directly to Apple. The Redmond-based software monger has scheduled an event for Monday, at which it will be making a ‘major’ announcement that the company says “you will not want to miss”. According to The Wrap, which cites an individual with knowledge of the company, …

There are a ton of image editors available for iPhone that let you play with photos — many of which I’ve talked about here. But a specific set of editors lets you create a mask or lets you superimpose one image on top of another for some really cool effects. Recently, a popular Mac photo editor made its way to …

A company called Karma has developed what it’s called the “social telecom.” The only issue is, its big unveiling took a hit recently after Karma mentioned two companies it has worked with but hasn’t actually signed on. At TechStars yesterday, Karma took the stage to show off its 4G hot spot. The small box, which costs $69 and runs on …

Dropbox for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch has added automatic video and photo uploading, storing your snaps safely online. The version 1.5 update, which is now available to download, has a feature that causes any snaps or footage you capture using your device to be automatically uploaded to your Dropbox account. It’s a feature that was already present on …

The Kobo Vox, rival to the Amazon Kindle Fire, just got more interesting: it now has access to thousands of apps and games from Google Play. The Vox, a 7-inch Android multimedia tablet that beat the Kindle Fire to the UK, can now download apps from Google’s official app store. Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market, is home …

The Dark Knight Rises is coming to iPhone, iPad and Android phones. Keep reading to check out the first trailer to the official iOS and Android movie tie-in game, arriving this summer. In the bat-game, you take on the bat-mantle of the Caped Crusader, beating seven shades of bat-guano out of assorted wrong-uns in a 3D Gotham City — mainly …

Sadly the Orange San Diego, the first smartphone powered by Intel’s Atom x86 processor, won’t make it the U.S. market anytime soon, if ever. Thankfully our colleagues at CNET UK managed to get their hands on the device to put it through its paces. The phone is well appointed for its low £200 ($313) price, sporting a 4-inch (1,200×600 pixel) …

Research In Motion’s former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis might have run into some trouble in their waning days at the company, but that didn’t stop the mobile firm from giving them some serious entitlements to make their departure a bit easier to handle. RIM yesterday filed a form 6K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), outlining how …

Vodafone has taken to the streets to reveal how it tests phone signal in hard-to-reach places. From shopping centres to offices, pedestrian testers are roaming Britain equipped with special phones that automatically call, text and surf the web — all in the interest of maintaining those crucial signal bars. James Watt is one of Vodafone’s network of pedestrian testers, roving …

T-Mobile will soon offer a Samsung Android phone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard and a 720p HD display, according to TmoNews. Initially rumored as a potential Galaxy Nexus for T-Mobile, the SGH-T699 should be the first slider with a high-definition screen. Additional details for the unnamed device include Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 5-megapixel camera, a second front-facing camera, …

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has revealed how Siri earned the thumbs-down the day it was bought by the company he helped build. After proclaiming the voice-controlled personal assistant to be the future, Woz reveals it was ruined when it turned up on the iPhone 4S. The 61-year-old blasted Siri while visiting Woz, a horse named after him at Peaceful Acres …

Motorola Mobility has applied for a patent that would turn your mobile display into an acoustic device. According to the patent application, which hit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Web site yesterday, Motorola has developed a technology that would allow a mobile device’s display to “produce a substantial usable audio area particularly for private and speakerphone mode conversations.” …