A popular choice for VoIP users and those who make international and video calls, Skype (free for iPhone or iPad) received a few improvements that tweak the interface and give you more control over your video calls. The overall interface has been slightly tweaked to look a bit smoother with a new header and buttons …

A simple Skype exploit can reveal IP addresses — remote and local — of any user. A blog post by skype-open-source runs through the process of obtaining a user’s IP address. Essentially, all a person has to do is start the process of adding a contact with a specific user name. Instead of sending a contact confirmation, the person can …

U.S.Cellular and Alltel Wireless have joined up with Wal-Mart to take on the cell phone frontier of big-box retail distribution. U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier out of Chicago, and Alltel, based in Little Rock, Ark., will begin selling select phones under the U Prepaid brand in 18 states some time in May. U Prepaid, a pre-existing Alltel brand, will kick …

ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite its claims about being all business here at BlackBerry World 2012, RIM also showcased an accessory that’s definitely made just for fun. The tiny $49.99 BlackBerry Music Gateway has a long name but does one simple task — streaming music to audio devices over Bluetooth. A small and unassuming black box, the Music Gateway sits within …

Rovio’s success with the Angry Birds franchise continues to impress. The development firm announced today that Angry Birds Space, which is currently sitting atop Apple’s App Store, has hit 50 million downloads in just 35 days of availability. According to Rovio, the feat has made the game the “fastest-growing mobile game” ever released, and has broken all sales records set …

The campaign has seen screaming protestors being dumped outside of the Sydney Apple store and traipsing through the streets. Cryptic messages have also popped up all over Sydney and Melbourne. Black-and-white signs bearing the message “Wake Up” have been spotted all over the two cities, including on the bottom of a pool at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. RIM today took ownership …

The Verizon and Comcast cross-selling romance deepens today as each offers each others’ network and entertainment services in six new markets around the U.S. Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Mo., Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., and Salt Lake City are four new cities to access the duo’s deals, in addition to the state of Colorado. The expansion follows an earlier West Coast launch …

Starting May 1, Verizon is offering a new prepaid cell phone plan…starting with a single phone. The Android -based Samsung Illusion will be the first (and right now, only) phone eligible for Big Red’s $80 prepaid plan, a monthly bundle that includes unlimited talk and text, and 1GB of mobile data. You can pick up the Samsung Illusion online or …

All eyes are on Samsung this week as it unveils what has arguably become the company’s most anticipated Android smartphone to date. First, however, Sammy has a bit of software business to tend to. Indeed, Samsung Canada today announced that it is making Android 4.0 available to a number of smartphones and tablets in the Galaxy series. Starting today and …

Nine Network affiliate WIN has launched a new digital channel WIN Gold, but before you get too excited, it’s a home shopping channel in the style of Seven’s TV4Me and Nine’s Extra. Despite bearing a name that brings to mind either Olympics glory or classic TV (or both), the station will feature primarily advertorial content interspersed with, WIN promises, “education, …

According to more murmurings about the much-rumoured forthcoming Apple TV set, the Cupertino company is in talks to stream films owned by Epix on its Apple TV as well as numerous devices including a standalone TV set, Reuters reports. Epix is a US TV channel that’s a joint venture between Viacom (Paramount Pictures), MGM and Lionsgate, offering movies from all …

Nokia is reportedly looking to sell its luxury brand Vertu to a private equity group for about 200 million euros, or about $265 million. The once-dominant cell phone maker is in advanced negotiations with Permira to unload the U.K.-based subsidiary, which is best known for offering $20,000 cell phones, the Financial Times reported today (subscription required). Goldman Sachs was reportedly …

Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone is expected to eventually step aside as the public face of LightSquared in an effort to keep the foundering wireless broadband effort from defaulting on debt, The Wall Street Journal reports. The move is expected to prompt the company’s lenders to approve a debt extension that would keep the company from having to file for …

Longtime CNET readers know that we’ve always liked Harmony remotes (even in the days before the original Canadian company, Intrigue Technologies, was purchased by Logitech). Harmony models pioneered the idea of “Web-programmable” consumer electronics: tell the software which products you own and how they’re connected, and the software uploads all of the codes to the remote, preprogrammed into task-based activities …

Quickflix has announced that its movie- and TV-streaming service is coming to Xbox 360 later this year. The company has yet to announce an exact launch date, but Quickflix founder Stephen Langsford has confirmed to CNET Australia that it will be in the “September quarter”. According to Quickflix, when the Xbox 360 app comes online later this year, it will …