Research In Motion is reportedly prepping to hire bankers to explore strategic alternatives. According to Bloomberg, RIM is looking for an adviser to explore options, which typically include a sale or restructuring. Analysts have been speculating on RIM’s breakup value for months, but the hang-up is often the same. RIM needs to steady its smartphone …

Panasonic’s Eluga smart phone has a UK price and release date. Head over to the Expansys site and you can see it’ll be on sale on 24 April — just nine days away. And the price? If you want it SIM-free you’ll have to shell out £365, Unwired View reports. That’s a pound for every day of the year. Not …

HTC One X owners are reporting a battery boost — having applied an unofficial update to the quad-core smart phone, Engadget reports. According to a thread on XDA-Developers, a user by the name of mike1986 has identified that there’s a problem in the way HTC’s latest toy’s Tegra 3 chip manages its power reserves, and released an unofficial patch that …

Visual voicemail company YouMail has added new features to its BlackBerry app but the company also said it will be the last update for the foreseeable future bound for RIM’s operating system as its users migrate to competing mobile OSes. The YouMail team originally started work on developing for the BlackBerry platform in 2007 and attributes some of its success …

Samsung’s cooking up a Windows Phone 8 mobile that will be launching in the second half of this year, according to rumours swirling around the Internet. Unwired View reports word from Chinese site ePrice, which claims Samsung Taiwan is cooking up a smart phone that’s going to be running on Windows Phone 8, the next version of Microsoft’s mobile OS. …

Maybe you heard the news last week (as if you could escape it): Facebook bought Instagram. Insta-what? Although this app/service launched back in October 2010, and has snowballed in popularity ever since, not everybody knows an Instagram from a telegram. (Wait, what the heck is a telegram? Yeah, obviously I’m skewing toward an older audience here.) If you’ve been sitting …

Sprint Nextel plans to sell its own version of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone on April 22, further fleshing out its own lineup of 4G LTE products. That, of course, comes as Sprint races to build out its 4G LTE network, which isn’t truly available yet. Samsung’s Android phone will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract. Customers can preorder today. Related …

The Oracle-Google case unfolding in a San Francisco courtroom has all the elements of a top-flight TV legal drama or movie along the lines of “The Social Network.” Billionaires and high-price lawyers and experts, along with nerds, a judge and a jury, will be packed into the courtroom for riveting and — more often — tedious and complicated testimony. The trial …

Now playing: Watch this: A beginner’s guide to smartphone cinema 6:51 Until relatively recently, film-making has been a pursuit of only those with money or connections, and while this may continue to be true in Hollywood for some time to come, a shift in the cost of equipment required to make a short film is helping to democratise the art …

Do you like to go to sporting events and shows? Most people like to get out to the ballpark or a concert every once in a while, but often rising ticket prices, service fees, and extra hassle keep people from buying tickets. Every day you’ll receive a handful of deals for shows and events on that day. Screenshot by Jason …

It may have sounded too good to be true but Republic Wireless is pushing ahead to make its big idea, offering unlimited voice, text, and data to mobile subscribers for just $19 per month, a reality. The company said today that it will expand the beta of its service, called Wi-Fi Waves, to intrepid users who have already signed on. …

I know what you’re thinking after reading that headline, but get your mind out of the gutter! It does appear, though, that T-Mobile’s Carly Foulkes has a side we haven’t seen before. In a television ad that the carrier posted on YouTube, a bored-looking Carly pads around her posh big city penthouse in search of something to do. Then, after …

Apple said today that its new iPad will hit a dozen new markets, including South Korea, on Friday. Along with South Korea, the new iPad will be available in Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. The following Friday, it will be available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South …

Good news if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the HTC One V — it’ll be on sale in the UK a week from tomorrow, SlashGear reports. And it’ll be free on contract from Orange, O2, and Vodafone, with monthly bills starting at £20.50, over at Carphone Warehouse. (Or £13.50 if you’re happy being tied in for two years.) …

LOS ANGELES — Like most people, I hate waiting in line. But with all the advances in technology, we haven’t really been able to get rid of the old-fashioned queue. From fun roller coasters to mundane drug stores, I often find myself wasting time standing in line. And it bugs me to no end. So it was music to my …