Now playing: Watch this: Galaxy S2 Ice Cream Sandwich vs Gingerbread 3:20 The wait is almost over! Samsung has started rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich to the Galaxy S2 — with Poles and Swedes among the first Europeans to get the update. Lucky them. The S2 ICS rollout isn’t due to reach Blighty til 19 …

Cisco Systems has signed a $5 billion deal to buy set-top box software developer NDS, the companies said today. NDS, based in the U.K., sells its software platform along with a combined service platform to video service providers. The products allow video providers to deliver a service that easily lets people view, search, and navigate video content at anytime from …

The bad news keeps coming for LightSquared. Sprint Nextel plans to terminate its 15-year contract with the foundering wireless broadband effort on Friday and return $65 million in prepayments. The deal’s cancellation–first reported by the Wall Street Journal–would leave LightSquared without a major partner for its effort to build a national wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum. Sprint confirmed the …

The BBC is finally flinging open Auntie’s basement. Classic TV and radio shows from the BBC archives are to go on sale online in a plan codenamed Project Barcelona. BBC boss Mark Thompson confirmed the plans, which we reported last week. Classic BBC programmes will be yours to download for a “relatively modest” fee, including many shows that have not …

Pioneer delivered a great line-up of AV receivers in 2011, highlighted by the VSX-1021-K. That model was one of the first non-Apple products to offer AirPlay compatibility–the ability to stream any audio from iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch models. CNET awarded the Pioneer four stars, with only the Denon AVR-1912 besting it in the $500 AV receiver line-up last year. …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung Series 7 Slate PC 3:02 From the outside, the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC might look like any other tablet on the market, but it’s packed with a laptop processor and is running the desktop version of Windows 7. Most tablets — such as the iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab — are found running on …

As Apple’s first 4G LTE-compatible device, the new iPad has a lot riding on its wings. And because it costs a pretty penny, it makes sense to consider every issue–including which 4G network is right for you. Whether you know it or not, no two carriers are exactly alike. The same goes for AT&T and Verizon. Although both offer 4G …

For a company that builds telecommunications equipment and smartphones, Huawei has–in its own admission–not been so great at communicating its story. Huawei’s focus on serving its customers in the past came at the expense of establishing any kind of presence with the media or consumers, something its executives believe opened the door to a misinformation campaign that has stunted its …

Aching for a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich on your HTC soul mate? Chances are you won’t have long to wait since the manufacturer named a long list of specific phones on which it plans to bestow Android 4.0 goodness. Of the 16 devices called out by HTC, major U.S. devices with ICS in the works are the Droid Incredible …

Cricket has signed on to use Clearwire’s forthcoming 4G LTE network to augment its own next-generation deployment. Cricket, owned by parent Leap Wireless, and Clearwire said today that they have signed a five-year wholesale deal. While Cricket is building a 4G LTE network across two-thirds of its own territory over the next three years, it will need Clearwire’s wider reach …

The Samsung Galaxy S3 could be a ceramic sequel. New reports suggest the hotly anticipated follow-up to the Galaxy S2 will have a ceramic casing. The S3 is expected to be announced in the first half of this year, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. A ceramic shell is a new one on us. Some watches …

What do you if you’re Samsung and you’ve pretty much conquered the Android smartphone landscape? Well, according to a recent Engadget report, the company is now evaluating the Android-based digital camera market. The tech blog recently spent some time touring Samsung Korea’s headquarters where it learned that the manufacturer’s R&D department is considering an “open” camera operating system. Given that …

It was former Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Opotheker in the library with the candlestick who killed off Palm. Leo Apotheker Dan Farber/CNET In a recent interview with fellow author Rick Mathieson to promote his new book, Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation, former HP Chief Technology Officer Phil McKinney divulged some interesting tidbits about who was responsible for …

Apple As news of Apple’s monster holiday season quarter continues to filter in though various lenses, one is particularly striking. Specifically, Apple now sits atop the Japanese cell phone market, shipping more iPhone units than its competitors in Japan. The steady rise in popularity is attributed to the success of the iPhone 4S, pushing Apple to 26.6 percent of mobile …

As I noted back in January, the only smart way to buy Apple gear is to buy it refurbished. You’re guaranteed to save money while getting gear that’s literally as good as new. Just one problem: how can you keep tabs on Apple’s latest refurb deals? Suppose, for example, you’re in the market for a refurbished fourth-gen iPod Touch, the …