Have you heard of NQ Mobile? Neither have I. Founded in 2005, the Beijing-based company is actually an established provider of mobile security, but has nearly zero visibility in the U.S. Earlier this month, it tapped former Samsung Electronics executive Omar Khan as its new co-CEO, as part of a broader attempt to make a …

Like to recharge your iPhone overnight? Listen to tunes while getting dressed? Set the mood during a romantic evening? Are you, perhaps, a fan of monochromatic art-deco furniture? Also, do you have more money than you know what to do with? JVC has the product for you: the N-BX3 iPhone/iPod nightstand speaker. No, it’s not a speaker that sits on …

Rdio, the subscription music service, just put out an update to its Android app, and it’s a big one. On top of offering support for Android Ice Cream Sandwich’s new remote control client, the app is more streamlined and highlights Rdio’s “rich” social features and extensive music discovery options. The free app is available for both smartphones and tablets in …

How quickly these things happen. Motorola succeeded yesterday in forcing Apple to pull several of its iPad and iPhone models from sale in Germany, following a patent dispute. But just a few hours later, Apple had succeeded in overturning the ban, the BBC reports. Though Germans may still lose push email in iCloud, following a separate ruling. Can’t we all …

Samsung’s poking fun at Apple fans again, with a new ad for the Galaxy Note, aired during this big sporting event in America called the Superb Owl, whatever that is. The ad shows a bunch of glum Apple fans waiting in line for a new gadget, before a Samsung Galaxy Note owner walks past and causes the Cupertino loyalists to …

Now playing: Watch this: Ep. 209: Windows Phone 8 details leak, HTC Sense is too… 28:58 This week’s podcast is my first time ever hosting, so please excuse all the awkwardness as I get my sea legs going. To compensate, I offer you a lively discussion about the new details surrounding Windows Phone 8. So far, there’s word of a …

If you’re burning to secure Samsung’s Galaxy Note, AT&T is now taking preorders for the hybrid slate for $300. Samsung was the only tech company with a splashy Super Bowl ad this year, and that’s sure to drive interest in the manufacturer’s hot product of the moment, which hits stores officially on February 19. Pimping the Galaxy Note, an interesting …

Here comes yet another tasty tidbit for the multitudes eagerly awaiting news of the Samsung Galaxy S III: it could measure just 0.28 inch, or 7 millimeters, thick. The latest rumor ultimately comes to us from Korean Web site Electronic Times News (Google translation). Samsung, it seems, is taking on Motorola’s ultraskinny Droid Razr, another phone that comes in at …

If you were still wondering whether the iPhone had made a significant mark on society, news that London’s Kensington and Chelsea College has a course offering students the ability to learn iPhoneography (the art of taking photographs with your iPhone) should be enough to answer the question. The new evening course will be entirely devoted to teaching students how to …

Now this is intriguing. Sony has trademarked the name ‘Xperia Sola’, Pocketnow reports. Thanks to the Xperia moniker, we know it’s the name of a phone, but exactly which handset is a complete mystery. Could it be a forthcoming solar-powered effort? (Stranger things have happened in the world of mobile recently.) Or will the Xperia S get a new name …

Looking at the iPhone now, it’s hard to think how it was originally conceived. How do you go about asking a team to come up with one of the world’s most iconic gadgets? Steve Jobs didn’t mention apps, or media, or even a touchscreen. “His [charge] was simple,” former iPhone product marketing manager Bob Borchers said during a recent lecture …

For every new iteration of mobile phones, it’s easy to assume that products are getting pricier because the insides are getting just as expensive. A Samsung LTE and Via Telecom CDMA chip ABI Research I mean, it makes sense that as technology gets better and faster, manufacturers and consumers are paying top dollar to get their hands on it, right? …

Teaming up with Nuance, U.S. Cellular just unveiled a voice-mail-to-text solution that unfortunately is not free. In the Chicago-based carrier’s defense, the big boys like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile all charge for the privilege of using their visual voice mail software, typically $2 to $3 a month. U.S. Cellular’s product is right in line with the market, and expects …

As Facebook prepares for its $5 billion initial public offering here in the U.S., European representatives are meeting with student activists from Austria regarding complaints the group has filed over how the company handles private information. On Monday, Richard Allan, Facebook’s European director of policy and a former member of Parliament in Britain, and another California-based Facebook executive are meeting …

According to a report from AppleInsider, oil field services provider Halliburton has decided to drop Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform in favor of Apple’s iOS for its workforce. An internal newsletter outlined the plan for the nearly 70,000 employees who work for Halliburton in more than 70 countries. “Over the next year, we will begin expanding the use of our …