Activate the electro-wetting lenses! Fire the parallax barriers! Soon, the galaxy will cower before Ming! The Motorola Ming MT820, that is: a 3D mobile phone spied in China. Like the Flash Gordon villain, this Ming doesn’t require glasses — or an evil goatee or unnecessarily pointy collar. The Ming is a clam-shell phone with a …

Microsoft has now joined Apple in a guerrilla war against Google’s Android, and Google’s next steps are far from certain. The smartphone industry is still in its infancy, but its strategic importance to computer companies big and small can’t be overstated. Recent moves from Apple and Microsoft show that the big guys are not going to be shy about deploying …

In Washington, D.C., Google is learning there’s nothing wrong with a little diplomacy. In a Federal Communications Commission filing earlier this week, Google reiterated its support for Net neutrality regulation, but it didn’t take sides in the ongoing debate over whether the FCC should reclassify broadband servicesto help ensure the agency has the authority to enforce that regulation. The FCC’s …

What just happened? We thought it was going to be a slow news day.  But right before our podcast was to begin, HP and Palm dropped a bomb and announced they had entered into an agreement where HP would buy Palm for $1.2 billion. The partnership caught us by surprise, but it’s also one that makes sense for both companies. …

Google’s mobile development team has had a busy couple days fine-tuning what it likes to call its “iterative mobile Web,” a phrase that, in plain English, extends to all the Google sites you can access from some iPhones and Android smartphones. Earlier, it migrated a better search result for business listings from Google.com for the desktop to Google.com from the …

This shouldn’t come as news to anyone, but the older your iPhone or iPod gets, the worse its battery performs. Don’t blame Apple: it’s just the nature of rechargeable batteries. OK, you can blame Apple for one thing: You can’t just swap in a new battery–not without some warranty-voiding surgery. However,  you can plug in external power, which is cheap, …

Garmin-Asus is making good on its commitment to Android as the company introduced a new Android device on Wednesday called the A10. Optimized for pedestrian navigation, the A10 features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, a digital compass, also offers voice-guided directions. All maps are preloaded on the device, but you’ll also have the option of downloading Garmin’s cityXplorer maps that …

Android users who relish being on the cutting bleeding edge of mobile software are going to love getting their peepers and fingers on Mozilla’s latest foray into Firefox for mobile phones. Late Tuesday, the open-source browsermaker released a prealpha version of Firefox for Android. If beta builds are for testing and feedback with minimal instability for the tester in question, …

Holy moly! That was my first reaction when I heard HP bought Palm, except replace moly with another four-letter word. In case you missed it, both companies announced on Wednesday they have entered into an agreement where HP would buy Palm for $1.2 billion, roughly $5.70 per share. The news caught me completely by surprise. It wasn’t the fact that …

Channel Nine has announced it will broadcast the first 3D sports event in Australia next month when Queensland takes on NSW in the State of Origin. The game takes place on 26 May and will only be viewable in 3D by owners of television sets with active shutter glasses — which at this stage is the C7000 range of Samsung …

The battle for the 21st century TV viewer is heating up as Verizon Communications adds more Internet content to its Fios TV service. But cable may not be the only competitor Verizon faces as more consumer electronics devices such as Blu-ray players and game consoles add similar Net-based services without an expensive TV service subscription. Verizon Fios TV customers can …

While Research in Motion got the party started early with the introduction of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 3G and the BlackBerry Bold 9650, WES 2010 officially kicked off today with the keynote speech given by RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. During the session, RIM gave a preview of its new BlackBerry 6 operating system. Though not due till Q3, the company …

GIVEAWAY: The first 50 CNET readers to retweet this story and follow @Sound_Hound on Twitter.com will be eligible to win a $10 gift card from SoundHound. SoundHound will contact winners directly via a direct Twitter message. When most software companies offer free versions of premium apps, it’s not unusual to see a substantial portion of the feature set fly out …

TomTom’s Go Live 1000 navigation device, set for a European launch this summer, will offer real-time connection for traffic, weather, and fuel info on the continent. TomTom’s Go Live 1000 TomTom The connectivity across 33 European countries will come via Vodafone. That service will be free for the first year and cost 50 euros (about $67) annually after that. The …

In February, we got our first glimpse at Symbian^3 but at that point, we could only imagine the revamped mobile OS with words and pictures. Now we can see it in action on an actual device. On Tuesday, Nokia introduced the N8, the first smartphone to run on Symbian 3. Due to ship in select markets starting in Q3, the …