The parade of “social media” phones continues this week as Sony Ericsson joins Microsoft and Nokia in unveiling two devices aimed at the text-happy set. The latest members of the Walkman family, the Sony Ericsson Zylo and Spiro, combine the usual music player with dedicated Facebook and Twitter apps in slider designs. Sony Ericsson Spiro …

Virgin Media has been hard at work signing new high-definition talent to its V+ service, in a bid to rival Sky’s promised 50 HD channels by the end of the year. This week brings the announcement of Sci Fi HD. Sci Fi HD is the latest channel to join a stable that includes HD offerings from the BBC, ESPN, FX, …

Palm is putting itself on the block and starting its search for bidders as early as this week, according to Bloomberg. Who is on the short list of potential buyers? It’s not Google, but close enough: HTC. That makes sense because buying Palm could save HTC in Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit. How? HTC may find in Palm the patent portfolio …

Samsung Galaxy S Kent German/CNET The Samsung Galaxy S was one of the highlights from CTIA this year, so we don’t blame you if you’re waiting for it to hit stores. Unfortunately, we still don’t have an official release date, but the Galaxy S took another step toward reality Sunday when it dropped by the Federal Communication Commission for a …

On Monday, Microsoft finally took the wraps off of Project Pink and revealed two new phones targeted toward the younger generation of social butterflies. The Kin One and the Kin Two will be available from Verizon Wireless starting next month, and, as CNET Reporter Ina Fried states, the phones are for men and women anywhere between the ages of 15 …

Welcome to The 411, my column dealing with all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I’m stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at [email protected]. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know. It’s been a long time since I’ve answered your questions, so let’s get …

The latest version of the iPhone‘s software will give you 100 new features, including the much-wanted multitasking. Steve Jobs, looking more like Montgomery Burns with every announcement (“Schiller! Unleash the hounds.”), launched iPhone OS 4 at an event at Apple’s headquarters in California this evening. Launched this summer on iPhone 3GS and third-gen iPod touch, it’ll come to the iPad …

Microsoft, never a company to do anything the easy way, looks set to start a mobile operating system war next week — with itself. CNET’s Ina Fried has confirmed that a launch event on 12 April in San Francisco will see the debut of the Pure and the Turtle, the first phones to spring from Microsoft’s Project Pink. The Pure …

Boingo Wireless executives are a bit red-faced this weekend after mistakenly informing the company’s customers of a radical billing plan change being instituted apparently without their input or consent. The Wi-Fi hot spot provider sent an e-mail to its customers Saturday informing them that the company was immediately canceling their flat-fee monthly subscription plans and replacing it with a “Day …

Apple’s announcement of iOS 4 and the iPhone 4 in just the last three months shows that the smartphone wars aren’t cooling yet. Just consider everything that has happened in the space of the last year. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Windows Mobile OS, and Google continues to aggressively roll out updates to Android. Palm …

Before the launch of the iPad, Apple removed all the plastic and film screen protectors from its online and brick and mortar stores, even though they are among the most popular accessories for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple didn’t seem to give any particular reason for this move, but as iLounge noted in an article, “One vendor speculated that …

Rumors of the iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless may have some consumers in the U.S. wondering about resulting cost savings for the device. But will more competition really mean lower prices? Six months after the iPhone market opened up in the United Kingdom for the iPhone, prices have only dipped slightly. But compared to prices from AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive …

Research In Motion is making a play for the automotive market, announcing Friday its acquisition of QNX Software Systems from Harman International. QNX brings an open-platform operating system to the game and RIM is looking to advance it in the automotive world. In a statement, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said: RIM is excited about the planned acquisition of …

Now playing: Watch this: iPhone OS 4.0 4:52 Now that you know the highlights of iPhone OS 4, we offer you the chance to see the new features for yourself. We’ve loaded the developer release on Brian Tong’s iPhone 3GS and took it for a spin. As we mentioned, it’s not quite the update that OS 3.0 was, but it …

MobiTV offers eight channels of live TV and more than 30 on-demand channels. Rick Broida Hulu who? If you’ve been waiting to watch your favorite shows on your iPhone, wait no more: the new MobiTV app streams both live and on-demand television content. What kind of content? Oh, let’s see, there’s “Caprica,” “Castle,” “The Colbert Report,” “Community,” “Cougar Town,” and …