A new version of Bluetooth has been revealed by the industry group behind the wireless technology, which is targeting low-energy applications in the health care, fitness, and security markets. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group announced the adoption of Bluetooth Core Specification version 4.0 on Thursday. The new iteration follows the speed-centric version 3.0 of the …

Screenshot by Scott Webtser/CNET Google has been busy the last few days with updates to the official Android Developers blog. With new code samples and resources, the blog is becoming a better resource for the very people who Google depends on to elevate the platform. On Thursday, Google unveiled the Device Dashboard, which breaks down the current composition of devices …

It may be the technology nobody asked for, but 3D home cinema continues to gather pace, with the news that the specification for 3D Blu-ray has been finalised. Not only will 3D Blu-ray discs be backwards-compatible, they’ll even turn your existing Sony PlayStation 3 into a PlayStation 3D. 3D Blu-ray will display full high-definition 1080p video to each eye, encoded …

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday is scheduled to announce $2 billion in grants that will be used to build broadband networks in underserved communities. The funding, which is part of the $7.2 billion that was set aside for broadband in President Obama’s $787 billion economic recovery deal earlier this year, will start with an initial $182 million investment in …

Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET On Thursday, Palm made its new browser-based mobile development platform available to all developers as a public beta. Dubbed Project Ares, developers can now create programs for Palm WebOS simply by firing up their browser (Firefox, Safari, and Chrome are supported) and signing into their account where they will then have access to all the tools …

Screenshot by Scott Webtser/CNET Effective Wednesday, T-Mobile customers with a Google Android phone running version 1.6 of the operating system will begin receiving an update to their Android Market. After installing the update and opening the Market, users can access a “T-Mobile Top Picks” section that showcases applications there were selected by the carrier. Besides being innovative, these applications can …

Elgato’s Live3G EyeTV Web app In October, Elgato’s original EyeTV for iPhone (iTunes link) allowed streaming video over a 3G network connection via a backdoor, which broke the iPhone OS SDK rules and Apple yanked EyeTV from the App Store. A later version of EyeTV removed the backdoor, and the world assumed that 3G network streaming in EyeTV was gone …

Talk about unfortunate timing. Research In Motion (RIMM) has confirmed reports that Blackberry users across North America have been experiencing e-mail problems this morning. Evidently, the outage is affecting all BlackBerry users who rely on RIM’s Internet-based e-mail service instead of corporate servers, regardless of carrier. This, just hours before the company is to release its third-quarter results. In a …

Updated 3:01 p.m. PDT with information from the conference call. On the day that Research In Motion suffered another nationwide mobile e-mail outage, it announced it beat analyst expectations in the fiscal third quarter of 2009 with strong sales of its BlackBerry smartphones. BlackBerry Bold Research In Motion The company’s earnings were up 59 percent compared to the same quarter …

Samsung Stunt Samsung MetroPCS and Samsung announced a new basic phone just in time for the holidays. The Samsung Stunt has a simple black-and-blue candy bar design, with features like text and multimedia messaging, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and voice commands. It measures approximately 4.2 inches long by 1.7 inches wide by 0.54 inch thick and weighs about 2.6 ounces. No word …

The iPhone may not have the world’s best camera, but when it comes to having fun with photos, there’s no better device. The App Store offers countless apps devoted to tweaking, morphing, framing, sharing, or just generally improving your snapshots. I’ve rounded up five I think any iPhone owner will enjoy. 1. Framed You know those novelty “Wanted” posters you …

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin. Orange has launched a phone line where stressed out city-folk can dial a beach. Orange customers can dial 347 for free from their mobile, and everyone else can call 0207 050 6888 and pay their normal network rate to get a choice of what Orange has chosen as Britain’s soothingest sounds. Press one …

The Federal Communications Commission is taking on difficult and controversial issues as it works toward developing a comprehensive national broadband plan. On Wednesday the agency heard from an FCC task force on the progress that it’s making in writing that broadband plan, which will be presented to Congress in February. The FCC has been tasked with developing a plan that …

The Android Market has grown from zero applications to 20,000 strong in a little over a year. According to Androidlib, a Web site dedicated to tracking the Android Market, the milestone was reached on Tuesday. While this is an unofficial tally, it’s a telling figure nonetheless. Android shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the number of applications is …

Vodafone is the first network to announce a home for the Nokia N900, which will be coming to the network in January. The Nokia N900 is a mobile computing powerhouse, with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard and an 89mm (3.5-inch) touchscreen. Although the touchscreen is the resistive type, so it takes some pressure from a fingernail to work, we found it …