Are you gearing up for Black Friday already? When it comes to smartphones, you may want to pause and reconsider any purchases. As with many Black Friday and Cyber Monday “deals,” a majority of the items on sale are outdated models, less-than-desirable devices, or just products that the carriers and retailers are looking to unload. …

London dwellers rejoice, it looks like EE is bringing free Wi-Fi to the London Underground — though the 4G network says the exciting news was revealed in error. Update: Virgin Media has confirmed that both EE and Vodafone customers will be getting the free Wi-Fi service. That means EE, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone mobile customers will get free …

The 3D version of Independence Day has reportedly been cancelled, with studios opting to ditch the 3D remake of the 1996 Will Smith-em up. Now that’s what I call a close encounter! Den of Geek reports that Fox is ditching the flick, which was slated for a 3 July release next year. I’ve contacted 20th Century Fox to request confirmation that …

The shopping phenomenon known as Black Friday, with its “insane” doorbuster deals, comes around only once a year. While there are a couple of nuggets hidden in there, it’s also an excuse to clear stock of items people aren’t that interested in anyway. If you see any of the following TVs for sale on the day, grab them! For our …

Sony’s promised “preloaded, native 4K entertainment” with its AU$25,000 TV is a US-only offer. (Credit: Sony) As reported earlier in the week, Sony has said on its blog that it will be providing “the world’s first 4K Ultra HD delivery solution, complete with preloaded, native 4K entertainment” on its 84-inch KD-84X9000 Ultra HD TV. The promise was for “full-length feature …

HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou said today that he was happy with the settlement reached with Apple, and called the estimates floating around “outrageous.” Earlier this month, Apple and HTC struck a 10-year cross-licensing agreement, putting to bed a long-running and bitter legal battle. While the companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, analysts had surmised that HTC was …

Here’s another signal that might be pointing to a BlackBerry swan song — the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is ditching the device for Apple’s iPhone 5. This is the latest in a growing number of government agencies that have turned their backs on the mobile phone. The government agency announced its plan in a government filing last week, according …

EE has kicked off its SIM-only deals — but some customers are already talking about quitting the UK’s first 4G network. A month after launch, EE is now supplying SIM cards to put in your LTE phone, no matter where you bought it. But some customers are stuck without any service as they’re unable to activate their SIM. Other customers …

Tablet shipments will eclipse laptops for the first time in North America, driven by price and variety, says NPD DisplaySearch. Popular $199 models and a wider variety of sizes will propel fourth-quarter tablet shipments to 21.5 million units, “far exceeding” the 14.6 million laptops that are expected to ship in the same period, according to a forecast today by DisplaySearch’s …

Google Play Music has pressed play on a deal that brings Lady Gaga, Rihanna and 5 million more new songs to your Android phone’s music store. Google has done a deal with European licensing and publishing groups to add more than 5.5 million tracks, including meat-decked GaGa and good girl gone bad RiRi. The deal folds the UK and American …