More bad news for BlackBerry: BBX is banned, forcing a name change to BlackBerry 10. A US court blocked the use of the BBX name for the next generation of BlackBerry software, the Guardian reports, as it’s held as a trademark by software company Basis International. If we were pinning our hopes on some new …

The Nokia Lumia 710 could be available in the UK in the first week of January, if a listing from one online retailer is to be believed. Somobile spotted that online phone-flogger Digital-phone.co.uk is listing the Windows Phone-powered mobile with a release date of 6 January — mere weeks away. We’d take that date with a pinch of salt, as dates …

Sony Ericsson will become just Sony by next summer. The Japanese giant has assumed full control over the the phone-building company and will only make smart phones, powered by Android, to regain lost ground against the iPhone. Sony Ericsson has been a joint venture between Sony and Swedish telecoms company Ericsson for the past decade. Along with Nokia, Son Eric …

German patent licensing firm IPCom is sending cease-and-desist letters to retailers and wholesalers of HTC’s 3G devices, even though it does not have a specific court order allowing it to do so. The company began sending the letters to around 100 German retailers, including mobile operators and major chains such as the Media-Saturn group, last night. HTC promised it would …

Verizon Wireless customers looking to snap up the Samsung Galaxy Nexus this Friday will have to be a little more patient. The carrier has been cagey about the launch date for the smartphone, which is the first to run on the new Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, but an informal survey of Verizon stores found that many had expected …

Don’t listen to the hype. Ignore the commercials. Leer skeptically at the salesman. There is no such thing as an LED TV, and “LED” doesn’t mean it’s any better than other TVs. LED is just a type of LCD, with strengths and weaknesses that make it better in some ways, worse in others, and rarely worth its price premium over …

Owners of a Sony internet-connected TV can now enjoy the subscription-based Mubi movie streaming service in addition to the current selection of catch-up TV and programming. A monthly subscription to Mubi, which consists mainly of classic and independent movies, costs AU$9.95 per month or, alternatively, you can pay AU$3.95 per film. If you have access to a Mubi account via …

HTC may be showing cracks. The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer said today that it saw November sales fall nearly 30 percent to NT$30.9 billion (roughly $1 billion) from a year ago. That follows its warning from last month that it wouldn’t see any sales growth in the fourth quarter. Those are just the latest cracks in a company that over the …

Just as CNET reported last week, Verizon Wireless has officially announced a pair of new 4G LTE Android tablets for release in December. Carrying the name of Droid Xyboard, the two devices are successors to the Motorola Xoom released earlier in the year. Specifications include dual-core 1.2Ghz processors, 1GM RAM, a 5-megapixel main camera, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Powered …

Verizon Communications has fired 40 employees involved in this summer’s bitter labor strike for behavior the company said ranged from physical violence to making racial threats. The company informed the employees by mail over the weekend of their terminations for violating the company’s code of conduct while picketing a new contract, according to a Boston Globe report. More than 45,000 …