December, 2009

• 18 December

  Verizon defends its ETF hike

  

  Verizon’s letter to the FCC FCC A few weeks after the FCC sent an inquiry about its early termination fee (ETF) increase, Verizon has replied back with a seven-page missive of its own in defense of the fee hike. If you recall, Verizon increased its ETF from $175 to $350 specifically for “advanced devices,” which …

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• 18 December

  Unresolved iTunes 9 bugs plague users

  

  Since Apple introduced iTunes 9 several months ago, we’ve received a fair number of complaints about two particular bugs. So far no one, not even the first and second levels of Applecare support, has been able to resolve them. iTunes password-saving problem iTunes won’t remember your password–even when you check the box asking it to do so. Previous versions of …

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• 18 December

  Woo

  

  Remember the Simpsons coin-op arcade game? It’s about to get the iPhone treatment. EA Mobile is soon to release The Simpsons Arcade, which it calls “a throwback to the actual arcade game from the early 90s.” How soon? EA swore us to secrecy for some reason, but let’s just say you won’t have long to wait. Update: The game is …

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• 18 December

  Android 2.1 coming to Sprint HTC Hero, Samsung Moment

  

  Josh Miller/CNET On Thursday, Sprint revised a tweet it sent out last week regarding an Android update for the Samsung Moment and HTC Hero. Both smartphones won’t be getting an Android 2.0 update; instead, they will get Android 2.1. (Pause for applause.) The carrier made the announcement via its Twitter account, but unfortunately didn’t provide any more specific details as …

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• 18 December

  CNET’s top cell phones of 2009

  

  As 2009 ends, CNET honors an annual tradition of collecting the best cell phones of the year. Unlike the list we published last week in which we covered your favorites of 2009, this gallery includes the cell phones that we liked best. The following 10 handsets scored the highest ratings out of the 168 handsets that we reviewed this year. …

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• 18 December

  Bluetooth 4.0 goes low

  

  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 Bluetooth specification by just 10 …

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• 18 December

  Android team embraces developers

  

  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 …

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• 18 December

  PlayStation 3 to support 3D Blu

  

  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 …

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• 17 December

  Biden to unveil $2 billion in broadband grants

  

  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 …

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• 17 December

  Palm releases Project Ares as public beta

  

  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 …

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