Consumer Electronics

In choosing Howard Schmidt as cyber czar President Obama has gotten someone who has held a similar job in a previous administration, has varied experience at high-level corporate jobs, was a frequent panelist at security conferences and who has even written a book on defending the Internet.  read more »

So. It seems the oft-rumored and--until recently--never-pictured, "Google Phone" exists.  read more »

Let's say that you're a software developer who has created a hot new application for smartphones that you're certain is about to take the world by storm. Your work isn't quite done and here's the problem: not only will your brilliant and innovative application have to compete with several other applications that have similar ambitions, but it will have to compete with them over multiple platforms.  read more »

Yesterday, U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Wireless formally announced Research In Motion's (RIM) latest touch-screen smartphone: the BlackBerry Storm2 9550. The device is not yet publicly available--you'll have to wait until later this week to get your Storm2--but the BlackBerry-maker sent us a review device early.  read more »

Research In Motion's BlackBerry Storm 2, the long-anticipated follow-up to the original BlackBerry Storm, will arrive on Verizon's network tomorrow. The Storm 2 will go on sale on Wednesday, October 28 for $280 when you sign a two-year service contract with Verizon Wireless. Verizon is offering a $100 mail-in rebate, which knocks the price down to $180, but that rebate comes in the form of a Visa debit card, not an actual check.  read more »

The launch of Splash, a text-message-based mobile money service, makes Sierra Leone the latest African country to deploy a mobile payment system.  read more »

IBM wants to manage BlackBerry devices for enterprises and will now do so for a fixed cost.  read more »

AT&T is on track to flip the switch to enable MMS functionality for U.S. iPhone users this Friday. The wireless carrier said that all users should be able to send and receive MMS messages by Friday afternoon.  read more »

The slow progress of digital television migration and a lack of clear telecommunications policies are hampering the development and use of mobile TV in South Africa.  read more »

Google told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that Apple did indeed reject the Google Voice application from the iPhone store, despite contrary statements from Apple.  read more »