Technology

Despite extremely strong smartphone sales, AT&T says it lost $6.7 billion in the last three months of 2011, which the company blames on government for blocking its proposed takeover of T-Mobile -- a decision which also triggered a hefty penalty. ... Between October and December AT&T sold 9.4 million smartphones, up 60 per cent over the same period last year. The surge was largely driven by the new iPhone 4S. In fact, 80 per cent of all AT&T's sales for the period involved some version of the Apple smartphone. Pension and Subsidy Costs Turn Ink Red With its core business booming, AT ... (view more)

Have you ever dropped a smartphone or other handheld digital device into a toilet or sink? It's a horrible, gut-wrenching feeling knowing that you may have accidentally destroyed your phone and all of its information in an instant -- but a new ... scientific breakthrough may help to change that. A new nano-coating procedure offered by three different companies is said to prevent such accidents from ruining your expensive smartphone. The price: only $60. Not surprisingly, the technology aroused a lot of interest at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Plasma Gas Creates ... (view more)

In an attempt to calm investors and win back the support of consumers, troubled BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a major management transformation. Co-Chief Executive Officers Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have officially ... resigned their posts and will be replaced by a single man: Thorsten Heins, who has been with the company since 2007. Speculation about a change of this magnitude has been circulating for months , following an extremely rocky calendar year for the Waterloo, Canada-based manufacturer. Several of the firm's major projects, most notably the PlayBook, ... (view more)

Only a day after reports emerged suggesting tech industry titan Samsung was preparing to grab up embattled BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), the supposed buyer has publicly nixed such rumors. On Tuesday (January 17, 2012), tech blog Boy ... Genius Report (known as BGR) reported it had learned Research in Motion co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jim Balsille had met with Samsung in order to discuss a buyout. BGR reported that Samsung was prepared to pay anywhere between $12 billion and $15 billion to acquire the Waterloo, Canada-based company. The rumor received apparent approval from ... (view more)

Troubled smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM), best known for its BlackBerry mobile device, may soon be bought up by tech industry heavyweight, Samsung. The rumor of such a purchase was responsible for an increase in RIM's stock value Tuesday ... (January 17, 2012). This is not the first time a heavy-hitter like Samsung has been mentioned as a possible purchaser of RIM. Back in December, 2011, Nokia, Amazon and, in particular, Microsoft, were all believed to be interested in obtaining the Waterloo, Canada-based firm, which has faced considerable adversity in the past year as a result of ... (view more)

Many of us go to great lengths to ensure our drinks are cold because, let's face it, there's nothing more disgusting than a warm beer. Thankfully, South Korea's LG now offers a solution to the age-old beverage-cooling problem: its new "Blast ... Chilling" refrigeration technology. LG introduced refrigerators with a special Blast Chilling compartment during a recent presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), taking place in Las Vegas right now. It's part of what LG calls its "Smart Manager" technology, the name for appliances that can track data or communicate with other digital devices ... (view more)

Leaving electrical appliances plugged in to power outlets, but unattended, has long been an energy-drain issue for some individuals. High electricity costs, coupled with countless instances of accidental electrical fires, have now given rise to a ... new socket design that unplugs devices without any prompting. Electrical Socket Ejects Devices After Ten Idle Minutes Called the "PumPing Tap", the spring-loaded electrical socket detects current flowing through it and releases the plug when an electrical device is left idle. The new outlet is primarily intended to conserve energy, and is a great ... (view more)

A tech website has accused Research in Motion (RIM) of lying about its decision to delay the release of its BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system (OS). RIM, however, denies the allegation. Research in Motion recently admitted it has been forced to ... delay the release of its highly-anticipated BlackBerry 10 OS until late 2012. However, the company attributed the postponement of the mobile operating system to its adoption of a new and different hardware chipset, now being developed by an unknown third-party vendor. "High-Level" RIM Worker Leaks A Different Story The blog "Boy ... (view more)

Biometric information used for identification is among IBM's five newest forecasts for the year 2016, along with thought-reading smartphones, which is reminiscent of a forecast it made five years ago. Since 2006, IBM has published an annual list of ... five technology trends it expects to take effect within five years. This year's forecasts include the end of passwords, which by 2016 may be replaced by biometric log-ins like fingerprint scanners , iris scanners or even DNA readers. As science fiction as that may seem, it's already in the works: Windows 8 is thought to support an option for log- ... (view more)

A Microsoft manager has revealed that the latest Windows Phone system already includes support for "contactless" smartphone payments in stores. However, there remain serious questions about the system's security status, which is still being worked ... on. Electronic Payments Make Transactions Quicker NFC is a form of wireless communication that works very much like Bluetooth and WiFi, but only over a much shorter distance (as little as a few centimeters). One of its primary uses could be to make electronic payments in stores without swiping a card. Although technically NFC payments are ... (view more)