Filed under: Telecommunications

Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.

 

Motorola’s successors see shares rise after spinoff

Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions began trading separately on Tuesday, the final step in Motorola’s two-and-half-year process in becoming two independent companies.

Motorola’s longtime ticker symbol, MOT, was retired on Tuesday as Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. began trading under its new name, Motorola Solutions, with the ticker MSI. Motorola Mobility, which was spun off as a new company, trades under the ticker MMI.

Shares of Motorola Mobility, which includes the smartphone and TV set-top business, closed 9.5 percent higher at $33.12. Shares of Motorola Solutions Inc , which targets businesses with products like barcode scanners, closed up $2.46, or 7.6 percent, at $39.77.

Get the full story »

Skype adding Wi-Fi, 3G video calling to iPhone app

A new version of the free iPhone app for Skype SA will let users make and receive video calls. Users of the Internet calling and messaging service will be able to use both Wi-Fi and AT&T Inc.’s 3G cellular network. FaceTime software, which comes with iPhones, works only with Wi-Fi. Get the full story »

Skype says software to blame for 24-hour outage

Skype SA says a software glitch caused the Internet calling and messaging service’s major outage last week.

In a blog post Wednesday, chief information officer Lars Rabbe said the 24-hour outage that cut service for millions of users stemmed from a problem in a version of Skype’s software for computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. Get the full story »

U.S. announces new insider trading arrest

A California woman has been arrested on charges of leaking secrets about technology companies to hedge funds, as federal prosecutors expand their probe into insider trading. Get the full story »

Motorola Mobility not moving HQ to Chicago

From Crain’s Chicago Business | Motorola Mobility, Motorola’s cell phone unit, reportedly has ruled out moving its headquarters to downtown Chicago. The company, which will split from the emergency-radio business Jan. 4, would keep its headquarters at its existing campus in Libertyville if it chooses to stay in Illinois, says a person familiar with the search. Get the full story>>

Apple sued over privacy of iPhone, iPad apps

Bloomberg News | Apple Inc. has been sued over claims that some of its iPhone and iPad apps, including Pandora and dictionary.com, transmit users’ personal information to advertisers.

iPhone, iPod learn to speak Cherokee

Nine-year-old Lauren Hummingbird wants a cell phone for Christmas — and not just any old phone, but an iPhone. Such a request normally would be met with skepticism by her father, Cherokee Nation employee Jamie Hummingbird.

He could dismiss the obvious reasons a kid might want an iPhone, except for this — he’s a proud Cherokee and buying his daughter the phone just might help keep the tribe’s language alive. Get the full story »

Skype says two-thirds of users still can’t log in

From ComputerWorld | Skype estimates that about two-thirds of its users are still unable to log in after an outage caused by problems with its underlying peer-to-peer interconnection system, it said in a blog post around midday European time Thursday.

Skype hit by outage, says it is investigating

Internet phone and video service Skype went down in a global service outage on Wednesday, underscoring a weakness of the free online communication tool. Get the full story »

ITC to take Motorola patent case against Microsoft

A trade panel that specializes in patent cases has agreed to hear the complaint of Motorola’s subsidiary Motorola Mobility against Microsoft, the panel said on Tuesday.

Motorola Mobility, which makes handsets and is being spun off by Motorola, has accused Microsoft of infringing its patents to make some Xbox video game consoles. Get the full story »

‘Smurfs’ Village’ app adds warnings of real costs

The publisher of the popular “The Smurfs’ Village” game for the iPhone and iPad has added a warning that virtual items such as “Smurfberries” cost real money –  as much as $100 with just two taps on the screen.

An Associated Press story this month revealed how easy it is for kids to buy such virtual items and have them billed to their parents without their knowledge. Like many other free games, “Smurfs’ Village” makes money by selling the virtual goods to advance play. Get the full story »

Qualcomm deal to give AT&T wider 4G access

AT&T Inc. plans to buy wireless spectrum from Qualcomm Inc. for $1.93 billion and boost its 4G network, aiming to counter criticism over iPhone service quality and a threat from rivals such as Verizon Wireless.

AT&T is the sole U.S. carrier for Apple Inc.’s iPhone, but smaller rivals including  Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Corp. have been adopting 4G, a new wireless standard that enables better Internet access including video. Get the full story »

Boeing snags $1B Mexico satellite contract

Boeing Co.  said it won a contract valued at about $1 billion to build a communication-satellite system for Mexico’s government that will be used for  national-security and civil-communications needs.

The system will consist of three satellites, two ground sites and related network operations systems and other equipment. Get the full story »

Google TV faces delays amid poor reviews

From the New York Times News Service | The Consumer Electronics Show next month in Las Vegas was meant to be the great coming-out party for Google’s new software for televisions, which adds Web video and other computer smarts to TV sets. Although Google already has a deal with Sony for its Internet TVs, other television makers — Toshiba, LG Electronics and Sharp — were prepared to flaunt their versions of the systems.

But Google has asked the TV makers to delay their introductions, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, so that it can refine the software, which has received a lukewarm reception. The late request caught some of the manufacturers off guard. And it illustrates the struggles Google faces as it tries to expand into the tricky, unfamiliar realm of consumer electronics, and drum up broad interest in a Web-based TV product that consumers want. Get the full story »

First glimpse of new Motorola tablet?

From Geek with Laptop | Google’s Andy Rubin appears to have shown off one of the 10-inch tablet computers Motorola plans to launch next year. Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s CEO, basically that Motorola will also launch a 7-inch tablet at some point next year,.

Rubin was showing off the new Nexus S phone at the “Dive into Mobile” event and whipped out a nameless prototype Motorola slim line tablet running Android 3.0 otherwise known as Honeycomb, a version of Android that is supposedly more suitable for tablet computers than previous versions. Get the full story>>