Archive for January, 2009
Sprint Asks Obama to Set Up $2 Billion First-Responder Network
Sprint sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama and his incoming administration requesting that $2 billion be set aside specifically for a wireless network serving the nation’s first responders. According to Reuters, “Sprint’s plan calls for 100 satellite-based light trucks that would respond to emergencies, and 100,000 or more mobile handsets and equipment at up [...]
Circuit City Gives Up
Circuit City, which sells mobile phones and other electronics, is going to permanently close its 567 stores and cease operations. The company was in bankruptcy and hoping to find another firm willing to buy it. No suitors emerged. It also couldn’t make suitable deals with its creditors. The company is seeking permission to liquidate all [...]
Samsung to Split Into Two Major Divisions
Samsung announced a restructuring plan that has the company dividing operations in half. One half will focus on cell phones, TVs and other consumer products. It will be called the Digital Media and Communications division. The other half will focus on the manufacture of components such as displays and memory chips and will be called [...]
W. Virginia Senator Pushes for 3-Month DTV Delay
Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia proposed to congress yesterday that it delay the transition from analog to digital TV broadcasts by three months. The new proposed transition date would be June 12. Rockefeller says the delay is needed so the government can fill the backlog of consumer requests for the $40 coupons that will [...]
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to Resign Jan. 20
Today Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced that he will resign on January 20. He is expected to be replaced by President-Elect Barack Obama’s nominee, Julius Genachowski. The change in guard comes because the law states that the party controlling the White House (in this case, the Democrats) gets to pick the [...]
Nuance Acquires IBM Speech Tech
Scientists working on a way to bend light waves in order to cloak objects have stumbled onto another use for the technology. Duke University’s David Smith, one of the researchers, said, “Cloaking technology could be used to make obstacles that impede communications signals ‘disappear.’” Simply put, this technology could help cell phone signals avoid solid [...]
Nuance Acquires IBM Speech Tech
Today Nuance Communications, maker of T9 software and speech-recognition tools, has agreed to acquire some of the patents and speech technology of IBM. Nuance and IBM have also entered into an agreement to share speech technology and jointly develop new speech recognition services for businesses and consumers. The companies expect their joint efforts to bear [...]
Discover Card Offers Mobile Account Management
Credit card provider Discover Card has launched a new mobile Web site that allows cardholders to make payments, view recent transactions, view recent and pending payments, and view rewards activity. The site can be accessed for free by any mobile device that has a Web browser. Users must have a Discover.com username and password, which [...]
Boost to Offer Unlimited iDEN Plan
Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile announced that it is offering a new $50 per month calling plan. The new plan, called Monthly Unlimited, will give customers unlimited voice minutes, SMS, wireless Web and PTT services for $50 per month. This new plan is specifically for the Boost’s iDEN network. The new plan will be available beginning [...]
Motorola Lays Off Thousands from Mobile Device Unit
Motorola announced that it is taking further steps to reduce costs and reorganize its business. As part of the reorganization, it is planning to eliminate 3,000 positions associated with the Mobile Devices business and approximately 1,000 positions associated with corporate functions and other business units. The job reductions will begin almost immediately. These layoffs, plus [...]
