News

• Power to the people: AT&T sets up free mobile charging stations in NYC

  AT&T today announced a pilot project of solar-powered charging stations across all five of New York City's boroughs where the public can charge phones, tablets and other devices for free.

• Canonical taps international cell carriers for mobile advice

  Canonical announced Tuesday that it has formed an advisory group of international wireless carriers – including big names like Deutsche Telekom and Korea Telecom, but excluding all of the big four U.S. networks.

• Samsung's Galaxy S4 doubles download speeds on LTE-Advanced network

  Samsung plans to begin selling a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone capable of running on LTE-Advanced 4G networks -- which offer download speeds that are twice as fast as LTE -- in South Korea this month.

• Debate rages over revelation of NSA spying secrets

  Debate continues to rage today over the bombshell revelations that the National Security Agency collects intelligence on individuals via telecommunications and social-networking sites. The uproar has the U.S. government and private companies admitting to some aspects of the surveillance, while vehemently denying others. A former CIA agent working for Booz Allen Hamilton has revealed himself as the leaker.

• Privacy groups, some lawmakers rip into NSA surveillance

  Privacy groups and some lawmakers are in an uproar after news reports this week that the U.S. National Security Agency is conducting broad surveillance of the nation's residents.

• IBM: Hey CIA, why let Amazon build you a private cloud?

  Amazon pulled off a coup a few months back, reportedly securing a $600 million contract to build a cloud for the CIA.

• More of Sprint's customers are using iPhones, but that's not true for AT&T and Verizon

  Sprint recently saw growth in the percentage of its customers owning iPhones, while both Verizon Wireless and AT&T saw declines, an analyst firm said today.

• Advocates: FCC should limit big carriers in spectrum auctions

  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should cap the participation of carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless in upcoming spectrum auctions to ensure mobile competition going forward, representatives of consumer groups and smaller carriers said.

• Network builders tackling cell vs. Wi-Fi choices

  Mobile users can probably look forward to being automatically transferred from cellular to Wi-Fi networks in the near future, but going back and forth for the best possible performance is another matter.

• T-Mobile first to sell BlackBerry Q10 qwerty in stores, starting June 5

  T-Mobile USA on June 5 will become the first major U.S. carrier to sell the BlackBerry Q10 qwerty smartphone to consumers in stores and online for $99.99 down and 24 monthly $20 payments.

• Are we ready for a mobile-first world?

  Judging from the number of people poring over their smartphones on the sidewalk, in their cars and in public places, mobile seems to have stolen our attention away from the wired Internet and traditional TV.

• Electricity's in the air: Powermat ties the knot with PowerKiss

  Two leading wireless power companies, Powermat and PowerKiss, have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge.

• Growing mobile malware threat swirls (mostly) around Android

  Mobile devices are getting hit by a boom in malware similar to the one that hit PCs starting with the rise of the Web, a security software executive said Tuesday.

• A stock Android Galaxy S4 from Google will cost you $649

  A special edition, stock Android version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone will go on sale June 26 on the Google Play store for $649, Google announced at its annual Google I/O conference.

• U.S. carriers line up against texting while driving

  The major U.S. mobile operators are all putting their weight behind a campaign against texting while driving that will include a blitz of advertising and a driving simulator touring the country this summer.