verizon

More than a year has passed since reports surfaced that certain major U.S. telephone companies had granted government spies access to customer records as part of a Bush administration warrantless wiretapping program. Now a congressional committee has decided to investigate those claims.

The Democratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters on Tuesday to AT&T, Verizon and Qwest Communications International posing a detailed set of questions about their procedures for supplying records in response to government demands. Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and oversight … Read more

Everyone say it with me now, "It's about friggin' time." Today, Research in Motion officially introduced the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 to the world, the CDMA version of the original, GSM RIM BlackBerry Pearl, which debuted over a year ago. Though there are no specific carrier announcements (or pricing details) at this time, Sprint has already confirmed that the BlackBerry 8130 is on its Q4 hit list, and just this morning, Engadget Mobile had a report that Verizon Wireless is also on tap to get this sleek, sexy smart phone, so everyone should be happy.

The Pearl … Read more

Though there was much ado about Verizon Wireless' V Cast Mobile TV service when the carrier launched the service earlier this year, it's been eerily quiet since then. In particular, we've been waiting for new handsets beyond the original LG VX9400 and the Samsung SCH-U620.

Fortunately, our wait came to an end this morning when Verizon and Motorola announced the new Moto Rizr Z6tv. Sporting the familiar, and may we add quite attractive, Rizr slider design, the Z6tv offers a solid feature set beyond the Mobile TV support (which is quite enough by itself). You'll find Bluetooth, … Read more

I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of skinny phones. Oftentimes, manufacturers sacrifice a lot of usability just to get to that slim form factor. That's why I'm always happy to see softer, curvier phones that are actually comfortable to hold and use. The LG VX8350 certainly falls in that category, and the great thing is that it's also one of Verizon's most feature-rich phones. It features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music player, and a virtual cornucopia of broadband content courtesy of Verizon's EV-DO support as well as … Read more

This news may hit CNET tomorrow as a New York Times cross-post, but I haven't seen anything about it yet so I wanted to be sure it was reported here.

According to the Times, Verizon, one of the nation's two largest wireless carriers, told NARAL that it would not allow the reproductive rights organization to send text messages through a program using Verizon's mobile network, on the grounds that Verizon has the right to block "controversial or unsavory" text messages.… Read more

After months of battle, Vonage has lost the bulk of its appeal in the Verizon Communications patent infringement case.

In March, a jury in Virginia found that Vonage had infringed on three patents held by Verizon. And it awarded Verizon $58 million in damages along with future damages of 5.5 percent on the revenue that Vonage was making during the appeal process.

The judge in the case imposed an injunction on Vonage that would force the company to stop delivering a service using technology that infringes on Verizon's patents. But because Vonage has been appealing the case, the … Read more

First with Net neutrality and now with so-called "open access" rules for forthcoming wireless networks, there seems to be no end to the discord between Google and Verizon.

The latest evidence of tensions surfaced when Verizon Wireless this week quietly filed a petition asking a federal appeals court in Washington to "review" rules set to apply to an auction next January of the coveted 700-megahertz wireless spectrum. Earlier this summer, the Federal Communications Commission decreed that consumers must be allowed to use whichever mobile devices or applications they please on about a third of that chunk. … Read more

The famous quote "there are no second acts in American lives" is attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald. According to BrainyQuote.com, he also said, "his was a great sin who first invented consciousness. Let us lose it for a few hours."

The convoluted story of NTP and evolution of the American patent system is enough to drive a man to drink. Having beaten the literary metaphors well into the ground, let's ponder NTP's second act on the tech industry stage.

As you may have heard, NTP is once again feeling litigious. Last week it … Read more

Remember NTP? They're back.

The holding company that brought BlackBerry Nation to its knees in 2006 is once again on the advance, this time filing suit against AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. The suit was filed last week (PDF) in Richmond, Va., home to the last round of legal tussling between NTP and Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry.

Way back in 2002, NTP won a jury verdict that RIM infringed on patents held by the late Thomas Campana for a wireless e-mail system. RIM tried several times to overturn that verdict on appeal but never … Read more