Corporate and legal

When it comes to building out a network to deliver high-speed wireless service, size increasingly doesn't matter.

In fact, the wireless industry, which usually thinks big, has been buzzing about something a bit more diminutive. Wireless executives can't go through a public speech without mentioning them, tech conferences devote whole sections toward them, and one trade group has named itself after the technology in order to draft behind the growing hype.

They're called small cells, and they're poised to dramatically improve your wireless service, bringing higher speeds and more capacity to networks that are facing ever-increasing … Read more

In order to get a conviction, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Except if what you gotta do is something that your boss in the County Prosecutor's Office thinks you don't gotta do at all.

This seems to be the lesson in the case of the Ohio County Prosecutor who felt that Facebook was the perfect place to get alibi witnesses in a murder trial to admit that, perhaps, their recollections might have been hazy.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler plainly thought he was doing the right thing by posing as an … Read more

AT&T said Thursday it expects to report improved TV and Internet subscriber growth for its second quarter from the year-ago period.

The wireless carrier expects to record 500,000 new mobile-phone subscribers in the quarter, the company said in statement. While the company expects its second-quarter wireless earnings before interest and taxes to be on par with its first quarter, it said its overall margins will decline from a year ago due to "customer additions and investments in new growth opportunities."

AT&T said it still expects to record revenue growth of 2 percent in … Read more

Motorola has settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with TiVo over digital-video recording technology ahead of a patent trial scheduled to begin next week.

TiVo filed a patent-infringement claim against Motorola last October, saying that the Google-owned company's set-top boxes infringed on its patents related to DVR functionality. TiVo argued that were the court to rule in its favor, the "damages claim is likely to run into the billions of dollars."

The settlement, which was first reported by Bloomberg, was confirmed by a Motorola spokesperson, who declined to offer details of the settlement.

"We're pleased that all … Read more

In 2011, Loris Elementary School in Loris, S.C., was ranked 41st in the state among grammar schools with similar demographics. By 2012, it had risen to 19th.

What happened? According to the White House: technology.

Many of the students at Loris Elementary School are from low-income families that don't have the means to give their children all of today's high-tech devices, according to the Obama administration. That's why in 2012 the school decided to introduce a technology blended learning program complete with laptops, software, and Internet access. It's apparently made a difference.

President Barack Obama … Read more

It's going to be a little tougher to be an AT&T GoPhone smartphone customer.

AT&T confirmed to CNET that it is eliminating a few of its more affordable data plan options on June 20. A company representative said that new plans would emerge in the coming weeks, but didn't specify whether there would be a more budget-friendly option, noting only that there would be a "variety of plans."

"We're making some changes to our AT&T GoPhone prepaid plans to simplify our offers and better align with what customers … Read more

A British Parliamentary committee has raised security concerns, echoing fears in Congress, about the potential threat that Chinese telecommunications-gear maker Huawei could be snooping on government and business interests.

The Intelligence and Security Committee issued a scathing, 27-page report Thursday, expressing shock over the lack of oversight regarding the manner in which Huawei gear has spread throughout that country's "critical national infrastructure." Rather than aggressively investigating concerns raised in the United States and elsewhere about the possible threat of relying on Huawei gear, British government agencies balked over worries that they would need to compensate the company … Read more

IT spending is likely to be even lower this year than initially expected but should start to revive in 2014, according to JPMorgan Chase.

An new estimate in a report released Thursday by JPMorgan Chase analyst Mark Moskowitz calls for growth in IT spending of just 0.6 percent this year. That's down from the previous forecast of 1.2 percent.

Moskowitz expects businesses to spend less on IT hardware, which accounts for a huge part of the lower estimate. Companies have been shifting more of their cash away from traditional computers toward mobile devices.

Moskowitz now expects spending … Read more

AT&T is considering working with the Chernin Group to make a joint bid for Hulu, according to a new report.

The telecommunications company and Chernin Group, which is led by former News Corp. President Peter Chernin, have not yet placed a bid, according to All Things Digital, citing sources who claim to have knowledge of their plans. Still, it's possible that if AT&T and Chernin Group come together, they could make a stronger bid than the reported sub-$500 million offer Chernin already put up for Hulu.

Several companies are reportedly trying to get their … Read more