At&T

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to capture and store Americans' confidential text messages, according to a proposal that will be presented to a congressional panel today.

The law enforcement proposal would require wireless providers to record and store customers' SMS messages -- a controversial idea akin to requiring them to surreptitiously record audio of their customers' phone calls -- in case police decide to obtain them at some point in the future.

"Billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity," Richard Littlehale … Read more

In the latest criminal prosecution to alarm Internet activists, a security researcher who accessed a non-password protected portion of AT&T's Web site was sentenced today to 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Andrew Auernheimer, who goes by the nickname "Weev" and was convicted by a federal jury last year of hacking, was sentenced today by a federal judge in Newark, N.J. "No matter what the outcome, I will not be broken," Auernheimer said this morning after hosting an all-night party in Newark and making an unsuccessful appearance on … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Samsung Galaxy S4 keeps calm, carries on with big screen, 8-core chip and, yes, eye tracking.

- The Galaxy S4's software up close.

- Samsung Galaxy S4 display looking good, expert says.

- Samsung Galaxy S4 landing on six U.S. carriers.

- Does Samsung's Galaxy S4 make the iPhone 5 look lame?

- Samsung Galaxy S4 offers optional wireless charging.… Read more

BlackBerry issued invitations this morning for a March 21 event in New York to launch its new Z10 smartphone and BlackBerry 10 OS.

That timing would place the event the day before the Z10 is scheduled to land in AT&T stores and be available to the carrier's customers. AT&T, which started preorders this week, is the first U.S. carrier to release the device, which runs on the new BlackBerry 10 OS.

With promised performances by Janelle Monae, Young the Giant, and DJ Z-Trip, the event should be more party than press conference. BlackBerry Global … Read more

BlackBerry announced today that an "established partner" has ordered 1 million BlackBerry 10 devices. Though a company spokeswoman declined to name the partner in a phone call with CNET, the order is the largest single purchase in the company's history.

The news came just as Verizon Wireless revealed that it would start accepting preorders for the new BlackBerry Z10 beginning at 8 a.m. ET tomorrow. Devices will then arrive in stores and be available for direct purchase online two weeks later on March 28.

Big Red, which promised that it would carry the Z10 moments after … Read more

If you're still waiting for AT&T to update your Sony Xperia TL to Android 4.1 and patience isn't your top virtue, the carrier is now letting you download Jelly Bean yourself.

While connected to Wi-Fi, you can scoot on into the settings and choose "About phone," then select the software update to get things rolling.

Easy-peasy. You can check out the full Android 4.1 Jelly Bean features here.

AT&T may not have the largest 4G LTE network but it has the fastest, at least according to new data from Root Metrics.

Among the top four U.S. mobile carriers measured by Root Metrics, AT&T took the top spot with an average LTE-only download speed of 18.6 megabits per second and an average upload speed of 9Mbps. Its maximum download speed averaged 57.7Mbps, while its fastest upload speed averaged 19.6Mbps.

Root's researchers were able to connect to AT&T's LTE network 81.7 percent of the time, a rate … Read more

AT&T said today that its customers shouldn't fear the law against unlocking phones because the carrier will do the unlocking for them.

As part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Library of Congress has ruled it illegal for people to unlock their own phones, a decision that has irked consumer advocacy groups and prompted a petition to the White House to throw out the ban. The law, however, won't have any effect on AT&T customers, the company said in a blog post today.

"While we think the Librarian's careful decision was … Read more