verizon

The strange resurrection of Net neutrality

WASHINGTON, D.C.--At this week's State of the Net conference, an annual event of the bipartisan Congressional Internet Caucus, members of Congress, staffers, and technology policy junkies gathered once again to explore the government's Internet-related priorities for the new year.

A few themes emerged, including possible legislation over cybersecurity, a rewrite of the 1996 Communications Act, reforming federal electronic-surveillance laws, and the continuing threat of both national governments and the United Nations trying to wrest control of Internet governance from engineering-driven groups.

The general consensus, however, was that for at least the next several months, the fiscal … Read more

Verizon pops color into Lumia, Droid Razr lineup

Starting tomorrow, Nokia will whip out a new color palette for two of its phones. In addition to white and dark gray, the Nokia Lumia 822 Windows phone will now come in red.

For its part, Motorola goes soft on the Droid Razr M, which you'll be able to pick up in pink, as well as the more traditional white and black.

Earlier this morning, Verizon also announced that it will carry Samsung's Ativ Odyssey Windows phone, beginning tomorrow for about $50.

You'll be able to buy the new shades both online and in stores.

Samsung Ativ Odyssey travelling to Verizon tomorrow

The Samsung Ativ Odyssey, first announced last fall at Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 launch event, will hit Verizon stores January 24. The decidedly mid-range handset will also cost a very affordable $49.99 after $50 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract. … Read more

Surface Pro launches February 9

Tuesday's CNET Update is counting the converts:

Stories from today's tech news roundup:

- Microsoft announced that its Surface Pro tablet will hit stores Feb. 9. Unlike the Surface RT tablet, this Pro version will run any Windows program.

- A new report out says that Apple still holds the lead for U.S. smartphone sales, and that there are more people converting from Android to iOS.

- Verizon released iPhone sales data in its fourth quarter earnings report. Apple will release its earnings report Wednesday afternoon.

- AT&T announced it will spend $780 million to buy the U.S. carrier Alltel, … Read more

Nintendo, Fios, US Cellular top Forrester's consumer rankings

Nintendo, Verizon Fios, and US Cellular are ranked highest for consumer experience, according to research firm Forrester (registration required).

The three took the top slots for their respective industries in Forrester's annual ranking of consumer goods and services. Forrester looked at 150 companies and asked 7,500 U.S. consumers these questions: How well did they meet your need? How easy were they to do business with? How enjoyable were they to do business with?

Nintendo did the best in these categories among the tech-related companies. The games and console maker scored an 83 when it comes to customer … Read more

Verizon: We sold 6.2M iPhones in the fourth quarter

Verizon Wireless activated 6.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, according to Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo.

A vast majority of the remaining 3.6 million smartphones activated in the period were Android devices, Shammo said during a conference call with analysts today following the release of the company's fourth-quarter earnings report.

Because it got the iPhone late, Verizon has done a better job diversifying its smartphone sales than rival AT&T, which still heavily relies on Apple's flagship smartphone for growth. But with the launch of the iPhone 5, even Verizon saw a shift toward … Read more

Verizon Q4 loss doubles, pushed by Sandy, pension costs

Superstorm Sandy and mounting pension costs took a toll on Verizon.

The New York telecommunications provider posted a fourth-quarter loss of $4.22 billion, or $1.48 a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $2 billion, or 71 cents a share. The results were affected by costs associated with Superstorm Sandy, which devastated the Northeast region late last year, and by a change in the valuation of its pension liabilities owed to its employees. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 38 cents a share.

The pension liabilities cut into earnings by $1.55 a share, while the early … Read more

Developer allegedly outsources his whole job to China, fired

Work is an overrated concept, created by those in power to subjugate those who are trusting or have several children.

This might, at least, have been the thinking of a developer who believed he had found a magical ruse to prevent him from being subjugated.

As The Next Web tells it, relying on a case study presented by the security team at Verizon, the gentleman in question was very interested in Reddit, eBay shopping, and watching cat videos during working hours.

So he allegedly outsourced his work to China. Yes, all of his work. He did nothing at all -- workwise, that is, according to Verizon.… Read more

BlackBerry 10 to be carried on AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile

With BlackBerry 10's big debut coming at the end of this month, three major U.S. carriers have confirmed that they will carry devices on this new platform, according to Reuters.

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA all said that they plan to support BlackBerry 10 handsets on their networks.

"We're extremely optimistic that it's going to be a successful product and our business customers are extremely interested in it," T-Mobile USA chief executive John Legere told Reuters.

Verizon's chief executive Lowell McAdam also confirmed the carrier will support BlackBerry 10 devices. And … Read more