Personal communications

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has thrown his agency's support behind the greater use of portable electronic devices on airplanes during flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration should "enable greater use of tablets, e-readers, and other portable devices," the FCC's Julius Genachowski said in a letter today to FAA acting chief Michael Huerta.

The FAA currently prohibits airline passengers from using devices during takeoff and landing for fear that transmissions will interfere with the airplane's equipment, but the FAA recently formed a committee to reconsider its policy on when electronic devices can be turned … Read more

Today's word that T-Mobile plans to sell Apple products in 2013 certainly sounds like great news to the iPhone and TMO faithful. The question remains, however, if the carrier can deal with the increased load Apple's uber-phone will put on its network. It's also unclear whether the latest iPhone 5, which boasts 4G LTE data access on other networks, will offer the same performance after joining T-Mobile's roster. … Read more

Apple has won several patents today from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Apple had filed for a patent on the iPhone 4's design and was awarded it today. Interestingly, Apple also received a design patent on the white iPhone -- a device that, in 2010, was delayed due to "challenging" production issues.

Patently Apple was first to discover the patents.

Not to be outdone, a patent on the iPad's case was also awarded to Apple, along with the company's Smart Cover, which magnetically connects to the tablet and sits on top of … Read more

Ppl! Txting is 20 yrs old! Thats soo GR8!

Depending on your perspective, you might thank or blame Matti Makkonen, the pioneer of texting, for how it changed human communication.

Just don't shoot the first texter.

Neil Papworth is the British-born engineer who actually sent the first text message, 20 years ago today. Typed out on a PC, it was sent to a Richard Jarvis of Vodafone and read: Merry Christmas. … Read more

The text message may be celebrating its 20th birthday today, but as far as we know, only one SMS has been sent by a fox in all those years. (And by fox, of course, we mean the mammal belonging to the Canidae family, not the mammal belonging to the hot-humans-with-phones family).

The text reads like so: "jlv l øi\a0ab 34348tu åaugjoi zølbmosdji jsøg ijio sjiw," which, as the multilingual among you may have already ascertained, is Norwegian fox speak. … Read more

AT&T has expanded its LTE network to six more markets.

The company announced today that three U.S. markets -- Albuquerque, N.M., Reading, Penn., and Salt Lake City -- are now able to access its LTE network. Three markets in Puerto Rico -- Guayama, San German-Cabo Rojo, and Yauco -- also now have AT&T's LTE network.

With the new addition, AT&T's network now spans 109 markets and reaches more than 150 million people, the company told CNET in an e-mailed statement.

AT&T has been rapidly rolling out its LTE … Read more

TxtN trns 20 2day. Hw willya celebr8?

The so-called father of SMS commemorated the occasion via a rare interview that appropriately enough was conducted via text messages.

Chatting with the BBC yesterday, Matti Makkonen took credit for conceiving and fleshing out SMS, or short message service. But he lived up to his title as its "reluctant father" by making it clear that others actually developed the technology.

"I did not consider sms as personal achievement but as result of joint effort to collect ideas and write the specifications of the services based on them," he told the BBC.… Read more

San Francisco startup Basis Science confirmed pricing and availability for its Basis health tracker today. The $199 watch-style gadget hits the market in early December, continuing the evolution of wearable fitness technology for everyday consumers. … Read more

More bad news for AT&T.

Consumer Reports has released its annual carrier ratings. And just as it had in the last two years, AT&T landed in last place, far behind the top major carrier in the roundup, Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless fared somewhat well in the study, earning relatively strong marks on voice and data. The only bright spot in AT&T's review was its 4G LTE network, which actually beat out its chief competitor in this year's study.

Sprint and T-Mobile USA landed between Verizon and AT&T.

For its part, … Read more