Electronics, Gadgets | featured news

Verizon’s new data plans announced on Tuesday are expected to be followed by others in the industry as wireless firms focus their attention on charges for Internet data, according to analysts... The new plans, to launch June 28, are expected to motivate families to get more devices onto a single plan, according to analyst Craig Moffett, of Sanford C. Bernstein. That business strategy benefits the biggest wireless carriers — AT&T and Verizon Wireless — and presents new problems for competitors trying to chip away at those firms’ dominance.

As much as we're used to companies offering big teasers for their future devices, it's still rare that they put the revelation itself under our control. Sony's trying just that: its mobile division's Facebook page is promising a new Xperia phone whose unveiling date is contingent on how many people "fast forward" the unveiling date from its original June 22nd.

Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone company, is dropping nearly all of its phone plans in favor of pricing schemes that encourage consumers to connect their non-phone devices, like tablets and PCs, to Verizon's network.

Apple just unveiled the first of today's big announcements at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple's new "next generation" MacBook Pro is a 15-inch laptop that's modeled after the MacBook Air. It includes a super high-resolution "retina" display - a first for the Mac - and is very thin: 0.71 inches. And it's actually not crazy expensive for Apple's Pro notebook lineup: It starts at $2,199, or $400 more than the entry-level "old" 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple's new "next generation" MacBook Pro is a 15-inch laptop that's modeled after the MacBook Air. It includes a super high-resolution "retina" display - a first for the Mac - and is very thin: 0.71 inches. And it's actually not crazy expensive for Apple's Pro notebook lineup: It starts at $2,199, or $400 more than the entry-level "old" 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple just unveiled a bunch of new iPhone and iPad features coming this fall in iOS 6, but no big surprises. The biggest new feature, as expected, is an entirely new Maps experience. Apple has taken over its maps back-end from Google, including a gorgeous 3D "flyover" mode, crowdsourced traffic information, Siri integration and turn-by-turn directions. (Public transit directions, a nice feature of Google Maps, seem to be missing. Perhaps Google will launch its own iOS Maps app now?)

The biggest new feature, as expected, is an entirely new Maps experience. Apple has taken over its maps back-end from Google, including a gorgeous 3D "flyover" mode, crowdsourced traffic information, Siri integration and turn-by-turn directions. (Public transit directions, a nice feature of Google Maps, seem to be missing. Perhaps Google will launch its own iOS Maps app now?)

In Steve Jobs fashion, Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco with a handful of key stats about its app ecosystem, which Cook called “an economy in itself.”

Software for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, dubbed iOS 6, is expected to be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Here is what we think we know about what Apple will announce at WWDC on Monday about Apple TV. It will be releasing an SDK to allow developers to create apps for a new Apple TV App Store which will be part of iOS 6. The existing Apple TV device and an improved version of AirPlay will enable iOS devices to control the TV screen through mirroring and dual screen apps. iOS 6 will be deeply integrated with iCloud, which will bring email, contacts, calendars, documents, music, movies and photos all to the TV screen in a way that is fluid and synchronized with all of your other screens.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner has tentatively decided to dismiss the ongoing patent litigation between Apple and Google’s newly acquired Motorola Mobility unit, the Wall Street Journal reports. A trial in the case had been scheduled to start Monday.

Nokia shares are trading higher Friday morning in a move that at least one report attributes to dubious rumors that the company could be a takeover target for Samsung. Honestly, the rumor seems ridiculous. Samsung has little reason to buy a struggling handset maker given its own success in dominating the market for Android-based smart ...