Technology, Mobile | featured news

Google and a number of other companies have finally won an ongoing legal battle over the Android trademark. The judge sided with the companies using Google's mobile OS and dismissed the infringement suit, which was originally filed by Illinois entrepreneur Erich Specht.

Apple Inc joined a growing number of U.S. corporations that have cut ties with WikiLeaks, removing an application from its online store that gave users access to the controversial website's content and Twitter feed because it violated guidelines.

Here's the thing about 1.5 million Microsoft Windows Phone 7 phones sold in six weeks - it doesn't mean 1.5 million people have bought Microsoft phones... Now that we know there are 1.5 million Windows 7 phones on the shelves there can be one or two possibilities. One, consumers could buy them. Or two, they pile up as inventory in warehouses. Judging by the sputtering start, the later scenario seems likely.

We check out the first phone running Android 2.3. Google's latest flagship cell phone is going to be a top holiday gift for cutting-edge geeks. Fast, smooth and elegant, the Nexus S is the new top Android phone, the first "Gingerbread" phone, and it'll be the first one to receive new updates to Android as they come out. That's going to be worth $199 (with T-Mobile contract) to quite a few people.

Qualcomm is offering to refund customers who bought its portable TV sets, ahead of shutting down the broadcasts on March 27. Qualcomm's FLO TV service is the only subscription-based broadcast TV service in the U.S. designed for portable gadgets. It's been live since 2007, but has never garnered much interest from customers.

Google Mobile Platform VP Andy Rubin literally arrived with a bag full of tricks at the D: Get Into Mobile Conference, showing publicly for the very first time an Android "Honeycomb" tablet. The roughly 10-inch, Motorola device was sleek, black, thin and sported an Android interface unlike any we've seen before. There was a very clean homepage, but the app page looked almost Apple iPad-like. Plus, when Rubin brought up the Gmail app, it looked almost exactly like Gmail on the iPad.

When I finally got the latest iPad and iPhone OS all loaded up, I came to realize that it only delivers on all promises if you spend a small fortune on a bunch of new stuff.

Apple began carrying Google's free voice app for iPhone on Tuesday, after the application hung in limbo for more than a year.

The next generation of Android is coming in a few weeks, and that update to the mobile operating system "could replace credit cards," according to Google ...