Verizon Wireless overcharged approximately 15 million customers for data services they didn’t use and now will begin refunding them. Individual refunds are in the range of $2 to $6, but while that doesn’t sound like much, The New York Times estimates the total damage to Verizon to be between $30 million and $90 million; After more than a year of discussion, Cisco officials are reportedly about to release a home video communication device, putting it into competition with Skype and others.
The much - anticipated home TelePresence offering, is reported to be announced this week; So those of you anxious for Microsoft to finally join the smartphone party - your wait may soon be over. Microsoft is betting that the smartphone's unique user interface - as it aggregates Web content and apps into a series of subject - specific "Hubs," such as "Office" and "Games," instead of the iPhone's or Android's gridlike pages of individual apps - will allow it to regain market share traction against those competitors; Microsoft announced Oct. 1st that it had filed a patent - infringement lawsuit against Motorola over the Google Android smartphones. The lawsuit suggests that Microsoft is becoming more aggressive about its patents with manufacturers of Android phones. In April, HTC acknowledged it would pay royalties to Microsoft in exchange for the use of "patented technology" in its Android - powered devices.