Clint Boulton

Google took another step to stomp out content farms Feb. 14 by launching a small application for its Google Chrome Web browser that lets people block Websites from their Web search results on Google.com. When installed by a user, the Personal Blocklist Chrome extension will let users click the “block url” button to block a […]

I was perturbed recently to learn that I’d been left off the first batch of Motorola Atrix 4G review units. To my peers: please send your demo units back so I can take a crack! For now, I’ll settle for and share with readers some YouTube hands-on demos from the likes of Chris Fleck, vice […]

ZTE Feb. 14 unveiled the Skate, an Android 2.3 smartphone, at Mobile World Congress Feb. 14. The 4.2-ounce Skate offers a 4.3-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera running on HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) networks worldwide. However, it is powered by an 800MHz processor, which could present a barrier to buy in an era where […]

Google could unveil a mobile-payment system, based on near-field communication technology, at Mobile World Congress this week, a financial analyst said Feb. 14. Google declined to comment for this report. NFC enables the exchange of data between two devices placed within a few inches of one another. Smartphones in Asia and Europe include NFC sensors […]

Research In Motion Feb. 14 said it has acquired Gist to help improve contact management on its popular BlackBerry smartphones. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gist launched in 2008 as a free Web application that managed personal and professional contacts from Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Salesforce.com, among other […]

Check out the great New York Times expose on how J.C. Penney gamed Google’s search engine to push up its Website in search rankings, racking up solid sales for the holiday season. The Times takes awhile to get into the meat, but Search Engine Land nutshells it best: “The investigation found that thousands of seemingly […]

Consumers and analysts continue to be flummoxed by the alleged price points for the Motorola Xoom tablet, which is expected to launch from Verizon Wireless and Best Buy this month. Android Central said the Xoom, the first computer to be based on Google’s Android 3.0 operating system tailored for tablets, will cost $799 from Verizon […]

Microsoft’s Bing search engine captured 13.1 percent market share, grabbing an entire percentage point from Google, which dropped from 66.6 percent through December to 65.6 percent through January. ComScore said Bing, whose share climbed from 12 percent in December, enjoyed its greatest single-month boost since its inception in June 2009, when the service started at […]

The freshest rumor about Research in Motion’s PlayBook tablet computer is that the tablet will run applications developed for Google’s Android operating system. Bloomberg News cited three anonymous sources who said RIM will integrate the technology, which would give consumers access to more than 130,000 Android applications, with the QNX-based PlayBook operating system. RIM and […]

The tech world was not exactly blown away by HP’s TouchPad when the company introduced the WiFi tablet Feb. 10, but most analysts came away convinced the machine was a solid No. 2 entrant to chase Apple’s iPad. At a rumored $699 price point, the TouchPad could be more enticing than the alleged $799 price […]

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop bet the future of the Finnish phone maker Feb. 11 when he unveiled the plan to make Microsoft Windows Phone the centerpiece of the company’s smartphone strategy going forward. With its smartphone market share falling-Google’s Android platform out shipped Nokia’s Symbian in the fourth quarter of 2010-the thinking was that Elop […]

Google Feb. 9 improved the near field communications capabilities in its Android 2.3 operating system, the latest move by a company intent on seizing on the mobile payment boon. Near field communications, or NFC, triggers the exchange of data between two devices placed within a few inches of one another. For example, a user might […]