Michelle Maisto

Amazon continues to expand beyond its retail and software roots into the hardware market—which CEO Jeff Bezos has made clear does perfect work of leading customers back to Amazon’s root products and making the company money. The longtime rumors that Amazon is preparing a smartphone were revived Oct. 2, when TechCrunch reported noticing a “throwaway” […]

Kevin Packingham, chief product officer for Samsung Electronics, and the man who helped launch a number of popular Galaxy devices, has left the company, The New York Times reported Oct. 3. It’s unclear whether Packingham voluntarily left for another opportunity or was asked to leave “Kevin Packingham has departed Samsung Mobile,” a Samsung spokesperson told […]

Target has confirmed that it plans to join retail rival Walmart in offering low-cost wireless service. Available Oct. 6, the service will be called Brightspot and, as reported earlier by Droid Life, it will run on the T-Mobile network. Target shared the news Oct. 2 on A Bull’s Eye View, its behind-the-scenes blog. Target says […]

Dell says it’s going back to being private so that it can be “fast and focused.” At a New York City event Oct. 2, it showed off two areas where it plans to apply both: tablets and laptops. Dell introduced three new XPS laptops, each setting an industry record (per Dell) and four Venue tablets, […]

HP Business Ultrabooks Get Slimmer, Lighter Design By Michelle Maisto HP EliteBook 820: Business-User Delight The EliteBook 820 is arguably HP’s most successful attempt at balancing business features with consumer aesthetics. It features a choice of 12.5-inch HD displays, runs up to an Intel Core i7 processor and starts at 2.94 pounds. HP EliteBook 820 […]

Hewlett-Packard has introduced a new portfolio of business laptops. Understanding that consumer tastes now rule in the enterprise, HP slimmed down the laptops where possible; gave them backlit keyboards and rounded, less-boxy edges; and swapped out the old aluminum exteriors for magnesium covers that receive a four-coat painting process that’s said to keep them looking […]

Verizon Wireless no longer offers unlimited plans, and customers still enjoying unlimited service have to give it up when they upgrade their devices. But not so this weekend, when a software bug allowed some customers with unlimited service to upgrade their devices and carry on with the data-rich offer. Verizon released a statement Sept. 30 […]

Intermec has introduced the CN51, a rugged mobile computer designed for workers who need to be “nimble, empowered and well informed,” it announced Oct. 1. The rugged handheld can support Microsoft’s Embedded Handheld 6.5 operating system or Google’s Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)—a key trait for markets where operating systems have for many months now been […]

FreedomPop is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its free wireless 4G service with the introduction the “first 100 percent free mobile phone service,” it announced Oct. 1. The company, which works on a “freemium” model, offering free limited services and charging for more robust plans, will offer users 500MBs of data, 500 text messages and […]

3D Printing: If You Can Imagine It, You Can Make It By Michelle Maisto The MakerBot Replicator 2 The Replicator 2 ($2,199) is the second generation of desktop 3D printers from Brooklyn-based MakerBot. “We like to keep it simple, bold,” says CEO Bre Pettis. “We have a ‘you can have it in any color as […]

At the MakerBot headquarters, a 21st-floor Brooklyn, N.Y., office space with a bird’s-eye view of lower Manhattan, journalists were assembled Sept. 20 for a look at the company’s newest device, the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner. The scanner eliminates the need for a user to laboriously create a digital model with which to duplicate something. […]

BlackBerry canceled its Sept. 27 earnings call, but still released its dismal fiscal 2014 second-quarter fiscal earnings announcement. The company lost $965 million during the three months that ended Aug. 31 and brought in revenue of $1.6 billion—a free fall of 49 percent from the quarter before and 45 percent from a year ago. The […]