Michelle Maisto

WhatsApp, Nimbuzz, TextNow and BlackBerry Messenger are among the messaging apps (often referred to as OTT, or over-the-top, apps) that consumers are turning to in lieu of the wireless carriers’ more costly messaging solutions. In 2012, an average of 19.1 billion OTT messages were sent every day, says Informa Telecoms and Media, which expects that […]

Moto X Smartphone Stands Out Even Before Picking Custom Features By Michelle Maisto Hello, Moto: Meet the Moto X The Moto X isn’t made of glass or metal, but it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s a compact, solid little delight, and the first smartphone that users can customize from bottom to top. For those who think […]

AT&T began selling the Moto X—the first collaborative device from Motorola and parent company Google—Friday, Aug. 23, for $199.99 with a new two-year contract. Verizon Wireless will also sell the Moto X, though it hasn’t confirmed a date (reportedly, leaked documents say Aug. 29) and so will Sprint (“later this summer”), T-Mobile (though not directly), […]

There’s surely yodeling and exclamation points galore over at Yahoo, which in July was the most-visited site on the Web, ComScore announced Aug. 21. ComScore said that back-to-school shopping, fashion- and accessories-hunting, searches on consumer goods sites for school supplies and searches for online coupons were all particular drivers of traffic during the month. Yahoo […]

Nokia is planning to enter the “phablet” market in September, with the introduction of several new devices, Reuters is the latest to report. Nokia plans to unveil “new, large-screen mobile handsets next month to revamp its Lumia smartphone lineup and challenge rival Samsung’s dominance in increasingly popular phablet devices,” said the Aug. 21 report, citing […]

Lenovo, the world’s top-selling PC maker, has introduced a new entry-level ThinkStation designed for professionals working on computer-aided design, product development and architecture. The ThinkStation E32, with prices starting at $729, will be available with Intel Xeon E3 and fourth-generation Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors—appropriate power for intense software demands. “The ThinkStation E32 […]

Facebook, Ericsson, Mediatek, Opera Software, Samsung, Nokia and Qualcomm have joined to form Internet.org, an organization focused on making the Internet available to 5 billion more people. Currently, 2.7 billion people, or just more than one-third of the world’s population, have access to the Internet, and so tools that enhance our lives, grow our worlds, […]

Verizon Wireless customers can soon expect to see some service bars on their mobile phones when they’re in 36 of the more heavily trafficked subway stations. Verizon announced Aug. 20 that it has finalized an agreement with Transit Wireless—the organization that operates the wireless network in the New York subway system—which means Verizon customers will […]

Rumors of a gold iPhone continue to spread. Japanese site Macotakara reported Aug. 12 that according to sources in Asia, the Apple iPhone 5C—the lower-end version of two new iPhones expected to be introduced in coming weeks—will come in a “champagne gold” hue. While Apple rumors tend to rise and disappear with the pace of […]

Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn’t officially confirmed that the iPhone maker is working on a watch, but on the topic of wearables he’s enthusiastically complimented Nike on the job it did with its FuelBand. Now, Apple has hired one of the key players responsible for the FuelBand, Jay Blahnik. IT Portal reported the news Aug. […]

BlackBerry, after years of hard work and disappointing delays, introduced its brand-new, from-scratch BlackBerry 10 mobile platform Jan. 30, with more than 70,000 apps to back it, including more than 1,000 of the top apps around the world. When the BB10-running Z10 went on sale in the United States in March, there were more than […]

With the Samsung Mega, the name says it all. It’s an unapologetically large “hybrid handset” with a 6.3-inch display that AT&T will begin selling Aug. 23. The tablet-sized device with smartphone-like features will be priced at $24 per month through the AT&T Next program, or for $149.99 with a new, two-year contract. The Mega measures […]