Tech Services

Verizon now has mail from the king of the vintage dial-up Internet service. In a $4.4 billion deal first announced in May, Verizon Communications Inc., a modern-day tech giant, has completed the acquisition of AOL, a tech giant of the 1990s with the famous “You’ve Got Mail” slogan. AOL’s wall street presence goes away in a puff of smoke and they are now a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon. AOL’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong will continue to steer the company in the right direction, with help from Bob Toohey, president of Verizon’s Digital Media Services, and Marni Walden, Verizon executive vice president and president of Product Innovation and New Business. Although some might consider AOL something of a “has-been” from the dot-com era, Verizon is getting quite a few goodies, such as AOL’s websites, which includes the Huffington Post, a news content provider, and popular gadget sites TechCrunch and Engadget. This deal looks better once you throw in the numbers for AOL...

I've never been as excited about a FedEx delivery as I was for the package with the BlackBerry Z10. It arrived from Verizon Wireless in an understated velvet-black box. Now it's showtime. All the hype about the new BlackBerry was running through my mind — the delays and months of waiting while other smartphones made their debut. The promise of a new operating system based on QNX technology that is also known very well in the automobile technology circles and the nuclear reactors industry. So I'm thinking this device had better be special and worth the wait. At the first glance, I noticed that the Z10, clad in solid back with a grippy, textured back that almost sticks to your hand, has grown in size to a respectable 4.2-inch display, which makes my iPhone 5 seem small. BlackBerry needed this size increase, as the older models seemed to stuck in the past, much like the earlier iPhone devices were for several years, while the competitors rocketed past them in width and hei...

The new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones were officially announced today as the company's first smartphones powered by QNX technology, which has also been used in the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, as well as in the auto and health care industry. The BlackBerry Z10 is the touchscreen device with a textured surface, a slight curve on the back and a 4.2-inch display. It also has a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage, with an expandable memory slot and micro HDMI out port. Near Field Communication, or NFC, is included to support the emerging mobile payments technology. The BlackBerry Q10 comes with a physical QWERTY, Bold-style keyboard that has been so popular with BlackBerry fans over the years. It has the same specifications as the Z10, along with a glass-weave cover that is pitched as being stronger than plastic. Both devices will come in white and black and have a removable battery. BlackBerry fans will find many ...

Friday was the big day for the iPhone 5 to go on sale in retail stores. Having two million devices in pre-orders was a good start and I imagine it'll rocket on past three to four million or maybe even five million in sales this weekend. I was at one of the AT&T retail stores bright and early Friday morning, where the lines were modest and pleasant. I didn't notice any dancing, but wouldn't have been surprised if some of the fans cut a few steps. The iPhone debuts have been drawing crowds since day one, or on Friday, June 29, 2007, at 6 p.m., when the original iPhone was available for purchase. The headline on the website of my newspaper simply said "Come and get it" at the magic hour. It was called a revolutionary device at the time, and according to Apple Inc., was one of the reasons Apple retail stores were created so that customers could touch and experience a ... new product and get the most from their new iPhone with Genius Bar support. Now here ...

The quality of your wireless service is probably not top of mind as you go about everyday tasks of making calls, texting, reading emails and Web surfing. But the wireless companies certainly have it on their minds and Verizon Wireless just got a nod from J.D Power and Associates as providing the best network quality in Mississippi for calls, messaging and data usage. It was a regional pat on the back for the highest wireless quality in five regions, which included the Southeast Region, with the Gulf Coast states of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida. According to J.D. Power, the survey included all the U.S. wireless providers, along with 27,000 wireless subscribers, who were asked about their experiences with voice, text messaging and data usage. Krista Bourne, president of Houston/Gulf Coast Region, Verizon, shared these thoughts on customers and their wireless devices. "Today's smartphones and tablets require a powerful network in order to make the mos...

If the announcement that the Samsung Galaxy S III is coming to five U.S. carriers this month is any indication of the future demand, maybe we all should check out cell phone contracts on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular. An upgrade might be in order if Samsung's latest mobile phone meets the anticipation of savvy consumers. Samsung has been known for hitting home runs in the mobile market and carries the title of the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S and worldwide, according to Strategy Analytics. The new Galaxy S III has been kicking around in Europe after making its debut in London on May 3. According to one of Samsung's head honchos, this device will be "the next big thing" for U.S. customers on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Galaxy S III, which is optimized for 4G and AT&T's HSPA+ networks, is running Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. It also sports a 8-megapixel rear camera, along with a 1.9 mega...