June 29 - 3:35pm EDT   Comcast on Monday marked the launch of its own 4G Internet access in the form of High-Speed 2go [currently a sign-in page]. The service depends on Clearwire's WiMAX network and supplies peak real-world speeds of about 4Mbps downstream anywhere within the coverage range. Like service from Clearwire or Sprint, it's not locked to a particular location and can be had either for mobile use or else as a fixed install at home. [full story]

June 25 - 4:50pm EDT   Wireless provider Sprint is reportedly currently testing the HTC Hero before its release at the end of the year, as well as a portable WiMAX device from Samsung which could be the touchscreen Mondi. According to a Thursday PhoneNews leak, the WiMAX device will ship with the Android operating system, just like the HTC Hero, instead of a Windows Mobile OS, like reported earlier. [full story]

June 17 - 4:00pm EDT   Intel's corporate communications manager Bill Calder, in a Wednesday post on the company's corporate blog, informed readers of forthcoming changes in the chipmaker's brand structure. Calder admits Intel's current complex structure has too many platform brands, and product names and brands, which confuses customers. This will start with leading with Intel and what it has done for technology, with Calder pointing to the company's Sponsors of Tomorrow ad campaign. [full story]

June 16 - 1:15pm EDT   Clearwire on Tuesday officially released its 4G WiMAX wireless broadband network in Atlanta, making it the largest city in the US to offer the service. The service, CLEAR, is available to about three million people in a 1,200-square mile area, offering users DSL-like cable speeds wherever they are, wirelessly. Running on a WiMAX radio system from Motorola, the service is said to deliver realistic download speeds between 4 and 6Mbps, with burst speeds greater than 15Mbps. In comparison, existing 3G networks provide download speeds between 1 and 1.7Mbps. [full story]

June 10 - 12:35pm EDT   Internet provider Clearwire has recently began offering its high-speed mobile WiMAX services in Las Vegas, before it performs an official, full commercial launch later this summer. Residents of the Nevada city can now order it online, even before storefronts and ads are built and placed. This is the third city Clearwire has launched WiMAX in, following Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon releases earlier this year. [full story]

May 6 - 8:25am EDT   Dell this morning said it had added a WiMAX choice for three of its higher-end home notebooks. The Studio 15, Studio 17 and Studio XPS 16 will all have a $60 or less upgrade that offers 4G speeds on either the Clearwire or Sprint 4G networks in Atlanta, Baltimore and Portland. In peak conditions, this lets the portables connect at up to 13Mbps downstream and 3Mbps upstream. Typical speeds are still faster than 3G with downloads between 2Mbps and 4Mbps. [full story]

May 1 - 4:20pm EDT   iPCS, an affiliate of Sprint, announced on Friday that the Cook County Circuit Court has denied Sprint's motion to dismiss parts of iPCS's lawsuit against Sprint for violating its exclusivity agreement with iPCS. Back in May of 2008, Sprint and Clearwire formed a partnership that would see the joint company provide access to the next-generation 4G WiMAX network to its customers. iPCS' lawsuit aims to block Sprint from receiving benefits from its Clearwire deal unless it shares these benefits with its affiliates. [full story]

April 8 - 11:25am EDT   At the same time as it announced the Aspire One 11.6-inch netbook on Tuesday, Acer also said it would soon release the 13.3-inch Acer Aspire 3935 notebook, the 15.6-inch Aspire 5935 and 18.4-inch Aspire 8935. The ultra-portable 3935 will be less than one-inch thick and available only in a golden brown color. To make typing easier and more comfortable, Acer gives the Aspire 3935 the same larger "chiclet" keyboard as the Timeline, along with touch-sensitive shortcut keys. Like in the Aspire One and Timeline, the 3935 has a multi-touch trackpad for pinch and other gestures. [full story]

April 2 - 10:35pm EDT   Clearwire at CTIA launched the Spot, a personal hotspot device that connects to the company's WiMAX network and provides Internet via Wi-Fi. The 3-inch by 5-inch router is manufactured by CradlePoint and matches the appearance of the PHS300. Users must insert a CLEAR USB modem into the port on the side of the router. The Spot contains a lithium ion battery that powers the USB modem. [full story]

April 1 - 2:50pm EDT   At the CTIA show in Vegas that kicked off today, MSI is showing off its new Wind U123 netbook along with a pair of new X-series Ultra-Slim notebooks and has released the specs and pricing information for its portable PCs. The new 10.2-inch Wind model is powered by Intel's 1.66GHz Atom N280 CPU and is the first Wind netbook to offer a 3G data network module and a TV Tuner. For security, the netbook will have MSI's EasyFace software that will read a user's facial features via its 1.3-megapixel camera before granting access. Another first in the Wind range is the U123's availability in a range of colors, adding blue and red in addition to white and gray. [full story]

March 31 - 9:30pm EDT  Samsung Mobile on Tuesday announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi, its first mobile WiMAX-enabled handheld device in the U.S. The touchscreen Mondi. Designed for use with the Clear mobile WiMAX service, the slider-based Windows Mobile device offers GPS Navigation (provided by Route 66), a full QWERTY keyboard, the full Opera 9.5 browser, a 3.0 megapixel camera/camcorder, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, and a 4.3-inch touch-enabled screen. The Mondi offers location-based services, instant access to social networking websites, and support for multiple video and audio player formats. [full story]

March 25 - 10:20am EDT   Sprint today outlined its expansion plans for its WiMAX 4G service for the next year as well as some early hints of its 2010 plans. The carrier now hopes to launch its wide-area wireless in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle at varying points throughout the year. It has also pushed back its originally planned Washington DC introduction to 2010 and expects to reserve other major cities for service next year, including Boston, Houston, New York and San Francisco. [full story]

March 20 - 5:30pm EDT   Styled like the MacBook Air, the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA that debuted at CeBIT early in March was given pricing information on Friday for the UK market. The 10-inch netbook will cost the equivalent of about $518 including applicable taxes when it launches in the market at an unspecified date in April. The ultra-thin netbook, dubbed Seashell for its shape, weighs just 2.4lbs and is just one inch thick at its edges. [full story]

February 19 - 10:25am EST   ASUS, maker of the popular Eee PC range of netbooks that arguably pioneered the category, will phase out the production of nearly all of its 8.9-inch Eee PC netbooks, DigiTimes has reported on Thursday. The news came from the company's Asia-Pacific division president, Benson Lin, who says the move is due to the growing popularity and consumer demand for 10-inch models that will become the focus at ASUS. [full story]

February 19 - 8:40am EST   Sprint on Thursday reported continued losses in income and customers in its results for the last quarter of 2008. The cell carrier says it shifted to a $257 million loss from a $325 million profit the year before and has dropped below 50 million cellphone subscribers for the first time in years, falling from 53.8 million users in December 2007 to 49.3 million by the end of the past year. This was also down 1.3 million users from the summer. [full story]