Verizon narrows AT&T’s smartphone lead

Earlier this week, AT&T (T) announced it had activated 10 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, up from 9.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier. On Wednesday, Verizon (VZ) announced it activated 9.8 million smartphones last quarter. This is just 200,000 units below AT&T. But more importantly, it’s up a robust 2.1 million units from the 7.7 million smartphones Verizon activated...

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Holmes Took Cell-Phone 'Selfies' with Black Contacts, Guns, and Tongue Out

Preliminary hearings on the legal fate of accused Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes wrapped today, after the revelation of disturbing images from Holmes's cell phone. The defense chose not to call any witnesses yet. RELATED: Expert: Aurora Suspect's 'House Bomb' a Favorite of Iraqi InsurgentsBy withholding their case at this juncture, the defense let prosecutors end the hearing on an upsetting...

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RIM to launch six new BlackBerry 10 devices in 2013

Research In Motion (RIMM) has wisely decided not to put all its eggs in the high-end basket and will be releasing a wide range of smartphones selling at different price points this year, FierceWireless reports. At the Consumer Electronics Show this week, RIM CMO Frank Boulben said that his company plans to release six different BlackBerry 10 devices in 2013 that will include phones in the high, medium...

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Phablet wars heat up with ZTE’s quad-core Nubia Z5

2013 is shaping up to be the year of the “phablet” with virtually ever major handset maker preparing to challenge Samsung’s (005930) impressive Galaxy Note lineup. While there’s no clear definition on how large a phablet is, most tend to have screens that hover in the 5-inch range, though Huawei’s upcoming 6.1-inch smartphone will only push that boundary. ZTE’s newly announced Nubia Z5 packs a 5-inch...

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Temple Run was downloaded more than 2.5 million times on Christmas Day

Millions of men, woman and children awoke on December 25th to find a smartphone or tablet under their Christmas tree. After opening these gifts, users are typically quick to fire up their new devices and download the most popular apps. Keith Shepherd, founder of Imangi Studios, announced on Wednesday that the company’s Temple Run game saw unprecedented attention on Christmas Day. The executive revealed...

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Original Samsung Galaxy Note Getting Jelly Bean Update

If you bought one of the original Samsung Galaxy Note smartphones and have been kicking yourself for not waiting for the Galaxy Note II and all its Jelly Bean-powered features, you can stop feeling bad. The first Note will be getting Jelly Bean very soon.Samsung posted details about the Note's Premium Suite update on the product website. Enabled by an upgrade to Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," the feature...

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Lack of low-end BlackBerry 10 phone could be a serious stumbling block in RIM comeback bid

South Africa is one of Research In Motion’s (RIMM) top five markets in the world, and it is a decent proxy for the entire African market. Leading regional carrier Vodacom’s November smartphone statistics illustrate exactly why BlackBerry 10 cannot arrive soon enough… and why RIM badly needs a cheap new BlackBerry 10 model by spring.[More from BGR: Apple CEO Tim Cook sees pay drop 99% in 2012]Vodacom...

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Samsung expects to ship more than half a billion phones in 2013

Samsung (005930) had a big year and despite some legal setbacks, the company saw record profits led by its mobile division. In 2012, Samsung became the world’s largest cell phone vendor with shipments estimated to have reached about 420 million units. According to the Korea Times, the company expects to ship 510 million phones in 2013, an increase of 20% over this year. More than half, or 390 million,...

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Video game shares down in wake of shooting

Shares of video game makers and sellers fell Thursday in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, which has renewed debate about violent games and their potential influence on crime.Shares of GameStop Corp., whose stores sell video games as well as systems like the Xbox and Wii, fell 5 percent in afternoon trading.Investors are seen as being increasingly concerned that...

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North Korea’s first video game: A boring version of ‘Crazy Taxi’ that nitpicks your bad driving

In theory, a driving game set in North Korea could be fun — it could revolve around delivering kidnapped movie stars from the airport to Dear Leader’s headquarters, for instance. In reality, though, it looks as though playing a driving game set in North Korea is about as much fun as actually living in North Korea. Business Insider’s Gus Lubin has posted his first impressions of “Welcome to Pyongyang,”...

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Brain Benefits for the Holidays? Stuff the Stocking with Video Games

Happy holidays! As the year draws to a close, one thing I'm celebrating is the fun I've had helping put together the magazine I edit, Scientific American Mind. I am looking forward to working on new articles and projects in 2013. (We have some surprises in store.) I'm pleased about my growing and attentive audience for Streams of Consciousness, too. Thank you for reading, thinking and, when you have...

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Video games and shooting: Is the NRA right?

After a week of silence following the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six staff in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association blamed the entertainment industry – specifically the producers of violent video games for inciting what has become a pattern of gun violence in the United States.In describing the industry, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “There exists...

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Atheist Kids and Bullying: Just an Xbox and a Football Game Away From Redemption

I’ll never forget the year my eight-year-old daughter came home from school saying she got in trouble for going to the bathroom.“I was afraid,” she said, “that the devil was coming out of the mirror to get me.... I wanted Aya to stay with me until I was done.”Like any parent, I sat her down and asked her to tell me why she would ever think a mirror could spawn something as terrifying as that.“Susie...

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Obama on Twitter Confronts Skeptics of Tax Hike for Rich

With talks to resolve the "fiscal cliff" at an impasse, President Obama today used Twitter to  respond directly  to skeptics of his plan to hike income tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans at the end of the year.Obama asserted - through a series of 140-character Tweets sent from his Apple MacBook inside the White House - that "high end tax cuts do least for economic growth"...

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Prime minister, Governor General twitter congrats on news of royal pregnancy

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. David Johnston have both tweeted their congratulations to Prince William and his wife, Kate, on the announcement of her pregnancy.The prime minister passed on his best wishes and those of his wife Laureen, calling it wonderful news.The Governor General, who is travelling in South America, says the news reached him in Peru.He says he and his wife,...

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How to Email Tweets Directly From Twitter's Website

A More button now appears beside the Reply, Retweet, and Favorite options at the bottom of each tweet.Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: Writer Sued for his Twitter Followers Settles Case]Twitter has started rolling out the ability to email tweets from its website.Announced mid-November, the feature allows you to send a tweet directly to someone else, complete with your own personal...

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Obama Is Taking Himself and #My2K to Twitter This Afternoon

What a day for Twitter! First the Pope, then the Royal Baby, and now President Obama will come online to answer questions about the fiscal cliff. A @WhiteHouse tweet with the distincitive "-bo" signature, announced not long ago that the big guy himself will be taking questions online, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET.    Good to see lots of folks on twitter speaking out on extending middle...

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Obama to take Twitter questions on fiscal cliff at 2 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama  will take questions via Twitter on Monday on his the looming fiscal cliff and his efforts to extend tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000 a year, his spokesman said.Spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would take questions at 2 p.m. ET/1900 GMT under the hashtag #my...

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