Swype users are in for a real treat. The touchscreen keyboard app for Android phones is getting a major update. Just out of Beta, Swype “gestures” will let users more easily cut/copy/paste text, connect directly to Twitter, and access and search Google Maps—essentially, users will be able to access an almost limitless set of gesture functionalities using Swype. READ MORE
What’s the fastest way to connect your brand to customers? You may have used QR codes (short for “Quick Response”) that let a person with a smartphone and reader app scan a little pixillated box to get product or contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a Web page. Or maybe you use short codes that let people send a text message to get similar info from your company. READ MORE
Next time you buy a smartphone, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the price. Verizon and Sprint both announced recently that they intend to reduce the subsidies they offer for phones when subscribers sign two-year contracts, for instance, cutting the price of the iPhone to less than $200. Though popular with consumers, those subsidized phones cut into the carriers’ profits and aren’t making them any friends on Wall Street. READ MORE
Planning world domination is a tricky thing. It was tough for Pinky and the Brain. One can only imagine, then, the pressures on AT&T as the company attempts to move full steam ahead with plans to acquire Qualcomm’s 700Mhz spectrum for $1.9 billion while at the same time manage the takeover of T-Mobile. Tough work, indeed. READ MORE
Over the next few months, Verizon Wireless will begin integrating American Express‘ commerce platform, Serve, into its phones and tablets to let customers order products through their devices. READ MORE
LightSquared, a long term evolution wireless broadband communications company and Sprint Nextel, a wireless telecommunications company, struck a 15-year deal to share costs of network expansion and equipment. Bloomberg reports that the deal was made in an effort to make both companies stronger competitors against Verizon and AT&T in the wireless telecommunications market. READ MORE
The much-ballyhooed deal between Sprint Nextel and LightSquared, the upstart 4G network company, has finally come to fruition, the two companies announced Thursday. Both companies settled on a 15-year agreement that includes spectrum hosting and network services, 4G wholesale, and 3G roaming. READ MORE
PayPal has unveiled a new way for Android users to pay each other by tapping two near field communication (NFC)-enabled devices together, writes Ryan Kim for GigaOM. The feature demonstrates how PayPal is gearing up for NFC as part of its larger push on mobile payments. READ MORE
Jail-breakers of the world unite! Well, not so fast. Engadget’s Brad Molen reports that HTC will begin rolling out bootloaders in August to the global HTC Sensation, with the Sensation 4G on T-Mobile and EVO 3D on Sprint to follow. The release is a two-step process that involves first a “maintenance release” to the phones, then the release of the unlocking tool in early September. READ MORE
You’re probably at least vaguely aware of the onrushing doom predicted when the Internet runs out of available IPv4 device addresses. That day is coming soon, as the last batch of such addresses was handed out in February, exhausting a supply of 4.3 billion. What this means in the real world is that it’s getting harder for individual devices to have their own identity on the Internet, which could make it difficult to do things from make Skype calls to share files online. READ MORE
