Taking another step on the long, tortuous road toward full Internet access onboard airliners, American Airlines said it has rolled out a “Wi-Fi Finder” widget that allows passengers to check whether their flight will be offering the service. American’s in-flight WiFi is powered by the Gogo service from Aircell.American said ...(124 words)

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, whose company owns Fox, MySpace, the New York Post, Boston Herald and more, is getting an earful from opponents who say his plans to charge for online content starting next year are bad for the Internet, and too late to be effective.Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, ...(200 words)

Prepaid provider PlatinumTel is suing U.S. Mobile and EZ Stream, alleging false advertising, violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act and violations of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act in connection with prepaid wireless services.“This is a case where consumers are being taken advantage of by a wireless company. ...(164 words)

Lending credence to reports of a possible hookup between the No. 1 U.S. satellite-TV provider and one of the major U.S. carriers, Liberty Media (LINTA) chairman John Malone said at a shareholders’ meeting today that “DirecTV is very compatible with the phone companies."As reported by Reuters, the comments came at a ...(305 words)

Google Inc. is kind of like kudzu, when you think about it. It might be poised to take over every inch of the landscape, but it’s doing it organically and in places you never thought you’d see it.The latest rumor of Google’s plans for world domination comes in the form ...(586 words)

Workers at AOL Inc. on Thursday got the news no one ever needs, but especially not in a recession. The company, soon to spin off from Time Warner Inc., is asking for 2,500 employees – one-third of its base – to step up and accept voluntary layoffs from Dec. 4 ...(370 words)

Now that Ericsson (ERIC) has closed its buyout of Nortel Networks’ wireless assets, it also has hired more workers in Canada than it planned.Computerworld reported that, as of last Friday, 900 Nortel employees will work for Ericsson Canada. Another 1,600 work for Ericsson in the United States. The number’s not much, ...(86 words)

It was just last week that Wal-Mart and its partner, LetsTalk.com, announced they would be selling the brand-new Palm Pixi smartphone for $30, as long as you sign up for a two-year Sprint service plan of $70 or more.That “always low” price has already been beaten. Amazon.com is selling the ...(138 words)

Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) has announced it has now integrated the latest Adobe Flash Media Server software into a single Content Delivery Network (CDN) platform. Level 3 has taken a unique approach to deploying Flash Media Server 3.5 software by merging the Adobe technology and its own, proprietary, advanced HTTP ...(425 words)

A chief security rep for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion says he’s worried about hackers someday taking ordinary smartphones and turning them into devices that could cause misery for America’s big wireless networks.RIM’s vice president of BlackBerry security told Reuters this week that he believes hackers will be able to turn ...(136 words)

Not a great week for Verizon Wireless (VZ): Not only is it being sued by ATT (T) for its blatant ripoff “There’s a map for that” ad campaign, but now it’s been suspected of operating a super-secret remote software update program that manipulates users’ mobile devices without their knowledge or consent.This tangled, ...(244 words)

Nortel Networks said late Wednesday it will auction off its optical networking and carrier Ethernet businesses on Nov. 20. The auction was delayed from Nov. 13 as Nortel was said to seek high-bidding suitors than Ciena Corp., which has promised to pay $521 million for the Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) ...(140 words)

A month after reporting earnings losses – for the fifth consecutive quarter – of $245 million, cell phone maker Sony Ericsson said it’s moving its North American headquarters and closing six sites worldwide.Sony Ericsson expects the consolidation to sever about 2,000 jobs.The company will move from North Carolina to Atlanta, ...(146 words)

Will the coming Android explosion be a massive shift in the handset landscape?(polls) (12 words)

A bankruptcy judge has approved Charter Communications Inc.’s (CHTRQ.PK) reorganization plan, paving the way for the company, the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of the year. There will be several changes. First, Charter’s debt will drop by about $8 billion; it ...(239 words)

It seems that just a few months ago we were hearing a lot of talk about the Pre being the phone that could return Palm to prominence in the device world.But after mixed reviews that either proclaimed it the best thing since sliced bread or no match for the iPhone, ...(234 words)

ATT Inc. (T) CEO Randall Stephenson predicts the company will see stronger demand in the second half of 2010. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal report from the newspaper’s CEO Council. ATT has enacted hundreds of layoffs as subscribers cut landlines, and even enterprise revenue has dropped, slowing more in ...(121 words)

Verizon might be flummoxing ATT over its 3G coverage on the TV airwaves, but the company continues to make improvements in its nationwide network.The San Francisco Bay Area is the latest major population center to get an upgrade. ATT has spent more than $65 million in that region this year, ...(103 words)

As the Android platform gains steam, particularly with Verizon Wireless’ Droid handset gaining in profile, Palm Inc. has taken to the media to dis the competition and tout the merits of its own OS, the webOS platform that powers the Palm Pre and Pixi.Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein told the New ...(295 words)

Online media distributor Modavox Inc. (MDVX.OB) is suing Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) for patent infringement. Modavox, whose services include providing platforms for Internet TV and radio broadcasting, says Yahoo! is illegally using technology protected under its patents for adding functions to Web pages. The Tempe, Ariz.-based company says it has suffered “irreparable harm” ...(471 words)