T-Mobile

T-Mobile's parent company is considering buying Sprint Nextel, meaning we'd have only three big cell phone companies in the US. But in a weird way that could be good for competition? We're not sure ourselves, actually. Also, a rogue ad hits the New York Times and we discover Pirates only see in 2D. Eye-patch FTW!

Rogue ad hits New York Times site http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10351460-83.html http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/what-to-do-if-you-saw-an-antivirus-pop-up-ad/ http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090913/home-delivery-the-new-york-times-serves-up-some-malware/… Read more

Deutsche Telekom could be weighing a multibillion dollar bid to buy Sprint Nextel within the next few weeks, said London's Daily Telegraph on Sunday. The German telecommunications giant has called on financial advisor Deutsche Bank to study a proposed deal.

As the parent of struggling T-Mobile, DT might see a takeover of Sprint as a way to revive its listless U.K. and U.S. operations. DT chief executive officer Rene Obermann has been unhappy with the performance of T-Mobile, blaming it for the parent's first-quarter loss of 1.1 billion euros ($1.46 billion) earlier this year.… Read more

Motorola, the iconic mobile phone company once known for flashy hardware, is pinning its comeback hopes on the quality of its software.

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha wouldn't go as far to say that Motorola is unconcerned with hardware these days, hours after unveiling the forthcoming Motorola Cliq at Mobilize 2009, but the balance has clearly changed with the introduction of Motoblur, a layer of software that sits above the Android operating system and will coordinate incoming messages and news feeds on future Motorola handsets.

"Motoblur is going to become very important to Motorola," Jha said. It's … Read more

Ever restless Samsung followed yesterday's Sprint and Verizon Wireless announcements by spreading the new phone love to T-Mobile. The SGH-T659 shows a retro slider design in standard silver. The 2.2-inch display supports 262,000 colors and the handset casts a trim shadow of 0.59 inch.

Features include support for T-Mobile's 3G (HSDPA) network, a 2-megapixel camera and video recording, an MP3 player, Bluetooth, an expandable memory slot, messaging and e-mail, Assisted GPS with TeleNav, a personal organizer, and a speakerphone.

The T659 is $69.99 with a two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate.

We get CNET News editor Stephen Shankland in the studio to talk about the mammoth task of making your personal paper trail a digital affair. We also break down the latest headlines from the long holiday weekend. Listen in to find out what you missed.

Today's stories:

Orange, T-Mobile to unite in U.K. merger

Google makes concessions to European publishers

Dish ordered to pay TiVo $200 million

Intel's new Core i7, Core i5 desktop chips bring faster CPUs to the maintream

Windows 7, Vista zero-day flaw reported

To make better biofuels, researchers add hydrogen

Microsoft offers some Silverlight 4 details… Read more

We realize the problem with an operating system installation party is there's nothing to do. We also warn you about the great iPod camera shortage of 2009..if it's real. And we all like the Asus Eee-reader. Too bad that and the glasses-free 3D TV aren't real...yet.

Technical issues could delay iPod camera upgrade http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/07/technical_issues_could_delay_ipod_camera_upgrade.html

AOL hires Yahoo’s “Peanut Butter” guy to make it relevant again http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/technology/internet/08aol.html?hpw… Read more

Orange and T-Mobile are to merge their British operations to create the U.K.'s largest mobile carrier, their parent companies said Tuesday.

The as-yet-unnamed joint venture will have a combined customer base of about 28.4 million people, or 37 percent of the market, with the deal expected to complete in November. Orange chief executive Tom Alexander will be chief executive of the new company, with T-Mobile UK chief executive Richard Moat as chief operating officer.

The companies said the merger will cost between 400 million and 600 million pounds ($655 million and $983 million). It is expected to … Read more

Another day, another cell phone study from J.D. Power and Associates. This time, it's not customer service--T-Mobile, Alltel, and Verizon Wireless tied for that honor earlier this month--but a survey of the all-important call quality.

Just like last year, Verizon was the overall winner this time around. The carrier ranked highest in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Southwest regions. According to the study, Verizon had particular success with limiting dropped calls, failed initial connections, and late or failed text and voice messages.

In the Western region, Verizon tied with Alltel and T-Mobile (in its press release, Verizon … Read more

As with any good touch-screen phone, the display on the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G will lock after a few minutes of inactivity. It's definitely a needed feature, unless you enjoy it when your phone places random calls while jostling around in your pocket.

As a security precaution, many handsets like the iPhone allow you to use a numeric code to unlock the screen for use. The MyTouch, however, takes a different tack. It lets you unlock your handset by tracing a pattern between a grid of nine dots on the display.

The pattern is customizable and you can change it … Read more