Maybe he's finished running with the underdog, or maybe he's just done with the corporate gig altogether, but one thing is certain: as of May 25th, Cole Brodman will mark his exit from T-Mobile. For the past two years, Mr. Brodman has served as the carrier's chief marketing officer, and his departure concludes 17 years with the company. During his tenure, Cole Brodman railed against the subsidized handset game, helped drive the adoption of smartphones and -- sadly -- crushed our dreams for the potential of a Magenta-branded iPhone. He must also claim at least partial responsibility for the carrier's net loss of customers in 2011, with a total of 802,000 subscribers jumping ship in Q4 alone.

One thing is certain of Mr. Brodman's exit, however: he seems content with the decision. Likening the move to a retirement, he remarked, "It's an opportunity to step away, get a break and start to think about how I want to do something next." Andrew Sherrard will replace Cole Brodman as T-Mobile's interim chief marketing officer while the company searches for a permanent replacement. So long, Mr. Brodman, and thanks for the smartphones.

[Cole Brodman photo via CNET]

T-Mobile USA's chief marketing officer, Cole Brodman, calls it quits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week, Apple and Proview initiated talks in an attempt to resolve an ongoing legal dispute over the iPad trademark, and the Chinese company is confident that it will receive a settlement offer from Apple, the Associated Press reports. “It is likely that we will settle out of court. The Guangdong High Court is helping to arrange it and the court also expects to do so,” said Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer for Proview. “Actually Proview always expected to settle out of court from the beginning. I don’t know if Apple has changed its attitude, but I believe that the key point now is the price.” In a previous statement, Apple claimed it would never “knowingly abuse someone else’s trademarks,” and said that Proview “still owe a lot of people a lot of money, they are now unfairly trying to get more from Apple for a trademark we already paid for.” Fu Shuangjian, the Deputy Director of China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce, however, has already stated that Proview is still the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in the country. If the companies cannot reach a settlement, the Guangdong High Court will rule over the matter.

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In a move that would be reminiscent of its initial plans for the Nexus handsets, the Wall Street Journal suggests Google will open its own online store this year, but stocked with tablets instead of phones. The Android tablets would be built by Samsung and ASUS who already offer the well received Galaxy Tab and Transformer lines, but have been unable to make a dent in marketshare comparable to that of Apple or even Amazon. Other details seem to be less clear, including the possibility of the lineup including Google branded tablets -- like the one hinted at by Eric Schmidt in December -- or that the store could offer a new tablet from ASUS (maybe running Jelly Bean, maybe not), or the chance that Google will follow Amazon's approach by subsidizing the upfront cost. Right now it seems that all possibilities are still in Play, but if the rumor is right we'll see the store launch this year -- any suggestions for the folks at Mountain View?

WSJ: Google to sell ASUS, Samsung tablets from its own online store originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, high speed printers can spew out the WSJ's full daily circulation in five hours but where's the soul in that? Where's the craftsmanship? To see the magic of traditional book-making in action, check out Birth of a Book. More »

Earlier this weak, Australian regulators claimed that Apple was misleading consumers with false promotions and advertisements for its new “4G” iPad tablet. While the new iPad supports some 4G LTE networks, users in most regions are stuck with HSPA and HSPA+ 3G networks. After the allegation, Apple began to offer refunds to Australian iPad owners who felt duped by the company’s 4G claims. Now, regulators in the U.K. have confirmed that they are looking into various complaints regarding the new iPad, Pocket-lint reports. The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that Sweden’s Consumer Agency is considering an investigation into whether Apple’s “4G” marketing is misleading as well. Apple has not addressed the matter publicly.

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A search engine should be about more than just keywords. MC Hammer believes that passionately and Google must do too, because over the next few months and years it'll gradually adjust its own algorithms to put greater emphasis on "semantic search". Under this system, search queries are run through a vast knowledge database that discovers relationships with other words and facts. A Mountain View exec explained it thus: If you search for "Lake Tahoe", you won't just get ranked websites containing those two words but also key attributes about the lake, such as its location, altitude, average temperature and Bigfoot population. If a piece of knowledge isn't the in the ever-expanding database, the search engine will still use semantic search to help it recognize and evaluate information held on websites. In doing this, Big G hopes to compete with social networks that are amassing their own valuable (and sometimes intrusive) databases full of personal information, while also encouraging people to stay longer on its site and see more targeted ads. Google, who is Viviane Reding?

Google to switch on 'semantic search' within months, emphasize things as well as words originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading HBO in talks to relax iCloud ban on Universal, Fox movies for Apple TV

HBO in talks to relax iCloud ban on Universal, Fox movies for Apple TV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VZW has stacks of money and plenty of ambition, but apparently it's already running out of mobile spectrum. The operator is trying to buy an extra block of airwaves from some cable companies in a $3.9 billion deal, but it has faced bitter resistance from rival networks who claim it's wrong for one company to hog so much electromagnetism. In a filing to the FCC yesterday, Verizon told regulators that its LTE network will start hitting spectrum limits as soon as next year in some areas of the US, with more areas being affected by 2015. Is it time to panic?

Verizon: give us more spectrum, we're gasping over here originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, have you been following the iPad dispute in China? Wondering exactly who or what this Proview company is and what they're doing with a trademark on the iPad name? Well, wonder no more friends. The company actually stylized the name as iPAD, and it stood for Internet Personal Access Device. They hit the market way back in 1998 and weren't tablets, but all-in-one PCs that looked an awful lot like another machine that debuted that year -- the iMac. Over the course of a decade Proview produced between 10,000 and 20,000 of he 15-inch CRT desktops, before collapsing in 2010 and abandoning its Shenzhen plant, thanks in part to the economic crisis engulfing the globe. Most of its assets, including the iPAD trademark are now the property of eight different banks and it's debts exceed $1 billion, which probably explains why the company is demanding so much money from Apple. For more details about the original iPAD and a photo tour of the deserted factory hit up the source links.

Introducing the original iPAD, Proview's late '90s iMac-like desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Feb 2012 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to a gaggle of anonymous sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Apple is currently testing a smaller version of the iPad. The big question is, how might this tie in with the rumored March launch of the iPad 3? More »

Apple is currently working with suppliers on a smaller version of the iPad, The Wall Street Journal reports. Citing unnamed sources from within Apple’s supply chain, the report claims that the Cupertino-based company is currently showing off designs for a new iPad that packs the same resolution as the iPad 2 into a display that measures around 8-inches diagonally. This new report is in line with earlier reports claiming Apple is planning a 7.85-inch iPad with the same display resolution as the iPad 2, though The Journal’s report indicates that Apple is not as far along in the build process as had been previously indicated. The Wall Street Journal also notes that Apple “works with suppliers to test new designs all the time” and could drop its plans to build the new iPad.

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Details are still fairly light at the moment, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Google could be about to make big push into the hardware business. Citing people briefed on the company's plans, the WSJ says that Google is now developing a home entertainment system that would stream music wirelessly throughout the home (including to web-connected devices and "Google-made speakers"), and be able to be controlled using a smartphone or tablet -- making it sound a whole lot like a Sonos competitor. What's more, unlike current Android and Google TV devices, this system will reportedly be marketed under Google's own brand. An attempt to really turn it up to eleven, perhaps?

Google reportedly working on wireless home entertainment system to be sold under its own brand originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading FCC approves AT&T's $1.9b purchase of Qualcomm's 700MHz spectrum (update)

FCC approves AT&T's $1.9b purchase of Qualcomm's 700MHz spectrum (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to the WSJ, Google is teaming with online retailers to cook up a standardized way to ship things to customers super fast (for a fee, of course). Sound familiar? Yeah, Google's going after Amazon Prime. More »

According to the WSJ, Google is teaming with online retailers to cook up a standardized way to ship things to customers super fast (for a fee, of course). Sound familiar? Yeah, Google's going after Amazon Prime. More »

Siri, the iPhone's super sassy personal assistant, has some hilarious bite to her, doesn't she? It wasn't always like this! According to WSJ, Siri started with a "light attitude" until Apple bought it and then purposely gave it more of an edge. More »

This week's best iPad apps brings KCRW Music Mine, which puts the best radio station in the world (disagree? fight me) on your iPad, WSJ Live, which is like WSJ in live and on demand video form, and more. More »