Articles by Rob Spiegel

User forums are lit up with complaints about Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which was released in the UK late last week. It seems that the handset's volume control goes haywire when the connection shifts to a 2G band. Unfortunately, 2G is widespread in Europe. The Galaxy Nexus is the first phone to ship with Android 4.0, also known as "Ice Cre...

It looks like the Kindle Fire is a loss leader for Amazon product sales. IHS iSuppli tore apart a Kindle Fire to assess the cost of the tablet's bill of materials (BOM). The research firm announced on Friday that the Fire's BOM adds up to US$185.60. The cost drifts up to $201.70 when manufacturing services are added. Amazon sells the Fire for $199...

The Microsoft Surface 2.0, a coffee-table-sized, tablet-like touchscreen computer, is ready for preorder in 23 countries, including the United States. The Surface first emerged in 2007 and used cameras and its touchscreen to interact with people and objects. The model available for preorder is called the "SUR40" and is manufactured by Samsung. Mic...

The TV world may soon go the way of the phone and the music industry: a complete deconstruction thanks to the Internet. The next step may come from Sony. The company is experimenting with an online TV service according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. Sony has reportedly reached out to several large media companies, including NBC, News Corp...

Research In Motion announced on Tuesday two new smartphones based on the BlackBerry 7 OS, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380. RIM calls the Bold 9790 a compact, fully-loaded, high-performance smartphone. The model boasts a high-resolution touch display and a highly tactile keyboard. The Bold packs 8 GB of on-board memory with an expandable memory slot of up to 32 GB...

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is gaining more interest from application developers. In fact, it's captured more developer mindshare than Research In Motion's older and more widespread BlackBerry platform, according to a recent study. The third-quarter 2011 results of a survey by Appcelerator and IDC revealed that the Windows Phone platform ha...

Amazon has purchased Yap, a voice recognition startup, according to an SEC filing. The move added to speculation that Amazon is preparing a voice-command service similar to Apple's Siri or Google Android's Voice Actions The transaction was apparently completed in September, but a public statement has not been made by either company. Yap merged with...

When Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet shows up on Nov. 15, users will be able to choose from thousands of apps available for download at Amazon's Appstore. That's way fewer than the hundreds of thousands iPad owners can get from Apple's App Store. Still, if they're the right apps, who cares? Popular apps like Pandora, Facebook, Twitter and Net...

American Express is extending its financial reach to the wild world of tech startups through a new multiyear digital commerce initiative unveiled on Tuesday. The US$100 million program is designed to help identify and develop innovative technologies to aid the company's digital transformation and strengthen connections to customers around the world. The credit card company is set to make mostly minority investments in early stage startups...

Best Buy said Monday it would buy out Carphone Warehouse's (CPW) interest in its North American Best Buy Mobile business for US$1.3 billion. By purchasing the CPW stake, Best Buy is trying to shift more of its focus to mobile devices. Best Buy has asked CPW to stay on in a consultancy capacity for up to five years With sales of TVs and other e...

Sometimes you can't win for winning. LinkedIn's stock price fell more than 10 percent Friday morning. On Thursday, LinkedIn reported higher-than-expect third-quarter revenue of US$139.5 million, more than doubling last year's revenue of $61.8 million. The company also beat analyst expectations of $128 million for the quarter....

Amazon.com launched a free e-book lending library for Kindle on Thursday. The library is open to Amazon Prime subscribers and includes over 5,000 books that users can borrow for free. The list includes hundreds of current and former New York Times bestsellers Books can only be borrowed and read on actual Kindle devices, rather than Kindle apps runn...

Google might soon quit surprising you with ridiculously off-target ads in your search resultsand Gmail. Or, you may finally find out how they deliver ads that are strikingly right-on. The search leader has announced an upcoming feature called "Why These Ads?" The company willalso launch an Ads Preference Manager that is designed to let users make ...

The crumbling wall between TV and the Internet may soon be reduced to dust. YouTube is preparing to debut 100 TV channels, partnering with dozens of media companies, Hollywood production companies, and celebrities including Madonna, J-Z, Ashton Kutcher and more. The subjects range from health and family issues to sports and dance YouTube has p...

Samsung reported its quarterly earnings this week, showing a healthy jump in its smartphone business. The company's smartphone sales quadrupled, shooting up from 7 million in last year's third quarter to 28 million globally in third-quarter 2011. Samsung also saw a 44 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to Strategy Analytics....

Sony is cutting itself loose from its European partner in smartphones. The company announced Thursday that it will acquire Ericsson's 50 percent share in their Sony Ericsson venture, making the mobile handset business a fully owned subsidiary of Sony. Ericsson will receive cash compensation of US$1.5 billion. Sony Ericsson produces a wide-range of...

Amazon missed expectations with its third quarter earnings report and projected a loss for the current quarter. The double-down on its Kindle Fire is at the heart of the matter. With razor-thin profits projected for the tablet, Amazon is betting it all on content sales. The market is not so sure. Amazon stock fell 20 percent after its earnings report was released Tuesday after the market closed...

Two former Apple engineers have released a smart thermostat designed to reduce home energy use. Nest Labs -- a company formed by Tony Fadell, credited with shepherding the iPod's development -- has introduced the Nest Learning Thermostat, a device that learns your daily schedule and adjusts your home's heating and cooling accordingly ...

A number of major U.S.-based financial institutions have blockaded payments to Wikileaks, forcing the site to temporarily cease publication. Wikileaks is asking supporters to immediately start donating money through other entities in order to keep the site running. The blockade has cut off 95 percent of its revenue, the group claims Companies ...

Groupon has packaged a new deal, and it's going worldwide. The Internet coupon star will go public on Nov. with an IPO designed to raise as much as US$621 million, valuing the company at $11.4 billion. That's just 5 percent of the company's shares. The numbers look big on the surface, but the total is smaller than the original expectation of $750 ...