December 04 - 11:35am EST   AT&T today announced one of the larger job cuts in the midst of the US recession and said it would drop 12,000 employees, or about 4 percent of its total worker base. The effort is attributed both to the poor economy as well as to a "changing business mix" that has left its traditional landline service in decline. Much of that business is shifting towards cellphones and other wireless services, the company says. It also plans to reduce its overall capital spending at the same time but won't have details until January. [full story]

December 04 - 08:40am EST   Apple has developed technology that would let an iPhone or similar device be controlled by hovering fingers nearby rather than just touches alone, a new US patent filing shows. The system would include the company's familiar capacitive touchscreen technology but would also introduce numerous infrared or similar sensors that can gauge the relative position of fingers, a whole hand or an outside object by measuring the differences in the light level at different points on the display. [full story]

December 03 - 10:00pm EST   Apple this week has won a trademark infringement lawsuit against a Chinese electronics company. New Apple Concept Digital Technology Co. was ordered to pay 400,000 yuan (~$58,000 USD), completing a battle between the two companies that began in 2006 when the Shenzhen-based manufacturer was ordered to stop using its trademark, according to China Central Television. New Apple Concept had used a logo that featured an apple with the characteristic missing bite. [full story]

December 03 - 02:20pm EST   NVIDIA is taking a cautious approach on netbooks and is unlikely to involve itself in that field anytime soon, company officials have said at the Credit Suisse technology conference. Company CFO Marv Burkett acknowledges that it could ultimately produce graphics chips and other hardware for the mini notebooks but is waiting for netbooks to "evolve" before taking any initial steps into the field, which was effectively born with the launch of the Eee PC 700 line late in 2007 and is just now gaining traction. [full story]

December 03 - 01:45pm EST   While Monster Cable hasn't yet officially announced the in-ear version of its Beats by Dr. Dre, the rapper-influenced headphones have appeared at the Apple Store. The design makes use of a unique, nearly 4-foot long flat cable that features a Duraflex jacket claimed to be tangle- and knot-free. The headphones deliver sound with a low-mass, wide bandwidth driver and also include three pairs of eartips as well as two pairs of triple-layer flanged tips, dubbed Airlocks, for more customizable sound insulation. [full story]

December 03 - 12:25pm EST   Amazon today in a low-key rollout introduced Amazon MP3 for UK, its first non-US version of its online download store. The British version follows the same approach as the US store and lets users buy unprotected songs and albums that can be used with any device and, through a sync app, can automatically transfer to iTunes or Windows Media Player. [full story]

December 03 - 09:30am EST   Research in Motion late Tuesday warned that it expects the number of new subscribers to its BlackBerry push e-mail service to fall significantly below its original estimates. The Canadian smartphone company now expects to add just 2.6 million users instead of the originally predicted 2.9 million and also expects its earnings per share and gross margins to drop as a result. The company blames the dip both on the later launches of phones like the Bold for AT&T and the multi-carrier release of the Storm. [full story]

December 03 - 08:15am EST   HTC today revealed that it will buy American design house One & Company for an undisclosed amount. The move makes permanent a collaboration that started with the Touch Diamond and should see One & Company become HTC's regular designer for its smartphones in the future. Most of HTC's newest Touch series phones already draw on the US firm's influence, including the MAX 4G and Touch HD. [full story]

December 02 - 05:15pm EST   Today's deals at DealNN include a variety of Apple products at reduced prices. Starting at $59.98 is the second generation 2GB iPod shuffle in green at 6ave.com. BuyDig.com has reduced the price on Microsoft Office 2008 to $99 from the MSRP of $430. The refurbished 1GHz iBook G4 is available at Buy.com for $329. MacConnection.com is offering the new aluminum 2.0GHz MacBook for $1149 after mail in rebate. [full story]

December 02 - 04:35pm EST   Currently the Apple store is offering a variety of refurbished products from iMacs and displays to iPod nanos. Two iMac models are currently being offered starting at $1,299 for the 20-inch model with 2.66GHz processor, 2GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive and the 24-inch model with 2.8GHz processor, and the same memory and hard drive specs as the first for $1,549. Two MacBook models are also available starting at $949 for the white 2.4GHz model with 2GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive and the black 2.4GHz model with 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive for $1,049. Three cinema displays are also featured priced at $499 for the 20-inch, $749 for the 23-inch and $1,499 ... [full story]