Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Apple Inc. said Thursday that it will publish the guidelines it uses to determine which programs can be sold in its App Store.
The move follows more than two years of complaints from software developers about the company’s secret and seemingly capricious rules, which block some programs from the store. Get the full story »
AT&T said it has invested nearly $350 million in its wireless network in the first half of 2010 to improve customer service in Illinois.
It’s part of an capital investment of nearly $700 million in AT&T’s wireless and wireline networks in Illinois in the first six months of the year. Get the full story »
The U.S. Justice Department is looking into allegations that Google Inc’s purchase of airline ticketing firm ITA Software Inc will cost rivals access to data they need to compete with the search giant as it moves into the travel market, sources familiar with the probe said. Get the full story »
Motorola Inc. has partnered with Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson on advanced technology for public safety agencies, the two companies said Tuesday. Get the full story »
Shares in Netflix Inc. neared their all-time high on Thursday, after Apple Inc. said that the company’s streaming video service would be added to a new version of Apple TV.
The tie-in with Apple TV, a smaller, cheaper version of Apple’s earlier web-to-TV product, could cement Netflix’s dominance in the online movie rental business. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless said Thursday it will offer no-contract data plans for many of its 3G multimedia phones and smartphones, including those from its premier Droid line of devices.
The prepaid data package costs $30 a month for unlimited access. For $10 a month, customers can get a data plan for their multimedia phones, or those that aren’t designed for intense Web browsing as smartphones are. The $10 data plan is capped at 25 megabytes a month.
The prepaid segment has grown rapidly in the last few years, fueled both by recessionary pressures on consumers and newer generations of phone users that dislike being tethered to a two-year contract. Major carriers such as Verizon have traditionally focused on post-paid subscribers, who tend to be a more reliable and lucrative source of revenue. But with increased competition from no-contract carriers such as Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, which have smartphones in their line-ups in addition to no-frills handsets, other companies have started to sweeten their prepaid offerings as well. Get the full story »
Google Inc. is in talks with music labels on plans for a download store and a digital song locker that would allow its mobile users to play songs wherever they are as it steps up its rivalry with Apple Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
Google Vice President of Engineering Andy Rubin has been leading conversations with the labels about what a new Google music service would look like, according to these sources. Get the full story »
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Thursday she is suing a California company for charging consumers for identity protection services that they never requested.
The lawsuit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court, claims that ID Lifeguards Inc. of Glendale, Calif., charged $157,562 on the phone bills of 5,071 Illinois consumers between September 2009 and March 2010. Get the full story »
Communications regulators on Wednesday put off a controversial decision on Internet traffic rules, giving industry and consumer groups a chance to forge a compromise while avoiding a politically sensitive issue ahead of the November elections. Get the full story »
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is continuing to buy up shares of Motorola Inc., disclosing his second batch of purchases in a week. Get the full story »
Mayor Richard M. Daley said Tuesday that he has created a committee to study infrastructure needs for local technology companies and entrepreneurs.
The committee comprises 20 members, including top executives at local tech firms and representatives from area universities. The group also includes local venture capitalist Matt McCall of New World Ventures, Navteq Chief Executive Larry Kaplan, Kevin Willer of Google’s Chicago office, and Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, co-founders of Lightbank, a Chicago-based investment fund focusing on early-stage tech companies. Get the full story »
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion will give India access to secure data from Sept. 1, a government source said Monday as the country pushes RIM, Google and Skype to set up servers in India due to its security concerns.
On Monday, the interior ministry said RIM had offered India a few proposals to gain access its secure data and that the feasibility of the solutions would be assessed within 60 days. It did not give details of the solutions. Get the full story »
Meijer Inc. said Monday it is launching a new digital coupon program where shoppers can choose coupons from the store’s Web site and redeem them by entering their mobile phone numbers at check-out.
The mPerks program rolls out this week at the superstore chain’s 196 stores in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Customers can sign up for an account linked to their personal cell phone number at mperks.meijer.com. Shoppers select coupons from the site to be stored in their account. At check-out, keying in the phone number redeems all applicable coupons. Get the full story »
