T-Mobile and Nokia making announce December 14th

Big news from Bellevue, as T-Mobile and Nokia have just announced that a special event will be held the evening of December 14th, promising something "special in the works." The companies were too smart for us this time, choosing not to reveal any code names via the image file; however, the tiled design of the invite seems to be a rather strong indication that Windows Phone is in the mix here. Could it be an existing Lumia device, or will it be something completely new? We have precisely one week to mull over the prospects.

RIM loses BBX trademark battle, here comes BlackBerry 10

Die-hard fans of RIM's mobile efforts should put those BBX tattoo plans on hold, as the US Federal Court has blocked the company from using the BBX trademark, favoring the existing use by BASIS International for its software. As a result, the boys from Waterloo just announced at BlackBerry DevCon Asia that the new name for its next phone OS is BlackBerry 10 (and the Roman numeral for 10 is... ah, we see what you did there.) Let's hope RIM's plans for pulling its tablets and phones into a single unified platform are better executed than its naming process -- next time, they should probably just leave it up to the machines.

Android NFC app makes Facebook friendships a touch easier

Imagine yourself in the awkwardly staged situation you see above: you're in a club that's filled exclusively with girls. One's jumping around, shaking her hair, but you're desperately trying to recite the address of your Facebook page to her above the din. It's not working. Fortunately, Add Friend is here to ameliorate these tricky first social steps through the magic of Near Field Communication. Granted, it's still unlikely that: a) you'll both be carrying NFC-capable Android phones and b) have already downloaded and registered this particular app. Putting those issues aside, you and your future BFF / SO will both need to have the app running and then bring your smartphones together in a loving embrace, and letting the near-field magic transmit your Facebook details across. And remember, for any accidental adds that don't work out, the unfriend option will always be there for you.

BlackBerry PlayBook rooted, Android Market is a free for all

After a brief lead-up period, the Dingleberry jailbreak for the BlackBerry PlayBook is now publicly available, though still in a very early beta. The exploit used to gain root access is actually pretty simple. PlayBook backup files used in the BlackBerry Desktop Software apparently aren’t signed, which means those files can be used to launch just about whatever you want on the device. So what can you do with it? Well, not too much yet, and the three guys behind Dingleberry are hoping that the developer community at large will run with this and do all sorts of neat stuff, but for now one of the devs have posted instructions on how to get the Android Market up and running on the PlayBook.

How to get the Android Market working on the BlackBerry PlayBook:
1. Install the 2.0 beta on your PlayBook.
2. Root your PlayBook using the Dingleberry tool found at dingleberry.it
3. Download the Google apps package from http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Latest_Version/Google_Apps
4. Install and launch an Android app packaged as a .bar file in order to set up the Android system. I would recommend installing a launcher app of some kind since you will need one to launch the Market and related apps. A bunch can be found at http://playbookbars.com/
5. Log into your PlayBook as root with an scp client (eg: WinSCP for Windows). Copy the system folder in the Google apps download to the root of your PlayBook and merge it with the system folder there.
6. Open up a root ssh shell and remove “/system/app/SetupWizard.apk” (this can by done by typing in “mv /system/app/SetupWizard.apk /system/app/SetupWizard.apk.bak”.
7. Kill the running Android player “cd /apps/sys.android.XXXX.ns/native/scripts” (XXXX will be different for each device) and run “./android-player-cmd.sh kill-android-core.sh”
8. Launch a launcher app of some kind. Start up Android Market (or any other Google app), enter your account details and it will start working. This trick will also install Google Chat and a few other goodies. The Android Market works and will install things after you do this.
9. Play around with the Android player and find other cool things!

The dream here is to be able to dual-boot into BBX and Android operating systems, and though that might take a lot of work, this is a good start. Android apps have been sideloaded into the PlayBook for a few months now in a variety of ways, but until RIM officially launches PlayBook OS 2.0 in February, this will be the most painless way to go about it. It does sort of suck that you’ll have to kill the native Android app player in order to get this hack to work, but seeing as it’s still in beta anyway, that’s fine by me.

Now, RIM has a huge concern for security, and they’ve already issued a statement that they’ll be looking to patch up holes like this. It strikes me that it would be easy enough to do something like require signed keys for backup files, but I’m no programmer – maybe there’s something significant that would prevent RIM from being able to pull this off right away.

PlayBook owners can head on over to Dingleberry to get started. I’ll get started on this now and let you guys know if I can get the Android Market up and running.

Comcast to sell Verizon Wireless products in 4 markets in early 2012

Comcast president Neil Smit confirmed during a UBS investor conference on Monday that his company will begin to bundle Verizon Wireless products with its services in early 2012. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks announced late last week that Verizon Wireless had agreed to purchase spectrum from SpectrumCo, joint venture created by the three firms, for $3.6 billion. Verizon Wireless will use the spectrum to build out its 4G LTE wireless network and agreed to allow each company to sell its products and services through wholesale channels. Smit told Reuters that Comcast will still compete head-to-head with Verizon Wireless’s parent company, Verizon Communications, which owns the 55% of the carrier in a joint venture with Vodafone. Time Warner Cable CFO Irene Esteves said Time Warner Cable will also sell Verizon Wireless’s current products very soon but she was not specific which products TWC plans to sell.

HTC Flyer suprise update brings Honeycomb

The update that most people are seeing is specifically for the 32GB WiFi and 3G version of the tablet. There has been no indication that the WiFi only version is getting the update yet. The update brings the machine to software version 3.55.405.1 and it’s large. The download is 210MB so a WiFi connection would be a smart place to download.

We have also heard that folks in Holland are also getting the update as well. If you find the update is available be sure and let us know how it works and where you are located. 

Google Employees testing Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich?

With Google’s Galaxy Nexus currently out of the picture, we’re left to wonder what will be the Now Network’s first device to taste sweet Ice Cream Sandwich? We can all speculate as much as we want, but your name doesn’t have to be Captain Obvious to figure that it will most likely be the Nexus S 4G. A recent string of tweets from a Google employee has all but confirmed that Google is already working on such a treat.

According to Android Police, the folks from Mountain View have been taking their work home. Before you start feeling sorry for Google’s employees, it should be noted that their assignment is said to be troubleshooting an over-the-air Ice Cream Sandwich push for the Nexus S.

Facebook to acquire Gowalla

A report from CNN Money’s Laurie Segall claims Facebook is acquiring Gowalla for an undisclosed sum. A source close to the check-in company says most of Gowalla’s employees will join Facebook’s office in Palo Alto to work on Timeline. Timeline is Facebook’s new profile page that was introduced earlier this year and is gradually rolling out to Facebook’s 800 million members. The source for this rumor said the combination of Facebook and Gowalla is a “perfect match”, explaining that “Gowalla’s vision is about people telling stories, and Facebook’s vision for Timeline is about stories about important moments in life.”

It’s not know what will happen to Gowalla’s mobile app and its social network if this rumor pans out. Facebook often aquires companies for their engineering talent and not the technology they produce. Facebook has a competing product with Facebook Places and may decide to shutter Gowalla one its employees have started working on Timeline. Facebook, thus far, has not responded to this report.

Sprint gives Clearwire $1.6 billion golden parachute

LTE may be Sprint's future network of choice, but WiMAX will be with us for a while longer. Clearwire provides the Now Network's waves of WiMAX, but it's had recent financial troubles that it claimed could prevent it from making a required $237 million interest payment due today. However, Sprint has come to Clearwire's rescue by agreeing to pay $926 million to keep the WiMAX network running through 2015. It also pledged to kick in $350 million to help fund the firm's shift to LTE, plus another $347 million in equity funding if Clearwire can raise more than $400 million on its own. 

Verizon scores new spectrum from SpectrumCo in the tune of $3.6 billion

Verizon has a pretty serious head start in the LTE race. To make sure it stays at the front of the pack, Big Red has entered an agreement with SpectrumCo (a joint venture between Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House) that sees 122 AWS spectrum licenses transferred to the carrier for $3.6 billion and some commercial agreements. The deal will allow the companies to become authorized retailers for each others products, eventually giving the cable companies the ability to offer Verizon Wireless service as wholesalers. For its part, the House that Droid Built scores a boat load of new spectrum that may become crucial in expanding its network and ensuring that speeds don't drop off significantly as more customers transition to 4G. Check out the full PR after the break.

Update: Wondering how this impending love affair affects Comcast and Time Warner's existing deals reselling Clear's mobile broadband? Per CNET, not great, as the duo will gradually shift those using the WiMax provider to alternatives in the next six months.