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Square launches iPad app; adios, cash register

Square is well-known in the payments business. Now it wants to replace a retailer's register.

The payments company has launched a new iPad application, called Square Register. Available for free in the App Store, the app is designed to replace a brick-and-mortar retailer's register, and can accept everything from credit card to cash payments.

According to Square, the application lets users input the many products they sell in their stores and assign prices to them. Those items can also be placed into a "favorites" list for easy access when customers buy a product. As with any … Read more

LightSquared CEO resigns, casting shadow on 4G plans

LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja has stepped down as the company's chief executive officer.

The decision, announced this morning, does not shed much light as to exactly why Ahuja resigned, but reports have already circulating suggesting it has to do something with the Federal Communication Commission's move to block the launch of its 4G network.

In November, Ahuja spoke at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, arguing that there is a disparity between demand for data and the amount of available spectrum, and that the United States is not ready to handle those problems.

Nevertheless, Ahuja will continue … Read more

How would you fix LightSquared? Here's your chance

LightSquared, the wireless network company recently shot down by the FCC, is looking for a new CEO.

In light of the failure of the company to hold on to its waiver to operate a wireless network in satellite spectrum that is adjacent to GPS signals, the company's CEO, Sanjiv Ahuja, has resigned his post. According to a statement, he will continue to serve as chairman of the company's board.

Philip Falcone, CEO of Harbinger Capital, which contributed to LightSquared's $14 billion funding and who is now joining the company's board, said in the statement, "We … Read more

Save Coral Hills with SpongeBob SquarePants Pyramid Peril

Bikini Bottom's famed Coral Hills are wilting. You can help get them blooming again, if you stay away from stinging jellyfish and other perils (and your name happens to be SpongeBob). SpongeBob Square Pants Pyramid Peril is a free Softendo game in which you (you being SpongeBob SquarePants) hop about a coral reef, changing wilted squares to healthy blooming coral one by one without getting stung or falling off the reef. It's simple, silly undersea fun.

The game's installer offered to include a Super Mario-themed toolbar, which we declined. Pyramid Peril's start screen includes How to … Read more

LightSquared: Going from bad to worse

Things are not looking good for LightSquared, the wireless startup that had planned to build a nationwide wireless broadband network.

Today, Reuters reported that the company said it plans to cut 45 percent of its workforce to conserve cash.

"This and other cost savings measures will allow LightSquared to continue to navigate the regulatory process as it works with the appropriate government agencies to find solutions to the GPS interference issue and bring its $14 billion privately funded wireless broadband network to more than 260 million Americans," according to the statement.

And yesterday, several news outlets reported that … Read more

Dish looks to FCC for cues on its spectrum strategy

Dish Network, sitting on an increasingly valuable stash of spectrum vital to powering wireless data traffic, is waiting on a key waiver from the Federal Communications Commission before deciding on its next move.

The waiver, similar to one that the FCC yanked from LightSquared earlier this week, would allow Dish to use its spectrum to build its own high-speed wireless network. If the FCC doesn't grant the conditional waiver to Dish, it would explore several options including the sale of the spectrum or a partnership with another carrier, CNET has learned.

The moves that Dish could make have broader … Read more

How politics inflame the 'spectrum crisis'

Two years into a decade-long plan to free up wireless spectrum to handle an explosion in mobile data traffic growth, Washington politics are crippling the Federal Communications Commission's ability to reach any of its goals.

In March 2010, the FCC identified in its National Broadband Plan a dire need for more spectrum in the U.S. It outlined a timeline for getting 300 megahertz of spectrum in the pipeline by 2015 with an additional 200MHz opened up for auction by 2020. In total the plan would create 500MHz of new wireless spectrum that could be auctioned off, or nearly … Read more

AT&T eyes smaller rivals for spectrum, WSJ says

Well, that didn't take long.

AT&T appears ready to get back in the hunt for more spectrum, now eying smaller wireless rivals MetroPCS and Leap Wireless and satellite-TV provider Dish Network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Dallas-based telecommunications giant is just two months removed from the collapse of its deal with T-Mobile USA, which would have given the company additional spectrum, allowing it to bulk up its network and better handle the rising tide of cellular traffic driven by smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices.

The T-Mobile deal was essentially halted by regulators as anti-competitive, … Read more

LightSquared blew it, and here's why

LightSquared today fired back at the Federal Communications Commission, saying the agency's decision to squash the company's planned wireless network would harm the American public. But it appears to be too little, too late for the embattled company.

The start-up wireless provider was dealt a fatal blow yesterday when the FCC suspended a key waiver that would have allowed it to build its 4G network, citing concerns over potential interference with critical GPS equipment. The denial of the waiver effectively turned the company into the walking dead.

While the FCC may have officially stamped out LightSquared's hopes … Read more

iPhone competition hurts Clearwire's growth as loss widens

Wireless operator Clearwire's fourth-quarter results were fairly disappointing, but at least its longer term prospects are starting to brighten.

The company, which supplies Sprint Nextel with 4G WiMax wireless service, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $236.8 million, or 81 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $128 million, or 79 cents a share.

Revenue, however, more than doubled to $361.9 million as the company started picking itself up off the mat.

Wall Street analysts were looking for Clearwire to lose 35 cents a share and post revenue of $356.7 million. The company released its revenue and customer growth figures early. … Read more