Verizon LTE Reportedly Coming Back To Life, Albiet Slowly.

We’ve received a couple of reports that LTE is starting to pop back up in a few markets. Verizon stated yesterday that the process would be a market-by-market process and not an all-at-once “flip of the switch”. We’ve already shot VZW an email. If you notice LTE springing back to life in your neck of the woods, be sure to let us know!

Verizon Delays DROID Charge Launch Indefinitely.

Hopefully you weren’t camping out for Verizon’s latest DROID Charge Android phone this morning as Verizon has announced they’ve delayed the phone indefinitely. The official reason is “unexpected delays”. The Charge was supposed to launch today, April 28th, but thanks to these new last minute problems that is now looking all but impossible. We’ll probe VZW for any possible answers and share with you accordingly.

Pegatron Cutting Verizon iPhone Production In Half?

New reports via Digitimes signal a nearly 50% reduction in Verizon iPhone production by manufacturer, Pegatron. DT has a spotty record traveling back through time, so this can’t be taken as 100% truth. Furthermore, Verizon’s own sales expectations go against DT’s claim and still cite an ~11 million unit production run.

While there have been stories detailing both good and bad sales numbers for the Verizon iPhone, it’s generally believed to be a very good seller, further adding mystery to the apparent manufacturing reduction.

For now, the biggest reasoning for a cut in production is either because of (1) weaker than forecasted sales or (2) manufacturers preparing for the next generation iPhone. On that note, the iPhone 5 is now believed to be launching in the fall sometime during September.

Sony Updates PSN Users. Still Can’t Say Credit Card Info Is Safe.

The ongoing PSN hacking story got a fresh update tonight via Sony’s official blog. While Sony still can’t verify that credit card info was taken or the chances that users’ credit card info is “safe”, the card numbers themselves were encrypted and therefore unlikely to be useable. Even better is the fact that the 3/4-digit security codes on the back of said cards weren’t stored at all. Nevertheless, Sony reiterates to “remain vigilant” in tracking your finances for any malicious actions.

There’s plenty more in the full Q & A-style update. Full rundown after the jump…

Leaked Sprint Document Shows WiFi-Only XOOM Coming May 8th.

May 8th is going to be a jam packed day if the leaked internal Sprint document above is correct. On that day we’ll apparently see the Sprint-ified WiFi-only Motorola XOOM as well as the Nexus S 4G and BlackBerry PlayBook. As for the XOOM, it’s listed at a cool $600.

Too much? More importantly: Will you get one?

FCC Denies Public Disclosure Of AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Documents.

Fans of government transparency entranced with the ongoing AT&T/T-Mobile merger will likely need to pop a Xanax after hearing news that the FCC is barring the public disclosure of documents concerning said merger.

We adopt [these] procedures to provide more limited access to certain especially competitively sensitive information that may be filed in this proceeding, which, if released to competitors or those with whom the Submitting Party does business, would allow those persons to gain a significant advantage in the marketplace or in negotiations. We anticipate that such materials will be necessary to develop a more complete record on which to base the Commission’s decision. While we are mindful of the highly sensitive nature of such information, we are also mindful of the right of the public to participate in this proceeding in a meaningful way.

For the record, Sprint has requested access to certain documents as well as hired a third-party law firm to glance over many more. With that said, while we understand the FCC’s reasoning in that there are likely certain sensitive topics that shouldn’t be revealed to competitors from a business perspective, denying all documents is a tad shortsighted.

Hopefully some transparency trickles out before a yay/nay decision is reached as hundreds of millions of people will be affected.

Antsy Motherboard Manufacturer Outs Intel’s Larsen Creek SSDs.

When products get delayed, we become sad. When products get launched ahead of schedule, we are surprised and happy. But when products are leaked ahead of schedule against someone’s wishes, we get an almost sick sense of happiness.

On that note, a slide from a PDF flyer for ASRock’s upcoming Z68 Extreme4 motherboard let slip some information about Intel’s upcoming Larsen Creek SSDs. Specifically in the above image, pairing one of Intel’s spiffy new SSDs with a traditional HDD will net you some pretty impressive performance compliments of SSD caching.

We’re just hoping Intel doesn’t price Z68 (since it’s their high-end enthusiast platform and all) too far out of consumers’ hands as we’d love to get a few pieces of said hardware.