[Update] Verizon Wireless Reportedly Experiencing 3G/4G Data Outage.

Word on the interwebs is that Verizon Wireless is having a bit of a network problem — 3G and 4G data networks are down. Never fear. We’re now following several different forum threads as well as watching the smattering of VZW-owned Twitter accounts like a hawk. Of course, if you start seeing data flowing to and fro again, drop us a line so we can update everyone else.

Update

It’s back up.

Shocker: Quickpick Removed From App Store.

We hate to say we told you so, but….we told you so. Our skepticism over how long nifty Notification Center tweak, QuickPick, would remain in the App Store was well placed — Apple has removed QuickPick from the iOS App Store. Not only that, according to 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman, Apple has also removed the ability to install QuickPick from your list of “Purchased” apps in iCloud too, meaning no re-downloading the app should you accidentally delete it.

Truth be told, we were shocked that QuickPick made it through Apple’s walled garden into the inner courtyard in the first place given Apple’s rathe quick patch in iOS 5.0.1 that removed the ability to use URL schemes to place system shortcuts on the homescreen. On that note, URL schemes are still usable in iOS 5.0.1, just not in a way that QuickPick uses them. (Supposedly, this functionality has been removed from iOS 5.1.)

No matter how you slice it, we’re bummed Apple is continually killing nifty little tweaks like this. Some small saving grace can be rationalized as Apple strictly monitoring Notification Center capable apps and insuring it remains an alert system and nothing else (ex: a place for annoying ads).

If you’re not of the jailbreaker type, your only hope for now is to hope Apple either (1) hires the jailbreak dev of *insert favorite jailbreak tweak developer here* or simply “borrows” inspiration from a popular jailbreak functionality into a future iOS update.

Nexus S ICS Update Reportedly Halted Due To Battery Drain Bug.

Sorry, Nexus S users. Your ICS update is apparently getting shelved, temporarily. According to Phandroid, the ICS update for the Nexus S is causing a pretty high number of devices’ CPU’s to peak, causing unnecessary battery drain. As such, Google has stopped the rollout to address the issue.

Sound like something you’ve experienced? Drop us a line.

NFL To Stream Wild Card, Pro Bowl And Super Bowl Online And To VZW Customers.

If you’re a VZW smartphone owner and NFL follower, consider yourself some one of the lucky few. NBC Sports has just announced that all VZW customers will be able to live-stream the wild card Saturday, Pro Bowl, and Super Bowl games on their smartphones. Mobile and online viewers will have access to a slew of alternate angles, in-game highlights and live updates. The only catch for mobile users: you’ll need the download the NFL Mobile app to get in on the football fun-time stream. But don’t worry. It’s free.

• Download NFL Mobile for iOS: iTunes Link

• Download NFL Mobile for Android: Android Market Link

In addition to the mobile option, the NFL will also broadcast the aforementioned games on the NFL and NBC’s websites. Anyone going to give it a shot this year?

Nokia Finally Admits Lumia 800 Has A Battery Problem. Fix Coming In 2012.

The Lumia 800 is hands down one of the company’s most important products in recent years as it’s the (current) flagship phone the Finish company has, as well as the first big phone to showcase the Microsoft-Nokia partnership. Reviews of said device have been mostly positive, though a brewing issue regarding an improperly recorded battery percentage is causing grief for early adopters. Initially, Nokia wouldn’t immediately fess up to the issue at hand, though quickly reveresed course with a small update. According to continuing complaints, the update did little (if anything) to fix the issue, eliciting a more detailed response from Nokia whom cites a forthcoming update in early 2012:

“On Monday 12th December some of our customers started to comment in various social media that the preloaded diagnostics tool in some of the Nokia Lumia 800 phones was showing lower battery capacity than expected. We immediately started to investigate these reports and can now confirm that while the battery itself is fine, a software problem on certain variants is limiting the phone’s ability to access the full battery capacity. We want to stress that this issue has not been found to affect the recently introduced Nokia Lumia 710.

The good news is that as this is a software problem it can be easily resolved. The planned software update in early 2012, as well as including many performance enhancements, will also include a fix that will enable the affected phones to access the total battery capacity. For anyone who does not want to wait for the software update, Nokia can arrange for a replacement phone.”

In the meantime, those interested in knowing if they have an affected device can simply dial “##634#” and look in the phone diagnostics menu at “Battery Status”. If it says anything lower than 1,000 mAh, you’ve got a dud that according to Nokia may need to be charged “more frequently than normal”.

Did you make it through the fire?

T-Mobile Gets A Pretty Sweet Break-up Fee After Failed AT&T Takeover.

While AT&T begrudgingly heads back home wit a massive loss hanging over their heads, T-Mobile and parent company Deutsch Telekom are no doubt whipping out the bubbly. For starters, there’s the $3 billion immediate payout from AT&T. Though, it’s worth noting that Deutsch Telekom gets all this money to pay of debts. T-Mobile won’t receive even a single penny.

But there’s plenty for T-Mobile to be happy about too. First off, T-Mobile has acquired licenses for 128 new markets to use with their 1700 MHz AWS band. That translates into more coverage for their super speedy HSPA+ network and rollout. On top of that, T-Mobile has scored a 7-year UMTS roaming deal with AT&T, specifically for 850 MHz and 1900 MHz frequencies. (Perhaps that’s part of the reason for the recent unlocked T-Mobile iPhone’s hooking up to AT&T-flavored 3G bands, no?)

According to Deutsche Telekom, all the spectrum deals above will account for a nearly 20% rise in population coverage — from 230 million to 280 million U.S. residents.

So DK gets some money and T-Mobile walks away with more coverage and support for unlocked UMTS phones running on their network. Sounds like a sweet deal to us. Now if only they can turn the ship around and get people to sign up, maybe AT&T would be forced to play ball a bit more fairly.

This Guy Tweeted Via Snail Mail With People Halfway Across The World.

Banging out tweets is usually a quick affair whether by computer or mobile device. Technology has made our lives so fast paced, sometimes we forget the simpler, slower methods of communicating — Snail Mail. But could you actually get the same level of interaction that one of the fastest modern communication hubs, Twitter, provides via traditional mail service?

A freelance writer by the name of Giles Turnball asked himself that very same question until one day, he did just that. After confirming several volunteers, Giles began sending/replying to tweets via post card. As you can gather, responses from Giles took many days and even strenched into the week time frame.

“The mechanics of it took a while to work out. Most difficult was replicating my personal Twitter timeline—how could I post the same thing to everyone? Well, by writing it out lots of times.

For those “public” tweets, I wrote the same thing out 15 times, on 15 cards, and sent them to 15 different people. This took every moment as long as you might think; possibly a little longer.

Other tweets were easier to do. The analogue of sending an @reply or a DM is simply sending one card to one person. Much simpler. Soon after starting the project, I settled on these as the best way of communicating.”

While it’s not something we’d readily embark on, we commend Giles for his Tweet-by-Post project. At the very least it’s intriguing, no?