At the San Fernando Road off-ramp of the 2 Freeway in Glassell Park, there could be a whole new kind of tree left for residents and visitors to gawk at: A cellphone tower made to look like a pine tree. more ›

Hold on to your man boobs, Simon Cowell. Judgment is now glowering upon you and your Verizon "X-Factor" app promo. In the TV spot, Cowell tosses cell phones from the balcony of a Malibu beachfront home, deeming them "rubbish," "junk," "useless," "embarrassing," "pointless" and "whatever" - using the beach as his personal garbage can. Mark Gold, president of Santa Monica's environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay doesn't see the commercial as "whatever." more ›

Phone, cable, and internet provider Verizon has announced they'll give a $10,000 reward for info that gets the perp(s) arrested and prosecuted in a string of recent copper cable thefts in Southern California. "In recent weeks, thieves have cut and stolen thousands of feet of copper cable at nine locations, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages," explains Verizon. more ›

As rumored, in a new, multi-year partnership, Verizon Wireless will finally, officially, legitimately, and for realsies begin carrying Apple's iPhone 4 starting February 10, 2011. The 16-gig model will retail for $199 with a two-year contract (contract price not yet been released) and the 32-gig version will cost $299. Existing Verizon customers get the pricey privilege of ordering the mega telephonic device on Feb. 3, one week before everyone else. more ›

You know the drill. Drive from Manhattan Beach to Santa Monica, AT&T drops your call. Drive anywhere in Echo Park & Silver Lake or take the train to Anaheim, AT&T drops your call. Try to text someone outside LAX, forget about it. In Hollywood? You're out of luck. Our L.A. dropped-call woes may be over as all signs point to the rumored Verizon for iPhone being far more than just a rumor, according to Mashable. more ›

Last month we gave you the rundown* on when we can expect 4th-generation mobile internet speeds from the top four carriers. But we forgot about the little guy(s). MetroPCS is not-so-well known as the fifth-largest mobile provider in the U.S and today its 4G high-speed data network was lit up across L.A. (available only on the Samsung Craft 4G). MetroPCS has competitive rates and a map indicating decent coverage across L.A. But does anyone really use them? We'd love to know what you think. more ›

We've seen the billboards all over town: an oversized phone slathered with the words "first" and "4G." But those of us who don't accept "sometime later this year" for an answer have been left to ask: "So?" "When?" Sprint today announced plans to "officially" launch 4G WiMax mobile internet service across L.A. December 1. Sprint users have been reporting more and more 4G coverage across the metro area since the HTC EVO was released in early June. more ›

If true, this would please many Angelenos exasperated with AT&T service (how many Verizon veterans experience more dropped calls than ever now that they're with AT&T? Why does data not come through on the Sunset Strip?). more ›

When I moved into this neighborhood four years ago after driving out from Chicago, one of my first objectives was to test the various cellular phone (that's what we called them back then) providers. more ›

Do you remember life before cellphones? Maybe you remember making plans to meet up with a friend and having to just sit and wait for them to show up since they didn't have a way to call you from the car or a tiny device in their pocket or purse. Maybe you remember the pager era, when friends would beep you and you would head off to search for a payphone and either plug in a pocketful of change or tap out a lengthy calling card number in order to retrieve your message. more ›

This weekend we were enjoying televised entertainment when we happened to notice Prince doing a Verizon ad. Does Prince even do ads? Whatever, it worked on us, we watched, we enjoyed, it was great. Until the end when it seemed like the ad company totally ripped off LA gossip blog Pink is the New Blog by stenciling a light-colored purple "Be A Music Hunter" on its final image. Unless PITNB's Trent is being paid... more ›

• Social giant MySpace is prepping a new news service that may require users to verify their ages before entering. • Worried about the upcoming change to Daylight Savings Time? Find out what it means to you in the handy FAQ. • Sony launches its "Home" and "Little Blue Planet" services for PS3 users. And the world reacts with a thunderous yawn.... more ›

Welcome to the LAist weekly tech news roundup. Each week I'll be bringing you the latest, and hopefully most interesting, technology news from around the city, the state, the country and maybe even the world. Also, if you have any news, tips or things of interest you want to point out, feel free to drop me a line at: themacist [at] gmail dot com. Now, let's get to the news: A woman with a... more ›

You have something to say. You have a life worth documenting. You write fine. You definitely have fifteen minutes a day to write down some of your feelings. Clearly you read blogs so why don't you write one? There's no need to tell your friends, or your family, or those who you work with. In fact sometimes it's better that they don't know your deepest darkest secrets. LAist thinks that January should become Start... more ›