The ACSI has revealed that Samsung scored a below average rating of 71, placing it below rivals LG, HTC and Motorola. The Korean phone maker saw its customer service rating slip four per cent since April 2011, despite seeing huge success with its Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone. ACSI said that this could be because of the manufacturer’s reliance on the Android operating system, although Samsung was unavailable for comment at the time of publication. It’s even worse news for the Blackberry... 

Hewlett-Packard Co is considering slashing its workforce by 8 to 10 percent, or a minimum of 25,000 jobs, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as newly installed CEO Meg Whitman strives to steer the storied Silicon Valley giant back to the path of growth. The job cuts, which could include retirements, are under discussion but have not yet been finalized, several people familiar with the situation told Reuters. The sources did not elaborate on a time frame or other details. HP, which employs... 

The malware business growing around Google Android — now the most popular smartphone operating system — is still in its infancy. Today, many of the apps built to steal money from Android users originate from Russia and China, so criminal gangs there have become cyber-trailblazers. Sophos and Symantec on Wednesday released their latest Android malware discoveries written in Russian. While the language narrows the number of potential victims, the social-engineering tactics used to get Android... 

T-Mobile USA will introduce four new “No Annual Contract” data service plans this upcoming Sunday. The data tiers, which the carrier termed “passes,” apply to tablets, mobile hotspots and laptop sticks, but does not include smartphones. The new pricing plans are: $15 for a one-week 300MB pass; a $25 one-month 1.5GB pass; a $35 one-month 3.5GB pass and $50 for a one-month 5GB pass. T-Mobile already has a separate unlimited data plan bundled with unlimited talk and text for... 

Internet detective Superannuation has noticed a LinkedIn discussion from Lionhead, detailing an MMO-like RPG for the next Xbox. The discussion has since been removed, but as always the internet never forgets. “Opportunity to work on MMO like title for next generation consoles. AAA game and budget!” the post read, according to Eurogamer. “This is to assist in the development of a major brand new IP that is being targeted for the future generation of platforms and will be an RPG based... 

Unreal Engine 4 was shown to some of Epic’s partners behind closed doors at GDC this year, but it’s only now that we’re starting to get the first taste of what can kind of graphics it’ll push. Wired has an interesting look at the next-gen engine, along with beautiful screenshots and comments from Epic. As Wired puts it, “UE4 represents nothing less than the foundation for the next decade of gaming. It may make Microsoft and Sony rethink how much horsepower they’ll... 

Let’s be upfront about this: We still don’t have hard-nosed evidence for any life that’s not of this Earth. That fact hasn’t changed since the time of Aristotle. But unlike that gifted Greek, a lot of folks today think proof of alien biology could grace the next news cycle. After all, astronomers have recently uncovered thousands of new planets; space agencies have relentlessly hurled hardware at dozens of solar system targets; and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)... 

Guild Wars 2 is set for release on June 28th — or is it? NCSoft says that no official release date has been announced, and they are still waiting on feedback from beta testing before they announce a release date. Beyond saying that Guild Wars 2 will be released when it is ready, NCSoft isn’t saying much else. Kotaku has, however, obtained a photo of an advertisement seen at Fry’s retail stole in Texas that says Guild Wars 2 is coming on June 28th. It could be nothing but a placeholder,... 

T-Mobile USA will eliminate an additional 900 jobs in a restructuring, on top of a 1,900-job reduction at its call centers that was announced in March, the carrier confirmed on Wednesday. T-Mobile, now with about 36,000 employees, has faced more than two years of subscriber losses. Last year, the wireless carrier lost out on a $39 billion deal to be taken over by AT&T — federal regulators rejected the deal. In its first quarter results announced May 9, T-Mobile said it lost 510,000 contract... 

Verizon Wireless is expecting an increase in data revenue after it offers new shared data plans this summer, according to a top executive for parent company Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon’s plans  to allow customers to share their data allowance among different devices, unlike their current offerings, where they have to sign up for a separate data plan for every device connected to the wireless operator’s network. Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said he expects the new... 

The long anticipated Devil’s Third is going to have a tough time getting off the ground, with THQ confirming on its earnings call that the game will not be published. THQ CEO Brian Farrell announced the news, saying that the “profitability profile of Devil’s Third no longer meets our internal threshold.” The future of the game, which has been in question for several months now, will now rest in whatever deal THQ might be able to reach with a third party. THQ has stated... 

Google is changing the way it handles searches in the United States to give users quick access to answers without leaving the page, the company said. The new search process is based on what Google calls the “knowledge graph” — meaning that it tries to pinpoint faster the context surrounding its users’ keyword searches. “Over the years, as search has improved, people expect more,” said Amit Singhal, vice president of engineering at Google and the head of search,... 

Atari has completely dismissed the rumors that it has closed Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games. In fact it says that the studio is open and continues its support for all of its titles including Test Drive Unlimited 2. Atari believes that a statement about the divestment of Eden Studios in its earning statement is what started the rumors that the studio had been or was in the process of being closed. Nothing is further from the truth Atari claims, however we have confirmed that a rather large... 

Baidu, which operates China’s most popular search engine, has taken the wraps off of its newest smartphone, featuring the company’s own mobile platform and priced to target the country’s low-end handset segment. The Changhong H5018 will be priced at about $158 without a contract, the company said Tuesday. The device marks the second smartphone the company has released, the last one being a handset developed in cooperation with U.S. PC maker Dell that was announced in December. Baidu’s... 

Visitors to Wikipedia who are suddenly seeing advertisements on the site have most a victim to a browser-based malware infection, Wikimedia Foundation, the organization operating the website, said yesterday. “We never run ads on Wikipedia,” said Philippe Beaudette, director of community advocacy for the Wikimedia Foundation, in a blog post. “If you’re seeing advertisements for a for-profit industry … or anything but our fundraiser, then your web browser has likely been...