Here’s the deal: we need writers. Good writers. Good writers that know tech and telecom. Here are the qualifications:

1) You have to be able to write… well.
2) You have to know your tech. If you know your LTE from your WiMAX, and know how to be on the pulse of things.
3) You have to be able to write regularly. As in, daily.

Everything else is pretty much negotiable. This time around, we’re committing to responding to each and every applicant.

We’ll be aggressively going through our channels, and a few we haven’t in the past. Obviously, experience on another wireless news site is a huge plus, but not required. Demonstrable grasp of the tech sector and the English language are all that is required.

More details? Check out our Write for PhoneNews.com page.

Following a December filled with changes to its business model in the wake of its forthcoming transition to LTE while continuing to support WiMax until its planned switchover, Clearwire has posted its preliminary fourth quarter 2011 financial results, which see slight improvements in terms of year to year revenue, immediate cashflow and operating profit but still have a long way to go before reaching a self sustaining level without relying on further debt sales, of which a new round of secured notes will be offered that will total $300 million. Read more for the breakdown.

Starting with quarterly revenues of approximately $362 million are estimated for fourth quarter 2011, representing a more than doubling of revenues from the fourth quarter of 2010. Retail revenues are estimated to be approximately $198 million and wholesale revenues are estimated to be approximately $164 million for the period, representing 1% and 20% sequential growth, respectively, over third quarter 2011 retail and wholesale revenues which were a marked change from the losses of the third quarter triggered by the continuing economic slowdown and then active expedition for outside funding to continue operations before the Fall 2011 debt sale.

Fourth quarter 2011 net wholesale subscriber additions are expected to total approximately 900,000 customers, resulting in approximately 9.1 million total wholesale subscribers, or 11% growth over third quarter 2011 wholesale subscriber numbers. Added to the approximately 1.3 million retail subscribers at the end of the year, the company expects total subscribers as of December 31, 2011 to be approximately 10.4 million, representing approximately 140% year over year growth in new subscribers.

Network usage by wholesale customers increased approximately 22% compared to third quarter 2011, driven primarily by growth in smartphone usage, which increased approximately 30% over the same period. Total 4G network usage by wholesale and retail customers increased 165% during 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Clearwire has also estimated that cash on hand and cash equivalents and investments as of December 31, 2011 were approximately $1.11 billion compared to $711 million at September 30, 2011, an extensive increase from its previous holdings which were at risk of being depleted at the beginning of 2011.

Excluding net proceeds from the issuance of additional shares of $716 million and payment of $237 million interest on debt in December, cash utilized during fourth quarter 2011 was approximately $82 million, which is a marked improvement from the ~$100 million plus used in the third quarter before the aforementioned debt sale in the wake of being unable to find outside investment since the fourth quarter of 2010, when it was soliciting offers and seeking outside investment to continue day to day operations before former partner Sprint stepped up with lifelines to keep Clearwire running in the Fall.

With Clearwire’s August 2011 transition to a flat-rate model with no agreements, Clear WiMax service is helping to fund the company’s transition to LTE along with a new wholesale agreement reached with MVNO infrastructure provider Simplexity announced yesterday in order for Clearwire to make the process of reselling services to new wholesale customers easier, though the company will still handle direct wholesale transactions for those that prefer to have a direct connection to the company.

Clearwire is currently providing wholesale services to sprint for its lineup of WiMax devices, with Sprint transitioning to LTE beginning in the middle of the year and no new WiMax devices planned for release after the forthcoming launch of the Sierra Wireless Tri-Network Hotspot later this year ahead of Sprint’s LTE network launch. Clearwire will post complete results in the following weeks.

While SOPA and PIPA were already pretty close to being DOA before all the web site shutdowns you’re watching today… it shouldn’t be any question to PhoneNews.com fans that we would oppose them from day one.

It’s pretty clear why, we’ve been targets of the kinds of actions that SOPA and PIPA could (easily) rain down on a nearly-daily basis. We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars in court, behind the scenes, to protect bloggers rights. What did we get for it? Losses in readership, downranks in search engines, and lost business opportunities. At one point, we were nearly bankrupted by these kinds of frivolous legal actions.

No, we didn’t play the victim card here on PhoneNews.com. In fact, we only mentioned it once or twice in times where we really had to pull together to keep things going. Those days are behind us, and we have enough legal guns, insurance, and backing at this point to stare down the largest of digital bullies.

Many however don’t have that support. And, with just a single typed page letter from a law firm, SOPA and PIPA would require Internet Service Providers to deny access to a web site. You won’t hear that in the mainstream media, as these two pieces of legislation are sponsored by the big media conglomerates. Not only can these companies use this legislation to shut down piracy, but their media/publishing wings can use shell companies to shut down their competitors… like us.

Don’t believe it? Just as there are advocacy agencies for just about everything, those agencies could hire big legal guns to create crafty challenges arguing that even a fair-use image on a site like this one, constitutes piracy. And, to get back online, a site like ours could go bankrupt just trying to get its day in court.

Again, we’ve been there.

So please, go to Wikipedia, go to Google.com, use the tools on those home pages today to find out how to contact your local representatives in Congress.

We aren’t shutting down our site today, but we are going to leave this post as the top article for the rest of the day. Don’t worry, just scroll down to see the latest news… we think SOPA and PIPA will fail, as they should, but if you don’t speak up with your elected officials, we can’t confirm it’s dead and done for.

The mere possibility that other, independent, members of the media could be even more easily brought to the brink of bankruptcy, is enough for us to ask for you to take the five minutes, to help out on this one.

Virtual operator Page Plus Cellular, a frequent subject of coverage in the past will be running its best deal with its “The 55″ monthly plan next week when it will offer 1GB of data per month instead of the standard 500MB bucket when new and existing customers sign up/renew starting on January 18th until the end of next month.

While Page Plus will be offering the 1GB data deal until then, the actual bucket will only last until the end of the 1st year of service and it also requires renewal every month, otherwise the 1GB data will not be made available if the account is allowed to lapse. With this latest offer, Page Plus is ensuring that current customers are rewarded for their loyalty while giving new customers an incentive to use more data compared to the standard 55 plan.

This is not the first time the virtual operator has made such offers to draw in new customers and retain more customers, but this marks the first time that such an offer will last an entire year, provided service is maintained. Other virtual operators have attempted similar offers such as reduced cost monthly unlimited service  with Net10 with the requirement of auto-renew, although it did exclude smart devices from the offer while Page Plus relies on people bringing their own phones.

It is possible to take smartphones to Page Plus, provided they have data disabled and are activated as such, with older smartphones recommended, otherwise the 1GB bucket won’t be enough to last the month and the new $0.10/MB overage can add up quickly.

Welcome to PhoneNews.com’s continuing coverage of CES 2012. Up next on the keynote list is Intel’s, with CEO Paul Ortellini detailing the manufacturer’s goals for 2012 and beyond on PCs and mobile. Particular focus is expected on the chipmaker’s initatives in mobile with Medfield as well as Android on x86 along with more potential announcements.

4:25 – Ready to go
4:30 – Gary Shapiro hits the stage to introduce Paul Ortellini
4:34 – Running through video montage of intel’s marketing goals with emphasis on computing across form factors
4:35 – Paul Ortellini hits the stage
4:38 – Runs through history of personal computers and transition to computing, mentions consistent experiences across devices as the goal, with a focus on information security
4:40 – Running down Moore’s Law in the context of the current state of consumer electronics advancing quickly. Mentions Ivy Bridge manufactured on 32nm process with the next series running on 14nm process
4:42 – Going on to talk about phones and mentions Intel chips in more than 400 million mobile devices in 2011
4:44 Ortellini announces debut of Intel’s mobile processor in China beginning with Lenovo with Lenovo CEO Liu Jun onstage
4:46 – Jun announces Lenovo K800 powered by Intel’s Atom processor with a 4.5 inch display
4:47 – Lenovo K800 to ship on China Unicom in the second quarter, also mentions 10-inch tablet powered by Atom
4:49 – Ortellini shows off Intel Smartphone Reference Design built on Android with 1080p playback, HDMI out, 8 hours talk time,  Mike Bell onstage to show off reference design and mentions NFC capability. Demo of web browsing over HDMI out, gaming with accelerometer demo
4:53 – Security with McAfee on Android mentioned and available on Android Market, now showing off 1080p video playback, timelapse demo against competitor, mentions optimization and cross-platform work with Angry Birds demo with full performance despite ARM coding
4:57 – Camera demo with burst shot demo, 10 shots in one second
4:58 – Ortellini states better performance than shipping phones, introduces CEO Sanjay Jha of Motorola Mobility
4:59 – Jha announces a multi year partnership centered around smartphones based on Intel, also announces final carrier approvals this Summer with launches afterward
5:01 – Ortellini talking about shopping  and the changes caused by online shopping. Brings in Chris Aubrey of Adidas to demo the Adidas product wall
5:04 – Product wall powered by intel and demonstrates integration of video and shopping carts to streamline sales, also integrated with tablets for credit card sales, mentions fivefold sales increase after testing  in flagship store
5:06 – Ortellini shows off new reference tablet running  Windows 8 and 32nm processor
5:07 – Touting Windows 8 on x86, now runs through PCs with Ultrabook category; video montage demonstrating Ultrabooks
5:10 –  Jeff Clark, Vice Chair of Dell onstage
5:16 – Announces Dell XPS 13 ultrabook with 6mm depth, aluminium and carbon fiber base, edge to edge Gorilla Glass display, full-size keyboard and Smart Connect/Rapid Start capable with constant connection with 9 hours of battery life, Core i5 and i7 options with TPM and Dell Pro support for enterprise IT. Pre-orders start in February
5:17 – Demonstrates prototype with sliding keyboard and collapsible hinge to convert into tablet, ultrabook team onstage to demo Ivy Bridge prototypes
5:19 – Call of Duty demo on Ivy Bridge ultrabook with no discrete graphics
5:20 – Ultrabook game demo with smartphone connected as controller as well as integrated touch controls
5:22 – touch control for video demoed as well as video transfer from external storage via Thunderbolt
5:23 – Announces partnerships with Technicolor and Dreamworks as MGO app in Intel’s AppUp center for first run HD movies, WiDi demo with LG also demoed with MGO app and information retrieval
5:26 – NFC demo on ultrabook uses NFC with reference smartphone and instant verification to complete awkward checkout demo
5:28 – Demo of Windows 8 x86 applications closes out this round of ultrabook demos
5:30 – Video of will.i.am demonstrating ultrabook capabilities and Ultrabook Project initiative. Will.i.am on stage to detail the project.
5:37 – Poor guy looks uncomfortable when sticking to a script.  Compares ultrabooks to ghetto blasters. Ortellini looks caught off guard
5:38 – That’s a wrap. 

To end the day’s CES on floor coverage, we now turn to both the last keynote of the evening and Microsoft’s last CES keynote after participating at the event for nearly 17 years. The keynote is expected to feature announcements regarding Windows 8 and Windows Phone as well as additional announcements related to the rest of Microsoft’s product family.

6:28: Seated and ready to go.
6:32 – Gary Shapiro onstage greeting attendees
6:36 – Going over the reasons for Microsoft’s exit from CES
6:37 – Ballmer takes the stage. Shapiro presents photo collage to Ballmer
6:39 – Autotuned Microsoft video montage. Thank god it wasn’t set to dubstep.
6:40 – Ryan Seacrest from American Idol onstage
6:41 – Looks like the keynote will take more of an interview slant
6:42 – Ballmer running down how the Metro user interface will tie together Microsoft hardware and software, with a bad Metro joke
6:43 – Ballmer dancing around Windows Phone’s lack of success and pointing towards its focus on people, pulls out Nokia Lumia 800.
6:46 – Derek Snyder, Sr. Product Manager of Windows Phone onstage
6:47 – Demos Windows Phone People Hub
6:49 – Demos Windows Phone’s Contact page with conversation logs and threads with images and real-time voice to text
6:52 – Demoing Bing Local Scout on second phone, with technical difficulties in displaying the demo
6:54 – Seacrest back on stage with Ballmer detailing hardware partnerships
6:55 – Ballmer confirms Nokia Lumia 710/800 for Canada and the 710 for T-Mobile while once again demoing Lumia 900 for AT&T. Also confirms unlocked Lumia 800 being sold via Microsoft Stores in the next few months
6:57 – HTC Titan 2 with LTE also confirmed and demoed. Now discussing Windows PCs
6:58 – 1.9 billion Windows PCs in use worldwide according to Ballmer, now discussing current Windows 7 hardware with a video montage of thin and light Windows 7 ultrabooks
7:02 – Chief Marketing Officer for Windows Tami Reller now onstage
7:03 – Now demoing the Windows 8 lockscreen with personalization down to customizing the password type with Picture Password and the new Start homescreen
7:05 – Now demoing Charms, program interconnects and Metro style apps that will take over the entire display.
7:06 – Eeiterates compatibility with both ARM and X86 by using reference prototype hardware running Tegra 3, now demoing Windows Store. Windows Store will open in late February according to Reller and available in 100 languages and 200 markets
7:11 – Demos Windows  8 touch gestures and universal search with semantic zoom
7:13 – Demos App Contract and Charms to share information between apps
7:14 – Demos Metro style Internet Explorer for full-screen browsing with gesture support
7:16 – Demos HTML 5 video with hardware graphics acceleration
7:17 – Next Milestone release in February
7:18 – Demos HP Envy 18 Spectra with an all glass design along with the Samsung Series 9
7:19 – Ryan and Ballmer back onstage
7:20 – “TweetChoir” onstage grabbing keynote reactions from Twitter
7:23 – Ballmer and Seacrest back onstage talking about Xbox
7:26 – Metro being demoed on Xbox 360 with Kinect
7:29 – Bing search being demoed with Kinect on Xbox 360
7:32 – News Corp and Comcast partnerships for content on Xbox along with Live TV later in the year
7:34 – Sesame Street TV being demoed as a two way experience with Kinect
7:39 – Ballmer and Seacrest back on stage now, Kinect on Windows officially launches February 1st
7:41 – Ballmer running down Ford Sync and Office 2010 milestones
7:44 – Ballmer touting 2012 as the year of Metro and Windows
7:45 – That’s a wrap, folks 

Welcome to continuing coverage of CES 2012 on PhoneNews.com and we’re hitting the ground running. Hit continue reading to follow up to the minute coverage.

4:03 – CEO Jen-Hsun Huang runs down the plan for the keynote with tablets Tegra 3 and cars.
4:05 – States that 40% of the market that’s non-iPad tablet sales, despite heavy dominance of the iPad in the US based on personal observation
4:06 – Using automotive analogies  to describe the market for different tablets
4:07 – Continues to describe different use concepts for tablets with separate platforms such as Gingerbread and Honeycomb and notes fragmentation problem before Ice Cream Sandwich
4:09 – Cites 700,000 daily activation figure for business case regarding Android tablets
4:10 – Demos ASUS Transformer Prime with Ice Cream Sandwich
4:11 – Showing off tablet oriented applications.
4:12 – Shows off Snapseed photo enhancement software with lead developer Manuel Wille
4:14 – Going in depth on photo editing and still demoing the app with real time adjustment
4:18 – Huang goes into video games, details Tegra Zone with Tegra 3 optimized games
4:20 – Demos controller compatibility with audio demo
4:22 – Slightly funny lag with exiting the game demo
4:23 – Demoing Shadowgun multiplayer on Asus Transformer with LAN and controller support
4:24 – Retired pro gamer Jonathan Fata11lity Wendell makes an appearance in the audience during game demo.
4:25 – Now demoing Splashtop VNC/remote terminal app on Transformer
4:27 – Demo of Windows 7 remote access hits a snag with no response from remote computer and a crash
4:29 After a quick recovery, some music with Justin Timberlake, video of charity work  and a PowerPoint demo with full video.
4:31 – Now playing Skyrim over Splashtop, with native framerates and controller support with help from Fata11lity.
4:34 – Now showing off Transformer Prime with keyboard dock
4:35 – Transformer Prime with Android ICS and Tegra 3 to ship today
4:37 – ASUS CEO Jerry Shen onstage
4:39 – Shen shows off new ASUS 7 inch tablet with Android ICS and Tegra 3 with built-in camera with a $249.99 MSRP.
4:43 – Huang recaps accomplishments and denotes Tegra 3 as a 5 core mobile processor with “Variable SMP” and “Prism Display” with dynamic color and backlight adjustment. Announces that the Tegra 3 5th core powers “Direct Touch”.
4:46 – Video demo of Direct Touch shows off response times
4:47 – Windows 8 demo being shown off on reference tablet powered by Tegra 3 with touch based password
4:51 – Windows 8 App Store being demoed and references to SAP signal enterprise support
4:52 – Windows 8 App Store to launch in 200 countries and 100 languages at launch with wide support for varied sales models supported. Reiterates 80% revenue share with sales through Microsoft.
4:54 – Automotive now being demoed before end of keynote.
4:56 – Teases announcement with Audi, in the next few days, while touting Tegra integration for Lamborghini Aventador and Tesla Model S
4:57 – That’s a wrap. 

Welcome to coverage of LG’s pre-CES keynote being held this morning. The manufacturer is expected to announce its next wave of Google TV enabled displays along with a new phone for Verizon Wireless in the LG Spectrum, which is meant to be the successor to the LG Revolution.

8:05 – Wayne Park announces that revenues increased 8 percent year over year despite tough economy.
8:06 – Customer feedback improved sales of 3DTVs in fourth quarter
8:07 – Mobile phone share has also increased despite still being in the red in terms of operations
8:09 – LG CTO Scott Ahn now on stage to demo 2012 product line
8:11 – First up is Smart TVs
8:12 – Announces 4K display and will launch in 55 inches, 60 inches, and 84 inch sizes later this year with NANO Full LED technology and 1.0mm thin bezels on OLED models, remotes with voice control and a Kinect-alike 3D Gesture interface
8:16 – Smart Share Plus (WiDi) adds support for Wi-Fi streaming from smartphones and dual-core ARM chipsets with L-line for TV lineup will debut this year for easier app development.
8:18 –  LG has 23 percent of key patents in LTE that are worth $7.9 billion, according to CTO Ahn
8:20 –  The LG Optimus smartphone is the first to feature an HD IPS display at 329 ppi, more info at Mobile World Congress
8:22 – Smart Thinq connected appliances on tap, refrigerator features real-time purchase management with receipt scanning and health management with profile management for families
8:24 – Smart Share and Smart Thinq intended to work together for connected home type management.
8:27 – 55-inch 3D OLED TV announced with 4mm depth
8:29 – Tim Alessi, head of North American product operations now on stage
8:30 –   Unit share of passive 3D TVs is 30% according to NPD
8:31 – Now demoing new dashboard look and feel on 2012 model TVs
8:33 – Smart TV UI to be integrated in Plasma displays and Blu-Ray players; new 3D Sound engine also on tap
8:34 – Ellis Mass now on stage to detail US appliance lineup
8:36 – Retreading previous smart appliance details
8:38 – 31 cubic feet french door fridge being detailed with blast chiller. Sounds great for beer.
8:40 – Turbo Wash washer being detailed with full Energy Star compliance and larger front load capacity.
8:41 – Tim O Brien now on stage
8:42 – Detailing 2011 accomplishments, introducing LG Spectrum for Verizon Wireless, Gingerbread with future ICS update, 1.5GHz dual core processor, 8 megapixel camera, 4.5 inch display at 329 pixels per inch, 16:9 aspect ratio and RGB Striping HD IPS display, now talking up Verizon partnership
8:45 – Launch at the end of the month with no pricing details confirmed, exclusive ESPN Score Center app for the phone also confirmed with ESPN’s Michael Bayle on stage to talk up partnership
8:48 – Streams in ScoreCenter app to be available in 720p, no mention of live game streaming
8:50 – LG Spectrum to launch on January 19th for $199.99 after new 2 year agreement.
8:53 – LG’s done, stay tuned for more during the day. Next up, Huawei. 

Not long after the first announcement confirming the future launch of the Mobile DTV service via MetroPCS later this year, Mobile Content Ventures, the consortium responsible for Dyle Mobile DTV has confirmed a new tieup with wireless hardware manufacturer Belkin to produce hardware tuners for the iPad and other smartphones alongside the yet to be officially confirmed Samsung smartphone with Mobile DTV capability.

As previously reported, the Dyle Mobile DTV initiative will be the first attempt to deploy the recently ratified ATSC M/H broadcast standard on a commercial level with MetroPCS spearheading the launch with the aforementioned Android smartphone from Samsung. The service will launch in much of the US with many of the major and minor over the air broadcast networks being made available to view over the Dyle Mobile TV app.

The new tie-up with Belkin is meant to expand the service outside of dedicated handsets and out to smartphones and tablets, with the goal of wide adoption as an alternative to standard portable televisions with standard terrestrial ATSC antennae, which cannot be used while in motion due to the inability for the tuner to maintain a steady signal in order to receive programming, while Dyle Mobile TV is designed to be used while in motion or outdoors.

The service has yet to have pricing or launch details confirmed, with external dongles and the aforementioned Samsung smartphone being demonstrated at CES all this week. It should be noted that Qualcomm had a similar agreement with automotive aftermarket manufacturer in Audiovox for MediaFLO with plans to release dongles and commercial availability of in-car systems before its liquidation via agreement with Chrysler, which met with a tepid response.

According to a report filed in the New York Times, Nokia and AT&T are preparing to unveil the Nokia Lumia 900 as the Nokia Ace during a joint press event being held tomorrow.

The Lumia 900/Ace is the AT&T variant of the Lumia 800 released last October. While the lower-end 710 will be released this week on T-Mobile, the 800 as released in Europe was confirmed to not be released in the US, in favor of carrier developed variants.

The Lumia 900/Ace will feature a much larger 4.3 inch capacitive WVGA resolution touch display compared to the 800 along with a built-in LTE radio for access to AT&T’s network and a front facing camera for video calls. The phone will ship with Windows Phone Mango and an upgraded 8.o megapixel camera with video capture. More specific details will be released tomorrow.