Hasta La Gadget!

The FCC announced on Wednesday the approval of a plan that will ramp up twenty pilot programs in fourteen states. The program — called Learning On-the-Go — will bring wireless broadband connections to students off campus. The devices will include mobile phones and laptops, enabling students to have internet connections when they’re not at school. Starting in the 2011-2012 school year, 35,000 elementary and secondary school students will be impacted in Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, California, New Mexico and Iowa. The total cost of the program is estimated to be $9 million, but it’ll certainly be paid back in all those Facebook visits during off-school hours, right? Hit up the source link for the full document (warning: it’s a PDF).

Twenty pilot programs to bring off-campus broadband to low-income school districts originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No surprises here, just the straight-up news that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook is one small step closer to retail: it’s gotten FCC clearance. Well, at least the WiFi-only version has — no sign of the WiMAX-capable version for Sprint yet — but RIM’s actually sneaked all three capacities of the device through on one filing (16GB, 32GB, and 64GB). There’s still quite a bit of material protected under the company’s confidentiality request with the feds, so we can’t see internal or external pictures or the all-important user’s manual… yet. But that label document is certainly cute in blue, isn’t it?

BlackBerry PlayBook hits FCC in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB flavors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We managed to see plenty of the LG Revolution at both CES and Mobile World Congress, and it’s now finally cleared one of the final hurdles on its way to availability. While there’s unfortunately none of the usual teardown pictures to be found just yet, the phone has now passed all of the FCC’s various tests, and been slapped with the requisite label to prove it. Sadly, we still don’t have much indication of a release date but, as Wireless Goodness points out, there’s an increasingly good chance that this could actually be Verizon’s first 4G phone if the HTC Thunderbolt delays continue.

LG Revolution passes through the FCC, four Gs intact originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors have been circulating the past few days that Nokia would be teaming up with T-Mobile to release the Symbian^3-powered C7 — right on the heels of the Nuron 2’s possible cancellation — as the Tiger. Well, here’s some fuel for the fire: a version of the C7 with AWS 3G support and mentions of T-Mobile in the attached user’s manual just showed up in the FCC. Interestingly, there’s absolutely no sign of T-Mobile branding on the phone itself, but it’s possible Nokia’s prototype here simply didn’t have the final silkscreens applied. Of course, plenty of devices get FCC approval without ever seeing the light of day — but it’s a sign. Who’s buying?

Nokia C7 with T-Mobile user’s manual hits FCC: is this the Tiger? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not much of a secret that the Merge is destined for Verizon — but for some reason we can’t put our finger on, HTC has been very careful not to mention the carrier by name since the phone’s reveal last week. Maybe Verizon’s not yet 100 percent certain it wants to launch this one yet? At any rate, just in case there was any lingering doubt, the FCC filing for the Merge includes a user manual plastered from start to finish with Verizon logos and mentions of Verizon services. That’s kind of funny considering that they went to all the trouble of carefully taping over the logo in the handset’s external photos… but don’t worry, FCC lab engineer — we’ve had those kinds of days before, too. Keep your chin up!

HTC Merge rolls into FCC with mentions of Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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