Reston, Va. - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 on Tuesday to allow Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) to merge its new WiMax high speed wireless network with a similar network owned by Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire.

Baltimore - Following months of preparation, wireless carrier Sprint (NYSE: S) on Monday officially launched its high-speed WiMax network, known as Xohm, in Baltimore. It marks the first network in the country to launch using the WiMax mobile broadband technology.

Sacramento, Calif. - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Friday asked California's Internet service providers to follow the lead of Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint by "removing child pornography from existing servers and blocking channels" that disseminate the illegal material. Earlier this month, the three ISPs announced an agreement with New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, under which they would eliminate access to child pornography newsgroups on Usenet, and also purge any existing child pornography on their servers.

New York - Major Internet service providers Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Sprint (NYSE: S) have agreed to block access to child pornography by eliminating access to child porn newsgroups, and purging their servers of any child porn websites, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday. The companies will also collectively pay $1.1 million to fund additional efforts by the AG's office and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to remove child pornography from the Internet.

As I tour around at events talking about why brands need to have a personality, a question that comes up often is about which brands don't have a personality and suffer from facelessness. One of the most obvious categories that has built a dreadful reputation for itself is the wireless phone industry in the US. On the whole, people are distrustful, disloyal, and generally suspicious of just about anything these carriers do. The reasons are fairly obvious, from their cruel pricing structure designed to charge you for every kilobyte or nanosecond of use, to their requirement that you lock yourself into long contracts before they will give you service. In my own experience, my last month's wireless bill was 18 pages long (and I don't even have a teenager at home).

Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal in a case involving the rights of consumers to "unlock" mobile phones from a particular network, which in effect will allow a lawsuit charging AT&T (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) with unfair business practices to proceed to trial, Wired.com reported.

Culver City, Calif. - Sony Pictures Television said on Thursday that its Minisode Network, which offers condensed five-minute versions of classic TV episodes, has launched on the Sprint TV mobile TV service. Honda has signed on as the launch sponsor of the ad-supported network, which now carries 21 series. The Minisode Network registered 1.4 million streams in February across online and mobile platforms, Sony said.

Reston, Va. - Needing at least $3 billion to roll out its nationwide high speed WiMax network, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and partner Clearwire are now in talks with cable giant Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Hollywood, Fla. - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace announced on Thursday a partnership with Sprint (NYSE: S), which will become the first U.S. carrier to link to the free MySpace Mobile website once it officially launches in early 2008. Sprint customers will not have to type in a URL to access MySpace Mobile, which will be given placement from the Sprint mobile Web portal. The portal will also provide direct links to Fox Interactive Media's IGN, FoxSports.com, RottenTomatoes.com, Photobucket, AskMen and the company's network of local broadcast affiliate sites.