virgins

News Corp. veteran Tom Mockridge has been named the next CEO of Virgin Media.

Mockridge has served in various senior management roles at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for over two decades, including chief executive of European Television operations, chief executive of Sky Italia, and most recently CEO of News International. Mockridge will succeed Neil Berkett, who announced his intention to retire as CEO of the U.K. cable operator following Liberty Global's acquisition plans.

Mike Fries, president and CEO of Liberty Global, said in a statement Wednesday, "Tom will bring to Virgin Media a breadth of experience … Read more

If you've got $200,000 to spend on a ticket to suborbital space, your spaceship is nearly ready.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, billed as the world's first commercial space plane, notched an important milestone today by firing its rocket engine during flight for the first time.

The test at Mojave Air and Space Port in California saw the passenger space plane detach from its dual-hull mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, at an altitude of 47,000 feet while being piloted by Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury of builder Scaled Composites.

The pair then ignited the rocket motor, which propelled the craft up to 55,000 feet. During the 16-second engine burn, SpaceShipTwo went supersonic, hitting Mach 1.2. … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Virgin America flights allow mile-high flirting.

- Nintendo: Don't expect a big event at E3 this year.

- Next Xbox: Microsoft sets big reveal for May 21.

- Wii outsells Wii U.… Read more

It is possible to meet the lover of your dreams on a plane.

Usually, this involves being fortunate enough to have them sit next to you. Idle chatter is exchanged and, before you know it, you're living together.

A serious amount of serendipity is needed for a happy ending in the air. So Virgin America has decided it should broaden your chances.

As ClickOrlando teases it, your in-flight entertainment system will now offer the potential of some off-flight entertainment too.

For, should you see a man, woman or stuffed toy that sparks your amorous aspirations, you will be able … Read more

T-Mobile's decision to abolish contracts and cell phone subsidies has piqued the interest of consumers.

That's according to T-Mobile's senior vice president of marketing, Andrew Sherrard, and its executive vice president for corporate services, David Carey, who spoke to CNET today. Carey said traffic was up in all of the stores he visited after the carrier made its switch late last month and announced the changes during a high-profile event in New York.

"I have every reason to believe this momentum will continue and carry forward," he said, but conceded that it was too early … Read more

Virgin Mobile wants consumers to know that it's a major player in the no-contract wireless game too, and isn't afraid to spend a little money to show it.

Virgin set its sights directly on T-Mobile, offering $100 to T-Mobile customers willing to switch their number over and buy a smartphone before May 31.

Carriers will often provide incentives to switch, but rarely do they target a specific company. T-Mobile has made a lot of noise about its move to abolish contracts and subsidies, and Virgin Mobile, a business built on prepaid service and a unit of Sprint Nextel, … Read more

April Fools' is a big day for conceptual technology products. Big tech companies get to let their hair down and come up with gadgets that would earn them ridicule and criticism if they were introduced on any day other than April 1.

We have some real doozies for 2013 when it comes to prank tech gear. ThinkGeek, as usual, has an entire lineup of weird and wonderful items. There's a Play-Doh 3D printer that forms figures out of the famous squishy clay-like material. If you enjoyed listening to Bane's garbled and growly speech during "The Dark Knight Rises," you'll want your very own pair of Bane Mask Walkie Talkies. Other fictional products from the geek retailer include an "Aliens" Chestburster-in-a-Can, a Creeper Body Pillow, and an Eye of Sauron desk lamp.… Read more

Though the Kyocera Event has only 3G data and is nearly identical to the Kyocera Hydro, save for not being waterproof like the Hydro, it still has enough tricks up its sleeve to be considered a reliable and decent handset.

True, the biggest incentive to buy it is that bargain price tag. At $79.99, it's one of the two best Android smartphones (the other being the Kyocera Rise) in its price range. But it doesn't hurt that it has a respectable rear-facing camera and runs Android 4.0 as well.

Design The Kyocera Event is compact, and … Read more

Virgin Mobile today announced that the Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE has joined the carrier's smartphone portfolio. Priced at $299.99, the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean handset is Virgin Mobile's first LTE smartphone.

Also available through Sprint, the Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE includes a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel rear camera (HD video capture) and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. As is the case with many of today's Android smartphones, the Galaxy Victory 4G LTE also features NFC, Wi-Fi, microSD expansion card slot (up to 32GB), and Bluetooth 4.0. On top of that, Samsung'… Read more