Sprint today announced that it has purchased Handmark and its subsidiary OneLouder, the company that manages Twitter client Tweetcaster and Reddit app BaconReader. Sprint purchased the companies as a way to improve its advertising and publishing business. Both Handmark and OneLouder will continue to operate under their existing brands and retain its staff, so the company will keep building and maintaining its mobile apps for Android and Apple iOS.

Despite vocal opposition from large shareholders, Clearwire's board of directors has issued a public statement urging stockholders to vote in favor of Sprint's proposal to acquire the company. A Sprint acquisition is the only course of action that makes sense, according to the board.

U.S. satellite provider DISH Network and Japanese carrier SoftBank have both made multi-billion dollar offers to acquire a controlling interest in Sprint, and the leaders of the two competing suitors have recently made offensive comments about their rivals.

Sprint has reiterated that it plans to shutdown its iDEN network within the next 60 days. The carrier announced in May 2012 that it would phase out iDEN and switch to a network strategy that relies on 4G LTE and CDMA, and the shutdown is now imminent. Sprint has spent the past year notifying customers that they must switch to Direct Connect in order continue service. Beginning June 30, 2013, Sprint will begin an immediate shutdown of iDEN that disables all talk and data services, including 9-1-1 calls. Customers have until June 29 to migrate their accounts before their devices will be rendered obsolete.

T-Mobile had to alter its merger proposal in order to gain the approval of MetroPCS shareholders, but Japanese carrier SoftBank won't alter its $20.1 billion bid for a 70 percent stake in Sprint, according to the company's leader.

Based on what you read and watched in our Samsung Galaxy S 4 review posted earlier today, you may be considering buying the Android 4.2 phone later this week. You will actually have to wait a little longer to buy the phone in the U.S.

As discouraging as Sprint's first quarter losses may be, the carrier is trying to be positive about strong smartphone sales and its progress in transitioning its network from iDEN to an LTE and CDMA focus.

Sprint's 4G LTE is coming along nicely. Though it still trailers Verizon's nearly 500 markets and AT&T's continuously-growing list of supported cities, Sprint today announced it has added 21 new markets to the list of supported cities.

Sprint agreed to sell Japanese carrier SoftBank 70 percent of its company for $20 billion, but satellite TV provider DISH Networks has said that it wants to merge with Sprint and will pay $25.5 billion to facilitate the union.

The Galaxy S 4 is launching soon on Sprint, so you might think the carrier would stop putting effort into last year's Galaxy S III. Sprint is actually putting more effort into the phone by announcing a new color option for the Galaxy S III.