Mobile

The BlackBerry is one of the most popular handheld devices in the world today because it offers instant and reliable access to email, instant messaging and of course voice communication. Unfortunately, none of these lovely features were available ... during a recent outage -- the second of its kind in the past week. Let's face it -- there isn't much advantage to having instant access to your friends, family, and colleagues when the handheld network you use is out of service. That was the case on Tuesday night, when for the second time in less than a week the BlackBerry service went out of service ... (view more)

Think you can multitask while driving? Think again. According to a recent report, drivers who use their cell phones to text while behind the wheel are six times more likely to crash their rides. "When people talk on the phone while driving they are ... four times more likely to get into an accident," says University of Utah psychologist Frank Drews. And thanks to Drews' last study, we now know texting behind the wheel means you're actually six times more likely to crash. (Source: com.au ) Studies Push Legislators to Act Talking on your cell phone while operating a vehicle has become illegal in ... (view more)

What could have been the first mass-market Internet tablet-PC-based device has been abandoned in a copyright dispute. Michael Arrington, the man behind the CrunchPad, says the firm physically manufacturing the product wanted to go it alone, but the ... two sides are locked in an irresolvable dispute. The original concept of the CrunchPad was to produce a simple Linux-based tablet PC for easy web access, filling the gap between accessing the web on a smartphone and carrying around a full-blown portable computer such as a netbook or laptop. CrunchPad: a Blogger's Brainchild One of the most notable ... (view more)

Apple's iPhone continues its assault on the Nintendo DS with the release of id Software's legendary shooter, Doom. Originally released in 1994, the game still looks great on Apple's uber-popular smartphone. The original Doom was released on PC in ... 1993. It wasn't the first first-person shooter (FPS) -- that distinction arguably belongs to id's own Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992 -- but it might just be the most memorable. The game's storyline wasn't exactly Shakespeare (futuristic teleportation experiments on Mars go wrong, unleashing hell's minions on unsuspecting space marines), but it sure ... (view more)

T-Mobile is taking a huge financial hit in the fallout over the Sidekick data loss . But Microsoft, which bears at least part of the responsibility for the mistake, is paying the price with its reputation. As reported earlier this week, the phone ... network had to admit that some users' data had been permanently lost due to a problem with a server run by Microsoft-owned company, Danger. The handset works by storing data such as contacts and appointments on a remote computer rather than on the phone itself. Microsoft Recovers Lost Data BBC news reports today that Microsoft has in fact recovered ... (view more)

Users of the Sidekick range of smartphones have been warned that technical problems may mean some of the data they stored on the device has been permanently lost. The story follows a period of around a week during which no users of the device were ... able to access any data services. The phones are carried by the T-Mobile network in the US, and are produced by Danger, now a subsidiary of Microsoft. One of the key aspects of the devices are that they work on cloud computing , meaning most data is stored remotely at a Microsoft owned server rather than on the device. In theory this make for a ... (view more)

AT&T is testing a system that uses home broadband to solve poor home cellphone reception. If successful, it would lead to the biggest audience yet for the technology, though consumers may not be impressed with the proposed pricing scheme. The ... technology involves a device known as a "femtocell," which AT ... (view more)

The agency in charge of U.S. road safety kept secret hundreds of pages of data about the dangers of using cellphones while driving. The former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says he feared publishing the details could ... jeopardize Congressional funding. Dr. Jeffrey Runge says the data was so compelling that he wanted to write to all of the country's state governors and warn them of the dangers. He also wanted to publish the data, including a July 2003 memo concluding with the advice that "drivers not use wireless communication devices, including text messaging ... (view more)

A new prototype designed especially for women will ensure that phone calls are never missed again, while making one look highly fashionable in the process. The product is actually a sleek dress engineered to light up every time the wearer's mobile ... phone rings. Whenever I'm supposed to meet up with a group of friends at a sports bar or restaurant, I always cringe when I hear one of them utter the inevitable phrase "Just give me a call on my cell and we'll set up a place to meet." I've come to learn that this translates into "You're pretty much on your own, since I'll never be ... (view more)

Not entirely impressed with that BlackBerry Storm you picked up earlier this year? Well, don't get too depressed -- BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) recently revealed that a new version of the multimedia device is already in the works. RIM ... co-CEO Jim Balsillie (the prominent executive known for his attempts to move American hockey teams north of the border) recently confirmed to Reuters that a new version of the Storm is already in development. According to Balsillie, sales of the Storm were strong enough that the company believes there's a big market for devices that employ ... (view more)