Mobile

Once the king of illegal file-sharing protocols, Napster operated in the law's gray area for a few years before 'going legal' not long ago. The firm's owners have now cashed in on their reputation -- good or bad -- after being bought out by Best Buy ... for $121 million. Napster became known as the leading file sharing site for music in 2000. While the software could be used for any files, the comparative lack of broadband connections at the time meant it was mainly used for single songs rather than albums or movies. It met with widespread legal opposition at the time, the most prolific coming ... (view more)

Research In Motion (RIM), creators of the popular BlackBerry mobile device, are launching a more direct challenge to cell phone producers. The firm's newest model includes a flip-down keyboard, making it the first BlackBerry in the traditional phone ... shape. Previously, the BlackBerry had been available only as a flat-one piece device. Marketed primarily as a way to access emails wirelessly, its telephone functions had been seen as of secondary importance. For this reason it's generally been viewed as a business tool rather than a consumer device. The new BlackBerry Pearl is the first flip-down ... (view more)

The number of text messages sent by US phone users has more than doubled in the past year. However, an influential politician is asking questions about suspiciously similar price increases among leading politicians. The mobile phone trade body CTIA ... has just reported a record 75 billion text messages were sent during June, up from 28.8 billion in the same month last year. The same survey found 260 million people use some form of wireless communications device. That certainly raises questions as it would mean an average of 10 text messages per user per day, which sounds remarkably high. CTIA ... (view more)

Japanese mobile phones consistently deliver high-speed connections, digital television broadcasts and super-fast video downloads. It's not that Japan is hoarding the technology; the country is very willing to share their innovations with the global ... market. Still, some Japanese products (despite their efficiency) continue to fair poorly in North America. A number of Japanese manufacturers are once again venturing westward in the hopes of financial success. Their North American promotional tour will be headlined by the "wallet phone". Don't let the name fool you. The "wallet" tagline does not ... (view more)

The Olympics are not the only thing rocking Asia this past few weeks. In South Korea, Samsung is set to reveal their latest entry in the field of environmentally conscious mobile phones, known throughout the industry as "eco-phones". The Samsung ... E200 Eco contains parts that are made from bioplastics, that is, materials extracted from corn. Amazingly, it is not the first mobile phone to contain such materials. It is the first, however, in which the entire phone casing is made from bioplastic materials. (Source: reghardware.co.uk ) But what features does a phone made from corn have to offer? In ... (view more)

Grameen Solutions, an affiliate of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh has teamed with Obopay, a mobile payment company based in California, to provide banking to a billion people using cellphones. The service targets customers who wish to send money to ... friends and family, charging 10 cents for every transaction. Obopay is already very active in the United States. Once an account has been opened, the user can transfer money between bank accounts, credit cards and even other mobile phones via text messages. When we really think about it, we are lucky to be living in a part of the world that offers ... (view more)

There have been times in our lives when we have had to make important phone calls that we would much rather avoid. In these instances (and in-between whispering to ourselves "please don't pick up") we anticipate the salvation that comes when hearing ... the beep of an answering machine, signaling that an unwanted conversation has just been avoided. Wouldn't it be great if we could jump straight to the answering machine without having to wait out the seemingly endless ringing period? Now thanks to Slydial, unwanted phone conversations are a thing of the past. Slydial is an emergent technology that ... (view more)

With most national newspapers experiencing record-low subscriber rates, many are starting to wonder if newspapers (at least in printed form) are on the brink of extinction. California start-up company Verve Wireless has come forward with a tempting ... offer that could save many newspaper companies. That's not to say that people are not reading newspaper content. Online newspapers, whether coming from national news sources or reputable newsletters like Infopackets.com, are being read by millions of people on a daily basis. In fact, after search engines and email services, newspaper content ( ... (view more)

A new kind of discount mobile phone will soon be hitting convenience store shelves throughout France, and their brand name resonates with many of us living in North America. It just isn't your typical cell phone company. Bic, the makers of ballpoint ... pens, cigarette lighters and disposable razors are introducing the first batch of ready-to-use cell phones. For €49 ($75 USD) Bic will supply the hardware, phone number and one hour of calls. Consumers simply purchase the package, open it and are ready to dial. (Source: springwise.com ) When you enter a convenience store in France, you might ...<a href="/news/3736/bic-introduces-ready-use-mobile-phones" class="more-link">view more

More than anything, it is the price of the new iPhone 3G that has bloggers, news agencies, and consumers in a tizzy. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the price breakdown of the new phone and how Apple can afford to sell it for less than the ... old iPhone. Among other things, this is because service providers, namely AT ... (view more)