General | Fone Arena

Indian M-learning pioneer Wizdom.In to host seminar this sunday in chennai

To demonstrate the power and potential of m-learning, a seminar is being held at Gandhinagar Club, 4th Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai-20 at 3.30pm on Sunday June 11, 2006.

Besides students preparing for GRE , students preparing for CAT, GMAT, SAT and other aptitude tests for campus interviews, progressive parents and educationists would also find this seminar immensely valuable.

A live demonstration of m-learning will follow.

To find out more about m-learning logon to http://www.wizdom.in

Nokia to bundle Google talk on internet tablet

Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, will unveil on Tuesday a new version of its Internet tablet device that runs Google Talk communications software, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

The pact between the Finnish company and Web search leader Google Inc. would offer consumers the ability to chat with other users of instant messaging software via the Nokia Wi-Fi device, which relies on short-range wireless networks.

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, introduced last year, offers wireless access to digital music and video playing on a high-contrast color screen, as well as to check e-mail, surf the Web and read computer documents or play video games.

At a press conference to be held in Stockholm on Tuesday, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia will introduce a new version of the Internet Tablet with upgraded software and hardware elements, one source said.

In contrast to phones, the Nokia 770 relies on unregulated local wireless connections rather than cell phone networks.

Google Talk, which allows users to chat via text or to talk with other instant message users, will be one of the featured applications on the Nokia Internet Tablet, a second source confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

The deal with Nokia marks the Mountain View, California-based Google’s latest move beyond computers and into the mobile communications market.

Earlier this year it announced a plan with Nokia’s biggest rival, Motorola Inc. to feature Google search software on Motorola phones.

Google rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are also pushing to have their services featured on handsets. Yahoo is offered on several Nokia phone models.

Nokia 5500 sport – smartphone announced

Today Nokia announced a sporty mobile phone – Nokia 5500 sport. The name of the model is 5500 Sport and is targetted at sportsmen and women.

Nokia 5500 Sport is not just an ordinary phone. It’s a full-featured smartphone with Symbian OS and S60 user interface. It is equipped with Bluetooth, Infrared port, USB support, GPRS class 10, EDGE class 10, as well as a microSD card slot that would support cards with capacities of up to 1GB. MP3 player and FM radio will please the music lovers.

The phone offers an elegant design with a splash and dust resistant stainless steel body and rubber grips. It’s water and dust resistant and has dimensions of 107x45x18 with a total weight of 103 gr. It has a square 262K colors display with a resolution of 208×208 pixels along with a 2 megapixel camera which would take pictures of up to 1600×1200 pixels resolution and record video of up to 176×144 pixels resolution.

Nokia 5500 Sport is not an ordinary smartphone, either. It has three working modes which are easily interchanged with a single press of a button – the normal phone mode along with the special music mode and sport mode. The handset features exclusive sports features such as pedometer for monitoring the distance traveled and the calories burnt, as well as a text-to-speech module which will read you the status of your workout or the contents of your incoming messages during workout. According to the official statements, the triband (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz) Nokia 5500 Sport will be available somewhere in the summer this year and will be sold at around 300EUR.

Continue reading “Nokia 5500 sport – smartphone announced”

World’s thinnest phone from Samsung

Samsung has announced thier new SGH-X820 Ultra Slim Phone. Its the world?s thinnest at a mere 6.9mm, same as the iPod Nano.Slim phones need not mean slim features.The X820 is a bar type phone with a 2 megapixel camera, camcorder, MP3 player, Bluetooth connectivity, file viewer and TV out. The slim phone will be released in Europe including Russia in this week and China in June.No clue on the pricing guys. Might be a but pricey we feel.

Bluetooth Ultra Wide Band chips to appear in 2007

Bluetooth SIG (Bluetooth Special Interest Group) has said that the future high-speed version of Bluetooth standard will involve UWB (Ultra-Wideband) technology. They chose the version promoted by WiMedia Alliance ? MB-OFDM (multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing).

It will enable larger data transfer at higher speeds, including high quality multimedia content. At the same time the technology can be applied by low power devices, as for example, wireless keyboards and mices.

According to Bluetooth SIG, MB-OFDM technology complies with the requirements of low price, low power consumption, security functions and can be applied in mobile devices. The first Bluetooth/UWB chips are expected to be ready for use in protos in 2Q 2007.

Sify enables mobile commerce with NGPay

GPRS users can now shop on SifyMall over their phones. www.sifymall.com, the leading online shopping portal from Sify Limited, today announced that millions of mobile phone users on GPRS services will be able to buy a wide range of products and services over their phones starting today.

To enable this easy to use and path breaking initiative, SifyMall has tied up with JiGrahak, a mobility solutions provider, and will be using JiGrahak?s m-Commerce/m-Payment platform ?NGPay? (Next Generation Pay).

Speaking on the launch of this mobile shopping initiative, Surya Mantha, Senior Vice President, Interactive Services, said, ?We are happy to be working with JiGrahak in bringing secure m-Commerce services to the millions of mobile subscribers using GPRS services in India. With the Indian mobile subscriber base growing at the rate of about 2 million users a month, and expected to touch 200 million by 2007, the potential for mobile shopping is huge. We expect to grow the mobile shopping service space with this “one-of-its kind” offering, and work towards being a leader in this area.

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Bill Gates to visit Chennai in Dec

Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates is expected to visit Chennai in December this year, said Dayanidhi Maran, union minister for communications and IT.

?I have asked Gates to come to India and also look beyond Bangalore. He will be visiting Chennai this time,? said Maran.

BANGALORE: Microsoft head honcho Bill Gates is expected to visit Chennai in December this year, said Dayanidhi Maran, union minister for communications and IT.

“I have asked Gates to come to India and also look beyond Bangalore. He will be visiting Chennai this time,” said Maran.

The minister said that he was pleased with the infrastructure improvement activities undertaken by the Dharam Singh government.” We need more visible changes. I have also requested the center to release Rs 500 crore under the Central Scheme for Critical Infrastructure to fund the construction of 50 flyovers in Bangalore.”

Maran also said that IT should grow beyond Bangalore and in other cities like Mysore and Hubli.

Gates has invested Rs 10 crore in a pilot project to take e-governance to the villages, Maran said, adding, Microsoft had taken the bold step of deciding to launch bi-lingual Microsoft Windows XP starter (in English and a local language). “Besides Hindi, the edition would be launched in eight local languages in January next year.”

On the education front, Maran said that Microsoft had agreed to sponsor a pilot project to train teachers. This involves deploying 5000 computers across a hundred schools in six states.

Source:CIOL

Top 10 cell phones in July 2005

Krusell – a Swedish carrying case maker publishes Top Ten Cell Phones each month which are calculated by trading volumes in over 50 countires

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their "Top 10"-list for July 2005. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile phone cases that has been ordered from Krusell during July 2005. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of mobile phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

The top ten phones for july 2005 are

(1) Sony Ericsson K750i/K750c
2. (2) Motorola Razr V3
3. (3) Nokia 6230/6230i
4. (4) PalmOne Treo 600/650
5. (7) Nokia 6680/6681/6682
6. (5) Qtek 9090/O2 XDA III
7. (9) Nokia 5140
8. (6) Sony Ericsson K700i
9. (10) Qtek S100/I-mate JAM
10. (-) Nokia 6020/6021

( )= last months position.

No changes at the top of this months list. Sony Ericsson K750i is keeping its number one position, followed by Motorola Razr V3 and Nokia 6230. The only new entry is Nokia 6020. – The lack of changes to this months top list reflects that not many new models were released in July, comments Ulf Sandberg, CEO at Krusell International. – Dramatic changes can be expected during the forthcoming high season when many new models like Sony Ericsson W800 and K600, are launched.

Source

Mobile video is a tough sell – report

With the emerging availability of mobile video, a recent In-Stat U.S. mobile phone subscriber survey revealed that one in eight respondents indicated they were interested in purchasing mobile video services from their wireless carrier. However, two-thirds of mobile phone subscribers are not yet ready for video services on their handsets, a number that is nearly unchanged from the previous year’s survey, the high-tech market research firm says.

"Though mobile video does not yet appear to have widespread appeal, In-Stat believes that there is enough interest for it to generate some significant revenue for carriers in the near term," said David Chamberlain, In-Stat senior analyst. The number of subscribers purchasing mobile video content in the United States will increase from an estimated 1.1 million in 2005 to more than 30 million in 2010, In-Stat forecasts.

A recent report by In-Stat found the following:

— The most desirable customers (long-term loyal customers who are satisfied with their service and unlikely to churn to other carriers) are the least interested in purchasing mobile video.

— In-Stat’s analysis of the consumer survey provides some pricing guidelines that maximize carrier revenue.

— Between now and 2010, the greatest year-on-year growth will come in the 2005-2006 period as deployment of high-bandwidth networks become more widespread in the United States. It will also be a period of expanded carrier marketing of video services increases and broader availability of video-capable handsets.

Source:cellular-news

Chinese send 750 million SMS daily

The spread of Short Messaging Service continues unabated in China with its volume increasing by 39 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 67.21 billion messages, the state media reported via The Hindustan Times.

The spread of Short Messaging Service continues unabated in China with its volume increasing by 39 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 67.21 billion messages, the state media reported via The Hindustan Times.

"According to the Ministry of Information Industry, China’s telephone subscriber base has touched 674 million, including 325 million fixed line phones and 349 million cellular phones, both occupying first place in the world, China News Service reported.

In the first quarter, more than 30 new telecom services were introduced.
Source:textually.org

Call to Protect

Call to Protect is a charity campaign that collects cast-off mobile phones to put in the hands of victims of domestic violence. They also sell the phones (although it’s not clear where, exactly), using the proceeds to fund similar organizations. If you’ve got an old phone you’d like to get rid of, it’s a nice alternative to trying to sell it for a few dollars.

School Reduces Suspension Over Iraq Call

School Reduces Suspension Over Iraq Call
Following yesterday’s story about a student suspended from school because he wouldn’t give up his cell phone while talking to his mom – a sergeant on duty in Iraq – during his lunch break, has been granted a reduced suspension, thanks to the power of the press.

Following yesterday’s story about a student suspended from school because he wouldn’t give up his cell phone while talking to his mom – a sergeant on duty in Iraq – during his lunch break, has been granted a reduced suspension, thanks to the power of the press.
According to the Associated Press, "on Friday, the school district reduced the suspension to three days, which will allow Francois to return to school Monday. School officials received many calls about the incident, said assistant principal Wendell Turner. People are fussing at us, calling us names," Turner said. "We are the school that serves Fort Benning," Turner said. "We’re well aware of students with parents overseas."

Kolkata, mobile phones in buses

In a major technical achievement, the Calcutta State Transport Corporation has launched mobile phone facility in buses in collaboration with…

In a major technical achievement, the Calcutta State Transport Corporation has launched mobile phone facility in buses in collaboration with India s telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), according to the Hindustan Times.

"Through this facility, first of its kind in India, commuters can now make local calls within the city range while travelling."

Teens with cellphones heavy media users

Teenage cell phone users are also heavy users of television, computers and video games, according to a new study from MindShare Online Research. [via Media Week via YPulse]

Teenage cell phone users are also heavy users of television, computers and video games, according to a new study from MindShare Online Research. [via Media Week via YPulse]

"The media agency polled 400 respondents between the ages of 13 and 17, and found that teens with cell phones are heavier users of media than other kids their age.

The survey showed that "while virtually all teens watch television, cell phone users are significantly more likely than non-users to use the Internet every day, read newspapers, listen to the radio and read magazines."

Morse Code Still Beats SMS

Mike Grenville for 160characters.org reports that “morse code is still faster at sending text messages than using txt speak”. Even when the morse code sender is 93 years old and the SMS challengers were teenagers!

Mike Grenville for 160characters.org reports that "morse code is still faster at sending text messages than using txt speak". Even when the morse code sender is 93 years old and the SMS challengers were teenagers!

"According to Times Online, an Australian museum staged a contest that pitted the oldest type of electronic text messages with the newest.

Not only was the technology a battle of ages, but so were the contestants. Tapping out the winning morse code message was 93-year-old telegraph operator Gordon Hill, who learnt to use the technique in 1927 when he joined the Australian Post Office.

In the competition, at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Mr Hill and his rivals were asked to transmit a line selected at random from an advertisement in a teenage magazine.

“Hey, girlfriend, you can text all your best pals to tell them where you are going and what you are wearing.”