Category: Technology

Latest Mobile Technology

QUALCOMM Files GSM Patent Infringement Suit Against Nokia

QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and its wholly owned subsidiary, SnapTrack, Inc., filed suit on November 4 against Nokia Corporation and Nokia Inc. in federal court in San Diego for infringement of eleven of QUALCOMM’s patents and one patent owned by SnapTrack

SAN DIEGO —  November 07, 2005 —  QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and its wholly owned subsidiary, SnapTrack, Inc., filed suit on November 4 against Nokia Corporation and Nokia Inc. in federal court in San Diego for infringement of eleven of QUALCOMM’s patents and one patent owned by SnapTrack. QUALCOMM’s lawsuit includes patents that are essential for the manufacture or use of equipment that complies with the GSM, GPRS and EDGE cellular standards (the GSM family of standards) and other patents that are infringed by Nokia’s products. Patents that are essential to a standard are those that must necessarily be infringed to comply with the requirements of the standard. QUALCOMM’s complaint states that Nokia is infringing QUALCOMM’s patents by making or selling products in the United States that comply with the GSM family of standards. QUALCOMM seeks an injunction against Nokia’s continuing sale of infringing products and monetary damages.

"We have been discussing a number of issues with Nokia for some time, including the fact that we have essential GSM patents for which Nokia is not licensed, and we are disappointed that this has resulted in litigation," said Louis M. Lupin, senior vice president and general counsel of QUALCOMM. "Until recently, we had been led to believe that these issues might be resolved cooperatively and amicably. However, it now appears that a cooperative resolution of these issues is quite unlikely and we must move forward with the litigation in order to protect our rights and to get these issues resolved."

Demand from cell phone users for data services and multimedia features has been growing dramatically since the advent of second-generation (2G) cellular technologies. The ability to provide better data performance is one of the primary reasons that the wireless industry has selected CDMA technology for nearly all third-generation (3G) cellular standards and systems. Faced with this demand and spurred by competition from CDMA systems, 2G standards, such as GSM, have been evolved to support improved data capabilities. These evolutions of GSM—first GPRS and later EDGE—have adopted patented innovations developed by QUALCOMM originally for use in CDMA systems to: achieve higher data rates, increase spectral efficiency, enhance capacity, improve resistance to interference, permit access to packet switched networks, and facilitate multimedia distribution. Nokia’s GSM, GPRS and EDGE standards-compliant products unavoidably infringe QUALCOMM’s patents surrounding these inventions that have become essential to the GSM family of standards. Six of the patents in QUALCOMM’s complaint against Nokia were also asserted in the complaint that QUALCOMM filed against Broadcom Corporation on July 11, 2005.

QUALCOMM’s extensive patent portfolio includes more than 4,000 United States patents and patent applications and more than 20,000 patents and applications around the globe. QUALCOMM has entered into more than 130 royalty-bearing license agreements with the world’s leading telecommunications equipment makers and consumer electronics manufacturers. QUALCOMM’s extensive licensing program has fostered the widespread adoption of leading-edge technologies and promoted vibrant competition throughout the wireless industry, encouraging innovation and technological advancement. QUALCOMM is prepared to offer licenses under its essential GSM/GPRS/EDGE patents on fair and reasonable terms free from unfair discrimination to any company that requests one.

QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2005 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol QCOM.

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QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Memory Stick Micro (M2) format

SanDisk and Sony announce the Memory Stick Micro format to address the high storage and smaller size form factor requirements of enhanced multimedia mobile phones

Sunnyvale, CA — SanDisk and Sony Corporation today announced the development of the "Memory Stick Micro" format, an ultra-small IC recording media designed to meet the growing storage needs of highly compact, multifunctional mobile phones. Licensing for the development of "Memory Stick Micro" compatible hardware will begin October 3, 2005.

"Memory Stick Micro" media is approximately one-quarter the size of "Memory Stick PRO Duo" media, yet only about 1.2 mm thick. The media’s edges are slotted lengthwise to allow for more slim-line designed connectors to reduce space in host devices. As dual-voltage media, Memory Stick Micro supports devices operating at 3.3 volts and 1.8 volts.

Memory Stick Micro is designed as an externally removable media with a controlled eject function to prevent users losing the media. Users will be able to insert Memory Stick Micro into an adapter for exchanging data to a Memory Stick PRO compatible product.

Dr. Eli Harari, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk Corporation, said, "Sony and SanDisk recognize the rapidly growing market opportunity for memory cards with multimedia mobile phones, and are joining forces to develop the ultra-small Memory Stick Micro format to foster development of extremely compact multimedia mobile phones."

Akira Kubota, President of Micro Systems Network Company, Sony Corporation, said, "Sony’s collaboration with SanDisk Corporation has continued to develop since our initial announcement of the joint Memory Stick PRO format development in 2003. Today’s joint announcement of the Memory Stick Micro format provides a new, versatile IC recording media for mobile products such as mobile phones for sharing entertainment and data."

The Memory Stick Micro media will be made available in the first half of 2006.

MTV Loveline On Mobile Phones

Coruscant Tec, a leading mobile solutions company that specialises in mobile content and commerce, today announced the launch of a new mobile social software called MTV Loveline in association with MTV India. The MTV Loveline will be available to subscribers on the Airtel, Hutch, RPG Cellular, BSNL, BPL and Tata Tele networks

Mumbai : Coruscant Tec, a leading mobile solutions company that specialises in mobile content and commerce, today announced the launch of a new mobile social software called MTV Loveline in association with MTV India. The MTV Loveline will be available to subscribers on the Airtel, Hutch, RPG Cellular, BSNL, BPL and Tata Tele networks.

The MTV Loveline platform is currently available over SMS and as a JAVA download over GPRS. All users need to do is SMS "love" to 6882 to access the MTV Loveline. The JAVA download version also allows the user to create and choose between different mobile chatrooms along with several other interactive features.

The company has ensured that elaborate security filters which include up to four levels of auto-monitoring and keyword searches filtering objectionable content are available.

In the words of Ajay Adiseshann, managing director, Coruscant Tec, "Social Software is the next killer enabler that everyone has been waiting for. MTV Loveline will set a trend in itself and Coruscant is proud to be a pioneer in this space".

On the future on mobile data applications, he added, "With voice being commoditised, the need for newer data applications is being increasingly felt. Coruscant’s vision is to identify these areas and empower users by empowering their mobiles." (See: Shop till your cell drops!)

Industry insiders predict that by 2008 there will be 16.3 million users of mobile chat and entertainment services, with a cumulative annual growth rate to 76.3 percent. Social software on mobiles is set to become one of the pillars in the mobile entertainment space alongside ringtones, wall papers etc.

Source:http://www.domain-b.com/infotech/itnews/2005/20050928_launches.html 

Sony Ericsson Introduces Bluetooth Auto-Pairing Devices

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications today announced the introduction of Auto pairing, a unique proprietary solution, that makes it quicker and easier to connect Bluetooth equipped headsets to Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The company demonstrated this new functionality at a press event arranged by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in Stockholm today.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications today announced the introduction of Auto pairing, a unique proprietary solution, that makes it quicker and easier to connect Bluetooth equipped headsets to Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The company demonstrated this new functionality at a press event arranged by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in Stockholm today.

When the phone and headset are in close proximity and the Bluetooth function is turned on, the Auto pairing equipped Bluetooth headset automatically searches and finds the user’s Bluetooth enabled Sony Ericsson mobile phone. The user only has to confirm the connection for the device pairing to be initiated and doesn’t have to use a PIN code to authorize the connection.

The new feature has been developed through close cooperation within Sony Ericsson between the design and development of mobile phones and headsets in order to create a more integrated and seamless user experience that eliminates the necessity of physical PIN in-put. Auto pairing will be implemented first in an updated version of the Bluetooth Headset HBH-610, called HBH-610a.

"Sony Ericsson continually strives to enhance the user experience, making it easy and intuitive so the technology platform supporting the device fades into the background and the user just enjoys the benefits and convenience of well designed products. Auto pairing is a great example of how we as a company continue to enhance consumer benefits by making our products easy to use straight out of the box." says Rikard Nilsson, Global Marketing Manager, Product Business Unit Accessories.

Auto pairing will only be available in Sony Ericsson mobile phones and headsets. However, Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headsets will continue to be compatible with Bluetooth-equipped mobile phones from other phone brands by following the regular procedure for device pairing when Auto pairing is not available.

The first Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headset with Auto pairing device connectivity, the HBH-610a, will be available in Q4, 2005.

 Source:http://www.mobiledia.com/news/37112.html

ROKR 100 Tunes Limit Warning

Steve Jobs announced that the ROKR would play up to 100 tracks (including songs and podcasts), yet that figure doesn?t jibe with the size of a standard Flash memory chip. By Apple?s calculations, 100 songs takes up approximately 400MB of memory. Is someone producing a 400MB Flash chip now

A possibly annoying limitation to the recent Apple iTunes mobile phone, the ROKR from Motorola has been discovered.

It was reported over at playlistmag.com:

Steve Jobs announced that the ROKR would play up to 100 tracks (including songs and podcasts), yet that figure doesn’t jibe with the size of a standard Flash memory chip. By Apple’s calculations, 100 songs takes up approximately 400MB of memory. Is someone producing a 400MB Flash chip now?

Nope. The phone includes a removable 512MB Flash memory chip (found under the battery in the back of the phone). This chip will hold up to 100 tracks but the number of songs it holds isn’t dependant strictly on the size of the chip (though it obviously can’t contain more than 512MB of data). Rather, the 100 track limitation is part of a DRM scheme that prevents the phone from playing more than 100 tracks.

iTunes 5 keeps track of the number of tracks authorized for playback on the phone so even if your 100 tracks have used only 350MB of the card’s capacity, you can’t add more. Similarly, although you can swap in a new card that contains new tracks, those tracks won’t play until they’ve been approved for playback by iTunes.

 

source: GadgetSpy

Mobiles catch Cabir virus at world athletics

Visitors to the world athletics championships in Finland have had to brave wind and rain, and officials say they now face the possibility of catching the world’s first mobile phone virus.

Visitors to the world athletics championships in Finland have had to brave wind and rain, and officials say they now face the possibility of catching the world’s first mobile phone virus.

Officials in mobile-mad Finland, home to the world’s largest mobile phone maker, Nokia, said there had been outbreaks of the Cabir virus at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium.

Jarmo Koski, a security official at telecoms firm TeliaSonera, said: "At most we are speaking about dozens of infections but during a short period and in one spot this is a huge number."

Cabir, first reported in June last year, uses Bluetooth short range wireless signals to jump between mobile phones.

Source:silicon

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.

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

Vodafone Trials 3G Service In Sydney

Vodafone has recently started external 3G trials in Sydney, Australia. They are giving 180 customers the ability to use and test drive the 3G network for three weeks. The testers will be given 3G enabled phones, and data cards for usage with their notebooks, and etc. In the last week, they�re gonna have to report to Vodafone stores to talk about their experiences, usage problems

Vodafone has recently started external 3G trials in Sydney, Australia. They are giving 180 customers the ability to use and test drive the 3G network for three weeks. The testers will be given 3G enabled phones, and data cards for usage with their notebooks, and etc. In the last week, they’re gonna have to report to Vodafone stores to talk about their experiences, usage problems, etc…

During this task, they’ll be assigned tasks such as downloading MP3 tracks, videos, and 3D games – why? To see how well the 3G network operates and stands up. These results in the stores are going to be used to properly train Vodafone staff for the full network launch later on.

Vodafone has assigned sets of tasks for users to complete during the trial. Mobile handset users will be asked to download specific Vodafone live! content, such as the latest music tracks, sports action and 3D games. Business customers will use the VMC with 3G data cards to test mobile email with attachments, internet access and wireless working using various enterprise applications.

“We want to evaluate the customer experience across all areas of content and delivery so we’ve deliberately set objectives for users, but beyond that it’s up to them to decide how and what they want to explore,” said John Casey, Chief Marketing Officer at Vodafone Australia. “We’ll use feedback from the trial to give future 3G customers an unbeatable mobile experience.”

“At Vodafone, an unbeatable experience means much more than how the technology performs; it’s about how successfully we meet and exceed customer expectations on service and support and how effectively our products and content fires imagination, “ added Casey.

The external trial follows a three-month internal test programme, which evaluated the functionality of the Vodafone 3G network, handset and data card provisioning and support systems. The internal trial involved more than 100 Vodafone employees in Sydney.

“Our Australian customers will benefit from everything that Vodafone has learned in rolling out new 3G networks in 14 other countries around the world,” said Casey.

source:Cellular-News

Bluetooth security flaw found

Cryptographers have found a security flaw in Bluetooth that allows unauthorized pairing between (among other things) mobile phones. Pairing is the process that Bluetooth devices go through to make sure the owner of each device is aware of the connection. During pairing, the same PIN has to be entered on both devices.

Cryptographers have found a security flaw in Bluetooth that allows unauthorized pairing between (among other things) mobile phones. Pairing is the process that Bluetooth devices go through to make sure the owner of each device is aware of the connection. During pairing, the same PIN has to be entered on both devices.

The new flaw allows a malicious user to pair without the other device alerting its owner. It masquerades as another device that’s currently paired with the target:

Avishai Wool and Yaniv Shaked [of Tel Aviv University in Israel] have managed to force pairing by pretending to be one of the two devices and sending a message to the other claiming to have forgotten the link key. This prompts the other device to discard the link key and the two then begin a new pairing session, which the hacker can then use

Source:MobileTracker

Nokia Makes Donation to GNOME Foundation

Donations of sales of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet in the Developer Device Program will go to the GNOME Foundation.Nokia, which recently launched the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, announced today a developer device program at the GNOME user and Developer European Conference (GUADEC). The developer device program will donate the proceeds from the sales of 500 Nokia 770 devices to the GNOME Foundation.

Donations of sales of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet in the Developer Device Program will go to the GNOME Foundation.

STUTTGART, Germany –May 31, 2005 – Nokia, which recently launched the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, announced today a developer device program at the GNOME user and Developer European Conference (GUADEC). The developer device program will donate the proceeds from the sales of 500 Nokia 770 devices to the GNOME Foundation.

The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is based on Linux and widely deployed Open Source technologies like GNOME. At the core of the Nokia 700 Internet Tablet is Hildon Application Framework, which is based on GNOME technology. This technology has been adapted with extensions and modifications to evolve a user interface framework that is better suited for handheld category devices.

“GNOME is a very powerful and user-friendly environment suitable for desktops,” said Ari Jaaksi, Director, Open Software Platform, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia. “By harnessing the power of GNOME and adapting it for handhelds on the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, we are delivering an impressive product that will continue to grow with the help and input of GNOME and Open Source users and developers.”

The tablet, which was unveiled on the 25 of May at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York, will allow users to browse the web, check e-mail, read the latest news, listen to Internet radio or their own music, watch videos and store and view images.

“We’re very excited about the release of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet,” said Timothy Ney, executive director of the GNOME Foundation. “We are also really grateful to Nokia for donating the proceeds of the developer device program to the GNOME Foundation.”

The 770 Internet Tablet has a host of utilities, including a file manager, PDF reader, notes and sketch capabilities, as well as games. It has a high-resolution 4.13-inch touch screen, 800×480 resolution and 65,536 colors that will show off the truly impressive graphic environment. It also features an on-screen keyboard and handwriting capabilities, as well as zooming, panning and full-screen features.

Source:guadec

Nokia Sensor – New Social Software for Bluetooth Phones

Nokia Sensor is a social software application from Nokia that allows you to meet similarly Bluetooth enabled Nokia phone owners around you. You can setup your own “folio” on your phone and then scan nearby phones to see other folios around you. Send sensor messages back and forth and view the ‘popularity’ of those around you. Check the Nokia website to see if your Nokia phone is compatible with the software, select your language, and then download for free the software application.

Nokia Sensor is a social software application from Nokia that allows you to meet similarly Bluetooth enabled Nokia phone owners around you. You can setup your own "folio" on your phone and then scan nearby phones to see other folios around you. Send sensor messages back and forth and view the ‘popularity’ of those around you. Check the Nokia website to see if your Nokia phone is compatible with the software, select your language, and then download for free the software application.
Nokia Demo
via textually.org and blueserker.com

Bluetooth added to the New Oxford American Dictionary

Ever wondered what it takes to be added to the dictionary? Well, it seems 2000 words have what it takes to be added to the New Oxford American Dictionary.
Among the technology or computer words added: blogosphere, bluetooth,


Ever wondered what it takes to be added to the dictionary? Well, it seems 2000 words have what it takes to be added to the New Oxford American Dictionary.
Among the technology or computer words added: blogosphere, bluetooth, phishing, malware, infoholic, hacktivist, megapixel, code monkey, lurker, and RFID.

You can find more of the 2000 words at Yahoo

Car tires send alert to driver by bluetooth

Mobile|blog.it, which by the way is my latest favorite blog to find great cell phone news (and I don’t speak Italian- you don’t need to speak Italian to find great links here), reports on a new product manufactured by Pirelli, to launch on the market next October, which is a tire cap which could send alert messages to the driver’s cell phone via Bluetooth.

Mobile|blog.it, which by the way is my latest favorite blog to find great cell phone news (and I don’t speak Italian- you don’t need to speak Italian to find great links here), reports on a new product manufactured by Pirelli, to launch on the market next October, which is a tire cap which could send alert messages to the driver’s cell phone via Bluetooth.

But according to Marco Magnocavallo, over at Mobile|blog.it, the strange thing it’s that on the Pirelli Xpressure site there’s nothing about Cellphones, Bluetooth, etc. They only speak about an "Electronical device"…

And two Italian newspapers picked up on the bluetooth side of the story, Repubblica yesterday and the Corriere della Sera wrote about it today.

So Marco wonders who’s right? Pirelli Xpressure website or the newspapers?"

Source:textually

Bill Gates Holding a Samsung Cellular Phone

Bill Gates is holding two mobile devices using Windows operating
system before his opening speech at the “Microsoft Mobile and Embedded
DevCon 2005

Bill Gates is holding two mobile devices using Windows operating system before his opening speech at the “Microsoft Mobile and Embedded DevCon 2005” held in Las Vegas, reports The Dong-A Ilbo.

"The mobile device held on Gates’ left hand is the Samsung’s i300 cellular phone with an embedded hard disk drive.

The device held on his right hand is a cell phone from Taiwanese company HTC’s Universal model."

More on Windows Mobile 5.0 on Engadget and a related article from from Telecoms Korea about Korean carriers and handset makers adopting MS Windows Mobile 5.0.
Source:textually.org