Technology | Fone Arena

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

Wind-Powered Cell Phones

Students at the Indian Institute of Technology have developed a pocket-sized turbine that attaches to your cellphone to charge it. Best suited for use in costal areas with near-constant wind flow or long talks with your mother, the device can also be used during travel as long as you set it up against the wind. The idea is to allow mobile users to charge and continue using their phone when they’re away from electricity, which is fine idea, but does the turbine give off a Pine-Fresh scent, or Cool Mountain Breeze? Because if not I can think of a way to overclock this thing.

Microsoft Launches Windows Mobile 5.0

New version of software provides partners with improved integration of technologies to deliver a more intuitive mobile device experience.

Microsoft today simultaneously launched new version of their Pocket PC and Smartphone operating systems. The new versions are more similar than ever featuring a new unified one-handed interface, but Pocket PC still maintains a touch screen interface and offers extra software like Office applications – now including a Powerpoint viewer. Windows Mobile 5 offers more options for fast data on handsets, adding support for newer 3G networks, and supporting Wi-Fi on both Pocket PC and Smartphone. It expands storage options, adding support for hard drives and speeding data transfer with USB 2.0. The new OS also offers greater carrier and manufacturer customization, allowing them to add features like Push-To-Talk, video calling and even additional media format playback like AAC. Read More
Source:Microsoft

Nokia N91 to beat iPod?

Digital audio players from brands such as Creative, iRiver, Dell, Samsung and even Sony can’t compete with Apple’s flagship, the iPod. Will Nokia be able to compete with the iPod with its upcoming Nokia N91 – despite the higher cost? The Nokia N91 will feature a 4GB internal hard drive, a 2 megapixel digital camera and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The phone also supports 3G services, including wireless downloading services. It is designed to play audio with music control buttons on a faceplate that slides down to reveal the phone’s keypad.

The Nokia N91 will feature a 4GB internal hard drive, a 2 megapixel digital camera and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The phone also supports 3G services, including wireless downloading services. It is designed to play audio with music control buttons on a faceplate that slides down to reveal the phone’s keypad.

The company also claims that users will be able to send music to others via e-mail, bluetooth and MMS. So this phone might actually introduce wireless p2p but there are also some problems:

While it may be easy to share a file between two phones of the same type that use the same carrier, it will be much more difficult between different phones on separate networks. Diverse file formats, lack of carrier interoperability and digital-rights-management concerns are all expected to limit the ability to share music wirelessly. “Forget it,” industry consultant Richard Siber says. “It’s just too problematic.”

Nokia’s N91 will be compatible with all popular audio formats, except iTunes. The only thing that will likely limit the market penetration of the Nokia N91 is it high cost. It is said that this phone will cost around 700EUR ($900), so with carrier subsidies it will likely still cost more than $500. Not really that competitive with a $199 iPod mini.

Source: Reuters

Google bolsters mobile search

On Tuesday, the search company plans to introduce two new search options for mobile phones, reports News.com

“One feature lets people with browser-enabled cell phones use Google Local,

On Tuesday, the search company plans to introduce two new search options for mobile phones, reports News.com

"One feature lets people with browser-enabled cell phones use Google Local, a Web directory of local businesses and sights, by typing in a name and ZIP code.

Using the second feature, people can text message Google SMS (Short Message Service) with the short code "46645" to receive driving directions to most locations"

Bluetooth SIG and UWB work together

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has tapped ultra-wideband (UWB) for high-speed communications inside of Bluetooth. Though nothing is final yet, the goal is to work towards an architecture that allows devices to take advantage of UWB data rates for scenarios that require high speed. Bluetooth will still be important to maintain backward compatibly with existing devices on the market and future products not requiring the higher data rate.

If ported to mobile phones, Bluetooth with UWB could see speeds of 100-200 mbps or about the same speed as WiFi. There is still much to be argued in the UWB spec, but this is a good first step to see UWB adopted into the mainstream.

Source: MobileTracker

Blogger launches mobile feature

Leading weblog publishing service Blogger has launched a new feature dubbed Blogger Mobile that allows users to post content from mobile phones. Both images and text can be posted to all Blogger powered sites (or by default a new moblog) via MMS or email.

Sending an MMS or email to go@blogger.com will automatically create a new blog. Your photo, along with any text you add, will be uploaded to that blog right away and then we’ll message you back with the address so you can visit your new blog on the web. It’s all free. When you feel like changing anything or you already have a Blogger account and you want the posts to go to your existing blog, you can log in to go.blogger.com and enter the token we sent to your phone.

Blogger is owned and operated by Google. As noted in the text above, this service like regular Blogger service, is free. Prior registration is not required to use Blogger Mobile.

Microsoft to announce Windows Mobile 2005

Microsoft is expected to announce the next version of its mobile phone operating system, Windows Mobile 2005, at the a developers conference next week. The Mobile and Embedded DevCon 2005 takes place May 9-12th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Windows Mobile 2005 is no secret thanks to leaked copies that sprouted up on the internet. Some of the new features include:

Increased support for QWERTY keyboards
Mobile version of PowerPoint
Updated versions of other Office applications

There is no word on when new devices running the software will begin shipping.

Source: mobile tracker

Bharti to spend $1 bn on 3G rollout

Bharti Televentures on Monday said it will invest one billion dollars on the rollout of third generation (3G) mobile phone networks across India. “We have committed one billion dollars for roll out of 3G networks across the country,” Bharti Televentures Managing Director Akhil Gupta said at a seminar on 3G technology.

NEW DELHI: Bharti Televentures on Monday said it will invest one billion dollars on the rollout of third generation (3G) mobile phone networks across India. "We have committed one billion dollars for roll out of 3G networks across the country," Bharti Televentures Managing Director Akhil Gupta said at a seminar on 3G technology. The company is already running tests of 3G technology at some places. "We have to ensure that 3G does not remain a niche technology. It must not be confined to a particular section or geography," he said adding it should be rolled out in each and every state so that it makes commercial sense. Gupta said when the frequency is allotted to operators for 3G services, they should come with stringent rollout obligations.

"It (the frequency) must not remain an asset in the locker (of operator). Strict rollout obligations backed by bank guarantees should be set for operators so that the technology spreads," he added.

Government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is also gearing up to rollout 3G networks.

"Our next rollout will have provision of 3G services throughout the country. We have the equipment and are waiting for the spectrum to start the tests," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director A K Sinha said.

He said by late 2005 or early 2006 the country would see the commercial rollout of 3G services.

SOURCE PTI

Six Apart to Bring Mobile Sharing to LiveJournal Users Through Nokia Lifeblog Compatibilityobile music experience

San Mateo, CA – Six Apart, the leader in weblogging software and services, and Nokia today announced that the users of Six Apart’s LiveJournal online community can easily post text to their diaries using Nokia Lifeblog, an application solution that effortlessly keeps an organized multimedia diary of items collected with your mobile phone. LiveJournal users with paid accounts can also enhance their diaries by uploading photos with text to their LiveJournal entries.

LiveJournal is an online community organized around personal journals. Built on open source software, LiveJournal has helped fuel the rapid growth of blogging by offering consumers both free and paid accounts on its easy-to-use personal publishing service. Every week, more than 1 million users update their LiveJournals.

Nokia Lifeblog software automatically organizes photos, videos, text messages and multimedia messages into a beautiful chronology you can easily browse, search and share. Lifebloggers can already share online, from the phone or PC, via Six Apart’s TypePad personal publishing service.

"The teamwork between Six Apart and Nokia continues to result in creative ways to improve our users’ blogging experience," said Barak Berkowitz, Six Apart’s CEO. "Nokia Lifeblog allows our users to create and seamlessly update a diary on LiveJournal or TypePad, easily sharing photos and memories with family and friends as events happen."

"With LiveJournal support, Nokia Lifeblog now has the potential to reach almost 7 million LiveJournal users," said Christian Lindholm, director of Multimedia Applications, Nokia Ventures Organization. "We are delighted to be working with Six Apart and believe this is an enormous advantage for operators and other service providers, who want to offer their customers the best mobile blogging experience available."

Nokia Lifeblog is compatible with a number of handsets, such as the, Nokia 6682 and Nokia 7610 phones in the Americas, and with the Nokia 3230, Nokia 6260, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681 and Nokia 7610 handsets in Europe and Asia. The software is also available online at www.nokia.com/lifeblog. Other Nokia Series 60 based phones will be supported as they are released. The blogging capability of Nokia Lifeblog is based on the open ATOM standard.

About Nokia

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations. www.nokia.com.

About Six Apart

Six Apart Ltd., based in San Francisco, CA, is the company behind the Movable Type publishing platform, the TypePad personal weblogging service and LiveJournal, an online community organized around personal journals. Founded by husband and wife team Ben Trott and Mena G. Trott in 2002, who were joined by LiveJournal founder Brad Fitzpatrick early this year, and funded by Neoteny Co., Ltd. and August Capital, Six Apart’s sole focus is to create tools that enable millions of individuals, organizations and corporations to participate in the Web’s full potential by publishing their ideas on the Internet with the simple, yet powerful software and services. For more information about Six Apart, TypePad, Movable Type and LiveJournal, visit the Six Apart corporate weblog at http://www.sixapart.com/.

Six Apart is a trademark of Six Apart Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Bharti plans to begin 3G trial runs by month-end

BHARTI Tele-Ventures is set to begin trial runs of 3G mobile services by April-end. The company has sought spectrum from the Department of Telecom (DoT) to conduct the trial runs.

The company has told the DoT that it has set in place the equipment and the network required to conduct trial runs but is awaiting the release of spectrum in the 1900 Mhz, which has been earmarked for 3G services.

New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures is set to begin trial runs of 3G mobile services by April-end. The company has sought spectrum from the Department of Telecom (DoT) to conduct the trial runs.

In a letter to the DoT Secretary, Brijesh Kumar, the company has said, “Bharti Cellular has planned actively to start the trials of 3G networks in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. It is also relevant to mention that the vendors have also been identified for trials and had many rounds of detailed discussions to carry out the trails by April-end, 2005.”

The company had earlier said that it was lining up investments of $1 billion for rolling out 3G mobile services across the country.

Maran asks cellular industry to reduce mobile roaming charges

The Communication and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, on Tuesday said the roaming charges of private cellular operators are ‘very high’ and the industry must look into it to bring them down.

NEW DELHI: The Communication and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, on Tuesday said the roaming charges of private cellular operators are ‘very high’ and the industry must look into it to bring them down.

“Mobile charges for roaming are very, very high… I think they should be much lower than the existing rates. BSNL does not charge roaming, why can’t the private operators also take this initiative to bring them down,” Mr Maran said at the cellular summ it organised by Cellular Operators Association of India.

The Government, on its part, will do everything to remove all the hurdles coming in the way of growth of telecommunication, the Minister said adding ‘but the operators also must reciprocate from their side.’

Replying to industry’s demand that the Government should reduce the licence fee and allow BSNL to share the infrastructure especially for the rural areas, Mr Maran said, “Don’t waste your time in Delhi making rounds to the ministry… Go to the rural are as and connect India. We, on our part, will do everything to see that all hurdles are removed one by one.”

Maran also launched low price cellular handset of Motorola costing about Rs 1,500. – PTI

iTunes Mobile Coming Soon in June

Think Secret is reporting that Apple is finishing up a version of iTunes music software for Mobile Phones. The software currently carries the name of iTunes Mobile 1.0 which has been in development since last year when Motorola and Apple teamed..

MSN Video Service offers Video Downloads to Mobile Devices

Microsoft has launched a video download service primarily targeted for use on mobile devices. The MSN Video Downloads service offers daily television programming, entertainment clips, music videos, and other digital video content for viewing on Smartphones, Pocket PCs, and Portable Media Centers.
ms mobile video
The service first appeared at CES this past January in Las Vegas, users were able to downloaded mobile formatted content to their PCs and then transfer it to their Windows Mobile software powered device.

The service is only available to US customers for a fee of $19.95 for one year. You must be using Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5.0+, and Windows Media Player 10 to get access to all MSN Video content available, including The Food Network, DIY Network, Home & Garden TV, Fox Sports, and MTV Networks to name a few.

SOURCE:mobilemag.com