Mobile

California officials have overturned a ban that prevented a smartphone app-based taxi-style service from legally operating. The case was prompted by a smartphone app called 'Uber,' which allows customers to summon a luxury car and driver to their ... location at the press of a button. The cost of the ride is automatically charged to a customer's credit card. The service was a welcome idea for customers who wanted to avoid trying to hail a cab. Unfortunately, Uber initially ran into problems with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). California Officials: Uber a Taxi Service Why? ... (view more)

Canada's Research in Motion (RIM) finally unveiled its BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system (OS) on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the company's stock value plunged in the hours that followed, indicating that investors don't believe the new OS or a ... fresh range of smartphone devices can save the struggling firm. RIM showed off BlackBerry 10 (BB10) in a highly-publicized event on Wednesday, January 30, 2013. The new mobile OS is specially designed with touchscreen devices in mind and reflects RIM's decision to enter market space previously dominated by Apple's iPhone and a wide range of Android- ... (view more)

It appears that one of the technology industry's most troubled companies may soon be staging a comeback. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) has just announced that its newest mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10, will begin to ship to ... consumers by late January, 2013. The news has led to a remarkable spike in RIM's recently languishing stock price. 2012/2013: Years RIM Would Like to Forget The last two years have represented a tough period for Canadian firm Research in Motion, which produces the BlackBerry smartphone. The formerly-innovative firm has struggled to prevent its customers ... (view more)

A US Senate committee has approved the Location Privacy Protection Act. It's a bill that would ban the smartphone tools which allow people to track others without their knowledge. The act, introduced by Senator Al Franken, would force companies ... offering smartphone apps to get a phone user's permission before collecting or passing on data about their location. The new rules would also explicitly ban any application that tracked locations without the phone user's knowledge. (Source: govtrack.us ) According to Franken, such measures are necessary to prevent cases of people secretly installing a ... (view more)

A federal court has ruled that major cellphone carriers must let their smaller rivals use their data networks. This could mean more competitive deals and better coverage for smartphone and tablet owners, as well as those accessing mobile broadband ... on a laptop. The United States Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge by Verizon, thereby upholding an earlier ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The original ruling primarily covered data roaming, the technique by which customers of one cellphone carrier access the data services of another carrier. The FCC had said that ... (view more)

Microsoft is planning to release a number of improved features for its Windows Phone 8 mobile platform. The update could dramatically improve how the system functions. The update carries the codename Apollo Plus. Microsoft promises that it will ... offer fixes and features inspired by consumer feedback. VPNs Add Sense of Security for Windows Phone Users The first new feature in Apollo Plus is the inclusion of support for Virtual Private Networks (VPN). VPNs enable a host computer to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if they were private. Adding this feature to Windows ... (view more)

Verizon says it won't charge customers who live in areas hit hard by Hurricane Sandy for service lost during the massive 'superstorm.' On a case-by-case basis, the company will also consider helping people in other locations. The network says the ... fee waiver is part of an ongoing program to help victims and restore cellphone service. Under the program, Verizon will waive fees for customers in ten New York counties and twenty-one New Jersey counties. The deal involves waiving the fees for all domestic calls and texts made by customers in the designated counties between October 29 (when the ... (view more)

Delta and United Airlines are among 100 firms that have been told they are breaking California's privacy laws. The problem: these companies have smartphone and tablet applications that don't give customers adequate information about the way they ... handle personal data. Kamala Harris, California's attorney general, insists companies are breaching the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which says app users must get clear details about the personal data collected and how it will be used. These 100 companies are among many more offenders but happen to own the 100 most popular apps breaching ... (view more)

Microsoft is in the process of pursuing a new patent that would stop mobile phone rings with a simple "whack". The new technology could save users from embarrassing searches through pockets and purses in order to find and press the 'decline' or 'end ... call' button. The Microsoft patent application is filed under the name "Controlling Audio of a Device." According to the patent description, it covers "a method comprising, in a mobile communications device, receiving information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device, determining correlation between the information ... (view more)