Mobile

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)

These days, it seems as if cash payments are settled using every medium but cash itself. Gone are the days of fumbling around in a purse or wallet to find the exact change needed to make a purchase. While cash is always an accepted tender, many now ... prefer to use debit or credit cards to alleviate wasted time and hassle. Several major banks and mobile operators all over Europe have come together to ensure that one more method of payment will be offered to consumers in the near future. The group assembled to talk about the possibility of enabling future cell phone models to act as a wireless ... (view more)

T-Mobile recently announced a new home phone plan that will eliminate the age-old attachment we have to landlines. The new T-Mobile@Home plan will use a wireless router to send and receive calls: "calls are transmitted from a handset to the Internet ... through the T-Mobile router; then, the call is completed through the use of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology." (Source: enews20.com ) Many cell-phone users prefer to retain their home phone and use their cells merely for convenience. Some also feel safer knowing that they have a fail-safe phone line at home, that won't have the problems of ... (view more)

Chrysler is planning to introduce a new feature in most of their 2009 models which will transform their vehicles into a traveling hot spot for mobile web access. This will be the first time WiFi will be available in vehicles on a mass scale. If you ... have even been stuck waiting for a train to pass or parked in front of those early-morning, never-ending red lights, you know what a frustrating time-waster each of these interruptions are. In these situations people may very well turn to cursing, playing the bongos on the steering wheel, or honking their horn at no one in particular. But what if ... (view more)