Jawbone 2007's "Best of What's New"

Since July 1, 2008 people are not allowed to drive while talking on the phone unless with a bluetooth head set or with speaker phone. Before only busy people would need the bluetooth head set, but now that everyone will need one, what is a good bluetooth head set to be considered? The Jawbone bluetooth head set was awarded 2007's "Best of What's New" award. The jawbone head set can cancel out the background sounds when you are talking to someone on the other end creating a non-echoing conversation with no background noise. What is more annoying than not being able to hear the other person you're talking to from background noise? Well the Jawbone's new technology of canceling out the background noise creates clarity in your conversations with whomever you're talking to on the other line. Aliph, a leading developer of mobile audio products, today announced the Jawbone® Bluetooth headset has been recognized by Popular Science as a 2007 "Best of What's New" award winner - adding to its numerous awards for technological innovation and product design excellence received in 2007. Jawbone is a groundbreaking Bluetooth headset that integrates the latest innovations in acoustics and audio processing with premium product design to provide users unparalleled incoming and outgoing voice clarity.

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Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte Luxury Phone Made from Carbon Fiber

Have you ever seen those cars driving around and it just looks like they have a black hood? Well its most likely not just a "black" hood. Its probably what they call, a carbon fiber hood. Racing car enthusiasts put these on their cars for the looks and the for what it does. But can you really put carbon fiber as a phone? Well Nokia did just that. Nokia today introduced its 8800 Carbon Arte, a premium mobile phone engineered from carbon fiber, titanium, polished glass and stainless steel. Keeping with the Nokia 8800 Arte range, the 8800 Carbon Arte has a minimalistic and seamless surfaces, slide mechanism and lightweight feel. Crafted from an ultra light and strong material, it reflects 3D patterns, a modern feel and unique tones, textures and sculpted shapes. The 8800 Carbon Arte offers the unique tap-for-time feature. Consumers can tap the steel surface below the display twice and a clock appears on the screen. Background images organically change during the day, giving a unique appearance to the display. The turn-to-mute silencing mechanism lets users silence incoming calls in a discrete manner by turning the phone over, screen-side down. In addition to 3G capabilities, the 8800 Carbon Arte has a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, high-quality audio, and a vivid OLED screen. Nokia's anti-fingerprint coating reduces smudges on metal and glass and unsightly outer seams are hidden by a unique all-in-one micro-USB connector.

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Siemens opens exiderdome to public

OK. Here's something I have never heard about. When someone mentions Siemens, the first image that comes to mind is a cellular phone. How would I have known that its vast conglomerate extends in the food, beverage, auto, and energy industries. The company is now set to hold an exhibit of all its products in Toronto, Canada. According to The Mississauga News, the Canada-based company "has a goal to bring productivity solutions and systems to Canadian industry". The traveling show had just arrived by barge via the Great Lakes, and will be on the move in various places in Canada. It features about 130,00 products from in "various industries such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, automotive, oil and gas, and building construction". It will also hold "guided tours" by Siemens representatives as well as seminars open to the public. Those who want to go need to make an appointment, however.

The tour has been going on since 2005, making its first stop in China. Its last tour will be held in the United States, in Boston.

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Prime Minister to head cellular company

I do know that former government officials usually land pretty lucrative jobs after exiting from public service. But here's something that I do not hear very often: a former prime minister taking over one of the top reins of a cellular phone giant. Former Finnish Prime Minster Esko Aho will be in charge of Nokia's "corporate relations and responsibility" department. According to a Bloomberg article, the move was meant to "[tap]the country's youngest leader to lobby for the company's interests." Nokia CEO Peka Kallasvuo also said that Aho's "experience and knowledge of international affairs" will come in handy as the company expands throughout the international market." The former prime minister will join Nokia in November and will be seated as a board member in January to replace the retiring Veli Sundbaeck, who will step down form his post in December.

According to Bloomberg, Aho, who now heads the "Finnish Innovations Fund called SITRA, presided as Prime Minister at a time when Finland was in a dire recession. He had also been a member of the Parliament and had had an unsuccessful bid for presidency in 2000.

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Samsung Increases Embedded Memory Efficiency of Smartphones

Samsung today introduced software to optimize flash memory in smartphones. The software optimizes data transactions as they interact with operating systems. By boosting performance through faster booting, downloading and searching, it improves multimedia intensive operations. The embedded-flash software is comprised file systems and supportive flash drivers. The file systems, UniFS, PocketFS and RFS, execute typical operations like creating, removing, reading, and writing files. The flash drivers, UniStore, PocketStore, XSR and FSR, prolong the device's lifetime. The software shortens application design-in times and broadens management of high-speed video images and high-resolution still images. OneNAND is offered in a broad range of densities - 256 Megabit (Mb) through 2 Gigabit (Gb). Having achieved 100 million units of sales (512Mb-equivalent) in two years after initial shipments in 2006, Samsung expects its OneNAND business to exceed 500 million units by the end of this year. Introduced earlier this year, Flex-OneNAND is a single-die solution with the high-speed characteristics of SLC (single level cell) NAND and the high-density of MLC (multi level cell) NAND. "The new software, which significantly upgrades performance of our embedded memory solutions," said Young Joon Choi, Vice President, Memory Division, Samsung. MoviNAND combines a MultiMediaCard v.4 (MMC) controller with NAND to simplify system design requirements for embedded non-volatile storage in data-intensive multimedia handsets.

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Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs, 10 Million App Downloads

No one thought that there would be something that would triumph the original Apple iPhone. Until they came out wioth the 3G iPhone. With its release in July, no one thought it would have as big as an impact as it did. As of July 14, 2008, Apple announced it has sold over one million iPhone 3Gs and users have downloaded more than 10 million applications, just three days after its launch. The iPhone 3G is now available in 21 countries - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the U.S. - and will go on sale in France on July 17. "The iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Steve Jobs, Apple CEO. "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world." The new iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone plus 3G networking that is twice as fast, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs over 800 third party applications available through the new App Store. More than 800 applications are available on the App Store, with more than 200 offered for free and more than 90 percent priced at less than $10. Developers have created mobile applications ranging from games to location-based social networking to medical applications to enterprise productivity tools. Users can wirelessly download applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch. "The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly."

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Verizon Wireless Offers Visual Voice Mail

Visual voicemail. Pioneered by the iPhone and up until today, the iPhone from AT&T Wireless was the only phone that was able to use it. Verizon Wireless has introduced today Visual Voice Mail, an application that manages voice mail on phones. Available initially on the LG Voyager, users can delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without listening to prior messages or voice instructions, making it a more effective way to manage and respond to messages. Visual Voice Mail lists voice mail messages with date and time of receipt and message duration. When a caller leaves a new voice mail, it pops up, alerting users of the new message. From the display, customers can call back, reply, forward, add to contacts, and archive message (to internal or external memory). Users can store 40 messages for 40 days, double the storage and retention time of Basic Voice Mail. In addition, they can create up to 10 greetings, 20 distribution lists and 50 distribution members to receive messages. "Voice mail plays a large role in how customers conduct business," said Mike Willsey, Director for Marketing of Verizon Wireless. "With Visual Voice Mail, we're able to offer customers more options to help them better prioritize voice mail messages." Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 monthly access, per line, plus airtime or megabyte charges and messaging fees, depending on the plan. Customers should take their LG Voyager to a Verizon Wireless store to receive the free software update. Visual Voice Mail will be offered on additional devices in the coming months.

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Prospect of Nextel sell-off lingers

Reuters reported Friday that Sprint Nextel Corp might put Nextel's wireless network on sale. If this happens, Sprint will place into the market a company that has relinquished 80% of its value. Seems like a tough sell. According to the Reuters article, Sprint had lost a sizable chunk of its customers since buying Nextel Communications for $35billion in 2005. This loss is being blamed on its struggle "to integrate Nextel's iDen network, used by public safety and construction workers, with its own service." Currently, Sprint is the third biggest cellular phone service, but its recent debacles have resulted in pressures by the Federal Communications Commissions to give up "a key chunk of iDen wireless airwaves for emergency communications networks." Despite the recent string of bad news, Sprint's shares have reportedly risen by 12%, which has been credited to "its surprise decision on Thursday to cancel a $3 billion convertible share sale that had been unpopular with shareholders." And while the company faces a multimillion dollar debt, its finances are still afloat. NII Holdings Inc. a service provider in Latin America, is being eyed as a potential buyer of the Nextel wireless network.

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Apple pulls out some apps

Thanks to the endless list of applications that can be placed on Apple's I-Phone, to has now become a ubiquitous gadget these days. it, however, pulled out three of its applications. One is NetShare, "an app that turns the iPhone into a wireless modem", after it became apparent that it was competing with one of Apple's affiliated companies, AT&T. There was also the BoxOffice, an application which provides I-Phone users with movie tickets and listings. The most recent application to be pulled out, however, was the 999 I am Rich, which was intended to be a joke. A Forbes article, reported that such pullout could be a silver lining for another telecommunications giant, Nokia, to expand its services in the United States. The reason why it is being vetted to get a larger cut in the smart phone market is because it "has made it easy to download all sorts of applications for its smart phones". But whatever happens, the rivalry between networking companies is sure to be a contentious one especially as technology promises to develop further in the near future.

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Sony Ericsson Cuts 2,000 Jobs as Earnings Plummet

With the economy not doing so good lately, its not that hard to believe that Sony Ericsson is being forced to cut back on jobs. Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson announced that it was cutting 2,000 jobs worldwide after reporting a 97 percent drop in second quarter earnings due to difficult market conditions and the global economic slowdown. Company spokeswoman Lisa Canning in London said the company would cut 2,000 jobs "within the next 12 months" as part of an effort to reduce operational costs by 300 million euros ($470 million) per year. Sony Ericsson posted an operating loss of two million euros ($3.1 million) in the second quarter, compared to a profit of 315 million euros in the same period of last year. Net profit plunged by 97 percent to six million euros from 220 million a year earlier, while sales fell by 9.4 percent to 2.82 billion euros. For the past year, Sony Ericsson has been trying to develop its business on fast-growing emerging markets in order to reduce dependence on its traditional, near-saturation European outlets. As a result it has sold more low-end phones, where prices are lower and the competition is tougher than in the high-end segment, the company said.
Sony Ericsson's results were in stark contrast to the better-than-expected earnings report by market leader Nokia on Thursday. Nokia said it expected the global market for cell phones to grow by 10 percent or more in 2008, upgrading an earlier estimate. At the end of June, Sony Ericsson had eight percent of the mobile phone market, compared to Nokia's 40 percent.

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Is It Safe To Use A Cell Phone While Pregnant?

Its always been seen as a myth. If a pregnant women were to talk on the cell phone frequently, then your child would grow up and have some problems. Well studies have recently shown that, this is no myth. Dr. Leeka Kheifets and her team at the UCLA School of Public Health looked at a group of 13,159 children whose mothers had been recruited to participate in the Danish National Birth Cohort study early in their pregnancies. When the children reached age 7, mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire about their children's behavior and health. After the researchers adjusted for factors such as a mother's psychiatric problems and socioeconomic factors, children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure were 80 percent more likely to have abnormal or borderline scores on tests evaluating emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, or problems with peers. Risks were higher for children exposed prenatally only, compared with those exposed only postnatally, but were lower than for children exposed at both time points. Kheifets notes that a fetus's exposure to radiofrequency fields by a mother's cell phone use is likely very small. However, they add, research has shown that children using cell phones are exposed to more radiofrequency energy than adults, because their ears and brains are smaller.

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T-Mobile Gives Parents More Control with Family Allowances

Are you a frustrated parent? Tired of all those surprise cell phone bills each month? Are you on the verge of taking your child's cell phone away? Well T-Mobile has managed to make things a little more easier. T-Mobile will launch parental control features to family plans in August. It will allow parents to manage when and how their family members use their T-Mobile phones and service. With Family Allowances, parents can give teens an upfront monthly wireless allowance, eliminating the worry of surprise overages. Parents set and change limits for minutes, messages and downloads (games, ringtones and wallpaper) using an online tool. Once the allowance is reached, the feature shuts off service for that specific element and parents receive a notification. Parents can establish limits on the time of day a phone may be used, set allowances to zero to prohibit the use of minutes, messages or downloads, and establish numbers that are blocked from calling or sending messages. "Parents across the country want their teens to have a mobile phone to stay in contact, but also want that phone to be used responsibly," said Lisa Brown, director, marketing at T-Mobile USA. "With Family Allowances, parents get peace of mind knowing they can reach their sons and daughters, without having to worry about surprise bills. They can also reward their teens for responsible phone use by increasing their allowance."

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A glimpse of light in a dim economy

Hey, a profit is a profit. With an economy that has been seemingly spiraling into a free fall recently, little gains can be big. Motorola Inc. has been reported to have had a small second quarter gain, according to Taipei Times, due to an increase in its shipping of cellular phones (28.1 million cellphones, compared to just 27 million in the first quarter this year) and some cost-cutting measures, which unfortunately involved handing out the pink slip to about 10,000 employees. This news of profits for Motorola is actually made sweeter by the fact that the company had actually posted a whopping $28 million, or 2 cents a share. And despite Motorola's recent decline in the global market, it was able to sustain its high ranking in the cell phone industry. Motorola is the third biggest cell phone company, next to Nokia Corp and Samsung Electronics Co.

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Congress wants you...to, um, shut up

Apparently, the most important issue in the country is not the ongoing home foreclosures, the unstable stock market, and the forthcoming projection of a 6% inflation. Our representatives have decided that our top priority is to crack down on those annoying folks who just cannot shut their yappers up inside airplanes. An article from Information Week reported that the U.S. House of representatives are working on a bill to make a the FAA's ban on voice communication in airplanes permanent. And the name of the law would be called "The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed Thursday the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act, or the Hang Up Act. Wow. How noble. I assume that drug addiction is not a major problem in the Capitol, but when I hear about laws like this, I cannot help but conjure thoughts of how much crack our Congress has smoked lately. It seems like nothing passes the Congress' addiction into legislating upon the most minute details of our lives. Leave us alone, please. Airlines and ordinary people are capable of shutting someone up, believe it or not. So just get back to your desks and do something more productive, like I don't know, reform our tax structure or get us out of Iraq perhaps?

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