Wireless Blog

Ia m not certain if the UMPC market has been overshadowed by the netbook industry, but ARCHOS is making a bold move into the miniPC market with the ARCHOS 9 PCtablet.

I've been trying out two new notebooks, each designed to pack powerful performance into a package that's thinner and lighter than many mainstream notebooks.

Canada : Key growth drivers in the 4G applications market include an increasingly open network environment and snackable data plans applicable across various device types, according to Maravedis' latest research report, "Broadband Services and Applications in the 4G Era: Beyond Existing 3G Applications." The evolution from 3G to 4G will be ...

European space transportation provider Arianespace launched its largest satellite ever on Wednesday on behalf of TerreStar Networks -- a Virginia-based company that intends to inaugurate a hybrid satellite/cellular service in the United States and Canada later this year.

TerreStar Networks has already developed a Windows Mobile smartphone with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen capabilities for its new hybrid service. The handset will automatically switch from AT&T's terrestrial cellular network to a satellite link at any location within the 50 U.S. states where AT&T's local coverage is unavailable.

"We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead -- in both the commercial and government sectors," said TerreStar President Jeff Epstein. "And we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business-continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities."

Creating a New Paradigm

The new TerreStar-1 satellite is equipped with an 18-meter reflector capable of sending and receiving signals via about 500 spot beams, each of which will function as a cellular tower in the sky for a specific localized area. Moreover, each individual spot beam can be custom controlled to increase the available capacity for emergency personnel responding to a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, which decimated a large part of southern Louisiana's communications infrastructure.

"TerreStar-1 has the capability to increase both power and capacity dynamically across spot beams with advanced ground-based beam-forming technology," a company spokesperson said. "This feature will be especially important to emergency responders and other critical users."

TerreStar's $300 million satellite also has the potential to fulfill one of the priority objectives of the national broadband plan currently under development at the FCC. Later this year, the fledgling network operator intends to begin providing core voice, data and video services to rural businesses and consumers in areas where cellular coverage is spotty or even nonexistent.

"We are creating...

Week after week, Apple sees controversy swirl around its App Store like no other smartphone maker. Yet again, the controversy has focused on pornographic content.

The latest application to attempt to make its way into the App Store is called BeautyMeter. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users view user-submitted images of men and women, then rate them based on anatomy and clothing. One image up for rating was of a topless 15-year-old girl. Apple booted the application on Thursday.

But that wasn't the first time a pornographic application made its way through Apple's approval process. The App Store has a policy that prohibits pornography or explicit content of any kind.

Last week, Apple removed an application called Hottest Girl because it published photos of topless women. In both cases, the applications got by the approval process because the developers slipped in the nude pictures after the program was vetted.

Controversial Apps

The list of applications Apple has rejected continues to grow. In some cases, Apple initially approved an application, only to ban it later. In others, Apple originally banned the application and then accepted it after a firestorm of negative publicity. Still others were rejected for good.

In May, Apple rejected the Me So Holy App for having "objectionable" content. The application let iPhone users choose their religion, take a picture of themselves, and insert their face in a messianic image, among other religious scenes. Users could also add a message and e-mail their personalized Jesus to friends or upload it to Facebook. Hindu figures, priests and nuns were also available.

Apple initially approved and later removed the controversial Baby Shaker application in April. Sikalosoft developed Baby Shaker, which featured a drawing of a crying baby, and the object of the game was to get the baby to stop crying. This was accomplished by...

Next year the United States Census Bureau will announce the headcount from its once-a-decade nationwide census, the result of a four-year process run by systems integrator Harris Corporation and Sprint , the censusa s exclusive wireless data provider.

July 1, 2009 - Customers of Telio, Norway's second-largest VoIP telephony provider, can now enjoy voice, video and data services in their homes using the award-winning IP3870 multimedia terminal from LG-Nortel, a joint venture of LG Electronics and Nortel /quotes/comstock/11i!nrtlq . With more than 115,000 customers, Telio was the first company to ...

When the Sony Walkman went on sale 30 years ago, it was shown off by a skateboarder to illustrate how the portable cassette-tape player delivered music on-the-go -- a totally innovative idea back in 1979.

Today, Sony Corp. is struggling to reinvent itself and win back its reputation as a pioneer of razzle-dazzle gadgetry once exemplified in the Walkman, which Wednesday had its 30th anniversary marked with a special display at Sony's corporate archives.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company lost 98.9 billion yen ($1.02 billion) in the fiscal year ended March -- its first annual loss in 14 years -- and is expecting more red ink this year.

The manufacturer, which also makes Vaio personal computers and Cyber-shot cameras, hasn't had a decisive hit like the Walkman for years, and has taken a battering in the portable music player market to Apple Inc.'s iPod.

Sony has sold 385 million Walkman machines worldwide in 30 years as it evolved from playing cassettes to compact disks then minidisks -- a smaller version of the CD -- and finally digital files. Apple has sold more than 210 million iPod machines worldwide in eight years.

There is even some speculation in the Japanese media that Sony should drop the Walkman brand -- a name associated with Sony's rise from its humble beginnings in 1946 with just 20 employees to one of the first Japanese companies to successfully go global.

"The Walkman's gap with the iPod has grown so definitive, it would be extremely difficult for Sony to catch up, even if it were to start from scratch to try to boost market share," said Kazuharu Miura, analyst with Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

Miura believes Sony can hope to be unique with its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable video game consoles, but it has yet to offer outstanding electronics...

Uncle Sam may soon get a little diplomatic help from the iPhone and BlackBerry. On June 30, an Egyptian company specializing in translation software released a tool designed to translate quickly between English and Arabic by way of a wireless device.

Cairo-based Sakhr Software introduced an application -- downloadable to Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry -- that in seconds transmits an audio translation of a spoken phrase.

At the outset, Sakhr is pitching the software toward the U.S. intelligence community and the Defense Dept., which have lacked adequate Arabic language capabilities, particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks. "What we are solving is a real-world problem," says Sakhr spokeswoman Tuyen Ho. "This product will help men and women in the armed forces and intelligence community bridge the communications gap. It will help keep them safer." The company declined to name customers but said it is talking with the Defense and Justice departments and various intelligence agencies.

Aiming at Businesses, Too

In recent months, U.S. government agencies have stepped up their reliance on cutting-edge tech tools for diplomatic means. The State Dept. in April arranged a delegation of executives from Google, AT&T, Twitter, and other tech startups to journey to Iraq to meet with government officials, business leaders, and students to discuss ways to use tech across that country.

The software Sakhr released June 30 is also designed for use by businesses. Its debut coincides with Sakhr's acquisition of software maker Dial Directions for an undisclosed amount. The two companies collaborated on the app for a year, with Sakhr developing the language software and Dial Directions designing the mobile architecture. Sakhr plans to release a version for consumers in August.

Sakhr designed its software so that users concerned about the security of their transmissions can host conversations on their own servers and monitor and mine...

Millicom International Cellular SA, the Luxembourg mobile-services provider, said that under a strategic review, a number of parties have expressed interest in its Asian assets.