2007

Samsung F490 and Samsung P720

In Ukraine, the local Samsung team held a press conference for the new line of Samsung mobile phone models. The others were already well-known to the world at large but the F490 and P720 weren't -- most especially the latterThe Samsung F490 should rock a 5 megapixel camera with a gorgeously huge 3.2 inch touchscreen display. The 432 x 240 resolution screen should also complement all that touchy

Samsung F490 and Samsung P720

GSmart i350

GIGABYTE GSmart i350 Quadband smartphone is powered by Windows Mobile 6.0 professional and running Marvell PXA270 520 MHz processor. Other features include 2 megapixel camera with Autofocus, 64 MB RAM and 256 MB flash-memory, miniSD memory slot,Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, and 2.6 inch VGA display.The handset of GSmart i350 is built in the latest GPS chip of SiRF Star III, which supports

GSmart i350

Ericsson technology enables new safety device launched by NTT DoCoMo

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) has announced that a brand-new security device with positioning capabilities, enabled by Ericsson technology, has been launched in Japan.NTT DoCoMo, Inc., the Japanese telecoms giant, has launched a safety device that gets high-precision location information by using the GPS function. The device is designed to provide family members or authorities with positioning

Ericsson technology enables new safety device launched by NTT DoCoMo

Apple's Piping Hot Innovation

BURLINGAME, CALIF. - Want a coffee with your iPhone?Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) Chief Executive Steve Jobs wants to patent a process that will save customers the hassle of waiting to order a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) or a fresh burger at the nearest fast food restaurant. Even better: The technology would let you jump the line of those ordering in

Apple's Piping Hot Innovation

Google-powered mobile phones to make a February debut?

First came the fervent and persistent rumours of a Google mobile phone.Then, just six short weeks ago, the search supremo (and just-about-everything-else-online supremo) announced there would not be a ‘Google phone' per se, but rather dozens of them from a raft of mobile manufacturers, and all built on an open Linux-based mobile phone platform named Android.Now things are picking up steam, with

Google-powered mobile phones to make a February debut?

Durable and water resistant phone from China

This is the CK800 from China. It is a phone for the outdoor enthusiast. It is a water and shock resistant as seen in the pics. Although, the higher fall broke the screen but the phone still functioned. It also comes with one of those external AA battery chargers.Pics from mobile163

Durable and water resistant phone from China

Taiwan market: Samsung aims to ship 1.8 million handsets in 2008

Samsung Electronics aims to take up a 25% share of the Taiwan handset market with shipments totaling 1.8 million units in 2008, according to Scott Huang, vice president of the mobile communication unit at Samsung Taiwan.Samsung's handset shipments in Taiwan will top 1.1 million units in 2007, surpassing its target of one million units, Huang said.To sustain its goal for 2008, Samsung plans to

Taiwan market: Samsung aims to ship 1.8 million handsets in 2008

AsureWave to focus on production of GPS SiP modules in 2008

AsureWave Technologies, a subsidiary of Asustek Computer, will pay more attention to the development of GPS SiP (system in package) modules for handsets due to increasing demand, according to company president Ted Lee. The company previously focused on WLAN SiP modules.AsureWave has also been shipping wireless SiP modules from its own plant in China since September, Lee indicated, noting that

AsureWave to focus on production of GPS SiP modules in 2008

Handset makers to hit both high- and low-end markets in India

With the increasing number of mobile phone users in India, handset makers including Cal-Comp Electronics and Inventec Appliances have both already entered into cooperation with local telecommunication vendors to supply entry-level CDMA and GSM handsets, while High Tech Computer (HTC) plants to launch an own-brand Windows Mobile-based high-end smartphone and is also expected to work with

Handset makers to hit both high- and low-end markets in India

Nokia 6500 Classic Golden Version Pictures

Check now this hot pictures of Nokia 6500 classic golden version.At just 95 grams, the 6500 Classic is light for a 3G phone.It is also only 9.5mm thick, and the attractive casings are individually polished to make them individual and are available in Black and Bronze and now Gold colours.There’s a 240x320 pixel display in 16 million colours, a 2 megapixel camera with flash, dual-band 3G (850/2100

Nokia 6500 Classic Golden Version Pictures

Sony Ericsson W960i 8GB pictures

Here is some pictures of Sony Ericsson W960i 8GB and a few words about this nice phone. The Sony Ericsson W960i Walkman Phones has a large 2.6″ touch- sensitive display, 3G, Wi-Fi, 8GB internal storage and a 3.2 megapixel camera. This phone will keep you enterntained. Store up to 700 albums - 8,000 songs, or watch videos on the TV quality screen. Videos are played back at 30 frames per second.

Sony Ericsson W960i 8GB pictures

HP teams up with Taiwan makers to offer more iPAQ handheld devices

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has teamed up with a number of Taiwan-based makers in a bid to strengthen it market position in the dedicated PDA and PDA phone segments, according to sources at Taiwan handset makers.The company released its new PDA device, the iPAQ 112, in South Korea last week and unveiled the product in Taiwan on December 25.The iPAQ 112 features a 3.5-inch touch screen and runs on

HP teams up with Taiwan makers to offer more iPAQ handheld devices

Nokia N96 smartphone in the flesh!

The new Nokia N96 looks a lot like the form factor of the N81, which I really like. So this is what Nokia’s next flagship handset looks like? Quite honestly, there is nothing here that looks to be innovative or yells out “wow I have to have it.” Perhaps I should hold my judgments until the product is official announced.

Nokia N96 smartphone in the flesh!

ASUS M930W Communicator

Some new pictures of the smartphone Asus M930W - It's like Nokia E90 and we hope it become the Rival of Nokia E90ASUS M930W Communicator specifications:- dual screen with form factor like the Nokia E90- full QWERTY keyboard- 3.2 mega pixel AF camera- Triband GSM (900/1800/1900 Mhz), GPRS, EDGE, 3G (2100 Mhz) and HSDPA at 3.6 Mbps- 256 MB ROM and 128 MB of RAM- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g- Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

ASUS M930W Communicator - The Rival of Nokia E90

Nokia E90

Nokia E90 communicator name indicates it is cell phone which is mainly used for communication in all level. Nokia E90 is quad band 3G cell phone. Nokia E90 communicator weighing is 210 grams. This cell phone has a integrated GPS. This GPS phone allow user to locate their favorite places using map application.The Nokia E90 is flip type phone. This cell phone is a ultra modern cell phone. With this

Nokia E90

Nokia Wins UMTS Mobile Patent Ruling

Nokia said it has won afavorable court decision in a battle with wireless firm InterDigital on patents relating to the UMTS mobile standard.HELSINKI/LONDON, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) on Friday welcomed what it said was an extremely favourable court decision in a battle with wireless firm InterDigital on patents relating to the UMTS mobile standard.Nokia, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, won a

Nokia Wins UMTS Mobile Patent Ruling

For Those Who Text and Drive, You Can Stop Now

CAN technology solve problems that technology has created? Consider my dismay recently as I spied a driver on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut weaving in and out of his lane because he was tapping out messages on his BlackBerry.A Tiny Brain for Your Tire (December 23, 2007) A survey this year by AAA and Seventeen magazine found that 46 percent of drivers 16 and 17 years old said that they

For Those Who Text and Drive, You Can Stop Now

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to wish all readers of this blog happy holidays!

May all of you have at least one secret wish granted in the year 2008!

Apple to turn down the volume on iPod

Future versions of the iPod could turn down the volume if listeners play their music at full blast for too long.It is the first time that the company has explicitly expressed fears over the risk the device poses to hearing.Experts believe that millions of young people are risking irreversible hearing damage because of the craze for MP3 players.The iPod, like other digital music players, can store

Apple to turn down the volume on iPod

HTC revenues to decline over 38% sequentially in 1Q08 due to chipset shortages, says paper

High Tech Computer (HTC) revenues are expected to decline 38.5% sequentially to NT$24 billion (US$738.5 million) in the first quarter of 2008 from the NT$39 billion projected for the fourth quarter of this year due to an insufficient supply of chipset solutions from Qualcomm, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.Despite a capacity ramp by Qualcomm, HTC is expected to receive up

HTC revenues to decline over 38% sequentially in 1Q08 due to chipset shortages, says paper

Nokia Earns Prestigious Service and Capability Performance (SCP) Certification for its Global Technical Assistance Center

Five Consecutive Years of AchievementNew York, NY, USA - Nokia announced that its Global Technical Assistance Center (TAC) has achieved certification under the prestigious Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards program. The Technical Assistance Center is part of the Enterprise Solutions business group of Nokia, which is dedicated to helping worldwide corporations and institutions

Nokia Earns Prestigious Service and Capability Performance (SCP) Certification for its Global Technical Assistance Center

Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld

Insiders tell us that Apple expects to announce sales of roughly five million iPhones at Macworld 2008 in January. Of these, around one million are expected to come from Europe. Apple is seeing very strong Christmas sales despite AT&T's announcement that a 3G iPhone will be hitting in 2008 (May-June is our best guess at this point) that could've hampered demand.Apple sold 1 million iPhones in 74

Apple expected to announce sales of 5 million iPhones at Macworld

Toshiba 920T slider 3G handset

Toshiba aims to release its slider type 3G cellphone known as the 920T, featuring 1GB of integrated memory to store all your data, audio and video files. That is enough memory to record up to 5.3 hours of video, and with 1Seg support, you will be able to catch up with your favorite Japanese serials no matter where you are (just make sure there is enough juice left inside). Other features include

Toshiba 920T slider 3G handset

Sony Ericsson names Opera Mini best productivity app

Opera Software, the only company that puts the Web on any device, today announced that Opera Mini 4, the browser for all mobile phones, won the category for Productive Mobility in the 2007 Sony Ericsson Content Awards.The jury said: "The sophisticated and smart features of Opera Mini 4 take mobile Internet browsing to a whole new level. A superior mobile Web experience.""The best mobile browsing

Sony Ericsson names Opera Mini best productivity app

LG Electronics, orange color super slim Special Release

-- Orange keypad and sophistication emphasizes border-- 13 mm single Ultra thin thickness, applying electric rugged aluminum materials-- LG Electronics Chief hwanggyeongju headquarters Korean business executive, "slim design and feature a variety of domestic and win 3 G mobile phone popularization lead, "he said,"LG Electronics (NYSE:南镛/ www.lge.co.kr) keypad orange and black colors in the border

LG Electronics, orange color super slim Special Release

SKY IM-S300

The SKY IM-S300 is made by Pantech and was introduced to the Korean market with the name "Romantic Wave Slim Phone (SKY IM-S300)". It has a very sexy curvy design and features a slider form factor, 2.2 inch display, 1.3 mega pixel camera and costs about 300 Euros.

SKY IM-S300

iWorld Frees Up Unlocked French iPhones for Worldwide Use

It has been widely reported recently that iPhone sold as "unlocked" via Orange in France are not truly unlocked. Early reports indicated that this was because of a SIM country lock in effect on the unlocked phones. As it turns out, there is no actual country lock in effect, but due to either intentional crippling on Apple's part or simply a lack of proper support - unlocked 1.1.2 French iPhones

iWorld Frees Up Unlocked French iPhones for Worldwide Use

AQUOS W61SH

Here is the latest phone from Sharp for the Japanese KDDI network. The W61SH will be a branded AQUOS phone featuring Mobile ASV (advanced super vivid) display which boasts a 2000:1 contrast ratio. The screen will measure 2.8 inches with a resolution of 240x400. It will also feature a 2 mega pixel camera, microSD support, measures 104×48×16.9 mm, weigh 131 grams and some sort of taskbar. I think

AQUOS W61SH

On the Road with Android

This week finds me at the Google offices in jolly old London after a quick dash out to Belgium last week. I have had the chance to meet the Mobile developers based here in London and give them an introduction to Android, as well as do the same for 70ish external developers from the London area. It has been a fun week of Android hackathons, brainstorming for Android application ideas and occasionally finding bugs and holes in the documentation.

It has been really valuable spending enough time with a group of motivated developers to move beyond the first steps and into real development work. A couple of my temporary office mates here are already well on their way to implementing a general puzzle application for Android. It will enable you to choose your favorite puzzle engines to install and then play a selection of puzzles downloaded on demand from a server – quite an ambitious project for a first try, but these guys are pretty determined and hope to have a prototype of the first puzzle (battleships) working before I hit the road again on Friday. They are also treating the implementation as a chance to learn the architecture: learning the right way to use the architectural pieces in Android rather than opting for the quick and easy shortcuts, which is the best way to really learn a new platform in my experience (don't compromise, be true to your vision).

The week is far from over yet, with another internal and external hackathon planned, and as many more ideas sessions as we can cram in.

As for the London offices – well they are fantastic. Right in the middle of everything, Jaffa Cakes in the kitchens (if you don't know what a Jaffa Cake is, or how to eat one in particular, check out this informative video on the subject). There are also a wealth of pubs within easy walking of the offices, a welcome feature for an ex-pat like me.

With the holidays getting close, don't forget that a new SDK version was announced last week with several improvements. It might be worth grabbing that before taking off for the holidays, just in case you get the urge to do some Android coding while trying to work out if you ate just a bit too much for dinner.

Happy Holidays...

For Apple iPhone, Japan Could Be the Next Big Test

Apple Inc. may be close to the most important test yet of its iPhone's global appeal.Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs recently met with officials from Japan's dominant mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., including NTT's president, Masao Nakamura, to discuss a deal to offer the iPhone in the country, say people familiar with the situation. These people say Apple has also been talking to Japan's No.

For Apple iPhone, Japan Could Be the Next Big Test

emTube

what is emTube?- emTube is an application for Symbian S60 3rd edition phones that allows you to:- Search and browse videos on YouTube.- Download selected videos onto your phone.- Stream FlashVideo files directly from YouTube.- Play local FlashVideo files.Other features:- Audio and position control during playback.- Normal and full screen (portrait and landscape mode) video playback.- Ability to

emTube

Sony Mylo 2 images

The first pic surfaced from the FCC website and the second pic shortly after. The second pic is supposed to be a pretty accurate mock up of what the new Sony Mylo will look like. This device will succeed the original Sony Mylo and will feature PSP like software and features. Looks good...

Sony Mylo 2 images

LG Voyager

Should there be an amorous - if unlikely - evening spent between the venerable Nokia Communicator and Apple's hipper than thou iPhone their children would turn out something like this...The LG 'Voyager' (also known as the 'VX10000' - left) is a surprisingly good hybrid of the two with its Finnish daddies' form factor and sexy mummies' UI. Away from its lawyer-ific styling however is what turns

LG Voyager

Samsung Juke

Samsung’s U470 is an interesting little sucker. It’s definitely one of the smallest swivel-phones that we’ve seen and now we have some more details on the svelte musicphone. The Samsung U470 will be coming to Verizon’s network as the Samsung “Juke.”Thanks to an Engadget Mobile tipster, we’ve got the deets on the external controls and the fact that it’s a “basic Verizon Wireless phone.” In other

Samsung Juke

Giorgio Armani Mobile phone

Giorgio Armani Mobile phone : Giorgio Armani, one of the world’s leading fashion and lifestyle design companies, and Samsung Electronics, a leading producer of mobile phones and telecommunications systems, today unveiled the new Giorgio Armani-Samsung luxury mobile phone. Giorgio Armani presented the new Samsung Armani mobile phone at a press briefing in his Armani / Teatro in Milan before his

Giorgio Armani Mobile phone

Fun and Entertainment Made Easier with BenQ C30

BenQ announces the launch of its BenQ C30 mobile phone, a stylish phone that features a unique top key design that lets consumers enjoy multimedia entertainment with more ease and fun. The dedicated access keys allow consumers to easily access FM radio, MP3 player and camera functions.The BenQ C30 is designed with a stylish color combination to meet the vigorous lifestyles of consumers today.

Fun and Entertainment Made Easier with BenQ C30

Asus P750

Well, HTC's Kaiser has finally hit the shelves and I'm sure many of you out there are wondering what's next? What could possibly outshine a device that's widely regarded as one of the best yet? Well dear readers, about 3 weeks ago a very special device landed on my desk, a device which I'm nicknaming "the Kaiser killer"!The device in question is the Asus P750, some details of which first leaked a

Asus P750 review

The golden Shaolin Budha mobile phone

This phone belongs in the group of outrageously ridiculous phones ever conceived and made from China. It is a Shaolin Budha themed/design inspired phone . It definitely stands out and wants attention. It features a touchscreen, microSD support and built in camera. It is plated with 24K cold and comes with Shaolin Budha content and many certificates...

The golden Shaolin Budha mobile phone

Life can be tough; here are a few SDK improvements to make it a little easier

It's been just over a month since we gave developers the first early peek at the Android SDK. We've been hard at work since then on some nifty new stuff we think you'll really like. We hope to show that to you soon, but in the meantime, we wanted to fix some of the important issues you've raised. We're very pleased to announce the immediate availability of m3-rc37a. (What a great name for a droid!)

Our servers are quivering in anticipation of the opportunity to deliver these bits fresh to your desktop. Don't be shy! But if you need further enticement to download the new version, here are a few of the improvements you'll find therein:

The new default skin for the emulator is HVGA, portrait mode. That's the one you should focus on for your submissions for the Android Developer Challenge.

We've added the ability to inject SMS messages into the emulator, which will allow you to more easily test IntentReceivers for incoming SMS messages.

The choppy audio problem in the emulator on Windows should now be solved.

There's a new emulator control panel that you can use to control network events like radio state changes and incoming calls.
The Eclipse plugin now does color syntax highlighting on the XML files, such as AndroidManifest.xml.

Some of the more annoying bugs in the Eclipse plugin have been fixed; for instance, the application launcher retries if the first try times out while waiting for the emulator to start, and "R.java" files are no longer flagged as read-only.

You can find a full list of changes for this and every release at the Release Notes page. If you're looking for tips on upgrading your SDK installation, we have those too.

We hope that these humble tweaks make your life just a little bit better, or at least, the part of your life you spend writing code.

Holiday Reminder: Apple Gift Card iPhone Purchase Restrictions

Some months ago, Apple and AT&T changed their policy regarding the purchasing of the Apple iPhone to disallow cash and require a credit card. This move by the partnering companies was made in order to reduce or eliminate the number of untraceable iPhones that were purchased in order to be hacked and/or unlocked and sold on the gray/black market. What many did not realize was that this policy

Holiday Reminder: Apple Gift Card iPhone Purchase Restrictions

Porsche Design Mobile Group unveils P'9521 handhset

While the unlicensed version of Porsche's mobile handset still holds a special place in our hearts, it looks like the Porsche Design Mobile Group finally took it upon themselves to join the growing fray and introduce its own co-branded device.The group has already slapped the luxurious logo on a sat nav device as well as a portable XM radio, but Stephane Bret (the group's director) was caught

Porsche Design Mobile Group unveils P'9521 handhset

Playstation has arrived on the iPhone and iPod Touch!

My very first build of psx4all for the iPhone & iTouch worked! You gotta love when the first compile for a program works!These are two quick screenshots of the very first build (note: not a release, just a work in progress) ...These images won't reflect how the release will look. Also ignore the data in the debug information at the top, as it's not accurate. What can you look forward to in the

Playstation has arrived on the iPhone and iPod Touch!

LG Rhapsody LB3300 Music Phone

In addition to the affordable Samsung F250 Music Slider, there’s also another music phone being launched today.This time - it’s LG “Rhapsody” -LB3300 slider, created together with high-end audio specialist Mark Levinson, who optimized 8 preset equalizer positions for the best pop, classical, jazz and other genre music playback.LG-LB3300 Rhapsody is equipped with rather interesting LED backlighted

LG Rhapsody LB3300 Music Phone

Gmail IMAP on WM6 Sucks

I have always felt that the mobile browser version of Gmail inbox is more than sufficient for my needs. Even on my AT&T 8525, it was more than capable of checking new messages and reply to friends and family. Being a self-claimed gadget freak and having the need to setup my mobile outlook to send emails (pictures, without paying for MMS fees, etc...), I decided to setup Gmail IMAP to see what it is all about, when I had WM5 installed, I was running Timewarner/Roadrunner POP3 mail.

Google offered free IMAP back in late October. This service offers some benefits over traditional POP3 access. I've not tested this service using a desktop email application such as Outlook or Apple Mail, largely because the web-based Gmail works best in its native format within a browser. However, after setting this up on my 8525, I can't say its something to write home about. Here are some of my experience:

1. Setup for Windows Mobile 6 is very easy, following Google's instructions. I was up and running in less than 5 minutes.
2. Logging on to "Send and Receive" mail takes a while. Its not much longer than the standard POP3 procedure but given what I am about to say, it feels like I wasted a lot of time for nothing.
3. Blank emails received: I get alot of messages downloaded turn up blank. Some will give you the option to "download full message next time you sync online". Of all the emails that has prompted this message, only 1 or 2 have actually delievered. The rest of the times, I am still starring at blank messages. In the mean while, Gmail full version is recognizing this message as being Read, further confusing my experience.
4. Not in control: I've checked my Gmail setting to see if I can have a better understanding of how Gmail IMAP works. In a given time, I am not sure how many of the emails are being downloaded to my handset. I know at the time when I activated IMAP, I selected to download all new emails coming after that point in time. However, the actual number of emails downloaded after that point is a mystery to me. It changes in quantity based on its own logic. Even if I wanted to read older emails after my activation date, I don't think it would give me that ability.

Conclusion: my feedback is obviously based solely on WM6 Outlook. Your experience with a full blown Outlook or Thunderbird may be completely different. Perhaps, I'll find some time to explore that in the future just to find out for myself. Google products and applications for mobile are usually superb. I find this IMAP solution on my smartphone cumbersome, slow, and not all that effective. When I think of a cool IMAP solution, I often think of my work computer connecting via VPN or BlackBerry enterprise email and Gmail IMAP on mobile is definitely not that robust. To reliably check my Gmail, I'd still have to go through the mobile IE and I will continue to do so. I am sorry to say this, but at this point, Gmail IMAP, sucks!
(Update 2/15: According to IntoMobile, the problem with Gmail IMAP on WM5/6 is now fixed! GMail Team officially confirmed the problem has been rectified!)
(Update:2/15: I've posted a review of Gmail IMAP on a Symbian S60 Nokia N95, I am very happy with its performance there)

Android and Eclipse

We can use the power of Eclipse IDE to code in Android Platform. What we need is just Android Plugins for Eclipse and Eclipse itself. Below, step by step to use eclipse and Android plugin:

Download Eclipse europe from this Eclipse Download Site (www.eclipse.org/downloads)
Install Eclipse, for windows version you just extract the zip file into destination folders.
Download Androiod plugins for eclipse
Run Eclipse IDE
Choose Menu : Help->Software Updates->Find and Install
Choose "Search for new features to install" radiobutton and click next button
Press "New Local Site" button and specify the directory where Android Plugin has been extracted.
Press OK button
if it is found than "Sites to include search" will contains "Android/android_eclipse_plugin_adt.x.x.x"
Press "Finish" button
The Series of dialogs to install the plugins will show up, just press next button and agree with the agreement (if you have read the agreement and want to agree) and press finish at last. Eclipse need to restart when this instalation has finish.
When we are asked the Android SDK directory, just choose Windows->Preference, and choose the Android preference, point to Android SDK Folder just before the tools directory under the Folder.
The Eclipse ready to use for Android Programming.

Good Luck.

Goldman Sachs Predicts Two iPhone Upgrades for 2008

Goldman Sachs released predictions for the iPhone over the next year or so. In addition to predicting strong holiday sales for the iPhone and iPod, analyst David Bailey predicted that Apple will likely issue two upgrades to the overwhelmingly successful iPhone, instead of simply releasing the second generation model.According to Bailey, Apple will release a "smaller" upgrade in the first half of

Goldman Sachs Predicts Two iPhone Upgrades for 2008

Free Version of Navizon GPS for iPhone Now Available

Navizon, who released a third-party software GPS solution for the iPhone a few months ago, announced today that it is offering a new, free version of it's software. The previous version of the Navizon software offered a 15-day free trial after which the software expired. The new version will switch to a 'Lite' mode after the trial expires and allow users to continue enjoying Navizon's GPS

Free Version of Navizon GPS for iPhone Now Available

Sony Ericsson experts speak on music, gaming & Mobile TV in January 2008

During January 2008, Sony Ericsson will be speaking at key industry events including CES and MIDEM, sharing technical expertise and business advice in the areas of mobile music, gaming and Mobile TV. Below you will find a brief description of each event with the dates and locations to put in your diary.Running in parallel to the main CES 2008 event, Digital Hollywood at CES can be found in the

Sony Ericsson experts speak on music, gaming & Mobile TV in January 2008

Creating HelloWorld on Android

Always, when we start learning a new language, we start with a helloWorld program. A HelloWorld program just contains a simple code to say A hello within the system/environtment. So, We start our Android Learning with creating A helloWorld Program.

Below a step by step creating a helloWorld Program:

Open up a Command Prompt window, go to the directory prepared for this (assume trial) and create workspace for HelloWord, code below:

d:\trial>activityCreator --out HelloWorld com.mylearn.HelloWorld

This command will create a directory under HelloWorld under trial, the HelloWorld directory contains some files and directory :

src\ contains source code for HelloWord
bin\ contains binary/intermediate code will be installed on the
device/emulator, initialize empty first
res\ contains resource file
AndroidManifest.xml manifest
build.xml information for building the program

change to HelloWorld directory, and compile the program using ant

d:\trial\helloword\>ant

Start Android Emulator, you can issue the command to start Android Emulator from command line using command like this :

d:\trial\helloworld\>start emulator.exe

Android Emulator show up, initialize everything, and ready to use.

Transfer the HelloWorld Program that has been compiled using adb tools command:

d:\trial\helloworld\>adb install bin\helloworld.apk

if the process running successfully, than we can access helloworld program from the emulator.

Go to Application folder on the emulator, and there exist helloworld icon. click the icon, and the HelloWorld Program will show up.

JetBlue to offer Email, Wifi Access for BlackBerry

Citigroup reports that JetBlue is testing a WiFi setup on selected Air Bus A320s to allow BlackBerry devices with WiFi capabilities to download their emails. The units available for this test are the 8210, 8820, and 8320 Curve. This is a move which allows business travelers connected to important email messages throughout the flight duration.

A nice move, welcome to the 21st century, finally!

WiFi is nothing new, Air Planes are nothing new, Mobile devices with built-in WiFi is nothing new; so why does it take so long before this is even being considered. Forget the 60+ channels of DirectTV, give us broadband internet access for all mobile devices. Let us decide how we want to spend the minutes on the plane connecting our iPhones or laptops to the onboard WiFi systems. Let us stream YouTube or IM our friends and family quietly on those boring plane rides.

I have longed for mobile devices to have integrated WiFi and lower data plan. This is my official complaint against any commercial establishment that do not offer WiFi internet access. This includes hotels, resorts, trains, buses, etc... We need to be connected, its almost 2008!

Google Launches New, Ultra-Slick iPhone Interface

As if the marriage between the iPhone and Google wasn't solid enough. today Google released new interface made specifically for the Apple iPhone. The new interface puts many of Google's services/applications literally right at your fingertips. Easily accessible through the new interface is Google Search, Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, and more.The new interface (seen in the screenshot

Google Launches New, Ultra-Slick iPhone Interface

Second Generation 3G iPhone Release Delayed?

Although as of this point the only real confirmation of a second generation, 3G iPhone coming in 2008 is from AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, news today indicates that release date may already be pushed back. The push back, should it be a reality, is seemingly a result of Apple's desire to keep sales of the iPhone robust during this holiday shopping season - fearing that a looming release of a newer

Second Generation 3G iPhone Release Delayed?

iPhone Tops List of Fastest Growing Google Search Terms

Though it will probably come as no surprise to iPhone owners or those who frequent sites like this, the search term "iphone" has topped off Google's list of fastest growing search terms for 2007. iPhone was joined on the list by other non-surprises such as "heroes", "tmz", and "facebook". Also making the list was something called a "webkinz", which this author is happily stupified by.Last year's

iPhone Tops List of Fastest Growing Google Search Terms

UK O2 iPhones Exhbiting Service/Reception Issues

According to a post earlier this morning on Engadget, a number of O2 iPhone owners in the UK are complaining of significant issues with reception. According to the article, users who are having problems are failing to get service/reception in areas where other O2 phones (non-iPhones) are showing strong signal strength.UK Apple stores have been exchanging units for frustrated iPhone owners without

UK O2 iPhones Exhbiting Service/Reception Issues

Download Dictionary for your Mobile Phone

Dictionary is a must have companion for everyone, irrespective of age and profession. It would be always better if we can have a dictionary in our mobile phone. This would help us to enrich our vocabulary and to clear doubts on spellings.Here is a Sun Mobile Dictionary which can be used in all the mobiles having Java support. This dictionary has most of all common words and their explanation in

Download Dictionary for your Mobile Phone

Sagem my411cv a pink clamshell for girls

Girls, we have one more thing to add to our get-me-these list for Christmas! And since its pretty affordable, I’m sure this pink clamshell phone from Sagem will definitely be in your hand. Sagem my411cv is cool as the handset's top cover is white with a pink trim while the back of the handset is entirely pink.The handset has a VGA camera with video capture and playback, a music player (additional

Sagem my411cv a pink clamshell for girls

Girls we have one more thing to add to our get-me-these list for Christmas! And since its pretty affordable, I’m sure this pink clamshell phone from Sagem will definitely be in your hand. Sagem my411cv is cool as the handset's top cover is white with a pink trim while the back of the handset is entirely pink.The handset has a VGA camera with video capture and playback, a music player (additional

Samsung F250 (SGH-F250)

The Samsung F250 is a bit of an oddity - it looks expensive, but it isn't really. And it also comes with an unusual combination of features that means that it doesn't quite fit into a traditional product range.The most obvious thing about the SGH-F250 is the glossy

Samsung X830

It seems appropriate that I am writing about Samsung’s SGH-X830 just as the chat about Apple’s newly announced music playing iPhone reaches fever pitch. This phone is a combination of music player and Tri-band phone that is designed like no other combination of these two features I have ever seen. The Samsung SGH-X830 looks more like a portable music player

Nokia 3110 Evolve

If you're the sort of person who thinks that not using a plastic bag for your shopping is actually some meaningful way to save the planet, then the Nokia 3110 Evolve is for you.Based on an unremarkable and fairly inexpensive handset launched earlier this year, the 3110

Nokia 3110 Evolve

New Google Interface for the iPhone

As the iPhone paved the way for enhanced interfaces and touch screen capability for the phone, Google launced a revised version of their home page exclusively for iPhone users on Wednesday. It was said that it was revamped to make better use of the iPhone's touch screen, Wi-Fi, and Safari browser.

A member of Google's Mobile team stated, "I set out to create an application that would preload my favorite Google products and allow me to switch between them instantly. I wanted Web results as well as image, local, and news results without having to repeat my search. I wanted to check Gmail and my news feeds in Google Reader without having to load a new page every time. I also wanted Google Suggest to save me time typing queries on the virtual keyboard."

I have to say this is the perfect step in the right direction as phones have become "cooler" with larger screens, innovative touch screen capabilities, and easier navigation. Now if they would only hurry to add the 3G, Corporate mail (Outlook/ActiveSync), Navigation, and a better onscreen keyboard to the iPhone...

On-device debugging for P1 and W960 with updated Java™ ME SDK (beta)

The latest release of the Sony Ericsson SDK for the Java™ ME platform introduces on-device debugging for the Sony Ericsson P1 and W960 UIQ 3-based phones.Download the Sony Ericsson SDK 2.5.0.1 (beta) for the Java ME PlatformThe on-device debugging directory includes the Java Debug Agent (JavaDebugAgent.SIS) which must be deployed onto the P1 or W960 and provides the debugging functionality.Once a

On-device debugging for P1 and W960 with updated Java™ ME SDK (beta)

Verizon Wireless Brings Wireless Joy to the World with the MOTO™ Z6c Slider Phone

Motorola’s Z6c from Verizon Wireless is Now Available and Packed for International Travel with Global Roaming CapabilitiesBASKING RIDGE, N.J.., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – 5 Dec. 2007 – Verizon Wireless, the leading wireless company with the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced the availability of the MOTO Z6c world edition, an

Verizon Wireless Brings Wireless Joy to the World with the MOTO™ Z6c Slider Phone

Ericsson to develop and host 3's music service in Sweden and Denmark

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has been selected by leading operator 3 to develop and host its award-winning mobile music service, 3Music, in Sweden and Denmark.Under the agreement Ericsson will have end-to-end responsibility for 3's world-leading music service, including systems integration, operations and development of new features. The service will give more than 885,000 Danish and Swedish customers

Ericsson to develop and host 3's music service in Sweden and Denmark

Google Developer Podcast: Android

Dianne Hackborn and Jason Parks are two of the architects on the Android engineering team, and in this podcast they talk to us about the Android platform from a technical perspective.

Dianne and Jason share a background at both Be and PalmSource, and talk about how that experience has been applied to Android. Other topics covered include:

Some history behind the project

The high level architecture of Android. For example, how Linux processes handle the VM and manage security (the VM doesn't handle it)

Details on the Dalvik VM and how it is optimized for small devices

The architecture: From Intents to Views to Permissions and more

How XML is slow, but the tools convert the XML to a nicer format for you

The tooling and steps for building an application on Android

How so many objects have a URL, and how the environment is like a mini-SOA (Services across processes instead of across the network)

Thoughts on how you program for small devices, and things to watch out for if you move from the desktop

The control, or lack of control that you have over the application lifecycle

"Everything you do drains the battery"

The thread story: they exist, you don't have to deal with them if you don't want to, and the UI

Using XMPP for messaging

You can download the episode directly, or subscribe to the show (click here for iTunes one-click subscribe).

MOTORAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition is real gold

If you are into gold shiny gadgets that scream money you should try the new MOTORAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition - which I have to admit looks stunning. With lavish 18k gold plated accents, engraved details and a black snakeskin pattern, this exclusive edition RAZR™ is sharper than ever.With 2GB of memory, the RAZR2 Luxury Edition packs an incredible amount of music, pictures and video inside a design

MOTORAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition is real gold

Nokia Siemens Networks launches “pocket-sized” VoIP

Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 04, 2007To better capitalize on the marriage of telecommunications and the Internet, Nokia Siemens Networks is strengthening its VoIP and core network offering by introducing the Communication Key, a USB device with SIM authentication that lets subscribers take VoIP and other rich communications on the road.At the Nokia World event in Amsterdam, Nokia Siemens

Nokia Siemens Networks launches “pocket-sized” VoIP

Search with Google Maps. Find your way with TomTom

Familiar with Google Maps?Then you know how easy it is to find the right spots; like restaurants, hotels, shops and much more.Familiar with TomTom?Then you know how easily TomTom guides you to these locations.So imagine how easy navigation has become, now that we’ve seamlessly connected the two. You can send business addresses directly from Google Maps to your TomTom device! Simply click on the

Search with Google Maps. Find your way with TomTom

AT&T Tilt - $174 Shipped.

In less than two months since I first noticed it going live, the hot AT&T Tilt (built-in GPS, 3G Data, WiFi, WM6, etc.) is now going for a fraction of its list price on Amazon.com. With a $25 rebate subtracting from the $199 amazingly low price, you can have this phone shipped to you for $174.99 (no tax for some states). What an amazing price for a powerful smartphone. With Microsoft Live and GMAP working with built-in GPS, this phone is very enticing for many business professionals.

PS - Price is for new contract only...

Update (1/14/08) - Price is now $149 after $50 rebate!

How to Replace Your iPhone Battery

Apple has locked down the iPhone battery, which means that once it can’t hold a charge, you need to send it in. If you’d rather just buy your own battery and replace it yourself, we’ve got your hookup. Nate and I got together to film this this tutorial, which shows how to replace your iPhone battery. Heck, even if you have decided that you will never open up your iPhone on your own, we think it’s

How to Replace Your iPhone Battery

Sony Ericsson W960 unboxing video

About This VideoSony Ericsson W960i is the latest Symbian UIQ based smartphone from the Swedish-Japanese handset maker. It features 3.2 MP camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, new Walkman interface along with dedicated music control buttons... and it's expandable with other applications. Enjoy the unboxing video!

Sony Ericsson W960 unboxing video

FIH takes over Nokia San Diego CDMA team, say sources

Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) has taken over the CDMA team of Nokia located in San Diego, USA, in attempts to further strengthen its partnership with the handset vendor, according to market sources.FIH is facing strong competition from rivals such as Compal Communications, BYD and TechFaith. These companies are expected to begin shipping low-end CDMA handsets to Nokia in the first half of

FIH takes over Nokia San Diego CDMA team, say sources

Another example of why the tech industry and mobile operators don't get along

When you work in consumer electronics, one of the rules that gets drilled into you very early on is that you never do anything to disrupt the holiday selling season. In the US, the month between Thanksgiving and the end of the year can account for three months' worth of sales, if not more. During that time, you don't change prices, you don't alter your ad campaigns, and most of all you don't ever say anything about future products, because that might cause customers to hesitate before making a holiday purchase.

So the CEO of ATT, giving a speech this week in Silicon Valley of all places, says that a 3G version of the iPhone is in the works:

"Has Jobs announced that? I don't think he's announced that, but you'll have it next year."

Not only does he spill the beans, but he acknowledges that Apple hasn't announced it and then talks about it anyway (link). The next day the story is carried by the AP, MSNBC, the Times of London, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the SJ Mercury News (which had the version of the quote above), and 318 other publications according to Google.

In the US, the assessment from a lot of commentators is that this won't have much impact because the iPhone is so popular anyway. Maybe, I guess, although the iPhone isn't sold out, so any loss in sales is still a loss. But in Europe, I think it could be a big problem. iPhone sales there are not going great to begin with, and folks in Europe are generally much more conscious of 3G vs. 2G issues. The acknowledgment that a 3G iPhone is coming could cause a lot of people to hesitate before buying.

If AT&T competed directly with Orange, O2, and T-Mobile Germany, I'd be tempted to speculate that they made the announcement on purpose to hurt the competition. But they don't, so I suspect this is just a case of a CEO who wanted to show that he's not controlled by Steve Jobs but instead demonstrated that he doesn't understand consumer electronics.

Google Maps Mobile - My Location

Google's Map application for mobile is one of the best things that happened to mobile devices. I've enjoyed it in the beginning on BlackBerry devices. As time progresses, they've developed .cab files for Windows Mobile devices which worked w/ some flaws in WM5 but near flawless within WM6. Yesterday, they released a new 2.0 beta for the application to support a new feature called "My Location". This is great for phones without built-in GPS (even if you do have GPS, chances are, your wireless carrier will charge you to use it) where they use nearby cell-tower and other GPS-enabled phone users signal to triangulate your location.

Yours truly downloaded the latest GMAP mobile application tonight to give it a whirl. Installation went fine as usual, however, from my apartment in the West Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, GMAP prompt that it can't find my current location. Bummer. I'll need to try this on my way to work tomorrow morning.

A Maze of Twisty Little Passages

The end of last week was Thanksgiving in the US, the tradition is to be with family, eat too much food and watch football (not necessarily in that order).

Apparently some folks took the chance to work on Android projects too. We are highlighting a few of the projects that caught our eye.

One of the coming of age rituals of any new platform is the porting of the Z-machine – the interpreter used in the Zork series of games from Infocom. Now Android has the Z-machine thanks to sussman and mariusm. The project, called Twisty, is available on Google code hosting. Thanks for the lost productivity you guys.

Testing is also a hot topic on our Google groups. While JUnit is bundled with the Android SDK to make it possible to do unit testing, there are many other kinds of testing, like automated acceptance testing. Positron builds on the Android instrumentation features from the SDK to make automated acceptance testing of Android applications possible. The author, phil.h.smith, has a pretty good introduction on how to use Positron as well.

Plugins for other IDEs are another favorite on the Android Google groups. While there are only rumblings about a NetBeans plugin at present, the idea-android project already has an early release for IntelliJ IDEA thanks to aefimov.box and intelliyole.

Dion Almaer also picked up on a crossover GWT/Android project which looks pretty amazing too. Chronoscope is an open source charting and visualization library written in GWT. The team were able to take the library, and with 8 hours of playing with Android, had a port to the Android platform.

Of course, there are many more Android projects springing up all the time, as a search of the android label on Google code hosting will demonstrate. It's great to see all this activity just a couple of weeks after the SDK was released.

Windows XP vs. Vista

I am sure people have been experience the "lag" from Windows Vista unless they had powerful machines and long hoped for the first service pack to be released. Well, some bad news is that a software development company in Florida, Devil Mountain Software, stated that Windows XP (beta Service Pack 3) has 2x the performance of Vista (Service Pack 1). Vista's first ever service pack is supposed to be released early next year and is supposedly said to boost the operating system's performance.

The competition resulted in Vista taking over 80 seconds to complete the test, compared to the XP's 35 seconds. Vista's performance increased less than 2% compared to the performance without SP1 while XP's SP3 improvement resulted in a 10% gain. The tests, run on a Dell XPS M1710 test bed with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 1GB of RAM, put Microsoft Office 2007 through a set of productivity tasks, including creating a compound document and supporting workbooks and presentation materials.

This can definitely be an issue for Microsoft as it aspires to increase it's sales of Vista, especially to businesses. It's no wonder my notebook has to "think" to open a PowerPoint.

Questions about Verizon's new "open" attitude

More than half of the traffic to this weblog comes from outside the US, so there are times when I feel obligated (and a little embarrassed) to explain how the mobile market works here. This is one of those moments.

Verizon, the largest US mobile carrier, made headlines in the US today by announcing that by the end of 2008 it's going to make its network available to any device and any application that the user chooses to install (link).

This will seem remarkable to people living in GSM countries where it's normal to choose any device you want. But in the US, it's an unusual idea. Here mobile usage is split between GSM and CDMA. GSM phones have SIM cards, which technically allow you to switch your account to any phone you want. But in practice, almost no users are willing to give up the several hundred dollar subsidy for buying a phone and service plan together, so they only choose phones that come through the operator.

Things are even more restrictive in the CDMA space, where there are no SIM cards. If you buy a Verizon phone, it can only be used with a Verizon account. Same thing for Sprint.

So Verizon's announcement is a nice change, on the face of it. It's also something of a pleasant shock, since Verizon has the reputation of being the most conservative and controlling US operator. But the announcement's actual impact on the market is going to depend on several questions that Verizon hasn't answered yet:

--How will open access be implemented? Verizon says it's going to define a process by which phones can be certified to work on its network. That could be routine or it could turn into a huge barrier to entry. We also don't know how a user's account will be switched between phones. Is Verizon planning to start installing SIM cards in its phones (something that has been done with CDMA in China)? If not, will you have to take the phone to a Verizon store to get it activated? How much will that cost?

Verizon apparently said something about doing activation through a toll-free number, which could be cool.

--How will the service be priced? Verizon's service plans include recovery of the several hundred dollar subsidy for hardware. You pay for the subsidy as part of your monthly bill. Since Verizon doesn't have to recover a subsidy cost on its open access phones, there's about $10 or more a month that it could pass along to consumers in the form of lower bills.

If Verizon doesn't price the open service lower, what happens to the extra money? Does Verizon pocket it? Or will they offer some sort of rebate on purchase of open access phones?

The answer to this one is critical. The US GSM carriers are technically open, but the subsidy prevents significant sales of alternate phones. If Verizon pockets the subsidy money, very few people will take advantage of the open service. The whole thing could turn out to be a PR gesture rather than a genuine change.

But in the hope that Verizon wants it to be more, here's what they ought to do:

--Make the monthly cost of the open plan lower than a traditional service plan, reflecting the absence of a subsidy.
--Make the handset certification process simple and low cost.
--Make it easy for users to switch their account to a new phone (preferably via a SIM card or website or that 800 number, so they don't have to come to a store).

That's an announcement I'd stand up and cheer for.

Impact on the industry

Until we hear the answers to the questions above, it's impossible to guess how impactful this announcement will be. The most important factor may be how the other US operators react. The best result would be if they start competing with each other to see who can make their network more open. If that dynamic takes hold, competitive forces might drive them to really open up even if they don't intend to.

Pesky iPhoto Function "Original" and "Modified" Folders

iPhoto to me is a mediocre photo viewer. I prefer ACDSEE or PICASA but these options aren't available to Mac users. One of the most annoying features in iPhotos is its ability to duplicate sets after sets of photos in the "Originals" and "Modified" photos. I am dedicating this entry to help combat this annoying feature and share with you, what I deemed to be the more "PC" way to manage photo library utilizing iPhoto.

1. Managing the source - after taking a serious amount of pictures from my trusty camera or (downloaded from the internet), I usually like to keep my photos in a dedicated location on my computer (along with my other important documents). By default, I never keep it in where the OS is suggesting me to (ie. Never in "My Documents" on PCs or "[username] - Documents" on OSX). I find my own location being a much easier way to centralize my files (music, photo, or docs) when it comes time to backing things up.

2. iPhoto - Turn off its ability to duplicate a copy into its "Original" photo.
Under iPhoto>Preference>Advanced, check off the box that sayings "Importing: Copy Items to the iPhoto Library". When you are importing, try to go through the iPhoto interface (File>Importing>) instead of dragging the source images by mouse dragging. This step will prevent your images from being duplicated into the "Originals". With this move, you'll find that the images are merely shortcuts to your source. (Its easy to locate the iPhoto Library Originals folder under iPhoto '06, for iPhoto 08, use this Show Package Content reference to get to the Originals folder.

3. Modified folders - I tend to avoid editing in iPhotos (I'd rather use Photoshop to edit the the source). However, in bizarre occasions such as dealing with iPhone's images (no matter how you import photos off of your iPhone, it automatically assumes a modified set is necessary). There is a quick way to fix the problem. Just simple right click on the photos you've just imported into iPhoto and select "Revert to Original". This will get rid of the duplicates in the modified folders.

If this is done right, when you right click on a photo in iPhoto, only "Show File" can be selected (while "Show Original" is gray'd out). Selecting "Show File" should point you right to where your source file location. Whereas the iPhoto default whould give you "Show File" as the modified folder and "Show Original" as the original folder. Boo...

*Important Warning: This article is assuming that you do not want to take advantage of iPhoto's ability to help you keep duplicates while modifying your photos. You are minimizing iPhoto's built-in protection to keep a duplicate in the "Originals" and "Modified" folders. I personally find this iPhoto feature extremely annoying as it triples the size of hard disk space. I am also assuming you've got a clean canvas to work with, meaning you haven't already gone ahead and modified a bunch of images in an old iPhoto library. If you are pretty far along in using iPhoto for its features and have modified a good amount of pictures, you'll have to just start from clean slate and make copies/backups of your "originals" and "modified" photos.

Tip: iPhoneDrive Brings Disc Mode to iPhones

iPhoneDrive ($9.95), from Ecamm Network, allows you to use your iPhone for file storage, something you can't do with Apple's iPod/smartphone combo out-of-the-box, as there's no disk mode for iPhones like there is for iPods.Launching iPhoneDrive brings up the utility’s browser window and toolbar. It is from there you can transfer files and folders back and forth between your Mac OS X computer and

Tip: iPhoneDrive Brings Disc Mode to iPhones

HELP: I need a RDP client on my iPhone

As a network engineer you can use the SSH client to remotely manage your corporate switches and routers from your iPhone. But suppose you are a Windows Server system engineer, you like to use an application better known as Microsoft Terminal Server Client, better known as MSTSC in the Microsoft world. When you start it in XP, you can punch in the name of the remote Windows Server you want to

HELP: I need a RDP client on my iPhone

Samsung Launches CDMA Phone, MAX

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., has launched its first open market phone - Samsung MAX in the CDMA segment.The slider is launched through the company's own distribution network and aiming at the growing CDMA market, will be available to both Tata Indicom and Reliance Mobile subscribers.Hyundai Kim, Vice President and Head - CDMA Division, Samsung Telecommunications India Pvt. Ltd., said, "We expect

Samsung Launches CDMA Phone, MAX

Android, First Touch

Android (As defined in google)is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. And Google has been release AndroidSDK, contains tools and API, for developing application under Android Platform.

I have been download the SDK, and in a few day will learn it, and try to code in Android Platform, and i will show you, the reader, how to do it.

Fresh new Nokia 5310 XpressMusic pics

"From the compact Nokia 5310 XpressMusic music phone to the fully-featured Nokia N81 multimedia computer, Nokia offers a range of entertainment-enabled devices for consumers who want their music, games and favourite media with them wherever they go," says Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President, Nokia. "We believe these full-featured, well-designed devices will be very popular and will help bring

Fresh new Nokia 5310 XpressMusic pics

McAfee Delivers on Triple Play Promise With Mobile Security Offering

McAfee VirusScan Mobile now availableSANTA CLARA, Calif., /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) today announced that McAfee® VirusScan® Mobile, which is included in McAfee's Triple Play offer, is now available for download at http://us.mcafee.com. McAfee currently offers market-leading defense for consumers' PCs and Internet experiences, and the new mobile security component protects

McAfee Delivers on Triple Play Promise With Mobile Security Offering

McAfee VirusScan Mobile now available SANTA CLARA, Calif., /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) today announced that McAfee® VirusScan® Mobile, which is included in McAfee's Triple Play offer, is now available for download at http://us.mcafee.com. McAfee currently offers market-leading defense for consumers' PCs and Internet experiences, and the new mobile security component protects

Tons of new Nokia N82 live pics

Here are great fresh new live pics of the Nokia N82. The phone looks amazing in these pics and further down there are pics comparing the N82 to the N95 8GB. Man...the N95 8GB has such a huge screen. If the N95 8GB had the xenon flash then it would have been perfect. Perhaps, Nokia will make the N95 8GB successor with a xenon flash. Enjoy the pics.Pics from mobile01i think Nokia N82 very cool. And

Tons of new Nokia N82 live pics

Korea first country in the world to conduct a program to Cure Mobile Phone Addicts

Korea is believed to be the first country in the world to conduct a program to help cure mobile phone addiction among the young.A civic group called School Beautiful Movement, together with the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion and SK Telecom, has launched a campaign to teach the youth proper cell phone use. The group hope that the program will help prevent mobile phone abuse

Korea first country in the world to conduct a program to Cure Mobile Phone Addicts

I call me

“i call me” is a mobile phone accessory and a key chain1,use your mobile phone to call the “i call me”(send a signal),”i call me” rings. It is useful,when you can’t find your keys(or wallet,or other)2,use “i call me” to call your mobile phone(just push the button),your mobile phone rings.so you can find your mobile phone.Also it’s very helpful,when you need to pretend that someone calls youIt's a

I call me

Yellow Gold/Diamond Lines 1GB - SwissMemory™ Prestige

The SwissMemory™ Prestige collection is available only in shells of solid 925 Sterling Silver or 18 ct. White and Yellow Gold. Some designs are handcrafted, mounted with natural diamonds by the world’s best craftsmen, all 100% Swiss made.PRODUCT DETAILS18 ct. Yellow GoldUSB-Memory with 1GB memory stickBladeNail file with screwdriverScissorsKey ringPrice USD: $6,000.00Price CAN: $7,000.00Style

Yellow Gold/Diamond Lines 1GB - SwissMemory™ Prestige

Facebook - what, why, how?

Yes, I know it's been awhile since my last blog post - but rest assured, I haven't forgotten about my blog, it's just that lately I've been dedicating more time to other social channels, especially Twitter and Facebook, and of course also my Second Life. I really believe that you have to get immersed in any new technology in order to really understand it and be able to figure out why it works for so many people.

I already wrote about what I believe to be the magic behind Twitter, and today I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts on Facebook. I decided to choose this subject not only because I find Facebook quite fascinating, but also because there are a lot of people out there wondering what FB is all about and what it should/can be used for. In fact, FB might seem pretty straightforward, but it can take some time to figure it out. And that is why I've decided to share my personal experience with FB.

Ok, let's just start with the basics. As you probably know, FB is a very popular social networking site, which enables you to create your profile and connect with friends. In addition to this, it has its own developer platform, which developers can use to build different applications that enable users to do more or less useful activities. Yes, these apps only work in the closed environment of FB, making the site almost some kind of web operating system that doesn't want to talk to the rest of the web on its own, but requires developers to learn its language (called FBML) to bring the magic of the web and social interactions to it. Not surprisingly, many people criticize FB for being a walled garden, and Google is now trying hard to out open social networks with OpenSocial; but for an average Joe all this is not very relevant. If you've got most of your friends on FB and a lot of fun things to do, you don't really care how it's done, so I'll discuss the OpenSocial vs FB platform (or the new FB advertising options) some other time. Today, I'd just like to focus on the user perspective about various uses of FB apps, which in my opinion are the magic ingredient that make FB so appealing to an increasing number of users (some might add: and such a time waster ;) ).

I think we can divide FB apps, and consequently FB's value for the users, in three main categories:

Self-promotion and branding: At its core, FB is a place where you can build your own profile. When we build an online profile, we create our online persona, which will be seen by our friends or even the entire world. We might not realize that, but when we fill in various profile fields or choose our profile picture, we decide how we want to be presented to the world. You might want to emphasize your professional side or your fun side; but in both cases we make a choice in how we "brand" ourselves to our public (which we can choose by limiting our profile only to contacts for example). And there are many FB functions and apps that can help us build our persona (or even our personal brand), for example: various default profile options (picture, interests, work & education info, favorite things,...), joining groups (the FB groups function is awful, but I find it useful to publicly express my interest in certain topics), labeling yourself as a fan of something (made possible by the new product pages), your choice and variety of friends, the choice of profile layout (choosing which info to make public, having your music playlist, favorite quotes or the result of a personality test displayed, ...), your FB statuses, the items that appear in our mini-feed etc.. Some people even prefer having multiple profiles for different personas (for example, a different account for their Second Life avatar). Building our FB persona can be quite a task, and a lot of people choose to use just this aspect of FB. They register, fill in the info and connect with friends, and use FB just to say "I'm online too - if you want to connect to me use my e-mail/phone number".
Social play: The next category of FB apps enables us to have fun and keep in touch with out friends. We all have busy lives, a lot of our friends live in different cities or even parts of the world, and it's often not easy to find the time or way to hang out together. And here is where FB can help: it enables us to keep in touch with friend through different social (often playful) activities. Even if you're extremely busy, you can always find a minute or two to poke your friends, throw a sheep at them, turn them into a zombie or send them a virtual pet, flower or image. All these apps help us say "I'm thinking about you" in different ways. It might look silly, but it feels nice to receive virtual cakes when you set your status to ill. We often like to say "It's the thought that counts", and I think the social play apps in FB are a great proof of that. Also, the FB news feed, which displays various news about our friends, can help us feel closer to each other as it's constantly reminding of people, telling us what they are doing and providing an easy way to interact with them ("Click here to hug your friend too"). Sure, the feed items are a great way for developers to promote their app, but it does have some positive side effects I've just mentioned.
(Social) toolbox: The last category of apps is represented by a set of utilities that can help you save time, provide useful information and even be more organized. These apps can make FB a more "serious" tool. They enable us things like checking our e-mail, collaborating on documents with friends, getting info about weather, keeping track of what time it is for our friends that live in different time zones (my latest favorite app!), displaying latest blog entries from your friends and yourself and much more. These apps are the main reason why people are considering using FB as a business tool or even an e-learning tool. It's comfortable to be able to do so many different things (from play to work) on one single site, and if we want so, we can even make our "serious" activities social by choosing to display info from utility apps on our profile, and thus provide some valuable info to our contacts (I like to use FB Posted Items for this purpose).

These categories can of course often be overlapping - for example, social play apps or social toolbox apps can be used as a branding tool, and often the line between social play and social toolbox can be a fine one. An important point to remember here is that you don't need to use every aspect of Facebook; use what makes sense to you. It's fine if you just want to create a basic profile, and it' fine if you just want to use FB as a social toolbox and ignore the play aspects.

I'd like to conclude this post with some basic Facebook tips that I hope can help you in the process of getting to know FB and finding the added value of this tool for you:

Play with FB, but make sure you've got friends to play with. Try out different apps, explore, and be curious, but try not to annoy your friends while doing that. You don't have to send out invites to ALL of your friends for EVERY app you add (there's always a Skip button!). Show your friends you care and know them by sending them invitations for apps that you are pretty sure will be interesting for them.
Take some time to adjust your privacy settings. Decide which info/activities can be public, for friends or entirely private. You can also decide whether you want your name to appear in search or not. In the future we'll have the abilities to group friends and have different profiles for close friends, professional contacts, family etc.; but until we don't, try to figure out the best way to present yourself to all the people on your contacts list. You might want consider using the limited profile contacts you don't know well. You can find all these settings under the Privacy link in the upper right corner.
Remember that you don't need to have every app you use on your profile. You can access apps from the left-hand menu or the application list. Removing an app box from your profile only will not delete the app, and you will still be able to receive gifts, bite chumps and do all the other *fun* activities. Your friends can often see your app info (for example: Linkeness score) from the app itself, so there's really no need to keep everything on your profile. I know it's not easy, but try not to overload your profile page. When I choose what I want on my profile or not, I like to think about what info I can provide to a new friend that want to get to know me better, and what info I can provide to friends that I haven't spoken in a while. So, to put it simply, take care of your persona, and remember that you can choose the visibility for each profile element. Some info are for friends only while you might want to have some available public.

But of course, this post is based entirely of my Facebook experience in the past few months, and I'm sure we all have our own story to tell. So I'm really interested in hearing your Facebook story: how and why are you using FB, and what is in your opinion the added value of FB over other social networks? Also, what do you think are the best tips you could give to people just starting with FB or people still trying to figure out what the fuss is about?