MousePad with Caller ID ?

I never thought it would happen either. It also incorporates a speakerphone, calculator and alarm clock.

Send and receive calls while you work. This Maximo Concepts Mouse Pad features a built-in speakerphone allowing to place and receive calls without interrupting your work.

This Maximo Mouse Pad also functions as a calculator, alarm clock and offers Caller ID. It can store up to 110 phone book entries and the LCD display provides a convenient way to see telephone numbers and names easily.

Customize with 16 hold melodies and up to 48 ringer melodies! With its smooth surface, this Maximo Concepts Mouse Pad provides easy navigation for either optical or ball operated mouse devices.

Metro application for Nokia 3rd edtion

Metro helps you find your way in the public transport systems (subway, bus, trams, ...) in more than 350 cities around the world. FREE, FAST & ACCURATE.

Flash Lite 1.1 application: FlashWeather

Via S60.com, Foreca created a Flash Lite 1.1 application to check the weather: FlashWeather.

“FlashWeather is the perfect weather tool in your pocket: it’s easy to use and with attractive animated graphics and the latest high-quality forecasts and observations it’s the last weather application you’re going to need. Since July 2006 FlashWeather Asia has been included in the bundle pack for the Nokia 6131 distributed in Singapore.”

Stolen mobiles 'will be blocked', Phone Hackers Left to Rot In Jail

The BBC — AKA the Benny Hill Network — reports that by the year's end, in the UK:

Around 80% of mobile phones will be blocked on all five UK networks within 48 hours of being reported stolen in future, industry leaders have pledged.
That pledge is part of a charter to reduce phone crime launched by the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum.

Crappy sentence structure aside, this sounds good. But I'm also freaked out. What's next? Shutting down phones with pirated MP3s on them? The article also points out another law in the UK: "Those convicted under the Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002 can face up to five years in prison."

Limey phone Haxxors, you are about to be owned

Pantech PG-6200: Cellphone With a Fingerprint Reader

The Pantech PG-6200 has stats that, on a Friday afternoon, I can't even pretend to care about. What does make me perk up is the Pantech's fingerprint scanner that can be used for biometric security. Scan your digits to lock and unlock the phone. Sweet, eh? Stats? Oh fine. Those, and more details, after the jump.

CECT A1000 Touchscreen Phone With 1000 Hours Standby

The CECT has a large 2000 mAh battery that provides its most compelling feature, the 1000 hours of standby time. Coupled with 10 hours of talk time, 2.2-inch touchscreen display, 32MB internal memory, transflash slot, and 4 megapixel camera, this cellphone may be the best thing to come out of China since Yao Ming. But unlike Yao, this boy's going to do all his playing in the mother land.

Opera Mini 2.0 Aims To Simplify Mobile Commerce

Opera has released Opera Mini 2.0, which allows downloads of files and removes a step from the process of buying mobile content. When a content provider requires a customer to send a particular word via text message Opera Mini 2.0 will send the message when a user clicks on the link to buy it — so the user doesn’t have to exit the WAP page and go to the messaging menu. “In order to enable the service, content providers must include specific scripts on their Web sites. The sites will then detect when a visitor is using Opera Mini 2.0 and enable the shortened buying procedure.”

Microsoft demos hybrid computer/phone

The line of distinction between a full fledged computer and mobile phone has been blurred with the advent of smartphones and Microsoft is doings its best to continue the trend. The company demoed a prototype product that combines Windows CE and a phone. The device is able to hook into a keyboard and TV to perform PC-like tasks.

Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie thinks this type of device could bring computing to the masses:

"Could this be your first computer? And if it was, what could you do with it?" Mundie asked. He demonstrated word processing, multimedia playback and Web browsing using scaled-down versions of Internet Explorer, Word and Windows Media Player. "For at least simplified applications, it's harder to distinguish this from a computer," he said.

Microsoft has been facing pressure to develop a low-cost PC as emerging markets begin to come online. Nicholas Negroponte founded the One Laptop per Child organization to bring computers to emerging markets, but to cut costs the project is not using any Microsoft software (opting instead for open source apps).

Mad Cow Disease Linked To Bovine Mobile Phone Users

Thats right, British scientists studying the disease claim to have discovered the main cause of Mad Cow when they accidentally came across a pack of Friesian Holsteins chatting away on mobile phones.

"We knew mobile phones were dangerous, and we knew cows were intrigued by wireless technology, but when we saw them using the mobiles, we made the connection right away," said lead researcher Kevin Barrington, who spotted the culprits at a dairy farm outside Kent.

With the already existing concern linking cell phones to brain cancer this will prove to be yet another headache for the mobile industry which has already dismissed the British claims. "To even insinuate that cell phones could somehow be the cause of this disease is as absurd as the notion that cows could use cell phones at all," said Nokia spokesperson Nigel Wanthorpe.

Gamevil Moves To USA

Gamevil has opened a US subsidiary in Los Angeles. These are the guys who developed Skipping Stone, which is published by iPlay and has won several awards. From the press release:
“The company’s portfolio emphasizes easily accessible casual and networked games, all of which are based on bleeding-edge technologies. One such technology is GAMEVIL LIVE, a scalable, user-friendly network gaming service that will bridge new gamers to existing carrier communities…Along with great games and novel technologies, GAMEVIL USA will also bring GAMEVIL’s winning business strategy to the United States. GAMEVIL is a marketing leader in Korea, where it has pioneered direct-to-consumer and community-based promotions.”
Gamevil plans to use the same marketing techniques in the US, which should be a good thing — many people think that distribution is one of the biggest problems with the US (and most of the world’s) mobile gaming market.

Nokia Tests UMA in Finland

Nokia is testing real-world handoffs between GSM and Wi-Fi with its 6136 UMA handset in Oulu, Finland, according to the company. The trial will last for 2 months and involves practical use by 50 families (necessary as the goal is to see how well UMA hands over from residential Wi-Fi to other networks).

Oulu also presents an interesting test-bed as it began deployment last year of municipal hotspots via the Pan Oulu project, which provides citizens free Wi-Fi in various parts of the city.

New Slider from BenQ

BenQ Siemens have announced a new slider handset, the SL91. The new handset, which is due for release in November this year, features a 3.2 megapixel camera, large QVGA display, MP3 player and radio and UMTS support. It even has a small hidden camera above the keypad for making video calls.

The device's Force Resistor technology means that the slider automatically opens when a small pressure is applied to reveal the number pad, although the front of the new mobile also has touch sensitive keys. The whole phone is clad in a shiny black finish, making the phone also look extremely stylish

More Cash for Digital Chocolate

Mobile game developer Digital Chocolate, headed up by Trip Hawkins, has secured another round of funding, obtaining an additional US$22.5 million from a group of investors led by Bridgescale Partners. This round, the company's third, brings the total VC investment in the EA founder's new company to just under US$45 million.

Google live traffic Maps on your Mobile Phone

Google has integrated a live traffic feed into its Google Maps for Mobiles application. The service allows you to choose a destination and have Google map out the route for you, and by selecting show traffic “highway traffic information is sent to the phone, with road conditions highlighted in three colors: — red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns, and green for smooth sailing”. It’s in “30 major US cities”, including LA, New York and Chicago.

Outkast Launches Music Video via O2

OutKast has launched their latest Music Video through O2's mobile platform n a cross-promotional deal between Sony and BMG. O2 customers will be able to download and view the music video for the single Morris Brown a week before it is aired elsewhere, along with being able to download custom versions of the single alongside other OutKast mobile content.

Grahame Riddell, head of content marketing at O2, said: "This new deal with Sony BMG strengthens O2's music proposition further allowing us to offer our customers compelling music content they won't find elsewhere -- in the case of OutKast not even on MTV."

"Sony BMG and OutKast's decision to offer O2 customers the first view of their new music video demonstrates the power of the mobile community in offering a captive audience for artists to showcase their music to."

Signing Error Messages Series 60 (S60) 3rd Edition

If you have been reading discussions at Forum Nokia Developer Discussion Board recently, you may notice there are many questions about signing in S60 3rd Edition. It seems the new security feature in Symbian 9 has led to frustration for some developers.

I would like to share what kind of error messages I have seen when installing signed/unsigned application in S60 3rd Edition phones. There is a hint that explains what may cause a particular message. I may not be able to cover all error messages because I may not have seen all of them.

Read also a nice blog posting from S60 team, Signing applications for S60 3rd Edition.

Message: Certificate error. Contact the application supplier.

Hint: You may have tried installing unsigned application. Note that signing is mandatory S60 3rd Edition. You can use self-signed certificate or developer certificate from Symbian Signed to sign your application.

Message: Unable to install. Constrained by the certificate.

Hint: This message pops up when you attempt to install developer certificate in the unsupported device. The developer certificate from Symbian Signed can only be used in a limited number of devices. Remember that you have to send your IMEIs to Symbian Signed when requesting certificate. You cannot use the certificate in other devices that is not in your IMEIs list.

Message: Required application access not granted

Hint: Check that your certificate can be used to sign all capabilities needed by your application. For example, if you use self-signed certificate, you can only sign basic set capabilities, i.e. NetworkServices, ReadUserData, WriteUserData, LocalServices and UserEnvironment. If your application requires one of the extended capabilities, for example SwEvent, you cannot sign it with self-signed certificate. In this case, apply for developer certificates from Symbian Signed.

Message: Unable to install a protected application from an untrusted supplier

Hint: If you use self-signed certificate, make sure that your application uses unprotected UID, i.e. 0xA0000000 - 0xAFFFFFFF. If you use protected UID (0×20000000 - 0×2FFFFFFF) or legacy UID (0×10000000 - 0×1FFFFFFF), you will get this message.

Message: Unable to install

Hint: This message may come up when your installation file (.sis/.sisx) copies files to other application’s private folder, i.e. \private\uid. Note that Symbian 9 introduces data caging concept, it means you don’t have access to other application’s private folder.

Nokia N91 - Adding Album Art to Your Music

I've recently come across some topics and questions regarding the display of Album Art in the N91 Music Player. Depending on where you get your music from the album art isn't attached to a file... unless of course its downloaded from iTunes, but that won't help us here.

I haven't found a more simple method but I will share my solution. First of all, I get my music from AllTunes.com (the guys at AAS rave about this). I usually just copy the image of the album and save it to my laptop. Once I've downloaded the album using Nokia's Music Manager I can now add my album art.

As you can see from the above images the process really isn't as hard as you think. Start by first finding your album image and then sending it to the phone. Store it in your gallery.

Next, open your Music Player and select the artist. Select the Album or Artist that you wish to add the album art to. Select options and go to Album Art. Select options again and go to change. This will then take you to your gallery where your image is stored. Select the image and viola' your done!

This is the method that I use but by all means, if there is an easier way please feel free to share.

Via [Darla Mack]

Mobile industry booming in Japan

According to an article in mobileindustry.biz (this article) mobile in Japan is booming !!

“According to the report, partially translated by GameSpot, figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Communication state that the mobile industry has grown to 722.4 billion Yen (4.9 billion Euro) over the past 12 months - a rise of 39 per cent.

The increase was boosted by mobile content sales, which rose by 21 per cent to reach 315 billion Yen (2.1 billion Euro). Sales of ringtones accounted for 161 billion Yen (1.09 billion Euro).”

Flash Lite application: ShopQwik

Mark from ShopQwik released a new version of the ShopQwik Flash Lite application. “With our easy to use system you can book Flights, City and Resort Hotel accommodation and Car hire. You can even pay the London congestion zone charge in one simple step.”

All for just US$300k

The release of new designer handsets continues apace, with the announcement of the Black Diamond smartphone. The handset, from Swiss manufacturer VIPN is a limited edition run of 5 devices designed by Jaren Goh. The handset will cost US$300,000. The phone comes with the usual array of features, including a 4 megapixel camera, and runs Windows Mobile 5, a 2Gb SD card, support for SIP and WiFi, and a touch sensitive keypad, and will be delivered to the five purchasers in early 2007.

New Motorola Handsets Announced

Motorola have announced details of five new products they will be releasing over the next little while. Two of the products are new handsets, which feature Motorola's naming convention of 'very few if any vowels', with the announcement of the MOTOKRZR and MOTORIZR.

Motorola MOTOKRZR
Available in both GSM and CDMA, the MOTOKRZR will be available globally during the second half of 2006, regardless of their network preference. The GSM MOTOKRZR features a high resolution 2.0 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth audio, an updated phone directory and new messaging applications. While both versions offer integrated music players and expandable memory up to 1GB, the CDMA MOTOKRZR beats to a slightly different drum boasting touch-sensitive music controls, advanced EVDO data services* and location-based services capabilities.

Motorola MOTORIZR
Merging an innovative slider design with an impressive feature set which is accessible either opened or closed, the MOTORIZR offers intuitive functionality. This slider optimizes on-the-go imaging with its expansive landscape display, 2.0 megapixel camera and programmed point-and-shoot keys. The built-in music player supports a variety of formats and its video capabilities complete this dynamic package.

Alongside the new handsets are accompanying bluetooth headsets

SMS Alerts To Prevent Bouncing Checks

St Georges Bank in Australia is working on an SMS alert system that will give customers a chance to top up their accounts if the bank detects that they're about to become overdrawn. The point of the service is to help consumers and small businesses protect their credit records and reputations. "The key incentive," says Chief information officer John Lobenstein "is to avoid a payment that you intended to make not being paid, another party getting very annoyed with you, and potentially getting you a bad credit record."

They are hoping that this type of mobile alert service will appeal to customers who "run cash-flow tight." Which seems to make sense as these are the types of people that also seem to be on the go the most but would also want to be alerting about their money situations.

However, Lobenstein does point out that the SMS service is not aimed at avoiding dishonour fees as people who opt to receive the the alerts will be forced to pay a dishonor fee if their check or debit payment goes dishonored.

They estimate that the service will cost 35$ a message! What that is about I have no idea but it seems like a lot.

Dishonor fees and bad checks come with a 45-50 dollar penalty.

The service will be tested by users of its South Australia subsidiary, Bank SA, next month.

Cell Phones With Hard Drives Could Oust MP3 Player Sales

In a study released on thursday, ABI Research claims that cell phones with hard disks could severely hurt MP3 player sales. As the memory capacity of cell phones (in storage of MP3 files and songs) increases, the demand for MP3 players will decrease.

An example of a phone with hard drive is the Samsung SPH-V5400 that comes with a 1.5GB hard drive. Nokia N91 is expected to be released with a hard drive capacity of 4GB while Samsung SGH-i310 has 8GB capacity.

Alan Varghese, ABI Research's principal analyst quotes, "As the cellular handset becomes the one device that the world carries, the standalone MP3 player may well be left behind. What's important to many users is having one device that handles mobile music as well as the other functions-phone calls, digital photography, email, web browsing-now performed by cell phones."

At the moment, the 8 or 4GB storage capacity we see in the above cell phone models does not pose a big threat to MP3 players because they come with capacities ranging from 30-60GB. However, Varghese believes there will come a point when consumers do not care whether the phone can store 2000 songs or 5000 songs. This point is called the margin of diminishing returns.

What's more, most people carry around their cell phone, and not their MP3 player. So why not have just one device (the cell phone), equipped with an MP3 player, rather than carrying around a standalone MP3 player?

Sony M608c Phone

Documents available at the FCC show a recently approved Sony Ericsson M608c, a UIQ3 based all-in-one phone. The Sony M608c comes with a USB data cable and supports Memory Stick Micro (M2) for expanding memory. It features the familiar Jog Dial to scroll lists, doubling up as volume control when using it as an audio player.

A dual function keyboard is present on the phone, making it easier to enter text thanks to the QWERTY layout. A stylus takes care of recognizing your handwriting. The full-fledged web browser on the phone allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds as well.

The Sony M608c includes an advanced media player that handles playback of both audio and video files, and the phone is compatible with PlayNow service. In addition, both QuickOffice and PDF+ are pre-installed.

For now, the phone is set for the Chinese market - but it could hit other countries soon.

Nokia N Series and Skype

From Mobile Monday Helsinki, seams that Nokia is working with Skype to bundle the Skype application with N-series mobile phones. I can’t wait for that to happen. Read the post and download the presentation.

Rejection without Confrontation

I don’t think anyone could have predicted the massive scale of the ringtone business, even though it seems stalled now, but here’s another completely unlikely success story. The Rejection Hotline is a service for people being pestered for their phone numbers on the dating scene. You simply give out the hotline number and when they call….they’re let down gently.

So, a nice little idea methinks. But then check out the numbers involved. To date, it’s had over 77 million calls and is up to 2 million calls a month.

Moderati, a leading US ringtone provider, has launched a spin off product, the Rejection Ringtone. So just in case you get so flustered and give away your real number, so can still tell unwanted callers to take a hike.

SMS warning for the Lebanese

Several news reports have mentioned today that the Israeli military is alerting residents in southern Lebanon to impending strikes by, among other methods, SMS. Besides dropping leaflets and utlizing local radio, the IDF is contacting locals in the Tyre area by mass SMS telling them to leave the area. According to Textually, Israeli start-up Cellact has been offering the system in the region as a means of alerting residents to emergency events. This isn't the only use of SMS in the conflict so far, however. Swedish officials have used SMS to round up evacuees in Lebanon and tell them where to gather, as have the French.

Get an SMS from your washing machine

The Internet Home Alliance, an organization comprised of high tech companies such as HP and Microsoft as well as P&G and Whirlpool, have begun an eight-week pilot to test the concept of an intelligent washing machine. The mobile angle? The machine is tied into a home network that can alert you via SMS, as well as messages on the TV, that your laundry is done. Thus spake the managers of Laundry Time:

"To be conducted in Atlanta homes between today and early September, Laundry Time is built around a connected laundry solution that links a washer and dryer to a home network and sends text messages about the laundry's progress to a computer, TV and/or cell phone. This revolutionary technology enables consumers to manage the laundry process from remote locations such as a grocery store or soccer game, freeing them up to go about their day rather than forcing them to stay home to manage the process.

'Generally, most people tend to 'batch' their laundry -- washing and drying at the same time -- and they stay home during the hours it takes to manage the laundry process,' said Carol Priefert, Senior Product Development Manager, Whirlpool Corporation. 'Whirlpool research shows that the average consumer "batches" about six and a half loads one day per week, while heavy users may "batch" as many as 15 loads. Laundry Time will test ways to make it easier for people to manage the process remotely or while doing other things around the home.'

Isn't that what the buzzer is for?

Interactive Advertising with SMS/MMS

One of the features that ought to be a no-brainer for advertisers is to include an sms short code on all their advertisements. This means that people can see the ad and instantly fire off an sms with their ever-present mobile and get a response just as instantly. Examples might be to claim a coupon, find the nearest stockist, arrange a test-drive for a car and any number of other groovy marketing enhancements.

But at least 6 years after sms became mainstream, this feature is still far from common and what should surely be as automatic as putting a web address on an ad, still gets omitted.

One reason could be cost. While most people would think nothing of firing off an sms to get more info, the advertiser normally faces some cost from the service provider, along with a set up fee. And when the set up fee is amortised over the total response, the cost per response can be pretty hefty.

So it’s interesting that mobi.li have launched a totally free service for advertisers in the UK - the user pays the normal cost of the sms. So that means no set up or ongoing charges and really, removes any commercial rationale for not embracing sms interactivity. Their business model , if you’re curious, is to sign up customers and sell them other services in due course. A pretty common plan these days.

However, I suspect that one reason why agencies especially are reluctant to go down this route is that it introduces a frightening level of accountability. Currently, assessing advertising effectiveness is pretty woolly in most cases, involving measures like the number of people who could see an ad. If you start to prove how few people actually notice an advertisement and then engage with it via an interaction, it might begin to call into question the whole point of running a campaign in the first place.

Having personally experienced a meeting (a long time ago now) with a marketing director of a major brand where we both knew that his campaign had very few redemptions, there’s just no way of getting round the facts. Sure, you can fall back on mumbling about coverage, opportunities to see and other marketing-speak, but if no one felt inclined to respond to the offer and that’s 100% measurable, how can you persuade the guy to carry on using the channel?

However, in these days of increasing media accountability, with budgets migrating online and now to mobile, where payment by results is increasingly the norm, old media needs to fight back. If your poster, TV commercial or print ad isn’t engaging the consumer and isn’t generating a response, maybe it’s better to know that and identify what’s wrong with it, rather than pretending everything in the garden is rosy.

Pay per click (via a mobile) and pay per call is coming to old media as inevitably as England losing on penalties in Euro 2008. And that’s going to be another head-butt in the chest of an ad industry already dizzy with the pace of change and largely unable to understand that the world has drastically changed on them.

US MMS traffic surges 40% over last quarter

Mobile 365 is reporting that US based Multimedia Message Service (MMS) traffic has surged 40% in the second quarter of the year. MMS is most commonly called picture messaging by carriers, but other types of multimedia can be included. The US now leads the world in MMS traffic.

Total U.S. MMS Mobile Originated (MO) traffic for the second quarter was 52,071,114 MO messages; total traffic for the first quarter was 34,405,598 MO messages. MMS mobile content includes video, photos, audio, and rich text such as wallpaper, ringtones, games, and applications.

Mobile 365 handles messaging interoperability among carriers and currently processes over 2 billion messages per month.

Students in Vietnam caught cheating using their mobiles phones

You've probably considered it, you may have even given it a whirl just to see if it'd fly; using technology to your advantage in testing situations is most often regarding as cheating, as was the case when proctors recently busted a ring of Vietnamese test-takers attempting to cheat on their college entrance exams. More than 20 hopeful students paid between $1,250 to $3,125USD to get wired up with wigs and shirts that would allow them to communicate questions and answers via mobile phones without being discovered. The potential gain was apparently worth the risk, especially since only 10 percent of applicants in Vietnam get accepted to universities.

Siemens SL-65 Interceptor - The Spy Phone

So the premise of spying on someone, whatever the reasons, is definitely not new to cellphones. The incessant paranoia keeps gadgets like these popping up every so often -- but the Siemens SL-65 takes high-end voyeurism to an even darker corner. As you'd probably imagine, you dial up the device's super-secret number to instantly surreptitious listen in on whatever's happening up to five meters away from the mic. For even more "proof" of an ongoing scandal, the phone will automatically send the caller an SMS whenever a call is made or received, so you can spend ever more time wondering who's calling at 1:00AM. Spyphones even goes so far as claiming no technician can ever identify its secretive nature (unless of course they read Engadget), but at €1,699.00 ($2,169.96 USD), the SL-65 is only slightly less expensive than a private investigator -- and we do stress slightly.

LG Telecom loses 3G licence in Korea

Remember the news that a Korean government-appointed panel had recommended revocation of LG Telecom's right to 3G on the 2GHz band? Well, it happened. Interestingly, investors think this is great news for the company, pushing its stock sharply upward on the news -- possibly because the technology for which the license was issued has failed to become a commercial success. LG Telecom now looks to instead deploy EV-DO rev. A on the more widely-accepted 1.8GHz band, but at any rate, Korea takes their 3G deployments seriously -- per regulation, the government is now pressing for CEO Nam Yong's removal.

MobileVoter Launches TxtVoter: A Do It Yourself SMS Voter Registration Drive

The news from MobileVoter just keeps comming. Ben Rigby and Bart Cheever (Mobile Voter's founders) have been working like mad and are today launching TxtVoter Run Your Own Campaign tool.

Simply put TxtVoter allows individuals & organizations to reserve their own keywords which tie idirectly into MobileVoters very own voter registration system. Ultimely this allows anyone to create their own SMS Mobile Voter registration drive.

Phonojournalists Call The Shots On CurrentMobile and Earn some cash

Pick up your cell phone and start shooting—your video could make it on national TV! This summer Current TV, a U.S national cable and satellite channel dedicated to bringing the peoples voice to television (founded by former Vice-President Al Gore) has launched Current Mobile a new programming that showcases video from cell phones. As an innovative twist on Current's 'viewer created content,' or VC 2, Current Mobile will become a regular feature airing on Current. This makes Current (and its sponsor Sony Ericsson) the first network to regularly showcase mobile video content.

Current's viewer created content presently makes up over 30% of the network's broadcast, an Current's "viewer created ad messages" (or V-CAMs) allow viewers to create ads for the major brands that sponsor the network.

So, to jumpstart the program, Current TV will offer a summer promotion called MobileVision, sponsored by Sony Ericsson, where mobile videomakers can capture moments from summer festivals, hot street fashion, rants, and other topics that will be posted on Current's web site. The public can vote, or "greenlight," pieces on the website. Every Thursday at 5:00pm PST through August 31, a new winning video with the most greenlights will be selected, and the producer will receive $500 and be considered for television broadcast by Current TV's programming department. Any other upload that goes on air will earn $100 each.

Of course, in the nature of mobile video making “Current Mobile” pieces will be shorter, and capture moments rather than full stories. They will be easier to produce, requiring less editing and technical skills. For those without a videocamera, it can be the first way to start contributing video to the network.

Motorola to Bundle Yahoo! Go for Mobile

Motorola and Yahoo! have announced a new agreement wherein starting Q1 next year, Motorola will bundle the Yahoo! Go for Mobile application on selected handset ranges for the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Yahoo! Go for Mobile includes wireless access to Yahoo!'s leading services including Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Address Book, and Yahoo! Local, and will prominently feature on the Motorola handsets. The deal is expected to cover tens of millions of handset units across the selected regions.

Motorola and Yahoo! announced their alliance in July last year, and the companies say they will jointly market the handsets with Yahoo! Go through their respective online networks, device packaging, and other target channels.

Toot-Tone: Honestly, EveryBody Needs It

The amazing Roberts Toot-Tone uses amazing smart-chip technology. Perfect for those early meeting post-coffee and brand muffin board meetings. Check it out. Everyone knows that they need one at some point or another.

Water powered mobile phone

NTT DoCoMo's direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) recharger last year wasn't a bad first effort, but how about shrinking it by a factor of four, doubling the output, and swapping methanol for water? That's what they've managed to do through a partnership with Aquafairy Co., pumping out a prototype polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) that rocks 800mAh at 3.6V -- enough juice to recharge your average FOMA handset in the same time as a wall wart. The new unit gets shown off this week at Wireless Japan 2006 with production plans slated for next year; availability outside Japan is (as usual) an open question, but with battery life falling to under a day on some modern smartphones, we can only hope manufacturers' hands are going to be forced on this one.

Nokia N93 and 5500 are almost out for sale

According to Allaboutsymbian the Nokia N93 and the Nokia 5500 are almost out! Both these phones are Flash Lite 1.1 enabled.

People don't know which phone they have!

This is an interesting news, 49% to 58% people do not know which model or brand of phone they have. So developers should not assume that the users of their application know anything about phones, J2ME, Symbian or Flash Lite.

What do you think ?

Religion On Your Phone

I am a little shocked that stuff like this has not already begun to become more viral but over the last couple of months we are beginning to see more and more religious mobile services popping up in order to fulfill your spiritual needs while on the go. I am sorry that these are mostly the Western religions. If you have information on other mobile religious services please pass them along.

Why just yesterday I received an email from Catholic Mobile which will provide services (a cell service not a church service) that will allow catholic cell phone users to receive daily prayers, saints of the day information, daily scripture readings and breaking news on cell phones and mobile devices. Its Spanish version Móvil Católico will make them the leader in the development and distribution of wireless Catholic based content in North and South America. Users will also be able to personalize their phones by downloading Catholic wallpapers and ring tones.

The Vatican under John paul II was reportedly doing something with Papal messages via SMS and had struck a deal with Verizon but I am not sure that anything ever evolved from that.

Last month on the Jewish end of the mobile spectrum the website AskMoses.com, which is very well known in Jewish communities for its wealth of Jewish information, launched an SMS text messaging to deliver content directly to mobile phones. Already famous for its live chat services with scholars 24 hours-a-day, 6 days a week the site can send Jewish-oriented content and Sabbath and Holiday reminders to users' cellphones and handheld devices. This is important for really religious Jews of whom it is important to know the exact time the sunsets and the Sabbath begins.

And on the Jewish Humor side comes these extremely popular Yenta Tones that anyone who has ever had a Jewish mother take care of them for at least one day will understand.

In March a new mobile phone text messaging service called muslimtext.com, was launched aims to boost the quality of life for Muslims, reports the BBC. Like Catholic Mobile "It sends daily uplifting messages to "spiritually enlighten" its users. Users are able to receive a host of different services, including messages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, and daily prayers."

Starbucks SMS Scavenger Hunt (With Image Recognition)

Hey everybody. Starbucks is doing some SMS marketing. Which has everyone saying that SMS is now catching on here in the States. Which could be true but I don't think Starbucks is the cataclysmic sign of all marketing truths! Especially since I went into nine Starbucks today in New York city (which is not hard to do, there is one of every other block right next to an Irish pub and a pizza parlor) ... none of which advertised for this SMS Starbucks Summer pursuit and none of the employees knew what the hell I was talking about (but agreed it sounded pretty cool). Maybe the table cards have not yet been delivered. We shall see. For now all of this depends how many people visit the Starbucks website (which I do everyday).

Anyways, though, to be fair Starbuck's campaign does seem pretty damn innovative and nifty. The Strarbucks Summer Pursuit is a fun text messaging trivia game and the first mobile phone game that can recognize a picture of the answer as well as text - their techies are calling it intelligent image recognition. Mr Pondering Primate would call it world connection and Mr Neven of Neven Vision would call it a "visual google" and shout "hey we thought of that first!"

Each week Sratbucks will text you three summer themed clues and you can text or send a picture of your answer back to us. Rack up the answers and you'll be eligible for a chance to play the Ultimate Scavenger Hunt in NYC and compete for an amazing trip to Costa Rica!

Its not so much the image recognition then the idea of a scavenger hunt that impresses me the most. Of course, the image recognition makes the scavenger hunt that much more easier to do but still.... a scavenger is the perfect kind of thing for a mobile marketing scheme to tap on a ubiquitous level.

So let the hunt begin! Text "Summer" to 66268 to start playing! I know I will. And perhaps we can share our image recognition stories on the beaches of Costa Rica.

Flash Lite 1.1 : Mobile Application Development Courses

If you are interested in Flash Lite 1.1 courses to learn Flash Lite 1.1 and to be able to become a Certified Flash Lite 1.1 (here preparation docs) developer here is the curriculum for the official course from Adobe: “ Flash Lite 1.1: Mobile Application Development provides students the knowledge and hands-on practice they need to produce and deliver high-quality animations, interfaces, games and applications specifically designed to take advantage of mobile device capabilities.”

Also Moket is holding two course sessions, here more details:

• BRISBANE - July 25-27
• MELBOURNE - August 22-24

“Are you a mobile developer and interested in learning how to create mobile content in Flash Lite 1.1? Moket has Certified Adobe Instructors who are able to deliver the Flash Lite 1.1 for Mobile Application Development courseware training throughout Australia.”

Puzzle Phone

Telephia UK have put out the results of a new survey of mobile gaming habits amongst 3G users in the UK. The survey shows that Puzzle/Strategy games are by far the most popular type of game amongst 3G subscribers, with 61% of 3G subscribers playing such games, with Retro/Arcade games coming second with 45% of subscribers playing them. On top of this, Telephia's survey reveals that more than 70% of mobile game players play their games offline, with less than 3% participating in location-based games. With the exorbitant costs of location based queries in the UK, this extremely low figure is not surprising, as it's not economically viable at present to run an LBS game in the UK. The figure showing the number of offline players is also not surprising, with the vast majority of mobile games still being solo affairs, with very few mutliplayer or OTA games available for general use.

Ultra-Bling Bling !

Now it's getting beyond a joke. Moscow-based JSC Ancort Company has announced a smartphone designed by Peter Aloisson that features sections made of rose gold, along with 50 diamonds embedded in the case. The phone, which features additional encryption technology alongside the more usual SMS, MMS, e-mail, Internet access, WAP, Java and a media player, will set you back a cool US$1.3 million.

Of course, if it gets stolen, it won't be for the content of the phone, making the encryption aspects not that interesting - I'm sure the 40 white and 10 blue diamonds would be far more interesting to any potential thief...

UrlEncoder for J2ME

A poor mans UrlEncoder for MIDP(J2ME) which can easily be extended by adding
more items to switch statement in the urlEncode method.

/*
* (C) Serkan Azmi. 2001
* All rights reserved
* The material(s) may be used and/or copied only with the written permission
* of Serkan Azmi. or in accordance with the terms and
* conditions stipulated in any agreement/contract under which
* the material(s) have been supplied.
*/




public class UrlParamEncoder {

String szUrlParam = null;

public UrlParamEncoder() {
}

private void prepAdd() {
if (szUrlParam == null) {
szUrlParam = new String();
}
else {
szUrlParam += "&";
}
}

public void addParam(String szName, String szValue) {
prepAdd();
szUrlParam += urlEncode(szName) + "=" + urlEncode(szValue);
}

public void addParam(String szName, int nValue) {
prepAdd();
szUrlParam += urlEncode(szName) + "=" + urlEncode(Integer.toString(nValue));
}

public void addParam(String szName, long lValue) {
prepAdd();
szUrlParam += urlEncode(szName) + "=" + urlEncode(Long.toString(lValue));
}

public void addParam(String szName, boolean bValue) {
prepAdd();
Boolean boolValue = new Boolean(bValue);
szUrlParam += urlEncode(szName) + "=" + urlEncode(boolValue.toString());
}

private String urlEncode(String s) {
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();

for (int i = 0; i <>
switch (s.charAt(i)) {
case ' ':
sb.append("%20");
break;
case '+':
sb.append("%2b");
break;
case '\'':
sb.append("%27");
break;
case '<':
sb.append("%3c");
break;
case '>':
sb.append("%3e");
break;
case '#':
sb.append("%23");
break;
case '%':
sb.append("%25");
break;
case '{':
sb.append("%7b");
break;
case '}':
sb.append("%7d");
break;
case '\\':
sb.append("%5c");
break;
case '^':
sb.append("%5e");
break;
case '~':
sb.append("%73");
break;
case '[':
sb.append("%5b");
break;
case ']':
sb.append("%5d");
break;
default:
sb.append(s.charAt(i));
break;
}
}
return sb.toString();
}

public String toString() {
return szUrlParam;
}

}

Most Important 12 Sony Ericsson UIQ 3 development tips

When developing UIQ 3 C++ applications for Sony Ericsson UIQ 3 phones, the following should be considered:

• Always favor CQikXXX classes over CEikXXX classes. Derive your AppUi from CQikAppUi (Qikon) rather than CEikAppUi .
• Ensure that your application is “theme aware”. Use logical colors to draw application controls and propagate color scheme change messages through your application.
• Make sure that application icons in three different sizes are defined for display on the device.
• Prefer the Symbian exception handling before the standard C++ language exception handling.
• Do not block a ViewActivatedL - any potentially long running action chained off a view activation should be done async. Otherwise the system may kill your application for being too sluggish.
• Be conservative in stack usage, including the implementation of recursive algorithms.
• Follow the UIQ 3 style guidelines.
• Have some way to call Exit from your application in debug builds. In the emulator, this will cause a panic if there is any memory leakage. It’s much better to find memory leaks during development in the emulator, than at the end of development, when testing in the phone is done.
• Do not run timers continuously in the background because it seriously affects battery life.
• Make your code device independent when possible. Do not “hard code” screen sizes, colour depths, font sizes, and so on, instead use Symbian OS APIs to get details of device characteristics and capa-bilities so that your application will run on the widest possible ranges of devices including any future Symbian/UIQ based Sony Ericsson phones.
• Avoid using local TBuf objects. They consume valuable stack space, which is extremely limited on a symbian device, and behave very differently compared to in the emulator. If you need more than a few hundred bytes allocated to a TBuf , then use a HBuf which is allocated on the Heap instead. Always remember to destroy the HBuf after it is finished with. The reasons for stack exhaustion are almost impossible to trace on the real target, they appear as random, unexplained crashes.
• Since applications can be installed either in phone memory or on Memory Stick, avoid using absolute paths for file locations in your code.

Series 40 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 SDK Released

The Series 40 Platform 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 SDK is now available for download. This latest version supports the Scalable 2D Vector Graphics API for J2ME™ (JSR-226), the J2ME™ Web Services Specification (JSR-172), and Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 from Adobe, which lets developers further enhance the end-user experience with compelling and rich applications.