For someone who is very addicted to Skype to maintain my long distance relationship with my wife in Toronto (for 3 years now), you can't imagine how delighted I am with the launch of Skype mobile phone.
The low-cost advantage inherent in VoIP services and the power of mobility is a deadly combination that can shake and shape the future of the wireless industry.
Dubbed as 3 Skyphone, it is a collaboration between eBay's VoIP company Skype and mobile phone group 3. It will be available for a price of £49.99 for "Pay As You Go" customers and free for monthly subscribers.
Moreover, the 3 Skypephone will be available this year in the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden.
Will it be available in the U.S.? Sorry to disappoint you guys for 3 Skypephone is dual band and therefore will not work in the USA.
But don't lose hope for this is just the beginning of something great for mobile consumers. 3 may not be able to do that but there are other startup VoIP companies developing this same concept for the American market.
As expected, there are some flaws in this new Internet mobile phone. Go over to Skype Journal to know what's missing in this revolutionary device.
Skype Mobile Phone Now Available Title: Skype Mobile Phone Now Available
14 Kasım 2007 Çarşamba
cellity Launches Weblog at Creative Weblogging Title: cellity Launches Weblog at Creative Weblogging
Palo Alto, California, USA - November 3, 2007 - Be connected any time any where. Never miss a phone call. Contact anyone you need to right away, no matter if he or she lives on the other side of the globe from you. In fact, you can make international calls for peanuts as well as talk to groups simultaneously using technology provided by cellity (http://www.cellity.com/). To help get the word out about cellity's numerous mobility products, such as Tweeter, worldCALL, groupCALL, and freeSMS, they have teamed up with Creative Weblogging, an international blogging network as a sponsor for The Mobile Weblog (http://www.mobile-weblog.com/).
Young start-up companies to old been-around-the-block corporations can all benefit from mobile services and related gadgets. And, that's what The Mobile Weblog is all about. Keep up to date with the latest mobile technology with a little help from cellity and Creative Weblogging at The Mobile Weblog (http://www.mobile-weblog.com/).
Read more of "cellity Launches Weblog at Creative Weblogging"
Mobile Vending Machines at the Airport. Will it Work? Title: Mobile Vending Machines at the Airport. Will it Work?
Mobile phones are certainly everywhere. Telecom and cellular services provider 011 Mobile now sells mobile phones and SIM cards via touch screen vending system at the Terminal 2 of Las Vegas' McCarran Airport.
Designed like a giant cellphone, it is specifically intended for international travelers looking for cheaper alternative to make calls compared with other pre-paid calling cards and paying roaming charges. The company claims its rates are similar to landline calls.
Based on its initial performance, SIM cards contributed 60% of the sales. Both SIM card and mobile phones work immediately upon purchase and consumers can use their credit cards to buy time.
However, this channel may not survive over the long run given the rapid developments in the mobile Internet. Why change your SIM card or buy a new phone if you can download a software like cellity worldCALL to make cheap long distance calls?
Via LetsGoMobile
Meet Asus R3 UMPC with Linux
IBM Developing Wicked-Fast Wireless Data Transfer Chip
BM Developing Wicked-Fast Wireless Data Transfer Chip
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and MediaTek have announced a joint effort to develop ultra-fast chipsets that will be able to blast a full-length high-definition movie faster than most people can read this sentence. For example, IBM says, a consumer could upload a 10 gigabyte file in five seconds with the new technology versus the 10 minutes it takes using current WiFi technology.
The new technology will be based on the 60 GHz (gigahertz) band, which is a free and unlicensed band of radio spectrum. Most home wireless networks utilize bands in the single-digit range, such as the popular 2.4 GHz band.
IBM and MediaTek will collaborate to integrate IBM's new millimeter wave (mmWave) radio technology chips, antennas and package technology with MediaTek's expertise in digital baseband and video processing chips. The partnership is also intended to leverage MediaTek's influence in the consumer electronics market. IBM first demonstrated a prototype chipset as small as a dime in February of 2006.
A Whole New Living Room
The idea is to let media devices transmit or receive large amounts of data quickly, making the millimeter wave radio technology particularly useful for PCs, digital video recorders (DVRs), handheld devices like iPods or iPhones and HDTVs. Synchronization between the devices could occur in seconds and without a mess of cables.
Aside from speeding up home networks, there are other uses in store, such as file transfers from kiosks that a consumer might find in common retail spaces.
"[A kiosk would be] more like a point-and-shoot application," Mehmet Soyuer, IBM lead researcher on the mmWave project, told TechNewsWorld.
"It could be used to download DVDs and movies, things like that, in a train station or airport," he explained.
High Frequencies Are the Key
Higher frequencies -- 60 GHz in this case -- tend to allow greater bandwidth for data transmission than lower frequencies like the popular 2.4 GHz used in many home wireless networks. While transmission speeds at 60 GHz are super fast, "the signal doesn't travel too far," Soyuer noted. "It typically stays in a room, so it would be a good match for personal area network -- PAN-types of applications. It's like a much higher data rate version of Bluetooth , in some respects."
Using higher frequencies for the transmission of very large media files is a more logical solution for wireless applications, Soyuer said. "For the application of uncompressed video, we are talking about needing two, maybe three GHz per second, and it's almost impossible to achieve those data rates using the conventional lower frequencies," he added.
Years Away
Wicked-fast movie downloads using IBM's and MediaTek's mmWave technology is a few years away. In addition to nailing down wireless networking standards -- critical so that a variety of devices can talk to each other in the same language, so to speak -- device manufacturers need to build and ship products with mmWave features.
Progress is happening, however. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.15.3c is a working group that was formed in 2005 to standardize the use of the 60 GHz band.
Link:http://www.technewsworld.com/story/59941.html
NASA to test thermal patch on next spaceflight
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA hopes to test a thermal tile patch on the next space shuttle mission that could have been used to fix the gouge that was carved into the bottom of Endeavour during last month's launch.
The repair — a squirt of goo — was one of three methods NASA considered using before deciding the damaged tiles didn't need to be fixed in flight.
Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Friday he also plans to expand the flight readiness review for Discovery's mission next month to encourage more people to speak up about safety concerns, an ongoing culture problem for NASA, and indicated the space shuttle Atlantis might not retire next year after all.
Once the tile-repair demonstration is formally approved Monday, a fifth spacewalk will be added to Discovery's two-week flight to the international space station. Two shuttle astronauts will use a caulk-like gun to squirt the goo into deliberately damaged tile samples, and small foam brushes to tap down and smooth the material. The tiles will be returned for analysis.
Hale called the demonstration — which was moved up by more than a year — "a confidence builder." The salmon-colored goo, the consistency of peanut butter, has been tested extensively on the ground, but never in space. It has a tendency to bubble on Earth, and NASA wants to see if that happens in space.
NASA concluded last month there was no need to apply this goo to a 3 1/2-inch-long gouge on Endeavour's belly that was caused by a piece of foam insulation and possibly ice that broke off the external fuel tank during liftoff. But the episode reminded NASA it needs to sharpen its repair skills, Hale said.
The astronaut who will do the repair demo, Dr. Scott Parazynski, said the delicate work on fragile tiles will be like surgery.
"This is a very exciting time for us to finally get the ground truth if you will — or the space truth — on how this material behaves," he said.
Parazynski said he was confident the goo would have worked for Endeavour's damage, given how small it was.
Developed in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, the goo was not tested sooner in orbit because of toxicity concerns and unwieldy tools. A caulk-line gun has replaced the much larger applicator, and the smaller amount of goo made it safer to handle, Hale said.
The fuel tank for Discovery's Oct. 23 launch has been modified to reduce the possibility of foam coming off the latest problem area, brackets that support the liquid-oxygen feed line.
At a news conference, Hale said the flight readiness review before Discovery's launch will be more thorough and extensive. The two extra days of informal discussions hopefully will encourage more lower-level engineers to speak up, he said.
A reluctance by space program employees to openly bring up safety concerns contributed to both shuttle accidents.
"I would like to say that everybody feels comfortable coming to a board, standing up in front of the management and presenting their case, but apparently that's not so," Hale said.
He noted that safety concerns are still being reported anonymously for fear of retribution.
Mobile Payments Market to Reach $11.5 B by 2011 Title: Mobile Payments Market to Reach $11.5 B by 2011
As what may be a preview of the bright future of mobile commerce in general, the latest study of Juniper Research shows that about 52 million people will adopt mobile payment methods like NFC (Near Field Communication) and RFID to pay for everyday goods and services by 2011 and drive the physical mobile payments market to reach $11.5 billion.
Moreover, Juniper found that by 2011, around 12% of the total mobile phones in circulation will offer support for contactless payment, specifically NFC - equating to nearly 470 million NFC-enabled handsets worldwide, thereby providing a significant marketplace for retailers to offer goods via mPayment applications.
Impact on Mobile Phone Selection
As we, mobile consumers, slowly welcome mobile commerce as part of our daily lives, it is logical that our criteria for selecting mobile phones will dramatically change as well. Jake Saunders, Vice President of ABI Research Asia-Pacific, says that the "Flash Factor" or the look and feel of a particular cellular phone is the current key motivator for purchase.
The growing number of mobile applications and the rising role of mobile commerce in the near future will create a shift in buying motivation. The look and feel will always be there but we will be more concerned with the capability of a particular handset to support our preferred mobile apps.
iPod Acessories
iPod Acessories
Visit our iPod Accessory Reviews Page
Bluetooth Stereo Headsets
AnyCom BluNa Bluetooth transmitter only, no headphones included, designed for nano
Bluetake i-Photo Bluetooth Stereo Headset with transmitter
IOGEAR Bluetooth Stereo Headphone Kit with transmitter
Plantronics Pulsar 590A Bluetooth Stereo Headphones with transmitter
Digital Camera Reviews
Pentax *ist DS Digital SLR Camera
Olympus EVOT E-500 Digital SLR Camera
PVP- Portable Video Players (Plays Video and MP3)
Apex E2go MP-2000 Portable Media Player and DVR (digital video recorder)
Archos AV 700 Portable Media Player and DVR
Creative Zen Vision W Widescreen Portable Media Player
PQI mPack P800 Portable Media Player and DVR (digital video recorder) Editor's Choice 
Security
StealthSurfer III A USB flash drive that keeps your data secure when using public computers
Video Recorders
Neuros Recorder Record from any video source that has RCA jacks (TV, DVD, etc.) to CF, SD or MemoryStick media
Neuros Recorder 2 Plus Records in QVGA and VGA formats at higher quality with stereo sound
PCTV Pro USB Watch live TV and record it in MPEG4 format. Includes Windows software and a USB TV tuner.
TV Tuners
EyeTV A USB 2.0 TV tuner stick for the Mac
Headphones and Earbuds
Etymotic Research ER-6i earbud headphones
Sony MDR-NC6 Noise Canceling headphones
v-moda Remix and Bas Freq earbud headphones
v-moda Vibe earbud headphones
XtremeMac FS1 High Definition Earbuds
eBook Readers
Sony Reader PRS-500
Smart Watches
Swatch Paparazzi SPOT Watch
Mass Storage
Ridata QuattroDrive (CD burner and card reader in one) Editor's Choice
Portable Game Console Reviews
Sony PSP Editor's Choice
Nintendo DS
Nokia N-Gage QD (has phone)
Tapwave Zodiac (also Palm OS PDA)
UMPC (Origami), Micro PC and Handheld PCs
UMPC (Origami), Micro PC and Handheld PCs
OQO Model 01
Raon Vega (Windows XP)
Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC (Vista)
Samsung Q1 UMPC (1st gen, Windows XP)
Sony Vaio UX180P Micro PC (Windows XP)
Sony Vaio UX380P Micro PC (Vista)
Internet and Lifestyle devices
Internet and Lifestyle devices
Nokia N800 Nokia's second generation Internet Tablet that fits in the palm of your hand
Nokia 770 A reaonably priced Internet Tablet that fits in the palm of your hand
Pepper Pad A home Internet Appliance and web tablet that weighs 2.3 pounds
Sony mylo This personal communicator has WiFi, a thumb keyboard and weighs only 5.3 ounces