2008 March 27 | tech gadget update

Mar 27 2008

Taliban Attacking Cell Towers in Afghanistan

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

In the last month, the Taliban in Afghanistan have been targeting cell phone towers. Around 10 towers have been attacked causing nearly $2 million in damage. Service providers have been forced to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night. This has angered hundreds of thousands of customers who have no other telephones.

The Taliban is attacking certain towers because it believes that NATO forces are using cell phone signals to track them at night. But some Taliban fighters are asking that the towers be repaired and switched back on. According to the Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid hinted that the group could change its tactics.

“We see that some people are having problems, so we might change the times that the networks are shut down in the coming days,” Mujahid said in an AP phone interview.

According to Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political analyst in Kabul, if the Taliban can interfere with the phone networks, the government and international forces are seen as being weak by the population.

“After the Taliban announcement, they were aware of the situation, and still they couldn’t provide security for the towers,” Akhgar told the AP. “Maybe destroying a few towers will not have any effect on the government, but the news or the message that comes out of this is very big, and all to the benefit of the Taliban.”

This story is evidence that the cell phone is here to stay until something better comes along. Afghanistan is a country that has been racked with continuing war since the late 1970’s, and yet the telecommunications miracle has reached this remote and bloody part of the world. While some people in developed countries complain about ugly cell towers, the people of Afghanistan would be happy if their towers were left alone.

Mar 27 2008

Nepal’s Maoists Wage Election Battle with Mobile Phones

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Mao Tse-Tung once said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Ofcourse he stated that decades before text messaging became so popular. Today’s savvy revolutionary is putting his or her thumbs at risk by text messaging thousands of voters to turnout and cast a ballot in Nepal’s April 10 elections.

To get around the government’s ban on putting up posters, banners and slogans in public places, former Maoist guerrillas are sending text messages to potential voters that would make Carl Marx proud.

“A new thinking and leadership for a new Nepal… Give Maoists a chance this time,” read a text message bearing the Maoist hammer and sickle sign at the top.

This will be Nepal’s first national vote in nine years. A special assembly is being elected that will work on a new constitution and most likely abolish the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy.

Maoist activist Deep Sikha said he had already sent about 5,000 text messages to prospective voters requesting for their support for his party.

“SMS are being sent to voters by other members throughout the country,” Sikha stated

While communist revolutionaries might seem like a quaint anachronism to some, Nepal’s Maoists fought a ten year civil war that killed over 13,000 people. “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed,” Mao Tse-Tung.

Mar 27 2008

Kannuu wins Technology Innovation Award

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Kannuu won the Technology Innovation Award for Best Mobile multimedia in Nokia’s Mobile Rules! 08 competition. The award was given for kannuu’s Partial Word Completion technology that lets users find instead of search when accessing mobile services.

Ever since Samuel Johnson wrote the first English Dictionary, my spelling has been atrocious. This is especially true when I want to access something on a mobile phone using a little keypad or keyboard. With kannuu’s Partial Word Completion technology I can use four-way directional keys and the application’s word mastery to prevent the dreaded “no results found” that often arises from my inability to put the correct letters in the correct order to spell correctly.

The technology works by indexing list choices in up to four options. These options are presented to the user in order of likelihood and, optionally, in order of some priority metric. A kannuu-based system will present four or less options at each menu level and provide some means for the user to indicate their desired choice. For example, a device with a screen and four-way directional button might provide the user with four options at a time which would be selected by pressing the button up, down, left or right. In addition, a kannuu-based system will provide an input means for the user to indicate that their desired option isn’t present. On activation of this “more” option, the set of the next most likely options will be presented.

For a demonstration, go to kannuu.

Mar 27 2008

UK to allow Mobile Calls from Aircraft

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

According to the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the United Kingdom will soon allow passengers on UK-registered aircraft to make mobile phone calls or send text messages while flying. Ofcom has been considering the idea since last year and has been in discussions with other European countries.

MobileCrunch reported last December and this January that Air France and Norwegian Air have been experimenting with in-flight cell calls. It appears as though the European Union is getting ready to approve passenger airline mobile calls across European airspace.

Under the UK plan, passengers will be able to use their own handsets once a plane reaches a minimum height of 3,000 meters. Service will be routed to an onboard base station to make and receive calls, which will be billed through a passenger’s normal service provider. Calls won’t be allowed during take-offs and landings.

“The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK,” Ofcom said.

Being a non-European, I want to know when other countries are going to allow cell phone use on aircraft. Up to now there have been safety concerns from government agencies but I haven’t heard any concrete evidence that on-board cell phone base stations and devices cause any interference with a plane’s ability to operate. Banning in-flight calls is like banning people from swimming in the Loch Ness because a Plesiosaur might eat them. Government regulators need to stop protecting the public from nonexistent dangers and let us exercise the freedom that mobile phones give us.

Mar 27 2008

Golf.com and Action Engine Launch Mobile Golf Course Finder

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Unless you live south of the Equator, spring is here and that means it’s time to dust the driver and hit your first 330 yard shot of 2008. The problem is, where do you find that perfect course for straightening out the Mulligan blues? Golf.com and Action Engine put their swings together and launched an ad-supported mobile application that lets golf enthusiasts search and access course data from their mobile phone.

Golf.com Course Finder, from Sports Illustrated Digital Group, is a free downloadable mobile application that delivers personalized golf course content. The search engine allows users to find a friendly lynx based on name, location, course type, course amenities, costs and number of holes. Once the application finds a match, contact information is displayed so a tee time can be arranged. Golfers can store the last five searches they conduct for quick reference and easy reuse. About the only thing this application doesn’t do is rate how cute the drink-cart girls are.

“GOLF.com is the most trusted name in the sport for golfers and fans seeking the most informative, timely and award-winning take on breaking news, scores, instruction, equipment and travel. Through this partnership our unique and highly used golf course database will now be available to golfers any time, anywhere,” said Kenneth Fuchs, Vice President and GM, SI Digital.

The GOLF.com application is available today with support for 28 phones running the Microsoft Windows Mobile platform. Windows Mobile is the exclusive launch advertiser for the new service. To download the application consumers can either text “GOLF” to 58585 to receive a text message with a link to download GOLF.com Course Finder or simply go to http://www.golf.actionengine.com/provision on your phone’s mobile browser and follow the instructions provided.

More Motorola coverage at CG

Mar 27 2008

Motorola spinning off handset unit

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

In a clear move to keep Motorola’s flagging mobile phone sales from pulling down its lucrative broadband and switching enterprise services the company is splitting into two publicly-traded organizations. The Mobile Devices company will focus on mobile handsets while the Broadband and Mobility solutions sector will work on secure voice and data communication along with broadband for enterprises and government.

Shareholders will receive shares in each of the companies once the process is completed.

Mar 27 2008

Jott.com review

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

This morning I got my mytreo.net Newsletter and despite the fact that the page anchors don’t work in Gmail, I read (skimmed) the first paragraph and decided to try the service they were promoting, Jott.

The link in the email took me to a Palm page with a longer article that I didn’t actually read and no quick and easy way to get to what ever Jott was going to make me do to use it (sign up or download whatever).

A quick Google search and I was on Jott’s website, cleverly called jott.com
Set up was easy, nothing to download. First and last name, email, password, and telephone number. Then a confirmation email, then you are asked to place a call to a 866 number to set up your phone.

With the email and phone confirmed, an automated lady voice at the other end of the phone asks you to make your first Jott, which unless you have already added contact thru the web interface is to yourself. In true geek fashion, she recommends sending yourself “Hello world”. Original. I spoke into my phone, sent my self a message, easily set up a reminder (which texted and emailed me at a set time). So far so good. This could actually be useful.

Mar 27 2008

Nokia’s Mobile Rules! 08 Gets Buzzd

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

If you are looking for a bar with a mechanical bull, a club with 80’s cheese metal or the best fish taco restaurant in town, you may want to use the mobile service buzzd. Buzzd is a location based mobile entertainment service that provides real-time information for bars, clubs and restaurants. Buzzd will even let you network with friends and strangers who have a similar interest in your style of nightlife.

Buzzd was first runner up in the Best Business Plan category at Nokia’s Mobile Rules! 08 competition. Out of a 1,000 entries from around the world, buzzd came in second. Not bad for a company named after the feeling one gets while intoxicated. The last business plan I wrote while “buzzd” created such a bad paper jam I had to throw my printer out.

“Being recognized as an emerging company within the mobile space is always an honor,” said buzzd CEO and co-founder Nihal Mehta. “Having our company recognized amongst the best and brightest companies across the world exemplifies the demand for location-sensitive services like buzzd.”

“Nokia is very pleased to announce the winners of the Mobile Rules! ‘08 competition, who with their ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit typify an emerging wave tapping into today’s exciting convergence of mobility and the Internet,” said Tom Libretto, Vice President, Forum Nokia. “Open platforms and the millions of smartphone devices available today are helping enable this new wave of entrepreneurs from around the globe to become drivers of the future global mobile marketplace through the innovative technologies, applications and business models they create today.”

buzzd