cell phones

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Google to Unveil Open-Source Phone Software

'Android' will bring familiar Google apps onto handsets

(Newser) - Google is set to unveil Android, a mobile phone software platform based on open-source technology which could be a bellwether for an industry sea change, news.com reports. A press conference next week is expected to unveil the platform and give specifics on its collaborators, dubbed the "Open Handset...

Globetrotting iPhone Users Get Flat Rate Data Plan

Company responds to roaming rage

(Newser) - Traveling iPhone users rejoice: AT&T is offering flat rate international data plans for the trendy Apple handset starting at 25/month for 20MB of data, reports AppleInsider. That's after irate customers complained about running up huge bills from accessing the Web at roaming rates while overseas, when the iPhone automatically...

MetroPCs Bid For Leap Falls
MetroPCs Bid For Leap Falls
Nov 1, 2007 10:09 PM CDT

MetroPCs Bid For Leap Falls

Withdraws $4.7B offer for rival

(Newser) - The proposed multi-billion dollar merger of rival discount wireless service providers has collapsed amid acrimony. AP reports MetroPCS Communications is withdrawing it's $4.7 Billion bid for Leap Wireless International. The Leap board had rejected the bid as "financially inadequate." Both companies allow customers to pay up front...

Sprint Joins Verizon in Google Phone Talks

Long-rumored gPhone may be unveiled shortly

(Newser) - Following up on earlier reports that Google was in intense talks with Verizon about building a phone based on Google software, the Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint Nextel is also talking to the search giant. Google is expected to reveal its gPhone in the next two weeks, and a...

Spring Ahead, Fall Back; Repeat
Spring Ahead, Fall Back; Repeat
Oct 30, 2007 9:50 AM CDT

Spring Ahead, Fall Back; Repeat

Some may have changed clocks a week early

(Newser) - Spring ahead, fall back. And fall back again, for many whose clocks wrongly reset themselves last weekend—1 week ahead of the schedule Congress set when it extended Daylight Saving Time. Most cell phones and computers, which get time and date information from networks, weren't affected, but many alarm clocks...

UK Provider Unveils Skype Mobile Phone

Free calls over the Internet for users in five countries at launch

(Newser) - British mobile phone provider "3" is unveiling a handset which lets users make free calls over the Net using Skype. The phone won't let you use Skype to make cheap calls to any phone number, like you could over the Internet, but still represents a new level of availability...

Dial in Style This Fall
Dial in Style This Fall
Oct 26, 2007 8:00 PM CDT

Dial in Style This Fall

You don't have to own an iPhone to hang with the handset in-crowd—just check out these babies

(Newser) - Don't let iPhone users have all the fun—other manufacturers are coming out with slick little products that have some nice features of their own.  PC World finds the top five worthy of your attention:
  1. Sprint Touch: Touch screen features give it an iPhone like feel—only simpler.
  2. Samsung
...

Newcomers Battle for Mobile Search Industry

Carriers hope to lure customers away from Google, Yahoo

(Newser) - Google and Yahoo would love part of the growing mobile search business, but phone carriers aren’t eager to have them. Carriers don’t want to be “the dumb pipe that the ISPs became,” one analyst explained. Instead they’re turning to startups like JumpTap and Medio, who...

Phones Goose Transit Gropers
Phones Goose Transit Gropers
Oct 25, 2007 10:24 AM CDT

Phones Goose Transit Gropers

Let your phone do the talking

(Newser) - Commuters tired of being groped on Japan's crowded trains are fighting back with their cell phones. The popular application flashes increasingly angry messages on the phone's screen for the offending feeler-upper. Messages range from "Excuse me, did you just grope me?" to "Shall we head to the police?"...

Early Adopters' Bragging Rights Dwindle

iPhone-style steep and rapid price drops becoming norm

(Newser) - Only two months after the launch of the iPhone, Apple angered its fan base of early adopters by dropping the phone's price sharply. Apple's move signals a broader shift in product life cycles: the shelf life of bragging rights for which early adopters of new gadgets pay premium prices is...

Europe Likely to Get Cell Phones on Flights

Regulator proposes allowing base stations in airplanes

(Newser) - European regulator Ofcom has proposed allowing cellphones in airplanes in EU airspace, making it more likely that Europeans will soon be able to chat in the air. Under the proposal, a mobile base station could be installed on planes, and the signal would be routed by satellite. The FAA ruled...

AT&amp;T Eases Its Contract Regs, Fees
AT&T Eases
Its Contract
Regs, Fees
Oct 17, 2007 1:22 PM CDT

AT&T Eases Its Contract Regs, Fees

Nation's biggest wireless provider follows Verizon's lead, pressuring the rest

(Newser) - Wireless giant AT&T is following Verizon Wireless in loosening restrictions on customers who leave or change their calling plans. Flat early termination fees will be pro-rated, and plan alterations won't result in contract renewals. The move will put pressure on beleaguered No. 3 provider Sprint, writes the Wall Street ...

Police Launch New Search for Maddy
Police Launch New Search
for Maddy
Oct 15, 2007 3:38 AM CDT

Police Launch New Search for Maddy

Bloody footprint discovered outside bedroom

(Newser) - Investigators are launching a fresh, extensive search for missing toddler Madeleine McCann, London newspapers are reporting. The search will focus within a 9-mile radius of the Portuguese resort where the toddler disappeared on vacation, including coastline, isolated villas, forests and a reservoir. Police have also revealed they discovered evidence of...

As Governments Ban Lead, Tech Companies Get Nervous

Without metal, gadgets prone to splintering

(Newser) - Mattel's toy recall fiasco has highlighted the dangers of lead poisoning, and the European Union and other governments have passed laws banning the use of lead in fields that still use it, including electronics. But that has the tech industry worried: for decades, lead has been the only stopgap preventing...

Tech Wraps Growing Web Around World

Some worry about cultural loss as cell phones, e-mail spread

(Newser) - Global cellphone and computer usage is up dramatically as inequalities in technology drop. Cellphone ownership has grown 20% in the US, where 80% of the population uses computers, third in the world behind Sweden and South Korea. Computer usage is up in 26 of 35 countries in a new Pew...

Chicago's Top 10 Contributions to Science

Forget the ferris wheel: first controlled nuclear reaction tops list

(Newser) - It's not all about heavy winds and deep-dish pizza.  A bevy of scientists picked Chicago's 10 most important scientific achievements as a part of a week promoting science:
  1. World's first controlled nuclear reaction
  2. Invention of the cell phone
  3. Development of hormone treatments for prostate and breast cancer

Google Phone Rumors Build
Google Phone Rumors Build
Sep 29, 2007 7:12 PM CDT

Google Phone Rumors Build

Consumers would trade free minutes for targeted advertising

(Newser) - Consumers may soon be able to trade free phone calls for targeted advertising, if Google gets its way. Industry experts speculate that the tech giant is quietly developing plans to market cell phones with an ad-based service in exchange for free minutes, BusinessWeek reports. The big wireless carriers, while privately...

Palm Aims $100 Smart Phone at the Masses

Centro seeks to appeal to many who won't shell out big bucks

(Newser) - While smart phones took a leap forward with the iPhone, it didn't quite end up in the hands of soccer moms everywhere. But by combining Treo hardware with an appealing $99.99 price-tag, Palm's new Centro aims to bridge the price gap that kept smart phones from the masses, CNET...

Disney Ditches Cellphone Service
Disney Ditches Cellphone Service
Sep 28, 2007 3:25 PM CDT

Disney Ditches Cellphone Service

Company may lose big after second mobile marketing flop

(Newser) - Walt Disney Co. has just announced the closure of its Disney cellphone service, which it launched last year with high hopes of targeting a family market with features like Mickey Mouse ring tones and tools enabling parents to locate their children. The news follows on the heels of Disney's decision...

Cell Phone Jamming Just Got a Lot More User-Friendly

Suddenly the devices are small and cheap

(Newser) - Devices that can scramble cell phone calls have been available for years, but now they might be within reach for ordinary airwaves saboteurs. Cell phone jammers are illegal in the US, and their bulk and expense have kept them rare. That may change, with an online catalog selling what ComputerWorld ...

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