January 07, 2008
Overheard at CES: Super Phones
"You've got to see this Japanese phone! He says it's indestructible! We don't know what it is. And he says the battery really lasts!" Heard in: the press room...over otherwise complete silence.
From Overheard at CES: Super Phones
Posted by Sean at 10:03 AM
January 04, 2008
Mogo Wireless Announces New Portable Cellular Signal Booster
Mogo Wireless has announced a new cellular amplifier that helps users avoid bad signals and dropped calls in areas where service is lacking. The device promises a 10x signal boost using a device that can be plugged into a car power supply or into a laptop via USB. There is also an optional 12V to 110 adaptor accessory for home or office use. Once plugged in, the mini-tower will instantly (and wirelessly) recognize your phone and begin working its magic without any further adjustment. Mogo is compatible with nearly all service providers as well as all Bluetooth devices and you can expect to see it on store shelves later this year for around $149. [Mogo Wireless via MobileWhack]
From Mogo Wireless Announces New Portable Cellular Signal Booster
Posted by Peter at 09:01 AM
January 01, 2008
Sprint halted sales of the LG Rumor due to ...
Sprint halted sales of the LG Rumor due to a firmware update that inadvertantly reveals a data-erasing debug mode. Spring is offering free repair to those affected, offer over the air updates to unaffected owners, and resume sales when the firmware issue is fixed.
From Sprint halted sales of the LG Rumor due to ...
Posted by Richard at 01:58 PM
December 21, 2007
Verizon Gets Guitar Hero, Proceeds to Rock For First Time Ever
Guitar Hero, the game that lets you pretend to rock with a plastic guitar, has just been ported onto Verizon and Verizon cellphones, which don't look anything like a guitar. For $11.99 (or $4.49 a month) you can get access to 15 songs, four in-game guitars and three venues, which isn't all that bad when your other other alternative is sitting there quietly while the judge announces your verdict. What kind of person would want to do that? [Kotaku]
From Verizon Gets Guitar Hero, Proceeds to Rock For First Time Ever
Posted by Chris at 01:56 PM
December 13, 2007
Orb to Allow You to Stream Your Home Music Collection to any iPhone/iPod Touch
Orb is releasing a new piece of software called Winamp Remote that will allow you to listen to your home music collection from anywhere with a Wi-Fi signal, and it won't even require you to hack your iPhone. It works completely through the web browser, letting you get to your home collection and stream it quickly and easily. You can also share songs with friends by sending them links via SMS. Check a video of it in action after the jump. It looks like a pretty awesome piece of software. Unfortunately, it'll be pretty useless away from Wi-Fi due to EDGE's notorious slowness. If (when) a 3G iPhone comes out, however, it could make waiting for iPod-classic-sized flash drives to come out a lot less painful, as you'll be able to access anything you don't have loaded on your iPhone/iPod Touch from home without much trouble at all. [Product Page via The Register]
From Orb to Allow You to Stream Your Home Music Collection to any iPhone/iPod Touch
Posted by Alex at 12:30 PM
December 11, 2007
Half of Japanese Bestsellers Typed on Phones, Printed on Paper
The big deal in Japan right now are keitai shousetsu, mobile phone novels that are composed on the phone, released electronically as serials, then compiled into the ancient paper-bound codex we're still trying to ditch. In the first six months of 2007, half of the top 10 bestselling novels in Japan were originally thumbtyped on a phone, and have averaged 400,000 copies each in sales. Most of these novels are written by women, and involve some seriously messed-up subject matter. One of the biggest sellers, Koizora (Love Sky) by a woman whose pen-name is simply Mika, has sold more than 1.2 million printed copies since October. It is about "a high-school girl who is bullied, gang-raped, becomes pregnant and has a miscarriage in a saga of near-Biblical proportions," says the Sydney Morning Herald, which adds that the book will soon be made into a movie. Mika's work is typical of the genre. The stories traverse teen romance, sex, drugs and other adolescent terrain in a succession of clipped one-liners, emoticons and spaces (used to show that a character is thinking), all of which can be read easily on a mobile phone interface. Scene and character development are notably missing. Scholars attribute the shallowness of the literature to a dearth of cell-phone accessible kanji characters and small screens which necessitate "short, simple sentences with basic words," rather than admit that this is, in fact, the sign of a civilization in decline. [SMH via Gadget Lab]
From Half of Japanese Bestsellers Typed on Phones, Printed on Paper
Posted by Rob at 01:17 PM
December 10, 2007
iPhone Goes Platinum...No, Not in THAT Way
The iPhone just went platinum, literally. From the precious metal enthusiasts at Goldstriker International, you can now buy a platinum-coated iPhone for about $2,230. And while most of us aren't interested in purchasing or carrying around a platinum iPhone (that will probably scratch to hell, btw), it's still the best way to shut up that a'hole talking on his gold iPhone. Well, that, or watching him get mugged while your friends hold him down.
From iPhone Goes Platinum...No, Not in THAT Way
Posted by Jim at 03:32 PM
December 04, 2007
Dell Smartphone in 2008?! [Rumor]
In an already interesting article chronicling the last 10 months of the second coming of Michael Dell at his namesake, Forbes mentions two more interesting upcoming products: A suicide chip for stolen laptops that remotely nukes the hard drive, and a smartphone coproduced with Quanta'"led on Dell's end by one of the RAZR's daddies, Ron Garriques'"that has "video, an MP3 player and internet access and [will] be unleashed on the world early next year." It's a little off the initial release projection'"nowish'"but Forbes' tidbit indicates the rumored project's still alive and in the oven. Obviously, it remains mostly a blank slate of speculation'"what's the OS going to be? Still WinMo6 or will Dell mix it up? Will it have a touchscreen, QWERTY or both? The list goes on. One thing's for sure, it'll be a certifiable test of the new design chops Michael Dell's been pushing so hard, which we hope are up to the task since there's nothing worse than a poorly designed smartphone. What do you think should go into a Dell smartphone? [Forbes]
From Dell Smartphone in 2008?! [Rumor]
Posted by Joe at 03:42 PM
