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More live shots of the Sidekick III
Yet more live photos of the Sidekick III. Yep, we know it's out there, we know it's ready, we know when it's being launched, T-Mobile just has to get the damned thing out the door already. Until then we're just gonna keep on publishing pics because oh, how we lust after those things we can't have. By the way, Nice music player, Danger.
Sidekick III launches July 10th
Alright Sidekick fans, here it is, the date you've been waiting for. Contrary to the many rumors floating around about the Sidekick III's release date, no, it's not June 5th, 9th, 20th, or the 26th. We obtained some very reliable inside information that T-Mobile is actually all set to introduce the latest Sidekick iteration on July 10th. Yep, that's right kids, it looks like we're still more than a month out from launch. Sorry to be the bearers of bad news. P.S. -We asked T-Mobile for a statement, but they declined to comment.
Details of upcoming Thunderbird 2.0 release
Hawk Wings has tracked down some details on a tantalizing v2.0 update to Thunderbird, Mozilla's email client. New features at the top of my list are message tagging, a tabbed message viewer and a built-in notification system. It's great to see more developers bringing the tagging paradigm to email, as Scott Morrison has done with his MailTags plug-in for Apple's Mail.Check out Mozilla's Thunderbird development blog for the full (and lengthy) post of what's coming in this major release for Thunderbird, including plenty of Mac-specific features and fixes.
Mobile IM poised to overtake SMS, analysts say
Citing growth rates of the respective services, telecom consulting firm Ovum is predicting that mobile instant messaging will replace SMS as the de facto text messaging solution some time in the next five years. This has operators scrambling, and analysts pontificating, on how the outrageous profits made from SMS will be replaced. One of the compelling features of SMS for operators is a lack of status -- there's no way to know whether a user is able to immediately receive your text, but your carrier will be happy to take your coin regardless. From the user's perspective, SMS is an inherent, universal feature of every mobile phone sold today, which gives us a level of integration that mobile IM won't likely see any time soon. With IM, on the other hand, user status is a common feature, and you might be less likely to send a message to someone who can't receive it. Carriers are slowly making moves to embrace IM, but it's unclear how, or even if, they'll be able to fully recoup lost SMS income in the long run when it's being overrun by a universal, virtually free, data-based system.[Via textually.org]
NeoKeys: yet another mobile keypad interface
A lot of companies have come and gone trying to come up with the Next Big Thing in phone keypad layouts, but this one might just take the cake. The NeoKeys concept, brought to us by a company named Yuvee, takes a page from the Optimus wireless keyboard's book by adding a battery-annihilating array of LCDs to the keypad. The idea is to make the keypad's functionality dynamic depending on the phone's mode, including a language-switching character entry pad for multilingual text messaging. Of course, this is all conceptual right now -- no devices or partners have been announced. We'll go ahead and write up NeoKey's obit now so we have it at the ready.
Globetrotting Ogo goes to Latin America
Some upstart device manufacturers might run off with their tails between their legs after the tepid reception they received from ATTWS and its US customer base, but IXI Mobile has proven that persistence really does pay off. After making some healthy inroads in Europe and Israel, the company is turning its attention to Uruguay, where they have inked a deal with carrier ANCEL to offer its Ogo messengers and support the devices on the back end. No word on which Ogo(s) will be offered, but for the sake of our Uruguayan friends, we hope it's the CT-15/17, which is the only model in IXI's lineup that features voice capability.
GoodLink brings push email to Moto Q
Motorola and Good Technology today announced that Good's GoodLink wireless messaging will be one of the push email options for the Moto Q when it finally launches on May 31st. GoodLink is aimed primairily at corporate users offering continuous two-way push synchronization of users' e-mail, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks, as well as access to corporate intranets, CRM and ERP. The service also boasts enterprise-class, FIPS-certified security with end-to-end AES data encryption, remote data wipe, and remote password policy management. GoodLink is initially only available for Microsoft Exchange users, with support for IBM Domino/Lotus Notes coming later this summer. The Q itself is a Verizon, running on their high-speed EV-DO network and retailing for $300, although customers will be able to knock $100 off that if they sign up for a two year plan.
DHS looking to satellites, mesh networks for emergency communications
Seeking to avoid the communication breakdowns that occurred as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the Department of Homeland Security is developing an emergency network that would let officials email one another even in the absence of a cellular infrastructure. The DHS' Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is analogous to the Pentagon's DARPA, is looking at a number of options to keep the data flowing following an emergency, including widespread deployment of mobile mesh networking technology or re-purposing some of the government's legacy satellites to handle terrestrial communications. This latter option is particularly attractive because some sats could offer transfer rates in excess of 100Mbps, and in fact a trial program is scheduled for this summer that will employ modified BlackBerries and Treos to send secure, satellite-based email between Homeland Security officials and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[Via Smart Mobs]
Search By Camera! delivers product data from cellphone pics
Much like the Photo2Search project being developed by Microsoft Research Asia, a new cameraphone-based image recognition service called Search By Camera! is promising to help consumers acquire info on products by simply snapping a picture while shopping. Developed by Bandai Networks and D2 Communications, using technology from Evolution Robotics (which is also at the core of a similar service launched earlier this year, called Mobot Mobile Visual Search, as well as having been recently licensed by Robosapien manufacturer WowWee Robotics), Search By Camera! will currently only work for the handful of folks who happen to have imported a DoCoMo FOMA N902iS phone into the US. Further degrading its utility is the fact that Bandai and D2C must get permission for each and every product they want to include in their database, which has so far only come from a scant ten companies. Still, even if this particular initiative doesn't take off, it's pretty clear that image recognition will play a leading role in the future of mobile search, with many handsets already possessing the proper tools that make such a service feasible.
In Mobile Assassins, cameraphones do the shooting
Students in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program at the university's Tisch School of the Arts have just completed a hi-tech version of the game Assassins, in which players use their cameraphones to take a picture of their target and score a "hit." Designers Jennifer Chowdhury and Ran Tao will unveil the game, called Mobile Assassins, at tomorrow's annual ITP Spring Show, after which it will be available for the public to use in controlled situations such as college orientations, trade conferences, and other events where you wouldn't be getting photographed by complete strangers. To enter a game, players must first take their own photo and MMS it to the MA server, after which they are sent a picture of their first target; if the first target is successfully "assassinated" without first snapping the assassin's picture, then the next hit on the target's own list is reassigned to the assassin. This all sounds a bit complicated, so if you're ever involved in one of these tournaments, your best bet is to lock yourself in a room for most of the game, only to reemerge just in time to counter-strike the other remaining player and claim your victory.[Via picturephoning and WMMNA]
Saki teams up with INgrooves to create "wireless digital music community"
Saki Mobile, the kinda-sorta MVNO that also distributes its content through a Windows Mobile application, has teamed up with independent "digital record label" INgrooves to offer users what they're calling a "wireless digital music community." INgroove, which represents such artists as Nappy Roots and Thievery Corporation, will offer their musicians' songs, bios, pictures, ringtones, etc., etc., along with supposed "direct access" to the bands themselves through a messaging service. Furthermore, subscribers can communicate amongst one another using Saki's IM client, chatting and sending around concert info and band updates, along with all the great swag that they've downloaded. [Via Moco News]
"Love Detector" service now available for mobile matchmaking
We're not quite sure that the type of person who uses Nemesysco Entertainment's home or PocketPC (pictured) versions of the "Love Detector" service is out and about all that much, but the Israeli company has nonetheless released a mobile alternative that lets you discover your crush's innermost feelings while chatting on your cellphone. Already "wildy popular" in Israel, "Love Detector" allows you to dial a certain number before calling your intended target sweetie so that the company's server (and no snickering employees, we're certain) can eavesdrop on the coversation and calculate (with deadly accuracy, we're certain) four key parameters that supposedly determine your chances of mating. After the call is over (or the other person hangs up on you), the server delivers a text message to your phone that helpfully breaks the complicated analysis down into plain English, and even more helpfully, offers advice on how to proceed ("Love is detected! Proceed with caution!" or "Never call this person again, you perv."). Besides Israel, the precision service is unfortunately (?) only available in Turkey, Hungary, and the UK for now, but we're sure that once our US readers begin deluging Nemesysco with pleading emails, they'll have a version for the States in no time.[Via Shiny Shiny and Gizmos for Geeks]
Text and drive in Malaysia and go to jail
If you're in Malaysia and you plan on spending any time behind the wheel, you'd better curb any temptation to read or send text messages while on the road. Declaring that "using the SMS while driving is more dangerous than talking on the handphone," government officials have mandated jail time for DWT. Having seen more than our share of distracted drivers, we'd have to agree -- even if we have a soft sport for our fans in Malaysia.
Microsoft "Wild Thing" text entry system for keypads
We've never had a whole lot of luck with predictive text-entry systems on cellphones, which is one reason we tend to get all hot and bothered every time we see a new, QWERTY model show up. But we're still intrigued by Microsoft's "Wild Thing" technology, which the company says uses artificial intelligence to translate keypad strings into useful text for searches. For example, if you want to search for Engadget, you would type 36423438, rather than having to perform multiple key-presses in order to toggle the correct character. Other abbreviations would allow you to search using abbreviations, such as TR SF for Thai restaurants in San Francisco. Microsoft is in talks with carriers and manufacturers to begin rolling out the service within the next year. We'll check it out, but our heart will still belong to QWERTY.
Ogo a go in Germany with CT-17 for 1&1
IXI Mobile has made good on its MacArthur-like promise to return to the mobile messaging arena, with the launch of the CT-17 in Germany. As previously reported, the handheld will be selling for about $60, with monthly plans, marketed through 1&1 as the Pocket Web service, starting at about $12. Unlike IXI's original effort, the text-centric AT&T Ogo (which IXI still markets in some countries), the CT-17 has broad support for a range of services, including web access and voice features (via an external headset). Voice and web functions were among the reasons for the original Ogo's failure to catch on (that and the fact that AT&T sort of lost interest in it amid the company's acquisition by Cingular). PocketWeb is being positioned as a lower-cost competitor to products like the Sidekick and BlackBerry, and with the new features and attractive pricing, the Ogo may just be a go this time around. [Thanks, Jerry]
Sprint intros "Text to Landline" SMS service
Sprint has just launched a new service that employs text-to-speech technology for allowing customers to send text messages to any landline. Called, cleverly, "Text to Landline," the service is compatible with any SMS-capable phone, and allows the receiving party to respond with either a voice message or canned text selectable from their phone's keypad. We sent a message from our PPC-6700 to our landline, and the service worked exactly as advertised, reading the text in a pleasant female voice (one we were already familiar with from Sprint's voice-controlled customer service menus). Even better, sending these types of texts costs no more than a regular SMS, so you can feel free to harass your friends with humorous/vulgar spoken messages on the cheap.[Via textually]
Microsoft's Photo2Search for cameraphone queries
In one of the most ambitious projects to date for associating real-world objects with digital information about them, a team from Microsoft Research Asia is in the final stages of developing a platform for photo-based searches. Rather straightforwardly called Photo2Search, the technology was developed against the backdrop of a growing cameraphone market, whose widespread adoption is bringing portable computing to the masses but whose limited input options continue to deliver a frustrating search experience. Project leader Xing Xie came up with the idea for a database that could be queried via texted or emailed phone pics in late 2004, but at the time both machine-based photo identification and computer-vision algorithms were too slow and rudimentary to suit their needs. Over a year of work has refined the technology to make it faster, but more importantly, relevant -- unlike older software, Xie's version is now able to discern features that allow it to match specific objects and not just those which share similar characteristics. Unfortunately there are no immediate plans for rolling out this technology to consumers (it's still not quite ready for primetime, apparently), but since most of today's phones produce photos that are little more than a pixelated mess, we're probably not quite ready either.[Via picturephoning and MocoNews]
Geoff Goodfellow, early inventor of wireless email, profiled
Back in the early 80s a man by the name of Geoff Goodfellow had an idea: to relay electronic mail from Arpanet to his alphanumeric pager. He published his concept on an Arpanet mailing list in 1982 (he called his piece "Electronic Mail for People on the Move"), and went on to found RadioMail in the early 1990s -- a wireless email service (surprise, surprise). After working with such small clients and partners as Ericsson, Motorola, and RIM, Goodfellow left the biz in 1996 and moved to Europe. But he was contacted in early 2002 by James H. Wallace Jr., a lawyer of patent-holding firm NTP, who thoroughly researched Goodfellow's contributions to wireless communications as they were gearing up to take on Research In Motion. In fact, Wallace once introduced Goodfellow thusly: "Geoff's the inventor of wireless e-mail. My client patented some of its implementation workings." The New York Times seems to think Goodfellow's prior art should have been disclosed during the RIM / NTP dispute, but wasn't; that Goodfellow should have been available as a fact witness, but wasn't. So why has no one ever heard of the talented Mr. Goodfellow? Because NTP paid him close to $20,000 for "consulting" in 2002, which included several sessions with NTP's lawyers in noteless meetings, as well as a contract and NDA that essentially barred him from discussing the case while it proceeded. You'll have to read the Times profile for the full story, but whether or not NTP acted ethically (or illegally), or preyed on Goodfellow's disdain for patents or his free-market attitude isn't exactly making the bad taste in our mouths from the settlement taste any better.
Indian politicians are texting for votes
Although we doubt the practice would go over well here in the pay-by-the-message US, Indian politicians have apparently embraced texting in a big way, using SMS as a new way to reach voters in response to a crackdown on campaigning methods. The Hindu is reporting that recent restrictions on traditional campaign signage such as wall posters and graffiti have prompted candidates for the May 8 Assembly elections to find new avenues of reaching the electorate, with many taking advantage of free SMS and MMS services to send brief slogans, issue positions, and even pictures of themselves and their party's symbol. This new tactic by politicos follows a more general Indian trend of information distribution via text message, with political parties already notifying journalists of their officials' schedules and impending press conferences by SMS.[Via textually]
Skype now available for Palm OS... via EQO
Well, well, welcome to 2004 Palm OS users with the announcement that EQO's Mobile for Skype client now supports Treo 600 and Treo 650 devices. Sorry, this isn’t a full-featured Skype client (not that we expected one, ever) loooong available for PocketPC devices. Rather, EQO is now providing a beta J2ME client for your Palm OS device which must run along-side a PC plugin (yes, your PC must be running and connected to Skype for this to work) all linking up with EQO’s service to bridge the whole shebang and provide users the ability to make and receive Skype calls, send IMs, and view their Skype buddies' on-line status. Hey, no one said it would be easy... but judging by feedback in the EQO community forum, it seems to work.[Via Palm Infocenter]
