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New York Education Officials Bribing Students with Cell Phones
New York City officials are trying to motivate middle school students by giving them free cell phones.
Last Wednesday, officials started giving cell phones to 2,500 students as part of a closely watched experiment. The intent is to change the way teenagers think about doing well in school. The pilot program is part of an effort by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and is being started at three Brooklyn middle schools and four charter schools.
Each student is receiving a Samsung flip-phone loaded with 130 prepaid minutes. Good behavior, attendance, homework and test scores will be rewarded with additional minutes. Teachers and administrators will also be able to use a system to send text messages to several students at a time, to remind them, say, of upcoming tests and other school information.
Several critics believe it's absurd for school officials to reward students with a device that is banned from the public schools.
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Gartner Reports Worldwide Cell Phone Sales Increased 16% in 2007
According to a recent Gartner, Inc research report, worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users surpassed 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16 per cent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million, according to Gartner, Inc (see Table 1). Mobile phone sales at the end of the year were consistent with the yearly trend, as fourth quarter sales reached 330 million units.
Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone. In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers’ appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras.
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Sprint Launches Unlimited Pricing Plan for $99
Sprint today announced it will launch a domestic unlimited pricing plan that gives customers unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect for $99.99 a month. The new pricing plan is available to existing and new customers beginning tomorrow. (Wow! That's not a bad deal!)
The $99.99 Simply Everything plan is available to customers on both Sprint's CDMA and iDEN networks. Existing Sprint customers can switch to the Simply Everything plan without extending their current contract either by contacting Sprint customer service or by stopping by any participating Sprint retail location. New line activations require a two-year agreement. |
Alltel Announces Voicemail MAXTM to Personalize Voicemail Greetings
Alltel Wireless today announced it will offer Voicemail MAXTM, an application which enables customers to personalize outgoing voicemail greetings with the voices of Hollywood stars, comedians, celebrity impersonators, and top-selling music artists. Developed by 9 Squared, a Zed Company and leading provider of mobile content in the U.S. , Voicemail MAX features content from Larry the Cable Guy, Steve Harvey, Orlando Jones, T.I., and popular voices from COMEDY CENTRAL'S "RENO 911!" Voicemail MAX is available on select phones and provides access to over 500 audio clips recorded by premier voice talent. The application is available for download and preview at no additional cost via the phone’s main menu. One greeting may be purchased for $2.99, and customers can choose from a wide variety of content categories including Hip Hop Celebrities, Rock Stars, Sports, Business, Holiday , Cartoon, and many others. | 
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Gamble Online with Your Cell Phone
Do you know you can gamble on your cell phone? One company providing this service is Europe's Tropez Mobile. At Tropez Mobile you can play anytime, anywhere, directly from your mobile phone! Play slots while on the train to work, or try your luck at a hand of video poker while waiting in the dentist's waiting room.
Casino Tropez Mobile allows users to connect, deposit, and play within minutes from your cell phone. Waiting is now a thing of the past! Casino Tropez Mobile works exactly like the online version of Casino Tropez.
Go to www.casinotropezmobile.com, pick the game you want to download and enter your cell phone number. An SMS will be immediately sent to your cell phone with instructions. You can also download games directly to your cell phone at wap.casinotropez.com. | 
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Retrieve Deleted SIM Card Data with the Cell Phone Spy
Think those private text messages you sent from your cell phone was completely erased from the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card? Well think again! Those erased messages can be retrieved with the Cell Phone Spy. The device is sold for $150 at Brickhouse Security. Brickhouse claims the device can be used to "Forensically examine your SIM card to find deleted text messages and numbers." (Note: Don't want to spend $150, consider the SIM Card Backup Tool for $14.99)
The Cell Phone Spy can save, edit and delete your phone book and short messages (SMS) stored on your SIM card using the Recovery PRO software and SIM Recovery Pro Reader with your computer and ANY standard SIM card from a standard cell phone which supports removable SIM cards.
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Opera Makes Google Default Search Engine for its Mobile Browsers
Opera today made Google the default search engine in Opera's mobile Web browsers. Now anyone using Opera Mobile or Opera Mini can access Google's powerful mobile search directly from the browser start page, meaning they'll be able to quickly and easily get the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it.
Opera Mini's ongoing success is a proof of the mobile Web's adoption by mainstream consumers. Because Opera Mini targets feature phones that have traditionally possessed limited browsing capabilities, millions of people have made the personal choice to download and install Opera Mini to their phones. These consumers tend to use the mobile Web more frequently and actively than consumers with more static, less dynamic mobile Web browsers. Every month, Opera Mini users browse more than 1.7 billion pages, with much of that traffic generated through the search function in the browser.
Google has been the default search option on Opera's desktop browser for seven years.
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Mobile Music Market to Rise to More than $17.5bn by 2012
According to a new report by Juniper Research, the total value of the global mobile music market is expected to rise to more than $17.5bn by 2012, driven by rental music services and full-track downloads.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, "I think it's fair to say that 2007 marked the tipping point as far as mobile music adoption was concerned. Far more subscribers began downloading and subscribing to music content in developed markets, and it must be said that that the publicity surrounding the iPhone launch undoubtedly contributed to consumer awareness of mobile music services per se."
However, the Juniper report also argues that current prices for ringtones are unsustainable and that the market for such services may already have peaked in a number of developed markets, arguing that competitive pricing allied to a steady migration to ad-funded and/or self-generated ringtones will lead to a gradual decline in global ringtone revenues. "With some operators now offering full-track downloads at a comparable price to iTunes, there is little justification for a ringtone retail price point that is in many cases two or even three times this level," said Holden. | 
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Use ShifD to Send Content Between Desktop & Mobile Devices
Michael Young and Nick Bilton, two members of The New York Times Company’s Research and Development Lab have created a free mobile application that provides users the capability to seamlessly shift content back and forth between their desktop computers and mobile devices called "ShifD".
You can use the service from any Web browser by logging into http://shifd.com. Your information is then added through various methods and is saved to the user’s ShifD page and automatically updated and accessible on all devices. ShifD will work on any Web enabled phone around the world. SMS is U.S. only for now and will launch in Canada in the coming months.
Everything on your ShifD page falls into three categories: notes, places and links. Within these categories, users can use single tags. If you have a book, you can create a “book” tag, or you can make labels for articles, news, to-do’s, or favorite restaurants. | 
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Verizon to Release Wireless Specs for "Any Device, Any App" Program
Verizon Wireless today said its upcoming Open Development Device Conference will feature the release and publication of Version 1.0 of the technical specifications for new wireless devices that will work on its “Any Device, Any App” network-only service option.
The conference, scheduled for March 19 in New York City, will focus on how traditional device and consumer electronics companies and entrepreneurs new to the wireless ecosystem can bring new wireless devices to the marketplace under Verizon Wireless’ Open Development initiative. The conference will establish shared goals of streamlining the certification and delivery of exciting new devices while preserving the company’s optimal network performance.
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Get Paid from People Calling You
Want to GET PAID when people call you? Brring is a service that accomplishes this by playing a 10 second ad before the call is forwarded to you. (This service reminds me of a service that no longer exists where you first listened to ads before getting free minutes to make a call. The more ads you listened to, the more free minutes you received. Brring I guess has put a different spin on things.)
Brring lets you personalize different ads to different friends. Brring also allows you to customize the ringback tone your friends hear after the ad plays while they wait for you to answer. When you register with Brring, you get a new Brring number. You also keep your existing number but you tell your friends to call on the new Brring number so you can get paid. The calls will forward to the phone you already have.
You become an advertising medium just like a billboard or TV station or a web page. Advertisers pay you because you can reach your audience best. | 
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Nokia & Univ. of Cambridge Launch Nanotechnology Concept Device (Morph)
Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK), was launched today alongside the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibition, on view from February 24 to May 12, 2008, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph features in both the exhibition catalog and on MoMA's official website.
Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces. Dr. Bob Iannucci, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia, commented: "Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices; the Morph concept shows what might be possible".
Dr. Tapani Ryhanen, Head of the NRC Cambridge UK laboratory, Nokia, commented: "We hope that this combination of art and science will showcase the potential of nanoscience to a wider audience. | 
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New International Cell Phone Service w/o Roaming Charges
Listen up international travelers who require cell phone service while overseas. Long Distance Post (LDP) has launched a prepaid international cell phone service that allows users to use their cell phones overseas without incurring roaming charges.
LDP is a distributor of prepaid mobile phones and is offering international travelers a prepaid Subscriber Identity Module card, called OneSIMCard, which can be inserted in a phone and used overseas to make phone calls. LDP claims OneSIMCard works in over 140 countries and provides up to 85% lower rates than other SIM cards.
OneSIMCard is compatible with tri-band or quad-band phones that use GSM, GPRS, and 3G cellular technologies. OneSIMCard comes with subscriber information, security features, storage and costs $40 which includes a $10 initial airtime balance. Cell phones sold by Long Distance Post with OneSIMCard already included start at $99.95. | 
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Google May Use Balloons as Cell Phone Towers
According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, Google is considering using balloons for wireless communications using Space Data Corporation current technologies.
Space Data Corp. currently launches 10 balloons a day across the Southern United States to provide telecommunications services to oil companies and truckers. The balloons fly 20 miles into the stratosphere covering thousands of square miles below. Each balloon carries a payload of electronics, about the size of a shoebox that acts like a mini cell phone tower.
The inexpensive balloons, about $50 each, are good for only 24 hours before they burst in the thin air of the upper atmosphere. The electronic gear is encased in a small Styrofoam box that drifts gently back to earth on tiny parachutes. | 
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New Mobile Social Network Offered by Zannel
Want to network with your friends via your cell phone? Consider using Zannel! Zannel is the mobile industry’s first Instant Media Messaging service, allowing people to instantly update their friends and start real time conversations by sending video, picture and text updates from their mobile phones. Zannel is completely free! However, when using Zannel on your cell phone, its recommend that you have an unlimited data plan, as standard text message rates and data charges could apply.
Zannel supports most video and web enabled handsets in the U.S. Even if we don't officially support your specific phone, most features on the site should still work, though you may experience a few glitches here and there.
Visit http://www.zannel.com for more information. | 
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Alltel Expands Access to GPS Outside Home Network
Alltel Wireless customers now have access to GPS applications outside of their home network area with the availability of LBS (location based services) Nationwide Roaming.
Alltel Wireless customers with GPS-capable handsets will benefit from this industry-leading feature, as they now have the ability to use any of Alltel’s navigation and location based applications nationwide. In addition to the existing network, Alltel LBS applications will now function in more than 45 major metro areas that were previously inoperable before of this network enhancement. Standard roaming charges apply, making it easy to access the services needed, wherever and whenever needed.
Alltel currently offers an impressive suite of GPS applications including TeleNav GPS Navigator and Alltel Navigation, providing vital navigation tools directly on customer handsets. In addition, Alltel’s WHERE application helps direct customers to desired points of interest including gas stations, shops, restaurants, hotels, parks, golf courses, ATMs, hospitals and schools.
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T-Mobile Testing Home Telephone Service
T-Mobile USA has revealed that it's testing a new Internet telephony service in Dallas and Seattle that will offer home landline telephone service.
The service will allow subscribers to connect any regular home telephone to a T-Mobile router that will send calls over the Internet; which is very similar to the service that Vonage currently offers. There will be no need to change phone numbers because existing phone numbers can be transferred.
The router required will also provide Internet access and will costs $50 after rebates. The service will cost a very low $10 per month plus taxes and fees for unlimited domestic local and long distance calls. However, that catch is that customers must also sign up for a T-Mobile wireless service costing at least $39.99 a month.
It was rumored that T-Mobile had been working on this service because last summer it filed plans for the IP wireless router with the Federal Communications Commission. | 
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U.S. Cellular Also Announces Unlimited Calling Plan
U.S. Cellular followed suit and also announced a $99 unlimited national calling plan for new and existing customers to offer convenience and service to both consumer and business customers. The new national plan allows customers to make unlimited voice calls. Recently, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T announced their unlimited calling plans.
In addition to the unlimited national calling plan, U.S. Cellular offers a $14.95 unlimited texting plan and a $9.95 unlimited easyedgeTM data package to provide customers with a variety of services to satisfy their individual needs. The company also offers a wide variety of plans that include unlimited free incoming calls and texts.
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GSM Encryption Cracked for Cell Phone Eavesdropping
David Hulton and Steve Muller demonstrated in a presentation yesterday at the Black Hat Security Conference in Washington, D.C., a new technique for cracking the encryption used to prevent eavesdropping on GSM cellular signals. In the U.S. GSM cellular radio frequency coding are used by AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile.
Hulton and Muller claims their technique allows an eavesdropper to record a cell phone conversation on GSM networks from miles away and decode it in about half an hour with about $1,000 in computer storage and processing equipment.
Hulton and Muller, director of applications for the high-performance computing company Pico, and researcher for mobile security firm CellCrypt, respectively, plan to make their decryption method free and public. However, in March they will start selling a faster version that can crack GSM encryption in just 30 seconds, charging between $200,000 and $500,000 for the premium version. | 
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