The British government is getting fed up with gadget theft, but not enough to take matters into their own hands it seems. The responsibility is to be that of the manufacturers, as British Home Secretary John Reid has recently called for a summit to encourage gadget manufacturers to develop innovative new ways of make alluring electronic trinkets more theft proof.
Considering how high mobile theft rates are in the UK, it is unsurprising that companies such as Sony and Apple will be looking increasingly towards new auto lock/ shut down features for devices as a means of limiting the re-sale potential of stolen goods. Whether or not the thinking behind the Home Secretary’s idea will actually dissuade would-be thieves from entering into a life of crime, is another matter.
Doesn’t really seem like this solution will tackle the root of this particular societal ill, but at least theft victims will be able to ensure that the Artful Dodger-like triumph that whomever has stolen their new phone feels will turn swiftly to gloom at the push of a button. Here’s to social pragmatism…
(Via Engadget)
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
3 has announced that highlights from Premiership football matches will be available for download from its mobile portal almost immediately after the real-time action has finished. Mobile football fanatics will have to wait just five minutes to download the video clips — which is pretty swift editing.
Also on offer through 3 will be free SMS alerts, delivering to you the latest info on your club’s games, including up-to-the-minute goal, half-time, full-time and red card alerts. We can’t think of a better way to drive a non-football-fan partner up the wall on holiday than endless beep-beeping alerts every five or ten minutes…
For the full info on 3’s football services, click here.
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
Reuters notes that Iran’s Telecommunications Ministry is about to clamp down on what it considers to be ‘immoral’ picture messaging. According to the news site:
‘The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a body set up after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, has instructed the ministry to buy the equipment needed to prevent any misuse of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).’
As is the way with such things, the Supreme Council has failed to give any indication of what it will consider to be an ‘immoral’ MMS, but we’re betting that any circulation of certain Dutch cartoons has got to be pretty high on the list…
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
mocoNews reports that Orange and 3 content supplier MobiTV is pulling out of the UK. According to a quote from New Media Age the company has, ‘closed down its aggregation service with 3 and will no longer provide its downloadable TV Java application to Orange.’
With mobile TV seemingly on the cusp of getting quite big, quite quickly, this seems a slightly odd move - especially with mocoNews also recently reporting that MobiTV seemed to be doing pretty well, passing the two-million subscriber mark. Presumably most of those subs are in the US, and the company has decided to focus its effort on that market for the time being.
MobiTV’s US roster of channels includes MSNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, Fox Sports, ESPN, CNBC, and CSPAN, so there’s now presumably quite a large America-shaped hole in Orange and 3’s channel line-up.
How long before all of our gadgets can do what all of our gadgets can do? Mobiles are getting more and more like computers all the time and now thanks to CallWave, computers can start acting a bit more like mobiles to. Software company CallWave has a couple of interesting new downloads it calls, ‘free Web 2.0 widgets’.
Continue reading ‘Free web 2.0 widgets for your mobile from CallWave’
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
As part of a our on-going spring cleaning and self-improvement drive (which is on the verge of causing severe RSI in our editorial department), Pocket Picks has just switched on its new story rating system.
It’s pretty simple to use - simply click on the number of ‘cool’ buttons you think a story deserves. Just remember you’re rating the content of the story, not the quality of our mad journalistic skillz! You’re welcome to slag those off in the comments section…
Ever find that using a mobile to send a very quick short email is a needlessly long and drawn out affair? Checking emails on the go is a joy with most up to date handsets, but unless you own a Blackberry sending them is not quite so hassle free owing to the lack of a querty keyboard. But that is all about to change because a new free service called Jott has set its sights on revolutionizing dictation and memos for busy professionals.
It works like this; you call Jott and after the beep leave a voice message of up to 30 seconds in length. The Jott service then transcribes your message and emails it to you or to whomever you need to send it to. Very handy for those who need to send quick messages on the move with their mobile.
The idea is disarmingly simple and although the 30 second limit may seem a bit tight, there is talk of a future premium addition that will add other features for a small fee. Jott’s creator former Microsoft executive has stated however, that there will always be a free ad funded basic service available. Jott is currently only available in the US and Canada, here’s hoping the beta makes its way over to Europe before long.
Look out legal secretaries, your transcription days may be numbered.
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
Ring Nokia has followed-up its recent piece about touch-screen input coming to S60 smartphones (the OS used in recent Nokias and quite a few other devices), by posting this slide from a cancelled talk that had been due to take place at the S60 Summit in Spain. For those readers lacking bionic eyes, the slide’s bulletpoint says, ‘Touch User interface for new kinds of products.’ Mmm. Touch user.
Also noteworthy is the point further up which says, ‘Sensorial Experiences for feeling the UI,’ which we take to mean the inclusion of gaming-style vibration feedback, which LG has also been talking about.
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
A couple of pictures have appeared on been deleted from Flickr which, based on the EXIF data supposedly tagged to the images, have been taken using the iPhone’s camera. The EXIF tags are claimed to reveal:
Continue reading ‘The first photos taken with iPhone’s camera?’
Published by Caspar Field on April 30, 2007
in Uncategorized.
It really wasn’t that long ago - er, March, in fact - that we were writing about Samsung’s 8GB flash RAM chips. Now here we are on the last day of sunny April bringing you news that the Korean giant has commenced production of new 16GB NAND chips. Samsung claims these are the first mass produced 16GB flash chips coming to market - just eight months since it achieved the same feat with 8GB chips.
Well, if nothing else, these new storage monsters should ease some of Apple’s concerns about grabbing enough supply for new flash-based iPods… And for possible flash HD Mac laptops, we hear.
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