June 3, 2009, 5:15 AM CT

Cell phone ringtones can pose major distraction

A flurry of recent research has documented that talking on a cell phone poses a dangerous distraction for drivers and others whose attention should be focused elsewhere. Now, a newly released study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology finds that just the ring of a cell phone appears to be equally distracting, particularly when it comes in a classroom setting or includes a familiar song as a ringtone.

"In any setting where people are trying to acquire knowledge and trying to retain that information in some way, a distraction that may just seem like a common annoyance to people may have a really disruptive effect on their later retention of that information," said the study's main author, Jill Shelton, a postdoctoral psychology fellow in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The study includes an experiment in which Shelton poses as a student seated in the middle of a crowded undergraduate psychology lecture and allows a cell phone in her handbag to continue ringing loudly for about 30 seconds.

Students tested later scored about 25 percent worse for recall of course content presented during the distraction, even though the same information was covered by the professor just previous to the phone ring and projected as text in a slide show shown throughout the distraction. Students scored even worse when Shelton added to the disturbance by frantically searching her handbag as if attempting to find and silence her ringing phone......... Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

May 22, 2009, 5:21 AM CT

Viral epidemics poised to go mobile

If you own a computer, chances are you have experienced the aftermath of a nasty virus at some point. In contrast, there have been no major outbreaks of mobile phone viral infection, despite the fact that over 80 percent of Americans now use these devices. A team headed by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, director of the Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University, set out to explain why this is true.

The scientists used calling and mobility data from over six million anonymous mobile phone users to create a comprehensive picture of the threat mobile phone viruses pose to users. The results of this study, reported in the May 22 issue of Science, indicate that a highly fragmented market share has effectively hindered outbreaks thus far. Further, their work predicts that viruses will pose a serious threat once a single mobile operating system's market share grows sufficiently large. This event may not be far off, given the 150 percent annual growth rate of smart phones.

"We haven't had a problem so far because only phones with operating systems, so-called 'smart phones', are susceptible to viral infection," explained Marta Gonzalez, one of the authors of the publication. "Once a single operating system becomes common, we could potentially see outbreaks of epidemic proportion because a mobile phone virus can spread by two mechanisms: a Bluetooth virus can infect all Bluetooth-activated phones in a 10-30 meter radius, while Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) virus, like a number of computer viruses, spreads using the address book of the device. Not surprisingly, hybrid viruses, which can infect via both routes, pose the most significant danger"......... Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:06:14 GMT

Samsung Impression available now

Samsung's new messaging phone known as the Samsung Impression is now available on AT&T network. It comes with some nice features including a 3.2 inch AMOLED touch screen display and a neat full QWERTY keyboard. AMOLED screens are renowned for providing better display quality and a longer battery life. It is available for $199.99 on a 2-year contract.

Here are the specs:

Networks: GSM 900/1800/1900/850, HSDPA 3G 850/1900
Weight: 150 g
Dimensions: 4.48 x 2.28 x .61 inches
Display: 3.2 inches 262K colors (240 x 400 pixels) AMOLED TFT touchscreen
Camera: 3 MP with 3x Digital Zoom
Memory: 190 MB with microSD support up to 16GB
Connectivity: 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0
GPS: GPS with A-GPS support
Multimedia: MP3/WAV/e-AAC+/WMA/AMR Audio player, MPEG4/3gp Video player
Keyboard: Full QWERTY
Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feed
Others: Email, IM, Photo/video editor, Geo-tagging
Battery:1000 mAh
Standby time: 250h
Talk time: 3h

Via: AT&T Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

April 22, 2009, 5:28 AM CT

Ultrasound imaging with a smartphone

Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are bringing the minimalist approach to medical care and computing by coupling USB-based ultrasound probe technology with a smartphone, enabling a compact, mobile computational platform and a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand.

William D. Richard, Ph.D., WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, have made commercial USB ultrasound probes compatible with Microsoft Windows mobile-based smartphones, thanks to a $100,000 grant Microsoft awarded the two in 2008. In order to make commercial USB ultrasound probes work with smartphones, the scientists had to optimize every aspect of probe design and operation, from power consumption and data transfer rate to image formation algorithms. As a result, it is now possible to build smartphone-compatible USB ultrasound probes for imaging the kidney, liver, bladder and eyes, endocavity probes for prostate and uterine screenings and biopsies, and vascular probes for imaging veins and arteries for starting IVs and central lines. Both medicine and global computer use will never be the same.

"You can carry around a probe and cell phone and image on the fly now," said Richard. "Imagine having these smartphones in ambulances and emergency rooms. On a larger scale, this kind of cell phone is a complete computer that runs Windows. It could become the essential computer of the Developing World, where trained medical personnel are scarce, but most of the population, as much as 90 percent, have access to a cell phone tower."........ Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:19:53 GMT

Google Docs enhanced for mobile users

Good news for mobile users as Google has updated its Google Docs online App. to support document viewing, editing, sorting, filtering and much more. Initially mobile users only had access to view their online documents but now they can play around with their documents using their mobile phones. It therefore enables users to record and keep track of important information without having to install any applications onto their mobile devices.

Currently this feature is supported for Symbian, iPhone and Android Smartphones. For more information visit theGoogle blog. Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:49:11 GMT

T-Mobile G2 coming in April 2009?

There are rumours floating around that the T-Mobile G2 will be launching in February 2009. The T-Mobile G2 will be more like the iPhone 3G and it will feature a large sized touch screen display but no physical QWERTY keyboard. The T-Mobile G2 will also be launched by other operators other than T-Mobile with different names. Here are the rumoured specs:

OS: Android
Connectivity: 3G, EDGE, GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB
Camera: 5 MP, Secondary video call camera
Memory: microSD support upto 16G
Multimedia: Music and Video Player
Others: Enterprise Solution, Mobile Backup, Real web browsing, Video capture and playback

Source: BGR Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:32:54 GMT

Twitter Relaunches People Search

You can now search for people on Twitter - again.

"The microblogging tool's re-launched people search.... lets you query the service by username or first/last name to find other users," according to Mashable's Adam Ostrow. Twitter had this feature in the past; but earlier this year it was taken down for technical reason.

From Twitter Blog:Twitter is much more valuable when you can find the accounts of the people or organizations you care about-whether they're friends, news organizations, or the airline that will be taking to see your family over the holidays. You'll notice that our new name search is much faster, more relevant, and it even has a phonetic similarity algorithm which is basically fancy talk for spell check on names.


© mil8 Posted by: Greg Cruey      Read more     Source

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:47:47 GMT

The G1- The mythical Google Phone

For well over a year, the rumors of a Google phone have been running rampant. After the iPhone made its debut a year and a half ago, hopeful Google-lovers have been fantasizing that the Google phone would address all the shortcomings of the beautiful, but in some ways, limited, Apple smartphone.

I"ve been using the iPhone since it arrived in June 2007. Then I happily upgraded to the 3G model this past July. I love it and couldn"t live without it, but I too was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first Google phone. After side by side usage for a while, I"ve decided that the iPhone and the Google G1 are very different, and made for very different users. The iPhone is beautiful, simple, and a great media player, but the Google phone is a super-fast, highly customizable extra-smart smartphone. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:23:09 GMT

Toshiba G450 Mobile Phone, MP3, HSDPA Modem Combo Device

Toshiba has introduced a unique device known as the Toshiba G450, which is a combination of a Mobile Phone, USB Drive, MP3 player and HSDPA modem. It's available now in the UK for around £140. Ben Robinson of Into Mobile has tried out the device and he has posted a detailed review. Check it out here

Here are the features of the device:

Size: 98 x 36 x 16 mm
Weight: 57g
Chipset: Qualcomm MSM6280
Network: UMTS/HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) 2100 , GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900
Display: OLED 96 x 39 pixels
Memory: 160MB internal
Connectivity: mini USB 2.0
Multimedia: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ player
Standby time: 200 hours
Talk time: up to 140 mins
Others: SMS, Alarm
Colours: Red, White, Black

Read more details on Toshiba's webpage. Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:29:27 GMT

Emblaze Mobile gets ready to scorch the smartphone market

A hitherto modest Israeli company called Emblaze Mobile has set out to challenge the smartphone majors such as HTC, RIM and Apple in (what else but) introducing smartphones that are rumored to have some key enhancements - welcome the Emblaze Edelweiss and Emblaze Monolith. Emblaze Mobile has apparently set its sights on leaving the competitor products gasping for breath with the launch of Edelweiss (October 2008) and Monolith (2009).

And gasp we sure did when we found out about the resolution that the Emblaze Edelweiss sports - a 3.5 inches touchscreen at 480x854 pixels, the highest currently available on smartphones. The other features, however, are not so extraordinary - GSM & 3G connectivity, built-in GPS system and 8/16GB memory. There are few details at this point other than the confirmation by Russian carrier MTS that it will shore up the device in Russia this month. The Emblaze Monolith will be based on Linux and is being put together by Sharp and the software group Access. The device will integrate GPS, telephony and messaging, web browsing, and a mobile media player, together with a touch sensitive display, a high-end camera and "virtually every wireless connectivity technology known to man." Well, we are waiting; after all, we all love a good fight, don''t we?

Via Newlaunches. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:00:49 GMT

Introducing the Motorola Q11 Smartphone

The Motorola Q11 Smartphone is the successor of the Motorola Q9 Smartphone and it has recently been caught on a video by the folks at Zumo. It comes with a fresher look and some impressive set of features and might prove to be a hit amongst Motorola's loyal customers. However with so much competition in the Smartphone Industry, I guess it won't be enough to save Motorola from the mess it finds itself in. Tell us what you think.

Here are the main features:

Quad-band GSM/EDGE radio
Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard
3 megapixel camera
microSDHC card slot with 1GB microSD card (Upto 32GB)
GPS, WiFi, MSN Messenger client
Standard 3.5mm headphone jack
Expected Launch: End of 2008



Source: Into Mobile Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:47:50 GMT

Blackberry App Center coming soon

Good news for Blackberry users as RIM has announced that it will be launching an application center for the Blackberry Storm and other upcoming Blackberry devices featuring the OS 4.7. The Blackberry App Center will be similar to Apple's App store and it will allow Blackberry users to easily find, browse and install third party applications and games on their Blackberry devices. Considering the fact that third party Blackberry applications are in high demand these days, this move by RIM will certainly add to the popularity of the Blackberry Storm and other upcoming Blackberry devices.

Here are the main features of Blackberry App Center:

The Blackberry App center will only be available on Blackberry Storm and other upcoming devices featuring the OS 4.7.
Carriers will be responsible for selecting and hosting the applications that they wish to offer to their users.
Users will be available to browse and install the latest applications that are compatible with their devices.

Read more here

Source: Into Mobile Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:23:44 GMT

Google Maps Mobile now has Voice Recognition

Google has moved its popular Google Maps Mobile application one step ahead and added Voice Recognition to it. This allows users to easily search for their desired location by just saying where they want to go. This is a beta version for test purposes and it is currently available on a limited range of handsets including Blackberry Pearl 8110, 8120, or 8130.

Here's how you use it. You simply hold the left soft key, say you search and release the key and Google happily searches your desired result for you. Blackberry users can get the update here http://www.google.com/gmm

Source: Mobile Crunch Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:57:43 GMT

Eco-friendly packaging for 3G iPhone

For those of us plagued by thoughts of waste when contemplating ditching our old iPhones to upgrade to the 3G iPhone, there''s a bit of good news, as it turns out that the packaging for the new iPhone to be released on July 11th is made of recyclable potato starch. Dutch company PaperFoam, maker of carbon-friendly packaging, is providing millions of paperfoam packages to Apple.

Via The Register, by way of textually.org. Posted by: Sarah      Read more     Source

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:30:59 GMT

The Google iPhone Affair

Google has its own Android initiative but there are other statistics that suggest the there is more love for the iPhone. Recent statistics have shown that the access to the search engine from Apple's slick device is huge.

An excerpt from SearchEngineLand
....they found that 1.3 million searchers conducted 6.9 million searches for iPhone-related search terms in April 2008 alone. Of those 6.9 million searches, 88.4 percent came from Google, which is 33 percent higher then Google's market share would account for....

Google has its feet in all waters with further enhancing the search on BlackBerry as well. Surely, they have a well spread out strategy that would do well even if Android fails to impress.

Posted by: Arun Radhakrishnan      Read more     Source

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:23:12 GMT

New Laws Restrict Cell Phone Usage

© David the Pimp Daddy Effective July 1, 2008, the state of California will impose new cell phone laws that contains the following high points:

• Anyone under the age of 18 can not use a wireless phone or mobile service device. This includes telephones equipped with a hands-free device.
• Anyone 18 and older can not use a wireless phone unless equiped with hands-free operation.
• The law permits a driver, regardless of age, to use a wireless telephone for emergency purposes.
• $20 fine for the first offense and not more than $50 for each subsequent offense.

For more information take a look at the California Department of Motor Vehicles Posted by: James Koopmann      Read more     Source

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:17:10 GMT

Gold Plated Samsung SGH-D780

Russia is one of the strongest contenders in the coming Olympics in Beijing and Samsung has thought of the perfect marketing strategy by announcing a Gold Plated version of Samsung SGH-D780 as the official phone for the Russia Olympic team.

The Samsung SGH-D780 boasts 2 SIM card slots, a 2 megapixel camera, 2.1 inch QVGA screen, Bluetooth, FM Radio, microSD slot and a 1200 mAh battery. All in all it is a decent phone with shiny looks. It is expected to start selling in August.

Via: Into Mobile Posted by: Umair Khalid      Read more     Source

May 21, 2008, 9:46 PM CT

Don't let cyberspite destroy your good name

YOU buy a television on eBay. When it arrives, you eagerly unwrap it, only to find it is badly scratched. You return it, and leave a negative comment about the seller on the site. The next day, you find the seller has retaliated by posting a nasty comment about you, branding you as a time-waster. Suddenly, no one wants to sell to you and your reputation is in tatters.

Until now eBays rating system, which allows users of the auction and trading site to leave good or bad comments about their trading partners, has worked well. Sellers who ship out damaged goods, or items that do not match their online description, rightly get a black mark against their name. However, this system has recently come under increasing pressure from an all-too-human failing: spite. Sellers can easily retaliate against buyers who have named and shamed them, leaving unwarranted but highly visible comments - perhaps claiming that the buyers do not follow through with purchases, or needlessly return items they have bought.

Fear of this retaliatory negging can deter buyers from posting negative comments about their trading experiences. In turn, this threatens to undermine the trust that buyers place in sellers ratings.

So severe has the negging problem become that this month eBay was forced to change its rating system, preventing sellers from posting negative comments about bad buyers on the site......... Posted by: Ashley      Read more         Source