The software includes a 4-track recorder so it's possible to mix different music, sounds, or voices, to edit and process them with many of the standard studio effects: echo, compression, distortion and filtering. Completed ringtones can then be transferred to the cell phone using Infrared, Bluetooth or USB.

MTV and Warners Promote Videos to Cell Phones 09.27.05
Warner Music Group, who have contracts with Madonna, Linkin Park, Josh Groban, Jaheim, Faith Hill, Cher, Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Seal, Blake Shelton, the Flaming Lips, Eric Clapton, among many many others, will provide music videos under a new global agreement. MTV Networks will turn them into short programs, perhaps two to five minutes long, specifically for cell phones. Original mobile video content and programming developed by MTV Networks and featuring music video content from Warner Music Group will be available for mobile devices globally via streamed and downloaded video on-demand formats across the company's brands and wireless sub-brands, including MTV, MTV2, MTV Español, VH1, CMT and LOGO as well as its international brands VIVA, TMF and Flux. How users will be able to pay for this content will be determined by the carrier in each market and might include both subscription and a la carte pricing.

Content will include short mobile programming based on some cable network shows, such as VH1's Driven and You Oughta Know; CMT's CMT Insider and Studio 330; as well as made-for-mobile content from MTV Networks' broadband programming such as Box Set on VH1's VSpot.

In the United States, MTV Networks, which is part of Viacom, has deals with Verizon Wireless and Sprint to offer the cell-phone programming. MTV Networks operates in 166 countries around the world.

Create Your Own Cell Phone Ringtones 09.26.05
Using a Web-based version of Mathematica Dr. Stephen Wolfram has made available ringtones designed by the user, either by category, e.g. hip-hop, r&b, dance, latin, country, piano, rock, pop, blues, experimental, classical, etc. or by random algorithms you can create, listen to, and download a new ringtone for your cell - phone at tones.wolfram.com/. Controlling the composition by time, instrumentation, and pitch, users can send friends/colleagues email from the WolframTones site with the URL for the WolframTones composition that they used to create their ringtone. Users need a cell phone with polyphonic ringtone capability, and with both web access and text messaging enabled.

First Cell Phone to PC Infection 09.23.05
F-Secure announcing the discovery of the first trojan virus capable of infecting both the Symbian platform and Windows PCs. F-Secure said the virus, called Cardtrap A, works on Symbian and that it doesn’t have any "special powers", except the capacity to infect a PC as well. Cardtrap A copies on the phone’s memory card 2 PC worms: Win32/Padobot.Z and Win32/Rays.

Padobot.Z is copied in the autorun.inf file and is activated when the memory card is connected to the PC. Rays is copied on the PC with the name of System.exe and is far more dangerous that the first, because Windows doesn't automatically run autorun.inf when the card is connected.

The World's Skinniest Cell Phone 09.20.05
NEC Corporation today announced that it has launched the world's thinnest fold-Type mobile phone with a mega-pixel camera on the Hong Kong market. The ultra-thin model will later be introduced to the marketplace in Italy, Russia, Australia and China, and other territories.

The new NEC "ultra-slim" model measures 47.9mm (width) X 101.5mm (height) X 11.9mm (depth; when folded) and weighs only 96g. It supports mobile-internet and GSM/GPRS, and is equipped with a 1.9 inch (176 x 220 dot) 65,000 color display in addition to a digital camera (1.3 mega pixels). The sub-screen has an organic light emitting display is convenient for scrolling text messages. The phone is also loaded with a wide variety of features including PictBridge, MP3, Java and Bluetooth. Up to 64-polyphonic ring tones and two minutes of movie shooting are included.

The Sub $20 cell phone 09.19.05
The 3GSM World Congress 2005, declared a need for manufacturers and developers to produce a cell phone for emerging nations below $40 per unit. Motorola was the first to launch such a phone, followed by, Texas Instruments who announced a single-chip cell phone design for mobile phones, which would reduce power requirements, bringing down the final cost. TI supplied its chip to Nokia, and it is now available to manufacturers in India and other emerging markets. Philips Electronics has announced that it expects to provide a below $5 hardware and software platform for making low-cost cell phones later this year.

Infineon Technologies unveiled a new cell phone today that may cost close to $20 to produce. The new handset is powered by three triple-A rechargeable batteries, which are more easily available in developing countries than electricity. The $20 cost will include keypad, display, and charging system, as well as built-in software to allow SMS and voice features. The new unit can be redesigned according to the licensing Manufacturer's needs.

3D Landscape of Cell Phone Activity 09.16.05

The SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT, Massachusetts, has produced what they call a mobile landscape of the city of Graz in Austria. The illustration above is an Isometric view is generated by simultaneously 'pinging' thousands of cell phones in the City - establishing their precise locations at a given moment in time.

The increasing number of hand-held electronics (and other devices) in recent years enables new approaches (such as this one) to study the 'built' environment. This reporting mechanism represents a new means for engaging and understanding the city. Studying these changes and anticipating them is the mission of the SENSEable City Laboratory.

Solar Powered Recharging 09.15.05
A cell phone charger that uses solar power to recharge has been produced by Roland Kleinfeld, a jeweler and entrepreneur. Kleinfeld was inspired to propduce a solar powered cell phone charger while at a street fair on vacation in Shenzen, China. "I saw lots of garden light products and camping lights running on solar energy. At the same time, I was on my cell phone talking to an associate, when my cell phone battery died". Kleinfeld contracted local engineers in China to enhance the technology before they designed the look of the solar-powered cell phone charger. Users can talk while the "Ultimate Solar Charger" recharges the cell phone battery. The unit is compatible with many cell phones, including: Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola/Nextel, and Siemens.

Samsung re-enters the cell phone market not with a whimper - but with Bang & Olufsen* 09.14.05
High-end Audio manufacturer Bang & Olufsen announced the release a new cell phone to be launched in Europe, Russia and Ukraine during the 4th quarter of this year. It will be distributed through Bang & Olufsen stores, and selected Samsung distribution partners. The two companies are working together on the development of high-quality acoustics in Samsung mobile phones incorporating Bang & Olufsen's patented ICEpower technology.

Bang & Olufsen CEO Torben Ballegaard Sørensen states, "In Samsung we have a valued partner. We now intend to create a unique mobile phone together. The fact that this cooperation is bilateral, where Bang & Olufsen delivers enhanced acoustic capabilities for application in the Samsung mobiles through the ICEpower technology, is a major contribution to making the cooperation even more interesting." Word has it that this new model will emphasise simplicity over complexity, and be geared towards the over 25 year old.

(* with apologies to T.S. Eliot)

Groove Mobile provides "Over-the-Air" Cell Phone Music Downloads 09.14.05
While Apple and Motorla soak in all the attendant publicity surrounding the release of the iPhone Rokr E1, Groove Mobile, based in Andover, MA, is already supplying users with full track downloads over-the-air, direct to the user's cell phone - which Apple's model fails to do. Groove Mobile's service features browsing, music previewing, downloading album art and wallpaper, artist information, featured artists and master ringtunes. Their music player software can be pre-installed or delivered free of charge (OTA) to mobile phone users. The software utilizes a feature that controls the network connection - and re-establishes it automatically after dropped connections. Compatible cell phone manufacturers include: Nokia, Motorala, Samsung, Audiovox, Siemens, and Sony Ericcson.

Nokia Enters Blackberry's Space 09.14.05

Nokia has announced it's first release of the Nokia Business Center with support for mobile email for Microsoft Exchange, support for Lotus Domino, and an expanded range of J2ME MIDP 2.0 devices. Promised for Q4 2005 in the US and parts of Europe, intended to unify voice, messaging and business applications on a single mobile device, the Nokia Business Center client software will be supported on a range of Nokia handsets and will come in two versions: Standard and Professional. The Nokia Business Center server runs on Red-Hat Linux. It is promised to provide end-to-end, 256 bit encryption between the client and the server and the capability of encrypting all email data stored on mobile devices.

Cell Phone Hoaxes vs. Genuine Viri 09.13.05
While Cabir or Commwarrior are genuine Viruses which can be spread via Bluetooth short range radio system found on many smart phones — most cell phone viruses target handsets that use the Symbian operating system. Such virus infection can be avoided by turning off Bluetooth on smart phones. Some users have received hoax messages like: "All mobile users pay attention! If you receive a phone call and your mobile phone displays (XALAN) ... if you answer the call, your phone will be infected by a virus." Please ignore such warnings and don't pass them on. If you're still concerned, check your message via the web. Companies like Symantec, Trend Micro, and McAfee have been hyping their PDA or cell phone anti-virus software. F-Secure actually make a Mobile Anti-Virus for your smartphone.

DV Recorder Cell Phone 09.12.05

The Chinese Manufacturer AMOI has released a cell phone they call the A660, a triband GSM (900/1800/1900) which includes an embedded DV Recorder. The lense is mounted on the side, and the screen is a camcorder-style pivoting screen (176x200 pixels). The A660 holds 12MB of internal memory which is not much for video recording, and the still camera uses 1.3 megapixel imaging sensor. User-life of the battery for talking is 3-5 hours, and 120 hours of standby is promised.

Visual Radio 09.11.05

Cell Phone Visual Radio is a mix of FM radio with an interactive platform, which allows cell phone users to receive various types information while listening to a song. The technology for visual radio was initially developed by Jutel Technologies, in Finland, for Nokia. Hewlett Packard is Nokia's global partner for global marketing of Visual Radio. While Visual Radio is an interactive concept currently being promoted in parts of Finland, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and some European countries. Christina Schneider HP's corporate media relations manager, says: "The FM radio market in India is poised for a big leap. We recognise that India is a fast growing market for mobile services and we are hopeful to bring visual radio to FM listeners there."

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FlashCast Technology for New Mobile Phone Service 09.09.05
Macromedia today announced that Japanese cell phone operator NTT DoCoMo, will be supporting their "FlashCast" technology as the infrastructure for an "i-channel". Subscribers will receive content delivered to their phones, such as news, weather, entertainment reports, sports, and horoscopes. By pushing an i-channel button users select a channel.

press release >

The Apple Rokr E1 09.08.05
Based on the Motorola E398 the Motorola Rokr E1 has no Apple branding at all, but is available from Cingular in the US now, next in England, France, Italy, Canada and Hong Kong during September, followed closely by Germany, Australia and other major Asia-Pacific markets. The new cell phone should also be available in South and Central America by the end of 2005.

review >

Apple/Motorola iPhone Launches Today 09.07.05
Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the release of an iTunes phone built in partnership with Motorola, at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. The iPhone could be in stores later this week.

Industry analysts are predicting that music phones will follow the path of camera phones, which now account for about half the cell phones sold. Launching an iTunes phone will be a winning move for Motorola, which has experienced a lift in cell phone sales with the success of its ultrathin Razr phone.

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