WCities
Location-based information service provider WCities launched a geo-coded wireless service that provides location-specific information to individual users’ cell phones. According to Tan Rasab, the company’s chief executive officer, with the service, cell-phone and PDA users can find whatever they’re looking for anywhere in the city and with pinpoint accuracy to within 15 meters of their actual location. The new technology uses global positioning system (GPS) and MPS to provide users with multilingual information, including the location of restaurants, lodging, entertainment, transportation centers, and retail shops. www.wcities.com
AT&T Labs
AT&T Labs developed its first commercial product, a human-sounding computer-speech system that can re-create any voice. The Natural Voices text-to-speech product includes an engine that can turn written words into natural-sounding speech and a library of voices, along with the ability to custom-develop or duplicate a voice. www.naturalvoices.att.com<pns. The product features a mobile data service core that oversees service control and a mobile data support node that provides processing power and high bandwidth switching capability for deploying mobile services. www.watercove.com
HiuGO
HiuGO introduced MobileFlirting, a new service that offers short messaging service (SMS) chat functionality that lets users communicate using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Web and SMS interchangeably. The service, which is aimed at the youth market, allows users to chat using flirt slang, a special SMS text code, without knowing each other’s mobile numbers. Online, via WAP and Web, users can pick up new lovers, invite others on blind dates, post messages, and read about the top five best and worst lovers. In July, Blu became the first European operator to adopt the service as bluflirt. www.hiugo.com
Mbasics
Mbasics launched a service for constructing and hosting WAP animations that ensures animations are automatically tuned to every WAP-enabled wireless devic
