WASHINGTON-On land and in air, the ever-popular mobile phone-America's favorite toy in the New Millennium-is creating headaches for government, industry and citizens, and raising serious safety questions with no easy answers.Last week, federal regulators and lawmakers zeroed in on two growing areas of concern...
For those people still neglecting to turn off their cellular phones in public places like movie theaters, churches and restaurants, a technology is in the works that will take the monitoring responsibilities away from the cell- phone user and automatically lower the volume of...
NEW YORK-Streaming multimedia via portable devices may be down the road a bit, but the image of a handheld computer or cellular phone as a photograph viewer already is moving sharply into focus.With a newly announced Secure Digital plug-in "people can take digital pictures,...
SEOUL, South Korea-South Korea said it would limit the number of licenses for operating much-coveted third-generation (3G) mobile services networks to three, adopt a modified "beauty contest" that will bring in auction-like revenues and allow a double technology standard that could introduce both European-favored...
TOKYO-While the Japanese cellular phone market has been rapidly expanding, the paging industry is in decline. According to the Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA), an industry association, Japan had 1.8 million beeper users at the end of May. During its heyday from 1995 to 1996,...
TOKYO-Since NTT DoCoMo launched its iMode wireless data service in February 1999, the number of mobile Internet users in Japan-more than 10 million as of the end of May-has taken off. As more users acquire browser phones, more content providers have entered the new...
WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone research pact between the Food and Drug Administration and the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has come under attack by the former chairman of the leading Canadian wireless association, adding fuel to a controversy that could become mired in litigation soon.In a June...
LOUISVILLE, Colo.-In a decision released June 9, the Federal Communications Commission sided with AirCell Inc., an air-to-ground communications system provider for the aviation market, in the company's dispute with a group of seven national cellular service carriers.The commissioners denied five Applications for Review and...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached a record high of $15.2 billion in April, increasing 35.6 percent from the $11.2 billion reported for the same time last year, the Semiconductor Industry Association said."Coupled with strong PC sales, industry growth is being driven by...
LONDON-Almost half of cellular phone users in Western Europe expect to use their mobile phones for all voice traffic in the future, with only one-third convinced they will still use a fixed telephone, according to a study published by Strategy Analytics.The study, "Wireless 2000: European...
TOKYO-Intel Corp. and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced they will co-develop a cellular chipset for the third-generation wireless technology market. The companies said work on the chipset has begun, and they will develop and market the new chipset and associated software as Japan deploys...
MOSCOW-Three nationwide Russian wireless carriers, which control close to 75 percent of the market, have launched a fierce battle for new clients as mobile phones become more common communications tools in Russia.Cellular phones are now ringing in buses, trolley buses and even subways. The...
NEW YORK-Clariti Wireless Messaging, Fort Washington, Pa., said it plans to introduce commercially a voice-mail service delivered over FM subcarrier channels by the end of this year.In the United States, the company will be the exclusive operator of its Clariti Wireless Voicemail service. Because...
As the wireless industry is ramping up efforts to convince customers to use their mobile phones for Internet access via Wireless Application Protocol technology, some are taking the concurrent step of preparing for voice access to the Net as well.The issue was the subject...
BOULDER, Colo.-Wireless location services developer SignalSoft Corp. said last week it acquired BFound.com, a Victoria, British Columbia-based company experienced in mobile asset tracking on the Internet.By adding BFound.com's tracking service to its suite of wireless location services, SignalSoft said it now can offer applications...
NEW YORK-A pair of state legislators from New York City has written twin bills, identically worded to ensure expedited review, that would bar wireless phone companies from rounding up airtime charges to the next minute.Assemblyman Scott M. Stringer, (D-Manhattan), and state Senator Guy Velella,...
IRVINE, Calif.-Toshiba Corp. has developed a complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor that incorporates an analog-to-digital converter and achieves the industry's lowest power consumption in this class of device, according to Toshiba America Electronics Components Inc.The new sensor, available in both color and black...
Led by an executive team that includes a lawyer, a doctor, an analyst and an engineer, GroupServe Inc. offers software applications that allow business customers the ability to organize, collaborate and communicate in an electronic group environment.Based in Washington, D.C., GroupServe introduced its GroupVine...
SAN FRANCISCO-A citizens group plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a recent federal appeals court decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission's mobile-phone radiation safety standard.The Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about FCC Radio-frequency Radiation and Health and Safety rules has...
BPA Systems Inc., a developer of business-to-business software solutions, unveiled a wireless Web application server that fuses and extends standard Internet tools to create a solution for Web site development and deployment.The new application, BPWEB, supports all types of wireless Web devices such as...
DALLAS-Preferred Voice Inc. will install its Voice Integrated Platform System in the network control center of CellularOne North East Arizona, allowing CellularOne to offer "Safety Talk" hands-free dialing services to its cellular subscribers."We believe all cellular carriers will have to provide voice-activated dialing to...
Telematics services, despite their slow start, are on the cusp of becoming standard features on millions of cars, but the kinds of services that will emerge as the most beneficial and applicable to consumers still remains to be seen."I think the big challenge for...
SigmaOneSigmaOne Communications Corp., a provider of location systems and services for wireless carriers and the wireless Internet, reported the development of the company's wireless location system for Global System for Mobile communications carriers in the United States and Europe. Designed to operate as either...
NEW YORK-Deutsche Telekom officially ended its negotiations to buy Qwest Communications International Inc. and U S West Inc. March 9, but the German carrier is continuing its search for acquisitions outside its borders.In a statement released in the late evening, Qwest said, "a major...
