Google Inc. is showcasing its speech-recognition technology with a voice search service that delivers local business listings to fixed-line and mobile users.The offering, which is available on the company's Google Labs site, invites users to dial a toll-free number from any phone to search...
If checking out the Internet on a PC can be called surfing, browsing the wireless Web is more akin to hunting snipe in a briar patch: it's arduous, painful, and sure to leave you disappointed.The fixed-line Internet has evolved to offer a remarkably standardized...
Microsoft Corp. showcased a new Web browser that customizes Web pages for smartphone screens.The browser, dubbed Deepfish, delivers small images of Web sites, retrieving detailed information as needed when a user zooms in on part of a page. The technology is designed to replicate...
AT&T Inc. subsidiary YellowPages.com unveiled a text-message search service that delivers local business listings and wireless Web links.Users can send a text message to YP411 with a business name or category, along with a city and state or ZIP code. The service returns up...
If checking out the Internet on a PC can be called surfing, browsing the wireless Web is more akin to hunting snipe in a briar patch: it's arduous, painful, and sure to leave you disappointed.The fixed-line Internet has evolved to offer a remarkably standardized...
LG Electronics Co. Ltd. announced it will install Google Inc.'s software for cellphones on "millions" of LG phones through a new partnership between the two companies. The agreement is the latest such handset deal for Google, which has inked similar announcements with Motorola Inc.,...
Location-based services, like so many emerging technologies in the wireless space, for years have been on the cusp of widespread use among mobile-phone users. With more global positioning system-enabled handsets coming to market and more tech companies launching LBS applications that exploit previously untapped...
THE HEADY MIX of mobility, computing and the Internet now sweeping the mobile industry is akin to getting gassed with nitrous oxide at the dentist. Suddenly, preposterous notions seem plausible, even amusing. Yet, in this pervasive fog, it's difficult to discount the possibilities.Enter the...
Openwave Systems Inc. has put up the 'for sale' sign. The question is, who wants it?The Redwood City, Calif.-based developer last week announced the resignation of CEO David Peterschmidt and said it has retained Merrill Lynch as a financial adviser to explore strategic alternatives...
Tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. has officially announced its retail launch, with its service and handsets to be available in Best Buy and Limited Too stores.Kajeet already had begun sales through its Web site, but not in retail locations. As of May...
Yahoo Inc. announced it developed a WAP version of its new oneSearch service. The search service, which originally launched as the Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 Java application earlier this year, is now accessible on most mobile phones via a WAP page.OneSearch is designed...
iLoop Mobile announced the launch of its mFinity mobile platform, which enables customers to create and implement text-based and interactive mobile ad campaigns. The platform will allow advertisers to develop and manage their own mobile initiatives to targeted audiences, according to the company."Marketing campaigns,...
High-tech and electronic giants last week gave the Federal Communications Commission a Wi-Fi device to test that they said can operate in vacant television frequencies without disrupting high definition TV signals. Thus, the product could ratchet up the stakes in a battle between Silicon...
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.-Online video is here in a big way. If it wasn't validated by Google Inc.'s $1.6 billion purchase of YouTube last October, it sure was last week when media conglomerate Viacom Inc. sued Google and YouTube for $1 billion, claiming rampant, unauthorized use...
Viacom is suing YouTube and Google for "massive intentional copyright infringement" of Viacom's entertainment properties. The suit was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and seeks more than $1 billion in damages. The suit opens by...
A group of high-tech and electronic companies is set to deliver to the Federal Communications Commission a Wi-Fi device it says can operate in vacant broadcast frequencies without disrupting high-definition TV reception. The device is not intended for commercial sale; instead, it stands as...
Nokia Corp. announced a new push into mobile advertising, moves that likely will put the mobile powerhouse into direct competition with the likes of Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. as well as a raft of mobile advertising startups.Indeed, the news serves to further highlight...
Venture-capital funding is in the air. No less than four wireless companies announced new infusions of cash for their burgeoning endeavors in the industry:. Xtract announced it received more than $2.6 million in its first round of funding from Eqvitec Technology Fund III. The Finnish...
Nokia Corp. announced a new push into mobile advertising, moves that likely will put the mobile powerhouse into direct competition with the likes of Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. as well as a raft of mobile advertising startups.Indeed, the news serves to further highlight...
So the latest topic of endless hype within the wireless industry seems to be ad-supported content and services. Ad-supported mobile social networking, ad-supported games, ad-supported muni Wi-Fi-the list goes on and on. I wish I could get an ad-supported assistant to sort everything out.But...
THE MOBILE-PHONE INDUSTRY INCREASINGLY finds itself confronted with disruptive digital technologies, a phenomenon that is challenging carriers' tight control of wireless networks and forcing policy-makers to grapple with how to promote consumer choice without unduly interfering with companies' ability to manage their businesses. The...
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.--All the talk about Alltel being acquired is not settling well with some of the RCR Wireless News staff. The thought that anything might interfere with the...
Madrid, Spain-based "social router" company Fon is hoping to drum up some interest in its unique Wi-Fi business by going head-to-head with Starbucks and thousands of other coffee shops that sell wireless Internet access within their stores. Fon is offering free La Fonera Wi-Fi...
Nuance Communications Inc. said it will spend $140 million to acquire BeVocal, a fellow developer of speech-recognition software.Nuance announced plans to issue roughly 8.3 million common shares and spend $15 million for BeVocal, which offers speech-based customer care solutions to wireless companies. The Burlington,...
