MADRID, Spain-Google Inc. and Skype Technologies SA are among the backers of Fon, a Spanish Internet software company with plans to create a global network of one million shared Wi-Fi hot spots by 2010. In its first round of funding, the three-month-old company said...
New agreements, contract details from Philadelphia and a smidge of a slowdown in product certifications kept Wi-Fi circles buzzing last week. In Philadelphia, reports surfaced early last week that the city had worked out the terms of its contract with Earthlink Inc. for the...
WASHINGTON-U.S. tech firms, bedazzled by Internet, wireless and other business opportunities in China's massively underserved market, find themselves facing intensive scrutiny and criticism from Congress, human-rights groups and others for adhering to the communist government's censorship policies. Chinese censorship, a growing controversy that complicates...
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-The packed mobile search playground got even more crowded as digital marketing company iCrossing Inc. unveiled a new business unit. The company launched mCrossing, which it said will use text messaging and wireless search results to deliver advertising campaigns on wireless phones. ICrossing...
SEATTLE-Yahoo has the early lead in the race to become the wireless Web portal of choice for U.S. consumers, according to new figures from M:Metrics. An average of nearly 13 million consumers per month accessed Yahoo's services from their handset during the fourth quarter...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-More than two dozen companies are backing a preliminary "best practices" agreement for wireless Internet content, according to the World Wide Web Consortium.Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 "provides guidelines for creating a consistent and positive user experience across the rapidly growing number of...
SEATTLE-Yahoo has the early lead in the race to become the wireless Web portal of choice for U.S. consumers, according to new figures from M:Metrics. An average of nearly 13 million consumers per month accessed Yahoo's services from their handset during the fourth quarter...
Opera Software unveiled what it called a "WAP killer" last week, going global with its Web browser for Java-enabled mobile phones. Opera Mini uses a proxy server to format traditional Internet content for small screens-thereby bypassing the need for WAP technology and allowing users...
SAN JOSE, Calif.-A 1,500 square-mile high-speed wireless data network covering Silicon Valley is being planned by the area's civic and business leaders. A coalition called Smart Valley agreed to begin collecting bids for the wireless broadband network.Smart Valley members include the San Mateo County...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-Google Inc. launched a personalized tool bar that allows PC users to share Web pages via text messages. The tool bar-installed in a desktop computer-includes a "send to" option that can be used to send an excerpt or entire page through e-mails,...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-Shares of InfoSpace Inc. edged downward despite a solid fourth quarter that helped the company nearly double its annual profits.The Internet and mobile search provider reported a net fourth-quarter income of $37.9 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, up from $18.9 million, or...
BOULDER, Colo.-The Mobile Marketing Association is hoping to lay the foundation for mobile search revenues with a new document outlining potential business models, industry challenges and consumer needs. Calling mobile search "the next significant value creation opportunity for mobile operators around the world," the...
When Cingular Wireless L.L.C. managed to squeeze the launch of its 3G network into the last month of 2005, the move catapulted 16 major metropolitan cities into the spotlight as the most competitive 3G markets in the country. Cingular rolled out its BroadbandConnect service...
Boston's neighborhood business districts may soon be bustling with free Wi-Fi hot spots thanks to the city's Main Streets economic development project. But Boston's free project is different from those proposed in other large U.S. cities. First of all, Boston said its Wi-Fi project...
WALTHAM, Mass.-Supported by advertising revenue, the city of Boston says its public Wi-Fi project currently provides free Internet access in four commercial districts of the city. The city said the project stands as an example of how advertising-supported Wi-Fi can eliminate usage charges and...
Wireless is getting Googled. And, well, Yahoo'd. The Internet giants have made numerous headlines in recent weeks as they rush to become the premier destination on the wireless Web. And they're doing it in very different ways.Google Inc. fired the year's opening salvo earlier...
WASHINGTON-News stories late last week highlighted the tightrope wireless carriers must walk as they try to help law enforcement and protect their customers' privacy at the same time. On one hand, Sprint Nextel Corp. found itself defending its privacy-protection policies when it did not...
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-Google Inc. continued its charge into wireless, launching a personalized home page for mobile Internet users. The company brought its Personalized Home to handsets, allowing registered Google users to view their customized home page from a mobile phone. Members can personalize the...
WATERLOO, Ontario-Google Inc. continues to make waves in wireless, announcing an agreement to bring its instant messaging, mapping and search services to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Users of RIM's ubiquitous handheld will be able to...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-Google Inc. is working to patent a wireless marketing method that would allow users to dial an advertiser's phone number with a single click, according to a U.S. Patent & Trademark Office application published last week. The document, which was cited last week...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent to Google Inc. for a technology that makes more data exchanges possible at faster speeds on a CDMA-based wireless network. Google did not return requests for comment on the patent, which was awarded to...
Motorola Inc. is the lucky winner of a handset deal with Google Inc. as the Internet giant turns its considerable focus toward wireless. Motorola said it has designed a handset with a Google button that connects users to Google's wireless Internet services. The company...
LAS VEGAS-Motorola Inc. is the lucky winner of a handset deal with Google Inc. as the Internet giant turns its considerable focus toward wireless. Motorola said it has designed a handset with a Google button that connects users to Google's wireless Internet services. The...
ALEXANDRIA, Va.-The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent to Google Inc. for a technology that makes more data exchanges possible at faster speeds on a CDMA-based wireless network. A Google representative could not immediately comment on the patent or say what the...
