With the ever-expanding mobile entertainment space in full view, wireless carriers are working feverishly to bring their customers enhanced access to the social networking sites of their choosing. There's money to be made on all sides, and not just with the household-name variety like...
Google Inc. introduced a new version of its Maps application for Windows Mobile-based smartphones. The application is available for download on Google's Web site. Users must download the application using a desktop computer and then transfer the application to their smartphone using Microsoft Corp.'s...
Hedge*hog*ing v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.Further proof that technology is surpassing people's ability to comprehend it. Some rocket scientists moonlighting as thieves were arrested in New York after authorities activated the signal...
The Weather Channel Mobile continued to expand its offerings, adding traffic information and hourly forecasts to its wireless services.The Weather.com mobile Web site now features traffic data for 24 metro areas including speed overview maps, incident level reports, accident mapping and construction information. The...
Kodiak Networks announced a global licensing agreement with Research In Motion Ltd. to include mobile applications-including push-to-talk functionality-on BlackBerry handsets. Kodiak's applications already are available on the BlackBerry Pearl at Cingular Wireless L.L.C. The agreement allows RIM to integrate a Java version of Kodiak's...
Trying to please everyone is a good gambit when launching a handset business with global ambitions. Somewhere along the way, however, one has to shift gears.Managing sustainable growth and profitability in the handset market can demand investment in original designs, support for a manageable...
BELLEVUE, Wash.-InfoSpace is offering customers with select handsets the chance to use its mobile local search for free for 60 days.The InfoSpace Find It Java application includes GPS-enabled local search, spoken turn-by-turn directions, help in locating Wi-Fi hot spots, and local event listings. It...
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.—Motorola Inc. said it plans to develop a Java Micro Edition software stack using the Apache License Version 2.0. The company said the move would help unify the fractured market for Java software in cell phones. As part of the announcement, Motorola said...
LONDON—MobileMail Inc. said it signed a letter of intent to acquire Oy Tracebit AB, a mobile content and entertainment provider and publisher. Tracebit was founded in 1996 and focuses on Java and BREW games. The company, which is based in Porvoo, Finland, has relationships...
Flash Lite is finally here. Verizon Wireless last week became the first U.S. carrier to offer Adobe Systems Inc.'s wireless platform, introducing a stripped-down version of its popular Flash Player for computers. The technology, which will initially be supported by four high-end handset models,...
SAN DIEGO-Digital Orchid is looking to expand its portfolio and global footprint with the acquisition of mobile game publisher Blue Tech. Blue Tech is a 2-year-old vendor based in Madrid, Spain, and is the parent company of Java developer Kato Studios. Digital Orchid provides...
SAN DIEGO—Digital Orchid is looking to expand its portfolio and global footprint with the acquisition of mobile game publisher Blue Tech. Blue Tech is a 2-year-old vendor based in Madrid, Spain, and is the parent company of Java developer Kato Studios. Digital Orchid provides...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. launched a made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming network called Sprint Power View. The offering includes original programming focused on sports and entertainment updates. The programming includes studio-based reporting as well as on-location stories produced by 15 mobile camera...
SEATTLE—Melodeo Inc. announced that its Mobilcast podcast and radio-listening service is now available to Cingular Wireless L.L.C. customers for $5 a month. In addition, the companies said they’re launching a seamless Web-to-mobile podcasting service with Mobilcast features such as automatic playlist synchronization and continuous...
Vodafone Germany launched a downloadable Java-based mapping application that features hi-resolution aerial photos and a searchable database of more than 4,000 German points of interest. Like Google Earth and other mapping applications for computers, Mobile Earth allows users to access satellite images of specific...
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Nextel Corp. continues to pursue mobile music lovers with a new streaming multimedia service offering more than 50 channels of content. Sprint Radio features music, music videos, news, weather, sports and financial information from providers including NPR, ESPN and Radio Disney....
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. continues to pursue mobile music lovers with a new streaming multimedia service offering more than 50 channels of content. Sprint Radio features music, music videos, news, weather, sports and financial information from providers including NPR, ESPN and Radio Disney....
The big issue for some players in the wireless community regarding Java ME revolves around its owner, Sun Microsystems Inc., which announced at its May JavaOne conference that it was mulling how to go open source with the industry's dominant programming language. This move...
Imagine Java as a set of three types of Lego blocks, says Eric Chu, director of the Java ME platform in Sun's Client Systems Group. The bottom unit contains two "configurations," including CDC (connected device configuration) and CLDC (connected limited device configuration). Sitting on...
Sun licenses the testing of Java applications to various companies, and it licenses the Java brand to companies whose products are Java-compatible, according to the company. Sun also licenses implementations, so companies that want to ship a Java-enabled handset need to get software from...
Flash Lite-essentially a stripped-down, mobile version of the popular Flash Player for computers-has quietly gained impressive ground since NTT DoCoMo Inc. introduced handsets enabled with the software in 2003. DoCoMo recently touted surpassing the 2 million subscriber mark to its i-channel service, which uses...
MBlox is rumored to be looking to expand both its global footprint and its business plan with a $175 million acquisition of content provider LaNetro Zed. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile data and billing services provider declined to discuss the buyout, but industry sources say...
"News of my death has been greatly exaggerated," Mark Twain is said to have written in 1897, when he remained hale and hearty. Qualcomm Inc. has taken a page from Twain and added a biblical twist, as it hails its new incarnation of BREW...
LOS ANGELES—In a move to bolster its North American mobile gaming position, Capcom Entertainment’s Mobile and Interactive Media division agreed to acquire mobile game developer and publisher Cosmic Infinity Inc. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.Cosmic Infinity develops games for WAP, Java...
