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JetBlue launches new iPhone app, revamps its mobile website

JetBlue Airways updated its iPhone app, making it even easier for its customers to book flights, check-in and check their flight status. Moreover, there are other extras like virtual postcards, using which customers can share their travel experiences with friends and family or post to their “favorite social network” (guess this means Facebook and Twitter). In addition, there are features for easy sharing of itineraries, and the ability to access to the airline’s in-flight amenities like snack and beverage offerings, movie previews, and even DIRECTV schedules for the duration of Read more

Staples unveils tablet website, launches Android app

After the iPhone app, Staples is going for the Android community and folks with tablets (whether it’s an Android-based one or the iPad). To that end, the company launched a native app for smartphones running Google’s mobile platform and a tablet-optimized website. First the smartphone app. As you can imagine, it puts Staples inventory at your fingertips, mixing the best of the Staples.com and in-store shopping experience. You can access the “rich product information” all with ratings and reviews while in-store, or find the nearest Staples store with the specific Read more

LightSquared accuses government of rigging GPS results

LightSquared is fighting for the life of its network after a recent report suggests its satellite-based LTE network will interfere with GPS devices. The company countered this report with accusations that the testing was not only flawed, but rigged to fail. The scathing accusations were made Wednesday at a press conference. LightSquared claims the Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM) and GPS industry insiders manipulated the research to produce negative results. The company says the GPS companies conducted the tests in secrecy and used NDA agreements to hide the Read more

Kelly Hodgkins

Virgin Mobile starts throttling smartphone users March 23

Virgin Mobile announced that it will start throttling its smartphone customers that use the most data per month beginning March 23. Throttling, in case you aren’t familiar with the word (by now, you probably are), means Virgin Mobile will slow down your Internet speeds to avoid overcrowding its network. Indeed, Virgin Mobile claims the change is “to make sure we can keep offering our Beyond Talk Plans at such great prices.” That’s PR-talk for “Hey, we’re trying here.” Most Virgin Mobile customers won’t be affected by the throttling, however. The carrier Read more

Google+ brings What’s Hot stream to mobile web app

Google updated its mobile web app for Google+ with a couple of new features. The first is the addition of the “What’s Hot” stream, which aggregates the most popular public posts on Google+ at any given time. The second is the ability to see specifically who +1′d a post, rather than just the +1 count itself. The What’s Hot stream is accessible by swiping to the right of the Circles stream. It brings the web app’s carousel of streams at the top into play. To see who +1′d a post, Read more

AT&T revamps smartphone data plans: more data for more money

AT&T is at it again! The carrier that has stolen the hearts and wallets of millions is revamping its smartphone data plans. You’ll be getting more data but for a higher price. Luckily, the changes aren’t all that bad this time around. The current data plans look like this: 200MB for $15 per month, 2GB for $25, and 4GB with tethering for $45. Starting Sunday, each of these plans get a bump. The entry-level data plan moves to 300MB, but for $20 per month. Next in line will be a Read more

jQ.Mobi brings optimized jQuery to iOS and Android

Here’s one for mobile developers. With jQ.Mobi, a new open source mobile development framework, you can quickly create HTML5-based sites and apps using familiar jQuery-based functions. Touted as 2.5X faster than desktop jQuery and much smaller to download (only 3K vs. 36K), JQ.Mobi is made with particular focus on delivering an “identically high quality user experience” to both iOS and Android devices. Included with jQ.Mobi are a query selector engine, a user interface (UI) library, and a collection of plugins. When compared to other JavaScript mobile frameworks like jQuery Mobile Read more

BitStream kills its Bolt Browser

Well what so you know, BitStream decided to kill its Bolt Browser. The company issued the following statement: The free BOLT mobile browsing service will be discontinued. Unfortunately, the economic circumstances prevent us from running a free service going forward. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your loyalty and support. The way I see it, BitStream had a problem with sales. They did have a good product which was capable enough to compete with Opera Mini (market leader). However, they haven’t managed to convince any major handset Read more

TeleNav announces HTML5 maps, complete with voice guidance and turn-by-turn navigation

Now here’s an interesting move. TeleNav, a big name in the GPS space, has just announced that their turn-by-turn GPS service is going to be delivered through HTML5, making it wholly usable in just about any modern mobile browser. In the same fel swoop, TeleNav will be opening up this code to developers, so they can embed maps and directions into their pages for free. Consumers will also enjoy the service for free, which will include voice guidance, rerouting, points of interest information, and live tracking. This is a pretty Read more

Six million households paid a bill with a smartphone last year

Fiserv, a financial and technology solutions company, conducted some really interesting research that showed a significant uptick in the way consumers pay their bills. It turns out that six million Americans have used smartphones to make bill payments in the past year, according to the company’s 2011 Billing Household Survey. This is not only due to the change in how mobile devices operate, but the way all billers have made it easier for customers with destination websites for billing and payment – tailored for last minute and one-time payments. Discussing the survey’s findings, Jardon Read more

Android claims 40% of enterprise mobile web traffic

Internet security service provider, Zscaler, recently published some interesting usage data for the last quarter, including some insight into mobile browser usage. Although iOS may be winning device adoption over BlackBerry in businesses, it looks like the majority of Zscaler’s enterprise subscribers that browse the web on smartphones (40.3%) are doing so through an Android device, while BlackBerry claimed 37.26%, and iOS 22.38%. Zscaler further broke down those numbers into geographies; 75.34% of the Android users were from the U.S., followed up by Spain (5.48%), Israel (9.17%), and Singapore (2.76%). Read more