Finally! RIM has announced that they are busting out AIM, ICQ, and Live Messenger clients for their Blackberry (NSDQ: RIMM) line. You can freely download the software, but you will need an update for your service book before the software will work.  Go get your instant messaging on, download the software here – AIM, ICQ, Live Messenger, Service Book Update. (make sure to delete your service books and restore them with the file inside the .zip)

Via: BlackBerry Forums 

The US is something of an awkward, late-blooming teen when it comes to wireless tech. It’s barely hit pubescence with emerging 3G technology, and even then the US spec is awkwardly different from the rest of the world – what with it’s alternative frequency choices. But, now it seems that the US is starting to come into itself. Today’s announcement, from the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), put some proverbial hair on its chest as the US straps up for digital mobile TV.

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Japan’s KDDI just announced that their new MVNO service will go live within US borders by mid-month. The second-largest Japanese wireless carrier wants to use Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel’s CDMA network to setup KDDI Mobile. Finally, those wacky-cool Japanese phones will hit US shores in all their feature packed glory. And, with a robust lineup of mobile phones in their arsenal, KDDI’s got the US MVNO market squarely in its sights. Let’s just wait to see what kind reliability and customer service this Asian MVNO brings to the table.

Via: Reuters

China is pushing global adoption of the TD-CDMA standard. Their proprietary network protocol was developed as an alternative to patented technologies like GSM or WCDMA. The Ministry of Information Industry has been tweaking their TD-CDMA standard for years, chasing reliable 80 Mbps downstream operation. And now China is planning to submit their standard to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for consideration as part of the still-forming 4G network protocol.

The largest wireless market in the world is largely without 3G network access and will be until China can get their 4G standard off the starting line. But you can bet that, with 400 million wireless subscribers, China is going to make some money off domestic patent licenses – and any foreign markets that want to use TD-CDMA.

Via: EE Times

The company called ZipZone Media introduced an interesting, eco-friendly feature to their Bluetooth Marketing System – Menu and Coupon distribution. The new feature enables restaurant owners to distribute electronic versions of the menus and coupons directly to the customers’ mobile phones, thus saving paper, printing, and other related waste.

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Your cell phone can do a lot more than it led you to believe. It’s not that it lied to you, it’s just that you never took the time to truly get to know your phone. But, that’s between you and your phone. Today we’ll just concentrate on what you can do to get the most out of your relationship with your cell phone.

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Looks like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is hookin’ it up with free 411 directory assistance! Google labs is rolling out their experimental new service – GOOG411. Don’t hand over anymore of your hard earned cheese just to talk to a female operator (what, you don’t do that?). Just hit the obvious GOOG-411 on your keypad and you’ll be greeted by a nice lady-computer ready to give you a hand with your directory questions.

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FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has really been ruffling things up recently. This time he’s got the 911 system squarely in his sights. With, more and more 911 calls being made on cell phones these days (to the tune of 230,000 cellular calls a day), Martin is determined to make sure that emergency responders can pinpoint the cellphone’s location. See, unlike landlines, cell phone location information is often vague at best – it’s not like you see on CSI, people. Even though wireless carriers have to guarantee location info, it can be off by several miles. And, Martin wants significant changes to the 911 system “to make sure public safety doesn’t lose because we don’t take advantage of the changes in technology” – even if mobile phone manufacturers have to make some changs as well.

Soon, thanks to Chairman Martin, Big Brother will always know exactly where you are. Great, good going Kev.

Via: MSNBC

We love a good underdog story, and this one is definitely a ‘David and Goliath’ battle. FuturePhone, one of the free conference calling services that recently got shut down by AT&T (NYSE: T), comes back to life for a legal showdown with the telecom monopoly giant. The company is preparing to file a formal complaint to the FCC to get its service back online. Apparently, the company went into hiding while it got legal advice and tried to figure out what to do.

In an effort to garner support for its service, FuturePhone is asking people to please contact their local government-types and complain about the service’s unfair demise.

Fight the good fight, FuturePhone! We’re behind you all the way!

Near Field Communications (NFC) technology has really been getting some push from developers recently. The new Bluetooth 2.1 EDR protocol made some provisions for NFC technology to make pairing your Bluetooth 2.1 devices as easy as bringing the two together. Now Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) is developing this tech to free us of our wallets. Kyocera showcased their NFC tech with the Visa mobile platform – giving you wallet-free purchasing power with the not-so-proverbial wave of the hand. Bringing the phone close to a ‘payment slot’ automatically debits or charges your account, completing the transaction.

But what happens when you lose track of your mobile phone (or, more seriously, have it stolen)? When you lose your wallet, you can just call your financial institutions and report the lose. But what if the wallet is now also your phone? You not only have no way to pay for the bus ride home, but you also have no way to call up your bank to prevent fraudulent charges. We’re going to let this tech go through some field testing before we jump on board.

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