Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Best Buy have announced a partnership whereby Best Buy employees will offer to install the Google Mobile Application for customers purchasing mobile phones from a retail Best Buy store. It wasn’t mentioned how much money Best Buy would receive from Google, but rumored estimates range from “I’m going to leave my job and order a trophy wife from Russia” to “I’m rich, bitch”.

Press Release, with massive amounts of bullshit press lingo stripped out, after the jump.

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Bell busted out their fresh HSPA devices yesterday, and today we  have a similar official announcement from telus (NYSE: TU). Earlier this week, we had a chance to sit down and take a look at the new toys; most of the players you’ll already be familiar with, but here’s a rundown of telus‘ take on each one.

First up we have the Hero, HTC’s Android avenger, jam-packed with their custom Sense user interface. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t packaged in Sprint (NYSE: S)’s slick, smooth, curve casing, but telus apparently wanted to capture the European flavour by offering something unique to North America, although it’s arguably reminiscent of Rogers (NYSE: RCI)’ HTC Dream in terms of aesthetic. Prodding a little bit about other Android hardware in the future, telussaid that they’re really not interested in vanilla builds – they really want to see some unique experiences with each manufacturer, and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re hoping to see the Hero on another carrier up north, good luck; telus said they’ve nabbed the Canadian exclusive on the Hero, and it sounded indefinite. The price point is also killer: $99.99 on contract, $499.99 off contract.

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Sound the air raid sirens, duck under your desks, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s wireless network is undergoing a pretty hardcore service interruption. From their Twitter account:

All – We’re aware of the current service disruption. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates as more information is available.

Hoboy. Those T-Mobile customers out there, feel free to leave a comment with your own technical problems, how long they’ve lasted, where you’re located, and if/when service has been restored. We’ll update this post as soon as we hear more about the issue.

Mobile payments company Billing Revolution announced that it now has a status as a Mobile Commerce Partner with PayPal, enabling PayPal merchants to conduct mobile credit card transactions using their existing PayPal Payflow Pro gateway accounts.

There are roughly 45,000 merchants that process transactions via PayPal Payflow gateway, and all of them now have the ability to sell their stuff to consumers on a mobile phone — although it’s unclear just how many of them will sign-up for the service.

And that’s about all we got to share regarding this news. Plus there’s the quote from Andy Kleitsch, CEO of Billing Revolution, who said: “Enabling mobile transactions for all PayPal merchants represents a strategic step forward for Billing Revolution. PayPal merchants wishing to conduct mobile credit card transactions can now safely and easily use Billing Revolution to process transactions through their existing PayPal accounts.”

Now we only have to see whether merchants will show interest and actually start implementing the new mobile payment feature. We certainly hope they’ll jump on board…

Here’s another example of great use of mobile technology for good. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a mobile food voucher pilot project to aid 1,000 Iraqi refugee families in Syria.

Here’s how it works (from the press release):

Iraqi refugees living in Damascus will receive a text message on their mobiles providing a code enabling them to cash in all or part of the “virtual voucher” at selected government shops. They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs — items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets.

Each family will receive one voucher per person, worth US$22 every two months. After each transaction, families will receive an updated balance, also sent by SMS to their mobile numbers.

Apparently this is the first time mobiles have been used to deliver food vouchers, and we applaud UN for pulling this out. The project was developed in collaboration with Syria’s General Establishment for Storing and Marketing Agriculture and Animal Products (GESMAAP), and mobile operator MTN, which donated SIM cards…

Facebook’s mobile site and mobile applications have been very well received by social network addicts around the world, which makes you wonder why the guy in charge of it all, Jed Stremel, resigned? After 4 years with the company he probably realized that Facebook is nothing more than a useless time suck creating a false sense of companionship while doubling as a playground with a barbed wire perimeter that you’re forced to live in for the rest of your life. That or he is just tired of working with people half his age, his shares have vested, and now he can go look for work at a company that is actually doing something useful.

Good luck Jed.

[Via: mocoNews]

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has updated the web-based version of GMail for iPhone. The update is simple (yet useful) – GMail now features auto-expanding compose box.

If you’ve been using web-based GMail on your iPhone/iPod Touch, you’ve certainly noticed that compose box doesn’t scroll to show you the complete message. On Android-powered devices there’s a trackball or a D-pad (new Moto devices) which you can use to scroll through your message. But that’s not the case with the iPhone, hence Google tweaked the code and voila… now you can flick to scroll the message box.

It’s good to see Google constantly adding tweaks here and there to its popular email service. Hopefully, they’ll soon update it even more to better sing along the upcoming WVGA touchscreen-equipped Android devices.

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has updated the Bing mobile website, located at m.bing.com. Here’s what’s new:

• NFL feature – type a team or player and see upcoming games, stats, and scores. While the game is on, you can get real-time updates on the plays. (U.S. only)
• Flight status – enter the airline and flight number to get the latest departure and landing times.
• Support for touch-enabled devices – mobile website can detect high-end devices and show a better and touch-friendlier version of the site. A new Movies feature is also included, allowing “Search for Movies” in your city, showtimes, overviews, and even trailers and video clips. Supported devices include the iPhone, Zune HD, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) G1, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Imagio, Samsung Omnia, with more devices to get supported over the next couple of months.

And that’s about it. It’s nice to see Microsoft pushing its search engine forward…

[Via: Bing Blog]

bCODE MediaPlane 220

Provider of mobile wallet scanning platforms bCODE is teaming up cinema innovator Screenvision and Sprint (NYSE: S) to create the world’s largest mobile coupon redemption network. Under the deal, bCODE will provide its SMS-based secure scanning mobile wallet platform, and Sprint will market the service to its customers who will be able to receive special concession stand savings via mobile couponing in 500 participating movie theaters in Screenvision’s nationwide network.

The service is already available in more than 50 DMAs across the country — including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Houston and Dallas. In early 2010, more than 900 theaters will have bCODE service available.

As for how it works, here’s an excerpt from the press release:

The bCODE service consists of mobile coupon delivery and an interactive touch-screen mobile marketing device. A bCODE is a secure and encrypted text message (SMS) that can be scanned easily. The bCODE message is the result of a proprietary algorithm transmitted across technology that’s standard in more than 99.7 percent of the world’s mobile phones. Consumers receive bCODE text message incentives and offers on their mobile phone that they can then redeem at a MediaPlane. The MediaPlane is a sleek, interactive touch-screen mobile marketing device that reads the bCODE and provides digital content, offers and entertainment. The MediaPlane reliably scans bCODEs from mobile phones, redeems the coupon and prints their point-of-sale redemption ticket. The MediaPlane is available in a counter top version and a wall-mounted flat screen version, with a thin form factor and low-impact footprint.

Finally, if you like watching movies and you’re on Sprint, to sign-up for the service simply text the word “Sprint” to “22633″ (bCODE), and take it from there.