Ars.Technica writes that a group of 22 companies called the I3A has been formed to create a set of benchmarks and give consumers simple to understand scores that differentiate cameras by something other than their megapixel count. Included in the 22 companies are Motorla, Nokia and Sony Ericsson. This could not have come at a…
Qualcomm buys SoftMax – looks toward noise reduction on mobile phones
Qualcomm is clearly one of the mobile industry’s leading chipmakers, but that doesn’t mean they can sit back and let the revenue from their 3G technologies roll in. The San Diego-based chipmaker seems to be taking a new approach to the mobile chipset market – integrating noise-reduction technology into their chipsets. Qualcomm has just snatched…
Internet Initiative Japan Inc first MVNO to use DoCoMo’s 3G network
It’s not everyday that we see new MVNO starting operations in Japan. That may be the reason we’ve found this article to be newsworthy… Anyway, one of Japan’s leading Internet-access and “comprehensive network solutions providers” Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (IIJ) has announced a deal with the leading mobile operator in the country, NTT DoCoMo, to…
Playboy teams up with Minick to bring its content to Europe; Europeans rejoice!
Here’s a piece of good news for all the men living in Europe. Good ol’ Playboy announced they’re teaming up with Minick, “a pioneer in wireless infrastructure solutions and interactive applications,” to bring “compelling” mobile products including video clips, mobile TV, games and other services to European markets. According to the official release — which…
MySpace, other Fox Interactive Media sites hitting Sprint
Sprint users who rely on MySpace for their e-schmoozing activities, here’s a piece of good news for ya. Fox Interactive Media — owner of MySpace — has signed a deal with the CDMA carrier to provide Sprint’s customers with an easy access to the popular social networking service. Under the agreement, MySpace will come as…
European Union approves Sony Ericsson, Motorola deal
Motorola has been poised to take a 50% stake in Sony Ericsson’s mobile OS, UIQ, for some time now. Motorola wants to be half-vested partners in Sony Ericsson’s UI Holdings BV, the parent company of UIQ Technology AB. The last obstacle keeping Moto from sharing the UIQ limelight with the Japanese Swedish venture was the…
Mark Levinson lends his name to the LG LB3300 – LG’s Rhapsody in Music for audiophiles
Wannabe audiophiles will be happy to hear that Mark Levinson has lent his name to the new LG Rhapsody in Music slider phone – known as the LG LB3300 – for the South Korean masses. We say “wannabe” because there no amount of fancy branding or gadgetry that can bring audiophile-quality sound to a handset.…
AT&T and Verizon agree to tap each other’s assets
Network carriers are notorious for slinging mud in their rivals’ direction at any opportunity. It’s a dog-eat-dog business world, after all. So, what’s the only thing that can get the two biggest rivals in the US wireless market to work together? Mutually beneficial business arrangements, of course. You see, the FCC laid down a couple…
AT&T announces full acquisition of Edge Wireless
No, this has nothing to do with AT&T’s EDGE data network. It seems that AT&T has decided to pull the trigger and fully take over Pacific Northwest wireless carrier Edge Wireless. Now, AT&T already had a minority (35.7%) stake in the small-time network operator, but that just wasn’t enough for the nation’s largest carrier. Continuing…
Telecom Italia jumps into Nokia’s OVI offering
Nokia has scored another partner to support its OVI offering – Telecom Italia. Under the agreement, Nokia will customize its handsets — most notably Nokia N81, N95 8GB and we guess N82 in the near future — to provide easy access to TIM services. In addition, the Finish giant also said that the collaboration will…