Earthlink unveils WiFi phone beta in Anaheim, CA

Earthlink's finally ready to publicly discuss the WiFi phone beta they've been running in Anaheim California -- well, kind of. They didn't exactly have much to say about the service because it's in beta, but we know that officially exists, and that should be enough, right? We'd love a closer look at the Accton phone they're using for this thing, but we know the type, and something tells us it's not exactly going to have an ancillary HSDPA for 3G SIP or anything.

Pretec unveils waterproof i-Disk RFID flash drive

No question, vendors are constantly throwing out those "world's smallest" bits in a halfway futile attempt to wow consumers who simply don't know any better than to continually fall for it, but for those even mildly in tune with yesterday's news, they know better. Pretec's latest in the i-Disk Diamond series claims to be the "world's smallest," but measuring in at 45.7- x 12.2- x 2.2-millimeters, it simply can't be true without some sort of fine print stipulations. Nevertheless, the i-Disk RFID differs from most USB flash drives by sporting a rugged, waterproof enclosure as well as a built-in RFID tag, which should work wonders in tracking where your employees carry the company's precious data until they find a way to circumvent The Man. While we won't be the first to recommend a Big Brother-enabled thumb drive without a sound reason, these strange sticks will hit the market for a currently undisclosed price in Q2 and range from 128MB to 1GB in capacity.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

Toshiba Portege R400 getting HSDPA too?

GSM fanboys, rejoice: Core Duo News was trawling the FCC website when they caught the EV-DO-packin' Portege R400 convertible tablet making another run through the certification process, but this time around, it's looking to get an HSPDA modem cleared for takeoff. This being the FCC and all, we can't tell if any of the other specs on this 12-inch, somewhat underpowered notebook have changed along with the 3G standard, but we think it's safe to assume that the only difference is a Novatel PCI Express Mini Card taking the place of whichever Verizon-compatible modem was once there. So grab your checkbooks, Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers, because there's a good chance that the re-spec'ed R400 will hit the scene any day now. And if not, hey, it's never too late to jump on the CDMA bandwagon.

[Via Core Duo News]

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Verizon announces Novatel V740 EV-DO Rev. A ExpressCard

We heard tell of this little guy last month when Apple let the model number out amongst newly supported WWAN products -- so what's this Verizon V740 card got going for it other than explicit Mac support? Well, EV-DO Rev. A, of course. Built by Novatel, the V740 is here to replace the V640 in ExpressCard/34 duties for Verizon, with beefier bandwidth and a dearth of aesthetic changes. The card will be hitting retail on March 30th, and looks to be going for $110 with two years of service -- cheaper than Sprint's EX720 offering, but Verizon will get you in the end with those hefty data charges.

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Office of Naval Research patents "underwater GPS

Being decidely land-dwelling creatures -- our only real underwater experiences were some nasty childhood dunking incidents at the local pool -- we've got no real use for determining our location beneath the waves, but apparently the folks who drive around all day in submarines do, so the US Office of Naval Research has whipped up a relatively simple method for "geophysical positioning" when satellite GPS data is inaccessible. You'll recall that we recently saw another patent which claimed to offer the same functionality for above ground, indoor locations, but that involved using surface-level receivers and ceiling-mounted repeaters -- a setup not possible when satellite signals can't penetrate deep underwater. The ONR's solution is to anchor an undetermined number of transceivers -- whose exact spatial location is already known -- to the ocean floor, and then by comparing the angle and distance of broadband acoustic signals sent back and forth to moving craft, using some basic geometry (sounds like our man Pythagoras comes into play here) to determine where in the world that sub happens to be. Seems pretty obvious when you think about it, but maybe that's we're covering this tech secondhand instead of trying to hack it as naval engineers, marine cartographers, or whoever the heck it is that comes up with this stuff.

[Via New Scientist]

Fon wants you to help steal business from Starbucks and T-Mobile

Oh tricky, sneaky Fon. Fresh off their 10,000 Fonero giveaway, they're stepping up the ante with how they give away their loss-leader routers. Their newest campaign is sure to strike a chord with armchair entrepreneurs and Adbusters fans alike: if you live within the immediate vicinity of a Starbucks (read: WiFi range), Fon would like to send you one of their Foneros. Why? Because, if you recall, when you allow users to connect with your internet connection over your Fonero, Fon splits the profit with you -- $1 for every user (who pays $2 to use your connection). So for every $10 T-Mobile / Starbucks WiFi user you swipe, Fon gives you a buck; now, granted this still isn't a scheme for those paranoid about home network security, bandwidth usage, or nefarious hax0rs type with a spoofed MAC and a keen eye for easy hotspot access, but who knows, for those near Starbucks (yes, they'll be checking against known locations) it might even be worth it to buy a budget DSL line just to profit with Fon.

Click here to find out more!

VoIP provider Vonage has already cut a deal with EarthLink to resell WiFi, presumably to go along with some sort of WiFi phone service, but could they have something way crazier (and more costly) on tap? BusinessWeek speculates that Vonage might be getting into the cellular game by launching an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). It's not hard to imagine them offering something similar to T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service, which lets you use a WiFi-enabled cellphone to make VoIP calls over WiFi and and then seamlessly switch over to cellular networks whenever you're outside WiFi range. The problem is that launching an MVNO is no small undertaking. ESPN shuttered MobileESPN last year after failing to attract more than a handful of subscribers, and Amp'd and Helio have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to carve out a slice of what is an incredibly competitive wireless market (Apple was working on an MVNO to accompany the launch of the iPhone, but scrapped the whole thing once it became obvious how difficult it would be to gain marketshare). Could they do it? Maybe, but not without spending a TON of money, which is why it's more likely that they'll introduce a more modest Voice over WiFi service.

[Via GigaOm]

Motion Computing unveils RFID-reading C5 medical tablet PC

Although we sincerely hope your only encounter with a clinical assistant tablet PC comes by way of your occupation, it looks like Motion Computing is busting out a medically-focused device to help the dear LPNs keep things in order for the high-falutin' doctors. The C5 touts a vertically centered design, top-mounted carry handle, handwriting recognition, built-in digital camera for documenting wounds, time-stamp / voice-tag capabilities, and even an optional RFID reader to easily check patients in by scanning their wrist straps. Claiming to be the world's first device in the new mobile clinical assistant (MCA) category of PCs, it packs a 1.2GHz Intel Core Solo U1400 processor, Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, a 10.4-inch XGA touchscreen, up to 1.5GB of DDR2 RAM, 30 / 60GB 1.8-inch hard drive options, 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, and a rechargeable Li-ion to boot. Furthermore, it weighs in at just 3.1-pounds, so toting this bad boy around the office shouldn't be too much of a burden, and the "durable, semi-sealed enclosure" shouldn't have any issues handling the daily mishaps of your average doctor's lounge. So if you've been looking for a way to digitize your office and get far, far away from those paper-filled drawers, we're sure your IT rep will be hitting you up soon to sneak a peek at this $2,199 tablet.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

GoogleFi gives 360 addicts Xbox Live on the go

Obviously, quite a few possibilities open up when your whole town is wired for WiFi, but we can't say we really pegged drive-by 360 play as one of them. Mountain View, CA residents Brandon Wirtz and Jake Ludington fixed up Brandon's Jeep with 23-inch Samsung LCD and an Xbox connected to Google WiFi via Jake's laptop. The total cost of wire-free 360 action is about $4000 if starting from scratch, but isn't that a small price to pay for the freedom to frag?

[Via BBC News]

Sharp's EM ONE: a dual-sliding Pocket PC with HSDPA and WiFi

Check it W-Zero3, Sharp just one-upped your azz with their new EM ONE handheld. This Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC device brings 3.6Mbps HSDPA and 802.11b/g data to the game along with hot dual-sliding action under that 4.1-inch touch-screen display. Unlike Samsung's F520 dual-slider which combines a QWERTY and numeric keypad for making calls, Sharp's slab is a data-only device so they combine the QWERTY with a side-sliding navigation pad for scooting around the 800 x 480 pixel display. However, Sharp's EM ONE comes heavy on the chub at 140x70x18.9-mm compared to the F520's 105x54x17.4-mm or even Nokia's N800 which is about the same length and width but much thinner at 145x75x12.7-mm. The whole kit comes powered by a Marvell 520MHz PXA270 processor and nVidia GoForce 5500 graphics along with 512MB/128MB flash/SDRAM memory and miniSD expansion. The display boasts a rather anemic 65k color palette (albeit, the same as the N800) for viewing integrated 1-Seg mobile TV and WMV videos with WMA and MP3 audio playback supported by a pair of built-in stereo speakers. Rounding out the specs are Bluetooth 1.2, a 1.3 megapixel CMOS camera, stylus, and a 4-hour battery. On sale in Japan starting March 31st for ¥95,000 (about $797) without contract or ¥39,800 ($332) with 2-year commitment.

Gallery: Sharp's EM ONE: a dual-sliding PocketPC with HSDPA and WiFi

[Via Impress]

Telus, Sierra Wireless carrying EV-DO Rev A to Canada

If the Canucks out there have been getting a bit jealous at all the Rev A love going around down south, your resentment ends now -- well, sometime this year, anyway. Thanks to Telus and Sierra Wireless, EV-DO Rev A connectvitiy is headed to Canada in the coming months, as interested users will be able to pop the AirCard 595 into their laptop's PCMCIA slot and reportedly reach peak speeds of up to 3.1Mbps downstream and 1.8Mbps upstream. Of course, it is noted that typical speeds will range between 300 to 400Kbps whilst uploading, and 450 to 800Kbps on the downward slope, but you Canadians will probably take what you can get, eh? Unfortunately, there's no set dates for the future rollouts, and "select markets" is all we have to go on for availability, but we do know that Telus will be charging $349.99 for the AirCard 595 sans a contract, or you can lock yourself in for a whopping three years if you've only got $99.99 to spare.

Brand new toys sure have been popping up everywhere of late, and now Mattel's hitting us up with another gizmo being showcased at the International To

Brand new toys sure have been popping up everywhere of late, and now Mattel's hitting us up with another gizmo being showcased at the International Toy Fair. Presumably designed to latch onto the hard-earned dollars of paranoid mums who watch entirely too many of those "internet predator" spots, the Girl Tech IM-Me is a very restrictive wireless instant messaging system that relies on parental okays in order to operate. Aside from only allowing texts to be sent and received from parent-approved usernames, the gal can only use her purple and pink IM machine within range (read: in the house) of the USB dongle, which must be plugged into an internet connected PC. So while we still prefer PictoChat, we imagine this $64.99 device will sell like hotcakes when it lands this summer -- only to never be used by any halfway sane (and understandably rebellious) teenage daughter.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

This week only, London's Tower Bridge is the world's largest Bluetooth device

While wireless headset manufacturers battle one another to shrink their wares until they completely disappear into your ear canal, organizers of the Switched-On London lighting festival (not named, unfortunately, after the excellent column by NPD's Ross Rubin) have taken the opposite tack: for one week in February, they've transformed the famous Tower Bridge into the world's largest Bluetooth device (narrowly edging out the PS3). Using multi-colored lights strung across the length of the upper walkway, technicians have created a gigantic interactive exhibit wherein sensors located at either end detect travelers' Bluetooth-enabled gadgets (cellphones, laptops, PDA's, etc.) and then track their progress in pseudo-real-time as they move across the bridge. Visually, the movement is represented by a uniquely-colored pixel appearing at more-or-less the same spot on the walkway as the device; to a faraway observer, it would look like this single "pixel" was making the journey from one end to the other. In order to ensure device anonymity, the Bluetooth sensors only send a derivative of each device's MAC address to the bridge's main controller, so consider this a Bluesnarfing safe-zone. If you're in the area and want to check this out -- or love Bluetooth enough to buy a plane ticket (any BT fanboys out there?) -- you'd better hurry, as the project ends and the bridge goes dark tomorrow.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Novatel revs up its line with new HSDPA / HSUPA offerings

Novatel's keeping us in the bits pretty well lately, what with those Rev A dongles on Sprint and Verizon, and that XU870 HSDPA ExpressCard hotness. Now they've got a trio of hot new accessories, including a pair of HSDPA devices: the Merlin X950D ExpressCard and the Ovation MC870D USB Modem. The X950D offers up global tri-band HSUPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS, and works in ExpressCard/34 and 54 slots. The real hotness is the 2.1Mbps HSUPA uploads, and those 7.2Mbps downloads aren't bad neither. There's also built-in GPS. On the USB end of things, Novatel's Ovation MC870D (pictured) does 7.2Mbps HSDPA, but apparently doesn't match those hot upload speeds in the X950D. The dongle is Europe centric, hanging out on the 2100MHz band, so Americans will have to look elsewhere. Novatel is also announcing two HSDPA embedded laptop modules for OEMs, the EU870D for Europe and the EU860D for North America. Luckily for those of us wondering where North American USB HSDPA is on this list, Novatel is launching the Merlin XUA-1 ExpressCard to USB adapter, to let you use those cards with any old USB 2.0 port. No word on price or release dates for any of this stuff, but this should be enough to get us salivating, we suppose.

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Hands-on with Apple's AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station

Our review unit came a little later than we might have liked, but for anyone in the audience still down with an exhaustive hands-on and setup photo gallery with Apple's purdy new AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station, we've got you covered. Click on for our impressions, or check out our photo gallery.

Gallery: Hands-on with Apple's AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station

Continue reading Hands-on with Apple's AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station

New CDMA phones from Samsung coming to Alltel, Verizon

Samsung, the all-things-CDMA handset maker du jour these days, will be introducing new handsets to CDMA carriers Alltel and Verizon soon.

The two new models -- the R510 and U540 -- look identical to existing handsets offered from other carriers -- like the T-Mobile Trace and the Sprint A500. Both, both of these are packing CDMA innards in ultra-slim form factors.

[via Engadget Mobile]

Sanyo reports huge net loss for recent quarter

Sanyo reported a 7.3 billion yen net loss for the most recent quarter this past Tuesday, casted doubt on whether the struggling Japanese electronics maker will pull out of some markets it serves.

Strangely, a decline in domestic sales (Japan) outpaced strong performance overseas (U.S. market and others). The reason for the declines was given as increased competition in digital cameras that offset higher sales of mobile phones and advanced washing machines. Sanyo only sells mobile handsets to one U.S. carrier -- Sprint.

Billionaire asks for seat on Motorola's board

Carl Icahn -- a financier who likes to get involved with companies he tries to "fix" -- has bought about 1.4% of Motorola's stock and has requested a seat on the board of directors.

There are many guesses that say Icahn wants to split Motorola up into component pieces (like any bullheaded financier) based on lackluster results from its last quarter.

Motorola, though, has has great results in recent years with a stock price that has done well. So, what's Icahn's beef here?

Sprint adds more EV-DO Revision A markets

Sprint continues to take its 3G wireless network across the U.S. to the next level, as it's upgraded more markets to the next-gen EV-DO Revision A standard.

Miami Fl., Portland Ore. and Puerto Rico have received the nicety of Sprint's latest upgrade and all three markets now have EV-DO Revision A speeds available to customers.

At this time, the speeds are only available using PC Cards -- not handsets.

Siemens sees growth in enterprise Wi-Fi equipment

Although Siemens has had some issues centered around its wireless operations recently -- selling its handset division to Taiwan's BenQ at a huge loss -- the company saw increased quarterly results recently on strong demand for its enterprise mobility and WLAN products.

Siemens saw more than 125% growth and has bulked up its enterprise offerings to meet increased demand, and the German telecom juggernaut hopefully will see its fortunes continue to rise. After all, enterprise Wi-Fi is doing anything but going away.

Sprint wants to control feature and smartphones

As the complexity of certain advanced wireless handsets and fully-fledged smartphones becomes more prevalent, carriers need a way to manage those devices on the network -- millions of them.

As such, Sprint has partnered with mFoundation to do just that. It will be able to provision, configure, diagnose and manage feature phones and smartphones on its network -- remotely and with (hopefully) a minimum of fuss.

Cingular spends $86 million in Las Vegas upgrades

Looks like the nation's largest carrier spent a staggering $86 million to upgrade its wireless network in Sin City last year, surpassing the estimate of $46 million which was initially forecast.

If you're in Vegas any time soon and don't have a good wireless signal, Cingular probably wants to know about it after spending so much in upgrading the level of service there. Just don't count cards on that new Windows Mobile smartphone, ok?

Deutsche Telekom sees lower performance in latest quarter

Deutsche Telekom -- the German telecom juggernaut -- witnessed lower performance in its most recent quarter as it saw a big cut in profit and forecast more competition.

European competitor Vodafone Group is not making things easy for DT, as it relentlessly cuts prices and forces DT to do the same. T-Mobile USA -- DT's fastest-growing unit -- has also not lived up to forecasts because of the dollar's slide against the euro in 2006.

Hyperfactory launches mobile media platform for advertisers

With a few copmpanies and a handfuls of startups banking on the future of mobile marketing -- kinda like Google bet its future on text ads all those years ago -- the Hyperfactory is set to offer a global platform for contextual media planning based around this platform.

Companies want to find out which types of campaigns work and don't work on the "third screen" -- the mobile phone screen, that is.