China to get 3G at last

The Chinese government has approved 3G licences for both a proprietary local standard and the globally accepted CDMA standard. It confirmed that the quasi-state run operator China Mobile will be assigned a licence for the Chinese-developed TD-SCDMA standard, while China Unicom and China Telecom will run W-CDMA and CDMA-2000 respectively.

Mobile Entertainment

Apple's latest patent brilliance: the iGlove

The US Patent and Trademark Office yesterday released Apple's most recent application, in which the company files for patent protection for a glove. Patent #20090000010 is for what Apple calls a High tactility glove system designed to aid users in operating their multi-touch devices - think iPhones - in frigid weather.

The Register

Police allowed to 'hack' PCs without a warrant

Police have been granted the right to 'hack' any PC without a warrant. European ministers initially approved the move last month, although the plans are still being developed by the Home Office and EU ministries.

PC Advisor

Symbian Developer, UIQ Files for Bankruptcy

It has been reported that the Symbian software developer, UIQ - which is jointly owned by Sony Ericsson and Motorola - has filed for bankruptcy in a district court in Sweden. UIQ (formerly known as User Interface Quartz) by UIQ Technology is a software platform based upon Symbian OS.

Cellular News

BT faces tough year as broadband nears saturation

Telecoms group BT will face "one of its toughest ever years" in 2009 as revenue from landline phone calls continues to decline and broadband reaches saturation point, according to a new report.

The Telegraph

Snap, Map, Chat and Hyperlink?

European researchers working in the MOBVIS project have successfully developed a system that can attach hyperlinks to real-world urban features. Users simply take a picture of a streetscape with their mobile phone and the MOBVIS system will do the rest. Tourism and real estate will be obvious applications.

Cellular News

Facebook hits Christmas peak

Facebook recorded its highest ever traffic levels over Christmas, accounting for one in every 22 website visits on Christmas Day in the UK, making it the second most popular site on the web, behind Google. During the festive period, YouTube also overtook Hotmail for the first time in this country.

PC Pro

Nokia pledges profits push over sales in crunch times

Unlike competitors saying they will do anything to reach their sales targets, Nokia’s chief executive has announced the brand will focus on profit development, while the mobile phone market is expected to see its weakest year in 2009.

Silicon.com

MMA Updates Best Practice Guidelines

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released version 3.4 of its Consumer Best Practices (CBP) Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services in the US. The MMA CBP Guidelines Committee’s mission is to develop guidelines which provide measures of acceptable practices for all players in the US ecosystem.

Mobile Marketing Magazine

Chip sales slow down

The semiconductor market has also been hit by the slow economy. Although it has reported that November revenues dropped by some 9.8 per cent from a year ago, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) president remained optimistic that the industry would see a relatively low impact from the recession.

VNUnet