by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
The Competition Tribunal ruled last Friday that mobile companies owe BT millions for BT customers who have called mobile phones via their landlines. This ruling covers an ongoing row between BT and mobile operators along with a disagreement with 3 and O2 when operator’s tires to increase termination rates back in 2006.
The competition appeals tribunal has ruled that prices should have been lower and therefore repayments must be made.
BT Retail’s director of strategy, Jeff Richardson, says: “BT is very pleased with the competition appeals tribunal result and sees it as an important step on the route to lower and fairer termination mobile rates. The judgment made by CAT only looked into a short period of time two years ago, but it sets a significant president for the mobile termination rates that are due to be ruled on later this year.”
BT claim customers are being charged to the tune of an extra £1 billion a year. Ofcom cut termination rates by 10-20 percent last year of the four biggest networks while 3 saw a 45 percent cut.
Image via here
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
At the 2008 annual European Imaging and Sound Association awards, three mobile phones strolled off with a trophy; the Samsung G810, the Walkman series Sony Ericsson W980 and the HTC Touch Diamond.
The best European music phone went to the Sony Ericsson Walkman W980 of course, mainly due to it large number of audio formats supported along with good functionality and sleek appearance.
Also taken into consideration was the innovative SenseMe and Shake control features, and of course the Walkman line flagship is worthy of the prize.
The Samsung G810 came along a whole year after its main competitor the Nokia N95, which no doubt is why is didn’t really become that much of a success. However, the G810 is more than a capable mobile phone incorporating a Xenon flash and optical zoom, so we can see why it scooped an award.
Best smartphone award went to the HTC Touch Diamond, which is a little surprising considering the Windows Mobile community have been somewhat divided over the Touch Diamond and the Samsung Omnia for the last few months.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
While I hesitate to make a joke at JFK’s expense (because he happened to have a severely bum leg), Franklin Delano Roosevelt comes to mind as the perfect target for polio jokes. Watch out LOLCats! LOLPolio is comin’ to getcha! Of course, you don’t need polio to have fun with crutches. A broken leg would do just fine.
And injuries have never been as fun or productive as they are these days, with gadgets being released to enhance a typically uncomfortable experience. For example, this Multi-Function Crutch is sort of like the Swiss Army Knife of medical aides. These forearm crutches contain an LED torch, an alarm and red signal lights, we’re guessing to protect from further injuries caused by being struck by a moving (or parked, you klutz) vehicle.
Aside from the go-go-gadget-crutch features, the Multi-Function Crutch is designed to reduce strain on your arms and wrists, and perfect for all ages. While the product description lists the crutch as great for use while climbing, you’d think that once you have a leg injury, it’s time to give up hiking and mountain trekking for a few weeks. Give yourself a chance to lick your wounds.
The Multi-Function Crutch is available from Gadget4All for $31. If you’re just not the type of person who’s going to sit back on their keister and let the world continue pressing on without them, then a set of crutches such as this might help you safely move around the obstacles of everyday life.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
Having a sneaky way to keep fresh food around has always been an important goal for college students and geeks alike. Usually it’s done with mini fridges, mini microwaves and hot plates. Yet here’s another little gadget to throw on the list. This one is a toaster that is powered by your PC. It inserts directly into the drive bay and will fit a standard 5.25. It includes Windows based software interface which controls the temperature and how long the toast is in for.
Although this is a Windows version they are currently working on a Mac OS version that will hopefully be coming soon. To get this to work it requires an available USB port as well as a 4 pin Molex power connector. You will also need a free PCI slot. It does have a crumb tray like every other toaster and includes a 2 year warranty. It hopefully won’t cause your PC any overheating issues since it has a vent that exhausts the hot air out the back of the case. To pick one up it will cost you $29.99 from Crazy PC.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
The good guys over at Engadget have got hold of a Motorola RAZR VE20 and have giving the handset a real close look-see, and apparently the first thing they noticed was the obvious similarity to all the other Motorola RAZR’s of the past.
As Engadget put it a “Stepping Stone” from the Motorola V3 to the Motorola V9. The Motorola V3 is close to its shelf expiry date one would presume and well Motorola and Sprint needed something to fill the shelves below the RAZR 2 didn’t they.
However, it seems the guys at Engadget liked the Motorola VE20 because the mobile phone doesn’t pretend to be a do-it-all end-it-all superphone like some.
Basically the Motorola is a decent enough mid-range flip phone with what is seemingly an excellent build quality.
Engadget say there was one area of concern as the VE20 froze up on them, which meant the need to restart, and also the music application was broken by their tester.
The Motorola VE20 is out now and commands a price tag of $99.99 on contract and after any rebates.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
You might remember a similar gadget which was released for the original iPhone. That’s old news. The new big boy in town is the iPhone 3G, so of course we’re all going to need a little update. While the iPhone 3G has been reported as having various networking snags, the new model continues to sell well. Even better than expected. So odds are that a nice chunk of you have upgraded.
If you had the iPhone Telescope for your original iPhone and loved using it to see clear images of objects in the distance, then the iPhone 3G Telescope is what you need for the upgraded Apple mobile phone. The 6x scope allows for an extra boost of sight-seeing juice with your iPhone 3G’s camera.
The iPhone 3G Telescope is optimized for the newer phone’s camera, complete with wide-angle shots, color reduction for a clearer shot, and an all-around effective way of curing your iPhone’s near-sightedness. The Telescope package even includes a neck strap so you can wear your iPhone like a traditional photographer.
The iPhone 3G Telescope seems like an awesome tool for members of the paparazzi and bird watchers who are in need of a speedy (supposedly) 3G network. While it might not be powerful enough to peer into the far reaches of the night sky, it sure can invade someone’s privacy pretty well. You can get your own from Brando for $19.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
We’ve all heard about it for sometime now; the much whispered about HTC Dream, the former “Googlephone” as it were. Well the news is the HTC Dream has just received approval from the FCC.
The FCC has listed the handset as “Dream” and the model number is “DREA100”, and appears with a WiFi Interoperability Certificate carrying 802.11b/g WiFi.
If this is indeed the mush talked about HTC Android mobile phone it appears that HTC, Google, and carrier T-Mobile are now free to actually announce the coming of the HTC Dream in September with a possible October launch date.
Apparently more investigation has revealed the mention of the “jogball” which is similar to that seen on the many videos of the supposed Dream.
Rumour has it that the HTC Dream is compliant with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and this round of testing is conducted only on GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850?1900 and also WCDMA 1700 which happens to be T-Mobiles 3G frequency.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
By Andrew Liszewski
As far as calculators go, the HP 20b Business Consultant Financial Calculator isn’t worth a second glance for someone working outside of the finance industy, but it could peak the curiosity of those who like to tinker with their gadgets. The calculator features an Atmel 30MHz, low-power AT91SAM7L128 ARM7 System on chip processor and according to Slashdot “it has a bootloader and JTAG interface to allow user applications to be written and downloaded…” HP has even released an official devkit for the HP 20b which according to the site is “designed for developers who want to re-purpose the HP 20b and reuse the platform for other purposes.”
I haven’t really come across any examples of how the HP 20b has already been re-purposed in an interesting way, but there’s an ‘HP-20b Repurposing Project‘ wiki already setup that includes guides on the calculator’s hardware specifications, what hardware you’ll need to tinker with it and even instructions on how to open the case. There’s also a handful of downloadable software demos that don’t look that exciting (SRAM resident battery level display demo) but I’m sure will come in handy for developers writing their own code.
[ HP 20b Business Consultant Financial Calculator ] VIA [ Slashdot ]
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
We have all been hearing about the trouble with the Apple iPhone 3G and connectivity, well apparently a MacRumors reader claims they actually received a response from none other than Apple’s main mouth, Steve Jobs.
Apparently the Steve Jobs reply was in answer to an email sent in complaining about the iPhone 3G connectivity issues. So, what did Apple’s big boy have to say on the subject?
Well according to the email reply which was addressed from Steve Jobs, the amount of iPhone 3G’s effected by the connectivity issue is about two percent, and is fixable via a software update.
Here is the email reply: We are working on some bugs which affect around 2% of the iPhones shipped, and hope to have a software update soon.
Steve
Apparently Mr. Jobs does on the odd occasion respond to emails that have been addressed to him, and on occasion have yielded information not previously known.
So if this is true and the figure is correct it means about 60,000 iPhone 3Gs based on analyst sales estimates. Fruthermore if the issue can indeed fix the problem maybe Apple should be getting it out to the general iPhones as soon as possible.
by Techno Witch on August 18, 2008
Opticon has released two new mobile phones, both running on Windows Mobile, and they will be coming to the market quite soon. The mobile phones are the H16 and the H19 and are both due in September.
The guys over at The Unwired have said on these two new mobile phones as quoted:
“The H16 features Windows Mobile 5.0, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDE, WiFi and Bluetooth communication, as well as a full slide out QWERTY keyboard. With your choice of laser barcode scanner, or 2D CMOS imager, the H16 is the perfect productivity tool for text intensive field applications.”
“The award winning H19 features Windows Mobile 6.0, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WiFi and Bluetooth communication, an integrated GPS module and numeric keypad. With your choice of laser barcode scanner, or 2D CMOS imager, the H19 is the perfect productivity tool for any field workforce.”
The H16 and H19 aren’t scheduled to hit the UK or at least hasn’t been announced, and to be honest with a price of around £600.00 per handset they are not likely to do well here anyway.
