Wireless and Mobile Technology

The energy in the air turbulence behind cars could be harnessed to power cell phones or other electronics inside a vehicle, says a Discovery News report citing City College of New York researchers. The scientists are working on a device that uses strips of piezoelectric material, which generates an electric current when compressed. The flow of air around the device causes it to vibrate, producing electricity. Full Story »

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia will close its two flagship stores in the United States, a market where the world's top cell phone maker is struggling to gain ground. Full Story »

Attention, iPhone users: You require some education. You don't understand what a megabyte of data truly means, you see, and you're not aware of how much data you're using. If only you'd allow AT&T to reach out and teach you, all would be well in the world of 3G. Full Story »

In the aftermath of a bruising advertising battle with Verizon Wireless that highlighted the limitations of AT&T's 3G network, an AT&T executive told investors that high-bandwidth iPhone users could face higher usage charges. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of consumer services, told investors at a UBS conference in New York that people who consume a large amount of data would receive incentives to "reduce or modify their usage," the Associated Press reported. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. got a boost Wednesday after a Citi Investment Research analyst upgraded the telecommunications company and said a combination with T-Mobile USA in the next 12 months is more likely than not. Full Story »

On Tuesday, Dell rolled out a new laptop aimed at mobile entrepreneurs, the 13.3-inch Vostro V13. With a starting price of $449, Dell is sending a combined message of value and innovation with the latest addition to its small-business line of Vostro laptops. Full Story »

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's government has missed a deadline for inviting bidders to take part in its long-awaited auction for third generation (3G) mobile telecom services. Full Story »

PARIS (Reuters) - Taking a page out of Apple's book, France Telecom's mobile phone unit Orange launched its own shop to sell downloadable videos, games, music and other content to its 130 million mobile phone subscribers. Full Story »

Free, government-funded cell phones may be the target of right-wing rage, but they're real, they're out there and they're getting more free minutes. Virgin Mobile on Wednesday announced Assurance Wireless to ship prepaid phones to the poor or disabled in three states. Full Story »

Comviva Technologies, an Indian vendor of technology for value-added services, is targeting poor people in India, Africa and other developing markets with its "Virtual SIM" technology that allows users to connect to their mobile service using a shared or borrowed handset. Full Story »

Although the wireless 802.11n standard has just recently been made official, IEEE has begun work on the next iteration of WiFi. The coming upgrade may deliver speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second by improving on the effeciency of existing technology, according to Electronista. Full Story »

The Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) Consortium announced on Tuesday that their wireless technology specification has finally reached a completed state. The new standard will give consumers the ability to transmit high definition (HD) content around their homes wirelessly. Full Story »

DALLAS - Texas Instruments Inc. raised its fourth-quarter profit and sales outlook on Tuesday, citing an improving market for chips used in cell phones and other electronic gadgets like hard disk drives and video game consoles. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES - MySpace's online music venture with recording labels completed its purchase of song streaming site imeem on Tuesday, scooping up its 16 million users and mobile phone applications for less than $1 million. Full Story »

Google's limited launch of its Goggles visual search app has plenty of people wondering when they'll be able to try out the new tool. Google Goggles, released to Android users on Monday, allows you to search on your cell phone simply by snapping photos: You point your phone's camera at a place or object, and it delivers detailed information to you within seconds. Full Story »

Samsung has revealed a bit more about Bada, a new mobile phone platform that's supposed to bring apps to cheaper smartphones. Full Story »

Mobile phone operator Orange plans to open Life Is Better On, its take on mobile social networking, on Wednesday. Full Story »

TOKYO (AFP) - Mobile phone subscriptions are spreading fast and due to reach 120,000 early next year in communist North Korea, where an Egyptian provider started a service a year ago, a press report said Tuesday. Full Story »