photo credit: Battle-Ready Droids

Battle-ready Smartphones are going to war in 2013. The US Army has announced that it will be issuing open Android Dev kits to its soldiers in July. This will allow apps to be written for use by soldiers on a variety of combat handsets and devices. According to an article written by Lewis Page, The A Register, the military Droid framework is known as Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment (CE).

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photo credit: Touch Wood Cell Phone

A new wooden-cased cell phone is being advertised by NTT Docomo in Japan. What is unique about this commercial is not so much that the cell phone’s case is made from wood, but the commercial itself. In an age of high tech, neon-lighted, rock music, this commercial is refreshingly free of all that hype. The commercial is set in the woods of Japan and features a hand built giant wooden xylophone playing Bach’s Cantata 147, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”A little wooden ball drops down hitting each wooden key and actually plays the song, ending next to the new cell phone. It is simplistic and inspiring.

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photo credit: DiCaprio’s $5 Million Ad

There’s a new Million Dollar Man. Well actually, it’s a new Five Million Dollar Man. Leonardo DiCaprio has started filming his new ad for the cell phone company, Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp. The ad will be appearing exclusively in Asia later this year. The actor was spotted yesterday filming his new TV commercial in Paris, France. Leo has simultaneously been working on his upcoming film J. Edgar. Now that is multi-tasking in the extreme (and making big bucks to do so.)

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photo credit: ReadySet Changes Africa

There are over 500 million cell phone users worldwide. This is according to research by the GSMA, the international association of mobile operators. The problem with all those cell phones isn’t access to a network. The problem is that most of the users in 3rd world countries live off the grid and can’t charge the darn things. ReadySet, manufactured by Fenix International, San Francisco, California, may be the solution.

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photo credit: Japanese Factories at Risk

A devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month in Japan caused shortages of electronic components. It will also result in increased prices. Currently, Apple has to find alternative manufacturers for components of their new iPad2. While Apple may be able to find substitute manufacturers, those same manufacturers realize they have Apple in a desperate situation, and are charging more for those parts. In addition to Apple finding itself in a bind, consumer electronics as a whole are finding shortages of components. And of course, the old “supply and demand” axiom is pushing prices up.

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photo credit: Texting During Disasters

Phone call restrictions in Japan leave more people texting. After the earthquake in Japan earlier this month, cell phone providers as well as landline phone service was restricted or at best, heavily congested. Many found the only way to reassure friends and family was through texting. CNET reported that in addition to texting, people were using “social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Mixi” to stay in touch. The phone carriers were “limiting voice calls on congested networks, with NTT DoCoMo restricting up to 80 percent of voice calls, especially in Tokyo and in northeast Japan, where 30-foot tsunami waves caused extensive damage.” Even after restrictions were relaxed, coverage was spotty. For many, texting was the answer.

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photo credit: Universal Cell Phone Charger

Mobile phone users in the European Union will soon have universal chargers for many of their devices. According to an article by Don Reisinger, CNET.com, “DigitalEurope, the continent’s largest digital tech organization, has delivered a sample of a universal mobile phone charger to European Commission vice president Antonio Tajani. The EU said that the sample now paves the way for consumers to get their hands on devices that support the universal charger in the very near future.”

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photo credit: EGypt Back Online

Five days after shutting down the Internet, Egypt is back up and running. It appeares that Egypt has reversed the “kill switch” move it made last week. The home pages of Vodafone Egypt and Etisalat, two of the country’s largest telecommunications carriers, were first to appear. The Egyptian Parliament website is once again visible, but doesn’t seem to have been updated since January 24th. All of this must mean that the Egyptian government has given the order to restore communications. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: India Wants to Monitor Email

Just weeks after reaching an agreement with RIM BlackBerry, India wants to change the rules. The Indian government still wants to spy on emails through the BlackBerry system. According to Zack Whittacker, ZDNet, India wants to intercept communication systems to combat terrorism, a problem it continues to suffer from with tensions with its neighbours Pakistan and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Internet Dark in Egypt

First the Egyptian government blocked social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Now rumors have it that the Egyptian government has blocked Internet connections countrywide. According to an article by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet, his sources (Renesys, an Internet analytics firm) confirmed that Egypt has really blocked the vast majority of its Internet connections. Essentially, this has cut off the Egyptian people from the Internet. Read the rest of this entry »