Poor nations soar in cell phone use while Web access lags
While the vast majority -- or two-thirds -- of the globe's cell phone subscriptions are now in less developed nations, the Internet is still much less available there than in more advanced countries in North America, western Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, says a new study by a United Nations agency.
In Africa, for example, 28% of the population today has a mobile phone subscription, up substantially from merely 2 percent in the year 2000, according to the report by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). On the other hand, only 5% of the African population now uses the Internet, in comparison to a worldwide rate of 23%. Fixed Internet access in developing nations still tends to be limited, and often slow and expensive, too, the ITU explains.
Microsoft launches free trials of cloud business suite
At the CeBIT computer fair in Hannover, Germany, Microsoft unveiled its first commercial version of its Business Productivity Online Suite, which includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting, and Office Communications Online. For its part, the Deskless Worker Suite incorporates Exchange Online Deskless Worker and SharePoint Online Deskless Worker.
These two suites are part of Microsoft Online Services, a managed service Microsoft is offering in a standard edition for businesses of all sizes, plus a "dedicated" edition providing customizability for organizations with 5,000 users or more.
The plan for Sirius XM may wait another two weeks
Sirius XM shareholders may already have reached a boiling point in their efforts to learn how it is working through a mountain of financing debt, the first stage of which came due at the end of last month. Now they will have to wait at least another two weeks, as the satellite radio broadcaster let the US government know this morning that its annual report for last year will be delayed until then, at least.
Sirius XM spokesperson indicated to Betanews this morning that the sole reason for the filing delay is to give the company more time to examine its refinancing plan. "The Company noted that senior management has been focused on the recent refinancing transactions and needs additional time to complete its Form 10-K," reads a corporate statement this morning. Sirius XM has filed the necessary 12b-25 forms for both the company and its XM Satellite Radio divisions, it says, so it's following the rules.
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic hits a brick wall coming out of the gate
Though Nokia has yet to issue a formal confirmation, a representative of the New York City flagship store where Nokia phones are sold confirmed to Betanews this morning that Nokia corporate officials have ordered the store to cease sales of its 5800 XpressMusic phone, which only premiered in the US last Friday.
The sales halt comes after apparent customer complaints about 3G connectivity issues, the store representative told us, though no details about those specific issues were given. This would be a separate issue from the defective construction complaints also mounting about the device. The mobile device news source Mobile-review.com on Friday reported that, of ten shipping units its reviewers had tested, all ten had serious defects in which the casing loosens over a short period of time, causing the earpiece connection -- essentially the whole point of having a music phone -- to give way.
Pirate Bay testimony blooms into spouse appreciation
Supporters of Pirate Bay's file-search service are showering the wife of media researcher Roger Wallis with bouquets after the witness for the defense testified on Thursday concerning the connection (or lack of one) between album sales and downloading.
According to TorrentFreak, Professor Wallis made a lighthearted comment at the conclusion of his expert testimony that instead of reimbursing his expenses for testimony, the Swedish court could just send his wife flowers -- yesterday (Friday) was the couple's 38th anniversary, and Görel Wallis' birthday is today (Saturday). The remark was captured on the live audio feed from the trial, and by Friday thousands of dollars in flowers, candy and other gifts had arrived at the couple's Stockholm apartment.
On beyond DEMO with Chris Shipley
So you've got this great job, one you've been doing for well over a decade. You get to see cool new stuff before anyone else -- in fact, you made that a core part of the gig. Would-be competitors sink their teeth into your kneecaps and you shake it off. You are quite possibly the most successful literature major ever to graduate from Allegheny College.
Who the heck leaves that job? And in the middle of economic madness, no less?
A fond farewell to Computer Shopper in print
This is not, so thankfully, the story of the passing of a great publication. Computer Shopper is not going away; in fact, its latest owners at SX2 Media Labs have some plans to expand the brand, while keeping its classic look and feel. I'd actually go so far as to say that SX2 is finally doing with Computer Shopper what its previous two owners failed to comprehend how to do, and its first owner could only dream of.
But a chapter has closed in the history of this great publication, and it's a personal one for me, and I'll say more about that in a bit. This week, in a memo to his employees obtained by PaidContent.org, SX2 CEO David Sills announced that the April 2009 issue would be the last bound edition of the US version of Computer Shopper.
Sneak peek of 'green' solar radio with 30-hour battery life
Unannounced until now, the radio with the ultra long battery life will sold starting next year in the US and a number of other countries for about $100, said Rahul Sharma, the VP for North America for Freeplay Energy, an affiliate of the Freeplay Foundation philanthropic group, in an interview with Betanews.
Founded in 1999, Freeplay Energy sells electronics products in the areas of digital audio, lighting, mobile power, and medical devices. Through its humanitarian division, the company also distributes radios in third world countries via the Freeplay Foundation, UNICEF, and other not-for-profit groups.
Can't we just settle on 'netbook' already?
No matter how inaccurate or stigmatized the term, "netbook" has become the de facto name for those small PCs we see people toting around everywhere. Now could someone please tell that to the companies making them?
This week, mobile processor company VIA introduced a lifestyle site dedicated to the netbook phenomenon called How To Be Mobile, (or "H2BM" if you're filling out a personal ad.) Even here, however, the devices are interchangeably referred to as "Mini-notes, sub-notebooks, and ultraportable laptops," tiptoeing around "netbook."
Mufin music-recommendation engine heads for your desktop
Mufin on Friday announced the beta release of its new music player, billed as the first ever to sort tracks and recommend other tunes by analyzing the songs themselves.
Betanews took a look at MAGIX AG's Mufin, a spinoff from the legendary Fraunhofer Institute (home of the MP3 codec!), late last year. At that time, the company was showing off the song-sorting technology itself. Mufin's designed to examine tracks strictly by sound fingerprint -- not by artist, not by track title, solely by what the tune presents the ears.
Another Google service outage makes its cloud look more like Swiss cheese
A Google spokesperson confirmed to Betanews this afternoon that soon after the company's Gmail service outage Tuesday, but in an unrelated incident, customers of the company's AdSense network were notified of a service outage.
"On February 25 in the morning Pacific Time," the spokesperson said, "there was a 90-minute AdSense outage that affected a small number of AdSense customers. All affected publishers were notified, and the problem was quickly resolved."
iPhone gets CBS shows for free with TV.com app
CBS' TV.com and NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Hulu have been in the tech news foreground this week, revealing their struggle to meaningfully coexist on the PC screen. Meanwhile, the mobile device screen presents a different set of challenges, which TV.com today has officially addressed.
TV.com has launched an iPhone app that allows users to stream CBS' content over AT&T's mobile wireless signal. This is an accomplishment for several reasons. First, other streaming TV apps for the iPhone (Joost, BBC iPlayer) required a Wi-Fi connection to receive content. Secondly, it utilizes the iPhone's native QuickTime video player by streaming in H.264 and not a proprietary protocol like Joost.
Bartz: 'Look for Yahoo to kick ass again'
There was no all-lower-case text, an absence of apology, not a single metaphor, and a definitive lack of "peanut butter" in yesterday's appearances, both in public and online, from new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. Upon assuming the post from Jerry Yang, Bartz said she would clean house, and analysts were told to expect fireworks. She absolutely delivered.
"Our brand [is] one of our biggest assets," Bartz wrote in her premiere on her new company's old blog yesterday. "Mention Yahoo practically anywhere in the world, and people yodel. But in the past few years, we haven't been as clear in showing the world what the Yahoo brand stands for. We're going to change that. Look for this company's brand to kick ass again."
Trapped motorist triggers nationwide LG handset recall
Today, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall of 30,000 LG 830 "Spyder" handsets for an inability to maintain a connection to 911.
The recall is based on a report to the commission of a motorist trapped in a disabled car who attempted to dial 911 for help. The phone was unable to keep a usable connection to the emergency service, dropped the call, and could not establish a GPS lock to locate the distressed individual.
Smoldering Bolds: New BlackBerry gets yanked from shelves again
Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold has been one of the most problematic smartphones of the year. The handset was delayed several times for purported 3G network testing, while rumors swirled that the real problem was that the device was overheating.
RIM's Erik Van Drunen told Betanews in July that he had no idea where such rumors were coming from, discounting it as a product of the blogosphere. At that point, RIM would not confirm when the device would actually be released in the US.
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