T-Mobile USA begins 3G rollout

[T-Mobile launches its 3G network beginning in New York City and announces plans to offer its first HSDPA device in the coming months.]

New York & Bellevue -- T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that the company has taken the first commercial step in the rollout of its third-generation (3G) wireless network by launching its UMTS/HSDPA network in New York City. T-Mobile plans to continue the rollout of its 3G network across major metropolitan markets through the year. By year's end, T-Mobile expects its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services.

"The launch of our 3G network comes at a time when 3G phones and services are more affordable, capable and appealing to our consumer marketplace than ever before," said Cole Brodman, chief development officer, T-Mobile USA. "We benefit not only from the economic scale of 3G, but also from the extensive commercial experience of 3G in our European markets. Today, T-Mobile USA customers already have among the highest adoption of data and messaging services in the industry. Through our 3G network, we look forward to delivering a rich portfolio of new and meaningful services to enrich our customers' lives."

T-Mobile's 3G network supports voice and data services consistent with available service and handset offerings. The company today offers multiple phones that are able to operate on the UMTS network. The phones are designed to automatically connect to the best available network (3G or GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide the great call quality and rich communication services customers expect from T-Mobile.

Customers using a 3G-capable handset from T-Mobile will also experience faster data speeds when accessing the Web, or downloading content from the T-Mobile t-zones content portal, for example.

In the coming months, T-Mobile plans to offer its first HSDPA device, along with new and compelling data-centric, all-in-one devices that help make the most of T-Mobile's high-speed data network.

The launch of the 3G network also enables T-Mobile to accommodate and serve more customers more efficiently through the use of its AWS spectrum, effectively doubling T-Mobile USA's spectrum position, and laying the foundation for the company's future growth. T-Mobile and the U.S. government, namely the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, continue to work closely and effectively together to make available AWS spectrum that will give consumers access to the 3G network.

As the 3G service rolls out in targeted major markets, T-Mobile will continue to build upon its T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi network -- its wireless high-speed Internet offering that launched in 2003 -- and its nationwide voice and data network, to empower customers to effortlessly stay connected using the best available network.

T-Mobile International is following a common technology path across all of its markets in Europe and the United States, from GSM/GPRS/EDGE to UMTS/HSDPA. T-Mobile USA greatly benefits from T-Mobile International's 3G experiences in Europe, where adoption of non-messaging mobile data is growing dynamically; and with more than 120 million customers worldwide, T-Mobile International is able to generate significant global procurement synergies.

Nokia Siemens Networks and Pirelli Broadband Solutions cooperate on 3G Femto Home Access Solution

[Pirelli's femto-enabled CPEs to be coupled with Nokia Siemens 3G Femto Home Access network solution to improve 3G coverage in homes. The CPE is installed similarly to a xDSL/WiFi modem. ]

Espoo, Finland -- Nokia Siemens Networks and Pirelli Broadband Solutions, a leading supplier of customer premise equipment (CPE), set-top boxes and remote management systems for the connected home and office, have signed an agreement for cooperation on 3G Femto Home Access solution.

Pirelli's femto-enabled CPEs coupled with the 3G Femto Home Access network solution from Nokia Siemens Networks will enable operators to introduce femtocell-based services to home and small office environments through a wide choice of CPE models developed by Pirelli in compliance with the Nokia Siemens Networks' open architecture. Femtocells are a new way of improving 3G coverage in homes. In this concept, the CPE is installed at the subscriber's home in the same way as xDSL/WiFi modem. The combined solution of the two leading companies means an opportunity for operators to extend their 3G coverage and introduce new attractive services for subscribers. Subscribers benefit from excellent voice and broadband user experience on any 3G device at the place where they spend most of their time: at home.

The Pirelli Multiplay CPE portfolio will offer 3G femtocell functionality integrated with diverse broadband access technologies (ADSL2+, VDSL2 and FTTH) and with Pirelli's EpicentroTM CPE middleware and applications platform. EpicentroTM enables cooperative use cases between 3G phones and Pirelli's access gateway, IPTV Set Top Box and 3G femtocell, and enhances the usage of mobile handset-based applications and services in the connected home in new ways.

"3G femtocells are part of Pirelli's converged home proposition which provides operators with an open environment to create new applications and foster indoor usage of 3G services. We are therefore pleased to announce our collaboration with Nokia Siemens Networks, as the leading player in driving an open ecosystem for 3G femtocells" said Roberto Pellegrini, Marketing and Innovation, Pirelli Broadband Solutions.

"Our 3G Femto Home Access Solution enables telecommunications service providers to offer an advanced user experience to their customers. The innovative Femto CPE of Pirelli Broadband Solutions makes an excellent addition to the leading 3G Femto Home Access ecosystem enabled by the open architecture of Nokia Siemens Networks, and so expands the options our customers have" said Timo Hyppoli, Indoor Radio Solutions Product Line, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Launched in July 2007, the Femto Home Access Solution from Nokia Siemens Networks introduces truly open interfaces that allow selected partners to make their Femto CPE compliant with NSN network solution, boosting the femtocell ecosystem and enabling operators to further enhance their 3G service offering and coverage.

Samsung F110 Adidas review: Your coach, miCoach

Samsung F110 is not revolutionary. And no, it's not a high-end gadget either. But it's part of a unique workout system developed by Adidas. The Adidas miCoach system makes your phone a full-fledged workout sidekick recording each of your steps and guiding you along your sports endeavors while playing your favorite music to make sweating a bit more pleasant.

Samsung F110 Adidas official images

Beside that, Samsung F110 also sports a 2 megapixel camera, FM radio, stereo Bluetooth and 1GB of onboard memory - it's all there to make your personal sports coach that much useful in your everyday life when you are not on the track. You are more than welcome to join us as we take the Samsung 110 out for a jog.

Key features:

• Dedicated sports features:
  
  
  
  • On-board miCoach application measuring sports progress and giving voice feedback
    
  • Synchronization with miCoach web-based coaching system
    
  • Built-in accelerometer with step counter
    
  • Stride sensor and heart rate sensor in the extended package
    
  • Comes with sports headset, 3.5mm audio jack remote and an armband
  
  
• 2 megapixel camera
  
• 1GB of onboard storage
  
• FM radio
  
• Stereo Bluetooth
  
• Works without a SIM card inserted

Main disadvantages:

• Boring design
  
• Camera has no autofocus
  
• Poor display resolution and poor sunlight legibility
  
• Built-in step counter is really inaccurate
  
• No memory card slot
  
• No 3G
  
• No office documents viewer

Adidas is not new to computer-based running. Back in the mid-1980s they were making headlines with their Micropacer running shoes. There was a built-in microprocessor in the tongue of one shoe, linked to a sensor in the sole. The runner needed to input the length of their stride and some other data, which helped the microprocessor calculate distance, average speed and calories burned. A LED on the tongue of the shoe displayed all the data plus elapsed time. The Micropacer running shoes were being sold for around $100, which back then was a preposterous sum to spend on trainers.

Archrivals Puma had their own geeky running shoes too. For about $200 you would get the Puma RS Computer running shoes along with an Apple II personal computer, a connecting cable and some software to record and analyze all the data for you and present it graphically.

Adidas Micropacer shoes and competing Puma RS Computer shoes back in the 1980s

Back to modern day, a popular digital training system is the Nike +. It includes Nike+ ready shoes, Nike+ iPod Sport Kit and an iPod nano. You put the wireless sensor in the sole of your Nike+ shoe and you plug the wireless receiver with your iPod nano. And off you go running and listening to music and live feedback with your running stats. Once you are done, you sync your iPod nano with the Nike+ server and you can see how you did. Plus, you can see how you stack up against all those other runners in the Nike+ community.

The Adidas miCoach system is rather similar, but with a few enhancements. You don't need special Adidas shoes, the stride sensor is easy to fit on the laces of every running shoe on the market. Next, you have a heart rate monitor, something that the Nike+ system lacks. Both the stride sensor and the HRM sensor transmit the data to the Adidas miCoach phone wirelessly. And finally, the last part of the miCoach system is the Samsung F110 mobile phone. It doubles as a music player and it also gives real-time feedback on your running stats. Once you get home, you simply sync it with the miCoach website and see how you did. You can also load a new workout tailored specifically to your profile.

The Adidas sports accessories we had for the review: there will be a single stride sensor in the retail package

Speaking of the Samsung F110 mobile phone, it obviously will be the focus of our review. After all, mobile phones are our line of business. But for your reading pleasure, we will be covering the miCoach system too. So sit back and pop your slippers on, but keep them trainers at hand, ready for some digital jogging across the pages to come right after this short jump.

Samsung F110 Adidas review shots

Note: Sponsored advertising links are in green.

Sony Ericsson G502 preview: First look

If you thought great internet experience can only be delivered by insanely expensive high-end mobile phones, maybe it's about time you reconsidered. Sony Ericsson G502 is said to be the most affordable HSDPA phone and, from what we see, the browsing and data transfer potential is all there, waiting to be unleashed.

Sony Ericsson G502 official photos

Sony Ericsson G502 is almost identical to Sony Ericsson K660, at first glance at least. A closer look at the specs of both models reveals that the G502 has shed down a few features. Not really important ones, that is, so it might be well worth it. There's nothing wrong with saving yourselves a few bucks.

Plus, we do happen to like the G502 design a bit better than the K660. We are still curious however, if it will be able to deliver the same performance as its K-series alternative.

Here is the first set of Sony Ericsson G502 images we present you. It should give you an idea of what the handset looks like in real life. Likeable, isn't it?

iPhone gets the Vodafone treatment

Vodafone announced they have signed an agreement with Apple to sell the controversial handset in as many as 10 countries where Voda have coverage. Those countries include Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

No word on Spain yet - one the few large European countries that are still not getting an official carrier for the iPhone. May be it's not Vodafone that's going to offer the iPhone there.

You've probably already heard that Canada will also be having the iPhone through Rogers - so this all sounds like a major expansion for the device is being planned out.

As major as this news is, it took the Vodafone PR team not one but a total of two sentences to announce the news - no specifics about a release date or pricing are available yet.

Our guess is - we will get more info once the rumored 3G iPhone is finally announced in mid-June 2008.

Apple iTunes to compete "day-and-date" with DVD releases -- Wal-Mart weeps (now official)

Hollywood Reporter says that Apple is expected to announce today an across-the-board deal to sell new release films at its iTunes Store. The deal is said to allow Apple to offer a "broad slate of top-shelf films" day-and-date with home video releases -- a long time sticking point with brick-and-mortar interests who want to keep their early-release edge on digital downloads. The deal includes Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, New Line and more -- all of which are currently inked to deliver rentals through iTunes. MGM is not part of the deal. That puts Apple in direct competition with Wal-Mart's DVD empire after having pushed Wal-Mart from the top spot in music sales for the first two months of the year.

Update: It's official. New releases will cost $15 and catalog titles will cost $10 -- US only for now. Full press release after the break.

CUPERTINO, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes(R) Store (http://www.itunes.com) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod(R) with video, iPhone(TM), Mac(R) or PC or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV(R), with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99.

"We're thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios."

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Other popular titles now available for purchase include "Juno," "Cloverfield," "I Am Legend," "There Will Be Blood," "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

The iTunes Store is the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over six million songs, 600 TV shows and over 1,500 films including 200 in stunning high definition video. With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as new iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.


Pricing & Availability

Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download immediately from http://www.itunes.com. iTunes movie purchases and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 (US) for library title purchases and $14.99 (US) for new release purchases and $2.99 (US) for library title rentals and $3.99 (US) for new release rentals, and high definition rental versions are priced just one dollar more with library title rentals at $3.99 (US) and new release rentals at $4.99 (US). Short films are available to rent for 99 cents (US). Movies can be previewed, purchased and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iTunes, iPod, iPhone and Apple TV are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Next-gen iPhone spotted in the wild?

Well here's an interesting one. French iPhone blog iPhon.fr got these pics from an anonymous and unverified source, and while there's no way of telling if the shots are legit, they certainly have a truthy ring to them. They follow what we know so far about the shape, size and color of the upcoming 3G iPhone, and while there's always the possibility of knockoff, a Photoshop job, or some other evil plot to mislead us, we're certainly not going to discount these shots entirely in the runup to iPhone's second coming.

Update: Some commenters have pointed out that the size and shape of this phone bares a striking resemblance to LG's Vu. As we said up above, we're not ruling out some handy editing work here.

Sony UX handheld gets outfitted with makeshift gamepad

We've seen gamepads hacked for use with handhelds before, but they haven't always exactly been the most elegant solutions. That's happily not the case with this latest mod by Micro PC Talk forum member Dan Middle, however, who outfitted his Sony VAIO UX handheld with a discreet but usable gamepad attachment. The "hack" was made slightly easier by the use of a Genius USB mini gamepad, which was foldable to begin with, although Dan apparently did still have to hack it up a bit and attach it to a dummy CompactFlash card, which conveniently slots in right next to the USB port. As you can see in the video after the break, the setup appears to work quite well and, best of all, doesn't require any modifications to the pricey UX itself.

Blackberry 9000 to come in EV-DO and EDGE versions codenamed Javelin and Niagara

We already got a somewhat vague peek at the 3G-less Blackberry 9000, but it looks like there are actually two upcoming models of RIM's new hotness on the board -- the EDGE version we know about, codenamed Niagara, and an EV-DO edition codenamed Javelin, slated for Verizon. Boy Genius managed to unearth quite a bit more information on these two, and unsurprisingly, they're basically the same as the 9000 we've already seen. Both have a 480 x 320 half-VGA screen, GPS functionality and 3.2 megapixel camera, but only the EDGE-based Niagara gets Wi-Fi. Of course, there aren't any ship dates or prices in the offing yet, but hopefully we'll know more soon.

Nokia's 6212 with Bluetooth NFC: Let the pairing revolution begin!

This is the day we've been waiting for. While the 3G Nokia 6212 classic doesn't look like much, what it lacks in style is more than made up by the genius of Bluetooth-enabled Near Field Communication. If you remember the video we showed you way back in March of 2007, the combo makes device pairing and transferring content like photos, video, music, calendar data, contacts, etc. as easy a touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, speaker, or headset like Nokia's own NFC-variant of the BH-210. It will also work with NFC payment systems. According to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications at Nokia, "NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings." You said it Jeremy, you said it. Expected to start shipping in Europe and Asia in the Q3 for about €200.

LCD TV and HDTV Combination

Plasma and LCD TV panels may look very similar, but the flat screen and thin profile is where the similarities end. Plasma TV screens as the name suggests, uses a web of tiny gas plasma cells charged by exact electrical voltages to create a picture. LCD TV screens (liquid crystal display) are like liquid crystal pushed in the space between two close glass plates. Images are created by varying the amount of electrical charge applied to the crystals.

Apart from offering the best value for money, LCD has the edge over plasma in several other key areas. LCDs tend to have higher resolution than plasmas of similar size, which means more pixels on the screen. If you are a true high-definition referrer who is keen to see every pixel of a high-definition image reproduced pixel-by-pixel then LCDs are always the way to go. However, top-of-the line plasmas will also display good pixel quality and content, so the choice isn't now as easy as it once was.
LCDs also use less power than plasma screens, generally saving around the 30% mark. LCDs are also generally lighter than similar sized plasmas, making them easier to move around or mount on the wall.

LCDs generally have a longer lifespan than plasma screens. This was true of earlier plasma models, that would lose half of their brightness after around 20,000 hours of viewing. Later plasma TVs have upped that up to anything between 30,000 and 60,000 hours. LCDs, on the other hand, are guaranteed for 60,000 hours from the start.

If you're in the market for a big screen television, the way to go would appear to be a plasma television. At the moment they are still the best for picture quality. Really though it depends on your budget and with LCD TV ‘s being less expensive it’s your preference, with these small differences to consider, choose one that suits your individual needs.

Yahoo Chief Says Microsoft Was the Stubborn One

SAN FRANCISCO — People involved in relationships that end abruptly often have grossly conflicting accounts of what went wrong. On Monday, Jerry Yang gave his version.

In an interview, Mr. Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder and chief executive, addressed Microsoft’s surprise $44.6 billion bid to buy his company and the three-month corporate tussle that ensued.

He said he was open to selling Yahoo to Microsoft all along, but that Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, and his deal makers ultimately declined to negotiate and withdrew their proposal on Saturday with little explanation.

“They chose to walk away after we put a price on the table, and they didn’t want to negotiate,” Mr. Yang said. “From my perspective, we were open all along to selling to Microsoft. We just feel Yahoo, either stand-alone or with Microsoft, is worth more than what they put on the table.”

Mr. Yang’s account conflicts with that of Microsoft’s advisers and executives. They have said that they received no counteroffer from Yahoo for three months, after Microsoft’s deadline to consummate the deal had expired. They also say that Mr. Yang and his board settled on a price of $37 a share and ultimately refused to budge.

Microsoft had raised its initial bid to $33 a share when Mr. Yang and his co-founder, David Filo, met with Mr. Ballmer and other Microsoft executives at the Seattle airport on Saturday. After that meeting, Mr. Ballmer made public a letter to Mr. Yang withdrawing the offer. “I am disappointed that Yahoo has not moved towards accepting our offer,” he wrote.

In the interview Monday, Mr. Yang and Roy Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, said that throughout the process they were open and receptive to a merger with Microsoft. Mr. Yang said that he spent personal time alone with Mr. Ballmer but that they were ultimately unable to bridge their differences.

Mr. Yang also looked ahead to the daunting task of guiding Yahoo’s growth as an independent company — under heavy scrutiny. Mr. Yang — who last June took control of the company he co-founded, acting after the departure of the prior chief, Terry Semel — must now quickly demonstrate that Yahoo can increase its revenues and share price while navigating an online advertising industry that is quickly coming to be dominated by Google.

“I feel like we now have the task to continue to build shareholder value,” he said. “This is just creating another set of challenges we have to overcome as a company. We have to show the world the opportunity that we have been talking about for the last three months.”

One immediate problem for Mr. Yang is frustration among shareholders — including some of the largest ones. In reaction to the deal’s collapse, Yahoo’s stock fell almost 15 percent on Monday, to $24.47.

“I am extremely angry at Jerry Yang and at the so-called independent board,” said Gordon Crawford, portfolio manager for Capital Research Global Investors, which owns 6 percent of Yahoo. The firm’s parent company owns a total of 16 percent of Yahoo, making it the largest shareholder.

Mr. Crawford questioned a statement from Mr. Bostock in which he said the company was pleased that so many shareholders had supported its position.

“I would love to know who these shareholders are,” Mr. Crawford said. “It’s none of the ones that I talked to today. Everybody I talked to would have sold their stock at $34.”

“I’m hoping that there is such an outpouring of outrage that the board is embarrassed into revisiting this thing,” Mr. Crawford added, “but I’m not optimistic about that.”

Making Mr. Yang’s job even harder is the recession’s effect on the online advertising market and intense day-to-day scrutiny from Wall Street analysts and shareholders, who will view any more vague long-term plans from Yahoo’s management team with skepticism.

“Yahoo is now in a position where it has to prove its worth quickly,” said Derek Brown, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald & Company. “It’s as if there are many things happening behind the scenes that have given Yahoo management so much confidence. We need to see what those things are.”

Mr. Yang argued that the Microsoft bid had opened up new doors for Yahoo. “We feel Microsoft approaching us has created an opportunity for us to talk to just about anybody and everybody in the industry,” he said. He said the company would do new deals “in a way that ensures that it’s the right thing to do for Yahoo, and not because of some time pressure.”

One of those deals could be a tie-up with its chief rival, Google. In April, Yahoo conducted a two-week advertising test with Google, whereby Google served up its own more lucrative ads on 3 percent of Yahoo searches in the United States. The companies said the trial was successful and that they were exploring an extension of it, though some analysts say that could raise antitrust issues in Washington.

“Anything we might do with Google would allow us to maintain the ability to compete in what is important to us,” Mr. Yang said. He declined to say whether Yahoo would pursue such a deal.

Christa Quarles, an analyst at Thomas Weisel, said a deal with Google could have the long-term effect of strengthening Yahoo’s largest rival. “At the end of it you wouldn’t have an alternative to Google,” Ms. Quarles said. “It would be thrust into the very powerful position of being the only real provisioner of paid search.”

Yahoo might also consider tie-ups with AOL, a division of Time Warner, and MySpace, a division of News Corporation, though shareholders and analysts seem unenthusiastic about those options. Mr. Yang would not address speculation about those deals.

He did want to address what he said was a misconception: that Yahoo executives celebrated the news of Microsoft’s withdrawal and viewed it as a victory. “I was not witness to any celebration, and we do not consider it a victory. I would have been personally very happy to do a deal with Microsoft,” he said.

Mr. Yang is now left without that deal — at least if Microsoft is serious about going in another direction and closing this chapter in its history.

At the very least, Mr. Yang has impressed some in the industry with his gumption in rejecting the most highly capitalized technology company on the planet.

“It’s pretty bold to turn down a 70 percent premium,” said Peter Falvey, managing director at Revolution Partners, a technology investment bank. “Long term, do I think he should have taken it? Yes, I do. But he’s obviously got guts.”

Google Ends Microsoft’s Yahoo Search

Microsoft and Yahoo were pushed to the brink of a multibillion-dollar marriage and then to a sudden breakup this weekend by the same player.

It was Google, in the odd dual role of both unwitting matchmaker and self-interested spoiler.

Google’s phenomenal rise, after all, prodded Microsoft, the dominant technology company for more than two decades, to court Yahoo. And Google’s success also weakened Yahoo enough to give Microsoft the sense that it could buy the company at a good price.

A combined Microsoft-Yahoo would create a powerful competitor, and Google early on indicated that it would fight the merger on antitrust grounds in Washington and Brussels.

But Google played a part in killing the deal, for now at least, by acting more as friend than foe. It offered to let Yahoo use its more sophisticated search advertising technology, which by some estimates would have meant $1 billion in additional cash flow a year for Yahoo. The partnership would also bring Google more revenue.

The prospect of such a partnership emboldened Yahoo’s board to demand more money for the company and eventually caused Microsoft to rethink its strategy.

Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, cited the proposed Google partnership as the main reason for not pursuing a hostile bid and instead walking away on Saturday.

“Such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo undesirable to us,” he wrote Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s chief executive, in a letter, and cited five specific reasons Google would be bad for Yahoo.

Yahoo may well pursue the partnerships with Google, its main rival, to bolster its depressed stock price. Yahoo shares dropped 15 percent, or $4.30 Monday, to $24.37. The two companies refused to comment.

Not surprisingly, analysts are saying the Microsoft-Yahoo story has one clear winner: Google. And its stock price reflected that thinking Monday. More than $4 billion was added to Google’s value as the stock price rose 2.34 percent.

Not yet 10 years old, Google has emerged as a powerhouse that is wielding tremendous power in the world of technology and beyond. It was able to influence a government auction of broadcast spectrum. It nudged several cellphone companies into opening up their networks to the phones of rivals.

Its influence is all the more surprising, because its economic power is still derived largely from a single, seemingly prosaic business: the ability to place interesting text advertisements in front of people when they do searches. Advertisers pay for those ads — sometimes $1 or less — only when users click on them. In a sense, Google has built a highly profitable $16.6 billion empire a dollar at a time.

“They are the company that is going to have more influence and more control over the structure of the world information industry than any other,” said David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “The right way to think about Google is they are the next Microsoft.”

The mission set by Google’s two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful is every bit as ambitious as Microsoft’s goal, in the early 1980s, to put a PC on every desk and in every home, said Tim O’Reilly, chief executive of O’Reilly Media.

“Microsoft succeeded,” said Mr. O’Reilly, producer of the Web 2.0 Summit, a high-profile industry conference. “Now Google has an incredibly audacious goal. Great companies do come from big ideas and people who are willing to go after really big ideas.”

It is the combination of Google’s economic power and its unbounded ambition that strikes fear in industry leaders in the world of technology, and beyond, in advertising, media and telecommunications. In part that is because Google wields power more subtly, and perhaps more effectively, than other big companies ever have.

For instance, this year Google rattled some of the biggest players in the telecommunications industry. The company played an important role in persuading the Federal Communications Commission to impose “open access” conditions on an auction for a portion of the nation’s airwaves. The conditions require that any network using those airwaves allow any phone and any software to run on it. Such a rule breaks the established business model of the cellphone industry, where carriers have significant control over what phones their customers can use.

Google backed its lobbying for the conditions with the promise to bid at least $4.6 billion, the minimum price set by regulators for the spectrum. Google then bid that amount, not with the intention of winning, but simply to force the open-access conditions. Verizon Wireless ultimately won rights to the spectrum.

“They just wanted to saddle a potential competitor with those obligations,” said Scott Cleland, a telecommunications analyst and frequent Google critic.

Find and share your Geocaches with your Nokia n95

This from Nokia, a free download for you Geocaching buffs... Ad-Supported Geocache Navigator Application Now Available as a Free Download for Select Nokia Devices - Text CACHE to 32075 (US and Canada) or +447781488133 (International).

Trimble's Geocache Navigator is now available as a free download for the Nokia N95, Nokia N82, and Nokia 6110 Navigator. Three options for downloading the application include:

-- Texting CACHE to 32075 (U.S. and Canada) or +447781488133
(International)
-- Downloading the application from the Geocache Navigator web site at
http://www.geocachenavigator.com/nokia
-- Pointing a mobile phone browser to m.getGN.com

A detailed demo video is now available from Trimble

or view the video clip below

rmbrME: SMS-Enabled Social Networking to Save New Contacts

SMS is sort of a universal underpinning of mobile communications all over the globe. People are able to do everything from chat to purchase goods to transfer cash to one another in a kind of wireless, Western Union-like method, all by way of the very basic but supremely useful medium known as the text message.

So when we received word of a new social Web service built with SMS very much in mind, we naturally grew interested. The startup, launched today, is called rmbrME. (“Remember me.”)

It works quite easily. Users can direct their browsers to the company’s homepage, sign up for an account, input things like address and phone information as well as any number of website URLs or links to social networking profiles at services like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Once that data is entered, and you happen to meet someone while away from your PC, and wish to stay in contact with the individual, you can send that person a text message directing them to your rmbrME connections. Of course, in standard six-character SMS fashion, rmbrME users need only the numerical translation of the service - 762763 - to establish their desired connections.

Creating an account for rmbrME is free, and requires only the essentials: a mobile phone number, an email address, and password. Naturally, SMS messages sent and received through rmbrME vary in cost, depending one’s mobile service plan.

So rather than having to retain the name, phone number and perhaps email by navigating your phone’s address menu and so forth, and later using that information to search for social network profiles on the Web, all necessary work is basically completed in the time it takes to write and send a short text message. Quite convenient, particularly for the majority of mobile phone users who don’t subscribe to costly a mobile Web browsing service from their chosen carriers and own non-QWERTY handsets that require tedious typing to accomplish extensive SMS communications.

Technology?

Technology is a broad concept that deals with the usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects the ability to control and adapt to the environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia", "τεχνολογία" — "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying").^[1] However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology". Other species have also been observed to have created and used technology, including non-human primates, dolphins, and crows.

People's use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, claiming that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.