Now control your cellphone using magnet magic

London, March 6 (ANI): Researchers have developed a new technique that makes it possible to control a cellphone with moving a magnet around or near it.

Experts at Deutsche Telekom (DT) in Berlin, Germany, have come up with a software that tracks changes to the magnetic field around a cellphone to identify different gestures by a hand holding or wearing a magnet.

The MagiTact lets user turn the pages of an on-screen document by moving their hand right to left while a sharp patting motion 10 to 20 centimetres above a device's screen can terminate a call, New Scientist reported.

DT researcher Hamed Ketabdar said: "Current methods of interaction are usually restricted by the physical boundaries of the device...The idea is to develop a way to interact with mobile devices through more natural human gestures."

Christian Holz at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, added: "Devices are getting smaller and so eventually it may be impossible to interact with them through touch. To take the interaction space off the actual device seems very reasonable because that gives you so much more space and you don't occlude the screen anymore."

The findings were presented at International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces in Hong Kong, China. (ANI)

Why buying a cool smartphone is like choosing a spouse

New Delhi, March 7 - We were discussing cars last week, and when I mentioned a value-for-money brand, my auto expert colleague piped up.

"But that has not gone through the crash test," he said. "Safety problem." Really? By now I take auto freaks and gadget geeks with a pinch of salt because they specialise way too much, but seeing smartphones flood the market, it is time to acknowledge their importance and air a simple thought: look-alikes don't act alike.

At the weekend, I met a friend who flashed a fancy phone. "iPhone," I asked. "No, it is an LG Chocolate," she replied. "But it gives me some trouble." I might have jumped to conclusions because LG is a late entrant into the business, but then, my Nokia E71 also hangs up on me sometimes. I simply switch it off and then on (a trick learnt as an old Windows user). It comes back to life, but I do think we need to get some smart consumer thinking into smartphones.

Now that everybody from Nokia to Micromax and previously unheard of brands makes phones that are similar in looks and applications, how do we look beyond the looks and ensure we get sturdy value in the old engineering terms? I am talking of battery life, reliability of the software platform, safety, and other engineering features. Geeky reviews in trade magazines read like medical reports at a speciality hospital - experts understand them, the rest are confused.

So I joke that choosing a smartphone is like landing a spouse: friendly advice can confuse you. When you are drawn by cool features or easy accessibility, there are issues related to reliability and long-term life. Unless you are rich enough to junk a smartphone or geeky enough to learn new features or transfer files, phone numbers or data frequently, it pays to buy a handset that lasts a long time.

Cellphone launches have become akin to Bollywood movies these days: there are a couple of new ones every week with similar stories. You can always differ with the critic, but it does get us somewhere.

Eye spy

New Delhi, March 9 -- LG's Watch Phone looks sharp and offers the right accessory for those who fancy themselves a secret service agent, especially since it comes with a classy bluetooth headset for communication.

It also has a 7.2 Mbps 3G HSDPA compatibility, enabling high-speed data transmission and video phone calls using the built-in camera.

New security threat against 'smart phone' users identified

Washington, March 10 (ANI): Scientists have identified potential new security threats against new generations of smart mobile phones that could be carried out without the owner's knowledge.

Computer experts at Rutgers University demonstrated how a software attack could cause a smart phone to eavesdrop on a meeting, track its owner's travels, extract personal information from phone directories or rapidly drain its battery to render the phone useless.

Vinod Ganapathy, assistant professor of computer science in Rutgers' School of Arts and Sciences, said: "Smart phones are essentially becoming regular computers. They run the same class of operating systems as desktop and laptop computers, so they are just as vulnerable to attack by malicious software, or 'malware.'"

Ganapathy, computer science professor Liviu Iftode and three students, based their research on a nefarious type of malware known as "rootkits" that could lead to serious consequences.

Iftode said: "What we're doing today is raising a warning flag. We're showing that people with general computer proficiency can create rootkit malware for smart phones. The next step is to work on defenses."he findings were due to be presented at the International Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications (HotMobile 2010).

Working with Ganapathy and Iftode were Jeffrey Bickford and Ryan O'Hare, who worked on the project as undergraduates, and Arati Baliga, who worked on it as a postdoctoral researcher. (ANI)

Technology that allows bosses to spy on employees

London, Mar 11 (ANI): A Japanese phone company has come up with a new technology that can track most minimal movement of mobile phone users and beams the information back to HQ.

KDDI Corporation, which has developed the technology, intends to offer the service to clients such as managers, foremen and employment agencies, or whoever may be interested keeping in check the activities of their employees.

"Technically, I think this is an incredibly important innovation," the BBC News quoted Philip Sugai, director of the mobile consumer lab at the International University of Japan, as saying.

He added: "For example, when applied to the issue of telemedicine, or other situations in which remotely monitoring or accessing an individual's personal movements is vital to that service.

"But there will surely be negative consequences when applied to employee tracking or salesforce optimisation."

The new system uses analytical software to detect more complex behaviour, unlike sensor systems.

The software is held on a server back at base, to match patterns of common movements.

Hiroyuki Yokoyama, head of web data research at KKDI's research labs in Tokyo, said: "It's part of our research into a total ubiquitous technology society, and activity recognition is an important part of that.

"Because this technology will make central monitoring possible with workers at several different locations, businesses especially are very interested in using such technology to improve the efficiency of their workers.

"We are now at a stage where we can offer managers a chance to analyse more closely the behaviour of staff."

KDDI is presently in negotiation with a Japanese employment agency that employs contract cleaners and security.

Motorola to put Bing on Android handsets

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Motorola Inc (MOT.N) has reached a deal with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) that will put Bing search and mapping services on its phones that use Google's (GOOG.O) Android operating system.

Motorola said the partnership with Microsoft means that a Bing bookmark and search widget will be loaded on cell phones, starting in the coming weeks with phones in China.

The move follows shortly after Motorola struck a similar deal to let consumers in China use Baidu Inc (BIDU.O), among others, as the default Web search instead of Google on Android based phones.

The partnerships come against a backdrop of Google's dispute with China over censorship, which, if it leads to Google withdrawing from the country, could cause big headaches for Motorola.

That's because Motorola is banking on its ties to Google's Android and its sales in China to help in a big turnaround effort. Having search alternatives on the Android phones should lessen Motorola's dependence on Google, in China or elsewhere, analysts have said.

Target Launches First-Ever Scannable Mobile Coupon Program

Minneapolis, MS -- Target is the first national retailer to offer a scannable mobile coupon program that allows guests to receive exclusive offers directly on their mobile phones. Coupons are redeemed by scanning a barcode on the phone at checkout.

“At Target, we know that mobile phones are an integral part of our guests’ lives, and mobile coupons are just another way we’re providing convenient, on-the-go shopping solutions,” said Steve Eastman, president of Target.com.\\

Guests can opt-in to the program on their PC at Target.com/mobile, on their phone at m.target.com or by texting COUPONS to 827438 (TARGET). After opt-in, guests receive a text message with a link to a mobile Web page that contains multiple offers, all accessible through a single barcode. Offers are single use and expire on the date listed.

Target’s point-of-sale scanning technology makes mobile coupons possible, and Target is the first major retailer with the ability to scan mobile barcodes in all of its stores. A leader in mobile retail, Target continues to offer innovative mobile solutions for guests. In addition to using the new mobile coupons, Target guests can access their Target Mobile GiftCards, view online assortments, check product availability and store locations, manage their Target gift registry and lists, browse the weekly ad, and receive text and e-mail notifications of great deals – all via their mobile phones.

Verizon Ups Launch Date of LTE Handset

Verizon Wireless will have its first next-generation 4G handset in mid-2011, about six months earlier than the company had said before.

The carrier could have a phone that runs on Long Term Evolution, a type of high-speed wireless technology, three to six months after it launches the service, Anthony Melone, chief technology officer at Verizon Wireless, said in an interview. The company expects to launch the service in some markets by the end of the year.

The move is a key step in making faster, next-generation ...

Nokia updates mobile device market estimates for 2010

Espoo, Finland -- Nokia filed its annual report on Form 20-F for 2009 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today, and revised its definition of the industry mobile device market applicable to its reporting beginning in 2010. Nokia also updated its mobile device market estimates for 2010 based on the revised definition.

Beginning in 2010, Nokia is revising its definition of the industry mobile device market that it uses to estimate industry volumes. This is due to improved measurement processes and tools that enable Nokia to have better visibility to estimate the number of mobile devices sold by certain new entrants in the global mobile device market. These include vendors of legitimate, as well as unlicensed and counterfeit, products with manufacturing facilities primarily centered around certain locations in Asia and other emerging markets.

For comparative purposes only going forward, applying the revised definition and improved measurement processes and tools that we are using beginning in 2010 retrospectively to 2009, Nokia estimates that industry mobile device volumes in 2009 would have been 1.26 billion units. Based on the industry mobile device market definition used in 2009, Nokia estimated that industry mobile device volumes were 1.14 billion units. Similarly, for comparative purposes only going forward, applying the revised definition retrospectively to 2009, Nokia estimates that its mobile device volume market share would have been 34% in 2009 on an annual basis. Based on the industry mobile device market definition used in 2009, Nokia's volume market share estimate was 38%. The respective quarterly volume market shares would have been 32% during the first quarter of 2009 (37% based on the 2009 definition), 35% during the second quarter of 2009 (38% based on the 2009 definition), 34% during the third quarter of 2009 (38% based on the 2009 definition) and 35% during the fourth quarter of 2009 (39% based on the 2009 definition). Nokia is not able to apply the revised definition and improved measurement processes and tools retrospectively to its estimated industry mobile device volumes or Nokia's estimated volume market share in 2008 due to lack of visibility and data. Thus, the industry mobile device volumes estimated for 2008 and Nokia's volume market share estimated for 2008 are not comparable with the industry mobile device volumes estimates or Nokia's volume market share estimates based on the revised definition.

Applying its revised definition of the industry mobile device market applicable beginning in 2010 on a comparable year-over-year basis,

- Nokia expects industry mobile device volumes to be up approximately 10% in 2010, compared to 2009;

- Nokia targets its mobile device volume market share to be flat in 2010, compared to 2009; and

- Nokia targets to increase its mobile device value market share slightly in 2010, compared to 2009.

These expectations and targets are the same as announced by Nokia on January 28, 2010 while now applying the revised market definition.

T-Mobile's First HSPA+ Modem Goes on Sale Sunday

T-Mobile announced that the webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick, the first HSPA+ device for the U.S., will be available beginning on Sunday, March 14. HSPA+ is interesting because it could enable 4G LTE-like speeds using existing 3G infrastructure, as we found in an early hands-on test.

The carrier announced the device at MWC in February, and is also targeting late 2010 for broad national availability of HSPA+. Right now, it's still just for Philadelphia, although we should see several major cities light up with HSPA+ on both coasts well before the end of 2010, according to the carrier.

The webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick retails for $99.99 with a two-year contract and an Even More webConnect data plan. $60 per month gets you 5GB, while $30 gets you just 200MB; both charge 20 cents per megabyte over that. Another new option, Even More Plus webConnect, drops the annual contract and lowers the monthly prices by $10 in each case, but raises the up-front price of the modem.

This is all looking really interesting; only the 5GB cap will prove worrisome. It's bad enough on 3G, but as we move to faster networks, that will only become more limiting as time goes on--especially that T-Mobile is already touting the modem's ability to "download large files" and "watch video from a laptop on the go."