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It’s a smart idea to cut down corporate cost. Japanese mobile provider Softbank Mobile has teamed-up with Softbank Telecom to launch Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), offering Softbank’s mobile phone as extension to fixed line phone.

The solution, called White Office, also offers standard functions of conventional extension are available such as calling extension number display, hold and call forwarding. Flat rate for extension calls is planned to be offered during promotional period, Softbank said

[via 3Gweek]

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The Chinese government just approved the implementation of next-generation 3G wireless services. The country’s regulation body would issue license for each of the three major standards: the homegrown TD-SCDMA standard as well as the global standards the CDMA 2000 and W-CDMA.

The two international 3G standards had implemented in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The world’s biggest market for wireless service intends to pursue its own 3G wireless standard, TD-SCMA technology, to reduce royalty and patent payments for the use of the CDMA 2000 and W-CDMA (also known as UMTS) technologies.

[NYTimes via Ars Technica| Photo credit: China Daily]

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The day the 30GB Zune stood still - news reports of this particular Zune model just freezing up has spread far and wide across the Internet, and it shows no sign of stopping, regardless of where you are in the world. It seems as though some sort of unidentified bug has simultaneously attacked this portable media player with no particular reason, preventing them from booting up and freezing halfway in the process. While this isn’t as serious compared to a situation where its supposed rival (”supposed” is used since the Zune never came near that category after its launch, with the iPod pulling way ahead to leave the Zune biting its dust) breaks down in a similar manner, it is still groundbreaking news as it involves Microsoft of all people.

Initially, there was no word from Microsoft concerning this negative phenomenon that’s sweeping across 30GB Zunes worldwide, but good thing the company has since acknowledged the problem on its Zune support website. Too bad they have yet to post a fix, and Microsoft has issued a statement mentioning “Customers with 30GB Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. We’re aware of the problem and are working to correct it. The Zune Social might be slow or inaccessible.”

That bit of news brings little comfort to the affected Zune owners, but in due time Microsoft has finally pinpointed the reason behind all the ruckus – it seems that the Zune froze due to a leap year. Just when we thought Y2K problems were to bring the world to a standstill back at the turn of December 31, 1999, here we have a Z2K problem. Microsoft’s latest statement, “A bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year affected Zune users. That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009.” Phew! At least there won’t be dozens of bricked 30GB Zunes lying around as part of the aftermath.

Source: Wired

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Radio Flyer has been putting out toy wagons since 1917, and their model has remained, for the most part, unchanged. However, the company has recently released a concept model of the Cloud 9, a wagon like no other. I believe that this concept alone will change the world of toy wagons as we know it.

The Cloud 9 is the RV of wagons with two padded seats, cup-holders, and fold-out storage containers. It is also designed for safety as each seat has 5-point safety harnesses, as well as foot brakes.

The wagon is also technological. There are digital controls that include a dock for an MP3 Player with speakers. I’m even told that there is some type of digital readout in the handle that will give the time and temperature. This control will also give the speed of the wagon, and also has a built-in odometer.

Clearly, this is a wagon designed for kids like Richie Rich. There’s something about putting an iPod Dock in a wagon that crosses some line somewhere. I have children under the age of five, and I don’t think they really need an iPod in the wagon.

Since the Cloud 9 is still in concept form, there is no price as yet. In all honesty, I don’t really want to know how much it costs. I’m not certain if I should buy a wagon like this for my kids, even if I could afford it.

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Seems Nokia started bombarding the phone market with their touch-screen phones. Nokia 6208c, which is unveiled in Nanjing China today, is the company’s fourth touchscreen devices after Nokia 7700/7710 (2003), N810 Internet Tablet (2007) and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music (2008).

With the large input area, the touch screen on this device is optimized to write Chinese characters and expected to hit select markets in the first half of 2009.

Nokia’s press release:

In an event held today in Nanjing Nokia unveiled the Nokia 6208c, a new pen input device which caters for a number of different customers, specifically those in China. The touch screen on the 6208c is optimized to write Chinese characters and messages in the most natural way, with a pen.

The design of the stylus, attached to the back of the phone, is inspired by bamboo slips and works perfectly with the large color display which is reminiscent of an ink stone, another element from traditional Chinese art and culture. All these design cues are implemented using premium materials such as the stainless steel back cover, which makes the handset both easy to use and comfortable to hold.

Added to the Chinese language support, the device features a number of different languages and characters.

With a 3.2 megapixel camera, dual LED flash and 4x digital zoom, the Nokia 6208c makes capturing memories and sharing moments simple and easy. The large input area features larger fonts for messaging and browsing as well as viewing pictures and web pages. The new handset also supports optional microSD cards up to 8GB, providing ample memory for images, videos, music and more.

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The Chinese government just approved the implementation of next-generation 3G wireless services. The country’s regulation body would issue license for each of the three major standards: the homegrown TD-SCDMA standard as well as the global standards the CDMA 2000 and W-CDMA.

The two international 3G standards had implemented in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The world’s biggest market for wireless service intends to pursue its own 3G wireless standard, TD-SCMA technology, to reduce royalty and patent payments for the use of the CDMA 2000 and W-CDMA (also known as UMTS) technologies.

[NYTimes via Ars Technica| Photo credit: China Daily]

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Seems Nokia started bombarding the phone market with their touch-screen phones. Nokia 6208c, which is unveiled in Nanjing China today, is the company’s fourth touchscreen devices after Nokia 7700/7710 (2003), N810 Internet Tablet (2007) and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music (2008).

With the large input area, the touch screen on this device is optimized to write Chinese characters and expected to hit select markets in the first half of 2009.

Nokia’s press release:

In an event held today in Nanjing Nokia unveiled the Nokia 6208c, a new pen input device which caters for a number of different customers, specifically those in China. The touch screen on the 6208c is optimized to write Chinese characters and messages in the most natural way, with a pen.

The design of the stylus, attached to the back of the phone, is inspired by bamboo slips and works perfectly with the large color display which is reminiscent of an ink stone, another element from traditional Chinese art and culture. All these design cues are implemented using premium materials such as the stainless steel back cover, which makes the handset both easy to use and comfortable to hold.

Added to the Chinese language support, the device features a number of different languages and characters.

With a 3.2 megapixel camera, dual LED flash and 4x digital zoom, the Nokia 6208c makes capturing memories and sharing moments simple and easy. The large input area features larger fonts for messaging and browsing as well as viewing pictures and web pages. The new handset also supports optional microSD cards up to 8GB, providing ample memory for images, videos, music and more.

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When I read this news, I believe that it should be the unofficial thing. According to APA, Nokia phones with the image (in form of wallpaper or screensaver, maybe) of Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) hits the Moscow stores.

Nokia officials said they had nothing to do with that image of the late Soviet Union leader, and called such a move a great blow to the brand of the company.

Nokia official said:

“Even if Nokia was on the brink of ruin and release phones or panel with a portrait of Stalin was the only chance to save our business, Nokia will be has not done that.”

[via Switched | image-courtessy of Switched]

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Don’t we all love receiving gifts and presents? After all, it makes us feel loved, and there is that indescribable feeling of tearing open the wrapping paper to discover what we’ve been hankering after all this while sitting there, right in front of us. Unfortunately in this day and age, there are some presents that we receive which could come with a pretty serious defect - imaging getting a new digital photo frame that upon plugging into your computer, results in an attempt infecting the said PC with a virus. Yes, that is actually happening for folks who have received several different models of digital photo frames from retailers like Wal-Mart, Amazon and others. Talk about a blue holiday season!

Among those affected would be recipients of a Mercury 1.5″ Digital Photo keychain from Wal-Mart (it would be prudent to assume the same for those who picked this up from other stores as well) to be purportedly greeted by a virus. Both DPFMate.exe and FEnCodeUnicode.dll files were discovered on some of these Mercury keychains, while Samsung’s SPF-85H 8″ digital photo frame is something like a bad apple - it has been struck by a worm as well. Amazon did fire out an email alerting customers about the Samsung frame a few days before Christmas, with the explanation that the W32.Sality.AE worm will show up in the “SAMSUNG FRAME MANAGER XP VERSION 1.08″ software on the installation disc.

This isn’t the first time that it has happened, and it certainly won’t be the last, either. It makes us wonder why would disgruntled workers at companies churning out these devices include malware - can’t they talk it out with their superiors or enlist the help of their union if they need better terms and conditions in their contract? Negatively affecting the holiday mood for everyone else, especially innocent people is not the way one goes about solving things.

Source: Arstechnica

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The holiday season often involves a whole lot of travel, and regardless of the mode of transport, kids will be kids. You will certainly be bombarded with questions such as “Are we there yet?” for at least a few hundred times, even more so if you’re on a long road trip instead of taking a flight that affords more mercies for your ears. After all, children these days tend to get bored much easier compared to their counterparts a generation back mainly because of the environment they grow up in - there are just too many distractions around and they need to be “wowed” in order to capture their attention. Good for you if you own an iPhone - you’ll be able to load it up with the iKids Play software that offers five fun, creative and positive alternatives to gaming for “i” generation kids.

iKids Play activities will rely on the iPhone’s unique strengths, using tactile and fine motor skills, spatial coordination, color recognition, listening skills, and practice reading books aloud to help keep them riveted to the device without flooding everyone in the car with the same inane questions for the umpteenth time. Well, at least this is much better compared to some of the kids-based garbage offered on the DS if you’re into portable entertainment. This is actually the classic “mommy survival bag” that has been updated to meet the needs of kids in the 21st century, packed with storybooks, coloring books, drawing pads, crayons and pencils has been digitally redesigned as a downloadable application.

For those who want a physical preview, you can pick up print versions of the children’s picture books at bookstores or online, while newer iKids Play books will be made available for purchase once a month at the Apple Apps Store in order to keep things fresh.

Press Release

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