Sprint Surpasses Recycling Goal, Sharp Adds Solar Cell Phone

As one major cell phone carrier labors to recycle obsolete units, a manufacturer is bringing into play a phone that charges itself by the sun.

Earlier this year, Sprint set a goal to recycle 250,000 cell phones during April, coinciding with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Cell Phone Recycling Week. The company collected 279,524 phones for recycling in April, according to a press release.

Sprint says it leads the wireless industry in recycling efforts, with more than 16 million units diverted from landfills for reuse or recycling since 2001.

Cell phone manufacturer Sharp, meanwhile, has introduced a solar cell phone.

The Solar Phone SH002 requires a 10-minute exposure to direct sunlight to deliver one minute of talktime or two hours of standby, according to CNET.

If left outdoors long enough, the cell phone should be able to charge up to 80 percent of capacity, according to the article. The cell phone also is waterproof.

Like most nifty electronics, the cell phone is only available in Japan for now.

Sprint offers a separate solar charging unit for cell phones.

How to Buy a Cell Phone

With hundreds of handsets to choose from, it can be tough to find the right one. Here's what you need to know to dial up the perfect phone.

These days, smartphones get all the buzz, but the vast majority of handsets sold in the U.S. are actually feature phones: camera phones, music phones, rugged phones, messaging phones, or just plain voice phones.

Unlike smartphones, feature phones are a matter of "what you see is what you get." They don't receive magical software upgrades or run thousands of additional apps, as does the iPhone, for example. That doesn't mean they only make calls, though you can find phones that only make calls, if a basic phone is what you want. But most feature phones include some combination of a camera, a basic Web browser, e-mailing and text messaging apps, and music and video players.

Feature phones are typically less expensive than smartphones. They're available in a much wider range of shapes and sizes, and on a broader range of plans, including prepaid options. Monthly service fees for feature phones are generally cheaper too, which can make a multipurpose feature phone a good bet.

Ready to find your phone? Here's what you should consider before you start shopping:

First, Choose Your Carrier

Because all the national carriers sell a wide variety of phones, choosing your service provider should be your first move. Here's a quick rundown of what each of the primary U.S. carriers offers:

AT&T boasts nationwide coverage and a terrific selection of phones, particularly for texting. But some folks, especially in the Northeast, complain that AT&T's coverage isn't all it's cracked up to be when it comes to reliability and quality.

Cricket and MetroPCS are new "unlimited" carriers that offer much lower rates than their competitors and don't require contracts. But they aren't available everywhere, and they have a somewhat limited selection of phones.

Sprint is relatively inexpensive, and offers some neat media services and a solid high-speed network. It also has the most open approach to third-party apps, running the best e-mail software and letting its subscribers add a wide range of Java applications to their feature phones.

T-Mobile offers cutting-edge phones at relatively low monthly rates and enjoys a reputation for good customer service. But its nationwide coverage isn't as complete as AT&T's or Verizon's.

Verizon Wireless is famed for its excellent network quality and good customer service. Its prices, however, can be higher than the competition's, and the carrier is typically slow to offer new handset features, like 5-megapixel cameras. But when it comes to voice quality, many Verizon phones excel.

Virgin Mobile is a nationwide prepaid carrier that uses Sprint's network but can undercut Sprint's rates. Virgin has relatively few phones on its roster, and those it does offer are mostly low-end.

You may also see unlocked phones on the market that work with GSM networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile but aren't sold by the carriers. These handsets are often imports. Because they're generally more expensive than carrier-approved-and-subsidized phones, few are sold in the U.S.

Next, What Are Your Feature Priorities?

Because feature phones do almost everything, you should decide what capabilities you need or want most. Start narrowing down your choices by first ranking the five major categories of features in order of importance: voice, messaging, camera, media playback, and Web/GPS/games/miscellaneous. Once that's done, you'll be able to concentrate on a filtered-down selection of feature phones.

If you're big on text messaging, you want to focus on messaging functionality. If you've got a small child, a camera is probably important. If you want to ditch your iPod, keep an eye out for good media features.

Since it's a given that you want your calls to sound good, you may feel you should focus mainly on voice rather than other features. You don't need to worry too much about that. The vast majority of phones sold today have solid voice capabilities. Paying attention to the other features you like, and then double-checking to make sure the phone you choose delivers on voice quality, makes it easier to sift through a long list of handsets.

Sprint and Samsung Release M520 Slider Phone

Sprint and Samsung (News - Alert) Mobile have unveiled a new phone: the M520 by Samsung. It is described as the first slider Power Vision phone, and is packed with communication and entertainment features including Web access, live TV, location services, song downloads, texting and GPS.

The M520 comes in a slim, slider form factor. It’s designed for multi-tasking so, for example, users can play music in background mode while sending text messages, playing games or browsing the Web.

The Samsung M520 will be supported by the Sprint Mobile Broadband network. The phone will offer access to exclusive services and multimedia content from Sprint. These include:

Sprint Navigation - a Telenav-powered GPS service that offers audio and visual driving directions, one-click traffic rerouting and over 10 million local listings.

Live Search for Sprint - A Microsoft (News - Alert) service that offers voice-enabled access to directory information while on the move, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access.

Sprint Music Store – A virtual store where users can browse and download songs wirelessly to their phone. Users can select from over 1.8 million songs for just 99 cents each

Sprint TV – offers over 50 channels of live and on-demand video and audio

Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE) - the industry’s only made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming network.

For all downloads, standard data charges apply.

In addition to the above, the device also offers a wide array of other features, such as Web access, SMS voice and text messaging, Phone as Modem, picture caller ID, Wireless Backup, a MicroSD slot that supports 4GB of memory (64MB card enclosed), stereoBluetooth with audio caller ID that helps users to identify callers with a spoken voice while listening to music, and a 1.3 megapixel camera that offers 2x digital zoom and camcorder functionality.

The device is now available in all Sprint retail channels and through its Web site. It is priced at $49.99, with a $50 mail-in rebate and a 2-year contract. The phone measures 4.01” x 2.04” x 0.5” when closed, and weighs less than 2.8 ounces.

Source

Verizon Sales Miss Estimates as Home-Phone Users Fall

Verizon Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported fourth-quarter sales that missed estimates as home-phone users defected to cable rivals and wireless service.

Net income climbed 3.9 percent to $1.07 billion, or 37 cents a share, from $1.03 billion, or 35 cents, a year ago, the New York-based company said today in a statement. Revenue rose 5.5 percent to $23.8 billion, less than the $24 billion average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg's plan to spend $23 billion over seven years to offer TV service and higher Internet speeds hasn't yet stemmed customer losses to cable companies. Investors are worried that an economic slowdown could cause more phone-line losses for Verizon and larger rival AT&T Inc., said Jeff Brimhall of National City Private Client Group.

``They both face a little bit of a challenge because they obviously have significant exposure to the consumer,'' the Cleveland-based analyst said in an interview. His firm manages $34 billion, including Verizon and AT&T shares. ``Line loss to wireless and to cable is a concern going forward, but the macroeconomic situation just adds uncertainty.''

Profit, excluding items such as severance pay for fired workers, was 62 cents a share, meeting the average estimate of 21 analysts in the Bloomberg survey. The wireless unit's operating margin, the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the costs of providing service, expanded to 26.2 percent from 25 percent a year ago.

Line Losses

Verizon rose 35 cents to $38.11 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock is little changed in the past 12 months.

Verizon lost 875,000 phone lines in the quarter, including 476,000 primary home-phone lines, as customers switched to cable voice plans or began using wireless service exclusively. Some of those mobile users are Verizon Wireless customers. Total phone lines dropped 8.1 percent from a year ago to 41.4 million, accelerating from an 8 percent drop the previous quarter.

AT&T also reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of analysts' estimates. While San Antonio-based AT&T blamed the results on shutting off service to nonpaying customers, Verizon pointed to competition from cable companies such as Comcast Corp.

U.S. retail sales fell last month, unemployment climbed, and factory production has slowed. The Federal Reserve cut the benchmark lending rate Jan. 22 in its first emergency reduction since 2001. President George W. Bush is working with lawmakers to pass an economic stimulus package to avert a recession.

Growth Concerns

After a 17 percent gain in 2007, Verizon shares have fallen 13 percent this year amid investor concerns about economic growth. AT&T said a slowing economy cost it about 100,000 of the 656,000 primary home-phone customers it lost last quarter. Verizon hasn't detected a similar trend, company president Denny Strigl said.

``Whether they face a challenge or not, investors are concerned by the fact that they are going to,'' Brimhall said.

Verizon continued to trim jobs. The company recorded a charge of 16 cents a share in the fourth quarter for severance pay to fire 9,000 phone-line workers from last quarter through the end of this year. Verizon has about 235,000 employees.

``It's not related to any kind of economic trend,'' Chief Financial Officer Doreen Toben said in an interview. ``When lines go down, when you have less lines, you have less need for force.''

Selling Businesses

The company is awaiting regulatory approval for a $2.72 billion deal to hand over about 1.6 million phone lines in the northeastern U.S. to FairPoint Communications Inc. Verizon spun off a directories unit and sold assets in the Dominican Republic, incurring expenses of 22 cents a share in the quarter.

Verizon added 226,000 TV subscribers to its fiber-optic network, fewer than the 234,000 projected by UBS AG analyst John Hodulik in New York. The company also recruited 245,000 fiber Internet customers, missing Hodulik's 284,000 estimate.

The fiber-optic network, called FiOS, is now available in parts of 17 states, the company said today. Verizon plans to make it available to 18 million homes by the end of 2010, about twice last year's total. Customers are less likely to cut phone lines when they order TV and fiber-based Internet services, Toben said.

``It sounds like, as video continues to roll out, the retention should improve,'' said Jonathan Atkin, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco. He said he expects the shares to perform in line with the broader market.

Verizon's capital expenses in 2008 should fall below the $17.5 billion it spent last year, Toben said.

Wireless Customers

Verizon Wireless, jointly owned by Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc, added 2 million customers, including 1.6 million on long-term contracts. Subscribers who sign contracts are more profitable because they're more likely to stay with the company over time than those who pre-pay for service.

Verizon Wireless took subscribers from smaller rival Sprint Nextel Corp., which lost 683,000 contract customers last quarter. AT&T, owner of the biggest U.S. mobile-phone service, added 2.7 million users in the quarter, including 1.2 million on contracts.

Wireless customer turnover, or churn, narrowed to 1.2 percent from 1.3 percent in the previous quarter. The company has kept users by spending to maintain the quality of its network, said Todd Rosenbluth, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor's in New York.

``It was a strong quarter, driven by wireless,'' Rosenbluth said. He had estimated Verizon Wireless would add 1.5 million subscribers. ``They continue to be the most efficient operator out there.''

Source

AT&T Reverse Cell Phone Directory - Does it Exist?

AT&T was part of the U.S. cell phone collective that was developing the now defunct Wireless 411, the national wireless directory. The official Wireless 411 is now an after thought because of public outrage and government pressure. So no official AT&T directory or reverse directory exists. However, if you are in need of finding the owner to an AT&T number, you can get help from a reverse phone resource (more on that below).

There is no other cellular network that can claim the success of AT&T; not only has it become the largest provider of service within the United States but it offers one of the most diverse set of benefits found within any company. From residential uses to plans tailored for businesses, AT&T is known for its wide variety, multiple products and reliable service.

But, of course, not even the giant of the cellular industry can manage what so many of its clients want: a listing of numbers for easy explanations over unknown calls. AT&T might have the strongest listing of extras but it falls short of perfection with this one area. We believe that can be forgiven, though, since there are other options to be found. You are not being withheld any information; you merely have to seek it elsewhere.
Getting back to reverse phone searches, a reverse phone book works with limited incentives. It allows you to type in an unknown number and see where it is located and, in many cases, to whom it belongs. While the typical phone book relies on names and other essential pieces, this idea works within the concept that, sometimes, you simply do not have enough to tell. You do not have the answers so you can´t ask the proper question.

Reverse phone search companies will help you find the owner to any phone number. Many are paid searches or paid subscriptions. Here is one that will walk you through your free reverse phone search options before you decide to pay a fee. This page essentially provides you with a reverse phone book.

Source

Pink BlackBerry Pearl Coming to Verizon Wireless

Perfect for the fashion-forward professional on-the-go, the BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM) 8130 in pink makes it easy to perform essential tasks away from the office, such as managing e-mail, and connecting instantly to the Internet. It also lets customers take pictures, listen to music, watch videos, and much more. The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 in pink also includes built-in navigation to support the location-based application, VZ Navigator(SM), that offers customers audible turn-by-turn directions to wherever they want to go. (PRNewsFoto/Verizon Wireless)

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's most reliable wireless
voice and data network, and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX:
RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, announced today the
availability of the BlackBerry(R) Pearl(TM) 8130 smartphone in pink. Coming
to Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at
http://www.verizonwireless.com tomorrow, the pink BlackBerry Pearl is packed with
the same powerful communications features and wireless broadband
connectivity as the original, but it comes encased in a new pink finish
that's chic and sophisticated.

8130 in pink makes it easy to perform essential tasks away from the
office, such as managing e-mail, and connecting instantly to the Internet,
and it also lets customers take pictures, listen to music, watch videos,
and much more. With built-in navigation to support the location-based
application, VZ Navigator(SM), customers can get audible turn-by-turn
directions to wherever they want to go. The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 also
offers the following features and capabilities:



   --  Wireless broadband (EV-DO) connectivity for high-speed data transfers,
       perfect for fast Web browsing
   --  Premium phone features including Voice Activated Dialing,
       speakerphone, and noise and echo cancellation technology for clearer
       calls
   --  2 megapixel camera with flash and 5x zoom, able to record video
   --  Advanced media player and enhanced desktop media manager software
       allowing customers to easily manage music, pictures and video between
       their PC and the BlackBerry Pearl 8130
   --  Externally accessible microSD(TM)/SDHC memory card slot
   --  Bluetooth(R) with support for hands-free headsets, stereo headsets,
       car kits, and other Bluetooth accessories
   The BlackBerry Pearl 8130 smartphone in pink is available Friday for
$199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
An additional $100 credit toward the purchase of the device is available
for customers who sign up for qualifying voice and data plans at the time
of purchase. In addition, Verizon Wireless offers Nationwide E-mail and Web
for BlackBerry customers, which includes unlimited data, for an additional
$29.99 per month on top of a voice plan. The plan provides access to up to
10 supported POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts via BlackBerry(R) Internet
Service.

   For more information on products and services from Verizon Wireless,
visit http://www.verizonwireless.com. Business customers may contact a Verizon
Wireless Business Sales Representative directly at 1-800-VZW-4-BIZ.

   About Verizon Wireless

   Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and
data network, serving 63.7 million customers. The largest U.S. wireless
company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon
Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 68,000 employees
nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:
VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at
http://www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video
footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on
to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

   About Research In Motion (RIM)

   Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of
innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications
market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and
services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides
platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information
including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based
applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party
developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with
wireless connectivity to data. RIM's portfolio of award-winning products,
services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations
around the world and include the BlackBerry(R) wireless platform, the RIM
Wireless Handheld(TM) product line, software development tools,
radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984
and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America,
Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq:
RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information,
visit http://www.rim.com or http://www.blackberry.com.

   Forward-looking statements in this news release are made pursuant to
the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used herein, words such as "intend" and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward- looking statements are based on assumptions made by and
information available to Research In Motion Limited. Investors are
cautioned that such forward- looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements include, without limitation, possible product defects and
product liability, risks related to international sales and potential
foreign currency exchange fluctuations, the initiation or outcome of
litigation, acts or potential acts of terrorism, international conflicts,
significant fluctuations of quarterly operating results, changes in
Canadian and foreign laws and regulations, continued acceptance of RIM's
products, increased levels of competition, technological changes and the
successful development of new products, dependence on third-party networks
to provide services, dependence on intellectual property rights, and other
risks and factors detailed from time to time in RIM's periodic reports
filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and other
regulatory authorities. RIM has no intention or obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.

   The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols
are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.
RIM, Research In Motion and BlackBerry are registered with the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office and may be pending or registered in other countries.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service
marks are the properties of their respective owners. RIM assumes no
liability and makes no representation, warranty or guarantee in relation to
third party products or services.

Source

Panel split over ban on hand-held phones in cars

Sen. Michael G. Lenett is sponsor of the bill to ban use of hand-held phones while driving.
It's talking on the phone, not holding it in your hand, that leads to auto accidents, opponents of a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving told lawmakers yesterday.

But proponents of the ban - who have been trying for nearly a decade to enact legislation restricting cell phone use while driving - said that handling phones and the increasingly prevalent practice of typing messages on them while behind the wheel increase the likelihood of driver distraction, which accounts for more than a million car crashes a year.

Lawmakers appeared split on the issue during a committee hearing yesterday, and proponents said the measure is within one vote of success or failure.

Gary M. Horewitz, a government affairs representative for Sprint Nextel, said the Maryland law would "lead to greater risk on the highway" because it would encourage drivers to talk on hands-free devices - and that it is the potentially distracting conversation, not the handling of phones per se, that is the real danger.

"The bill will potentially lead to more crashes, not less," he said.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Michael G. Lenett, a Montgomery County Democrat, would allow drivers to use wireless communication devices only with hands-free accessories, such as headphone sets equipped with microphones.

At least five states and the District of Columbia have passed bans on driving while talking on hand-held cell phones, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. Among them are Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

After yesterday's hearing, Lenett said the proposed ban - variations of which have deadlocked Maryland's legislature since 1999 - faces a tough hurdle in the nine-member Judicial Proceedings committee.

"It's extremely close, maybe within one vote," Lenett said. But he maintained hope that support from Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration as well as a national trend toward similar bans would swing the issue this year.

But Sprint lobbyists and several Republican committee members pointed to accident statistics from the Maryland State Police that list cell phones as causing only one half of 1 percent of all crashes.

Sen. Brian E. Frosh, the Montgomery County Democrat who chairs the committee considering the bill, said he supports the measure but added that it is too early to predict whether his members would vote to send the legislation to the Senate floor for a full hearing.

"It's a very controversial issue, one in which people are going to try and figure out how their constituents feel about it," Frosh said.

If the bill does make it out of committee, leaders in the Senate and House of Delegates said it stands a good chance of becoming law.

Both Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch said yesterday that they would support the ban.

If it passes the Senate, Busch predicted the bill would have a "strong possibility" of support in the House, though he said the law would be difficult to enforce.

"I know it would be a great inconvenience to many, but it's a life-saving measure," Miller said. "I'm sure people will give it a fair shot."

Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican representing Harford and Cecil counties, told members of the Judicial Proceedings Committee yesterday that she believed using a cell phone while driving could actually save lives in some circumstances.

"When somebody's whizzing by me at 100 miles an hour, I'll often call the police and report the license plate," Jacobs said to Lenett during the hearing.

Emergency calls would be exempted from the ban, he responded.

"What about a call from one of your children to you because of what they thought of as an emergency situation?" Jacobs asked.

Cell phone calls to 911. It's not what you think.

If you think help is on the way when you call 911 from your cell phone, think again. Many phones don't tell dispatchers where you're calling from and that makes it hard for help to get to you.

This can be a big problem for police, firefighters, paramedics. A call comes in for an emergency but they have no idea where to go. Nearly everyone has a cell phone. But is you used it to call 911 would police or firefighters be able to find you?

The answer is, maybe not. Because mobile phones are, well, mobile and the call could be coming from anywhere.

Sean Collins of the Kern Co. Fire Department, "It is very difficult, at this time, to know exactly where a caller is from. When the call comes in on a land line, emergency dispatchers can automatically track it back to a specific address. But when the call comes in on a cell phone, often times they have to rely on a caller that may be panicked and scared."

And if they're too shaken to give details, dispatchers are left guessing.

It happened this week in Taft. Someone called 911 from their cell phone to report a fire, but the phone couldn't give specific details about the location.

As a result, three people were forced to jump from the second story of a burning building.

Sean Collins, "If we do not know that address explicitly, we then have to wait for another caller or try to keep calling back the cell phone user, *if* we get there telephone number."

But they don't, they have to rely on information from the cellular provider and some are better than others.

Elizabeth Trujillo of J's Communication, "It just depends on whether the provider has something enabled on the phone that way."

For example, Sprint and Verizon use global positioning satellites to locate callers which can pinpoint a location.

Other companies like AT&T and T-Mobile use their cell towers which only give a general location. But neither way gives a specific address.

And in an emergency where time is critical, a few minutes can mean the difference between life and death.

We can only respond to what we know. Obviously we cannot determine or make things up or assume.

If you want to know if a 911 call can be traced back to your phone, take a look at the settings.

Look for something that says, "GPS" or "Location".

If you still can't figure it out call your wireless service provider.

Source

Wireless TV & Studios Inc. Introduces nightVision: Live Video Browsing -- the Next Great Leap in Search Engines

This new technology takes search engines to the next level. Citysearch and Google offer the consumer archived information. nightVision offers live search -- allowing users to search the moment.
New York, New York (PRWEB) January 5, 2008 -- New Year's Eve, just after midnight, the ball has dropped. The lines at New York's hottest nightclubs run around the block, as bouncers fend off hordes of revelers. A black Cadillac Escalade SUV pulls up to the curb, a striking reporter and a camera crew exit the vehicle, greet the doorman and walk seamlessly through the velvet rope and into the club. Once inside, they are waved into the VIP section, where they rub elbows with New York's nightlife elite. Is it for TV? No. The internet? Wrong again.

Welcome to live TV on your cell phone ... free to all, regardless of cell phone carrier.

"Years of research and development are finally coming to fruition," said Eduardo Lipschutz-Villa, president of Wireless TV & Studios, Inc., as he and an assistant monitored the live broadcast unfolding in front of him, via cell phones from all the major carriers: Verizon, ATT, Sprint and T-Mobile.

"With this new technology, we're taking search engines to the next level. Citysearch and Google offer the consumer archived information. nightVision offers live search -- we allow people to search the moment. Can you imagine being out and about, and being able to see if a bar is hopping, what the crowd is like, how they're dressed, if your ex is there," Lipschutz-Villa smiled. "Now we have achieved content specific to the device and tailored to the lifestyle and needs of the user."

"What's so great about this service is that we offer not only live reporting, but comprehensive video archives of the best New York has to offer -- restaurants, bars, live music and events -- and they're all constantly updated," commented Lisa Lyons, Executive Producer of nightVision. "So if you're out in the city and you want to, say, find out what bands are playing downtown, in less than a New York minute you're checking them out in a video on your cell phone, or getting a preview of the ambiance and food being served in the restaurant of your choice. Ultimately, the service will include easy ticket purchase and restaurant reservations."

The team behind nightVision, Wireless TV & Studios Inc., is no stranger to wireless content and technology. In the late 1990s, WTV developed and implemented 2-way interactive wireless communication systems, and in 2007, created wireless video content and user interface for Digital Dispatch Systems, to obtain the final Notice to Proceed for the NYC Taxi Technology Enhancement Project for the TLC (New York Taxi and Limousine Commission).

nightVision's infrastructure consists of several reporter and camera crew teams enabled to deliver real time data, which is treated and broadcast for access from any cell phone browser in the world, regardless of carrier. Wireless TV & Studios Inc. uses 3G technology, an innovative networking and encoding. This ASP platform, powered by Nexage, has proven to be more dynamic and faster to use than internet sites modified for cell phone usage.

This free service is commercial-driven, and expects to generate revenue through advertisements. "After all, New York City's nightlife is a $10 billion a year industry, with plenty of opportunities for product branding," commented Lipschutz-Villa.

Having successfully delivered the technology, and with a solid marketing strategy in place, Wireless TV & Studios Inc. is projecting a March 1, 2008 launch of nightVision in New York City, soon to be followed by other major cities across North America and Europe.

The third revolution in television has arrived.

Source

CAPITAL CURRENTS: Cell phone E911 location update

The FCC has just released a decision that requires cell phone companies to meet the location accuracy requirements over much smaller geographical areas than is the current practice, and you can hear their screams for miles. Even though the FCC allowed five years for full implementation, the screams seem justified.
There are two kinds of cell phone location technologies, and the FCC has different accuracy requirements for them. For “network-based” technologies, accuracy must be within 100 meters for 67 percent of calls, 300 meters for 95 percent of calls; for “handset-based” technologies, within 50 meters for 67 percent of calls, 150 meters for 95 percent of calls. The remaining 5 percent of calls are handled on a “best efforts” basis.

“Network-based” generally means Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) – a carrier has receivers located at cell towers and determines a cell phone location by processing the signals received from that cell phone, which arrive at slightly different times at the different receiver locations. “Handset-based” generally means a cell phone has a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver – it calculates its own location by receiving transmissions from at least three GPS satellites.

They both work well in some areas but not so well in other areas. Network-based systems work well in urban areas where there are many receiver locations, but not so well in rural areas. Handset-based systems work well in rural areas where there is a clear line-of-sight path to the satellites, but not so well in urban areas and indoors where the satellite signals are blocked by buildings.

Cell phone companies claim that they meet the FCC accuracy requirements. But the national operators (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile) have been meeting the requirements on a national average basis. Now the FCC has decided that they must meet the accuracy requirement within the geographical coverage area of every Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). According to Consumer Reports magazine, accurate location information is not delivered at the PSAP level in nearly half of the country. According to a list maintained by the FCC, there are around 6,000 to 7,000 PSAPs in the U.S. Verizon says it has deployed E911 wireless location capability in areas served by more than 2,800 PSAPs. But it has run into cases where cities and counties conflict with one another, each claiming PSAP jurisdiction over the same area. And PSAP service areas vary in size and shape. But the FCC said, “We recognize that geographical variations in service areas can present challenges to the provision of E911 service, but in the interest of public safety, we cannot permit those challenges to justify diminished location accuracy.”

The FCC accuracy rules are statistical in nature, and hundreds of test calls are required to determine the 95 percent confidence level. That would translate into millions of test calls if accuracy had to be confirmed for each PSAP separately. So the operational burden is evident. But the FCC was unsympathetic, saying, “While we acknowledge that meeting the deadline and benchmarks may require the investment of significant resources by certain carriers, we believe that such expenditures are more than justified by the accompanying public safety benefits.”

But more importantly, there is widespread agreement among everyone but the FCC that achieving the accuracy requirements within every PSAP area with today’s technologies is infeasible. For example, using GPS in urban areas with tall buildings or indoors, it may be impossible to achieve any location fix at all in more than 5 percent of locations, so the 95 percent requirement could never be satisfied.

Several companies proposed a hybrid approach, using both GPS and TDOA. The carriers that have deployed GPS handsets would have to add cell tower receivers for TDOA. The carriers that have deployed cell tower receivers for TDOA would have to include GPS in new cell phones. But while the hybrid approach would improve location accuracy, and might satisfy FCC requirements in the majority of PSAPs, even proponents agree that improvement might not be sufficient to satisfy the accuracy requirements in every PSAP. While the accuracy standard applies to 95 percent of calls, it applies to 100 percent of PSAPs.

This new requirement is potentially a big deal for cable operators, if the FCC decides to apply it to VoIP phone service. Cable MSO VoIP service is intended to be used only at the subscriber location, which is known precisely. But what about “over-the-top” voice services like Vonage and Skype? Suppose the FCC creates a VoIP location accuracy requirement, and then imposes it on the underlying ISP rather than the “over-the-top” vendor.

This new FCC requirement will certainly be appealed in court. Courts have not been too sympathetic to the cell phone industry, affirming earlier FCC decisions that required aggressive deployment of existing location technologies. But this is different, because the FCC has no evidence that it is technically feasible to meet the accuracy limits within every PSAP area. The last time I can recall that a court had to review an FCC decision that was technically infeasible, it dealt with noise figure limits for UHF TV tuners, and the FCC was reversed. It could happen again.

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Can't Check Voice Mail? Read It

Alltel is working with a British company called SpinVox, which has systems that “listen” to voice mail messages. If certain words can’t be discerned, the messages go to technicians.

There's hope for you soon.

Cellular provider Alltel is among a few big phone companies starting to launch new ways to use the time-honored voice mail message. The No. 4 U.S. cellular carrier is starting a system called Voice2TXT that uses voice recognition technology (and some human help) to convert incoming voice mail messages into text that users can read on their phone like a text message - as discreetly as glancing down at the phone.

Alltel's system is the first in the Tampa Bay area to offer such a service, pricing it at $4.99 to $19.99 per month, depending on the number of messages sent. The project is part of a broad effort at phone companies to rethink voice mail systems that largely haven't changed in at least a decade. These new approaches blend voice calls, e-mail, text messages and anything else that can be brought to bear.

Apple took a step in that direction with its "visual voice mail" system on its iPhone, which breaks apart the usual method of listening to voice mail messages one at a time. Instead, visual voice mail systems display a list of messages (and who sent them, through caller ID) and lets the user scroll through them.

Apple so believes in its feature that it has become a big part of Apple's iPhone TV commercials.

The new Alltel system uses a blend of computer and human help to convert voice calls to text. Alltel contracted with a British company called SpinVox, which has systems that "listen" to voice messages in a similar way to computerized voice recognition systems that customer service centers use.

If the system can't discern certain words, the messages go to technicians in South Africa, Ireland and other countries for final polishing. Still, some words show up as blanks in the final text message, and mumbling and ambient noise can stump the system at times. The Alltel system works with English and Spanish.

"There is a value to discretion," said Tony Carter, a spokesman for SpinVox. "Maybe you're in a quiet meeting, and you don't want to stick your phone to your head so everyone thinks you're not paying attention. Or maybe you're in a sports arena that's just too loud to hear your voice mail."

The idea was the brainchild of 30-year-old Christine Domecq, of the Spanish Domecq spirits family, who left a meeting and found herself with 14 voice mail messages, unable to tell whether any were important. She decided the solution was to find a way to scan through messages quickly - not listen to all of them. She and a few telecom entrepreneurs raised $100 million to build the company.

The system isn't limited to just phones. SpinVox this year signed a similar deal that allows users of social networking sites Facebook, Jaiku and Twitter to dictate updates to their profiles by calling a special SpinVox number.

Sometime next year, SpinVox expects to sign deals with land-line phone and cable TV companies that will convert home voice mail messages to text, then send them to cell phones as text messages so office workers can see who called home during the day.

As for privacy concerns, SpinVox acknowledges that its employees need to listen to messages to transcribe them, and it requires them to sign confidentiality agreements. Further, Carter said the employees only hear the beginning of messages, enough to fill the 160 characters in a text message.

Although Alltel is the first major cell phone provider to offer such a feature directly to customers, there are a few add-on software packages that accomplish a similar task.

Encinitas, Calif.-based FreedomVOICE Systems, for example, has a system called TalkText that converts voice messages to text for BlackBerry and Treo smart phones, as well as some desktop computers.

Sprint recently launched its own voice mail advancement called VoiceSMS, which blends voice and e-mail. Callers can scroll through their contacts, select someone to call, then dictate a message. Recipients then see a short text message, telling them they have a message waiting. The only fee to the service is for a text message, and the service also can deliver voice messages to e-mail addresses, which appear as a short audio recording.

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Easily transfer contacts to your new cell phone

Talk about a nightmare. Just after you get all excited over the purchase of a new phone, you realize that your contact info is trapped in your dying old phone. HELP! MY CONTACTS ARE TRAPPED IN MY PHONE!
Talk about a nightmare. Just after you get all excited over the purchase of a new phone, you realize that your contact info is trapped in your dying old phone. The only way to rescue them, manually inputting hundreds of contacts using the alphanumeric keypad, no less, can be enough to test even the most patient. You think about how much effort this will require and say to yourself, "Did I really need a new phone?"

Well, of course you did, and you can stop imagining this doomsday scenario.

Note: If both your old and new phones use a SIM card on which you've stored your contact information, you can stop reading right now and sleep soundly; you can just transfer your SIM card to the new phone.

In fact, there are a few different happy endings to this nightmare.
1. Make your carrier work for you
We know, it's a novel concept. But if you purchase a new phone through and your phone doesn't use a SIM card, you can go to one of your carrier's retail outlets and have a customer service agent transfer your contacts from your old phone to your new one. It may cost you, however, depending on your carrier.

2. Use syncing software
If for some reason your provider is unable to transfer your address book to the new phone, don't give in to that syncing feeling. You can purchase cables and data synchronization software that will do the trick. Your carrier or the phone's manufacturer may provide such tools for your handset. Otherwise, several third-party options are available.

FutureDial offers cables ($30 to $35) for a wide range of cell phones, and its SnapSync software ($30) automatically synchronizes contact information between your phone and Outlook or Outlook Express. But in this case, you'll probably need separate cables for both your old and new phones. DataPilot's Universal Kit ($80) and Mobile Action's Handset Manager (around $30), however, include cell phone sync software and connectors to support most popular cell phone brands, including Nokia. Check with the company to be sure your phones are supported. For step-by-step directions on using syncing software, see our Weekend Project.

If you use an Apple Macintosh and a GPRS Bluetooth-enabled phone, Apple's iSync will synchronize your contacts, appointments, and events. iSync is available as a free download from Apple.

3. Use online tools
Verizon Wireless recently introduced a new online service that eliminates the pain of moving your contact information. The Backup Assistant lets you store your address book online, so your contact information is readily available in case you purchase a new phone. This also is a good option in case your cell phone is lost or stolen. Backup Assistant is available at Verizon's Get It Now online store. For $5 a month, Nextel offers an online service that lets you store up to 2,000 contacts with multiple addresses and phone numbers. You can import contact information to the site from Outlook, Excel, or your Nextel phone. Once all the information you need is online, you can transfer contacts to your new phone with ease.

An alternative comes from a start-up company called Vazu. It offers a free tool called Vazu Contacts, which lets you upload contact information from Outlook, Outlook Express, Apple Mail, or Novell Evolution directly to your Nokia or Sony Ericsson mobile phone. You receive contact information as a business card, which you can immediately add to your address book. Currently, Vazu Contacts works only on GSM networks, so AT&T Wireless, Cingular, and T-Mobile customers with supported phones can enjoy the service. The company says it is exploring other networks and phone models.

4. Wireless connectivity
If both your old and new phones have Bluetooth or an infrared port, you may be able to transfer contacts wirelessly. Not all carriers support Bluetooth, however, so be sure to check if yours does. Alternatively, you can transfer files on a memory card.

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Verizon Wireless donates phones to domestic violence victims

KINGSTON - Verizon Wireless donated 20 wireless phones to Family Domestic Violence Services today to celebrate the grand opening of the company's new store at 1200 Ulster Ave.

As part of the company's HopeLine program dedicated to combat and raise awareness about domestic violence, the phones will be distributed to victims of domestic violence in the area so they can call for help in an emergency or life-threatening situation. The phones can also help domestic violence survivors find employment, child care arrangements and housing.

Phone donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless stores nationwide. For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

AT&T's third-quarter profit rises 41.5%

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- AT&T Inc. on Tuesday said third-quarter earnings rose 41.5%, boosted by the acquisition of BellSouth and the addition of 2 million net wireless customers.

The San Antonio-based phone giant got a big lift from the iPhone. Since the mobile device went on sale June 29, 1.1 million customers have activated service with AT&T, the exclusive U.S. partner of Apple Inc.

More than 950,000 have signed up since the start of the third quarter.

AT&T, meanwhile, said net income totaled $3.06 billion, or 50 cents a share, compared with $2.17 billion, or 56 cents a share, a year ago. The company had fewer shares outstanding in the 2006 third quarter.

Much of the increase in earnings stemmed from the company's acquisition of BellSouth in December 2006.

Revenue rose almost 93% to $30.1 billion from $15.6 billion a year earlier, mostly due to wireless growth and the inclusion of BellSouth.

Adjusted for the acquisition, sales rose a much smaller 3.2% to 30.3 billion. AT&T said savings generated by the purchase of BellSouth are expected to surpass its original forecasts and top $3 billion in 2007.

As a result, the company also increased its annual target for "free cash flow after dividends" to a range of $6 billion to $7 billion from its prior estimate of $5 billion to $6 billion. Shares of AT&T a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, rose in early Tuesday trades, up 0.7% to $41.46.

Excluding acquisition-related expenses and other one-time costs, AT&T said it would have earned $4.3 billion, or 71 cents a share, compared with income of $2.4 billion, or 63 cents a share, a year ago.

The adjusted profit met Wall Street's forecast. The carrier was expected to earn 71 cents a share on revenue of $30.12 billion, according to the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Wireless revenue jumped 14.4% to $10.9 billion from a year earlier, with operating margin rising to 18% from 14.8% omitted merger-related costs. AT&T ended the third quarter with a nation-leading 65.7 million mobile customers.

The company also added 499,000 high-speed Internet customers to bring its total to 13.8 million, also the No. 1 market position in the U.S., and AT&T ended the quarter with 126,000 customers for its new U-Verse fiber-TV service.

Wireless growth

The large gain in wireless customers indicates the iPhone has given AT&T a big boost in its battle to fend off Verizon Wireless for the No. 1 position in the U.S. mobile market. Most analysts were expecting AT&T to add no more than 1.7 million mobile customers.

While AT&T has activated 1.1 million iPhone accounts, Apple said late Monday that it's sold 1.4 million devices. That means AT&T has as many as 300,000 iPhones in stock to sell ahead of the upcoming holiday season. During the quarter, AT&T said average monthly revenue per user rose 2% to $50.82, the result of higher usage of wireless-data services and Internet access.

Churn, or the percentage of customers who cancel service each month, rose slightly to 1.7% from 1.6% in the prior quarter. Among valuable post-paid subscribers, or those who sign up for annual plans and pay at the end of each month, churn edged up to 1.3% from a company low 1.2% in prior quarter.

AT&T said the higher sequential churn reflected "typical third-quarter seasonality." The company still trails Verizon Wireless, whose overall churn rate is close to 1%.

Verizon also generates more revenue from its wireless business than AT&T does. Verizon Wireless is jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC AT&T believes the iPhone will improve customer loyalty and pull away customers from rivals such as Sprint Nextel Corp. Carriers are trying to differentiate themselves as the competition for customers intensifies.

Since most adult Americans now own mobile phones, subscriber growth will eventually taper off. Revenue expansion is more likely to stem from gains in market share and the introduction of new services such as mobile video.

Wireline business

In AT&T's more traditional phone business, often referred to as the landline or wireline market, results were mixed again. AT&T said revenue in its corporate-services unit fell 0.3% to $4.8 billion, although sales were up 1% from the prior quarter. In the consumer market, more local-phone customers disconnected service to continue a long-term trend. Subscribers switched to cable or Internet-phone service, or dropped wireline service entirely.

To win back customers, AT&T is adding video and other offerings. During the quarter, the carrier gained said it's approaching its goal of adding 10,000 customers each week for its fledging U-Verse service. AT&T plans to ramp up its TV service over the next few years to stem the loss of local-phone customers to cable companies that operate in its territory. Yet many investors and analysts question the company's technological approach and limited spending plan. Verizon is spending much more on an advanced fiber strategy.

Rumors persist that AT&T might buy one of the nation's two major satellite-television operators, EchoStar Communications Inc. or DirecTV. AT&T already sells their satellite services through prior marketing arrangements.

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Vonage Sued Again, This Time by AT&T

The Internet phone company Vonage disclosed over the weekend that it had been sued, yet again, by a telecom giant for infringing patents, the Wall Street Journal reported. This time, AT&T says that Vonage is violating a patent which allows users to access an Internet phone system through a standard phone.

The suit was actually filed last Wednesday, but Vonage did not disclose it until issuing a regulatory filing late Friday.

Verizon’s suit against Vonage, which Vonage lost but is now appealing, led to a judge ruling that Vonage can no longer use certain technologies. Earlier this month, Vonage settled another suit, by Sprint, by agreeing to license over 100 Sprint patents for $80 million.

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Cool New Cell Phones Released

Verizon customers sent and received 10 billion text messages during the month of July. That's one reason why Verizon is coming out with the text-friendly Voyager."It actually vibrates so you know what you touched is what you actually selected," a Verizon employee saidThe Voyager has a touch-sensitive screen on the outside. When you flip it open, a second screen appears on the inside where you can watch videos and surf the Internet.

Another hot phone for text messengers is called the Tilt from AT&T."The Tilt runs on Microsoft Office," Maurice Contreras of AT&T said. "You can integrate it with your corporate service. It will integrate with your Gmail, your Yahoo email, your personal e-mail addresses."

AT&T also offers the iPhone. More than 1 million have been sold since its summer debut."It's $399 but it's the ultimate phone," Contreras said. "It's the ultimate Internet device, just the ultimate mobile phone."AT&T's Video Share feature allows users to have videoconferences with other AT&T customers."I can be anywhere in the country and you would be able to see me and hear me as long as you had this feature on your AT&T phone," reported NBC 6's Joel Connable.

Sprint's newest Blackberry is perfect for people who need to take their office with them. It has e-mail, maps and a GPS system."I type in my mom's home address and it tells me exactly point-to-point directions," Emicel Ana of Sprint said.One of the smallest phones on the market is Verizon's Juke.It flips open like a switchblade knife and is made for people who like to download music. It also has a built-in 2 gigabyte memory for music.You can also track your kids with Verizon's family locater. A GPS is built in the phone so you always know where they are.

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Find your friends on a cell phone: Pelago introduces Whrrl

Whrrl is a new service that allows mobile phone users to chronicle every social activity in their lives -- writing reviews of movies or restaurants or uploading photos from concerts and sporting events. It then plots that information on a map and combines it with similar content from friends, creating a personal mobile city guide. It also provides the real-time locations of people as they wander from place to place in a city, tracking chosen friends as dots on a map.

Whrrl -- not to be confused with a competing service called Whirrl -- is the first offering from Pelago, a Seattle startup that scored $7.4 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Trilogy Equity Partners last year.

Led by Jeff Holden and Darren Erik Vengroff, both of whom previously held high-ranking positions at Amazon.com, Pelago is one of a number of companies trying to tap the emerging arena of location-based services. The idea is that mobile phone users will want to locate friends -- who may be at a nearby restaurant -- or at the very least get a review that a friend wrote of the restaurant from a few weeks ago. The service is also accessible on a PC.

For businesses, the concept holds much promise -- potentially allowing them to target coupons or advertisements to people as they shop in a book store or buy a cup of coffee.

Of course, plotting the location of people on a mobile map in real time opens up dozens of potential privacy issues. That's especially the case since Pelago is targeting teenagers and those in their 20s. Eventually, the company wants to combine the power of GPS phones with a patent-pending technology it dubs "Passive Visitation" to automatically record the locations of users as they move around a city.

Holden, a former senior vice president at Amazon.com, said Whrrl was built so that location information doesn't get into the wrong hands. For example, users can set different privacy levels in order to allow or disallow specific people from seeing the location. They also can "cloak" themselves -- essentially switching off the location feature, Holden said.

Despite the potential privacy bottlenecks, Holden believes that people will find value in disclosing their locations to selected friends or family members.

And, he said, the ability to search for restaurant reviews or other information based on one's location is a compelling idea that hasn't been addressed by other players in the market.

"The real power of this thing is that you can combine social data with factual data that we have gathered," said Holden. "And so you can say: 'I want to see only the places that my foodie friends think are great restaurants and are within a half mile of here, have outdoor seating, and are open now.' That is a trivial query in our product." Such a query would take just four clicks, Vengroff added.

The search functionality allows users to quickly "mine tribal knowledge" from friends, which Holden says is a much more powerful recommendation than reading some anonymous review.

Of course, the concept will only work if people start using it. To attract users, Pelago has entered into a marketing agreement with American Eagle Outfitters in which customers of the retailer will be exposed to the Whrrl service through in-store and Web site promotions.

It also is working to create services so people can add reviews from their mobile devices to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Other potential competitors include online city guides such as Yelp and Citysearch, both of which have mobile products, and Loopt, a two-year-old Silicon Valley startup that also allows users to find friends on a map on a mobile phone. Backed with $5 million from Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, Loopt's service is available on about two dozen Sprint phones for $2.99 per month.

Google also is moving into the arena with the purchase of Jaiku, a company that allows mobile phone users to create a running Web log of events, recommendations and other information. Jaiku describes its mobile product as "a live phonebook that displays the activity streams, availability, and location of your Jaiku contacts right in your phone contact list." Twitter, which also allows people to share small tidbits of information with friends, also is a potential threat.

Holden said he likes the concept of Jaiku and Twitter because they offer an "always-on connection to your network." But he said Whrrl is different because the content has more long-lasting value than the quick posts on Twitter and Jaiku.

"People post something and it is not that interesting like five minutes later, whereas in our world when you post something it is almost always in the context of some thing in the physical world," said Holden, adding that restaurant reviews or concert photos can be recycled for others to use.

Though it is launching today, Whrrl is not available to all mobile phone users. Only subscribers to AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile -- on about eight to 10 phone models -- can download Whrrl. A portion of the service is free, though Pelago plans to charge less than $3 per month for the location-based service. Pelago, which plans to go out for more funding early next year, employs 34 people.

For more on location-based services on mobile devices, check out The New York Times today which reports on offerings from Loopt and Buddy Beacon. It also notes some of the privacy concerns, quoting an analyst who says there "is a Big Brother component" to the services.

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Spammers go after cell-phone users, too

It’s hard enough coping with all that spam clogging our computers. Now it’s stalking us on our cell phones.

Spam has gone mobile. Increasingly, consumers answer their cell phones thinking it’s important. Instead, it turns out to be a telemarketer peddling time-share resorts, bogus lotteries or even porn.

While computer e-mail spam is just a pain, unsolicited text messages on your cell phone can be costly — 10 cents or more per message.

The problem is so new that federal agencies still are unsure how bad it is or how to combat it. But they say clearly that with millions of new cell-phone users and literally billions of text messages tapped out monthly, the annoyance is growing.

San Francisco-based Ferris Research, which tracks consumer messaging services, predicts U.S. cell-phone users will get 1.1 billion spam messages in 2007 — up from 800 million last year.

“As more and more people get cell phones, they are dealing with all sorts of products, services and consequences,” said Lisa Hone, an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection bureau.

Wireless officials say they have learned from the experience of the computer industry and are taking aim at mobile spam. But the problem is that it’s a moving target.

“It is a constant and ever-changing threat,” said Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, which represents the wireless industry. “As we develop new filters and firewalls, the spammers seek to develop new strategies as well. So it is an arms race of sorts.”

Illegal operators often use automatic dialers. Spammers sitting at a computer can zap millions of calls addressed to random cell-phone numbers. At the same time, cell-phone numbers are illegally bought and sold on Internet sites that are started up as fast as they are shut down.

In April, Verizon Wireless sued telemarketers it said “inundated” the company with 12,022,411 unsolicited commercial text messages. Verizon said in its lawsuit it was able to block all but 4,618.

Still, the barrage not only hit customers with “unwanted charges,” but also clogged Verizon’s networks, requiring the carrier to “dedicate equipment, software and personnel” to filter out the messages.

Spokeswoman Debra Lewis said the company was “using everything in our arsenal” to stop the spammers.

“We stop most of it, but some still goes through,” Lewis said, adding, “People aren’t expecting it, because a cell phone is a private number.”

Indeed, the expectation of privacy — cell phones are not part of any directory — is a big reason for the explosion in cell phones.

Today, more than 233 million cell phones are in use — more than double the number in 2000. Text messaging is the fastest-growing feature. Since last year, Verizon users more than doubled their text messaging from 12 billion to 28.4 billion.

Among young adults between 18 and 26, the preference for text messaging has made e-mail the equivalent of snail mail. Text messaging is used to play games, vote on TV reality show contestants, register political preferences and check news headlines, weather and movie times.

But it is also used by legitimate businesses to reach subscribers and by first responders to communicate in emergencies, pointed out Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton.

“It’s a service and a convenience and in some cases a vital communication tool,” Singleton said. “That is why it is so critical to make this a matter of priority.”

Sprint also sleuths for dishonest marketers and helps find ways for subscribers to block unwanted text senders, she said.

The phenomenon of cell-phone spam was not even contemplated when the federal do-not-call laws passed, and regulatory agencies have had to scramble to protect consumers.

In 2004, the Federal Communications Commission voted to ban all unauthorized text messages to mobile phones and pagers. The FCC also now applies the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — which prohibits autodialed and prerecorded calls to cell phones — to text messages. FCC guidelines now say text-based telemarketing solicitations sent to cell phones are covered by the national do-not-call rule.

While some states also are trying to erect regulatory barriers, experts say some legitimate businesses do not want too many hurdles in the way of legally cashing in on the potentially profitable cell-phone advertising market.

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL are just a few of the major online companies searching for ways to reach cell-phone users with mobile ads. Using global positioning technology, companies could deliver tantalizing pop-up ads to cell-phone users when they are within blocks of, say, a McDonald’s.

“It’s too lucrative an opportunity,” said Allan Keiter, founder and president of MyRatePlan, an online site that monitors cell-phone carriers.

Pop-up ads would be delivered only with a cell-phone user’s consent. Keiter predicted, however, that consumers could be enticed with the promise of cheaper cell service subsidized by commercials.

“Advertisers are champing at the bit,” he said.

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Apple: A sixth of iPhones 'unlocked'

Apple has sold more than a million iPhones, but more than a sixth of them may never get hooked up to AT&T, the gadget's exclusive U.S. cell phone service provider.

About 250,000 of the nearly 1.4 million iPhones that Apple has sold thus far have gone to customers that don't have any intention of signing up for AT&T's service, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said Monday on a conference call with analysts and investors. That's a problem not only for AT&T, which doesn't get any monthly service fees from those customers, but for Apple, with which AT&T shares a portion of iPhone service revenue.

Since Apple launched the iPhone in June, hackers have published several strategies on the Internet that allow iPhone users to "unlock" their device from AT&T and link it up with alternate cell phone networks, such as T-Mobile's.

However, some of the iPhone's features - most notably "visual voice mail," which allows users to scan through their messages on their phone and pick and choose which ones to listen to - don't work with the hacks. And Apple's most recent software update on the phone reportedly made some of the unlocked phones unusable.

The number of unlocked iPhones jumped after Apple cut the price on the device last month by $200, Cook said. He did not say how or if Apple would respond to the high rate of unlocked devices.

Cook's comments came out as Apple reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings. The company posted a profit of $904 million, or $1.01 a share, on sales of $6.22 billion, far exceeding analysts' estimates.

In recent trading on Tuesday, Apple's shares were up $11.52, or 6.6 percent, to $185.88.

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LG VX5400 Phone (Verizon Wireless)

Released for Verizon Wireless, the LG VX5400 is a mobile mainstay with a twist. Featuring all the essentials, it's also Bluetooth capable to take advantage of the wonders of wireless. The VGA camera is useful for photos on the fly, and the large color display and keypad is encased in a compact design. The one-touch speakerphone and speaker independent voice command functions round out the package, making mobile more convenient than ever.

FEATURES

• Compact, stylish design with internal antenna and mirror-like external LCD
• Integrated VGA camera with customizable brightness, white balance, shutter sound, color effects, and night mode, and an image editor to zoom, rotate, and crop
• Speaker-Independent Voice Commands to access functions such as Call, Send Msg To, Go To, Check, Lookup, and My Account
• Bluetooth wireless technology supports headset, handsfree, and object push for vCard and vCalendar profiles

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