Mobile Computing News, Reviews, & Tips
Tip: Call Your Cell Phone and Get a Cab
According to taxicab companies around the world, mobile phones, PDAs, and notebooks are often forgotten when passengers leave the vehicle. In Chicago, for instance, more than 85,000 cell phones, 21,000 PDAs, and 4500 notebooks were found in taxis over a six-month period.
What can you do about this? Well, there's the obvious: Look before you leave. But if you forget, you can call your cell phone number and see if the driver answers. Also, always ask for a receipt from the driver. A receipt usually includes the taxi driver's name and the cab number, which makes it easier to later track down anything you've left in the vehicle.
Wireless News: Surfing in the Back of a Taxi
Interactive Taxi plans to install wireless touch-screen multimedia computers in the back seats of some 600 cabs in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, the company says. The device, located in the partition between the driver and the back seat, offers news, movie trailers, and restaurant listings. Every 5 minutes, the computer receives wireless updates.
Wireless News: Sony Ericsson's Walkman Phone
Remember the Walkman? Sony's once-ubiquitous portable music player is making a comeback, of sorts, as a cell phone. Sony Ericsson is expected to introduce a mobile phone/digital music player (for MP3 and AAC files) in March dubbed the Walkman Phone.
VoIP Review: Lingo Service Excellent, But Slightly Muffled
PC World Senior Editor Aoife M. McEvoy's new column, Net Phone Zone, gives readers the 411 on Internet telephony. In Aoife's debut column, she reports on her tests of the Lingo VoIP service.
Lingo's overall quality is excellent, Aoife says, though conversations sounded a bit muffled--which is often the case with Internet calls. For $8 per month, you can call other Lingo subscribers for free; other calls, to the U.S. and Canada, cost 3 cents a minute. There are several service plans available; read "Lingo Is Affordable and Reliable" for details.
Wireless News: Cell Phones Coming to an Airbus Near You
For some, the use of cell phones in flight would be a dream come true. For folks like me, it would be a nightmare. (I imagine myself sitting for hours next to a chatty teenager, who says things such as "I'm like, and she's like, and then I go, and then she goes...") But regardless of how you feel about it, get ready: In-flight phone chatter could be coming soon.
Airbus, the European aircraft maker, announced it will include an optional voice/data system in its new A380 super-jumbo planes. The system will allow passengers to use their mobile devices in flight for voice calls and Internet access, the company says. The service should be commercially available next year.
Smart Phone News: The Latest PalmSource Software
PalmSource recently showed off new mobile phone software. Among the new applications is MBrowser, a Web browser optimized for handhelds that can access any Web content, the company says. PalmSource also said it is partnering with Qualphone to offer push-to-talk software for Palm OS phones. Read "PalmSource Shows Off New Software" for more about these and other Palm OS smart phone software tools.
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