Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
Posted: 09/16/10 by Mobile Future Team
It’s no secret that new technologies—including those advanced in the wireless marketplace—are making the world a smaller seem smaller by the day. As Ellen Page shows us in Cisco’s ad campaigns, a quick “field trip” to China or a consultation with a doctor travelling internationally can happen these days with relative ease. But connectivity does not always yield itself to communication, especially when taking language barriers into consideration.
Well fear not, les communicateurs! Mashable conveniently has profiled 15 mobile translation apps that can assist the international telecommuter and traveler alike and make each a little more confident when conversing across languages and lands. And while these apps may not quite make you fluent upon download, they can promise whether you are conversing from the comfort of your couch or the clamor of the Champs-Élysées, you will always feel a little more chez soi.
Posted: 09/01/10 by Mobile Future Team
Rise and shine sports fans. With September officially upon us, now is the time to change out your summer whites for your football finest.
That’s right, September 4th marks the commencement of a new calendar year, where weeks revolve around Saturdays and the difference between triumph and heartbreak can boil down to a matter of inches.
Because if it’s September, it’s time for college football. And whether you’re watching your team live between the hedges (shameless plug) or nestled between fellow enthusiasts on your couch, mobile applications are here to make sure you never miss a down.
From apps geared toward specific teams and conferences to Gameday bundles and live game streaming, mobile promises to give you the full college football experience this fall. So before your team kicks-off this Saturday, be sure to pay a visit to your app store so you can be armed and ready all season long.
Posted: 08/27/10 by Mobile Future Team
Picture this: It’s Labor Day weekend, and your family has piled into the car to make the four-hour drive to the beach. On your right, your little brother immediately monopolizes the backseat DVD player watching Austin Powers, while on your left, your big sis unabashedly belts out the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s latest hit. Behind you, Rover joins in for harmony. In the front seat, Mom won’t stop talking to Dad about just how badly Uncle Pete burned the burgers at last year’s cookout.
In the middle seat, it’s just you and your smartphone, and you’re yearning for a sweet release. Well, road-trippers rejoice, because Netflix has just made its way to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Simply flick over to the App Store, download the application (which is free for Netflix subscribers), and immerse yourself in a video oasis with hundreds of titles that download and stream directly to your smartphone.
So while mobile can’t help reconcile your siblings’ tastes with your own, it once again finds a way to cater specifically to yours. Now if only your phone really could pop corn (seriously though, how did they fake that?). Oh well, maybe one day.
Posted: 08/20/10 by Mobile Future Team
The trend toward using your mobile phone in place of a credit card continues to accelerate. Next month, Bank of America, the nation’s largest consumer bank, will begin a test program that lets customers use smartphones to pay for store purchases.
The program, which will run in the New York region through December, is the latest step in giving consumers a "digital wallet" smartphone option. Here’s how it works: A small radio chip is installed in your phone and coded with your bank account and password. You then “bump” the phone with a scanner at checkout and the sale amount is transferred from your account.
BoA’s move is the latest in the race to develop smartphone payment systems. The banks are moving quickly in this area, but so are companies outside the banking industry. As Reuters notes, “Competition is increasing from outside the banking world.”
Mobile phones have already replaced the wristwatch for many college students and it seems only a matter of time – and not much at that – before it replaces the wallet too.
Posted: 08/12/10 by Mobile Future Team
This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, and this year mobile is making it easier than ever for Muslims to nativgate this important observance.
From yesterday's Washington Post article by Samantha Henry:
The most ancient traditions of Islam are going high-tech, with a slew of modern offerings for those observing the holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week. Cell phone applications such as "iPray" or "iQuran" offer a beeping reminder of requisite prayer times, while the "Find Mecca" and "mosque finder" programs help the Muslim traveler in an unfamiliar city find the nearest place to pray.
Posted: 08/09/10
It was once believed the eyes were the window to the soul. But in today’s increasingly connected world, it seems smartphones have relieved a person's blinkers from their tell-all duties. Thanks to the thousands of available mobile applications, one look at a person’s wireless device can offer up countless personality insights that the eyes alone are powerless to bestow.
In fact, in the whirlwind world of wireless technology, one of the greatest metrics of the industry’s unbridled innovation is that of the booming applications landscape. These days, there’s seemingly an app for everything, which makes it all the more remarkable that developers continue to roll out new applications daily that leave consumers wondering how they ever did without.
As a nod to apps’ importance and popularity, PC Mag has just released its Top 100 Free Apps of 2010, which profiles this year’s top downloads across six different smartphone operating platforms.
Interestingly, six short months ago, PC Mag released a similar list for 2009 primarily focusing on iPhone applications. But given the mass proliferation of smartphones across multiple platforms, PC Mag has shifted its content to reflect the diversity of the mobile marketplace.
So be sure to check out what apps are hot for you and your mobile device, and happy downloading!
Posted: 07/27/10 by Mobile Future Team
Birthdays and anniversaries are inherently times of reflection and celebration. Which is most likely why Mashable, a news site celebrating its 5th birthday this year, decided to take a quick jaunt down memory lane to show us just how far mobile technology has come over the last half-decade.
Suffice it to say that if the majority of human relationships were as successful as that of consumers and the wireless industry, the markets for chick-flicks and online dating may cease to exist-- because this romance is nothing short of a fairy tale.
The expansive and swift proliferation of mobile broadband. The shift from feature-based flip phones to smart mobile devices operated over user-friendly interfaces like the touchscreen. The real-time social capabilities offered through new media sites like Facebook and Twitter. The emergence of apps for, well, just about everything.
And thankfully, there is no end in sight for this climate of consumer-driven innovation. We appreciate Mashable for highlighting how wireless continues to serve as a true American success story, and, as always, we look forward to exploring new unchartered horizons in our mobile future.
Posted: 07/26/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 — landmark legislation that ensures equal opportunity and accessibility for the 54 million, or one out of five, Americans living with some form of a disability. We have seen terrific progress over the past twenty years and there is still much work to be done.
One bright spot where new tools are being developed to help increase opportunity and independence for those with disabilities is in wireless. With technology leaping forward at warp speed, mobile innovators are developing new products, services and applications to both anticipate and meet evolving consumer demands and particularly the needs of those with disabilities.
For example, a smartphone uses voice activation on a mapping application to guide a visually impaired person walking down the street. Mobile screen readers narrate everything from the day's newspaper stories to email messages. And new mobile tools help distinguish between $5 and $10 dollar bills and cans of peas or corn on the pantry shelf.
Mobile Future's recently released white paper titled, "Mobile Ability: The Transformational Impact of Wireless Innovation for People with Disabilities" takes a closer look at how wireless technology can improve the quality of life and enhance inclusiveness for individuals with disabilities. The report explores how important the intersection of mobile innovation and broadband technology is for people with disabilities in the areas of employment, health care, education and emergency response.
Mobile technology has revolutionized communications worldwide, and in doing so, has reshaped the way society functions as a whole. Robust investment in wireless has allowed innovators to dream big and invent affordable and accessible technologies that provide consumers with advancements and opportunities never dreamed possible.
The ADA was a beacon of hope for millions of Americans and led to countless opportunities. But while we celebrate this monumental legislation this week, we must not forget that there is still more policymakers can do.
To help spur even more potential mobile solutions for those with disabilities, we must free up more spectrum to accommodate the looming mobile data crunch. We also need to remove barriers to technology like high taxes and fees on communications services. We must continue to encourage the strong collaboration between innovators and the disability community on mobile technologies. And, finally, policymakers must support efforts to modernize local 911 infrastructures.
As the FCC and Congress move forward to implement the National Broadband Plan, policymakers must strive to keep the goals of the ADA in mind and continue to uphold the wise regulatory policies that fuel innovation, competition and a consumer-driven mobile future for all.
This article was originally published on Huffington Post.
Posted: 07/23/10 by Jonathan Spalter
Lost your home to flooding, a tornado or other disaster? If you have a smartphone and a wireless connection, help just got a lot easier.
This week, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) unveiled an addition to its mobile site allowing disaster victims to apply for assistance directly from their smartphone. FEMA's rationale is clear: In a life-threatening emergency, seconds count. Residents are more likely to have a mobile phone on their person, or may have just enough time to grab one before heading to safety.
"More and more, I think we are reorienting our focus... to really developing tools that are useful to you in a mobile environment," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told Politico's Morning Tech.
(You can watch him run a demo of the new mobile site on multiple PDAs here.)
Fugate added that FEMA is exploring additional ways to deliver services via mobile and GPS technology. The agency already processes an average of about 40 percent of disaster applications online; this seems like a common-sense way to further streamline FEMA's operations.
Furthermore, FEMA's announcement is a timely reminder of the lifesaving capabilities of mobile communications. Five years ago next month, Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana. The government's disjointed response in assisting the maintenance and repair of mobile communication links contributed significantly to the extended chaos.
Three years later, look at the improvement: During Hurricane Gustav, wireless technology provided real-time communication links vital to the rescue efforts. Among the examples, Tulane University kept more than 10,000 students aware of storm developments through Twitter. Mobile users accessed Gustav-related pages on social network sites such as Ning for real-time news alerts, on-site posts, and videos.
Looking to the future, mobile platforms are already linking voice, video, IM, and other data for first responders at federal, state and local levels. Just think how first responders could use mobile phones and GPS to organize a large-scale rescue operation with a location-based networking application (example: BrightKite), which would allow authorities to divide a region into smaller areas, directing volunteers in each one as necessary.
This would be particularly helpful in the aftermath of a serious earthquake. As reported last week in The Orange County Register, a new early-alert system in the O.C. could give residents up to 70 seconds warning of a major San Andreas earthquake. Through the use of mobile apps, that would be enough time to slow high-speed trains, shut down power plant generators and take other precautionary steps.
The augmented incorporation of mobile technologies into government-led relief efforts is already saving lives and resources. In the five years since the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, wireless has grown up as an industry, with the government recognizing the powerful organizational capabilities immediate access to mobile technology affords Americans stuck in disaster areas. FEMA's recent addition to its mobile site is one of many demonstrations that the government takes seriously the positive ramifications of amplifying its use of mobile devices, which are now inextricably linked with the day-to-day lives of Americans.
This article was orginally published on Huffington Post.
Posted: 07/23/10 by Advisor
The Pew Internet and American Life Project just released a survey that found that six out of 10 Americans rely on wireless technology a mobile phone or laptop to access the Internet. Among the particularly compelling findings: English-speaking Hispanics and African Americans are leading the way in mobile connectivity and using wireless as their on ramp to the Internet.
The survey determined that 87 percent of English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S. own a cell phone, compared with 80 percent of whites. And 53 percent of these Hispanics access the Internet from their mobile phones. Hispanics also lead in their use of mobile data applications, including: taking pictures, sending and receiving text messages, accessing the Internet, sending and receiving e-mail, watching videos and using social networking sites.
I am proud our community is leading the way in wireless usage and am excited to see how this adoption can help bolster the community as a whole — from entrepreneurial opportunities and improving health care to educational development and greater public safety.
In fact, the Pew study reinforces many of the findings from a 2009 in-depth report released by the Hispanic Institute and Mobile Future examining mobile broadband's impact on the Hispanic community.
The study, "Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future," illustrates how advancements in wireless broadband are democratizing educational and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Hispanics traditionally have lagged behind other groups in adopting broadband connections at home. But that's clearly not the case with wireless. While the Hispanic community is growing at a rapid pace, the wireless sector is evolving just as quickly. With opportunities and products emerging daily, consumers are able to select what's best for them from a vast selection of plans, applications and services.
But this didn't happen by accident. The wireless sector has grown tremendously in a short period of time because policy makers wisely set a light touch framework that put consumers in charge of the market and encouraged investment, innovation and growth. This led to increased research and development for cutting-edge wireless services and vibrant wireless networks connecting countless communities like ours that otherwise might have been left behind.
This year, the Federal Communications Commission released an ambitious National Broadband Plan to help ensure that no one ends up on the wrong side of the digital divide. The FCC set a terrific goal, but in order to meet its objectives, regulators must avoid imposing any rules that could deter the growth and innovation we see in wireless, including trying to regulate the Internet through so-called Net neutrality rules or attempting to micro-manage the highly competitive wireless sector.
By maintaining the current light-touch regulatory approach, wireless technology investors and innovators will continue to be spurred by robust market opportunities and healthy competition.
The result? A consumer-driven industry that is narrowing the gap by offering new cutting-edge products and services to millions of mobile subscribers.
Today's wireless sector is connecting American consumers in ways we never dreamed possible. But putting rules in place that could stifle this vibrant sector would be counterproductive, and in today's challenging economy, this is a gamble that neither Main Street nor Wall Street can afford to lose.
The article was orginially published in The Statesman.
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Tags: Applications, Consumer Benefits, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phone, Mobile Video, Smartphone, Telehealth, Wireless Devices, Wireless Innovation