Blog | News & Information on Wireless Services & Telecommunications
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: 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: 06/24/10 by Mobile Future Team
Taking off work to stand in line for a new iPhone4?
If you answered 'yes' to this question, you are not alone. Media outlets today have been blanketed with the images of long queues as impatient Apple fanboys and fangirls are paying the opportunity cost and at least $200 (with 2yr activation) to get their hands on the latest must-have device. With such tantalizing features as video-conferencing, multi-tasking, and 720p video recording, it is no wonder that people are forming endless lines outside Apple stores-- similar to those you might see outside a certain vampire themed movie premiere.
With as many as 600,000 preorders, Apple's current supplies can only appease those launch day customers showing up to AT&T stores that actually ordered the device in advance. All Johnny-come-latelies must wait until June 29th to be able to buy an iPhone4 at AT&T stores.
Has the love affair with your iPhone3 come to an abrupt end? Don't trash it, learn how to recycle it and other phones here.
Posted: 03/26/10 by Mobile Future Team
Nothing is more relevant to our “Mobile Future” than the advent of new wireless technologies, which is why the CTIA Show in Las Vegas has been the hot topic of this week’s blog posts. Culminating yesterday, the show provided a convergent platform for network providers, application developers, manufacturers, and wireless data and internet companies to engage in constructive industry dialogue, unveil their newest creations and lay the groundwork for concepts that will drive the wireless industry forward. Today, we’ll focus on a few of the network initiatives that made headlines:
AT&T announced Wednesday it would be offering consumers lacking wireless service at home a quick-fix as early as April. For $150—with certain options for mail-in rebates—AT&T subscribers can purchase a femtocell that picks up cell phone signals and relays them through the home’s Internet connection. AT&T’s 3G MicroCell is similar to models released by Verizon and Sprint; however, AT&T’s goes a step further by relaying both calls and broadband data.
Sprint is rolling out its first-ever 4G phone this summer, CEO Dan Hesse announced Tuesday at CTIA. The Evo 4G is the first phone with capabilities to use the new Clear network. Boasting comparable speeds to that of home broadband, the 4G device promises to be more conducive to streaming online video and video calling.
Verizon will launch its own app store this Monday, March 29th. Consumers who purchase apps through the store will be able to pay for them with their cell phone bill, which differs from the separate purchasing accounts necessary with other providers. Additionally, Verizon announced Skype would be available on nine phone models starting yesterday, allowing subscribers to swap calls with other Skype users at no extra cost.
As USA Today reported, T-Mobile unveiled a new broadband service—known as the High Speed Package Access Plus—which promises consumers access to the fastest network in the industry.
Posted: 03/15/10 by Mobile Future Team
The conference tournaments are over, Selection Sunday has come and gone, and friends (and foes) across the country are preparing their brackets for March Madness. Whether you are a basketball buff trained in the arts of “bracketology” or simply like to pit mascot against mascot to decide who will be the next national champion, mobile devices are making it easier than ever to follow games, scores, and updates throughout the NCAA tournament.
Cbssports.com has a user-friendly mobile website where you can customize alerts, track scores, and find out about all of the options available for maximizing usage of your mobile device during this exciting season. Additionally, the website easily redirects you to pages that allow you to download applications to your Blackberry, iPhone, and more.
So while your mobile device may be unable to formulate that witty retort you need should your championship pick go down in the first round, its real-time capabilities can deter you from making an uninformed comment after the fact (or perhaps from leaving your house, if it’s really bad…). Let the games begin!
Posted: 02/26/10 by Mobile Future Team
Most schools around the country don't allow their students to use mobile while school is in session.
That's not the case for a Richmond, VA middle school.
Colonial Heights Middle school uses hand-held mobile devices to supplement the teacher and textbooks in a classroom. Instead of banning mobile technology, Colonial Heights is embracing it.
"This is their generation; this is aimed at their generation," sixth-grade teacher Richard Ridpath said. "They are a cell phone, iPod, Xbox generation. This is just meeting [students] where they are."
Ridpath uses mobile devices with video and interactive applications as a supplement to his more traditional lesson.
Chesterfield, VA Superintendant Marcus J. Newsome said:
"It the past, it seems as though [the cell phone] has been a tool that's been disruptive to the teaching and learning process, but if there's a way to turn it around to our advantage, we need to investigate."
Mobile learning used to be solely associated with online post-secondary education. As technology evolves and preconceptions are lessened, mobile education is beginning to apply to younger and younger students.
Join Mobile Future's email list to learn more about new developments and applications for mobile innovation.
Posted: 02/03/10 by Mobile Future Team
So you missed last night’s episode of “Lost”? No problem. Pretty soon, you’ll just stream it through your mobile phone. Read more here.
Posted: 01/04/10 by Mobile Future Team
Eric Savitz writes the Technology Week column for Barron's and his business perspective on technology's changes is always refreshing. Case in point, his predictions for the Consumer Electronics Show, which begins January 7th:
[M]obile devices should be the big story. New phones are likely to be unveiled by Palm, Motorola and others. There will be a host of new e-book readers; keep your eye on the QUE from start-up Plastic Logic. The netbook surge rolls on, aided by variants known as smartbooks -- generally Linux-based, with non-Intel processors, and offering handy features like instant on. Even now-mundane devices like cameras and camcorders will offer wireless connectivity. Also expect a host of new tablet-based PCs, taking advantage of special features in still-nascent Windows 7.
Incidentally, we're offering Savitz' insights solely for their own merits and not to help convince our bosses to approve our last-minute CES travel request.
Posted: 12/04/09 by Mobile Future Team
Hats off to the White House for embracing mobile as a
key communications tool in areas with
minimal Internet access. A White
House Blog post details the efforts of the White
House and State Department New Media teams to ensure that Tuesday's
speech by President Obama was made available to the Afghan people via mobile
technology.
Looking at
data on Whitehouse.gov, [there is not] a lot of traffic coming from
Afghanistan and Pakistan because Internet penetration
in the region is relatively low at 2% and 11% respectively. However, mobile
penetration is much higher. 52% of the 177 million people in Pakistan have at least 1 mobile device and 30% of
the 28.4 million in Afghanistan. Given this trend, [the White House]
produced short video clips of the President's segment to Afghans and had it
dubbed in Arabic,
Dari,
Pashto,
and Urdu
in order for them to be distributed locally on mobile devices. Given the small
screens on phones, subtitling wasn't an appropriate option. The original version
in English
is also available.
Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >
comments | Permalink
Tags: Apple, Applications, Consumer Benefits, Mobile Applications, Mobile Phone, Mobile Video, Smartphone