Week of December 20, 2009

Ford brings Wi-Fi to the highway

Ford is making its cars into mobile Wi-Fi hot spots.

The next generation of the Sync in-car entertainment and information system will use a USB mobile broadband modem to establish a secure wireless connection capable of supporting several devices simultaneously.

The system will be available next year on selected models -- no word yet which ones -- and you won't need a subscription or hardware beyond the modem.(Source: Chuck Squatriglia, CNN)

Posted Saturday, December 26 2009 by ChrisD
Rating: 2.5 Comments ()

BlackBerry Outage Sparks User Revolt

The second outage in as many weeks for Research In Motion's BlackBerry e-mail service has prompted a mini-revolt among users.

The Crackberry blog, which tracks all things related to the addictive device, on Thursday was flooded with complaints from users who said RIM is losing its focus on customer service.

"One outage is bad enough, but when potential customers hear of two in one week, they get very nervous," said a Crackberry forum member who goes by the name Furballz. (Source: Paul McDougall, InformationWeek)

Posted Saturday, December 26 2009 by ChrisD
Rating: 5 Comments ()

Your Phone Replaces Your Wallet

Long promised, never realized, mobile payments will finally take off in the U.S. in 2010. Already the sector is a beehive of activity, with companies like Zong and mPayy enabling customers to pay for online purchases with only a phone number. Obopay, another mobile-payments company, received $35 million from Nokia in 2009, and it will have a wide rollout on that company's phones. Perhaps the best sign that the sector is poised for takeoff is that Twitter creator and tech superstar Jack Dorsey has set his sights on it. (Source: Newsweek)
Posted Saturday, December 26 2009 by ChrisD
Rating: 4 Comments ()

Spotlight: Mobile Marketing

WATCH How small businesses can increase their visibility through mobile devices. (Source: Fox News)
Posted Saturday, December 26 2009 by ChrisD
Rating: 2.5 Comments ()