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Sunday, November 6, 2011

Last week at The Fonecast: 7th November 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m reminded of a sketch from BBC TV’s ‘The Young Ones’ in 1982. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are waiting around.

“What’s new?”, asks Pestilence. “Microchip technology”, replies one of the others. “That’s quite a new thing, isn’t it?”

Quite new. It’s probably the best description for much of last week’s mobile industry news.

We had the Simply Tap shopping app being launched by The Mobile Money Network, having been running as a trial for a bit. I’d say it sounds a little like the Contact Secure text service that Keith Curran talked to us about in 2009.

We heard about two new Motorola XOOM tablets hitting the UK this month, following the launch of the original XOOM in February. We had Jawbone revealing more about the UP fitness and diet wristband it announced in June.

There was Vodafone planning to test ‘open’ femtocells in a dozen UK communities after a successful trial in a Berkshire village. We learned about Yahoo! launching the long-awaited Livestand ‘digital newsstand’ for the Apple iPad.

And we heard about BlackBerry’s BBM Music app going live in Canada, the United States and Australia – but not in the UK yet.

There’s nothing new about legal action in the mobile industry, with the Samsung/Apple battle catching the European Commission’s beady legislative eye – although it’s somewhat unusual for Apple to lose not one but two cases in the course of a week.

And sadly there’s nothing new about job losses; this time it’s Everything Everywhere and Motorola Mobility adding to the redundancy figures.

On the other side of the coin, there was good news for mobile ticket company Masabi and mobile payment company Monitise, both of which have received new funding from investors.

Finally, telecoms regulator Ofcom produced a series of maps showing mobile phone coverage. The sort of thing you’d do for technology that’s... well... quite new.

Stay up to date by receiving this news summary by email every week. Simply register at TheFonecast.com by clicking the link at the top right-hand corner of our home page.

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Opinion Articles

Tablets aren't real computers... and that's why they're so popular

Mark Bridge writes:

As any Star Trek fan knows, Apple didn't invent the tablet computer. The crew of the Enterprise regularly used handheld devices that looked remarkably like an electronic clipboard... or an iPad. In fact, engineers in the 1960s were working on tablet devices as the original Star Trek series first aired.

Then there were the Microsoft Tablet PCs from around ten years ago. I bought one - an Acer TravelMate - as my main computer and loved it. I even loved the special pen that was needed to write on the screen.

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Mark Bridge - BBC News

James Rosewell writes:

For those that don't regularly watch the BBC News Channel at 5pm here's a rather hasty recording of an interview with our very own Mark Bridge concerning "Quick Tap"; a rather underwhelming new mobile payment product from Orange and Barclaycard.

Author: The Fonecast
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New sensors can turn your smartphone into a medical tricorder

Mark Bridge writes:

Dr 'Bones' McCoy moves an electronic device over a patient’s leg encased in a plaster case. The device immediately identifies swelling within the cast, alerting the doctor to take action.

But this isn't a medical tricorder being used by the doctor. It's a Google Nexus S mobile phone. And the situation isn't set in the 23rd century. It's now.

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The Council of Europe and its plans to 'ban mobile phones in schools'

Mark Bridge writes:

Europe's leaders want mobile phones and WiFi networks banned in schools. Well, that's what the headlines appear to say.

Except - as often seems to be the case with most mobile phone health warnings - things aren't that simple. So let's start at the beginning.

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DigiMo promises a fast, simple and smart mobile payment solution

Mark Bridge writes:

Almost everyone in the mobile telecoms industry seems to be looking for a perfect payment system that'll transform their mobile phone into some kind of electronic wallet. Yet despite many trial schemes – and a few commercial launches – cards and cash are still favoured by consumers and retailers in much of the world.

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