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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Last week at The Fonecast: 21st November 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

Having read some of last week’s headlines, you might think the UK’s Communication Ombudsman has told mobile phone networks not to describe their data tariffs as ‘unlimited’ unless they really are. However, what’s actually happened is that one of the UK’s communication ombudsmen (ombudspeople?) has asked mobile operators to be clear about any limits, to stop unexpectedly high bills from building up and to tell customers before they exceed any limit. Better than nothing but hardly earth-shattering.

Perhaps I’m suffering from the Monday blues but it seems to me that many of the other mobile news stories from the last seven days were equally unexciting for the UK. Damp squib, anyone?

We had O2 switching on the UK’s largest 4G LTE network trial (or ‘the UK’s second 4G LTE trial’, as Everything Everywhere is more likely to call it). It’ll be running a 4G network in London for the next 9 months.

Google followed up its US-based beta Google Music service with a public version of the service. However, music licensing terms mean it’s not available in the UK yet.

But it’s not all completely bad news for UK music lovers. Now available in the UK is BlackBerry’s BBM Music, an app that makes you hope your friends have a similar taste in music but don’t like the same songs. Hmmm. And music discovery service Shazam is rolling out its LyricPlay feature across all its apps for iOS and Android devices, offering karaoke-style lyrics that are displayed in time with the music.

When it comes to mobile money, there’s plenty of news with potential for the UK... but nothing definite.

iZettle launched its ‘chip and PIN’ mobile payment service in Sweden, with some of the funding coming from Charles Dunstone. Intel and MasterCard announced a partnership that could well see NFC credit card readers built into laptops. Plus there was a digital wallet rival to PayPal called V.me, created by Visa and just available as a beta service in the USA and Canada at the moment.

All that was left to cheer me was the preview of next year’s International CES consumer electronics show… and after a couple of hours in the presence of the US Consumer Electronics Association I was reassured that the mobile industry was a good place to be. With mobile businesses - from augmented reality wizards Blippar to gaming accessory designers Fructel - touting their products and services, January’s CES show in Las Vegas promises to be an exciting event. All I need now is some kind of gambling success to finance my trip.

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Opinion Articles

Review: BeeWi BBS020 solar-powered hands-free Bluetooth car kit

Mark Bridge writes:

Persuading mobile phone users not to hold their phone when they’re driving should be a simple task. It’s dangerous, it’s against the law and the penalties include a fine plus points on your licence.

But even then, there’s often an excuse about convenience and usability. Some people don’t like wearing headsets, some don’t like wires and some simply forget to charge the batteries.

That’s why a new hands-free Bluetooth loudspeaker from French company BeeWi caught my eye.

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The simple case of the disguised iPhone 4

Mark Bridge writes:

I remember the launch of Carweek back in the 1990s. It was a motoring magazine produced as a weekly glossy newspaper; a novel format, although one that probably led to its demise. 'Spy shots' of prototype cars seemed then – as now – to be much sought-after, despite them often not showing much resemblance to the finished product. Indeed, I often wondered how you could possibly road-test the handling of a new car when it was covered with unflattering body parts that served to disguise its shape.

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Maria Sharapova and the 'geek porn' of unboxing

Mark Bridge writes:

'Unboxing' is - or was - the new geek porn. We know this because The Register told us so in 2006, when the practice of video recording the unpacking of new consumer electronics products started to become popular. Just over two years later The Independent tried to tell us that unboxing was still the new geek porn but, by then, conventional porn had probably returned to... er... pole position.

Why do I mention this?  Well, Sony Ericsson has just published its own unboxing video featuring tennis player, model, charity worker and Sony Ericsson brand ambassador Maria Sharapova.

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Scaremongering news stories? There's an app for that

Mark Bridge writes:

Here’s a news headline that caught my eye.

Shotgun certificate up for renewal?  There's an app for that

Or, if you prefer…

Police to allow gun users renew licences with iPhone app

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Mobile payments: solutions get dumber while cards get smarter?

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I spotted a couple of mobile-related news stories that involved payment company MasterCard. One came from CPI Card Group, which had introduced a “next-generation, MasterCard-approved payment tag” (a.k.a. 'sticker') that enabled “any mobile device to be used to make payments anywhere using the worldwide contactless MasterCard PayPass standard” (by sticking it on the back).

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