Ted Landphair of voanews.com writes:

There’s a well-worn phrase in real estate: “location, location, location,” meaning that where a property is located, alone, means more than anything else when it comes to assessing its value.

But ‘location’ is getting new meanings in these days of smartphones and other hand-held devices.

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to this week's news summary from The Fonecast. Sorry it's late but I have a reasonably good excuse. On Friday I was in central London to meet Hans Eriksson of Bambuser. He was about to stream his life online for 24 hours, relying on social networking to find him off-beat attractions. You'll find our conversation on TheFonecast.com – and the results are at bambuserchallenge.tumblr.com

Mark Bridge writes:

Today’s podcast feature is a personal look at the cost of mobile ‘roaming’ in France.

At the beginning of July 2011 the rate for European roaming charges fell to a maximum of 38p per minute (incl. VAT) for calls made while abroad in the EU – and 12p per minute for calls received. There’s also a maximum 12p charge for sending text messages.

Mark Bridge writes:

Today's news summary is a little early because I'm on holiday this afternoon. I'll be leaving Iain and James in charge... and, even though it's traditionally the "silly season", they'll have plenty to talk about in Wednesday's podcast.

A week ago, the big news in our podcast was Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility. This week it was HP's move away from webOS devices. And now we hear that Steve Jobs has stepped down from the CEO role at Apple, although he's remaining with the company as Chairman of the Board.

Rosanne Skirble of voanews.com writes:

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a technology that turns human motion into electricity.

In this week's journal Nature Communications, they describe how to power a cell phone or other mobile device - like a laptop computer or GPS system - by simply taking a walk.