House committee moves to ban in-flight cell phone use

Posted by - 31/07/08 at 05:07:00 pm

A House of Representatives committee threw another hurdle into the path of in-flight cell phone use Thursday, when it voted to ban the use permanently. By a voice vote, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace–or Hang Up–Act, which was introduced earlier this year by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

The legislation, which now moves to the full House for consideration, would prohibit “voice communications using communications devices on scheduled flights,” with exceptions for flight crew members and a federal law enforcement officer acting in an official capacity. In-flight texting, Wi-Fi, and e-mail on airplanes would not be affected.

In a statement, DeFazio said that not only is cell phone use aloft an annoyance, but also that airlines should be stopped from using in-flight talking as a potential revenue source. “With airline customer satisfaction at an all time low, this is not the time to consider making airplane travel even more torturous,” he said. “Polls show the public overwhelmingly doesn’t want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on increasingly over-packed airplanes.” During the hearing Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) lodged a dissenting voice, saying, “You are trying to legislate courtesy, folks, and that just doesn’t work.”

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What Skyfire’s Symbian beta means for Opera

Posted by - 31/07/08 at 03:07:00 pm

On Thursday, mobile browser start-up Skyfire announced the opening of a private beta for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform–nearly a week after a Symbian users Web site busted the news.

Skyfire is positioned as a resource-light Web browser that relies on Web servers to deliver a desktop browsing experience. I covered Skyfire soon after its initial Windows Mobile release and agree that it has a nice design and good potential; however, with rendering and crashing issues, it’s not nearly ready for open beta. That’s too bad because adding an identical build for Symbian means that Skyfire has two platforms in private beta with some tall performance hurdles to leap.

Going global (and taking on Opera)
Skyfire’s Symbian beta program is the mobile browser’s second platform, and its entree into the European market, where it will be rolling out later this year. This move improves Skyfire’s competitive position against Opera Mobile, whose release of a free version 9.5 beta for Symbian is also scheduled for “the near future.”

Opera Mini, Opera Software’s build for Java phones and BlackBerry, has pretty much dominated alternative browsers in Europe, but Skyfire could destabilize that position. As a direct competitor to Opera Mobile 8.65, which sells for $24, Skyfire’s free beta brings a few advantages to the table. It’s true that Opera Mobile 9.5 beta is also currently offered for free, but with its Symbian build also in development, there could be an interesting battle over Symbian owners.

Pricing isn’t the only point of comparison between Opera and Skyfire. Opera wants to bring Symbian owners the “authentic” desktop experience through a rich client and Skyfire will attempt to do so by pulling data from its servers. That makes Skyfire lighter on system resources, but it won’t have as many search and linking capabilities out of the gate as Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, which integrated some tricks from the desktop browser. Conversely, Opera’s cell phone browsers verge on cluttered, so there’s a benefit to Skyfire’s pared-down look.

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Kyocera goes for gold–the fake kind

Posted by - 31/07/08 at 03:07:00 pm

If you see people sporting a fancy gold Kyocera watch or mobile phone in the near future, don’t assume they necessarily laid down a bundle on it. The Japanese company has come up with a new ceramic that closely resembles the texture and color of 18-karat gold. …

California judge rules Sprint’s early termination fees illegal

Posted by - 31/07/08 at 03:07:00 pm

A judge in California has ruled that Sprint Nextel’s early termination fees are illegal and said the wireless operator should pay back $18.2 million in collected fees to consumers, a decision that could help sway decisions on similar cases throughout the country.

The preliminary decision released earlier this week is a major blow to Sprint and to other phone companies in their battle to defend themselves against angry consumers who say the fees imposed on them when they leave the companies’ services are unlawful.

Verizon Wireless, which was also being sued in California, has already settled its case, agreeing to pay $21 million to settle all claims against the company. And after the decision against Sprint, there’s a chance that cases against T-Mobile and AT&T could also be settled.

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DataCase turns iPhone into wireless storage device

Posted by - 31/07/08 at 01:07:00 pm

OK, we know you’re probably iPhone-apped out by now, but a seemingly promising program called DataCase is worth a mention. It turns your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into a handheld wireless drive, meaning you should be able to peek at your PowerPoint document, reread your Word Document, …

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