Filed under: Software, Nokia

Nokia has announced that it’ll no longer be working on its own “business mobility solutions,” reallocating some of the knowledge and manpower in that division over to its consumer-focused push email client that recently launched in beta form. For what it’s worth, the announcement comes across not as a message that Nokia’s abandoning its enterprise customers — far from it, in fact, with the Eseries looking better than ever — but as a genuine admission that other companies with established solutions are better cut out to manage that functionality, even on Nokia’s own S60. Interestingly, Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco are all mentioned as partners with commitments to develop for Nokia’s wares, but noticeably missing is RIM, whose BlackBerry Connect went missing on the E66 and E71. These days, it’s hard to mention “enterprise” without also mentioning “BES” in the same sentence, so we’re not too sure how far Nokia’s going to get here without roping RIM back into the equation.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The quest for the ultimate artificial nose is still underway, and thanks to a major breakthrough by the folks over at MIT, it might be sooner than later that we’re all unwrapping stylish sniffers under the Christmas tree. More importantly, the fruits of MIT’s RealNose project could replace drug and explosive-sniffing dogs as well as detect certain medical conditions via the odors emitted. Up to now, the tricky part of studying the sense of smell has been in isolating proteins (olfactory receptors) to get a good look at how they work. But in this latest development, researchers are now able to produce specific receptors using wheat germ, through a process referred to as PNAS. Engineered mammalian cells can be used to the same effect. What makes this so great is, while the human nose is relatively limited in what it can detect, this discovery could unlock the potential to detect an almost infinite range of odors. G.I. Joe with “action nose” here we come.

[Via PhysOrg]

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Original post by Stephanie Patterson

Filed under: Handsets, LG

We were already warned that the megapixel race was headed to the mobile realm, and as if you needed any more proof, here we are looking down the lens of LG’s 8-megapixel Renoir. Clearly aimed at Samsung’s recently unveiled Pixon, this touchscreen-based handset found itself in the loving arms of CNET‘s UK branch. During the limited time editors spent with it, they found the interface to be eerily similar to that found on the Viewty and the camera to be a real winner. As expected, the not-a-3.5mm headphone jack was none too pleasing to critics, but we did overhear the T-Mobile G1 voicing its support of the port. Anywho, tap the read link for the full preview / hands-on shots.

[Thanks, T.I.]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Software, Others, Linux

Looking for nefarious ways to take advantage of that Freerunner’s wide-open Linux distro? NeoPwn thinks it has just the answer, packaging OpenMoko’s latest handset with a custom bootloader and your choice of several add-on hardware modules for what it bills as the “first ever network auditing distrobution for a mobile phone.” In layman’s terms, that means you can crack a WEP WiFi network in just five minutes from the comfort of your pocket — a pretty powerful reminder that WEP needs to be put six feed under in favor of more secure encryption techniques. Packages range in price from $79 to $999 depending on what software and hardware is included (you’ll need an external WiFi card since the Freerunner’s guts don’t support monitoring or packet injection) and are expected to start shipping next month.

[Via Slashdot]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Handsets, KDDI

We already caught sight of KDDI au’s cellphone as musical instrument concept devices last month, but it looks like the company’s fanciful design group had plenty more than those to show off at CEATEC, as evidenced by Akihabara News’ slew of pictures from the show. Those include the satellite-like device pictured above, as well as a neat little minimalist number pictured after the break and another folding contraption (also after the break) that we’re still trying to wrap our heads around. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to check these out ourselves before CEATEC wraps up but, until then, you can hit up the read link below for some more pics.

Continue reading KDDI au concept phones invade CEATEC

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

NVIDIA managed to generate quite a bit of interest with its $59 GeForce 9400 GT graphics card, and it looks like rival AMD is now taking things one step further with not one but two cards that are even cheaper. Those include the $55 ATI Radeon HD 4550 and the $39 ATI Radeon HD 4350, which pack 512MB and 256MB of memory, respectively, along with some other suprisingly not too shabby specs. Namely, each card packs DirectX 10.1 support, an HDMI port with support for 7.1 channel audio, upscaling “beyond 1080p,” and even support for ATI’s CrossFireX technology in case you want to pair two of them up. As usual, you can expect the cards to be available from a whole host of different manufacturers, at least some of which should have cards available by October, if not sooner.

[Via bit-tech.net]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Handsets, LG, Bell Mobility, EV-DO, CDMA

We didn’t think much of the simple LG Wine when it first launched in Korea — nor when it went to Europe as the KF300 (pictured) — but LG must be doing something right here, because it’s now been slated for a release on Bell next month. The flip is targeted at folks looking for a simple phone with a premium look, and its feature set certainly fills that bill with a QVGA display, GPS, Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel camera, and “quick preset keys” for major phone functions. It’ll be available in black and gold for $79.99 CAD (about $78) on a three-year contract.

[Via MobileSyrup]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

Did you know Samsung was still making non-3G devices for Verizon? True story. Take this here SCH-u430, for example, a brand new flip (that we’ve actually known about for a while) featuring Bluetooth, 160 x 128 internal and 96 x 96 external displays, a VGA cam, and that’s about it. Notably absent from the feature list is EV-DO, meaning that if you’re looking for a tethering partner or an awesome way to download music on the cheap, the u430 is no friend of yours. Of course, considering that it’s free on contract, we can’t complain too hard, can we?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler