Ring-Weekly

Windows Phone 7.5 Gets Improved Google Calendar & Gmail Sync

2012-01-27T20:13:00.000+08:00

Google has improved the Google Calendar syncing with WP 7.5 devices, allowing users to select multiple calendars for syncing. The updated settings page now allows users to Enable "Send Mail As" and "Delete Email as Trash" features. Search in the WP email client now searches a user's entire Gmail account as well, instead of just what is synced on the device.

HP Releasing Full Open webOS 1.0 By September

2012-01-26T21:55:00.003+08:00

HP has announced plans to progressively open source the webOS operating system and a full release of the new Open webOS 1.0 is expected by September. For developers, HP is releasing the new cross-platform Enyo 1.0 and 2.0 open source developing tools.

RIM Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis & Jim Balsillie Step Down

2012-01-23T22:39:00.001+08:00

RIM has replaced its CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie with COO Thorsten Heins with immediate effect. Lazaridis and Balsillie will relinquish as joint chairmen of the board as well, being replaced by Barbara Stymiest as chairman. Lazaridis will be vice chairman of the board, and Balsillie will remain a member of the board.

Untethered Jailbreak For A5 Devices With iOS 5.0.1

2012-01-22T22:12:00.001+08:00

The untethered jailbreak (Mac/Win) for the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S has been released. The new jailbreak is simple to use and requires iOS 5.0.1 only.

Bing Maps With Nokia Branding In Near Future

2012-01-20T22:40:00.001+08:00

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has announced that Microsoft will include Nokia branding on all Bing Maps properties in the near future as agreed between Nokia and Microsoft. The agreement means that all mobile devices that use Bing Maps will see Nokia branding on the maps themselves.

Nokia Releasing Battery Fix Update For Lumia 800

2012-01-19T23:15:00.002+08:00

Nokia is releasing another software update for the Lumia 800 to address battery issues. The update will be delivered over the next 2 weeks and users will get a notification on their devices when the update is ready to be installed.

Samsung & Intel To Merge bada with Tizen

2012-01-17T23:00:00.002+08:00

Samsung has been reported to be working on merging its bada OS with Intel's Tizen (successor of MeeGo). The plan is to make Tizen backward-compatible with bada.

Nokia Sold Away Over 450 Mobile Related Patents

2012-01-14T22:36:00.003+08:00

Sisvel has acquired over 450 patents and patent applications from Nokia. The patents are mostly for mobile communications and services as well as video encoding optimization technologies.

Apple Acquires Anobit

2012-01-14T00:08:00.000+08:00

Apple have bought Anobit, an Israeli based flash drive maker, that manufacturers flash memory drives used in the iPhone and iPad.

LG Enters Patent Agreement With Microsoft

2012-01-14T00:04:00.004+08:00

Microsoft and LG have inked a patent agreement that provides extensive coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for LG's consumer devices running Android or Chrome OS Platform.

Google Maps For Android Update Available Now

2012-01-12T21:32:00.001+08:00

Google Maps for Android has been updated. The new version offers better battery life, faster location refreshes in Latitude and some optimizations.

Police Made Use Of App To Track Stolen iPhone

2012-01-12T21:30:00.003+08:00

Police in Havering, near London had recently received an emergency call from a 15 year old reporting a theft of his iPhone. On questioning, the police officers responding to the call discovered that the victim had recently downloaded an app called "Locate my iPhone". Using their own Apple iPhone, the police officers managed to track the stolen phone to an address in nearby Dagenham where a 17 year old and a 19 year old were identified and arrested. Both suspects had been charged with robbery.

Visa Adds More Smartphones For Use With payWave

2012-01-11T22:47:00.003+08:00

Visa and its European subsidiary have announced that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung (Galaxy SII), LG (Optimus NET NFC) and RIM (BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380) have been certified for use with Visa payWave.

Google+ For iOS 1.0.8.3514 Update Released

2012-01-10T21:49:00.002+08:00

Google+ app for iOS has been updated today. The new version allows users to start video Hangouts right from their iDevice. The app also spots a new UI for viewing photos and fixes some bugs.

Nokia Acquire Smarterphone For Its OS

2012-01-07T18:26:00.002+08:00

Nokia has acquired a Norwegian company Smarterphone, adding another operating system to its stable. Smarterphone OS is designed to bring smartphone-like features to basic low-end feature phones devices. This acquisition will not likely change Nokia's strategy of Windows Phone for high-end smartphones and Nokia Belle for low-end smartphones.

Google Acquire Another 222 Patents From IBM

2012-01-05T21:43:00.002+08:00

Google has acquired another 222 published and pending patents from IBM, adding to the over 2000 patents that it received from IBM earlier in 2011. The 222 patents cover mobile services and back-end technologies. The terms for the acquisition were not disclosed.

SIM Locking Is Banned In Chile

2012-01-03T21:19:00.002+08:00

Chilean telco regulator, Subtel, has passed a regulation requiring mobile networks to unlock mobile phones at no charge to the customer and the regulation also required mobile networks to stop SIM-locking in future.

Israel To Deploy SMS System To Warn Citizens Of Incoming Missiles

2012-01-02T19:17:00.002+08:00

Israel is nearing a country-wide SMS messaging system that warns residents of emergencies, including incoming missiles that are not intercepted. The Home Front Command has conducted tests on Sunday of a text message system that will warn residents in real time, according to location, of incoming missiles and rockets.

Knighthood From The Queen For Jonathan Ive

2012-01-01T20:35:00.003+08:00

Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Industrial Design and the one credited for the distinctive design of Apple products (iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad), has been awarded a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). This is the 2nd royal honour for Sir Jonathan Ive, who was awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2006 for his achievements in British design and innovation. The Knighthood recognises his work on raising design standards generally in consumer, industrial and professional goods and for his championing of British design.

UK Police Banned From Charging Their Phones & Gadgets At Work

2011-12-29T23:14:00.000+08:00

Police officers and civilian staff in Sussex have been banned from charging their phones and other electrical items at work in the hope of slashing electricity bills. [More]

RIM Issues Statement Over BBM Trademark Lawsuit

2011-12-27T20:14:00.001+08:00

RIM has issued a statement concerning the lawsuit by BBM Canada over the "BBM" trademark:

"Since its launch in July 2005, BlackBerry Messenger has become a tremendously popular social networking service. In 2010, RIM started to formally adopt the BBM acronym, which had, at that point, already been organically coined and widely used by BlackBerry Messenger customers as a natural abbreviation of the BlackBerry Messenger name. The services associated with RIM's BBM offering clearly do not overlap with BBM Canada's services and the two marks are therefore eligible to co-exist under Canadian trademark law.

The two companies are in different industries and have never been competitors in any area. We believe that BBM Canada is attempting to obtain trademark protection for the BBM acronym that is well beyond the narrow range of the services it provides and well beyond the scope of rights afforded by Canadian trademark law. RIM has therefore asked the Court to dismiss the application and award costs to RIM. Further, for clarity, RIM's application to register BBM as a trademark with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is pending and we are confident that a registration will eventually issue. The inference by BBM Canada that CIPO has refused RIM's BBM trademark application is quite frankly very misleading."

RIM Being Sued By BBM Canada

2011-12-24T18:52:00.003+08:00

Canadian's Bureau of Broadcast Management has filed a lawsuit against RIM over the use of the BBM name for the BlackBerry Messenger service. The Bureau of Broadcast Management was established back in 1944 and it has been using BBM Canada for much of its existence.

SingTel Launches Commercial LTE Network Service

2011-12-20T21:34:00.002+08:00

SingTel's LTE network service is now available in the central financial district and areas that experience high data usage. Singtel is expanding the network, which is expected to provide LTE coverage for 80% of mobile data users by the end of 2012.

AT&T Ends Takeover Bid Of T-Mobile

2011-12-20T21:28:00.001+08:00

AT&T has dropped the takeover bid for T-Mobile. The collapse will see AT&T recognize a pre-tax accounting charge of US$4 billion in Q4 2011 and it will have to enter a mutually beneficial roaming agreement with Deutsche Telekom.

Facebook For iPhone Version 4.1 Available Now

2011-12-19T21:08:00.001+08:00

Facebook has updated its iPhone app to provide access to the Timeline feature. The new version 4.1 also adds access to friend lists, subscribers and subscriptions; has faster and more reliable performance; and makes it easier to view, comment on and upload photos.