Be careful what you send via text. Ann Greenfield, a 34-year old teacher in Kentucky, got screwed over after accidentally texting a state trooper and not her dealer for some marijuana. The officer gladly messaged her with a meeting spot, and waited patiently with half the police force waiting for her. Irony isn’t lost here on anyone.

Text Messages Lands Teacher in Hot Water [USA Today]

Just as the hype surrounding the launch of Vista has started to abate, another key software platform from Microsoft Corp. is on the way. Windows Mobile 6, the successor to the Mobile 5 product widely used on smart phones across the globe, will ship in the second quarter on a host of new devices, including one intriguing design from a computer-maker not known for gadgets that double as phones.

While the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade is not likely to generate buzz like the iPhone coming from Apple Computer Inc. in June, it is far more significant. By the end of 2006, nearly 20 smart phones in the U.S. shipped with Windows Mobile, and that figure could approach 30 by the end of 2007. Worldwide, more than 140 phones ship with Windows Mobile, dwarfing the number of devices that use the Palm OS or Research in Motion’s BlackBerry software. Yet if Windows Mobile 6 delivers what Microsoft says, it should encourage more people–road warriors and multitasking Moms alike–to purchase phones such as the Motorola Q, Samsung BlackJack and T-Mobile Dash. When Mobile 6 launches, expect a host of new phones from Samsung, Motorola, HTC, LG and others, including the first U.S. smart phone from Toshiba.

HP announced the first Windows Mobile 6 smart phone and it’s a good choice for mobile professionals who want to keep on top of their e-mail and occasionally work on documents while on the road. The HP iPaq 510 Voice Messenger is a departure from the company’s other smart phones as it focuses more on voice features and fills a void in its mobile device lineup, falling somewhere between its workhorse Pocket PC phones and standalone PDAs. The HP iPaq 510 runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition (formerly known as Smartphone Edition), which brings the full Mobile Office Suite for working on the go as well as enhanced e-mail capabilities, Windows Vista synchronization, and more. HP has not made any carrier announcements at the time of this writing, but as a quadband GSM phone, it’ll either be Cingular or T-Mobile. In addition, the company said it would start selling unlocked versions of the HP iPaq 510 Voice Messenger some time in the spring, with prices starting around $299. Unlike the HP iPaq hw6900 series, the candy bar phone iPaq 510 is compact and lightweight at 4.6×2.8×0.7 inches and 5.8 ounces, and the overall design reminded us a lot of the Sony Ericsson K790a.

Is this a trend? In its second GPS-enabled cellphone introduced today (see also the Nokia E90 Communicator), Nokia rolls out its 6110 Navigator, a versatile little slider handset that can not only make and take calls, but can also assist the directionally challenged. Plus, if you want some really fast data access, it has HSDPA that can give you a 3.6Mbps throughput. How fast is that? Hey, that’s quick as a cable modem, at least in PR-speak.

Nokia says it will give you 3.5 hours of talk time and GSM and 2.5 in 3G, but can stay on standby for 11 days if you keep your mouth shut. Should be rolling out in Q2, but it won’t be cheap—with all these features packed into one little handset, it will cost you just shy of $600 without a contract.

Senator Carl Krueger is planning to introduce a law which would make the use of the iPod, the BlackBerry or any other handheld illegal, when crossing the streets of New York. No matter how funny or weird that might sound to you, his intentions are pretty serious. He claims that the number of fatal accidents caused by what he calls “the iPod oblivion” is increasing in New York and as an example he brings the case of a young man who died last month. Apparently, the 23 years old man got hit by a bus while inattentively crossing a street, with his mind focused on what the iPod was playing. He did not cite though any scientific study concerning the rise of such fatal, iPod-related accidents. Offenders will receive a $100 fine a criminal court summons. Senator Krueger plans to extend the implications of the law to bicyclists and joggers, who might be forced to reduce the use of their favorite gadgets or phones inside city parks, where no street crossings are present.

Apple has signed a fruitful partnership with Nike to provide joggers with the famous Nike+iPod Sports Kit. The Senator’s bill could be a serious coup for jogging enthusiasts.

The world’s top cellphone maker Nokia will open a new service on February 10 offering free maps and routing in more than 150 countries, the Finnish company said on Thursday. Nokia’s “smart2go” will let users put localised search and route-finding services into mobile phones for free. It will also allow them to use its car navigation software — from last year’s acquisition of Gate5 — at a considerably lower price than dedicated GPS devices.

The application allows people to locate their position on a map, search for points-of-interest (POI) around them, and create routes to get there free of charge. The platform shows over 15 million points of interest that help people explore the most interesting sights, restaurants, or accommodations around them, and send them to friends via MMS, Bluetooth, infrared, or e-mail.

Standalone route-finder makers such as market leader TomTom have said they do not see mobile phones as an immediate threat to their business, and may even create an opportunity to sell route-finding software to cellphone users.

Europe’s biggest telecoms groups are aiming to create a mobile phone search engine that could challenge Yahoo! and Google, the US giants. Vodafone, France Telecom, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchison Whampoa, Telecom Italia and one American network, Cingular, are among the companies that will come together for secret, high-level talks at the mobile industry’s biggest annual trade show in Barcelona next week.

In the UK alone, more than 20 per cent of subscribers are expected to have access to mobile internet at broadband speeds by the end of 2007, which should prompt a dramatic increase in the use of search engines via mobile phones. It is not clear what the implications are for existing deals between networks and the big US search companies. Google has already signed up Vodafone and T-Mobile, as well as Hutchison’s 3 and China Mobile.

Mobile internet will be given a further boost at Barcelona when Far Eastern manufacturer LG Electronics is announced as the winner of a competition to produce an affordable, mass-market handset capable of accessing the web. The deal will also be a massive boost for LG, allowing it to challenge the dominance of the four largest handset makers: Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens and Motorola.

Now here comes a global-roaming phone from LG - LG has just announced the LC-3200 handset in Korea that is capable of handling different CDMA frequencies. To the layman, this means you can tote the LC-3200 around Asia without fear of incompatibility. Features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, an integrated MP3 player, and an electronic dictionary amongst others.

This global roaming phone is a dual-band type that supports both 1800MHz band used by LG Telecom and 800MHz, a frequency band used by countries in Asia-Pacific region. This phone will provide automatic roaming service in a total of 7 countries including China, Taiwan, Guam, Saipan.

Especially, using ‘LCD slide-up design,’ applied in this model, users can slide up the LCD when talking over the phone and they don’t need to slide up the LCD when checking text message, searching for phone numbers and others. Furthermore, 5 sports games are mounted which include golf, baseball, fishing, bowling, and soccer.

Source: Ubergizmo

Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. cellphone carrier, passed on the chance to be the exclusive distributor of the iPhone almost two years ago, balking at Apple’s rich financial terms and other demands. Apparently Apple’s first choice for exclusive iPhone service was Verizon and not Cingular! The two companies couldn’t agree on a deal that worked for both companies. “We said no.” Said Jim Gerace, a VZW VP. “We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone. We just couldn’t reach a deal that was mutually beneficial.” Talks began as far back as two years ago, but Apple’s demands were steep.

Apple wanted a percentage of monthly service fees, control over distribution that would limit iPhone sales to Apple and Verizon stores, and even some control over service and support for iPhone customers. “They would have been stepping in between us and our customers to the point where we would have almost had to take a back seat … on hardware and service support,” say Gerace.

Whether consumers — who would have presumably had a fair shot at an EV-DO iPhone with Verizon as a service provider — will win in the end is yet to be seen.

Source: Engadget

Motorola is continuing with its deals with motor manufacturers and has announced its latest – the Motorola MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition, a perfect marriage between the style of Ferrari and the technological innovation of Motorola.

The unique handset comes with HSDPA capability and offers a series of exclusive features: the Ferrari emblem on the exterior glass, the roar of the Ferrari F1 eight-cylindre engine accompanies the switching of the handset on or off, images of the Ferrari F430 engine on the mini external display and the image of the Ferrari emblem on a gray Ferrari in the internal display.

Underlining the elegance and attention to detail that have always been the hallmark of both brands; the MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone Limited Edition comes with a soft, hand-made carry case in Ferrari-red leather.

The MOTORAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge Mobile Phone delivers the capability to listen to music, browse the Internet and download content at extremely high speed, all within a handset with high-end finishes, in a futuristic mix of metal and tempered glass. External touch controls allow for fast access to the music functions when the phone is closed with great elegance and simplicity.

Grab it from Ferrari Stores and all major Motorola dealers, at the recommended price of €490.00(approximately US$630).

Source: PHONEMAG