42782733
submission
silverpig writes:
It now appears that graphene has reached a point worthy of serious, direct industrial attention. The grant money itself comes from the European Union for the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET), but that the work will be done by a large non-governmental company with eyes on developing useful real-world applications is encouraging. Smartphones contain many components with high potential for actually making use of graphene — screens, batteries, ICs.
I'm no expert, but I hope that the funding model will ensure the developments remain in the public domain.
"Nokia is leading the electronic firms within the Graphene Flagship Consortium, which includes 73 other companies and academic institutions from a number of mediums. The Finnish handset manufacturer has received a grant of $1.35 billion to research and develop graphene for practical applications, with the European Union for the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) providing the grant itself."
19784570
submission
silverpig writes:
Wind Mobile's CEO and Chairman Tony Lacavera announced on the wind mobile site that VimpelCom has decided to purchase Wind Telecom for $6 billion. The deal should go through by the middle of this year and may give Canadians cheaper international and roaming rates, as well as giving Wind some extra leverage with its suppliers and handset manufacturers.
The deal is particularly interesting as Wind is one fo the new entrants into the Canadian wireless operator industry and has had to deal with issues regarding Canada's foreign ownership rules. Expect a lot of scrutiny from the CRTC, Bell, Telus, and Rogers.
17555672
submission
silverpig writes:
Apple has finally approved the official Google Voice app for iOS. After 16 months of being in app-review limbo, the app is finally here, but only for users in the US, and not for iPod Touch users. An interesting use for the app would be to use it as a dialing front end on an iPod touch in concert with a VOIP service, but it seems like this isn't an option for now.
It seems like non-US users can get the app if they have a US iTunes account. You can create a US iTunes account without a credit card by following this Apple article.
16336996
submission
silverpig writes:
The first Google Voice app has hit the app store, and it’s called GV Connect. Providing a front end to the Google Voice service, GV Connect allows users of devices running Apple iOS platform to have a native app with which to interact with Google Voice.
What will be interesting to note is the order that these apps are approved in. I know Sean Kovacs was first out with GV Mobile back before Apple banned Google Voice, and while he is in the approval pipeline, this other app has some first mover advantage. I wonder what it means when Google gets their app officially approved as surely it'll be free.
12873210
submission
silverpig writes:
Skype has just announced that an updated version of its iPhone app has been released to the app store and now allows calling over 3G.
While this functionality has been available on the iPhone since a January update to the SDK, and while other apps such as Fring have enabled 3G VOIP calling through their apps, Skype has been noticeably absent from the VOIP over 3G landscape. Until today.
Included in the app update are some UI tweaks and a call quality indicator to help you predict what your VOIP over 3G call quality will be like.
Most interesting in the announcement is the suggestion that while skype-to-skype over 3G will be free for 2010, skype is investigating pricing options and may charge for it in 2011. This could lead to smartphones being sold with data only + skype plans.
9061260
submission
silverpig writes:
Yesterday marked the announcement of the Apple iPad device, and with it came a new version of the SDK. In this new version, Apple has lifted the voip over 3G restrictions that limited VOIP traffic to wifi only.
This morning, Fring announced that it's iPhone app is 3G capable starting immediately. No update is needed as apparently the app had 3G capability all along, but a server side block prevented its use.
Furthermore, apparently a 3G capable version of skype has been ready for some time now, and has been waiting for this restriction to be lifted.
