Telephone

Vringo, the pioneer in next-generation mobile personalization, has announced the launch of a fun new way for mobile users to communicate with family and friends - via video ringtones (or Vringos). Vringo allows users to share short video clips each time they make a phone call. The service is available now to private beta users, [...]

Today, Icebreaker Inc. announced the launch of Crush or Flush, the dating platform designed first and foremost for cell phones. Crush or Flush provides an easy way to flirt, chat, and meet real people with similar interests in your area - right from your cell phone. If you see a picture profile of someone [...]

Apple today introduced iPhone, combining three products - a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, Web browsing, searching and maps - into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering [...]

Consumer behavior and preferences are changing rapidly in the $7.4 billion directory assistance (DA) market, according to both a recent comScore Networks study as well as internal data from Jingle Networks, Inc., operator of the 1-800-FREE411 free DA service. Jingle Networks today released figures illustrating that changing consumer preferences are driving extraordinary growth of the [...]

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and industry collaborators have developed improved methods for accurately measuring very faint thermal “noise” - caused by random motion of electrons - in electronic circuits. The technique may help improve the signal range, data rate and battery life of cell phones and other wireless communications [...]

AOL throws its hat into the VoIP ring by offering free inbound phone numbers for AIM users. So now you have something to give your stalkers other than that fake number you’ve been handing out! Peter Svensson of the Associated Press (via Chron.com) reports:
AOL is set to offer its instant-messaging users a free phone number to [...]

Remember when having phone service meant you had one company and one company only from which to choose? Well, things have gotten better since those days, and maybe VoIP will make our options, as consumers, even more varied. Ryan Nakashima of the Associated Press (via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) writes:
Wojtek Felendzer held a mobile phone to [...]

From CNET’s CTIA 2006 coverage: PayPal [has] launched a new mobile payment service for cell phones that will enable customers to pay for goods and services or donate to charities by sending PayPal a text message. PayPal will then call the customer back for confirmation before it makes the money transfer. The service sits [...]

I’m not a fan of “disorders”, especially ADD (or Attention Deficit Disorder.) If working a full-time job while running a tech blog and flying all over the world keeps me from being bored, then slap an ADD sticker on my forehead and call it a day. For those wincing under the ADD label, here are [...]

JaJah, the pioneering communication company, is launching right now, a new, revolutionary Web-telephony service, allowing standard phone calls to be made from any computer at highly competitive rates.

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
We indicated earlier this month that Illinois was moving toward such a ban; now Sen. Charles Schumer (D, NY) along with Sen. Arlen Specter (R, PA) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D, FL) have introduced the Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006, which would create felony criminal penalties for stealing [...]

Eric Larkin of ITWorldCanada.com writes:
A new cell phone about to debut could drastically reduce your cell phone bill by splitting calls between cell networks and less-expensive VoIP over Wi-Fi.
UTStarcom’s new GF200 cell phone, previewed here at CES, combines GSM and VoIP over Wi-Fi. GSM is one of two main types of cell networks used in the [...]