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LG and Prada Team Up For Third Phone
The phone maker has joined with the fashion label once again to create a shiny new handset.

New Battery 10x Capacity 10x Charge Speed
Scientists have redesigned a lithium-ion battery to allow it to charge ten times faster and hold ten times the charge of a standard cell.

BBM Music Busts Into Britain
RIM releases the BBM Music service for a hungry British crowd.

 

Mobiles to be hooked up to virtual information map, researchers hope

Mobiles to be hooked up to virtual information map, researchers hope Mobile phones of the near future could be linked as part of a new network enabling users to leave and read messages on a geographically-built, GPS-reliant, virtual world.

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina, USA, have been testing a prototype of what they call "virtual sticky notes", a technology which would allow mobile phone users to 'zoom in' to businesses or areas and read notes left by other users in the past.

Users will be encouraged to start "mini blogging", the researchers have said, which will involve leaving a note about a service in a shop or restaurant, and tagging it with a GPS marker so that users can then find it as they search for the establishment.

"Every mobile phone can act as a telescope lens providing real-time information about its environment to any of the 3 billion mobile phones worldwide," said Romit Roy Choudhury, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in Duke's Pratt School of Engineering.

Another key possibility with the technology would be the passive side of it, which could involve a user working out which way to drive home from work by looking up where there are traffic jams.

The technology would know where traffic jams are forming because it would be able to see where hundreds of mobile phones are stationary, and where they are moving quickly, it is hoped.

"So if you're planning a trip to the beach or a restaurant, you can query the micro-blog and get information or see images from people who have been or are currently there," Mr Choudhury said.

"Say you are in a museum. As you pass a particular painting, your phone could download comments from art experts providing relevant information about that painting."

Industry News posted on 20 June 2008

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