Nobel Peace Prize winner and 45th Vice President of the United States Al Gore graced the mobile phone and wireless industry today with his presence at the 2009 CTIA Wireless convention in Las Vegas. As the final day's keynote speaker, Gore presented an abbreviated version of a modified 'Inconvenient Truth'-style spiel mashed-up with insert-wireless-comment-here-type generalities.

The highlights included some hilariously dry deliveries of self-deprecating jokes about his life immediately after leaving office, a subtle reminder that he invented the Internet (..."in January of 1993, there were only 50 Web sites, now there are billions..."), a long boring historical section that loosely linked the printing press and Marconi's radio with the wireless industry, and, finally, at the end, a summation and reiteration of just how the vital role that wireless technologies will play in helping save the planet, both economically and environmentally. (Some of the featured examples of wireless econo/enviro-wonders: Reduced health care costs and less paper waste thanks to electronic medical records and wireless health monitoring, high-capacity broadband networks like WiMax reaching rural parts of the world, and wireless monitoring and management of energy use.)

Ever wonder why the Japanese love their waterproof cell phones so much? Well, we didn't, but the folks over at PC Mag did, and investigated the issue at the Fujitsu booth of this year's CTIA show.

Somewhat surprisingly, it apparently all comes down to bathing, according to a Fujistu spokesperson interviewed by PC Mag. The Japanese are serious about their baths -- many take one every night, due largely to their belief in the health benefits of frequent hot baths. Even given their cramped living quarters, their bathtubs are deeper and bigger than American tubs.

Now they've got waterproof television sets, cell phones, cell phones with built-in TV tuners (like the above, from Fujitsu), and just about everything else. Next up: the microwave oven that works in the bath. Brilliant! We'll call it the Funcooker. [From: PCMag, via Textually]


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Okay, so it's not quite morning on the East Coast anymore, but we're on West Coast time in Las Vegas, so we'll still call this the 'Morning Xtra.' As we mentioned yesterday, this week we're at CTIA, a bi-annual wireless convention where many of the latest cell phones and mobile apps are unveiled and shown. Keep checking Switched for the skinny on what your new phone (or the services on your old phone) may look like. Also, check Engadget Mobile for up-to-date hands-on reviews and news from the show. Here are some of the latest stories in wireless this week, with more to follow in the coming days.

Ugh, Another Bluetooth Headset...But Wait, This One Is Super Sexy!
We didn't think we'd ever fall for another Bluetooth headset, until we saw the just-announced Jabra HALO. The super-slim stereo Bluetooth headset is comfortable on the ears, weighs only three ounces, and has nifty design elements like a touch-sensitive volume slide and a discreetly curvy look. Plus, the thing folds up into a tiny package for throwing into your bag, or even your pocket. It's nice to see Jabra go back to its Danish design roots and deliver this winner, which is out in May for $130.

World Goes QWERTY-Qwazy -- Plenty of New Phones With Real Keyboards for Touchscreen-Haters
Even though every phone manufacturer is throwing its hat into the ring with an iPhone-like touchscreen (usually with mixed results), there are plenty of new handset options with real QWERTY keyboards. At CTIA this week, we've seen two new phones from LG aimed at the teen texting set (the Xenon, $80, and the Neon, $30, both through AT&T), the Nokia N71 (a powerful, full-featured Symbian OS smartphone with plenty of apps, a steal for $100 through AT&T), the HTC Snap (a super thin and light Windows Mobile 6.2 smartphone with an "Inner Circle" button that lets you access e-mails and texts from a filtered list of friends and family), and the super-sexy Nokia E75 (which is available for pre-order on Nokia's site). We'll update you with more of our impressions on all these phones later this week, but we just thought you should know in case you're in the market for a new smartphone. (Our fave right now? The Nokia E71x -- a serious steal!).

This week, we're at CTIA, a bi-annual wireless convention where many of the latest cell phones and mobile apps are unveiled and shown. Keep checking Switched for the skinny on what your new phone (or the services on your old phone) may look like. Also, check Engadget Mobile for up-to-date hands-on reviews and news from the show. Here are some of the latest stories in wireless this week, with more to follow in the coming days.

Samsung Instinct S30 Announced
The slimmer, lighter and sexier successor to Samsung's Instinct (pictured above) will be out in the next two weeks with Sprint. Even though it's hard for us to take seriously any 'smart' phone that isn't a BlackBerry or an iPhone, we tried out the keypad on this baby yesterday and found it to be refreshingly responsive and accurate, which is really saying something in these days of touch-screen-glut. Check out Engadget Mobile for video and images.

As expected, the BlackBerry App World has launched early this morning for US, Canada and the UK. If your software's updated to 4.2 and you've got a trackball / touch screen and PayPal account, head on over to RIM's Web site to download. Tell us, is it everything you thought it would be?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We're still filing this away in the rumor folder for now, but we'll be honest -- this is totally believable. GigaOM has it on authority that a bona fide Skype for iPhone client will be launched as early as next week, and with CTIA kicking off on April 1st, we'd say the timing is just about ideal. Of course, we've already seen a variety of alternatives for bringing Skype and other VoIP apps to Apple's darling, but by and large, they've been supremely unimpressive. There's no word on pricing (we're crossing our fingers for free) or any other tasty tidbits, but you can bet we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more.

We weren't too sold on live TV on mobile phones when the feature first launched on Verizon Wireless phones a year ago, but the slim and sexy Samsung Access, which we got to play around with here at the CTIA Wireless mobile phone show, may just sell us on the concept.

Imagine a Samsung BlackJack II with bigger keys and no glitchy Windows Mobile, and you pretty much have the Samsung Access. It's slim enough to slip into your pocket without creating any bulges, but doesn't skimp on features, including stereo Bluetooth, stereo speakers, 3G capability, and Video Share, which lets you do live video conferencing with other Video-Share-enabled AT&T phones.

As we mentioned earlier this week, the Access will also be one of the first phones to run AT&T's new live TV service, which comes off crisp and clear on the 2.5-inch LCD screen. (Alas, the screen quality was not really captured so well on the crappy pic we took with our iPhone, but we couldn't resist the eerie dual-candidate image that was frozen in time when we snapped this.) We briefly tried out AT&T's service, which has a few things we like over the Verizon version, including a tiny screen in the top right corner that keeps the show you're currently tuned in to playing while you search through the attractive and user-friendly guide.

One thing we didn't love, though, at least in this still-not-ready-for-prime-time iteration of AT&T Mobile TV, was the relative slowness of the channel changing. The program titles came up instantaneously as we switched channels, but the actual video took about three to five seconds to appear, which makes channel surfing less than satisfying on this little phone.

Also, what's with the crappy 1.3-megapixel camera? Sorry, but at this point, 1.3 megapixel cameras in phones should just be banned. The grainy pictures (at least when blown up) they take are more or less useless.

Then again, you probably won't be using this service for much more than a live sports game or news, right? Any TV show that's not pressing or in real-time is better watched at home on a big screen.

The Samsung Access should be launching in and around the May launch of AT&T's Mobile TV service.


Related Links:

• AT&T Video Share Launches
• Hype Check: Verizon VCAST Mobile TV
• AT&T to Offer High-Quality Live TV On Cell Phones In May
• Sony to Offer Live Movie Channel On Cell Phones
• CTIA Coverage on Engadget

Of all the numerous choices you have available to you for your Internet searching, names like Google and Yahoo! stand out. There are some worthy alternatives out there, though, most notably one called ChaCha, which has an interesting alternative angle: All its searches are human-powered. Yes, Google has made jokes about having monkeys power their searches, but ChaCha has real people producing and verifying every search result. Until now, the site has received searches via text message and sent the responses in kind, but now a new feature lets you phone it in, literally.

You can now call 800-224-2242 and speak your question into a recording. Within a few minutes, you'll get a text message containing the answer. Well, you'll actually get three text messages in response: one thanking you for using the service, one saying your answer is coming, and then, finally, the answer itself. That's perhaps not exactly appreciated for someone paying $.10 or more per text message, but at least there are no additional charges.

Anything is game as far as questions go. We asked for the phone number for our favorite local pizza joint and got that, plus the street address, in a text message in about three minutes. Not all search results were so good, though. We also asked what a good DVD burning choice would be for archiving some of our DivX/XviD vids, and unfortunately the response sounded like a marketing pitch for the software, saying: "DivX for Windows gives you everything you need to create and play high-quality DivX videos on your PC." We don't disagree, but that didn't really answer the question.

Overall, though, it works quite well, and if you're in a situation where you can't text your question in this is worth checking out.

From textually.org

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Live TV has long been promised to mobile phone users but a lack of inspiring content has been one element in the equation that has slowed down adaptation in the United States. Mobile phone users in Asia are already well-accustomed to watching live, digital TV content over their devices and now Sony Pictures Television is hoping that its stable of movies will encourage consumers in America to do the same.

Sony Pictures Television has announced a deal with AT&T and MediaFLO USA to provide movies and other content to the newly announced AT&T MediaFLO TV over a channel that will be called PIX.

Some of the first movies on offer will be hits such as 'Ghostbusters,' 'Philadelphia' and 'Stand By Me.'

Since the content will be broadcast rather than delivered on-demand, the viewing experience will be similar to watching shows on regular TV -- which means the content is on a schedule, so it's possible to miss the beginning of a show if you tune in while its already in progress. Sony isn't worried about this because the company believes most people will have already seen these movies, and the goal is to provide quick entertainment rather than launch new content.

Other channels available over AT&T MediaFLO will be provided by NBC, CBS, ESPN and Nickelodeon, which will present modified versions of their programming (similar to what they already offer for Verizon's VCast TV service, which came out last year).

Sony is also looking to other mobile carriers to develop content channels.

From Reuters and Engadget.


Related Links:

• Hype Check: Verizon VCast Mobile TV
• Disney Launching Cell Phone Service in Japan
• Netflix and LG to Bring Digital Movies to your TV
• It's Video. It's Free. It's For Your Mobile Phone. It's Not YouTube.

Verizon Wireless is getting in on the friend-tracking game, offering a $3.99 per month service for its GPS-capable phones that allows a user to note the location of a friend or where a picture was taken.

The service, called Loopt, allows people to share their location with anyone in their contact list or in their AOL Instant Messenger list.

Privacy controls are in place so each user adjust security settings. That way you can keep your location private, an important feature in any social network or shared service application where personal information is involved.

Sprint Nextel and its Boost Mobile brand have already included Loopt into its GPS-enabled phones. Helio provides a service that is similar to Loopt. Other wireless carriers have safety plans that allow parents to track where their kids are located.

From BetaNews.


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According to the CTIA wireless association, an amazing 250-million Americans are now subscribers to some sort of cell phone plan. That's a massive 82.4 percent of the U.S. population. In some areas of the country, this figure may seem low; it's rare to be wandering the streets of any major city in the United States and see someone without one. But can you picture cell-addicted-talkers in the plains of Nebraska or the wilds of Northern Alaska? Factor in all the people who live in rural areas, and you still top four out of five people.

This is impressive growth from a merely 20-something-year-old industry. Back in 1987, a little over a million Americans had cell phones. In 1997, the figure was 55 million. Now, it's 250 million and climbing. Also climbing is data use on cell phones -- in 2006, 22-million people subscribed to some sort of high-speed mobile data plan -- the kind that lets you use your mobile to surf the Web, download music and video, and send pictures. This is an increase of 600-percent over the previous year alone.

With 2007's release of the iPhone and a whole slew of other "smart" mobile devices, it looks like that growth will only continue.

From Gearlog

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Facebook is definitely encroaching on MySpace's space, if yesterday's Microsoft/Facebook news is any indication, but the formerly student-only social networking site is busy going after another sophisticated, most-likely-well-educated, professional, or at least famous crowd -- the BlackBerry set. Need proof? Look no further than the new mobile Facebook application for BlackBerry from Research in Motion (RIM), the device's creator/manufacturer.

The new app lets you do the essentials on the social networking site. For example, if you've got a camera equipped Pearl or Curve, you can upload photos, "poke" (a suggestive term for text message), send mail, and post on users' virtual walls. According to early reports from the CTIA conference, the app is just about as fast as the mobile Web version, but much prettier.

Due out by year's end, the app will come pre-installed on new BlackBerrys, making it even easier for all your co-workers to try and get in on your private life and network, so no more drunken' pictures of you making out with a stranger on the barstool, y'all!

BlackBerry owners: Is this going help you take the plunge and finally get on Facebook, or, if you're already a Facebook member, do you think this will turn you into a Crack-Berry-head?

From Research in Motion (RIM) (via BetaNews)

Related Links:

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The juggernaut of new iPhone-killers continues on a pace with today's official unveiling of the Samsung BlackJack II, which will be out for AT&T by the end of the year. None other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer walked his audience through the super-slim smart phone's first public appearance.

The first BlackJack was super-slim and sexy, but ran on that pesky and sometimes glitchy Windows Mobile 5 operating system. The BlackJack II is just as slim and sexy (and comes in two different, two-toned color schemes), but runs on the more powerful and stable Windows Mobile 6.

Compared to the iPhone (and the original BlackJack), the BlackJack II boasts a seriously impressive list of features, including:

• AT&T Video Share, which lets you do live, one-way videoconferencing with other AT&T-Video-Share-enabled phones.
  
  
• Built-in GPS and TeleNav GPS Navigator software that can reroute you if you get lost.
  
  
• A 2.0 megapixel camera that doubles as a camcorder.
  
  
• An RSS Reader
  
  
• World-phone high-speed 3G capability (UMTS/HSDPA) for data, downloading, and Web surfing.
  
  
• An improved speakerphone.
  
  
• Microsoft Direct Push with Outlook Mobile, for faster reception of most types of e-mail (plus over-the-air syncing of contacts, tasks, and calendar appointments).
  
  
• XM Radio Mobile (requires $8.99 per month subscription)
  
  
• AT&T Mobile Music (direct-to-phone Napster, eMusic, and the like)
  
  
• AT&T's TV streaming service.
  

The BlackJack II -- out by the end of the year for $149.99 (with a two-year AT&T contract) -- is just one of many new smart phones to hit the market, but it's the second major one to include Windows Mobile 6, which we have to say we've been enjoying with the HTC Touch we're testing out. More smart phones will be announced in the days to come, no doubt, from the CTIA conference in San Francisco. We'll keep you posted.

How about you? Would you buy this phone over the iPhone?

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