Mobile-Station

Yesterday, Motorola announced the world’s first WiMAX USB adapter, USBw 100. Coming in size as a regular 3G USB modem, the device will be available in three versions, each operating at a different frequency (2.3GHz, 2.5GHz and 3.5 GHz) that is used on WiMAX networks around the world.

Apparently, the device will work on virtually all laptops produced withing the last five years, though we’re not sure about the Linux support at this stage. Hopefully that will also be fixed in the coming months.

And that’s about all we know at this stage. Plus there’s a release date, which is slated for the fourth quarter of the year. Pricing is unknown, but I’ve no doubts carriers will subsidize the USBw 100 to get users to sign-up contracts…

[Via: Unwired View]

California-based luxury handheld device accessory designer, Sena Cases, has recently announced the launch of two new case designs for the iPhone 3G. Apparently, the cases are “precisely handcrafted by leather artisans in Europe,” and each is developed from the finest Italian Napa leather. A total of seven iPhone 3G cases is currently being offered by Sena, including the latest two cases:

• The Sena Dockable Case - premium leather flip-top case specially designed to work with the docking station while offering full functionality of the iPhone. It has a snap closure to hold the iPhone secure and protected. Retail price: $52.00.
• The Sena MagnetFlipper Case - practical flip-style case. The cover is engineered with a hinged bottom and magnetic fastening system at the top. Retail price: $52.00.

Other Sena Cases iPhone 3G cases include Elega Pouch, WalletSkin, WalletBook, UltraSlim Pouch and LeatherSkin case. All cases are offered in a variety of classic leather colors, and more information is available from here.

Nokia 5800 Tube has been caught in the wild, again. The 3.2-inch 640×360 screen equipped touchscreen device is eagerly expected to hit the marketplace. We’ve already seen it exposed in the past and now we have about a dozen new images to show you. What Nokia waits is beyond me. All other handset makers are out with their touchscreen device offerings, after all… Keep reading after the jump for more real life photos.

[Source: Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

Swiss luxury designer and jeweler Knalihs Athem has recently unveiled its latest “mobile creation” - a diamond encrusted Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. The exclusive limited edition device is encrusted with more than a thousand finest quality brilliant cut diamonds that weigh 6.75 carats in total.

Each device will be accompanied by the official diamond grading report from a gemological lab. Additionally, buyers will be able to personalize the phone with such things as name, initials, logo, etc.

Only 20 Diamond Encrusted Nokia 8800s will be made and the price starts from $20,000.

[Source: slashphone]

Music-enabled mobile phones are selling like crazy these days. LG knows that and it keeps pushing new music phones to the marketplace. We’ve just caught the new model Korean giant is launching in Russia - KP265.

The LG KP265 is a basic phone with pre-installed music player. The active-lifestyle-looking slider sports a 1.3 megapixel camera, 262K color TFT screen, and a microSD slot. And that’s it - there’s nothing special about the phone, aside from the music playback capabilities. I would expect to see Russia’s MTS selling the KP265 starting from free on a contract…

[Source: Unwired View]

How many of you out there were thinking you’d just hold off on scoring yourself an Phone 3G for a week or so in hopes of avoiding those multi-hour lines? Bad news, folks. Daring Fireball has found, after a bit of detective-work, that iPhone 3G supplies in the US are virtually bone-dry. Following on reports that iPhone 3G shortages were hitting US retail channels, it seems almost all iPhone 3G supplies are near-empty.

Stocks have dwindled down to just one 8GB iPhone 3G in Hawaii, one 16GB Black iPhone 3G in California, and just a single 16GB White iPhone 3G in Apple’s flagship Manhattan store. It’s safe to say that demand has far outpaced Apple’s allotted supply in the US. We’d have thought that Apple would concentrate enough resources on the US market to keep shelves stocked with iPhone 3Gs, but not even the great Steve Jobs foresaw iPhone demand as great, if not greater, than with the first-generation iPhone’s initial launch.

So, to all you wait-and-seers out there - tough cookies. You’ll have to wait for the next shipment of iPhone 3G stock to get your hands on a new iPhone. Oh, and those lines you hoped to avoid? They’ll be there waiting for you when Apple re-stocks their US stores.

Check iPhone availability online

[Via: Daring Fireball]

Motorola just can’t seem to catch a break these days. With their handset business fighting hard to keep from being sucked down the drain, Motorola needs all the help it can get to keep from being banished to mobile phone oblivion. The firm has seen a significant churn rate in its executive management team, and Motorola’s not going to take all those defections lying down. 

Motorola’s former head of marketing in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia) region, Michael Fenger, recently jumped ship to take up a position as Apple’s Vice President of global iPhone sales. That would have been all well and good, except Fenger had apparently signed a non-competition agreement prohibiting him from working for any of Moto’s competition within two year as of his leaving the company. And, that’s just the soft spot Motorola’s legal team needed for a solid bite.

Motorola claims that Fenger “privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives, allocation of resources, product development, multiyear product, business and talent planning and strategies being used by Motorola.” And, with all the trouble Moto’s handset division has been having of late, they need to protect every aspect of their business. The company is asking for $1 million from Fenger and a court-order banning him from working for Apple for two years.

We’ll keep an eye on the latest developments in this lawsuit. This should be interesting.

[Source: Reuters]

Cellphones have been blamed for everything from killing honey bees to frazzling our neurons with their deadly electromagnetic radiation. And, with the increasing penetration of mobile phone in all parts of the world, it’s not hard to draw casual correlations between cellphone use and all manner of deadly diseases and fatal events. But, there’s a critical distinction between a correlation and causation - just because Little Bo Peep was eating curds and whey when she was attacked by that infamous spider does not mean those curds caused the spider-clash.

Still, some scientists in Russia haven’t let the correlative vs. causative argument stop them from jumping to the conclusion that over a dozen recent-deaths due to lightning strikes were caused by cellphones.

The past two weeks has seen more than a dozen Russians struck down by searing bolts of sky-bound electricity, with the most recent death happening just last week. Reports indicate that at least some of these people were using cellphones or portable music players when they were hit by lightning - leading some to believe that the electromagnetic fields surrounding these gadgets are directly causing the lighting strikes.

Leonid Tarkov of the weather observation center FOBOS believes that electronics are the cause of these increased lightning strikes. “These things are electromagnetic field carriers,” said Tarkov. “That makes them, in essence, conductors. Thunderbolts are frequently attracted to such things, and hits are often connected with a lethal outcome.”

Fortunately, most in the scientific community realize that cellphones are most likely not the direct cause of lightning strikes. The weak electromagnetic fields generated by portable electronics are not powerful enough to guide or attract massively charged lightning bolts, and most scientists reject the idea that a mobile phone’s electromagnetism can attract a lightning strike. But, they do acknowledge that any metallic objects could make lightning strikes more likely.

[Source: CNN]

There’s just something about sticking it to “the man.” Sure, jailbreaking an iPhone is sticking “it” to Steve Jobs, which is or isn’t as satisfying (depending on your point of view) as sticking it to more prominent authorities. But, it sure beats sitting back and taking what they give you.

The latest iPhone jailbreak solution went live yesterday in the form of the iPhone Dev Team’s Pwnge Tool 2.0 - the successor to the original fool-proof jailbreak solution Pwnage Tool. Pwnage Tool 2.0 basically allows you to gain full read-write access (the “jailbreak”) to your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPhone 3G by modifying the firmware file to accept third-party code. The Pwnage Tool 2.0 can jailbreak, activate, and unlock the first-generation iPhone, but falls short of unlocking the iPhone 3G. (Keep in mind that iPhones with v1.1.4 firmware or earlier can still use the original, more user-friendly Pwnage Tool or iLiberty/ZiPhone to get to jailbreak-heaven).

Still, as a jailbreak solution for the iPhone 3G, there isn’t really any better method than the Pwnage Tool 2.0. That is, as long as you’re command line-savvy and have the fortitude to brave a process that could potentially leave you with a glossy iBrick 3G.

While the Pwnage Tool 2.0 represents the latest and greatest iPhone 3G jailbreak solution, most users will want to steer clear of the application until the iPhone Dev Team can sort out the bugs and streamline the process so that even novice iPhone 3G users can get their jailbreak on.  The iPhone Dev Team has done an incredible job in getting the iPhone 3G jailbreak tool out in to the wild on such short order, but there’s still some ironing-out that needs to be done.

I’ve had friends and family approach me with advice on how to apply the latest jailbreak tool on their iPhone 3G, and I gave them the same piece of advice I’m giving all of you - wait for the iPhone Dev Team to release the super-official Pwnage Tool 2.0 Bug-free/User-friendly Edition. Or don’t, and make sure to let me know how it went.