Sharp finally shuts down the Zaurus

We first reported almost a year ago that Sharp was shutting down the venerable Zaurus PDA line but apparently that was premature.  The Zaurus has been around for at least ten years and has long been an outstanding piece of engineering from Sharp.  We were very impressed with the last Zaurus we reviewed, the SL-C3000, as it stood the test of time and was an incredibly useful device.  There are enthusiasts all over the world devoted to the Zaurus line and developers are still producing software for it.  Word is out that it is official finally, Sharp has pulled the plug on the Zaurus.  She will be missed.

ST-NXP combines 3G, UMA support on single chipset

ST-NXP might not be a household name, but they're under the hood of phones you would recognize. The company has shipped over 120 million EDGE chipsets but knows that the future is in 3G and beyond. That explains the new 7210 UMA chipset the company just announced. They claim it's the first single chipset solution that combines 3G connectivity with support for UMA, or Unlicensed Mobile Access. UMA is used to seamlessly move cellular phone calls over to wireless networks like WiFi, which benefits consumers by using fewer calling plan minutes. Of course, it helps the carriers too since it offloads traffic from their cellular network.

The 7210 UMA isn't just a voice and data chipset though. ST-NXP is packaging it in a "Cellular System Solution" for handset makers, offering the following features:

• ARM926-based GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS platform
• Fully integrated 3 Megapixel camera-sensor interface
• Display sizes up to QVGA resolution and 18-bit color
• Video recording and playback: H.263, MPEG-4 30 fps CIF
• Video playback: H.264 15 fps QCIF
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA

Last I checked, T-Mobile's UMA service (known as Hotspot @Home) only worked with a few handsets like the BlackBerry Curve and Samsung Katalyst, so perhaps the range of devices will be expanded more quickly based on the news.

Global calling gets more mobile and less cellular

It's no secret that landlines are getting replaced by mobile phones. As soon as Verizon lights up the dark fiber they put in my front lawn five months, I'm cutting the landline cord myself. Unless I keep running out of juice on the mobile phone that is. So if phone calls are generally moving from fixed lines to mobile lines, is there any impact on international calls? Turns out that the trend follows suit, perhaps even more so thanks to low cost VoIP or other web-based global call rates. The report from TeleGeography shows that 45% of all international calls are mobile to mobile and we've seen a number of companies launch web voice services at low costs.

The report timing just happens to coincide with more relevant news from TruPhone. Earlier this month, the company launched their voice calling client for a non-phone in the iPod Touch. However the iPod client was limited to other TruPhone members on the iPod Touch or Nokia handsets. Today, TruPhone announced a new feature for the client, enabling your iPod Touch to call any mobile phone or landline in the world over WiFi at reduced calling rates.

Mobile phone shipments drop 58% in Japan

You don't have to look far to find signs of the poor economic climate.  The global climate is as bad as it's been in a very long time and it seems each day we hear another indication that points to how bad it really is.  Forbes has reported that mobile phone sales are down 58% in Japan, a staggering decrease in phone shipments.  Japan is typically one of the hottest markets globally and this decrease is staggering.  This huge drop in phone shipments makes the recent Nokia decision to pull out of Japan understandable.

We often complain in the US about the business model we have to live with where carriers subsidize the phones in exchange for long contracts.  We might want to think twice about that according to Forbes based on what experts blame for the Japanese phone slump:

The figures underscore the deepening slump in Japan's mobile phone market following the industry-wide introduction of a new business model under which carriers charge more for handsets in return for lower calling fees.

Palm at CES: super-Nova or white dwarf?

There's quite the buzz over a Business Week story today on Palm and their new Nova operating system. Word is that Palm will uncover Nova in a few short weeks at CES; we've got our invites, so we'll see what the "new-ness" is all about. Based on a couple of excerpts from the BW article, I've got a few insights as to where this is heading but that's speculation on my part. It's far to early to say if the new Palm platform will shine like a super-nova or peter-out like a like a white dwarf.

Handango to sell online software in Best Buy stores- huh?

Handango has long been one of the biggest online retailers for software for PDAs and phones.  They offer apps for Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Palm and S60 devices.  Their announcement details a new deal to sell software in the Best Buy brick and mortar stores.  They will have a special branded version of their online store, In-HandT, that will dispense programs using Best Buy's Mobile Genie point-of-sale system.  This will let customers browse and purchase programs which are then downloaded directly to the customer's device.  Kind of like you can do now with Handango's online store even outside of Best Buy.

Live Sync for Mac is back. What's with the remote access setting?

Yesterday, Microsoft launched Windows Live Sync, a new service that takes the place of the older FolderShare application that's been around for several years. While the cross-platform support of Live Sync is welcome, Mac owners saw immediate problems. A few hours after launching, it was apparent that the service wasn't ready for Mac OS X and the Live Sync team blogged an update last night that we shared:

"Hi Sync friends. We've found a problem that is causing sign-in to take longer than expected and in some cases causing sign-in to fail. We're actively working on fixing this problem and expect to have it fixed for most of our users very soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience. - The Sync Team"

A few hours ago, one of our readers noticed a more positive update. Terry Tigner noticed that the Sync Team posted the following message indicating that the issue was resolved:

"Hi Sync friends.Thank you for your patience while we investigated the sign-in issue. We have now fixed this issue and the service has now recovered. If you have the Mac client you should download the updated Mac client (http://sync.live.com/clientdownload.aspx) in order to connect. Thank you for your continued support."

I tried the old client just to see if it work but no such luck. Following the Live Sync team's instructions then, I grabbed a new version of the client and it's working perfectly fine. Good to see this get addressed quickly! One thing I've noticed in the settings but haven't had time to try just yet: remote access to devices. Live Sync is sounding more and more like Live Mesh, so I'm curious how it fits in to Microsoft's business and service model.

I'm taking my phone off "the grid", who's with me?

It's about time for another crazy mobile experiment. Last time was my 60-day "web-challenge" where I tried to use only a browser for my daily computing tasks. It went quite well, but indicated to me that web services still have plenty of room to mature. So what's the new challenge? This one fits in with our household efforts to be more "green" in our care for the environment.

In 2005, we sold a gas-guzzling truck and opted for a new hybrid vehicle. In 2007, we swapped out over two-dozen incandescent bulbs with CCFLs and saw a huge drop in our electricity usage. Earlier this year, we purchased and installed a solar-powered attic fan and we're on the verge of composting our organic food waste. Since I use mobile devices all day, I decided to take a solar-powered approach to further reduce our electricity consumption so here's the challenge: I'm taking my handheld devices off the grid for the next 60 days. Or at least, that's what I'm going to try.

Windows Live Sync arrives as FolderShare fades away

We knew that Windows Live Sync was on the way since Microsoft announced last month that it would replace FolderShare with the new Live service. LiveSide.net says that today's the day you can get your first look at Live Sync and decide for yourself if and how it competes with Live Mesh... also by Microsoft.

Live Sync supports Windows and Mac devices so you can synchronize files and data between your multiple machines. How much synching can you do? Up to 20 folders and each folder can hold 20,000 files. Live Sync also integration with the Recycle Bin; I'll have check and see exactly how that works across platforms. If you're interested, you can grab the software here and start synching your data. Current FolderShare users should be prompted to upgrade to Live Sync. Don't worry, according to the FAQ's, you won't lose any FolderShare data and your data libraries will automatically be rebuilt on the Live servers.

Update: The Live Sync team issued a blog comment addressing the application issues around 8:30pm ET. "Hi Sync friends. We've found a problem that is causing sign-in to take longer than expected and in some cases causing sign-in to fail. We're actively working on fixing this problem and expect to have it fixed for most of our users very soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience. - The Sync Team

Ericsson broadband modules work with Intel notebook kill-switch via SMS

Is everyone suddenly losing their notebooks? Last week, we heard about Laptop Cop which can track and access a stolen or misplace laptop. Today, it's Ericsson and their Mobile Broadband Modules that work with Intel's Anti-Theft PC Protection. The modules provide standard wireless broadband for data using HSPA technology so they can also receive an SMS text message in the case of a lost lappy. The message will then trigger the Intel Anti-Theft functionality and can render the hardware pretty much useless by locking it up. It won't get you notebook back, but that priceless data is kept from prying eyes. You did remember to store the data somewhere else for backup purposes, right?