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Tag: mobile-world-congress

  • TuneWiki Adds Lyrics To Mobile Streaming Radio







    TuneWiki is taking the idea of giving listeners lyrics to go with their mobile music a stage further by extending it to streaming radio.

    The social media player already offers audio and video while displaying synchronized or translated lyrics.

    Smartphone-biz.news spoke to Chad Kouse, VP of R&D and CIO of the US-based developers, at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    He said the streaming internet radio service would allow users to search by genre and select from thousands of global radio stations.

    But more interestingly, he said it would also give listeners the ability to add lyrics to songs – even if they "tuned in" mid-way through a track.

    "This is the first time anyone has put lyrics and album work on streaming radio," he said.

    The free media enhancement application is available for Google Android, but TuneWiki expects to release it for BlackBerry, J2ME, Symbian and Windows Mobile devices by April.

    The advanced player also features translation, music maps and a social network.

    This music-based network allows users to share music information with friends – what they are playing in real time and allows friends to send feedback to the handset.

    TuneWiki displays music maps that show songs playing in the same GPS location and can navigate the map to any other location in the world to see what’s playing there.





    It also creates music charts that shows top songs in GPS location, or of any country or state.

    Kouse said TuneWiki has had over 2 million downloads of its software since launching fully eight months ago.

    It is also possible to download TuneWiki onto jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches and Kouse said the team are currently working on Palm.

    TuneWiki’s goal is to have lyrics always on, always available, always synchronized to music – on any device that can play music back and connect to the internet.

    He said a community-based effort was the way to put music and lyrics together.

    See below a short video demonstration from MWC.

    TuneWiki has also negotiated a partnership with a major music publishers association that grants it the rights to stream lyrics for almost 2 million songs – ensuring the legal use of many submitted lyrics.

    Those that fall outside the licensing remit are protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which allows unlicensed lyrics to be uploaded, unless the rights-owner asks for a take-down.

  • Mobile Makers Pushing Hard for 1080p Video Content on Handsets


    The global economy may be suffering but that doesn’t mean the drive for technological advancement draws to a complete halt.

    At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, On2 Technologies’ director of marketing, Tony Hope, told hdtv-biz.news about the push to bring high-def video content to mobile devices.

    He said the demand from handset manufacturers for 1080p content was growing – and by necessity they are looking two or three years ahead.

    "Almost every handset manufacturer wants to support HD video content on their mobile devices," he said.

    "The view is that two to three years down the road, 1080p decoding will be supported on these devices – and not just decoding but encoding for video and pictures as well."

    Based in Clifton Park, NY, On2 has positioned itself at the forefront of video compression technology and during MWC announced a 1080p video encoder for battery operated devices and consumer electronics.

    The new hardware design, the Hantro 8270, supports H.264 Baseline, Main and High Profile video along with 16Mpixel JPEG still images.

    Hope said On2 could easily be described as "one of the more popular companies that people have never heard of".

    The company’s video compression technologies – including its VP6 codec – are on hundreds of millions of mobiles with Nokia among its customers.

    "We’ve been developing our own compression technology for the last 15 years," he said. "And our VP6 is one of the most popular codecs on the planet."

    With the likes of NVIDIA – with it Tegra APX 2600 chipset – and Texas Instruments – with its OMAP 3 platfrom and plans for a chip that handles 1080p – working feverishly on HD technology, the pace for 1080p certainly seems to be quickening.

  • Growing Appeal of Memory Card Movies For Mobiles


    Watching movies on smartphones has in the past had its drawbacks – picture quality, screen size and memory limitations among the most obvious.

    Those are fading rapidly but it seems that delivering video content to mobiles is occupying a lot of people’s attention.

    In the US Alltel Wireless is offering buyers of the new touchscreen Samsung Delve a free 2 GB microSD memory card if they buy the handset before April 16.

    What makes the offer interesting is that Paramount Pictures will put the Mission: Impossible trilogy on the card.

    At last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, smartphone-biz-news spoke to Marine Desoutter, marketing manager with Mobilclip, about its video compression technology that puts movies on memory cards.

    She said the French company has distributed over 100 movie titles worldwide on Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung handsets.

    "Mobile video consumers have not had an optimal experience with video quality on their devices," she said.

    "To change their perception and really deliver on expectations that video quality on mobile devices must match TV or PC quality, the same experience needs to be delivered."

    Desoutter said Mobiclip memory card movies provided full screen display on QVGA handsets (320×240 pixels), 25 frames per second and highly optimized codec for lower battery consumption.

    The memory cards can be used on any handset with a card slot running Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Palm or Linux operating systems.

    Certainly the quality of the video can’t be faulted but whether movie deals bundled with mobiles will become a standard feature in the near future remains to be seen.

    A survey just released suggests that embedded content is an increasingly strong influence in swaying consumers’ mobile purchase decisions.

    So perhaps the offer of some blockbuster movies on a memory card will be equally persuasive.

    We’d be interested in hearing if you think that’s so.

  • 7 Start-ups To Watch From Mobile World Congress 2009


    The big names of the mobile world occupied vast stands at MWC in Barcelona – but some of the most interesting and innovative products, applications and technologies came from start-ups.
    Smartphone.biz-news has pulled together some of the enterprising newbies that are likely to make a big impact in the future, including video interviews and photos.

    Irish start-up Dial2Do created quite a stir at this year’s Mobile World Congress.
    The Dublin-based company lets you do various tasks on your mobile simply by calling a number and speaking.
    So you can send email or text messages, record reminders, post updates to Twitter or Jaiku stream or even listen to internet content – all while driving your car.

    The Lisbon, Portugal-based start-up wizi has developed an instant location sharing application, with the focus firmly on on individual networks.
    The free mobile app allows you to share your location instantly by e-mail or SMS.

    TuneWiki is a the music playback app that shows Karaoke-like lyrics and album art on almost all  the music on a phone. It has features like searching YouTube for videos of tracks, plus searching its database for certain song lyrics if users only remember part of a song.
    Watch below a short video demo.

    ART has developed interference cancellation technology with the potential to dramatically improve 3G call connectivity and mobile broadband download rates. Crucially, the Texas-based company says the solution doesn’t require additional network investment but will allow twice as many users to connect in the same 3G coverage area.

    MEEPASS has a developed cutting edge mobile identification solution with a secure ID tag. It works on any mobile phone and uses a 2D barcode that verifies a user’s identity without the need for the handset to be network connected. Watch below a short video demonstration

    French start-up Kapsys has developed a voice-activated GPS for city dwellers that can be used to walk, bike, roller blade, scoot or take public transport. It is also a an MP3 player, a radio and a mobile phone receiver via Bluetooth.
    See below a short video demonstration of the Kapsys device.

    Modu has designed a potentially-groundbreaking sleek and light mobile device that slips into a variety of so-called "jackets" – music players, other cellphones, car stereos, digital cameras, etc.
    See below a short video demonstration.

  • Nokia's New Handsets To Feature Skype


    It seems that eBay-owned Skype has the knack of always living up to its promises – at least if its new deal with mobile giant Nokia is anything to go by.

    Skype is linking up with Nokia to embed its calling software in the Finnish company’s new handsets, writes Aftab Bashir for VoIP.biz-news.

    The pair announced the deal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.

    It will see Nokia integrating Skype on its N97 handset by Q3 2009, and also in other N-series devices.

    Skype is to be integrated in handset address books and will give users access to online Skype contacts.

    Callers will also be able to use Skype’s instant-messaging client.

    N97 owners will be able to make low-cost and free calls over the internet, using either Wi-Fi or 3G.

    Skype-to-Skype calls are free while calls to mobile phones and landlines from Skype will be charged at low rates, according to the company.

    Nokia isn’t alone in announcing this type of arrangement at MWC – Sony Ericsson has also revealed that it is to add new Skype panels in its Xperia X1 Windows Mobile device.

    The panel will open Skype on the Xperia and offer presence, IM and calling functionality.

    The addition of Skype in handsets is being seen as a boon for international travelers as well as domestic users.

    As with many other VoIP providers, Skype is intent on driving down rates for international mobile calling.

  • Truphone Unveils First Multi-country Mobile Service


    Truphone has unveiled its plans for a single-SIM, multi-country mobile service that will enable users to make calls in supported countries at local rates.

    The mobile communications company says a key aim of the Local Anywhere service is to eliminate the hassle of switching SIM cards or the expense of often-exorbitant roaming charges when callers use their handsets on foreign trips.

    Truphone claims that the new service, which will launch in September, will offer up to 80 per cent savings on roaming charges when visiting other countries.

    Users can chose from 5 up to a mind-boggling 49 different telephone numbers, with a sliding scale subscription based on how many numbers are chosen.

    Making the announcement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Geraldine Wilson, Truphone’s CEO, said the service was intended to get rid of the need for people to juggle multiple devices and phone numbers to avoid paying roaming charges.

    "Our customers are telling us they want one phone, one SIM and one plan," she said.

    Additional Truphone Local Anywhere features and cost savings include:

    • number portability of existing mobile and landline numbers to Truphone
    • full service multi-language customer support
    • ability to manage their Caller ID (CLI)
    • competitive rates on domestic calls, SMS, and data in home country
    • low-cost international calling to the world from any Truphone Local Anywhere-supported country
    • no roaming surcharges to receive calls in most major destinations
    • TruFriends – providing even lower calling rates to call to other Truphone Local Anywhere customers
    • additional "virtual" country mobile numbers to seem ‘local’ in another country so friends/colleagues can call at local rates.

  • Can MEEPASS's Mobile Tag Replace Credit Cards and ID?


    French software developer MTag has just launched its cutting edge mobile identification solution MEEPASS at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    The secure ID tag works on any mobile phone and uses a 2D barcode that verifies a user’s identity without the need for the handset to be network connected.

    The idea is that rather than carrying a wallet full of credit cards and ID, users’ mobile phones act as a single source of verified and secure identification.

    Christian François Viala, marketing director for MTag, said the software functioned without any connection costs and didn’t use a Near Field Communication chip – so removing the Big Brother effect often associated with this type of technology.

    He told smartphone.biz-news that although MEEPASS was a new product the technology had been tried and tested with the company’s mobiletag barcode reader software.

    Mobiletag enables a mobile to read 2D barcodes or tags using the phone’s camera – redirecting users to content, information or a service.

    The software has been is widely used in France and Poland and is ready for deployment in Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK.

    With MEEPASS, the solution creates a one-off 2D barcode ID tag to identify the user in situations ranging from payment transactions, loyalty programmes, ticketing and couponing.

    "Why continue to carry several credit cards, loyalty cards, tickets and coupons when all you have to do is use your mobile to identify yourself instead?" said Viala.

    MEEPASS uses private/public crypted RSA key 1024 bit technology and is downloaded by users, who then register with a personal PIN code.

    MTag has just opened an office in Atlanta, Georgia and as part of its expansion drive targeting the US market.

  • Location Sharing Start-up Wizi Sees Google Latitude As Challenge


    For a start-up like Wizi having Google launch a competing product might seem like the kiss of death.

    Not so with the Lisbon, Portugal-based developers who have welcomed the launch of Google’s Latitude as a way of bringing attention to their instant location sharing application.

    The free mobile application allows you to share your location instantly by e-mail or SMS.

    André Gonçalves, Wizi’s marketing manager told smartphone.biz-news that they saw Latitude’s launch as a challenge and an opportunity to let consumers find out about their product.

    He said Wizi’s focus was on individual networks rather than social networks and the app is typically used to tell friends your location or where you are going to meet.

    "We are something like Latitude but a bit different," he said. "Our focus is on instant location sharing.

    "We cannot compete with Latitude but it is a challenge to tell people how our app is useful to them."

    Locations can be shared between Wizi users or with an email or SMS.

    Privacy is a key feature and visibility is totally controlled by the user: with the option to become invisible to friends or disable the link to a location map.

    Wizi works on Windows Mobile or J2ME compatible devices but versions are in the pipeline for Blackberry, Android and the iPhone.

    Wizi for the Apple handset has already been used by a restricted community of early adopters who volunteered to be part of the Beta Testing Program.

    Another feature of Wizi is recommending the best routes when driving in the city using traffic data collected in real time by its community, helping to save time and the environment.

    Gonçalves said they are currently talking to handset manufacturers and operators. The former were interested because Wizi was a useful add-on to show the potential of the latest phones.

    He said the latter saw Wizi as an opportunity to increase ARPU.

    Wizi will be launching Brazil this year and the start-up is in discussions with operators in Spain and the US.

  • ART's Breakthrough Technology Promises Uninterrupted High-speed Mobile Broadband


    Advanced Receiver Technologies (ART) has launched interference cancellation technology which has the potential to dramatically improve 3G call connectivity and mobile broadband download rates.

    Crucially, the Texas-based company says the solution doesn’t require additional network investment but will allow twice as many users to connect in the same 3G coverage area.

    It can do all this while maintaining broadband connectivity throughout the entire cell – including tripling data transfer speeds at cell edge.

    The solution tackles the problem of inter and intra cell interference, which can reduce 3G network capacity by 50 per cent – and can restrict the data transfer rate at cell edge by 70 per cent.

    The Single Antenna Interference cancellation-Joint Detection (SAIC-JD) is embedded into the baseband chip within a handset.

    UPDATE: ART has just been announced as the winner of the GSMA’s 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Award competition’s EMEA tournament for the most innovative true mobile start-Up.

    David Clifton, ART’s co-founder and VP, told smartphone.biz-news that the solution would allow network operators to double capacity, improve voice call connectivity and offer continuous high-speed broadband to 3G users.

    He said it effectively meant a "better user experience and seamless high-speed data coverage".

    "We have had nothing but positive feeback," said Clifton.

    "The technical people are still sceptical, but that’s going to be the case when something is almost too good to be true."

    Testing of the technology is due to be completed in June and Clifton said it would then take between 6-12 months for handset manufacturers, chip makers and operators to bring the solution to market.

    Jacob Goldman, ART’s VP of business development, said the company’s partners were smartphone manufacturers.

    He said SAIC-JD enabled high-speed connection throughout the cell – something that was not currently possible unless a user was standing still or under the tower.

    "A smartphone can never work properly if the handset is moving. The only way it can work properly is to have interference cancellation technology," he said.

  • Dial2Do Making Hands-free Mobile Tasks Simple


    Irish start-up Dial2Do are creating quite a stir at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

    The Dublin-based company lets you do various tasks on your mobile simply by calling a number and speaking.

    So you can send email or text messages, record reminders, post updates to Twitter or Jaiku stream or even listen to internet content – all while driving your car.

    Ivan MacDonald, Dial2Do’s CEO, told smartphone.biz-news that the service was designed to be easy and handsfree.

    He said typical users were commuters who wanted to make the most of the their drive time to get get tasks done.

    Currently available in 20 countries around the world it so far only comes in an English language version, but MacDonald said a Spanish service was coming shortly.