Tuxtops

Prices of mobile phones will drop sharply over coming years with $20 handsets available to consumers as early as 2007, chip companies said on Tuesday.

Cingular Wireless on Tuesday officially launched its third-generation network, which it says will give mobile customers high-speed Internet access while on the road.

A patent infringement battle between the maker of BlackBerry and a patent holding company, might cause a service shutdown.

Sharp Electronics is shipping what is claimed to be the first Japanese Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone. The W-Zero3 features a full VGA display, a slideout QWERTY keyboard, and a 1.3 Mpixel camera, and will initially be offered in Japan by wireless operator Willcom Inc.

ToothMote is an application to control Linux computers using a BlueTooth-enabled cell phone. It provides a basis for communicating with a connected cell phone, and then uses a plugin architecture to easily expand the amount of functionality it provides. Other similar applications are Salling Clicker for Mac OS X and Bluemote for Linux.

To use NAND flash memory or miniature hard disk drives (HDDs)? That is the question many gadget makers ask themselves when designing a new product today.

The Nokia 6233 and 6282 were announced today at an annual investor meeting. They both have a QVGA screen, camera, Bluetooth.

As the beta of Skype 2.0 hits virtual shelves, video calls are added to the popular software's voice and instant messaging features. Also on tap: presence integration with TypePad blogs.

One of the world's largest global computing consulting firms has entered the market for embedded Linux mobile phone OSes. Wipro Technologies, of Bangalore, India, says its Linux-based Aqua mobile phone reference framework has been successfully deployed on Renesas's SH-Mobile line of application processors for 2.5G and 3G mobile phones.

An embedded software specialist has ported Linux to a rugged PDA targeting military, transportation, industrial, and public service applications. SDG Systems will resell the Tripod Data Systems "Recon" PDA pre-installed with Linux.