Alltel Wireless seems to be pampering parents lately with new tools to protect their children from any threats.

Following the recent release of Alltel Parental Controls, the wireless network has launched another product called Axcess Family Finder.

In a nutshell, this GPS service gives parents up-to-the-minute and exact location via mobile phone or the Internet. This will provide parents power to locate their children and monitor them on a real time basis. While this wireless network focuses on tracking children, this is also a good tool for monitoring the whereabouts of other family members like your sneaky husband or wife.

This tracking service is also equipped with interactive maps to easily monitor the specific locations. It is very helpful if a parent is monitoring 2 or more children. Moreover, parents can specify the areas where their children frequently stay like school, parks or a friend’s house.

Maybe because Alltel Wireless knows that many parents are sometimes forgetful, there is also a feature called Scheduled Checks allowing parents to indicate the location to track at a particular time – a good way to check if the children are sticking to their schedules.

A service fee of $10 per month is required for each child you want to track. Maximum registration per user is 10.

There are only 3 steps to get this service:

Via mocoNews

If you’ve been wanting to publish your social site, media site or blog content on the mobile web but don’t want to trouble yourself on the nitty gritty of the procedure, you’ll be glad to know about Bango’s “Get on my Mobile” service. Bango, a mobile solutions provider which specialize in helping businesses, brands and individuals establish “mobile web presence”, has launched the “Get on my Mobile” content push service.

Bango’s “Get on my Mobile” which works perfectly with popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Bebo, Friendster, LinkedIn, Blogger, Orkut and Wordpress, links your PC to the mobile web.

Pushing your content such as photos and music file into the mobile web can be easily done via a Bango button that you create on the Bango site. You can link the Bango button directly into a photo stored on your PC website. Bango automatically resizes the photo depending on the mobile phone models that is being used by a user to browse your content.

The “Get On My Mobile” Bango button is free for anyone. To create your own Bango button, just go to www.bango.com and insert the generated code into your website next to the content you want to share on the mobile web. When somebody visits your website, facebook profile or any other social media accounts, they will be given a unique short URL which they will enter into their mobile phone’s web browser to view your content.

The Bango button can also provide you with revenue opportunity via a corresponding charge that is attached to your mobile content. You can also link your Bango button to a mobile website or to mobile versions of social media sites such as YouTube or Flickr. Likewise, the Bango button can also be attached to an email that you can send to your friends and networks.

In an effort to bridge its wireless and landline services, communications services company EMBARQ has launched a Text-to-Landline service to give their wireless customers the power to send text messages to any landline phones nationwide.

The company’s unique technology translates text messages to voice messages so it will be recognized by the landline services. The landline recipient can respond to the sender using voice messages. Recipients can also use the pre-programmed phrases like “yes,” “no” and “where are you” as their text response. The system will then notify the wireless sender that there is an incoming voice message.

Moreover, it can understand the so-called simple texting language or codes like “BRB (Be Right Back)”, “LOL (laugh out loud)” and “B4N (Bye For Now)” and translate it to full words to avoid any confusion.

To verify if the text message via sent wireless phone is delivered, EMBARQ will always send a confirmation message to the customer. With regard to price, customers need to pay the standard text message fees.

Text messaging is now an essential service for millions of mobile users around the globe. Popular in the teens and young professionals, about 160 million text messages were sent last year.

However, I doubt if this service can significantly expand the volume of text messages. It’s unique but I don’t see its value to the customers. With about 84% of the U.S. population using mobile phones at the end of this year, the need to send text messages via landline is a bit redundant.

Nokia’s latest model in the N-Series mobile is definitely a multimedia device in the true sense of the word multimedia. It can match up with a decent digital point-and-shoot camera, a mobile computer, and a GPS device. These features were so highlighted that it would seem Nokia may have forgotten to include mobile features in the Nokia N82. Fortunately, the N82 doesn’t fall short of the most latest Nokia mobile phone in terms of features and functionalities.

N82 as a digital camera

Equipped with a 5.0 megapixel camera, Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, who would have at first that the N82 is actually a mobile phone? Those features are enough to give the most decent digital point-and-shoot a camera a fierce competition.

“With the Nokia N82 we have reached such a superior level in image quality, speed and ease of use that not only does it outperform any other cameraphone on the market, but it’s also a very credible alternative for single purpose digital still cameras,” says Satu Ehrnrooth, head of Nokia Nseries Cameras Category, Multimedia, Nokia.

N82 as a GPS device

Pre-installed with A-GPS and Nokia Maps, the N82 will give you access to new places whether in another country or just around the corner. Directional navigations are preloaded with free voice guided navigational trial with an option to extend it farther by purchasing additional features such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation. What’s more you can even send excerpts of maps and routes to friends via MMS. Nothing can be more nifty than that.

N82 as a multimedia computer device

Responding to the sign of times in terms of connectivity features, the N82 boosts of high speed Wi-Fi connectivity which facilitates one-click upload to online communities. You can upload pictures or videos even when using the device for other purposes. The upload just runs in the background and won’t even bother you while making a call. The N82 also comes with a new content driven 3D multimedia menu and includes a convenient orientation sensor that rotates the user interface automatically either horizontally or in portrait mode. The N82 also supports Nokia’s internet services such as Ovi, Nokia Music Store, N-Gage games and Nokia Maps.

N82 is a mobile phone

Lest we forget, the N82 is a mobile phone and as such expect to have the usual mobile phone features that you find in other N-Series mobile phones. But of course, the N82 beats them all with the mentioned features above.

The N82 carries a price tag of around 450 euros, just do the math how much it will sell when it comes to the US market.

The obsession of many Americans with their bank balances is a positive indicator for mobile networks interested in mobile banking.

Today, AT&T has declared its official entry in this industry with the launch of its “user-friendly” mobile banking platform in partnership with SunTrust Banks Inc., Wachovia Corp., Firethorn Holdings, and CheckFree Corp.

This new platform empowers AT&T users to check their balances, account history, transfer money, and settle their bills without the hassle of visiting the bank or going online.

Later this year, this mobile app will be pre-loaded on new handsets to make it easy to find and maximize the use of this service. For current subscribers, this mobile app can be downloaded easily and is supported on about 30 million devices in the market.

The system mimics the function of a regular online banking service, so it would not be difficult for any average person to use this platform. At any rate, here are the steps:

1. You need to sign up first at their financial institution’s online banking Web site and you will get a one-time initialization code.
2. After accessing mobile banking on the AT&T handset, simply use the code to link your account to the mobile application on their device.
3. You can then create your own personal identification number (PIN) to provide secure access to the application.

Security is a major concern for online or mobile services. That’s why AT&T has emphasized that data here are all encrypted and you have the power to deactivate it quickly in case you lost your phone.

Is it free? Technically, NO. While it’s free to access the mobile banking service, you need to pay for the data usage. In case you want to try this service, I suggest you get the minimal data plan of $10 per month.

Via Fierce Mobile Content

Nokia’s newest mobile phone model, the 8800 Arte which is slated for released on the 4^th quarter of this year may not appeal to some not because of its physical look, but because of its high price. The Nokia 8800 Arte which will carry a tag price of around $1,500 takes pride in its sophisticated design inspired by nature. This mobile beauty is both pleasing to the eyes with its minimalist feature and as well as to touch with its high-end materials and seamless surface.

If you are willing to spare $1,500 for a mobile phone with such an aesthetic beauty, don’t worry the Nokia 8800 Arte is also loaded with high-end features that is common among high-end available in the market today.

Among these key features of the Nokia 8800 Arte includes:

• 2.0” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels), OLED display with up to 16 million colors to complement its elegant physical design,
• 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with 8x digital zoom, a pretty standard feature among high-end phone cameras currently available in the market today,
• 3G capabilities
• 1 GB built in memory space
• MicroUSB all-in-one connector
• Anti-finger print coating on metal and glass which is must for a mobile phone of such beauty

As if these nifty features and the stylish look were not enough, Nokia even throws in some classical music compilation of well-known internationally acclaimed musicians, Kruder and Durfmeister. Proving true to its being a mobile device for the stylish mobile phone consumer, these musical compilation certainly adds up to the 8800 classic feel.

The question now is would consumers spare $1500 for the Nokia 8800Arte? Your guess is as good as mine.

The growing number of children using mobile phones and the increasing acceptance of mobile web bring worries to many parents nationwide regarding the proliferation of malicious content. In response to this growing concern, America’s largest wireless network Alltel Wireless has decided to add a free filtering application starting February 2008.

Dubbed as Alltel Parental Controls, this mobile application is powered by Bytemobile’s Unison ACCESS Mobile content filtering solution. This free service relies on a database of sites related to pornography, gambling, violence, and weapons to give parents total control over their children’s mobile phones. Parental Controls is available for both post-paid and pre-paid users and parents can set the filters via Alltel.com or Alltelu.com.

The content filtering database is provided by RuleSpace. Its “dynamic rating” feature allows Alltel to be updated regularly about all the newly discovered sites which can be potential threats to children. It can also block specific pages on a website if the general content is not inappropriate by nature.

I laud the honest effort of Alltel Wireless to restrict inappropriate contents to mobile phones of many children. One could only hope this mobile application becomes a standard in all mobile phones and all mobile networks. More importantly, mobile networks should not monetize this service so it can be truly effective.

Admittedly, there are different ways for children to access these ridiculous sites via mobile phones. A filtering system is just a barrier to minimize access and not a solution. What is needed is a strong collaboration between mobile networks and the big Internet players like Google and Yahoo!

Via Engadget Mobile

HTC today launched its 3^rd mobile device in its line up of Touch phones. This third member of the HTC touch family is different from its two “siblings” as it is the first HTC Touchphone which is packed with GPS Navigation feature.

The HTC Touch Cruise combines personal navigation with communications in its built-in GPS navigation and TomTom® software. Its a fully functional device that fully utilize the touchscreen feature. For instance, if you glide your fingers across the screen, the Touch Cruise innovative TouchFLO interface responds to your every movement. With the touch screen feature of the Touch Cruise, you can effortlessly scroll through your calls, emails, messages, musci, images and more.

By putting your fingertips firmly in control, you can quickly set your route using the unique touch screen. With both landscape and portrait views supported, you can view the route information in a way that best suits you.

And the HTC Touch Cruise, speaking true to its model name, you can cruise into the web with the Touch Cruise’s worldwide high speed connectivity and instant email, calendar, messages and missed calls messages.

The key features of the HTC Touch Cruise includes:

• In-built turn-by-turn GPS navigation with TomTom® software offers you a full navigation experience.

• High-speed, always-on connectivity provides a seamless internet experience.

• Enjoy a full multimedia experience with the large 2.8
• Discover TouchFLO, a revolutionary touch screen experience.
• See key information at a glance with HTC Home and use the innovative 3-D interface for quick and easy navigation.
• Make the most of a full range of entertainment features with FM radio, MP3 player, video clips and a 3MP auto-focus camera.

U.S. Airways, the 5th largest domestic airline in the country, is now the first airline to embrace the power of text message to give in-flight information and frequent flyer registration to its passengers.

Ideal for passengers with connecting flights, this system works by simply sending a text message containing the flight number to TEXTUS (839887). US Airways will respond by sending the accurate flight information and not what is based on the plane ticket.

This will alert passengers if there are any changes or delays in the flight, giving them ample time to adjust their schedules or cancel their flight.

Moreover, customers can also enroll to US Airways’ Dividend Miles program via text message. The process is very simple and can be accomplished in 3 just 3 steps:

Using this SMS is a very good start for US Airways considering that mobile phones will eventually play a big role in major airports worldwide.

Recently, the International Air Transport Association representing 240 airlines worldwide has announced it is working on a standard to use bar codes sent via passengers’ mobile phones as their boarding pass. They simply need to show the phone screen to a reader and that’s it. This new development might even replace the online boarding pass sent via email and printed out at home or office.

The Linksys SPA962 is a 6-line VoIP telephone with 2 port Ethernet Switch, PoE and Color display that enhances Business Communication Requirements with color. This VoIP phone leverages industry leading VoIP technology to deliver a high quality phone that is unparalled in features, value and support. If you want a durable and effective VoIP phone, The Linksys SPA962 would certainly please you.

The Linksys SPA962 has standard features that you would normally found in VoIP phones. It has:

• 6 active lines,

• dual switched ethernet ports,

• 820.3af PoE support,

• a high resolution color display,

• speakerphone and

• 2.5 mm head-set port.

But aside from these standard features, the SPA962 offers a comprehensive interoperability and SIP based feature adds to the SPA962’s value as a VoIP phone. It has been tested to ensure comprehensive interoperability with equipment from VoIP infrastructure leaders. These enables service providers to immediately roll-out competitive, feature rich service to the VoIP consumers.

The SPA962 answers the requirement of traditional business users while leveraging the advantages of IP telephone. Other remarkable features of the SPA962 are easy station moves, presence and shared line appearances.

Aside from this, the SPA952 employs a standard encryption protocols that enhaces provision of secure remote provisioning and unobtrusive in-service software upgrades. Detailed performance measurement and troubleshooting features that enables network providers to deliver high quality supports to their customers.

And lastly, with the SPA952’s provisioning features, the SPA952 could also result perform remote provisioning. Remote provisioning also saves service providers the hassle and expense of managing, pre-loading, and re-configuring customer premise equipment (CPE).