Disney Giving Away Free iPhone Game To Promote Movie

from the that's-how-it's-done dept

Reader Terry Westley points us to yet another example of how companies are recognizing that content is advertising. Disney has apparently released a free iPhone game that's fun on its own, but which also serves to help promote an upcoming movie release. While some will dismiss this as just being a cheap way of advertising, you have to wonder what happens when movie makers start making these sorts of games really, really good. Then what happens to game developers who think they can get away with charging for their mobile phone games? Suddenly it becomes a lot harder to support that model if there are other businesses that are using a model where, the more games that are given away for free, the more it helps the rest of their business.

Filed Under: games, iphone, movies, promotions
Companies: disney

Google Attacks The Messenger Over Android Vulnerability

from the not-very-friendly dept

There was plenty of news over the weekend about a security flaw found in Google's Android mobile operating system that could allow certain websites to run attack code and access sensitive data. The security researchers have said they won't reveal the details of the flaw, even though it's apparently a known flaw that is in some of the open source code in Android that Google did not update. However, that didn't stop Google from attacking the messenger, claiming that the security researcher who discovered the flaw broke some "unwritten rules" concerning disclosure. First of all, there is no widespread agreement on any such "unwritten rules" and many security researchers believe that revealing such flaws is an effective means of getting companies to patch software. Considering that Android's source code was revealed last week, it's quite reasonable to assume that many malicious hackers had already figured out this vulnerability, and making that news public seems to serve a valuable purpose. It's unfortunate that Google chose to point fingers, rather than thanking the researcher and focus on patching the security hole.

Filed Under: android, flaw, messenger, security
Companies: google

Cox To Enter The Mobile Phone Business... For Real

from the didn't-expect-that dept

It's no secret that the various cable companies have been interested in offering some sort of mobile phone service. A few years ago, the biggest cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox) teamed up with Sprint to offer mobile phone service under their own brands, building on Sprint's experience in allowing others to offer their own branded mobile phone service (known in the business as being a mobile virtual network operator -- or MVNO). Of course, since then, a ton of MVNO efforts have failed (remember ESPN's own mobile phone service?) and the cable companies never actually moved forward with offering service on Sprint's network. There was some thought that the cable companies were still interested in something in the mobile space, and Comcast and Time Warner are a part of Sprint's WiMax offering, but clearly Cox had decided to go its own way by that point.

Even so, it's quite surprising to find out that Cox is entering the mobile phone business for real -- as in building its own network. The company has apparently been acquiring spectrum to serve its market, and negotiating with handset providers. The article is a little unclear, but it sounds like there may still be a roaming agreement with Sprint, since the article claims the phones will work on both Cox's network and Sprint's -- suggesting Cox is working on an EVDO network. However, the company also claims that it's looking at using LTE as its "4G" technology. LTE is the technology chosen by pretty much everyone else in the US but Sprint, which is betting on WiMax.

Cox claims that its mobile service will be highly integrated with the other aspects of its business, including letting people watch TV on their handsets, control their DVRs from the handsets and automatically synchronize phone address books with home computer address books. It's good to see them thinking about real integration between services, because that's still pretty rare, but those services are all going to need to work pretty well together to make it really convincing for most people. Either way, you could see this as the epilogue to the death of MVNOs. While we've already seen that most MVNO plans went nowhere, it's quite a statement when a company is now choosing to build its own damn network rather than just piggybacking on someone else's.

Filed Under: mobile, mvno, wireless
Companies: cox, sprint

Loud Mobile Phone Talkers Leads List Of Mobile Etiquette Annoyances

from the just-quiet-down dept

There are all sorts of annoyances associated with mobile phones, but apparently the biggest one remains the fact that people talking on mobile phones seem so prone to do so loudly, greatly disturbing those around them. A recent study found that loud mobile phone talkers were considered a bigger nuisance than things like answering a phone at the dinner table or having a really annoying ringtone. The company that put on the survey notes that people should remember to move away from noisy areas when on the phone, and should try to find a quieter place to talk. I also wonder if better speakers, to hear who you're talking to more clearly, combined with adding or improving sidetone (the ability to hear yourself through the phone's speaker) on mobile phones would go a long way towards decreasing mobile phone yelling.

Filed Under: annoyances, loud talking, mobile phones, talking

UK Phone Buyers: Must Show Passport & Register In National Database

from the surveillance-state dept

It appears that the UK is really moving towards a total surveillance state. Along with plans that we've already discussed to monitor all communications, it appears that you may not be able to buy a mobile phone without a passport and without registering your information in a national database. The reasoning, not surprisingly, is to try to keep tabs on terrorists who have been using prepaid phones that can't be traced easily back to their owners. Of course, what this really will do is create a much bigger nuisance for most (non-terrorist) residents, opening up potential privacy breaches all while doing almost nothing to slow down terrorist activity. That's because it won't be that difficult for terrorists to find other means of communication that don't require registration. It's really a shame to see countries give up the freedoms that made them great.

Filed Under: ids, mobile phones, passports, prepaid, surveillance, uk

The Family That Texts Together...

from the chats-together dept

There's been a perception among some, that the introduction of certain technologies into the household has made it more difficult for families to communicate. For example, some have complained that kids with mobile phones use them to spend all their time talking to and texting with friends, rather than with their family. However, some new research notes that this is mostly a myth, and families that have mobile phones tend to use them to communicate with each other quite a bit. Of course, now we'll hear people complaining about how this constant contact makes it impossible for kids to make decisions on their own. There's always something to complain about. And, to be fair, not all of the study suggests that all this communicating is a good thing. While people do communicate more with their family members, they're not as satisfied with family leisure time as those who aren't as technology-enabled.

Filed Under: communications, family, kids, texting

All Fear The Mobile Phone Botnets... That Don't Actually Exist

from the this-again? dept

For many years, we saw stories, usually pushed by security software companies, about how mobile phone viruses were some huge threat that had to be dealt with quickly before they spread around the world. Of course, that hasn't actually happened -- and there are some good reasons why it's unlikely. In fact, it seemed like such stories had been decreasing lately, perhaps in part due to some security firms scolding competitors for mobile virus FUD.

So, we were a bit surprised to see yet another story on the subject, this time suggesting that we're on the verge of (I'm not making this up) a "Cell Phone Zombie Uprising." Some researchers are predicting that mobile phones would be perfect for botnets, though, again it's not clear how that would actually happen, given the limitations of phones. While it is true that phones have become more powerful (and open) over the past few years, there still hasn't been much evidence that viruses and such are a real threat. Most phones are designed well enough to not make it easy for apps to just install themselves -- so consider us skeptical until there's real evidence of a mobile botnet rising.

Filed Under: botnet, fud, mobile, virus

Insurance Discounts For Software That Won't Deliver Calls To Cars In Motion

from the so-that's-how-it-works dept

Remember how we couldn't figure out who would ever buy some new software that would stop calls from reaching mobile phones that were in motion? The (weak) idea behind the software is that it prevents drivers from accepting phone calls. Of course, it seems cheaper and more effective to just ignore your phone while driving -- or if that's too difficult, to just turn it off while driving. So it seemed difficult to believe that anyone would actually pay for such software.

Except we didn't count on one thing: car insurance companies.

Apparently Nationwide Insurance will (seriously) give drivers a discount on their insurance for buying the software. So, effectively, this is just a slightly indirect transfer from a gullible insurance company to a software company, but probably won't do much to actually stop people from yakking while driving. It's admirable to try to decrease dangerous driving habits, but this software is a gimmick, not a real safety technique.

Filed Under: driving while yakking, software
Companies: nationwide insurance

Android So Much Of An iPhone Wannabe That It, Too, Has A Kill Switch

from the remote-disabling dept

There was plenty of attention a few months back when it was revealed (first by a hacker, then confirmed by Apple) that the iPhone contained a kill switch that could remotely disable any application. Nancy Gohring, over at IDG, has gone through the terms of service for the first Google Android-based phone and noted that it appears to have a remote kill switch as well, though at least it's upfront about it. You can understand why mobile operators might want this (for example, to stop a bandwidth hogging app), but it's still rather troubling that an app that you thought you had placed on your own device might be remotely deleted one day. If we've been able to deal with rogue and runaway apps on PCs for all these years, you would think that mobile operators would be able to deal with it as well.

Filed Under: android, kill switch
Companies: google

Kevin Martin In Favor Of Freeing Up White Space TV Spectrum

from the good-news dept

While there's been a ton of propaganda from TV broadcasters (and, oddly, wireless microphone vendors) concerning requests from tech companies to make use of the so-called "white space" spectrum that surrounds the spectrum the TV broadcasters use, it appears that FCC boss Kevin Martin is now prepared to support freeing the spectrum for other uses. This isn't all that surprising, given that the FCC has been pushing to free up such spectrum for years, but it is very good news. While there were some early test device failures, the problems were with the devices themselves, not in creating any interference, as the critics claim. This totally unused spectrum could open up all sorts of interesting new wireless technologies that could be tremendously useful in many different ways.

Filed Under: fcc, kevin martin, spectrum, white space