Coming to a handset near you, Mobile Explorer 3.0

As well as announcing its "Stinger" system, Microsoft has used the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes to officially release Mobile Explorer 3.0, which provides WAP 2.0 functionality. ...more

Filippino company claims to run Windows apps on Linux

Phillippines-based start up company SpecOps Labs claims to have developed software that will allow Windows applications to run on the Linux operating system. Codenamed David (as in he who slew Goliath), the company claims that the package will be available by the end of this year. SpecOps's website is short on specific detail but says that David 1. ...more

Japan's 3G standard finds favour in Europe

Nokia has announced it will have wCDMA cell phones on sale by the end of the year, probably to customers of NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service in Japan. Ericsson has announced the world's first hand-off of a call from a wCDMA network to a GSM one - currently the European standard. wCDMA is expected to be the 3G standard of choice for 85 per cent of mobile operators, helped in that it is relatively easy to run over GSM networks, predominant here and in Asia and growing in popularity in the US. ...more

The Stinger in Microsoft's tail

Microsoft set out its hopes for the mobile future this morning at the Mobile Convergence 2001 conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Magnus Ahlberg, a senior marketing manager, claimed that we were about to enter 'Wave 2' of the Internet, with wireless-specific applications such as interactive city guides appearing, while the mobile phone will also replace your wallet and ATM card. He played a brief video demonstrating Microsoft's forthcoming smart phone operating system known as Stinger, which will provide real-time access to services such as e-mail and online retailers. ...more

Microsoft offers surplus IP for sale

Microsoft has opened the doors to its research labs a little and is offering what it says are 'hundreds' of innovations which can be licenced by start ups and venture capitalists. The announcement of Microsoft Intellectual Property (IP) Ventures was made to a gathering of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. 'Our research labs and efforts across the company have created a large portfolio of innovative technologies that extend the reach of personal computing today, with much of it going into Microsoft products,' commented Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research. ...more