From high-tech nomads for high-tech nomads: Volkswagen has launched a new iPhone application about the Dakar Rally in Apple’s online store today. Under the name of "Volkswagen Rally mobile – 2010 Dakar” the application is now available free of charge. Before and during the "Dakar” it sends news, results, videos and background information directly to the user’s display. iPhone users will be kept up to speed about the "Dakar” programme of the five factory-prepared and factory-fielded Race Touareg vehicles from Volkswagen, receiving exciting insights into the rally world of Volkswagen Motorsport. The Wolfsburg-based automobile manufacturer will contest the off-road classic that leads through Argentina and Chile – running twice across the Andes as well as through the gruelling Atacama desert and the legendary pampas – from 02 to 16 January 2010 as the title defender.

"Volkswagen has always stood for innovations in motorsport,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "At the last Dakar Rally we were the first automobile manufacturer to win the event with diesel power. The Scirocco Cup that launches in 2010 will be the world’s first one-make cup to use eco-conscious Bio-CNG (bio-compressed natural gas). The iPhone application for the ‘Dakar’ is unique in the world of rally racing to date as well and offers users of the cult mobile the chance to stay informed about current ‘Dakar’ events around the clock.”

­Thailand's state-controlled mobile network, TOT has formally launched its 3G network, although local news media said that the event generated a lukewarm reaction from potential subscribers. The network is being offered in the capital city, Bangkok and the surrounding areas.

Samart I-Mobile launched yesterday under the I-Mobile 3G X brand, targeting 20,000 users within a month and 200,000 within a year – although TOT has allocated it only 100,000 phone numbers initially – and is focusing on broadband download content, video calls and other high bandwidth services. TOT itself signed up 5,000 3G customers in advance – after offering the service to employees and some 10,000 existing customers of its GSM subsidiary Thai Mobile, the network of which provided the basis for the initial 3G rollout in the capital over 548 base stations. Further expansion of the network is now reliant on the oft-delayed 3G license auction.

Sawadee-kup, Thailand! This is your chance to showcase your talent, let your creativity bloom, and even see your application/widget on millions of Nokia N97 devices around the world.

Forum Nokia, Nokia’s global developer programme, challenges mobile and web application developers and designers in Thailand to submit your best Web Runtime widgets for the brand new Nokia N97!

From now to 6th June 2009, Forum Nokia invites submissions for apps/widgets that could make their way to N97 devices.

Nokia recently announced the latest productivity-optimised device in its Eseries, the Nokia E52 mobile device. This new device, based on S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2, lets users write messages with intelligent text input, send instant messages, use a variety of e-mail solutions (including Lotus Notes Traveller and Mail for Exchange), and view Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, and Word documents. The Nokia E52 device’s other features include an exceptional battery life that gives users up to eight hours of talk time, a 3.2-megapixel camera, built-in global positioning system (GPS), a compass and accelerometer sensor, Nokia Maps, and Ovi Files.

Also recently announced is the Nokia 6600i slide, a Series 40 5th Edition, Feature Pack 1, device that features a 5-megapixel camera, brushed-steel covers and chrome centre key, and discreet tap commands to light the display, set snooze alerts, and silence or reject incoming calls. This new device also includes an accelerometer sensor, Nokia Maps, Image upload service, stereo FM RDS radio, Flash Lite 3.0, up to 20 MB of user storage, and as many as 15 days of standby battery life.

Sony Ericsson has been made aware of an online email campaign claiming that Ericsson will give away a free laptop computer to users who forward the promotional information. The same campaign includes a photograph of the Sony Ericsson logo and mentions an Ericsson contact name and email number.

Sony Ericsson confirms that this email campaign is a hoax. In addition, Sony Ericsson confirms that the Ericsson contact name does not exist.

Alone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper.

As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters.

That became Hillebrand's magic number -- and set the standard for one of today's most popular forms of digital communication: text messaging.

"This is perfectly sufficient," he recalled thinking during that epiphany of 1985, when he was 45 years old. "Perfectly sufficient."

The communications researcher and a dozen others had been laying out the plans to standardize a technology that would allow cellphones to transmit and display text messages. Because of tight bandwidth constraints of the wireless networks at the time -- which were mostly used for car phones -- each message would have to be as short as possible.

Before his typewriter experiment, Hillebrand had an argument with a friend about whether 160 characters provided enough space to communicate most thoughts. "My friend said this was impossible for the mass market," Hillebrand said. "I was more optimistic."

Nokia recently introduced the Nokia 6216 classic, a fully integrated, SIM-based Near Field Communication (NFC) device that lets operators build NFC services on the subscriber identity module (SIM) card. With one tap of the device, consumers can share mobile content with other Nokia 6216 classic phones and compatible NFC devices. For example, a consumer could store credit-card information on a device's SIM card and then make a quick payment by waving the device in front of a compatible contact-free terminal.

The Nokia 6216 classic is based on Series 40 5th Edition, Feature Pack 1, and it implements the Contactless Communication API (JSR-257). Additional features include support for 8 GB microSD cards, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, Bluetooth stereo, Flash Lite 2.1, and MIDP Java 2.1 with additional Java APIs. The Nokia 6216 classic will ship in selected markets in the third quarter and retail for around 6,900 Baht.

Thailand's plan to auction new licenses for third-generation mobile phone services may be delayed from this year if its political crisis drags on, the industry regulator said on Wednesday.

"We have to admit that political instability could affect the plan and there is a chance it will be delayed," Prasert Apipunya, deputy secretary-general of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), told reporters.

But the NTC should be able to issue the 3G licenses by the fourth quarter of this year, as planned, if the political problems did not escalate into more violence, he said.

The regulator was expected to choose a consultant in May to study how to auction the licenses and it should take around three months to complete the study, Prasert said.

The BlackBerry® Enterprise Server version 5.0 launch is just weeks away! We've met with the product experts to create a series of articles about new features, migration planning, manageability, and other topics to help you prepare for the transition. Here, we cover the areas that will see the most significant new features in version 5.0: manageability, reliability and high availability.

Manageability

Web-Based Interface and Role-Based Administration

In BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0, the admin console will switch from a desktop administration client to a web-based client, allowing for greater flexibility in how and where the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution is managed. All administrator permissions and domains are set based on a system of flexible user roles in order to support a much wider range of administrators and help desk personnel. For instance, with the new functionality, you will be able to create a junior administrator role that has access to only a certain group's profiles—your sales team, for example—and can create and modify user profiles but cannot set group-wide IT policies.

Record videos in an instant on the Sony Ericsson S312. From spotting a celebrity on the street, to your friend’s dancing in a club, the S312 allows you to capture these moments in two quick and easy steps.

Want to highlight the moment with a picture instead? The two megapixel camera can be used horizontally and with the help of the illuminated imaging shortcuts on the keypad you can change the settings and get the shot you want quicker. Not quite what you were after? Use the integrated Photo fix function to get the best picture quality in one step – picture taking has never been this easy!

“Capture life’s spontaneous moments the easy way with the S312 and its instant video recording.” said Quentin Cordier, Marketing business manager at Sony Ericsson. “The S312 also allows you to get organised and keep track of your hectic lifestyle by ensuring that you never miss another birthday or appointment again – store all you important dates, add reminders – then sit back and relax.”