Nokia has released a test version of the software development kit for its Ovi application platform.

The kit's availability was announced Thursday at the Nokia World 09 event in Stuttgart, Germany, along with the release of a new application programming interface (API) for developers who want to integrate navigation capabilities into their applications.

The Ovi software development kit, or SDK, is a Web-based toolbox for developers that lets them create Web services and applications for handsets running either of Nokia's two smartphone operating systems: Symbian and Maemo.

Developers can write applications using standard Web technologies such as CSS, … Read more

Google's Android Market is undergoing renovation.

The Android app store will soon launch several new updates in its upcoming 1.6 version, according to an Android Developers blog post from Google's Eric Chu on Thursday.

Developers will be able to provide screenshots, icons, and descriptions to better promote and highlight their applications.

Four new app subcategories--sports, health, themes, and comics--are being added, Chu said. Developers can target any of those subcategories for both new and existing applications.

For reasons Chu did not explain, Android app developers in Italy are getting some special attention. Italian developers will be able … Read more

Qwest Communications confirmed Thursday that the company experienced a long distance outage that lasted about two and a half hours.

The outage caused some of Qwest's customers to not be able to make and receive long distance phone calls. However, Qwest officials said that calls are now able to be completed.

The company was not able to provide details about what caused the outage nor was it able to provide details of how many customers were affected. But it's believed that the outage disrupted service in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and parts of North Carolina and Florida. … Read more

Congratulations, iPhone, you can finally join the cell phone family. AT&T announced Thursday that the long-awaited multimedia messaging would arrive on Apple's device in the United States starting September 25. The iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G will support the service, but owners of the original iPhone will miss out since that handset lacks the proper radio.

In its brief statement, AT&T offered few reasons why it's taken so long to get such a basic cell phone feature. It only said MMS "required us to work on our network MMS architecture to carry the … Read more

Mount Wilson's famed observatories and broadcast towers now seem in a better position to survive Los Angeles' Station wildfire, thanks to the ongoing and relentless efforts of firefighters.

Officials on Monday and Tuesday braced for the worst as they expected the wildfire to hit the Mount Wilson Observatory. But by setting a series of backfires and dropping retardant, firefighters kept the flames from spreading as initially feared.

Today's report from the Incident Information Web site offered encouraging news:

T-Mobile has demonstrated the first pay-as-you-go Android handset to go on sale in the UK.

The Pulse, which is manufactured by Huawei, was announced on Thursday. Huawei is best known in the UK for manufacturing mobile broadband dongles for operators such as T-Mobile, and the Pulse marks its entry into the British handset market.

"The T-Mobile Pulse represents another Android milestone from T-Mobile," said Nicola Shenton, who currently heads the operator's handset business in the UK, in a statement. "We introduced the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, to the UK back in October 2008, launched … Read more

Tech lovers used to be dubbed geeks and nerds. According to a new report, we're all geeks and nerds now.

Young, old, single, married--they're all online, using PCs, watching digital TV, and chatting on cell phones, according to a report published Wednesday by Forrester Research. Looking at American consumers by "life stage," Forrester examined the devices people own, what technology they buy, how they use the Internet, and how they set up their digital homes.

Singles under 40 and couples under 40 sans children are well-connected to the Web, noted the report, with 87 percent of … Read more

Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, on Wednesday announced new phones loaded with more music features and better integration with Facebook, as well as pricing for its upcoming Netbook.

The company announced the new phones and services at its Nokia World Conference in Stuttgart, Germany.

Tops on the list of new phones is the N97 Mini, a slightly smaller version of Nokia's existing flagship N97 smartphone. This new, smaller N97 has a shorter battery life than the earlier device and also less memory (8GB compared to 32GB), and a smaller touch-screen display. The device is expected to ship in October. Its list price at 450 euros, or about $639, is not much less than that of the full-fledged N97, which initially went on sale in the U.S. for $700.

The new N97 Mini also will have Nokia's Comes With Music service integrated. This service increases the cost of the device, but provides users with a free download music service. And the device will be the first Nokia phone to have tighter integration with the popular social networking site Facebook. Nokia has struck a deal with Facebook to let users update their location and status directly to the Web site through a Nokia Ovi account.

Nokia plans to offer the Facebook integration on other phones as well.

The handset maker also announced two new music phones: the X6 and the X3. The X6, which has a touch screen and 32GB of built-in memory, will be Nokia's new flagship music phone.… Read more

Are cell phones safe? For years, studies have provided conflicting conclusions. Today, there is still no clear answer. But experts agree on one thing: more research is needed to find out the answer.

In an effort to raise awareness among consumers and to urge government leaders to allocate more funding for research, an international group of researchers is gathering in Washington, D.C. later this month to present study findings and to lobby government officials.

The issue has already gained the attention of at least one important congressional leader. On September 14, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and … Read more