Personal communications

Windows Mobile may be an ugly stepchild of mobile platforms, but among more ambitious publishers, it hasn't been forgotten.

Months after adding file transferring abilities to its Symbian version, Fring, a free VoIP communication company, is conferring this and other features to an updated versions of Fring for Windows Mobile.

In addition to sending images, audio, and video files to friends on Skype, SIP, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, and ICQ, the latest version of Fring for Windows Mobile also packs on support for add-ons, an indicator message as contacts type out an IM response, and long-overdue … Read more

The Internet telephony company Truphone has turned its client for the iPhone and iPod Touch (download) into an aggregator for a range of popular VoIP and instant-messaging applications.

Truphone announced the new functionality on Tuesday at the Macworld 2009 expo in San Francisco. Starting next Monday, all Truphone subscribers using one of Apple's handhelds will be able to use the free client for Skype, Twitter, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger two-way communications.

Truphone's users have already been able to use Google Talk voice chat functionality, but they will now be able to make calls to their … Read more

Motorola got a jump start on CES when it announced its new crop of phones two days before the show opens. The most high-end of the bunch is the new Surf A3100 smartphone, which offers an expansive touch screen and support for Windows Mobile 6.1. Starting Thursday in Las Vegas, it will join the Earth-friendly Renew W233 and the rugged Tundra VA76r at Moto's booth on the show floor.

Sporting a sleek, attractive design with rounded edges and chrome detailing, the Surf offers three ways for users to interact with it. They can use a stylus, a trackball, … Read more

Internet and mobile services are expected to score against handheld video game players and satellite radio amid an economic recession, according to results from a Forrester Research survey released Monday.

According to the results, 51 percent of North America consumers surveyed said they planned to curtail technology spending in the coming year, due to the economy. And areas expected to take the greatest hit include handheld video game players, followed by satellite radio, smart phones, video game consoles, and portable GPS devices.

The report noted:

While no device is immune from consumer spending cuts, new devices such as satellite radios … Read more

Palm is rumored to be launching a smartphone on Thursday that runs Nova, its next-generation operating system, according to a report Sunday on CrunchGear.

The report, which cites "a trusted source," says the device will have a full QWERTY keyboard that will slide under the touch screen.

Palm's next-generation operating system has been delayed several times but is regarded as crucial to the company's chances of regaining a foothold in the mobile-computing market.

Nova, based on Linux, is expected to bring the Palm brand operating system into the modern era of computing. The beginning of Palm'… Read more

Speculation that Wal-Mart Stores would sell a $99 iPhone was put to rest on Friday when the official announcement came out sans the double digits.

However, all hope is not lost.

AT&T is selling a refurbished 8GB iPhone 3G in black for $99 with a two-year service contract through Wednesday, New Year's Eve. That beats AT&T's previous price tag of $149.

OK, OK, it's not new. But refurbished is close enough.

The refurbished 16GB model in black or white is also being sold for a $50 discount with a $199 price tag. But … Read more

A couple weeks after Garmin signed up as a member of Google's Open Handset Alliance comes word that the company has plans for an Android phone next year.

Details, however, are scant. Here's the extent of the report from DigiTimes, citing Tony An, Asia-Pacific marketing director for the maker of GPS devices: "Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced."

That quotation says "also" because the preceding sentence made reference to the long-drawn-out arrival of Garmin's Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, which … Read more

Google Australia employees--and those in many other countries--received an HTC Dream Android phone as a holiday gift.

"We've never developed anything like the Android software before, so this represented a unique opportunity to celebrate that achievement," a Google representative told ZDNet Australia on Monday.

Apart from spreading holiday cheer, having all the employees using the phone would help make Android better, the representative added. "Giving the Dream phone to Googlers also allows us to once again dog-food a product and make it even better."

Other Australians won't have to wait long for their own … Read more

This post was updated at 1:06 p.m. PST with the stock's closing price and comments from an interview with Elevation Partners Roger McNamee.

Christmas came early for Palm.

The struggling handset maker announced Monday that investor Elevation Partners has agreed to infuse Palm with an additional $100 million, in a move designed to provide a boost to its new product launches in 2009.

Shares of Palm soared on the announcement, rising as high as 49 percent in intraday trading Monday to $3.71 a share. And by the time the regular session ended, Palm finished the day … Read more