cell phone

Obama's cellphone account breached

Judi Hasson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:07:37 -0500

Several Verizon Wireless employees accessed and viewed President-elect Obama's personal cellphone account, according to Verizon Wireless. "We apologize to President-elect Obama and will work to keep the trust our customers place in us every day," the company's chief executive, Lowell McAdam, said in a statement reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.

Verizon said it discovered the unauthorized account access this week by several employees. The employees will be disciplined, the company said. Verizon added that the account had been inactive for several months. The device on the account was a standard feature phone rather than a smartphone with advanced email and data capabilities.

The breach is just one more example of how the next president will have to enter a secure cocoon that probably will not allow him access to a BlackBerry, email, a cell phone and the Internet to protect him against unauthorized intrusions.

For more on the Obama cellphone:
- check out this Wall Street Journal article

How to control information overload

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

We have come to rely on cell phone calls, email and instant messages, and perhaps have even become consumed by them. At work, companies have found this handy, can't-do-without technology is at times affecting attention spans and hurting productivity. So now, some of the biggest technology firms--the ones in part responsible for this communications revolution--are trying to help it to slow down.

The New York Times reports that Microsoft, Intel, Google and IBM are among those "banding together to fight information overload,'' and have formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers--theirs and others--deal with the "digital deluge.''

To read about their efforts:
- check out The New York Times article

Spam is everywhere--even on your cell phone

Mon, 12 May 2008 07:00:00 -0400

Spam is everywhere--even on your cell phone

You thought you had wrestled spam to the ground, and maybe you have on your computer system. But now comes a new trend reported by the New York Times that spam is increasing greatly on cell phones, too.

It's just a little headache, you think. But now that many cell phones are used for email and integrated into office systems, they could provide a backdoor for new viruses. And while it's not part of your job description, it may soon be part of your problem. Spam in the form of text messages also could increase costs for your company because these messages are charged to the receiving cell.

So it's important to stay at attention. Perhaps CIOs need to survey company departments and check with accounting to see if there has been a rise text charges that may be related to spam. If so, it may be time to contact your telecommunications carrier and take necessary precautions. - Judi

Finding applications for RFID

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

All the talk was around RFID at this week's RFID World in Boston where a lot of the focus was on using second-generation active and passive radio frequency identification tags to provide security and authentication. Up for discussion was the idea of how the average wireless device could soon become an RFID reader or how it could be integrated to give a mobile user easy access to all kinds of data. One attendee told Computerworld that he was investigating how to incorporate RFID technology into cell phones which could be used like a "fast track" or "speed pass" to quickly have a credit card authorized for purchasing fuel or food. MIT also showed off some technology from its labs, including an application that allows someone with diabetes to read his or her blood sugar level with a cell phone that's set up to receive data from an arm patch.

For all the details on RFID:
- see the article in Computerworld

RIM to offer cellular and WiFi on BlackBerry

Thu, 24 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Research In Motion will start selling a BlackBerry with both cellular and WiFi wireless capabilities, the company's CEO said earlier this week. RIM is behind competitors Motorola and Nokia--both of whom started selling phones with both WiFi and cellular last year. "Wi-Fi was overhyped," said co-CEO Jim Balsillie. "I was not a big believer in it for the first two or three years because it was hyped as something that would subsume everything, that you would get rid of your cell phone. We feel it's complementary to a cell phone."

For more on RIM's WiFi play:
- read the latest news in Infoworld

Cisco's networking vision

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:01:39 -0500

Imagine giving your enterprise the ability to continue a call over their cell phone, desk phone and onto their email voice talk without a break in conversation or a dropped connection. That's essentially the vision that Cisco is embarking on within the consumer market at this point. It's clear that the networking vendor is thinking that such innovative data/voice/video networking would be a boon to the business world. It's a vision CEO John Chambers mapped out at this week's CES show in Vegas, and it's not the only vision the router giant has in mind.

For more on Cisco's networking visions:
- read the article at NetworkWorld

Financial services going mobile in a big way

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:01:35 -0500

Today's mobile computing devices can do just about everything and that includes financial transactions, as users want to be able to talk, email, surf the Web, listen to music and watch video on the go. That's why a growing number of leading financial institutions are readying security strategies to open the doors to online banking through the mobile device. Citibank's working on an encryption system, Wachovia already lets customers check online balances and others are rolling out e-payment applications.

For more on bringing the cell phone into the financial segment:
- read the article at CIO Today

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Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:01:33 -0500

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Google goes ga-ga for the mobile realm

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:01:35 -0500

Google is going mobile in a big way these days--rolling out applications for the small handheld and cell phone user, personalizing the mobile software experience--the company even has a running start on making money off of such innovations. The vendor's strategy for taking on the mobile user environment offers great insight on moving forward through a worldwide effort. Google clearly realizes that while calls are the primary reason that cell phones are being purchased, they're likely to become the least important reason to get a phone in a few years.

For more on Google's mobile push:
- read the Q&A at C/Net News.com

Related Article: Not everything about Google is secure. Article

ALSO NOTED: Another laptop battery flares up; More business apps are moving onto the cell phone; and much more...

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:01:33 -0500

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