AT&T and Verizon win FEMA contract

Poor Sprint. After soliciting bids from wireless carriers, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has selected various services from AT&T and Verizon to serve the next major emergency (within the next year at least). Verizon will be responsible for emergency communications, with Stratus Technologies selected to power satellite communications. AT&T will provide wireless and Wi-Fi service on a daily basis as well as up to 16,000 cell phones, data cards, Blackberries and PTT phones to government workers (with Verizon stockpiling handsets for use in the event of an emergency). The contracts are good for one year, with the option for FEMA to extend them by an additional four years. This has got to sting for Sprint after its very public $2 billion disaster communications proposal.

Nokia to enter laptop industry

Usually we hear of a computer manufacturer making the plunge into the mobile phone industry, not the other way around. Nokia decided to break the mold. The company’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, said during an interview to the Finnish national broadcast YLE that Nokia is "looking very actively at this opportunity."

Kallasvuo also spoke about the progressive convergence between cell phones and computers. We’ve seen Acer make the transition, and with other manufacturers following suit it seems this is becoming a popular trend. It’s been rumored that Nokia would make this leap for some time now, and with the recent confirmation from the company’s big chief, it seems this rumor turned into fact.

Important: AT&T Quickfire

AT&T pulled the Quickfire from its shelves last week. Apparently a faulty charger connection is to blame with claims of "significant overheating." Whether or not that means fire hasn’t been confirmed, but don’t risk it and find out yourself. If you have a Quickfire take extra precaution to follow the diagram above and remember what you learned in elementary school: Stop, drop and roll.

Official Word from Steve Ballmer

In a recent Strategic Update Meeting, Steve Ballmer discussed Windows Mobile current and future standing within Microsoft. In a effort to reinstate confidence, Ballmer confirmed Windows Mobile is one of its core seven businesses with 2,000 employees and nearly a billion dollars in yearly operating expenses. Ballmer also went on to explain despite trailing Symbian and RIM as well as stiff competition from Apple and Android – the low price point of some Windows Mobile devices will prove to be a positive for its software.

Sad news cometh for all your Zune-heads out there; Ballmer squelched rumors of a Zune phone stating, “Microsoft will not manufacture its own phone. Microsoft will remain focused on the software side of business, producing a platform that can run on different devices and different carriers.”


So there you have it folks. Enjoy this year’s Windows Mobile 6.5 and let’s hope Microsoft pulls through with Windows Mobile 7 and knocks our socks off! Ballmer said that Microsoft plans on releasing WM7 in 2010, which is far earlier than anyone anticipated considering WM6.5 devices won’t be coming out until mid-to-late (mostly late) 2009.

Trapcall

When it comes to caller ID for your cell phone there are a couple of options available. We previously did a "buyer beware" post over Trapcall. If you receive a call from an anonymous or blocked caller, Trapcall forwards the call to a 1-800 number. Why? They are taking advantage of a loop-hole in privacy laws that allow a 1-800 number to unblock a call. They then route the call back to your phone using a "spoofing" tool to show the number of the blocked call. For all other caller ID notifications, they will send you a text message after the call. You may know spoofing from your junk email where the sender’s name and address have been falsified to try to get you to believe the email is actually coming from the US government or that prince from Ethiopia. Well, people can do it for your Caller ID as well and its criminal use has lead to a significant increase in the number of cases of identity theft over the past few years.

We’ve heard complaints this service sends a text message after every single call, blocked or not. I don’t know about you, but that would be a lot of text messages for me. If you don’t have unlimited text messaging on your plan, that would amount to a costly little operation. Also, I can’t help but still believe there are people out there who NEED their number blocked for whatever reasons. Whether they’re abuse victims or just have reasons to be concerned with their personal privacy. TrapCall’s "if you’ve got nothing to hide…" argument oversimplifies things and is a complete fallacy.

This whole situation is very similar to a court case in Australia from a few years ago where the telephone companies were disclosing blocked call number to ISPs and it was concluded that those companies were indeed breaching the law. For those of you not in the mood to deal with government loopholes or allowing someone else to receive your calls before you do, you might want to check into some of the other options for caller ID on your cell phone.