BlackBerry mobile devices do not pose a security threat and no permission is needed from the Indian government to make the service available, an official said Wednesday, according to media reports.

Indian security agencies have previously expressed worries that militants may use the popular devices to communicate and that intercepting and tracing emails from them was difficult. Read the rest of this entry »

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New mobile phones being developed by Google Inc and more than 30 partners based on software called Android will arrive in the fourth quarter, a schedule that some cellular carriers and program makers are struggling to meet, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Google had said in November that the phones would come out by the second half of 2008, the Journal reported. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you thought spam on your computer was a bother, brace yourself: spammers want to find you on your cellphone.

Cellphones have become consumers’ most personal technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages.

Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive — announcing itself with a beep — and can be costly.

Taber Lightfoot, an assistant director for new media at the Yale School of Management, is among those who have paid for the privilege of receiving cellphone spam. Read the rest of this entry »

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AT&T said Friday that it would eliminate the jobs of about 4,650 workers, trimming the managerial ranks in its fading home phone business after more than $100 billion in acquisitions.

The decision covers about 1.5 percent of the work force, AT&T, the largest American phone company, said in a regulatory filing. The dismissals are in addition to the 10,000 announced with the $86 billion purchase of BellSouth in December 2006, a spokesman, Walt Sharp, said.

Most of the reductions apply to the local phone business, Mr. Sharp said.

That unit lost 1.6 million residential lines last year as customers switched to cable and wireless phone service. AT&T, which had about 310,000 employees as of Jan. 31, has sought to reduce overlap in its operations since buying BellSouth and the former AT&T Corporation. It plans to cut annual costs by about $7 billion by 2009.

AT&T plans to book a pretax cost of about $374 million for the job cuts in the first quarter. Before the announcement, analysts on average predicted AT&T would report net income of $3.95 billion for the period.

The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. In the previous quarter, sales fell short of analysts’ estimates after some customers failed to pay their bills, hurt by slowing economic growth.

The cuts will occur in all parts of the United States, Mr. Sharp said. AT&T provides home phone service in 22 states. With new hires in other parts of the business, the company expects overall head count to remain stable this year, according to the filing.-Nytimes

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F-Secure Corporation, the global leader in providing security as a service through mobile operators and Internet Service Providers, today announced its award-winning Mobile Security solution for the Windows Mobile platform. The solution brings new levels of protection for Windows Mobile Smartphone and PocketPC users.

F-Secure Mobile Security enables smartphone users to enjoy the full potential of their devices without the fear of mobile threats. The application combines real-time antivirus and antispyware functionality with a firewall, ensuring complete protection in today’s connected lives. A firewall provides additional security for all mobile devices that access public networks like Wi-Fi. The solution also delivers automatic over-the-air antivirus updates.

F-Secure Mobile Security prevents malware from:

• causing unwanted billing as they try to spread or call premium rate numbers
• deleting valuable information from the device
• making the device unusable
• sending information from the device to third parties

With this latest launch of its Mobile Security product, F-Secure now provides a complete security suite with firewall, antivirus and antispyware functionality for all the main mobile platforms running an open operating system: Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and UIQ. F-Secure Mobile Security can be subscribed from selected mobile operators as a service, purchased directly from the F-Secure eStore at: http://www.f-secure.com/estore/ or bought from resellers worldwide. The product will be available during the second quarter.

The list of supported devices is constantly expanding and consists today of over 150 smartphones. The up-to-date information can always be found from the mobile-device optimized F-Secure Mobile Portal under http://mobile.f-secure.com.

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Subscribers to Malaysian Internet service provider JARING’s Internet telephone service will be able to make and receive direct calls to Malaysian mobile service provider Celcom subscribers .

This marks the first interconnection for an Internet telephony system to a cellular operator in Malaysia that was approved by the government agency Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in February.

According to Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah (picture), chief executive of JARING Communications, “We are proud MCMC gave us the opportunity to boost up TSoIP development in Malaysia, placing Malaysia at par with other developed countries.”

“This move makes JARING’s MY015 service virtually borderless, allowing our subscribers to make and receive calls from anywhere in the world at a fraction of fixed line and mobile rates, simply because every call is routed through the Internet ,” added Dr Mohamed.

Telephony Service over Internet Protocol (TSoIP) allows subscribers to make a call directly from a computer, a special TSoIP phone, or a traditional phone connected to a special broadband phone adapter. Also, wireless “hot spots” in locations such as airports, parks, buildings and cafes allow subscribers to connect to the Internet and use the VoIP service wirelessly.

Subscribers to JARING MY015 services are given one phone line and phone number with a prefix of 0154.

JARING’s MY105 service can be used through multiple communications devices ranging from mobile phones, soft phones on their PCs and laptops and even physical IP phones on their premises.

JARING has been allocated with 0154 81X XXXX numbering block by MCMC that enables JARING to serve as many as 100,000 subscribers and more with additional blocks of numbers.

This is a non-geographic numbering system that allows subscribers to communicate with each other at a distance-independent call rate anywhere through broadband connection – even on an airline flight equipped with WIFI access.-ComputerWorld Malaysia

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