Stories by Matt Hamblen

New guidelines to improve wireless Web services

Leading wireless Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phone makers and operators announced guidelines Wednesday to provide more consistent handset features and services in next-generation devices.

Wireless messaging vendor to exit business

Struggling communications vendor Glenayre Technologies Inc. Wednesday disclosed plans to abandon its wireless messaging division and lay off about 700 workers, a cutback that would slash the company's workforce by about 55 percent.

IBM goes full-throttle with wireless technologies

Officials at IBM Corp. made a slate of wireless and mobile computing announcements yesterday, including a new colour-screen handheld and another in a line of ThinkPad laptops with antennas integrated inside for wireless LAN access. The company also announced new wireless customers, partners and wireless systems administration tools.

Streaming media goes mainstream

Many companies have deployed streaming media for at least a few applications, but The Boeing Co. in Seattle thrives on it. At Boeing, it's possible to see Web-based video of rocket launches or to hear streaming Web audio of quarterly reports. And many of the aerospace company's 198,000 workers worldwide also have access to video, audio and slide presentation training materials over Boeing's internal network.

Reveling in positive first quarter, Sprint is bullish

Sprint PCS Group technology and business officials here are gung-ho about the promise of third-generation wireless capabilities for business users, which will begin to roll out by the end of this year and will be nationwide by mid-2002.

Acxiom workers line up for voluntary pay cuts

Nearly 2,000 workers at Acxiom Corp. have taken voluntary pay cuts averaging 5.5 percent in a move to save millions of dollars, the software company announced Thursday.

U.S. wireless industry eyeing Japan's I-Mode success

With wireless Internet usage in the US falling short of analyst projections, many industry officials are eyeing the wildly successful I-Mode wireless Internet service rolled out two years ago by NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

Wireless ads show promise in Colorado trial run

A wireless advertising trial run that involved sending ads to 1,000 users of mobile computing devices in Boulder, Colorado, has buoyed the hopes of some companies eager to reach potential buyers with the new technology.

Software glitch stops modems on late-model laptops

Human error is being blamed for a software driver problem that caused modems to freeze up on some late-model laptops at the stroke of midnight Feb. 21.

Open standard could ease Net server integration

To reduce the risk of malicious ActiveX files being sent to employees' desktops via the Internet, Germany's second-largest bank recently began weeding them out using a new open protocol.

NorthPoint Punishes Verizon with Legal Action

NorthPoint Communications Group Inc. Friday filed a threatened lawsuit against Verizon Communications Inc. in an attempt to force Verizon to either revive a digital subscriber line (DSL) merger deal it killed last week or pay NorthPoint damages of up to US$1 billion.

Dual Phone/Handheld Devices Near Release

Ladies and gentlemen: Start your smart phones! Three new cell phones that double as personal organizers have been announced for shipment early next year, offering mobile users the chance to carry one device instead of two.

Fiorina: HP wants to be top in PC sales

Hewlett-Packard wants to be the number 1 or 2 in worldwide PC sales and has decided not to become a major application service provider (ASP), CEO Carly Fiorina told attendees of Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2000.

Fiorina: HP Will ‘Play to Win' in PC Market

Hewlett-Packard takes its PC business seriously and aims to be No. 1 or No. 2 in worldwide PC sales, CEO Carly Fiorina told attendees at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2000 in the US last week.

Wireless apps lead to privacy concerns

Concerns about loss of privacy caused by the use of wireless devices will rock the budding wireless location industry, analysts and users warned last week.