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A couple of weeks ago, Cooper covered old school games for your cell phone. And when he said old school, he really meant old school. We’re talking Atari games and the original Super Mario Bros. We’re going to get a little more new-school than that, though Final Fantasy is a pretty old RPG series. Square Enix has announced that they will make a Final Fantasy IV sequel available exclusively on a mobile platform.
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If you’ve ever seen the HBO show Entourage, you might remember a scene where the four main characters were lounging in and around their pool. A call came in, and one of them tossed a cordless phone to the other — and both were in the pool. Apparently it was protected by a waterproof layer, which allowed them to even throw the phone directly into the pool. We’ve seen the same kind of technology applied to iPods, though we’re not sure how long they can last underwater before the pressure becomes too great and water starts leaking in. The same technology is now being developed for mobile phones.
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A car is a difficult machine to operate. It’s infinitely more difficult if your attention is divided while operating it. Yes, we’re talking about talking on your cell phone and driving, one of our pet peeves. Yeah, they have those nifty ear pieces now, and that makes it a bit safer, but we continue to see people yakking straight into their handsets. AT&T is reminding everyone of their Be Sensible campaign, which discourages phone use while driving. Here are their cell phone related tips for the New Year:
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For the next four days, you can activate a T-Mobile account for free. We’re not exactly sure why, but from today, December 28, through midnight on December 31, you can pick out a T-Mobile plan and phone, sign a contract, and not have to pay the $35 activation fee. It’s a nice gesture from T-Mo, though we’re not sure how many people are ready to make a two-year commitment decision in the span of four days. But if it nets them a few new subscribers, then good for them.

[Mobile Magazine]

What a difference a year (and a device) makes. Bloomberg is reporting that U.S. consumers raised mobile phone spending by 40 percent last quarter, over the same quarter last year. They are attributing this mostly to the availability of the iPhone, and also to other PDA makers, such as Research In Motion. This, analysts say, is a move towards a more European scheme. They pay $300 to $400 for their best devices. Up until this year, it was rare to find Americans who spent more than $50 on a phone.
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You know what’s one of the most frustrating things in the world? When the person standing in front of you to get into the subway has problems swiping his or her card. Sure, it seems easy, but apparently the concept of placing your card in a slot and running it through is just foreign to some people. Out in San Francisco, they have it a bit easier, as your card is just placed over a sensor, rather than running it through a credit card-eqsue slot. They’re not in a trial period for an easier method: placing your mobile phone over a sensor.
Read the rest of Sprint mobile phone transit fare payment…

So we figured we’d break for the Christmas holiday with a feel-good story. The St. Anthony Foundation in San Francisco is teaming up with AT&T to provide free phone calls to the homeless in the area. AT&T will set up shop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the foundation’s headquarters, and will have 20 domestic and 10 international phones available, at no cost to the homeless (can you imagine if they tried to charge even a minimal fee?). We hope that refreshments will be served as well.
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Just two days ago, Cooper talked about old school games for your cell phone. We got all nostalgic, to the point where we called up mom and asked if the old Nintendo was still in the attic. (It is, and we’re totally snagging it when we go home for Christmas.) While our heart lies in older games, we’re not completely shut out from the new slew of video games. In particular, we’re huge fans of Guitar Hero. Anyone who’s played it knows that it’s highly addicting. You might hate it at first, but once you beat three or four songs on expert, we can’t see anyone turning back. Anyway, following the release of Guitar Hero 3 on Playstations 2 and 3, XBox 360, and Wii, Activision has teamed with Hands-On Mobile and Verizon to bring you the game in mobile format. We do believe that we’ll see some significant finger-tapping on the bus next week.
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As we wait patiently here in the U.S. for T-Mobile’s 3G network (December 6 has come and gone), the company is busy working on their 3G network overseas. They’ve combined forces with 3 (yes, the company is called, simply, 3) to enhance the quality of service and coverage areas for both companies. They are dubbing it the “world’s largest known active 3G network sharing agreement.”
Read the rest of T-Mobile and a 3G network…in Europe…

It’s always fun to link to and discuss articles like this. InCode, subsidiary of the consulting firm VeriSign, has made 10 bold predictions regarding the immediate future of the wireless industry. These are supposedly to “help technology vendors and consumers better plan for the coming year.” However, we like them for entertainment and debate value. After the jump, we’ll list ‘em.
Read the rest of Predicting wireless in 2008…