PennyTalk Sued for Infrigement
February 26, 2008
eBay, the parent company of Skype, has sued IDT over a claimed patent infringement on the PennyTalk calling card. It is believed that IDT’s PennyTalk calling cards infringe a patent for Internet-based telephone calls.
While no details of the lawsuit were released other than PennyTalk is using a 2000 patent of theirs for a “long distance telephone communications system.”
IDT’s PennyTalk cards, which can be reused as customers add more money to their accounts, charge 1 cent a minute for U.S. calls and 2 cents for international calls.
Net2Phone, which IDT bought in 2006, sued eBay and Skype the same year in federal court in Newark, N.J., over patented technology for Internet telephones. A pre-trial conference in the case is scheduled for June.
source: Mercury News
Film Festival for Cell Phone Movies
February 20, 2008
Friday in Yokohama will take place the first Pocket Film Festival in Japan, organized by the Tokyo National University of
Fine Arts and Music, showing movies made entirely on mobile phone cameras. The festival will feature 48 films chosen from more than 400 entries from 18 countries — including Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea and Germany.
The competition has 2 categories, the first one is for films to be shown on regular screens and the other for films to be viewed on phones. The winning film will receive 500,000 yen (US$4,500).
“Being the first time for the festival, we weren’t sure what to expect, but we’ve had a range of films from regular narrative stories to more experimental films,” organizer Yuko Mori said.
“Of course, the resolution is comparatively low on phone cameras, so effective use of that is important,” Mori said. “People have also made films where only a camera phone could go. One entry, by grade-school children, was even shot inside a fridge.”
The festival also will feature symposiums on the possibilities for new content and applications using the medium of camera phones.
source: Reuters
“Love Detector” for Mobile Phones
February 19, 2008
In South Korea, tech geeks have invented a new way to tell the passion between you and other better half – it’s a high-tech mobile phone device that can secretly check the passion in the voice of a lover.
The “Love Detector” service from mobile operator KTF makes use of technology that analyzes voice patterns to see if a lover is speaking honestly and with affection. “We created this service because we thought people would want to know what others were feeling about them,” said Ahn Hee-jung, a KTF official.
Using Phone Cards to Iraq
February 6, 2008
With so many deployed troops to Southwest Asia, you need a phone card to keep in touch with your loved ones at anytime of the day. Judd Anstey, public affairs specialist for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, told American Forces Press Service, that just about any calling card will work for servicemembers calling the United States from Southwest Asia. The big question, he said, boils down to which card offers the lowest per- minute talking charges.
There are plenty of offers out there for calling Iraq but here’s what you need to know before making a choice.
Most military bases have AT&T pay phones installed and allow for the use of phone cards but these may not deliver the full amount of minutes since a pay phone fee is applied.
There are also DNS phones that can connect the soldiers to their homes. The rates are similar to that of calling from your home phone in the US.
Many phone cards offer some features to make them easier to use: no connection fee for calls placed, cards never expire, and the one the bought them can recharge them so the recipient doesn’t run out of calling minutes. Below you will find an useful list of codes you’ll need when you use your phone card to Iraq.
Main City Codes:
Amara 43, Baghdad 1, Basra 40, Diwaniya 36, Erbil 66, Hilla 30, Kerbela 32, Kirkuk 50, Kut 23, Mousil 60, Najaf 33, Nasariya 42, Ramadi 24, Sulaim Ani 53
Communications: Iraq
- Telephones – main lines in use:
- 675,000 (1997); note – an unknown number of telephone lines were damaged or destroyed during the March-April war
- Telephones – mobile cellular:
- NA; service available in northern Iraq (2001)
- Telephone system:
- general assessment: an unknown number of telecommunication facilities were damaged during the March-April 2003 war
- domestic: the network consists of coaxial cables and microwave radio relay links
- international: satellite earth stations – 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 1 Arabsat (inoperative); coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey; Kuwait line is probably nonoperational
- Internet country code:
- .iq
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
- 1 (2000)
- Internet users:
- 12,500 (2001)
Top Calling Destinations
February 4, 2008
Nobel LTD has recently released a list with the most trafficked destination, in terms of calling. NobelTel, Ltd. is a market leader in the global telecommunications industry, that provides varied online prepaid phone cards through NobelCom.com and calling card plans EnjoyPrepaid.com. Here is the list of the most sought after destinations:
- Argentina Phone Cards
- Australia Phone Cards
- Brazil Phone Cards
- Bulgaria Phone Cards
- Canada Phone Cards
- China Phone Cards
- France Phone Cards
- Germany Phone Cards
- India Phone Cards
- Iran Phone Cards
- Iraq Phone Cards
- Israel Phone Cards
- Italy Phone Cards
- Japan Phone Cards
- Korea South Phone Cards
- Mexico Phone Cards
- Pakistan Phone Cards
- Philippines Phone Cards
- Romania Phone Cards
- Russia Phone Cards
- South Africa Phone Cards
- Spain Phone Cards
- United Kingdom Phone Cards
- United States Phone Cards
