Blazing-Fast 4G MiFi Could Replace Your Home Connection

The MiFi mobile wireless hotspot is set to get a 4G makeover. Novatel Wireless, the company behind the MiFi, has just completed testing of the WiMAX version of the MiFi.

The tiny MiFi box, which has proven very popular, does one very simple thing: It takes an incoming 3G signal and turns it into a pocket-sized, battery-powered Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing up to five devices to share a single data connection. Up until now, the bottleneck has been the network speed of the 3G connection.

In testing, Novatel’s new 4G WiMAX box has achieved actual, sustained throughput of 18Mbps. The theoretical maximum speed for the new 4G modem is 30Mbps down and 10Mbps up.

There are two ways to look at this, and at 4G in general. It could be a huge breakthrough in mobile connectivity, freeing us from home internet connections in the same way cellphones freed us from the landline. Or it could just be a way to hit your monthly 5GB bandwidth-cap that much quicker. Price and availability to be announced.

Msi motion-sensing wireless Air Keyboard

Micro-Star International has unveiled their motion-sensing Air Keyboard, a wireless keyboard best suited for home theater PC’s. It’s basically a wireless keyboard that connects via a USB dongle, good for a range of 50 meters, and comes with a game pad and gyroscopic sensors for navigation.

The keyboard is mini-QWERTY, and measures 14.2 inches wide, 8.8 inches deep, and 3.3 inches high. It was originally introduced by Cideko last year, but will be co-branded with MSI when it lands in Germany next month. It’s powered by two AA batteries, providing 50 hours of use so a pair of rechargeable batteries would probably be a good investment. At this point, it’s only compatible with Windows (from 98SE up) and Mac OS X (10.2 and up).

What’s nifty about the MSI Air Keyboard is its gyroscopic sensors meant for navigation, which reminds users of the Wii.

Pricing and availability information might leave most people wanting, though — it sells for approximately US$107, but plans are only set for a Germany release. Neither MSI nor Cideko has any plans for releases in other parts of the world at this point.

Three new Microsoft Mice with Bluetrack Laser Sensor

Two years after it debuted its first Explorer Mouse with BlueTrack sensing technology, Microsoft is back with another update to its line of pointers. This time around we get three more devices: the Wireless Mouse 3500, the Wireless Mouse 2000, and the Comfort Mouse 4500, all available for presale on Amazon on Wednesday, February 24.

Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 ($29.95): Like the Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 that came before it, this update pairs your computer with a small USB plug called a "Nano Transceiver" and features a symmetrical shape with ambidextrous access to the rubber side grips. Available in "Loch Ness Gray" and "Dragon Fruit Pink."

Wireless Mouse 2000 ($29.95): This full-size mouse is slightly larger than the Mobile 3500 and comes in gray only. It also includes the same Nano USB Transceiver that actually snaps into a spot beneath the mouse in a hidden undercarriage when you travel.

Comfort Mouse 4500 ($24.95): This is the first wired mouse to feature BlueTrack, designed for the stationary user who doesn't want to deal with the hassle of changing batteries. Available in black, "Sea Blue," "Poppy Red," and "Strawberry Pink."

The technical highlight of all three mice is BlueTrack, which combines the precision of laser tracking with the wide coverage of a standard optical mouse to let you use it on virtually any surface, with the exception of glass.

Rogers Wireless to carry Acer Liquid e

Rogers Communications , a provider of wireless communication service in Canada has succeeded in becoming the first mobile carrier in the North American marketplace to be licensed to carry the new Acer Liquid e smartphone, the first Acer phone available.

The new smartphone is expected to launch this Spring making it the first and only Android 2.1 device available in Canada at this time, although this fact may change as the Motorola Milestone which runs on Android 2.0 could be upgraded to Android 2.1 through the Telus network at any time.

The Acer smartphone comes with a 768MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3.5-inch WVGA high-definition capacitive touchscreen, 5MP digital camera with video recording capabilities and has a maximum memory capacity of 32GB using microSD card. Other features include full HTML support, wireless 7.2Mbps 3G, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Acer device comes in with measurements of 116×54×12.75mm and has a weight of 135 grams.

Rogers anticipates that additional information including the pricing tiers will be available closer to the official launch date.

Windows Phone 7 News On Wireless OS For Mobile Devices

Microsoft Steve Ballmer revealed the news of Windows Phone 7 and how it workes with multiple wireless mobile cell devices.

Windows Phone 7 was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The new cell phone operating system Windows 7 will also incorporate with Zune to provide a better user experience. However, Microsoft will maintain control of wireless devices, so Windows handsets will be locked down.

Phone 7 comes with a slick UI. It doesn't have all the clutter that came with the previous Microsoft Windows Mobile OS. Also, the company removed the "Start" button. The new UI seems to be a separate entity than Windows 7.

The Windows 7 mobile phone operating system will also integrate with Xbox Live. This allows the wireless user to keep track of their buddy list and friends. The UI titles in Windows 7 are also grouped into theme "hubs."

For example, a page of contacts is called "people." In addition, a page of photos or images are called "pictures.' Overall, Windows 7 mobile it seems like a very nice cell phone operating system with plenty of eye-candy and features.

RIM announces enhanced web browser for BlackBerry devices

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion on Tuesday introduced a new browser for its devices, which runs on WebKit, the rendering engine behind Apple's Safari browser. The New BlackBerry browser is touted as easier and faster to use, and will be available later this year.

The Internet browser on BlackBerry devices has been lagging behind competitors such as Google Android, Palm's WebOS and Apple's iPhone. But faced with consumer pressure, Research In Motion bought Torch Mobile last year, a browser-design firm, to pursue its competitors in the race for the best mobile browser.

The new WebKit-based BlackBerry browser was showed scoring 100 percent in the Web-rendering Acid 3 test, and can handle AJAX, CSS and HTML5. The browser can also pan, zoom and scroll through websites loaded, and RIM claims that it's more network-efficient than other mobile browsers.

Last year it was rumored that the new BlackBerry browser would support Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, though this has not been mentioned in Tuesday's announcement. Adobe announced this week that it will launch the AIR platform for the Google Android OS, and RIM devices are expected to be next on the list.

RIM has been very allusive though on availability details for its new browser, which is expected sometime later this year. It is unknown yet whether it will come as part of an updated BlackBerry OS or whether it will come as a downloadable upgrade from its website or the BlackBerry App Word.

Deal brings Skype to Verizon 3G phones

Skype and Verizon announced a partnership Tuesday to bring the Internet-calling technology to a number of 3G BlackBerry and Android phones starting in March.

Under the deal, the Skype mobile software will be available on a variety of smartphones: RIM's BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition, and Tour 9630 and Motorola's Droid, Eris, and Devour. Customers will need to have a data plan to use the application, the companies said in an announcement at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.

Skype, independent once again after an eBay spinoff last year, is a top company providing voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services that let people talk over the Net. For a fee, Skype also lets members call ordinary phone numbers through its Skype Out service or receive such calls through Skype In, and it's added video chat as well.

Through the Verizon deal, Skype members will be able to make unlimited Skype calls to other Skype members, call international phone numbers at Skype Out rates, and send Skype instant messages, the companies said.

Skype offers applications for iPhones and Android phones, but the data-access demands of voice chat have imposed compromises.

On the iPhone, the application works only over Wi-Fi connections for now, though AT&T approved VoIP applications in 2009. And on Android, the application connects the call conventionally over a local number rather than through VoIP.