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August 6^th, 2009

digiGO! — Digital (R)evolutions

The largest wireless provider in Israel, Cellcom, is after MIRS Communications and wants full ownership of the iDEN operator. Globes Online is reporting that Cellcom is but the latest in a bevy of companies that have been interested in acquiring MIRS, currently a wholly-owned sub of Motorola Israel. Last week, Shamrock Holdings (the Disney investment firm) decided not to pursue a bid for the firm — interesting, actually, as at the end of July, there was a deadline for non-binding bids.

Clearwire Communications, LLC, an operating subsidiary of Clearwire Corporation, (NASDAQ:CLWR) has announced the official launch day of CLEAR™ 4G service in 10 cities, starting on September 1, 2009. CLEAR offers the first super fast mobile Internet service that works as fast on the go as it does at home. Customers in these new markets interested in experiencing CLEAR today can activate service now at clear.com. CLEAR delivers a mobile broadband internet experience on par with speeds typically experienced only on wired connections, such as DSL. The experience is similar to that provided by Wi-Fi, but without the short range limitations of a traditional hot spot. CLEAR uses a 4G technology that differs from Wi-Fi called WiMAX, which provides service areas measured in miles, not feet. Clearwire's 4G network is now available in four markets, with the expected September 1st launches adding the additional 10 markets, and the company plans to bring CLEAR to 80 markets, covering as many as 120 million, people by the end of 2010.

HSL (Hay Systems Ltd.) has introduced the HSL 2.75G Picocell. The picocell delivers excellent in-building and outdoor voice quality, messaging, and high speed EDGE data rates. Inexpensive IP over LAN, wireless, satellite, or DSL backhaul, is used by mobile operators to easily connect the picocell with the core network. The HSL 2.75G Picocell is targeted to include all markets currently dominated by the nanoBTS from ip.access. Furthermore, new markets will become accessible and existing markets more addressable through now being economic to service with the HSL 2.75G Picocell. The picocell can be applied in small and large scale to aviation, maritime, retail, residences, offices, underground facilities and rural locations. Worldwide shipments will commence to customers in December 2009.

The Associated Press is reporting the Iraqi government is going to tighten controls on all ISPs in that country in an effort to enforce and control online content and usage. Ministry spokesperson Sameer al-Hasoon told the AP, "All websites that glorify terrorism and incite violence and sectarianism, or those that violate social morals with content such as pornography, will be banned." Additionally, Internet cafes and ISPs, at a later date, will have to obtain authorized licenses that are subject to government review to make certain their rules and regs are met. Expectations are that the Iraqi ruling cabinet will approve these changes by next week. Political censorship and freedom of speech are certainly an endangered species in Iraq.

MotionDSP Inc., a pioneer in advancing video forensics and image enhancement technology, announced the availability of Version 1.4 of its revolutionary Ikena® product. The new version builds on the innovative technologies, ease of use and cost savings that made the previous version so popular with law enforcement, military, and intelligence groups around the world. With the new Ikena, users will also benefit from significant upgrades in speed, functionality, and processing quality. MotionDSP's Ikena products have the unique ability to increase resolution and remove noise while providing the most advanced image stabilization available today. The software is able to enhance traditional surveillance video footage as well as video from modern sources such as cell phones, security cameras and YouTube®. Ikena runs on a Windows® PC, and can be used on a laptop in the field or a lab desktop system without requiring any additional hardware or software. With the simple, single-step enhancement capabilities, users can quickly and easily enhance faces, identify objects and read license plates. They can also preview enhancements and can save high-resolution stills and enhanced videos to disk. “What sets Ikena apart from the competition is, unlike software that uses frame-averaging techniques, Ikena can extract detail from scenes with movement: both moving and non-moving objects and complex scenes that combine both camera and object motion,” explained Dr. Sean Varah, CEO of MotionDSP. “To enhance a frame of video, MotionDSP's patented super-resolution algorithms analyze multiple neighboring frames and choose the best pixels to literally reconstruct a higher-resolution version of the original. This results in the ability to 'scale-up' a small video to a larger size while adding new detail and clarity.”

In the U.K., the time taken to transfer a number when a customer changes mobile provider could fall under Ofcom proposals that were just published. Ofcom has already reduced the time it takes to transfer a mobile number from five days to two working days and the U.K. has shorter porting times than many European countries. However, Ofcom wants to make the process, known as porting, even faster and easier for consumers. New research from Ofcom shows that 71 percent of customers consider it important to keep their number when switching their mobile provider. The latest consultation sets out options for faster porting, including completing the process within two hours, or within one working day. Currently, if a customer wants to switch provider but keep their phone number, they have to contact their original operator — usually by phone — to request a Porting Authorisation Code (PAC), which they then give to their new mobile provider. The consultation seeks views on whether to continue with the current arrangement or to change this to a more immediate process managed by the customer’s new provider. This would mean that customers can avoid the inconvenience of obtaining a PAC from their original provider.

OmniBus Systems has added new Internet TV and streaming capabilities to iTX, its software-based master control and playout application. Due for launch at IBC2009, OmniBus iTX 1.3 incorporates key functionalities that make it an even more powerful platform for Internet TV and streaming applications, either as a stand-alone operation or as an extension of traditional broadcasting channels. iTX provides all the capabilities Internet TV providers need to produce a highly crafted transmission stream, including video/audio transitions, logo insertions, voice-overs and two-dimensional DVE moves for squeeze-and-tease effects. The app creates extra revenue opportunities by enabling the insertion of advertising based on schedule time, cue tones, GPIs, SCTE 104 or manual triggering. Format-independent and bit-rate-agnostic, iTX allows broadcasters to mix both media formats and resolutions in the same schedule. Compressed video files such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (H.264), DV25/50 and Windows Media® — as well as wrapped formats such as MXF and QuickTime® — are all supported in their native form and decoded by iTX during transmission. Broadcast HD, SD and lower bit rates can be mixed within a single schedule and are automatically up- or down-converted by iTX. Live sources can be scheduled, mixed and branded along with recorded content.

Telstra has launched their new HTC Snap on the Telstra Next G™ network. Available starting August 11th, the Snap is a Windows Mobile®-powered smartphone that helps users get the most out of every hour by connecting them with email, their office calendar and the mobile internet in real-time. It is available exclusively through Telstra until November and comes with a Telstra Blue Tick, meaning it is recommended for handheld use in rural coverage areas. The HTC Snap can be teamed with the recently-launched Microsoft® Mobile Enterprise Solution (MMES) — a push email and data plan solution for Windows Mobile smartphones. The solution combines an Activesync push email service, a Next G™ network data allowance and helpdesk support at a single, easy to manage monthly fixed price.

TeleNav announced that TeleNav GPS Navigator will be one of the first turn-by-turn GPS navigation services available to run on the T-Mobile® myTouch(TM) 3G with Google. TeleNav GPS Navigator will be available for a free 30-day trial starting on August 5th when the device goes on sale in retail stores and online. To sign up for the free trial, T-Mobile myTouch 3G customers should visit TeleNav’s website. TeleNav GPS Navigator on the T-Mobile myTouch 3G includes full-color 3D moving maps along with voice and on-screen turn-by-turn driving directions. Navigation is available in both landscape and portrait mode. If drivers miss a turn, they will automatically be rerouted. TeleNav GPS Navigator also includes speech recognition for both address entry and business search. On the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, customers simply press one button and say the name of a business or the address and TeleNav GPS Navigator will provide directions. Subscribers can also preplan trips online by accessing their account through My TeleNav. TeleNav GPS Navigator includes listings of more than 10 million businesses and services, including restaurants, hotels, shopping malls and movie theaters — providing users access to restaurant ratings and reviews as well as phone numbers for business listings.

Mobile messaging operator TynTec has been selected by UNITY Mobile to provide SMS delivery capabilities and long numbers for inbound services within UNITY Mobile’s fully integrated mobile application, mobile web and SMS campaign service platform. Under the terms of the business relationship, TynTec will provide UNITY Mobile with high-quality SMS services to support UNITY’s customers and channel partners in key European regions of operation. UNITY Mobile is a web-based subscription service that enables companies to create, manage, and distribute platform agnostic mobile applications, mobile websites and high-performance campaigns, and integrate mobile operations into existing web and digital media operations. TynTec was selected by UNITY Mobile to provide customers with high quality SMS connectivity and internationally-capable long numbers to encourage interactive campaigns. The deal will also allow UNITY Mobile to offer these services in more than 160 countries throughout the world, as TynTec has a unique global network footprint.

Verizon Wireless has dropped the prices of almost all its smartphones to $99 or less for customers subscribing to a 2 year contract. Verizon now comes in with true competition with Apple’s iPhone 3G through AT&T. This price drop certainly raises speculation that newer smartphones may be coming to the carrier. Verizon-serviced BlackBerry device will now cost $100 or less, except for the BlackBerry Tour. Inventory clear out for new devices? Could be...