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News

• Aussie mobile app developer tops Blackberry downloads

  Australian mobile app developer BigTinCan has a hit on its hands with its locally developed Blackberry application, BuzzMe, taking the number one spot globally for sales.

• Gestures set to shake up mobile user interfaces

  Touch screens have changed the way people use mobile phones dramatically. But gesture controls, augmented reality and larger screen sizes are about to change habits even more, according to mobile interface expert Christian Lindholm.

• Android OS developers to revamp app marketplace

  In a bid to compete more squarely with Apple's App Store the developers of the Android mobile OS are improving the way people browse for applications on Google phones through what is known as Android Market. As part of a software upgrade (Android 1.6, aka Donut) Android handset owners will be able to browse more easily third-party apps by previewing screen shots of apps and sort apps by criteria such as most popular and newest. There is no official date set for the release of Donut.

• Amid Cheers, Three iPhone 3GS Concerns Surface

  Despite a few iPhone lemons in the market, including a couple of iPhones and an iPod Touch that reportedly exploded in Europe, the vast majority of iPhone 3GS owners love their new phones. According to a survey by RBC/IQ ChangeWave, 99 percent of 200 respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with their iPhone 3GS.

• Five benefits of the Microsoft-Nokia partnership

  Perhaps you've heard that Microsoft and Nokia announced a strategic partnership to develop Microsoft application tools and support for the Nokia Symbian-based mobile devices. Some analysts see this as some sort of admission by Microsoft that Windows Mobile is a failure. I don't agree that Windows Mobile is on its death bed just yet.

• Report: Your Palm Pre may be spying on you

  Is your Palm Pre spying on you and sending your GPS coordinates and more back to the Palm mothership on a daily basis? According to mobile application developer Joey Hess that's exactly what is happening. He asserts on his personal blog that data on the location and app used on the Palm's Pre smartphone is being sent to Palm.

• Microsoft details how to port iPhone apps to Windows Mobile

  Microsoft has published a case study detailing how to port an iPhone application to its Windows Mobile platform as it prepares to launch an online store for mobile applications to compete with Apple.

• HTC smartphones left vulnerable to Bluetooth attack

  If you have an HTC smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 or Windows Mobile 6.1, you may want to think twice before connecting to an untrusted device using Bluetooth. A vulnerability in an HTC driver installed on these phones can allow an attacker to access any file on the phone or upload malicious code using Bluetooth, a Spanish security researcher warned Tuesday.

• HTC puts new face on latest Google Android phone, Hero

  Smartphone developer High Tech Computer (HTC) introduced a completely revamped user interface (UI) on its latest smartphone running Google Android software, the HTC Hero, highlighting the importance companies see in making users love the software on their handset.

• In tight times, IT managers more likely to postpone than cancel a project

  IT managers have canceled outright fewer client computing projects during the recession than expected, preferring instead to postpone or scale them back, according to a Gartner Inc. survey of 475 IT administrators at large companies in nine countries.