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News

• Optus offers Trafficview real-time road conditions service

  Optus has begun delivering real-time traffic conditions information using live data collected from the Optus mobile network.

• Operators get creative due to spectrum crunch

  The spectrum shortage is forcing mobile operators to experiment more with pricing models, new technologies and partnerships, executives speaking at the Mobile Future Forward event in Seattle said Wednesday.

• HP targets small business with phones, Wi-Fi

  HP expanded its IP phone and wireless LAN offerings for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) on Wednesday as part of a broad set of product introductions for those customers.

• Microsoft releases Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing

  Microsoft announced that the code base for Windows Phone 7 1.0 has been finalised. The software has been "released to manufacturing," meaning that this version is the one handset makers will deploy on the first devices to feature the radically redesigned mobile OS.

• Hosted service promises to protect corporate documents on smartphones

  A hosted application for securing shared corporate documents is being extended to handheld devices. With WatchDox, mobile users can view and even selected documents, but be prevented from saving, printing, or forwarding them, if desired.

• Apple unveils new iPod touch, with high-res screen

  Apple today unveiled its newest iPod Touch, in effect a Wi-Fi version of the iPhone. Like the iPhone 4, the newest iPod touch features iOS 4.1 and A4 processor, the same high-resolution touch display, FaceTime video chat, and high definition video recording.

• 6 useful Wi-Fi tools for Windows

  We live in a mobile world; if you have a laptop (and who doesn't?), that means constantly connecting to the Internet via Wi-Fi. You most likely use Wi-Fi not just when you're on the road at cafés, airports or hotels, but to connect to your home network too. You might even connect to a wireless network at the office.

• Clearwire launches pay-as-you-go 4G

  Clearwire is now offering a 4G mobile hotspot that can give users access to its WiMAX network without signing a contract.

• Bluesocket unveils virtual Wi-Fi controller on VMware

  Bluesocket is offering its rebuilt enterprise Wi-Fi controller software on virtual machine platforms, the first one being VMware. The company will port the code for other hypervisor platforms in the future.

• New Bluetooth spec could mean a comeback for wristwatches

  Remember wristwatches? With the surge in smartphones and their instant access to time and other information, fewer people seem to wear a watch these days.

• Location-Based Services: 5 Myths Debunked

  First there was location-based social network Foursquare. Then Gowalla and other sites followed suit and launched. And now with news that Facebook is slowly rolling out its own location-based technology, you can expect to hear a lot-both true and false-about what these services really are.

• Android book to be produced in wiki format

  Android has taken the mobile world by storm, so it's no surprise that Google's foray into the smartphone market would become the subject of numerous books written to explain the technology.

• Chrome OS tablet from HTC reported to ship in November

  An HTC tablet running Google's Chrome operating system will be sold by Verizon Wireless in late November, according to an unnamed source cited by the blog Downloadsquad.

• Dell Streak teardown: Go ahead and drop the tablet

  The Dell Streak tablet, which goes on sale Friday in the United States, is a sturdy device just daring you to drop it. But if you do need to take it apart and fix it, that's not a problem, according to iFixit, which this week tore the device open for peek inside.

• Hacked smartphones pose military threat

  Hacked smartphones could endanger troops by sending location data to the enemy using mechanisms similar to those employed by recently discovered Android malware, experts say.