Bing launches Twitter search. Google ?

Microsoft's Bing takes another swing at rival Google. Microsoft has added real-time data to its Bing search engine, including tweets from Twitter.
Bing will be picking up tweets from only the most prominent Twitterers. Sean Suchter, general manager for Microsoft’s Search Technology Centre, said in a blog post that they picked a few thousand users to start with, based on their follower count and tweet volume. He said: “We think this is an interesting first step towards using Twitter’s API to surface tweets in people search.”
This number is expected to rise depending on the success of the service, which is currently only available to those making searches on the US site, and requires users to enter the word Twitter after their search.

13 future mobile technologies that will change your life

By David Haskin, computerworld
Computerworld - Most of us take it for granted that we can check e-mail with our mobile phones. But not long ago, this was a truly disruptive technology that changed how we did business and stayed in touch when we were away from home and the office.
Which begs the question: What new mobile technologies will emerge in the next few years that will change our lives?
That question was posed to a group of industry analysts, futurists and executives for key vendors, a group grounded in reality, not fantasy. Yet, they still suggested 13 technologies that will provide dramatically better mobile access, better devices and better applications. Some of these life-changing technologies are just around the corner while others years away.
These aren't isolated technologies. Rather, for the most part, they build on each other so that one won't be possible until another is widely available. But they all, in their own way, will significantly improve how individuals and business users are mobile.
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Game Battlefield 1943 Starting Next Week

The download-only first-person shooter Battlefield 1943 will release July 8th and 9th on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network respectively, Electronic Arts has announced.
Using the acclaimed Frostbite engine, Battlefield 1943 takes players back to WWII to re-experience some of the legendary battles that kicked off the Battlefield franchise. The game offers endless hours of 24 player multiplayer action over three classic and tropic locations; Wake Island, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Delivering the award-winning through-the-gun and vehicle warfare online experience DICE is best recognized for, Battlefield 1943 will have players battling in ruthless aerial dog fights and intense trench combat.

VISA aims for mobile payments on four billion phones

Visa has signed a US$13m ($16.07m) deal with Monitise for the development of a mobile payments network.
The financial services giant has also taken a 14.4 per cent stake in the mobile payments specialist, with the aim of extending Visa’s services to four billion mobile devices worldwide.
The partnership intends to enable mobile phone users to purchase goods and services, make payments, receive information and offers, and transfer money between accounts, in a safe and secure manner, said head of global product innovation at Visa, Tim Attinger.
“With the ever-expanding growth in handsets coupled with increasing sophistication of mobile networks, mobile payments and services present significant opportunity for Visa as we continue to develop new ways to bring the benefits of our electronic payments to more people in more places,” said Attinger.

The Top 5 Mobile Products of the Past 5 Years

by Sascha Segan, pcmag
As of July 6th, I'll have been working in this job at PCMag.com for five years, and I'll have reviewed more than 500 devices and apps. I was hired on in 2004 to be the first full-time cell phone guy here. Well, not exactly: I was the cell phone and PDA guy. (Remember PDAs?) At the time, mobile devices were becoming PCs worthy of note, and it's been my job to champion handhelds as tiny personal computers, not just as extensions of the 130-year-old telephone system.
That used to be a fringe idea. Now it's mainstream. The objects formerly known as cell phones are, increasingly, handheld computers with a voice phone tacked on to them—take the iPhone 3GS, for instance. The next generation of "cell phones" I see coming out soon may finally do away with the traditional, circuit-switched voice calls that we've used for more than 100 years, replacing them with some sort of VoIP capability. In some ways, my first five years as a phone analyst may be my last five years as a "phone" analyst.
I haven't gotten all of my calls right. In 2006 and 2007, I shouted that "The unlocked cell-phone revolution begins now!" and tried to get people to break free of their carriers. Total failure. People love cheap phones. They're fine with iron-clad contracts and carriers holding them in a vice-grip, as long as they can have cheap phones.
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AT&T, iPhone Customers Angry Over Voicemail Delays

by David Coursey , pcworld
Some AT&T and iPhone customers are angry over delayed delivery of voicemail messages. Sometimes, they say, a voicemail message may not appear in their inbox for several days after it was recorded.
"I have had this happen on a number of occasions," wrote one AT&T customer in response to my item posted yesterday. "I've been growing tired of AT&T's issues for quite a while now. I look forward to the iPhone being available through Verizon sometime in the not-so-distant future.
Another wrote: "AT&T's Voice mail on iPhone 3G is sometimes slower than snail mail. If they didn't have a strangle hold monopoly on the iPhone in the USA - they couldn't get away with such poor service!"
I cannot independently confirm the reports, but have had similar experiences on my iPhone, when old messages appeared in visual voicemail days after they'd been left for me.
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