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If you ever doubted the power of Google, then a minor snafu late Saturday exposed just how reliant the world is on the California search giant.

Anyone performing a simple search through Google got quite a shock when all results, no matter how innocent, came back marked "This site may harm your computer" - Google's standard designation applied to sites known to peddle malware, viruses and worse.

Online outrage

Although the problem was fixed within about 40 minutes, the almost-instant outpouring of internet outrage spoke volumes about the importance of Google - and its 235 million daily searches - remaining healthy.

Bloggers, Twitterers and journalists alike practically wept with worry about everything from getting information to how online stores might fail if no-one could visit them.

Our bad

As for the problem itself, it stemmed from a third-party list of suspicious sites that someone at Google uploaded wrongly.

The list featured a single entry containing just the character '/', which effectively told the search engine that absolutely all sites should be blacklisted.

Human error

Google Search vice president Marissa Mayer explained: "What happened? Very simply, human error... Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly."

Almost choking on humble pie, the statement continued: "Our apologies to any of you who were inconvenienced ... and to site owners whose pages were incorrectly labelled. We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again."

A Google UK spokesman we talked with early on Sunday confirmed the US line that Saturday's fault, "was caused by a human error on Google's part, and we fixed the issue as soon as we became aware of the problem."

Gmail issues

Although the problem has been dealt with, there may be lasting issues. The wonky malware filtering system also directed some legitimate email into Gmail's spam folder.

Google engineer Brad Taylor explained what to do: "We're working to roll out an automated fix to put these legitimate messages back into your inboxes, and we expect this to happen within a day. In the meantime, if you were expecting a critical message this morning, please check your spam folder."

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In a bid to combine great literature with technology, publisher Penguin Books India has partnered Mobifusion, developer of mobile technologies, to bring books to the mobile platform.

The first three books on offer being: "The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living with Mother Teresa" compiled by Jaya Chaliha and Edward Le Joly; "The Path to Tranquillity" by Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama; and "The Book of Prayer" edited by Renuka Narayanan. 

It is learnt that the initial focus will be on Indian consumers with plans for a global roll-out later on.

Commenting on the initiative, Genevieve Shore, global digital director of Penguin Group, said, "At Penguin, we aspire to make great literature in all its forms available to the widest possible audience, and this is a very significant step in that journey as we look to build a solid mobile reading community across India".

Adding to it, Pavan Mandhani, founder CEO of Mobifusion, said, "Indian mobile subscribers are demanding more branded, personalised, and localized content from their providers and Mobifusion is committed to actively supporting the needs of the country's users using our patented technologies".

The concept central to the effort is that a lot of mobile users also happen to be avid readers and this might be the best way for them to catch up on some happening literature while on the go.

Meanwhile, it's not clear as to which mobile service providers are going to be involved in this venture.

Source: Techtree.com

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Beware! That laptop could make you infertile!

New York: Just give a second thought before you perch the laptop computer on your lap - it can affect your fertility. Researchers in the United States have carried out a study and found that the heat generated by the laptops raises the risk of infertility in men who balance the machines on their lap, the 'WebMD' reported.

"Working on laptop computers in a laptop position causes significant scrotal temperature elevation as a result of heat exposure and posture-related effects," according to lead researcher Prof Yefim Sheynkin. Working on laptop computers in a laptop position causes significant scrotal (the pouch of skin that contains the testes) temperature elevation as a result of heat exposure and posture-related effects, say experts

Prof Sheynkin and his fellow researchers at the State University of New York came to the conclusion after studying 29 healthy young men aged between 21 and 35 for two, one-hour sessions in a climate-controlled room.

Participants were all similarly dressed in casual wears. After having their body temperature taken and standing in the room for 15 minutes to adjust to the room's internal temperature, they sat down and were given working and non-working laptop computers. The men balanced the computers on their laps.

The researchers then removed the nonworking computers, instructing the participants to hold the position for the rest of the session. Participants with working laptop computers kept the computers in place throughout the session.

The men's scrotal temperature was recorded every three minutes. The temperature on the bottom of the working laptops was also monitored. According to their findings, scrotal temperature rose with the working and non-working computers. The working ones prompted a greater increase in scrotal temperature - around 2.7 degrees Celsius - enough to cause infertility.

© Copyright 2008 HT Media Ltd. All rights reserved

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• To reduce costs. Banks hope to reduce calls to customer-service representatives for basic account information, like checking balances. The savings can be dramatic: While a chat with a phone rep costs the bank about $1 per minute, Gillen said, a one-way text costs just 3 cents.

• To improve fraud prevention. Mobile banking can allow banks to quickly notify customers of potentially fraudulent transactions and get a customer's OK before proceeding. Contacting customers via text or e-mail is cheaper than using call centers, and response times may be faster than when banks call a customer's land line.

• To trap you more firmly in their web of services. With the onset of electronic banking services, banks realized something interesting: The more technological services a customer adopts, the more likely he or she is to stay with the bank. If you use direct deposit, automatic debit and/or online bill payment, you understand this intuitively: It would be a major hassle to change banks. Adding mobile banking improves such "stickiness."

• To boost fee income down the line. Banks typically don't charge for mobile-banking access, but they hope to get a slice of the next step in mobile banking -- using your cell to make purchases.

Citibank is already experimenting with mobile payments. In one trial, the bank has partnered with MasterCard, AT&T and Nokia to put chips in Nokia phones that allow customers to make debit and credit card purchases by waving the phone at special point-of-sale devices at certain stores. In another pilot, Citi has partnered with Obopay to allow customers to send and receive money using any mobile phone.

That sounds pretty cool, but banks will still need to reassure customers that such transactions are safe. When Javelin polled consumers about whether they might try mobile banking, fully one-third said it sounded "too risky." Seven out of 10 worried that their personal information could be more easily obtained if their phone were lost or stolen, while 62% worried that their account could be compromised by hackers, spyware and viruses.

As I said earlier, there's currently not much risk, because:

• What you can do on your phone is pretty limited.

• Your account number typically isn't exposed; during the sign-up process, the bank "authenticates" your phone so you can use it to access your account without typing in the number.

• Hackers, virus writers and other bad guys are more interested in attacking your computer than your phone.

Right now, most malware and hacking attacks on mobile phones are more in the "nuisance" category than the real threat category. A bad guy might lock up your phone, plant a picture of a skull and crossbones on your screen or trick you into calling expensive 900 numbers.

Hackers are just getting started

That was pretty much the level of tomfoolery Web surfers encountered before e-commerce really took off, Egan warned. Once financial transactions soared, phishing, pharming and other far more sophisticated threats took over. He expects the same progression as more people adopt mobile banking and do more with it.

"Thieves always follow the money," Egan said. "Thieves followed the money to the desktop (computer) and they'll follow the money here."

Egan worries that banks will be too slow-moving to react to the evolving risks. Already, he said, many are overly confident that their recent efforts to boost online banking security will translate easily into knowing how to thwart mobile threats.

For now, here's what you need to know if you want to try out your bank's mobile capabilities:

• If available, try the browser-based version first. "Walk before you run," advises Egan. Browser-based applications are fairly simple to set up and use, while offering decent encryption.

• Don't store your user ID or password on your phone. Or at least tuck the information behind the extra security offered by add-on programs such as JSJ Wallet for Treos.

• If you can, download, update and use antivirus software on your Web-enabled phone. Antivirus products only are available for phones using Microsoft or Palm software, Egan said, and even then some users will run into problems trying to install security software on corporate phones.

• Ask what protections your bank offers against fraud. Some banks, including Wells Fargo, offer guarantees to their customers that they'll be made whole if they're defrauded because they used online or mobile banking.

• Shut down a lost or stolen phone account immediately. If you do lose a mobile-enabled device, your first call should be to your carrier to shut down service and your second to your bank to disable the mobile connection.

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Something weird happened when I asked banks and other promoters of mobile banking about how secure it really is to use your cell phone to check balances, transfer funds, pay bills and perform other financial transactions.

Without exception, they mentioned how quickly people tend to notice a missing cell phone -- some said 18 minutes, some said 38 minutes. That, they said, narrowed the window in which an evildoer could access a mobile-enabled account.

I don't know about you, but it always makes me a bit nervous when the linchpin of a bank's security system is, well, me.

At this point, of course, there's not much a bad guy could do with my mobile-bank connection. As the banks like to say, he'd see about the same amount of information he'd get from picking up an ATM receipt.

He might see the balances in my checking and savings accounts; perhaps he maliciously could move money from one to the other or pay a bill for me. My bank account numbers aren't visible and I don't keep my user ID or password stored on the phone.

But mobile banking won't stay simple for long, and I'm not the only one who's disturbed by the banks' "don't worry your little head" attitude about mobile-banking security.

"There are too many people saying there's not a problem," said Bob Egan, chief analyst for research firm Tower Group and a man with 30 years' experience in information technology. "It's exactly the same thing I heard about e-commerce on the Web" when that was in its nascent stages.

Banks are going cellular, fast

To catch you up: After years of talking about the possibilities of using cell phones for banking, it's finally taking off.

Six of the 10 largest U.S. banks have introduced some kind of mobile-banking technology, according to information technology research firm Celent. By summer 2008, all the big banks are expected to have a mobile-banking option.

Mobile-banking options

Bank	Mobile technology	Launch date
Bank of America	Mobile browser	March 2007
Citibank	Downloadable application	April 2007
Chase	Text messaging	Sept. 2007
SunTrust	Preloaded application	Winter 2007
Wachovia	Mobile browser	June 2005
	Preloaded application	Winter 2007
Wells Fargo	Mobile browser	July 2007
	Text messaging	In pilot phase
Source: Celent

Mobile banking is still in its toddler stage, of course. Only 3% of the 45 million or so households that currently use online banking have tried mobile banking, but Celent expects that to grow to 30% by 2010.

Consumers already seem interested in the possibilities. When Javelin Strategy & Research asked people what banking functions they might like to perform with a cell phone, 71% of respondents said checking balances, 41% said monitoring recent transactions and 25% said paying bills.

"I like being able to check my balance [in a store checkout line] before I use my debit card," said Celent banking senior analyst Red Gillen, who, like me, accesses his bank account using his Treo.

Such anywhere, anytime access can cut down on the possibility of a bounced-transaction fee by giving customers the options of forgoing purchases or quickly transferring money into their checking accounts.

Banks can deliver mobile banking in three basic ways:

In banking circles, preloaded or downloadable applications are considered the "sexiest" technology, Celent's Gillen said, with a better user interface and more possibilities for future expansion of banking services (I'll talk about that in a bit). But most banks, he said, will eventually employ a combination of all three technologies.

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May 19, 2000
Web posted at: 8:16 a.m. EDT (1216 GMT)

SANTA CLARA, California (CNN) -- A new strain of computer virus written in the same computer programming language as the "Love Bug" virus has struck several U.S.-based multinational companies, according to computer experts.

The new strain is called "VBS/NewLove.a," by McAfee, an anti-virus firm. At one company, 5,000 computers were infected, according to Dave Perry, spokesman at the anti-virus software company Trend Micro Inc. in Cupertino, California.

The virus apparently began spreading on Thursday. Some virus experts say it could be more dangerous than the "Love Bug" virus, if it becomes widespread.

Early Friday, anti-virus experts were watching to see whether companies in Asia are affected.

Some computer experts advise home and individual Microsoft Outlook users not to open forwarded messages containing attachments.

Eddy Hsia, director of engineering for McAfee, in Santa Clara, California, told CNN that his company had issued a "high threat" warning about the virus.

He said VBS/NewLove.a "could easily cause rampant damage" and would not necessarily be detected by the same anti-virus devices that caught "Love Bug."

Hsia said McAfee updated its detection equipment on Thursday, within two hours of detecting the new virus, and he urged companies to update their virus scanners as soon as possible.

He said new attachments to an e-mail -- the way in which the virus arrives -- should not be opened, especially if they are from people who have not been heard from for a while.

Hsia said it is too early to detect the source of the new strain.

Virus changes subject and copy on each infection

The VBS/NewLove.a virus, or worm, spreads when a user opens an attachment in Microsoft Outlook e-mail. The subject line of an infected e-mail starts with "FW:" and includes the name of a randomly chosen attachment from a previous e-mail on an infected computer.

The infected e-mail has an attachment with the same name, but ending in ".vbs." VBS stands for VisualBasic, the programming language in which it is written. "Love Bug," too, was written in VisualBasic.

Like "Love Bug" the virus can send itself to everybody in the user's address book. In that case, it can destroy most of the files on the hard drive, rendering the computer useless until the operating system is reinstalled.

The worm not only changes its message subject each time it infects, but each copy of the message is different from every other copy.

This is achieved, according to ICSA.net, part of the GartnerGroup of Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut, because "the worm uses a space-algorithm to pad comment lines in the VBS (Visual Basic Script) code, causing copies of the worm to lack identity with their progeny and siblings."

ICSA advises corporations and organizations to disable e-mail gateways until 3-mail containing .vbs attachments can be effectively filtered and quarantined.

Recovering deleted files

Home and individual users of Microsoft Outlook should not open forwarded messages containing attachments of any type, ICSA says.

With regard to recovering deleted files, ICSA says it will be very difficult. The infected files are overwritten by the virus and are recoverable only by restoration from backup.

Anti-virus companies are hoping that increased awareness prompted by the "Love Bug" will temper the spread of the new strain.

"Any time a virus hits a week after another virus its potency is diminished," said Perry. "People tend to be a little more cautious."

The "Love Bug" virus -- a strain different from the new and potentially even more destructive worm -- spawned at least 25 copycats with varying levels of destructiveness. Computer Economics, a Carlsbad, California-based research company, estimated that "Love Bug" and its variants caused $6.7 billion of damage.

The virus forced many businesses and government agencies -- from the Pentagon to Britain's Parliament to major companies such as Ford and Lucent -- to take down computer networks for protection and repair.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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(CNN) -- While a new and potentially more destructive computer virus uses the same replication scheme as the "ILOVEYOU" virus, the new bug's ambitious destruction program may curb its spread and eventually cause it to fizz out on its own, according to one computer expert.

Mikko Hypponen, director of virus research at anti-virus company F-Secure in Finland, said that while this virus -- dubbed "NewLove" -- can make a computer unbootable, it is not nearly as stealthy as "ILOVEYOU." The new computer worm is much less widespread than previous outbreaks and has built-in problems that will eventually make the virus expire on its own. A worm is a virus that is self-replicating.

"Unlike the original 'ILOVEYOU' virus, this one appears to have started, at least in significant part, in the United States rather than spreading from Asia to Europe to the United States," said Michael Vatis of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center.

U.S. federal sources said they would not rule out that the same people involved in launching the "ILOVEYOU" virus a few weeks ago may have been involved in this one.

Officials said apparently no U.S. government computers have been affected. Warnings were disseminated before the start of business Friday. "Hopefully, that will minimize the effects," said one federal government source.. "But it's too early to say what the impact has been or will be."

Despite its name, "NewLove" is not very similar to "ILOVEYOU," also known as Love Letter or Love Bug. The two are written in the same computer language, and Hypponen said the e-mail replication loop -- how the virus sends itself out to everyone in the user's Outlook address book -- is the same. Despite that, they are two different viruses.

"Otherwise, it's totally new code. But there's a common idea," Hypponen said.

Like the Love Letter virus, it only affects users of the Microsoft Windows 98 or 2000 operating systems, or Windows 95 users also running Internet Explorer 5.0. The virus also needs Microsoft's Outlook mail program to proliferate. The consumer version, Outlook Express, is not affected.

Rather than the same subject line each time, "NewLove" is polymorphic. Each time, it takes the name of a recently accessed file on the user's machine and uses that name, along with "FW:". This can work much better than "ILOVEYOU," because users can't be on the lookout for a specific subject line. Instead, the subject line may be a file name that is trusted -- especially among co-workers.

"It's really quite clever," Hypponen said. "It uses realistic file names and sends those to people you know. It's social engineering, just like we saw with Love Letter."

After replicating itself, the virus begins obliterating files. While Love Letter destroyed only JPEG image files, NewLove targets every single file on a user's hard drive. The worm will go through all local drives and all subdirectories. For each file, the worm creates a new file using the same name with the additional extension ".vbs" and deletes the original file. The new file is empty, effectively destroying all data on the machine. Then it does the same to networked hard drives, common in a company atmosphere.

The virus only does this to files for which the user has "write" permission, and files that are not currently in use. Still, it immediately makes the computer crash and become unbootable.

As frightening as that may be for users, it is also NewLove's downfall, Hypponen said.

"It's too destructive to become widespread," he said. "When you get hit by Love Letter, you may not notice it. The next time you hear about it is when someone calls you up and complains. But with NewLove, you open the attachment and immediately your machine crashes and won't boot again.

"It's never going to go around like Love Letter," he said, "because it's so obvious."

After being urged for more than one year to make Outlook less risky, the company is expected to offer a software patch next week.

"They've really done a 180 on this," said Chris Le Tocq of the Gartner Group. "The new fix that they have in Beta right now for Outlook completely removes programmability except as manually authorized in each case by the user.

"And this will break, frankly, a large number of corporate applications, but for the general user this is the right thing to do," he added.

Another quirk in the code can also limit how far NewLove gets around. Each time the virus replicates, it adds junk lines to its code. This, Hypponen said, is to keep the file size changing and make it more difficult to detect. However, NewLove only keeps adding junk lines to itself; it never takes them away. So every time it replicates, it grows.

Once the file size gets huge, slowdown and company limits on attachment size would stop the virus in its tracks.

"Eventually, it'll become 10 megs, 100 megs, 1 gig," Hypponen said. "It'll kill itself off. It becomes too fat."

Hypponen's predictions have so far been borne out by the lack of infection reports.

"We haven't received a single direct report of being infected," he said. "We've received secondhand reports from partners in the industry, but the total (companies infected) are 10 or 11." Those reports have been in Israel, central Europe and the United States.

But at each company, many computers could be affected and all data lost. At one firm, 5,000 computers were infected, according to Dave Perry, a spokesman at the anti-virus software company Trend Micro Inc. in Cupertino, California.

But now, Trend Micro is downplaying the total outbreak, saying it's not nearly as bad as expectations.

"It has hit a handful of companies," said spokeswoman Kristin Zoega, "but it's definitely not as widespread as Love Letter was."

As of late Thursday night, another anti-virus company, Symantec, reported three to nine companies had been hit. This is not even a drop in the bucket compared to Love Letter, which crippled mail servers and destroyed image files at tens of thousands of networks around the world just several weeks ago.

Love Letter spawned at least 25 copycats with varying levels of destructiveness. Computer Economics, a Carlsbad, California-based research company, estimated that the virus and its variants caused $6.7 billion of damage.

Hypponen expects variants on this virus, too. "Perhaps one that won't increase its size so much," he predicts.

Existing anti-virus updates against Love Letter are unlikely to affect this new virus. Hypponen suggests instead that users uninstall Windows Scripting Host, the program that allows VisualBasic scripts to run. Hypponen has detailed instructions on how to do this on F-Secure's Web site.

He said that "99.5 percent of users have no need for Windows Scripting Host. But a whole bunch of virus writers use it. I rest my case."

contributed to this report.

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MapQuest Mobile

Find places, get maps and directions on your phone wherever you are.

MapQuest Mobile offers U.S. and Canadian coverage from the world's leading online map provider. Instantly find your way with interactive color maps, step-by-step instructions, reverse directions and recall of recent addresses.

NEW Features Just Released!!

The newest enhancements to MapQuest Mobile include:

MapQuest's Points of Interest
Find over 15 million Points of Interest including restaurants, hotels, or theaters from the MapQuest.com database.

Multipoint Routing
Select multi-points along your route and receive step-by-step directions.

Find places, get maps and step-by-step directions for Canada!

Click to Call a Business directly from MapQuest Mobile (availability limited to certain carriers).

Access Recent Locations and Multi-Routes
Access your most recent places and multi-routes

Save Locations and Multi-Routes to Favorites
Save your places and multi-routes to your Favorites folder

Pedestrian Navigation
Get directions for walking routes.

Choose Advanced Routing Options
Optimize your route by choosing the shortest time or distance and/or avoid tolls.

MapQuest Mobile typically costs $3.99 per month and is available on most cell phone carriers. See if it's available for your phone.

MapQuest Mobile was created in partnership with Zingy, one of the best-known publishers of consumer applications for mobile phones.

Save frequently visited destinations in "My Places" menu

U.S. only. AOL Mobile services may require a wireless data plan and charges from your wireless carrier may apply. Not all AOL Mobile services are available on all wireless carriers or on all wireless devices. Check with your wireless carrier to confirm that product use is consistent with your carrier's Terms of Service.

MapQuest Mobile - Get It Now

Does my wireless provider offer MapQuest Mobile?
MapQuest currently partners with the following wireless providers. Each of the providers below offer access to MapQuest Mobile using the indicated phones.

Alltell
• Audiovox CDM8410
• Audiovox CDM8910
• Kyocera KX16
• Kyocera KX414
• Kyocera KX434
• Kyocera KX440
• Kyocera KX1
• Kyocera KX5
• Kyocera 3250
• Kyocera SE44
• LG AX5000
• LG LX5450
• LG LX5550
• LG UX245
• LG UX390
• LG VX4270
• LG VX4700
• LG VX3200
• Motorola E815
• Motorola T720
• Motorola V262
• Motorola V265
• Motorola V3C
• Motorola V3M
• Motorola V710
• Nokia 6255
• Nokia 6265i
• Samsung N330
Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select Axcess Apps
2. Find Axcess Apps, and select the Axcess Shop and then select Start
3. Then choose the Tools - Search
4. Select MapQuest
5. Finally, enjoy!

CellularSouth
• Audiovox CDM8410
• Kyocera KX1
• Audiovox CDM8615
• Kyocera KX2
• LG VX6100
• Audiovox CDM8600
• Audiovox CDM8900
• Audiovox CDM8910
• Kyocera SE47 a.k.a Slider
• Motorola T720
• Motorola V262
• Motorola V710
• Nokia 6255
• Nokia 6256i

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select BREW
2. Then choose INFORMATION
3. Select MapQuest Mobile
4. Enjoy!

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select BREW
2. Then choose INFORMATION
3. Select MapQuest Mobile
4. Enjoy!

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select mMode
2. Select Browse Websites
3. Then choose the What's Nearby category
4. Select MapQuest
5. Finally, enjoy!

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select 'MediaNet'
2. On the MediaNet screen, select 'Weather & Travel' or 'Maps & Directories'
5. Enjoy.

Download Instructions:
1. Click on the 'Cricket Clicks' or 'BREW' icon on your phone
2. Click on the shopping cart
3. Select Information
4. Select 'MapQuest Mobile'.
5. Enjoy.

MetroPCS (@Metro)
• Audiovox CDM-8900
• Kyocera KX433
• Kyocera SE47 (aka Slider)
• Samsung A610

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select '@Metro'
2. Then select '@Info'.
3. Select 'MapQuest Mobile'.
4. Enjoy.

Sprint (PCS Vision / Applications)
• LG 5225
• LG 5350
• LG LX325
• LG LX535
• LG VI125
• Nokia 3155
• Samsung A500
• Samsung A600
• Samsung A620
• Samsung A660
• Samsung A680
• Samsung A700
• Samsung A740
• Samsung A760
• Samsung A880
• Samsung A900
• Samsung A920
• Nokia 3205
• Samsung N400
• Sanyo 2300
• Sanyo 4900
• Sanyo 4920
• Sanyo 4930
• Sanyo 5300
• Sanyo 5400
• Sanyo 5500
• Sanyo 5600
• Sanyo 7200
• Sanyo 7300
• Sanyo 7400
• Sanyo 8100
• Sanyo 8200
• Sanyo 8300
• Sanyo MM7500
• Sanyo MM9000
• Nokia 6225

Download Instructions:
1. From your phone's main menu, select Downloads
2. Select Applications
3. Then choose Get New
4. Select the Travel category
5. Download MapQuest Mobile
6. Finally, enjoy!

Download Instructions:
1. 'MapQuest Mobile' can be found in your phone's T-Zone menu.
2. For more information, please contact T-Mobile.

Download Instructions:
1. Select Menu
2. Find the Download Shop then select Start
3. Then choose Find People, Places and Things category
4. Select Mapquest Mobile
5. Finally, enjoy!

Download Instructions:
1. Find the Get It Now icon on your phone
2. Select the Shopping Cart icon
3. Choose Get Going
4. Choose Travel
5. Then choose Mapquest Mobile
6. Finally, enjoy!

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MapQuest®

All you've come to expect from MapQuest®, now right in your pocket!

Premium Downloadable Applications

Spoken Turn-by-Turn Directions with MapQuest® Navigator

GPS navigation for your cell phone for about as much as you spend on your daily coffee! MapQuest Navigator 5.0 turns your GPS-enabled wireless smartphone into a fully featured voice-guided navigation device with Real-Time Traffic and AOL CityGuide ratings built right in! For a Limited Time, Get MapQuest Navigator 5.0 for only $4.99 per month!

Get It Now

Get Maps and Directions with MapQuest® Mobile

Need to know where you're meeting your friends? Changing plans on the fly? MapQuest® Mobile can get you where you need to go. Get step-by-step directions on your phone on the go; faster and more robust than mobile page viewing. It's like taking the MapQuest® experience with you on the road. Get It Now

Free* MapQuest® Services

Pocket-sized Maps and Directions with MapQuest® For Mobile Web

MapQuest® for Mobile Web is a free* wireless version of MapQuest that you can access anytime, anywhere through your cell phone or other web-enabled device. Formatted especially for mobile web browsers, MapQuest for Mobile Web makes it easy to discover where you are, where you're going and what's waiting for you along the way - even when you're away from your computer.

Here's How to Get It

You can access MapQuest® for Mobile Web two easy ways. While on the go, just type www.MapQuest.com into your mobile browser. Or, when planning your trip on MapQuest.com from your desktop, just send your route to your mobile phone via the 'Send to Cell' link within your MapQuest® results.

* MapQuest® provides this service free of charge; however, your carrier may charge data fees to access the mobile web or for text messages.

U.S. only. AOL Mobile services may require a wireless data plan and charges from your wireless carrier may apply. Not all AOL Mobile services are available on all wireless carriers or on all wireless devices. Check with your wireless carrier to confirm that product use is consistent with your carrier's Terms of Service.

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Kodak EasyShare V1233 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera – Black

Model #: EKC   V1233BLACK

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Luna Development today announced the introduction to North America of Luna Blitzkap, a set of Quick Response (QR) code®(1) applications for devices based on Windows Mobile® software. QR codes are two-dimensional images similar to barcodes that allow mobile device users to capture a variety of information directly from a printed source with their camera-equipped mobile phone.

Luna Blitzkap™ is a QR reader that works with any Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 or Windows Mobile 6 device. The reader can read QR codes and then, depending on the code, offer the user the option of saving the text, calling a phone number, connecting to a website, sending an SMS Message or Emails and storing contact information.

Create your own QR Codes with their QRender application.

Leveraging the flexible Windows Mobile-based development platform, Luna designed the solution to provide businesses with a cutting-edge marketing tool that provides consumers with fast and direct access to digital content, setting a new standard for interactivity and convenience. Luna is working closely with major mobile operators in Canada and the U.S. to deliver the Luna QR solution to North American users.

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Google's GDrive has the potential to disrupt the PC, storage, virus, and a few other industries. Who wins and who loses?

In 1980, Steve Balmer's mother said "Why would a person ever need a computer?". Soon all you will need is a keyboard and monitor.

The transformation of computer processing is going online, so why shouldn't our data be stored online too? There is a tipping point of sorts here for Google. Up until now they have been great at providing access to data on the Net, but now they are attempting to provide you access to YOUR data.

You can get by if one of Google's applications is offline, or if their search engine doesn't give you the desired results, but could you survive if GDrive failed?

From WSJ Online Google Plans Service to Store Users' Data

Google Inc. wants to offer consumers a new way to store their files on its hard drives, in a strategy that could accelerate a shift to Web-based computing and intensify the Internet company's competition with Microsoft Corp.

Google is preparing a service that would let users store on its computers essentially all of the files they might keep on their personal-computer hard drives -- such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images, say people familiar with the matter. The service could let users access their files via the Internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on with a password, and share them online with friends.

Why won't it work for Google?

Until Google offers real time technical support, consumers will not trust storing their data with an email based tech support service. If Google expects to offer a "we will store your data" service, they must implement a 24 hour tech support line.

I expected Microsoft, Verisign, Dell or even local ISPs (trusted names) to come out with an online storage service. Store your data for a fee based on size or time. Verisign would access your computer daily (or at a time you request) and backup any new data.
You could then access your data from any computer. In addition, your storage provider would be in charge of updating for new viruses and scan regularly.

Because Google's tech support is non-existent, I would rather store my data with my ISP. I can reach my ISP 24/7 if there's a problem.

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Today the pharmaceutical industry, what next?

Brand managers and mobile marketing agencies should be excited about the ability to "turn on" any product using a camera phone and the already printed 1D bar code.

Now any item with a 1D barcode can be connected to the Internet, delivering relevant information and creating an interactive experience. CamClic delivers permission granted mobile marketing.

CamClic allows anyone to create AND scan 1D barcodes (in addition to 2D codes) with a camera phone.

The billions of 1d bar codes that already exist on products, and newly created 2d codes from consumers and content creators, when scanned with a camera phone (Physical World Connection), have the ability to disrupt the advertising industry.

The CamClic solution has solved one of the biggest hurdles of Physical World Connection, scanning a 1d code with a mobile phone.

As the global leader in mobile e-packing of products and brands, CamClic now starts enabling the Real World Web for all brand owners around the world, starting with Sweden. With a free service with both publishing tools and mobile software for CamClics customers, the opportunity for the world brand owners is huge in turning their standard consumer goods packages into on-line consumer communicators.

In Sweden all the pharmaceutical packages are now "turned on" since a project with this branch started in the late summer. When a patient or user reads the 1D barcode with CamClic in his mobile phone, additional pharmaceutical information will be shown together with other information and special product services. In the future it will be possible for the pharmaceutical companies to stop distributing the product manual and instead distribute a electronic version with CamClic and the 1D barcode. The costs saved in stop printing manuals will be huge together with saving the environment.

CamClic will revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry - together with all other product industries - during the forthcoming years. The standard consumer goods packages will now contain on-line additional information and services through the 1D barcode - the already existing Real World Web hyperlink. (full story)

Here's why I think CamClic's model could really take off. Brands can encourage consumers to click on their barcodes for info/coupons etc and consumers can also click on codes and form their own hyperlink, or social network community.

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Yahoo! Expands Reach with Sixteen Total oneSearch Operator Partnerships across Asia Pacific Region; Offers Localized Content for a Personalized Mobile Internet Experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and MACAU, S.A.R., Nov 13, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- MOBILE ASIA CONGRESS -- Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) today announced nine new partnerships with some of the leading mobile operators across the Asia Pacific region, in its continuing effort to partner with mobile operators globally to reach hundreds of millions of consumers. Through Yahoo!'s partnerships with mobile operators, Yahoo! oneSearch, Yahoo!'s leading mobile search technology, will power the search experience for consumers on partner mobile internet sites and provide additional revenue opportunities for these partners.

The new partnership agreements include leading mobile operators such as Aircel Limited (India), BPL Mobile (India), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL; India), DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi; Malaysia), PT EXCELCOMINDO PRATAMA Tbk. (Excelcom; Indonesia), PT Hutchison CP Telecom (Hutch 3; Indonesia), PT Indosat, Tbk (Indosat; Indonesia), PCCW Mobile HK Limited (Hong Kong) and Starhub Ltd (Singapore).

These strategic partnerships demonstrate Yahoo!'s continued momentum, building on seven previous partnerships with Asian mobile operators and reinforce Yahoo!'s strong leadership position in mobile audience reach, mobile search services and mobile advertising. Additional mobile search partnerships announced earlier this year in the Asia Pacific region include Globe Telecom Inc. (Philippines), Idea Cellular Limited (India), LG Telecom (Korea), Maxis Communications Berhad (Malaysia), PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel; Indonesia), SmarTone-Vodafone (Hong Kong) and Taiwan Mobile Co (Taiwan).

"Fostering and developing high quality partnerships is a cornerstone of our mobile strategy and, together with our partners, we are delivering a premier mobile Internet experience to our respective consumers," said David Ko, vice president and general manager, Connected Life Asia, Yahoo!. "Today's partnerships with leading operators across Asia add to Yahoo!'s incredible momentum in mobile and underscore our leadership in this important and growing market."

With today's announcement, Yahoo! has distribution partnerships with twenty mobile operators around the world and is currently available in nineteen countries. Yahoo! oneSearch is a search service explicitly designed to serve the needs of mobile users. oneSearch integrates content from a variety of sources, providing consumers with access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, Yahoo! Answers, Web images, movies, flight status, Wikipedia, currency conversion as well as Web and Mobile Web sites. For more information, visit http://m.yahoo.com on the mobile Internet or http://mobile.yahoo.com on the Web.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal.

Yahoo! is a leading provider of mobile Internet services, including Yahoo! oneSearch and Yahoo! Go 2.0, to consumers worldwide. Through relationships with more than 80 mobile operators and device manufacturers in 40 countries Yahoo! brings the company's innovative mobile Internet services directly to fingertips.

For more information on Yahoo! Mobile please visit  mobile.yahoo.com

 Yahoo!, Flickr, oneSearch, and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

Contacts:

Cory Pforzheimer, 408-349-2686
coryp@yahoo-inc.com

Zealous Wiley, 408-349-3623
Zealous@yahoo-inc.com

SOURCE Yahoo! Inc.

http://www.yahoo.com

Copyright ^© 2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

News Provided by COMTEX

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Yahoo! oneSearch Launches in Beta with Localized Content for Argentina, Brazil and Mexico

SUNNVALE, Calif., Nov 13, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) a leading global Internet company, today announced the availability of Yahoo! oneSearch beta for Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Beginning today, consumers in Latin America are able to access the industry's leading mobile search experience with localized content presented in Spanish and Portuguese. This announcement continues Yahoo!'s momentum by further increasing the global reach of oneSearch and reinforcing the company's strong leadership in the mobile industry, and comes on the heels of a partnership with Telefonica announced in October (see announcement titled "Telefonica and Yahoo! Partner to Bring Global Mobile Services to More Than 100 Million Consumers.")

Yahoo! oneSearch is an innovative search service explicitly designed to serve the needs of mobile users by delivering results directly in the first screen and thereby removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of links to PC Web sites to find the information they want. OneSearch improves consumers' search experience on mobile devices by integrating content from a variety of sources across the open Web, providing consumers with access to localized news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, Yahoo! Answers, Web images, as well as Web and Mobile Web sites.

"Yahoo! oneSearch has changed mobile search by fundamentally improving the way consumers access and use the Internet on their mobile phones," said Bruce Stewart, vice president and general manager, Connected Life Americas, Yahoo!. "By extending the premier mobile search service tailored to the unique needs of the Latin American consumer, we're providing compelling mobile experiences to millions of people and driving further usage of mobile Internet services in the region."

To access Yahoo! oneSearch, Latin American consumers should open their Web browser on their mobile phones and visit m.yahoo.com. At the Yahoo mobile homepage, simply enter a query into the oneSearch box, and the most relevant results and instant answers will be presented in an easy to read format designed for the mobile phone. For example, if a consumer wants to track the stock price and latest news for a certain company, just type the company name or ticker symbol into the search box. The oneSearch results list the company's Web site and stock quote, followed by recent news articles and Web and Mobile Web results. To dig more deeply into the results, a consumer simply needs to click on any item or category. For instance, by clicking on the ticker symbol in the oneSearch results, the user will be presented with in-depth financial information and company statistics as well as a stock chart showing recent performance.

Yahoo! is an established, early and aggressive leader that is helping to drive the growth of mobile advertising. With the launch of oneSearch in Latin America, Yahoo! is providing marketers and mobile operators with new opportunities to connect people to content and create new revenue streams through mobile advertising.

For additional information on oneSearch in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, please visit http://ar.mobile.yahoo.com, http://br.mobile.yahoo.com, or http://mx.mobile.yahoo.com. For more information on Yahoo! Mobile please visit mobile.yahoo.com

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal.

Yahoo! is a leading provider of mobile Internet services, including Yahoo! oneSearch and Yahoo! Go 2.0, to consumers worldwide. Through relationships with more than 80 mobile operators and device manufacturers in 40 countries Yahoo! brings the company's innovative mobile Internet services directly to fingertips. Yahoo!, Flickr, oneSearch, and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

SOURCE: Yahoo! Inc.

Yahoo!, Inc. Cory Pforzheimer, 408-349-2686 coryp@yahoo-inc.com Zealous Wiley, 408-349-3623 Zealous@yahoo-inc.com

Copyright Business Wire 2007

News Provided by COMTEX

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Juan Carlos Perez 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

San Francisco (IDGNS) - Google's announcement on Monday of a mobile development platform that could radically alter the wireless market is yet another example of the lengths the company will go to keep its advertising business growing at a jaw-dropping rate.

t is also another awe-inspiring -- or terrifying, depending on one's perspective -- display of the engineering and business resources Google can unleash and of the power it has to influence, disrupt and rearrange markets.

It did it, originally, in the search engine market, of course, by building a better mousetrap at a time when finding information on the Web was a thoroughly unsatisfying experience because the incumbents for years had provided substandard services.

Along the way, it found a way to generate loads of advertising revenue, creating the empire that has given it the financial might to march into new markets and, while not always succeeding, at least spooking the existing players.

For example, in 2004, Gmail shook up the stale Webmail market, rousing complacent players like Microsoft and Yahoo and forcing them to innovate again in order to meet Google's challenge.

Likewise, it has gone, with various degrees of success, into instant messaging, photo management, radio, print and TV advertising, enterprise search, Web analytics and hosted business applications.

Now it has set its sights on the mobile market, where until now it has been an outsider with, at best, a peripheral role.

It's mighty ambitious of Google to waltz in and attempt to change basic, ingrained rules in a notoriously cutthroat market with powerful and long-established gatekeepers that are intensely protective of their own interests.

"What we have here is Google trying to move the whole mobile Internet forward through this alliance," said industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.

In a nutshell, Google announced a free, open-source application development platform called Android for mobile devices with the intention of eclipsing existing operating systems from Microsoft, Symbian, Palm and others.

In typical Google fashion, the move seems thought through with chess-like thoroughness.

"It's significant that they didn't build an actual Google phone" said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney, referring to rumors to that effect. Such a move would have angered many potential partners. "That would have been a disaster."

Android will have a complete set of components, including a Linux-based operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.

Google envisions that with Android, developers will flood the mobile market with new applications and online services that can be written once and deployed in many phones, something that, as Google sees it, the current mobile technical fragmentation prevents.

The goal: to radically improve the creation, delivery and provision of mobile online services and applications, in the hopes that as people find the experience more satisfying, their mobile Web and Internet usage will balloon, along with online ad revenue.

Many questions remain unanswered about this latest foray, and the accomplishment of its grand vision is far from assured, but Google could effect significant change in how wireless carriers, handset makers and mobile application developers do business.

"What makes it real and powerful is the credibility of all these partners they have gathered," Sterling said. "It means that this has got buy-in in a very powerful way from the get-go."

Google's Open Handset Alliance is launching with 33 partners on board, including T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola, Broadcom, eBay, China Mobile, Intel, LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo, Nvidia, Samsung, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Texas Instruments and Wind River.

Of course, victory is far from secure.

For starters, not everyone is on board. Apple, Nokia, AT&T and Verizon are noticeably absent from the partners' list. Also, while the vision looks shiny at a conceptual level, many technical details remain undisclosed.

"We have a bit of a wait and see until we see what the platform will look like next week," said Van Baker, a Garner analyst. "We're operating in the dark. We're hearing lots of good intentions but it remains to be seen what they will actually deliver."

Google promises more details will be provided next week when it releases the Android software development kit, which will be free to use under the Apache V2 license.

Baker is particularly interested in the browser component of Android, which Google officials Monday described as full-featured and based on HTML, thus able to replicate a PC experience on a mobile phone.

That is a big claim, and if that browser in fact functions in that manner, Android's effect on the market will likely be significant, as the only thing that would approach this claim in the market today is the iPhone's Safari, Baker said.

"I confess to being skeptical [about the browser description] but if they can deliver on that, it could be very compelling," Baker said.

Another potential pitfall is the freedom of the open-source license, which gives developers, handset makers and carriers a lot of leeway to add proprietary extensions and modifications, which could result in an aggravation of the problem that Google is trying to solve: technical fragmentation.

"This could lead to further fragmentation in the market because the license allows any licensee to use whatever pieces [of the platform] they want and ignore whatever pieces or parts they want," Baker said.

Whether Android will have its desired effect will become clear once phones and applications built on it start appearing in the second half of 2008. At the time, cell phone subscribers will cast the most important votes in this contest.

Certainly, the lack of support at this point from AT&T and Verizon is notable, if not surprising, Baker said. Big carriers like Verizon and AT&T are comfortable with the significant control they exert currently over the applications and services available to their subscribers.

"This could loosen that [grip] up a bit," Baker said.

Sterling shares a similar view. "Android represents a way into mobile for a lot of parties that currently don't have a way in. It represents a way around the walled garden of the U.S. carriers," Sterling said.

Apple, which has been traditionally a Google ally, is likely not enthused about Android, which could make it easier for competitors to match, or at least approach, the iPhone's innovations.

Ultimately, what is propelling Google in this effort is its core advertising business, which the company recognizes it must extend to the mobile market.

A small market today, mobile advertising is expected to attain a significant size in coming years. According to Opus Research, mobile advertising spending in North America and Western Europe will reach a combined US$5.08 billion by 2012, up from an estimated $106.8 million at the end of this year. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 116 percent.

Opus Research, which released the forecast last week, said that improving the mobile user experience will prompt more people to spend more time using the Internet via their cell phones. This in turn will fuel ad revenue growth.

In the end, independently of what ends up happening, Google's entry into the mobile market is a welcome development, Dulaney said.

"We need powerful players from the 'wired' Internet market to get into the mobile space to break up the tight control carriers have had on content," Dulaney said. "So far, carriers have controlled all the content and they've been bad at it. Innovation has been stifled."

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