How smart is your shirt?
Dallas-based Sensatex LifeLink plans to market "communal smart shirts" capable of anything from monitoring a patient's vital signs to wirelessly tracking the wearer's location.
Originally created by the Department of Defense Advance Research Project Agency -- the agency that invented the Internet -- the shirt is washable and can be designed to the wearer's liking.
"It's wearing a shirt that can move information off your body," Sensatex LifeLink CEO Jeff Wolf said. "You could have a guy in Chicago walking around ... and have his doctor in China analyzing the information in real time. So his doctor in China could let him know how he is feeling at any given moment."
By the way, if you have a better idea, why not suggest it? The company is encouraging people to write with ideas.
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Speaking of fashion: Mobile-phone manufacturer Nokia (NOK ) unveiled on Thursday the Nokia 3390 -– a fashionable wireless handset that gives users four games and allows for text and picture messaging.
The phone, targeted to young adults, weighs 4.2 ounces and comes with changeable front and back covers in blue, white, red, gray, yellow or silver.
The company says the phones will be sold by GSM (Global System for Mobile) communications standard carriers and retailers by the end of November and will cost $99 to $149.
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Nokia riding high: Nokia is clearly the leading mobile-phone manufacturer, posting a 19.6 percent third-quarter operating margin, compared to 6 percent for competitor Motorola and negative 29 percent for Ericsson.
The Finnish manufacturer is poised to sell over 100 million phones this year, predicting that the replacement market for handsets will grow 70 to 80 percent in coming years.
Nokia predicts over 400 million phones will be sold globally this year and about 550 million phones next year.
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AT&T splits: In an attempt to pick up its floundering stocks' value, AT&T (T) announced on Wednesday it would work as a family of four companies.
The four companies -– AT&T's consumer, business, broadband and wireless units -- will be traded separately.
AT&T stock has fallen 47 percent in value this year.
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I-Mode crosses the border: Sweden-based Xpedio is teaming up with Japan-based Access to offer Americans and Europeans i-mode-like services.
The companies say they will use NTT's proprietary service for handsets, personal digital assistants and to wirelessly enable cars with Internet access.
I-Mode already touts over 13 million subscribers in Japan.
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NTT to offer L-mode: Banking on the success of its i-mode service, NTT East and NTT West -– the regional domestic telecom carriers of Japanese giant NTT -- plans to offer a tethered line version of i-mode called L-mode.
L-mode handsets, which will be larger than their mobile counterparts and equipped with liquid-crystal display screens, will be launched in April in Japan.
First U.S. wireless chat: Sprint PCS (PCS) announced last week it would offer mobile-phone users wireless chat rooms.
"Wireless Chat" -- powered by Jumbuck -- allows Sprint PCS customers, who will be identified by nicknames, to conduct text conversations with other users on specific topics such as "campus, sports, celebs or Wall Street."
Customers can access the service on the new "Messaging" folder of the Sprint PCS Wireless Web, which also holds a host of two-way-messaging services including AOL Instant Messenger, Sprint PCS Short Mail and Sprint PCS Mail.
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Who's singing? Next time you hear a song on the radio and need to know the name of the artist, use ConneXus Corporation's Star CD service.
If you have access to a landline or wireless Web-enabled device and live in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area, dial 1-847-444-SONG to find out the artist and even order the album.
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NewsEdge unplugged: Content Provider NewsEdge announced headlines and a concise version of its news stories are available for any handheld device.
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PhoneFree.com squashes competition: No doubt free phone calls are one of the perks offered by the Internet.
According to researcher Media Metrix, these online free phone call sites are often frequented, though PhoneFree.com tops all. Last month it received 1,578,000 unique visitors –- a 14 percent increase from August's 1,382,000.
It quelled competition by Dialpad, which had 1,474,000 unique visitors, Net2Phone, which touted 1,337,000 visitors, and FireTalk, which boasted 226,000 visitors.
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Party and receive ads: SignCast, a company dedicated to wiring bars, clubs and casinos with media networks, announced it just hooked up 850 spots in 20 cities across the United States.
The wired bars and clubs in the United States are equipped with flat, digital-screen monitors that air original programming and advertising targeted to the 21- to 35-year-old market.
The company says advertisers can opt for a wireless solution that permits analog and digital cell-phone users to call a three-digit number and find out more information about the products advertised.
