Telcos or mobile operators have been in the news lately, implicated in the suppression of communications, tracking and surveillance of pro-democracy and human rights activists, and in their close collaboration with repressive regimes and their security apparatuses around the world. Now there is a new initiative spearheaded by advocacy organization Access Now that advocates for [...]

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A just-published guide from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is all about making media mobile, specifically at newspapers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The full report is available for download here. Billed as a guidebook, and not a one-size-fits-all rulebook, the guide aims to help Sub-Saharan African news publishers develop and implement mobile [...]

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A new rumor suggests Microsoft's next Windows Phone update will appear on low-end Nokia phones, as both companies attempt to target emerging Asian markets.

The next version of Windows Phone, codenamed "Tango," may be Nokia's second-tiered version of the OS on lower-priced handsets, according to ZDnet. The Nokia phones running Tango will reportedly focus...

Facebook recently launched a mobile messaging client, a standalone app that aims to challenge carriers, handset makers and others as the company expands its platform.

Facebook Messenger will let users to exchange instant messages, images and location information by using contact numbers stored on smartphones, regardless of whether they are friends on Facebook, according to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company. Messages can also be broadcast to a group of people at once, a feature the...

Apple and five large book publishing companies are facing a class action lawsuit accusing them of illegally fixing e-book prices, a courtoom drama that may eventually lower e-book prices even as sales continue to rise.

Hagens Berman, a Seattle-based law firm, sued Apple and publishers Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, HarperCollins and Penguin for allegedly conspiring to adopt the "agency model" for book pricing, which Hagens Berman claims keeps iBookstore prices high, and...

British lawmakers are calling on Research In Motion to suspend its BlackBerry messaging service amid the London riots, a controversial demand that puts the mobile company in a tight spot.

Member of Parliament, David Lammy, asked RIM to shut down BBM services in London as agitators continue using it to organize looting and burning parties.

"This is one of the reasons why unsophisticated criminals are outfoxing an otherwise sophisticated police force," he tweeted. "BBM is different...

A new mobile phone app may be the key to facilitating communication if other routes are closed, establishing an emergency data network when traditional networks aren't functioning.

To solve this problem, computer scientist Thomas Wilhem developed software called Auto-BAHN that lets data hop from phone to phone. When networks are down, people can send messages with the application, which uses Bluetooth short-range radio technology and Wi-Fi.

The project, presented as a tool to...