Just one month ago we brought innuendo-laden news of the Korean sausage, a meaty snack that was being used by commuters to control their iPhones whilst still wearing gloves. It turned out that the meat-sticks worked just like a human finger, even while still inside their plastic covers.

Read More www.wired.com

Monthly usage of wireless data among smartphone users in South Korea surged over 100-fold during the first two months following the iPhone’s launch here, a report from KT Corp. (KSE:030200) showed Monday.

KT, South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier, released the iPhone in the domestic market on December 1 through an exclusive contract with Apple Inc. Its sales surpassed the 400,000-unit mark as of Friday, said Pyo Hyun-myung, a KT president, via Twitter.

Read More www.tradingmarkets.com

After following evacuation protocols and making sure our families and pets were safe, Editor Jacob Shafer (Twitter handle @jacobshafer) and co-owner Jen Russo (@jenrusso) set up shop at MauiTime’s Wailuku office, observing the harbor from above, talking with residents, working the phones, scouring the Internet and firing off updates via Twitter, Facebook and our news blog, mauifeed.com. Meanwhile, I hopped on my bike, grabbed my Canon Rebel, DSLR, HD flip (which shoots 720p video) and my iPhone with Qik streaming capability and rode down to the water’s edge to stream live video of the expected tsunami.

Read More www.mauitime.com

The surge in mobile data and broadband traffic in advanced markets over the last couple of years is something of a double-edged sword. While it has finally validated carriers’ long-held strategic thinking, it has exposed gaps in their network performance.

Read More www.telecoms.com

Taipei - Taiwan mobile phone maker HTC Corp on Wednesday rejected allegations by US high-tech company Apple of patent violations, and vowed to protect its own innovations. Apple sued HTC Tuesday for 20 alleged patent violations relating to the Apple iPhone’s user interface and hardware.
“HTC is a mobile technology innovator and patent holder focused on creating many of the most innovative smartphones in the past 13 years,” the Taiwanese firm said in a statement.

Read More www.earthtimes.org

Today here in Russia we have finally learned the date when we should expect iPhone 3GS to become officially available in the country as one of the leading local mobile carries and one of the largest electronics retailer have announced that they are initializing the sales this week, on the 5th of March.

Read More profy.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. said it found more than a dozen serious violations of labor laws or Apple’s own rules at its suppliers that needed immediate correction.
The findings were outlined in a company report on audits of 102 supplier facilities conducted in 2009. That was a year in which questions about the practices of one of Apple’s suppliers came into focus after the suicide of a Chinese worker who held a sensitive job handling iPhones.

Read More www.google.com

Sygic has decided to discount the prices for a while to celebrate the iPhone app update… Sygic Mobile Maps Europe now EUR 49.99, Gulf Countries now USD 79.99, Russia now EUR 49.99, and Australia & New Zealand AUD 59.99.

Grab it while you can!

At least with this iPhone you don’t have to worry about managing or forgetting its cookies.  A Japanese bakery called Green Gables whips up these handmade smart cookies — the “camera” on the back is an especially nice touch — but fortunately they spared us the glossy black frosting and made them out of what looks like gingerbread instead.

Read More www.cultofmac.com

Our goal: a simple, clean way to reveal the art events happening around you as you move through Tokyo. No need to plan your gallery visits from home anymore: the app gives you instant access to more than 400 art and design events, available at all times via the phone in your pocket.

Read More www.tokyoartbeat.com

Mobile app analytics company Distimo has compiled their findings on the six largest mobile app stores offered by Apple, Palm, Research In Motion, Google, Nokia and Microsoft.

Distimo presented its findings about app store size, growth, average price and free-versus-paid-app ratio at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain last week.

Read More www.wired.com

The BBC will bring live football to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch users in time for this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010, the event will be played across thirteen venues, including stadiums in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

Read More www.macworld.co.uk

The Wholesale Application Community, or WAC for sort, announced at Mobile World Congress on Monday that 27 companies have joined forces to provide an alternative to Apple’s App Store for developers. Frustration with the approval process has been growing among the developer community. Will this appeal to the disillusioned?

There is a long list of companies that are part of WAC.

Read More www.informationweek.com

NBC is getting hammered from all sides for its handling of the Olympics. From the usual cries of U-S-A jingoism to the dearth of live-event feeds and content-sharing with other news outlets, the media company can’t catch a break. While I am not averse to piling on any big media brand when I can, I think the mobile coverage and the brand advertising I have seen on the mobile iterations are at worst mixed.

Read More www.mediapost.com

CHINA’S patent applications grew by 210% from 2005 to 2009, surpassing France but still well behind America, as we report this week. Does China’s growing intellectual-property sector mean the country now has a stake in respecting international intellectual-property law?

Read More www.economist.com

Total Access Communication, which happens to be the second largest mobile phone company in Thailand, is getting ready to put the Apple iPhone on the market, a source reported today.

Many believe this is a major act that will help boost revenue away from non-voice services, which has a larger growth than voice services in a market where just about everyone has a cellphone.

Read More www.iphoneworld.ca

In Korea, sales of a snack sausage increase by almost 40%* in the winter as iPhone users utilize the sausage as a stylus in order to avoid removing their gloves.

Read More www.clusterflock.org

Rogers has launched two new North American (US/Canada) Data add-ons.

The new data add-ons allow customers to use the available data anywhere in Canada or the USA. In other words, you can use the data add-on in the USA without any additional data roaming fees.

Read More www.iphoneincanada.ca

Softbank has reported a fiscal third quarter net profit jump of 41%, thanks in part to strong sales of the iPhone and related services, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Read More www.ilounge.com

It looks like Apple is stepping up its efforts against those fake iPhones that are flooding the market. A report from Shenzhen states that a police raid in a workshop there resulted in more than 1,000 iPhone clones and 6000 phone batteries being seized.

Read More www.ubergizmo.com