Mobile phone of the future: The Pomegranate?

Apparently the Pomegranate NS08 is set to revolutionize the mobile industry.

Features like MP3 player, GPS , internet browser, camera and video player come standard with this handset but what makes the pomegranate NS08 so revolutionary? Just when you thought you had seen it all the Pomegranate introduces a few unique features including:

Universal Voice Translation, Projector, Shaver, Harmonica and Coffee Brewer.

Now just before you think I have been smoking something really strong, take a look at the video below.

Amazing isn’t it. The Pomegranate promises to go where no mobile phone has gone before.

Now why not view the full handset specs and release date over at www.pomegranatephone.com

Talk face2face from within Gmail

The hard working guys over at Gmail.com have just launched a kick ass new addition to Gmail. The free email and chat application used by over 113 million people, today made it possible for users to chat using voice and video from within the Gmail client.

“Gmail voice and video chat will be rolled out globally over the next day or so for Macs and PCs. The first time you use this feature, you’ll be prompted to download and install a small plugin. To get started, visit http://www.gmail.com/videochat or click on the “Options” menu in a Gmail chat window and choose “Add voice/video chat.” For more info visit the Gmail Blog.

If you havn’t already taken Gmail for a spin give it a try today.

Last chance to join Friends of fring!

Hi fringsters,

Applications to join the free of charge friends of fring program will remain open until midnight this Friday 14 November 2008.

The first Friends of fring events are due to take place this December at venues in London & Paris and at a city near you to be confirmed. We’ll have an opportunity for a drink together and a chance for you to get to know some of the guys from fring who will share the cool new stuff in the R&D product pipeline before they are released to the general public. Friends of fring will also receive a special Welcome Pack full of goodies, plus access to a special password protected Friends of fring web site where we’ll share future product developments exclusively with Friends of fring prior to public release. Well be hosting friends of fring events every so often (lot’s of free drinks and other stuff) to say thank you and continue to keep you in the loop on new releases.

Please note ‘friends of fring’ is totally free of charge to be a part of. Application is open to any fring user, but for manageability and exclusivity, the final selection will be limited to only a few users per country. So if you are interested in joining please apply now.

To apply, please send an email to friends [at] fring.com with your:

- full name
- fring nick
- fring ID (your mobile no. with its international dial code)
- location
- and a few short lines explaining why you’d like to join.

Thanks and we look forward to receiving your application.

Friends of fring

A tribute to Mama Afrika

A bit of sad news from the African continent:

The legendary South African singer Miriam Makeba has today passed away.

“Even in her old-age, Miriam continued to take a stand for peace… She died of a heart-attack in Castel Volturno, Italy shortly after taking part in a concert to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra, a mafia-like organisation. She was 76.” woman24.com

Our condolences are with Miriam’s family during this sad time.

Is your username taken: Let Usernamecheck tell you

Is your username taken?

“A recently launched application called Usernamecheck gives you a great overview at which Web 2.0 services your ‘default’ username has already been registered.

In just a couple of minutes, you’ll know just how hung up you have been on trying out every new service on the block, and which one you’ve once signed up for but have long forgotten about. Or, alternately, where your username has already been taken by somebody else.

Usernamecheck currently pings 68 services for the username you want to look up, and lets you know instantly if it is still available or not.” Techcrunch.com

Over 228 784 user names have already been checked, if you haven’t already used the service give it a try.

Gmail Mobile 2.0 for Java & Blackberry

Google has released the new v2.0 of its Gmail Mobile client. The update comes for Java based and Blackberry phones. The Gmail Mobile client has received a complete performance improvement making the client faster. You can also now easily manage more than one gmail account, save multiple mobile email drafts, and there are a few new shortcuts.

You can download the new version of the Gmail Client from the official website m.google.com/mail via your mobile web browser.

Thanks to Frazier from frings Indian Bog for this news.

MobilePress: WordPress made easy for iPhone and other Handsets

WordPress, one of the most popular and possibly the “coolest” blogging platform around has just been given a very unique new plugin from a South African company who’s name says it all. The hard working guys over at Younique, working together with the team of Project Wolf have just launched a shiny new WordPress plugin simply called MobilePress, the plugin will enable WordPress for mobile devices in such a way that the end user has a better viewing experience.

On his personal blog Tyler Reed the Founder of both Younique and Project Wolf says that MobilePress is “a plugin for WordPress, which allows users, designers and publishers to extend their audience and service by having specific themes for specific mobile devices or browsers.” Apparently blogs using the MobilePress plugin can be viewed nicely across multiple platforms and handsets, including the iPhone and other high end Nokia and windows mobile devices.

One of the readers of Tyler’s blog puts it this way when he says that this “plugin is definitely filling the previous, massive void.”

From reading a bit about this project and after seeing a few screenshots I am now convinced that this new plugin for WordPress will revolutionize the way blogs are seen and read when using mobile devices and this can only be good news for everyone, I wish Tyler Reed and his teams all the best in their future projects.

Oh and did I mention MobilePress is free to download and is open source! To download the file click here.

Before and after screenshot thanks to Allan Kent and MobilePress.

fring and mobilkom austria A1 announce world first

Hi guys,

We don’t usually use the blog for fring’s industry news, but this story (and another world first for fring) is just too cool to keep to ourselves or for the hard core industry portals and blogs and we wanted to share it with you too!

fring and leading mobile network operator mobilkom austria today announced the joint launch of a special version of fring’s award winning mobile internet communication (MVoIP) and community service.

This is the first time a leading mobile network operator has integrated an open mobile VoIP communication and mobile internet community into their business, and represents a sea change in traditional mobile carriers and companies such as fring working together. It also provides a glimpse into the future of what fring believes in: a world of truly open mobile communications & community, with loads of choice for you guys, the mobile users. Well done mobilkom austria for sharing this vision!

So, today’s announcement provides a clear statement and answer to all of the media and industry speculation, cynicism and questions regarding the relationship between mobile VoIP and traditional operators. It demonstrates the willingness and ability of MNO’s to embrace mobile internet communication, build it into their future eco systems and provide a new level of rich and compelling mobile internet experience to its users. Read the full press release here.

Finally, we want to say a big hi and welcome to all of the new mobilkom austria A1 fringsters. It’s great to have you join the worldwide fring family.

New fring version 3.36 (Symbian) just arrived

Hi guys

Big excitement here at fring - we’ve just released fring’s latest version 3.36, with some v cool new upgrades (available for all Symbian 9 devices)

Having upgraded the GUI (the way it looks to you and me) fring is now better looking (as if that were possible) and more user friendly with an upgraded menu structure, and all of your favorite online communities and cool new fring Add-ons available in one easy place, making it simpler than ever to find what you need.

And the new version now supports FAXL 3 Add-on development language 1st (if you’re a developer you’ll be excited – if not this will sound like a foreign lingo!) so that any Add-ons developed can now go live.

We’ve also fixed a few bugs you’ve reported to us, to make fringing even more fun!

Get it now here, or from your phone (close your current version of fring, point your phone browser to www.fring.com and click Download to be taken through the simple process)

Let us know what you think and have a great day!

fring team

Update: There seems to be a few bugs in the latest Ver 3.36.15 and our technicians are working around the clock to find them and squish them. Please report any bugs you may find in the forum so we can find them quickly

iPhone 3G - Eco friendly charging with the iYo YoYo

Today while surfing the net I came across an amazing eco charger, designed for the iPhone. The design is very simple but it has the word ‘revolutionary’ written all over it. These days thanks to the power of the internet we often come across product designs that can drastically revolutionize the mobile industry. Sadly though most of the great designs never see the light of day.

The iYo YoYo, designed by Peter Thuvander is just such a revolutionary design, it shows huge potential not only for iPhone users but for any mobile device users. The iYo YoYo most certainly has ‘the power’ to become an international craze and we really hope it will see the light of day soon, so that fringsters around the world can be charging in style