Major U.S mobile operators will adopt a content rating system for video, music, pictures and games that they sell to their customers, reports PC World.

The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), which includes all the major U.S. mobile operators, unveiled the voluntary pledge on Tuesday. In the first phase of the commitment, the companies will classify the content they deliver in at least two categories -

1. Generally Accessible Carrier Content, to be available to all users.

2. Restricted Carrier Content, accessible only to users over 18 or with a parent or guardian's authorization.

Only items provided by carriers would be covered; content provided by end users or accessed via the public Internet would not be classified under those rules, according to guidelines published by the CTIA.

Microsoft gave an official name to its software for protecting computer users against spyware. The software, which has been known as Windows AntiSpyware Beta 1, will be called Windows Defender when the finished version becomes available next year, a Microsoft spokesperson said Tuesday.

Product Features

Windows Defender will employ the same detection technology used in Microsoft's antivirus engine, improving the spyware detection capabilities. The software will also protect users against rootkits and keystroke loggers.

Windows Defender will also sport an updated user interface, and enterprise customers will be able to receive updates to Defender through Windows Server Update Services.

Windows Defender will be part of Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system scheduled for release next year. It will also be available to users of Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, according to the spokesperson.

Users will be able to disable it and use spyware software from a different vendor if they choose. Windows Security Center, which alerts users if they aren't running an antispyware program, will recognize third-party antispyware software, she said.

Source : PC World

A new version of the popular file manager for Series 60 phones named 'FExplorer' has been released. As mentioned at the official site, here are the updates in the new version 1.15 -

1. In a search, if a directory is found, the right key enters into this folder.

2 .The full path of the files is displayed while browsing the inbox, process and tasks.

3. A check (with a message) is now performed before copying or moving files to ensure there is free space enough on the destination drive.

4. In the 'tools menu', added a function to directly call the bluetooth manager.
added a progress dialog with the name of the file being copied.

5. In the hex viewer, the keys '3' and '9' can be used as page-up, page-down.

6. In the hex viewer, when in full screen mode, the file is displayed on 8 bytes, the ascii characters are displayed at the top, line per line.

7. In the hex viewer, with small files, corrected a bug to avoid FE to panic and exit when going down 'too deeply' in the text.

8. Added a function in the 'edit' menu to invert the selection of the current directory - marked files and dir become un-marked and un-marked become marked.

9. It is now possible to mark folders (like the files) and copy/cut/paste them with the files.

10. Added the latest phones in the phone type list (3230,6680,6681,6682,N70,N90).

11. Added, in the 'tools' menu, an option to dump (into a log file placed in the root) a list of *all* the installed applications with their UID and their path; this file can then be sended to the pc via bluetooth, infrared.

12. When displaying the full path in the 'small scrolling windows (key : [2])', the [1] key copies the full path and filename into the clipboard to be used in the notepad, ....

13. After a 'compress memory', the new -free memory- value is displayed in the navigation pane (ie: the screen is refreshed).

14. Fixed the bug to avoid to use 2 times the 'NO' key on exit.

15. The attributes of a file can now be modified.

16. It is now possible to save the screenshots either in the phone memory or in the MMC.

FExplorer can be downloaded at http://www.gosymbian.com.

BBC reported on a students' mobile film challenge. Producing films for the smallest of screens - mobile phones - presented a big challenge for media students at the University of Wales, Newport.

The shortest of shorts and animations each had to be no more than 30 seconds long but this was not the only problem.

First year student Alex Rainish said: "You've got to ensure the main action is big enough so it can be seen on the display of a mobile phone".

The films have been showcased at a mobile phone shop in the city.

Chris Bennewith, multi-media programme leader at Newport's School of Art, Media and Design, said that the new generation of mobile phones were versatile but still faced challenges for showing film.

He said: "The mobile screens are still quite small and it's very difficult to see detail - this project has shown that up.

Nokia has begun selling its much-anticipated 770 Internet Tablet through a direct-sales website serving 12 European countries. The device is still listed in the "expected soon" area of Nokia's US website, however.

The 770 Internet Tablet is Nokia's first consumer product based on Linux. It is a small tablet based on a 220MHz ARM processor, with integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, and various Internet clients.

The 770 was expected to ship in September, at prices around $350, but was delayed last month, for unknown reasons. The device has been approved by the FCC for sale in the US.

The 770 is available through Nokia's direct sales European website, which serves Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. It is priced at 349 Euros (~$412).

Meanwhile, US users can sign up for email availability alerts through a product information page on Nokia's US website.

Source : LinuxDevices.com

Also, a Nokia 770 Accessory Guide is availaible at Internet Tablet Talk.

Nokia yesterday unveiled the new Safari-based Web browser for its S60 smartphone software and platform. The new browser is "aimed to provide smartphone users with a true Web experience and industry leading performance when browsing full Web pages on the Internet using a smartphone" and is available to S60 licensees as part of the S60 3rd Edition offering. As announced earlier this year, the new Web browser for S60 is based on the WebCore and JavaScriptCore components of Apple’s Safari Web Kit, which it says is the industry’s "smallest and fastest" open-source full Web rendering engine for mobile devices and is the same engine that Apple uses in the Safari internet browser.

The browser's open-source codebase and extensible architecture will enable other industry parties, such as S60 licensees and the open source community, to develop new features for the browser, according to Nokia. The company says that S60 application developers can use open APIs to build on top of the browser--to render rich content within their application. Nokia says it is committed to open-source, and intends to actively participate in the open-source community to further develop and enhance the browser, contributing Nokia's expertise in mobility.

Source : MacNN

Nokia announced the N92 which offers a 2.8 inch, 16 million color, 320 x 240 display. It can twist into an LCD viewfinder like a handheld video camera or sit on a table like a portable DVD player. With Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DBV-H), it will enable the users to watch broadcast TV programs.

It has a 2 megapixel camera for taking great snaps and an additional integrated VGA camera. The internal memory is 90 MB which can be increased to 2 GB easily with a memory card. For connectivity, there is 802.11g Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, infrared and Bluetooth wireless technology. It runs on Symbian OS and Series 60 third edition and will be availaible in mid-2006.

Sony has been installing a hidden software in PCs, when people buy music albums published by Sony BMG Music and play them on their computers. This software is called Extended Copy Protection (XCP) which uses techniques similar to those used by viruses, trojans and spywares to hide itself from the user. All this is done for preventing unauthorized music copying.

WMAPlus is an advanced wma player for phones running on Symbian OS v7.0 and above like Nokia 6600, 7610, 6630, 6680, etc. It is the first music player for Symbian phones that supports the WMA (Windows Media Audio) format. Other supported formats are mp3, aac, amr, mid, ogg, mp4 and mp4a. Another interesting feature is that it lets you set wma files as ringtones.

Gizmondo finally launched in US on 22nd October and is priced at $229.