Google has been busy adding pictures from France, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Given the international focus of recent Street View launches, Google decided to make Street View accessible on phones that are popular in those countries.

Google Street View lets you access street level imagery to help orient yourself when looking for places, businesses, or getting directions. Say you're going to meet with friends at an unfamiliar restaurant. Now you can search for it in Google Maps for mobile, click on "Street View", and see what the place and surrounding area look like. Similarly, say you need to get to a shop in a part of town you don't know. Find it using your phone, get directions to it, and see how to get there with full-screen panorama images of every step along the way.

Broadcom Corporation today announced the availability of its newest wireless combination chip that enables mobile phones to support more media and data applications without impacting size or battery life.

By integrating Broadcom's industry leading 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM technologies on a single silicon die, the new combo solution offers far more functionality than any other single-chip wireless solution on the market. The highly integrated Broadcom® chip also provides significant cost, size, power and performance advantages over discrete semiconductor implementations, making it ideal for handheld electronics.

Combination chips have gained tremendous traction as more manufacturers add multiple wireless features to mobile phones and other handheld devices, and will account for nearly one-third of all wireless connectivity solutions shipped in 2012. 

At a press conference today in Brussels, Omega Pharma presented the E-Waves Phone Chip which claims to neutralize the potentially harmful radiation related to mobile phone use.

When using mobile phones, artificial electromagnetic radiation is generated which interferes with the natural electromagnetic field. For high-frequency radiation in particular, there is a growing international consensus that regular exposure can be potentially harmful.

Flemish actress Martine Jonckheere (picture right) participated in a test in which it was demonstrated that the neutralizing effect of the E-Waves Phone Chip also considerably reduced the warming of the brains during mobile phone use.

The E-Waves Phone Chip will be exclusively distributed by Omega Pharma and is available as of December, 10 2008 in Belgian pharmacies. Other countries will follow soon. 

The Open Handset Alliance, a group of technology and mobile players, has announced the membership of 14 additional companies. By joining the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the following companies demonstrate their support for Android as an open mobile platform and their commitment to its commercial success.

The new members are: AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc., Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone.

New members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices.

Novatel Wireless, Inc., today unveiled MiFi, an unprecedented line of Intelligent Mobile Hotspots. Together with a rich applications environment for enterprises and consumers, MiFi drives a new ecosystem of broadband connectivity.

Unlike existing router solutions that require an external broadband modem and serve only to provide connectivity, the MiFi line creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be easily shared between multiple users and Wi-Fi devices such as laptops, cameras, gaming devices and multimedia players. The MiFi products serve as an intelligent, open platform capable of hosting advanced software applications and flexible enough to address the continued evolution of mobile broadband.

Next Generation in Mobile Broadband Connectivity: MiFi represents the industry's first Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, a new category of mobile broadband that lets users put their world of content, services and connectivity in their pocket. 

In the application developer community, 7.1 million JavaTM  developers are creating desktop applications, but only around 3.6 million developers are creating mobile applications.

Sprint is changing that today by announcing a next-generation open software platform, initially deploying with the Sprint TitanTM  platform for Sprint Windows Mobile devices. The open software platform will reach the larger audience of developers by enabling them to use the same codes, tools and resources in the mobile environment as those used for desktop applications. Sprint's open developer tools will be a focus of Sprint's eighth annual Application Developer Conference, taking place Dec. 10-12.

Just in time for the holidays, the Nokia 2605 Mirage comes with Nokia Xpress-on snaps that fit over the battery cover and camera area of the device – perfect for helping distinguish between other family members’ and friends’ devices. An additional three-pack of the Nokia Xpress-on snaps with options for flowers, stripes or animal prints are also available for purchase at www.verizonwireless.com.  

The Nokia 2605 Mirage joins Verizon Wireless’ extensive lineup of devices with more than just compact good looks. It also combines an array of features for staying connected on-the-go and balancing everyday life:

Today, at its annual Capital Markets Day event, Nokia lowered its forecast for mobile device industry volumes for the fourth quarter 2008. Nokia also presented forecasts for the company and the industry for 2009. At the event, senior company executives outlined how Nokia's strategy, robust financial structure and competitive product portfolio are expected to ensure the company remains in a position of strength in the more challenging economic times ahead.
 
Outlook for Nokia and the mobile device industry - fourth quarter 2008

The mobile device market slowdown has continued more rapidly than previously expected since Nokia issued an update on November 14, 2008. The industry continues to be impacted by the effects of a global consumer pull-back in spending, currency volatility, and decreased availability of credit. Nokia believes the slowdown is apparent in varying degrees across all markets, while the most recent incremental impact in the emerging markets has been more pronounced than in other markets. 

According to the Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Strategies service report, “Mobile Internet Forecast Update 2001-2013,” demand for popular content and services on the web, such as social networks, email, and news sites, while away from fixed internet connections, will drive consumer spending on mobile web access products from operators.

As discriminatory charging for off-portal browsing disappears, data pricing for casual use is reduced, and the overall browsing experience on 3G feature and smartphones is improved, usage and spending on mobile web will increase.

Handset browsing has been popular in Japan and Korea to date, but not so in Western Europe and the US. However, according to Nitesh Patel, Senior Analyst of the Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Strategies service and author of the report, “Prospects for mobile web access in Western Europe and the US have brightened over the last 12 months as the browsing capability and user experience on handsets improves, and as more operators introduce flexible low-cost monthly and casual browsing plans to suit both heavy and casual users.

Virgin Mobile USA announced today the official launch of two new first-of-a-kind features designed to empower its prepaid and postpaid customers with the latest mobile social networking technology. These new initiatives, both available at no additional cost beyond normal internet access charges, offer Virgin Mobile USA customers new and innovative ways to hook up:

• "Connect," a new social networking dashboard designed to give Helio By Virgin Mobile members quick and easy access to the latest updates from certain social media and networking sites; and
• "Mobile Lounge," a Virgin Mobile USA customer-exclusive mobile community now available on the VirginXL storefront.

Connect: