Nokia first netbook, the Booklet 3G will go on sale in mid November.

Nokia, the world number one cell phone maker is set to release its first netbook, marking effectively its entry into this new and hot category of inexpensive devices deigned primarily to access the Internet. Nokia's Booklet 3G as it is called, will hit the market in mid November and the reviews give it a passing grade. Starting with its look, the Wall Street Journal noticed the resemblances between the designs of the Booklet 3G and those of Apple's. One thing that will jump out according to the Journal, is its high resolution screen of 1,280 by 720 pixels, which seems noticeable in the netbook category. Another thing that will make this netbook stand out, is its unusually long battery life which should last a decent 10 hours under normal circumstances. The Nokia Booklet 3G will cost $300 if purchased with AT&T two year Data Connect Plan at the tune of $60 a month for five gigabytes of data. The one nice thing about the AT&T plan is that users are offered the option to choose at all times between a cellular 3G or a WI-FI connection which should ensure almost a constant connection. Without the AT&T plan, the Booklet 3G will cost $600 and Best Buy has started taking pre-oreders this week. The Booklet 3G comes preloaded with Windows 7 Starter and one gigabyte of memory plus the Nokia Social Hub software which is designed to allow its users to track their social medias interests and text messages.

For more, see WSJ.com

Yahoo voice recognition is expanding via an iPhone app.

According to the New York T imes, Yahoo popular voice-enabled search function also known as OneSearch, has been added to its its iPhone application where it will be available through an update though some people wishing to get it earlier can do so by downloading it from the iTunes app store.
The application is already available for BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Mobile phones with less features than the one slated for the iPhone. On the other hand, Google's iPhone application has voice recognition also.
In wake of the development of its voice recognition app, Yahoo has abandoned its Yahoo Mobile for smartphones that was intented to be a one place stop to aggregate your mail to from several other sites as well as access all your social network sites.The individual widgeets that were developed for those different functions, would be gradually released to different phones.

Free Internet calling services for cellphones.

Even if the possibilities have been around for a while, making free international calls via cellphones have remained challenging. Two companies, Skype, the market leader and Fring, an Israel based company, offer the most user-friendly cellphone applications for international calls. But, there are still some hussles and for these applications to be worthwhile, someone has to plan to make a lot of international calls.
For these two applications to work best, they better be downloaded on a phone with WI-FI capabilities with the user staying within the hot spot during the phone call.
For both Skype and Fring, users are assigned an ID or name that they use to dial up with the call going through the service's Internet servers.
Calls made to others members of both services are free while those made to non members using a Skype prepaid account, are at a cheaper rate than the one charged by traditional phone companies.
The Skype cellphone application can be dowloaded directly to a phone using Windows Mobile or to a PC and then transfered to the phone later.
According to the New York Times,"for those without a Windows Mobile phone, Skype recently introduced Skype Lite, which runs on dozens of Nokia and Samsung phones with Symbian software, as well as a few Motorola Razr models. On Skype.com, these users can type in their mobile numbers and Skype will send a message to the phone with a link to download the software."
Skype Lite also runs on the G1, from T-Mobile, also known as the Google phone, which operates on the Android software platform. To get the application,one's only need to visit the “Market,” Android’s app store and click on the free Skype application.

For more, see NYTimes.com