Looking back at the industry’s standards, mobile phones have come a long way from the older models that were initially made. Before CDMA and 2G technology was available, most mobile phones were huge, as in carrying a bothersome weight. These mobile phones only allowed two purposes –making and receiving calls (though you can probably knock a person unconscious with it too). Phones these days are smaller and slimmer. You can even hang some phones from a lanyard or just slide one into your shirt’s front pocket.

Even the weight has changed dramatically. From bulky to just around the area of 100-150 grams, the change in weight is an even bigger issue –and these days, having a phone weighing close to 200 grams is already considered heavy.

But industry standards can get confusing, while smart phone manufacturers have been sticking true to the new weight rule, the concept of size is a completely different matter. People want smaller handsets, at the same time, they all want bigger screens. Even scrapping the keyboard and keypad in exchange for a large touch screen was not enough; now, some developers are looking to make phones will really big screens.

Dell recently launch Dell Streak that has a 5 inch touch screen, Sony is rumored to be working on a 5.5 inch touch screen handset as well. At a recent tech conference in Asia, Samsung revealed the Galaxy Tab which is basically a 7 inch tablet which can be used for making phone calls as well.

Breaching the border between a tablet and mobile phone is a tricky thing; after all, the main point of having a mobile handset is portability. Avoiding the need to carry a 7 inch touch screen device is specifically the reason why mobile phones have been invented.

While there are many ways to inform people about your current mood, social networking site posts are definitely at the top of the list. There are several ways to update your myriad of site accounts. You can either manually post in each and every one of them, make use of a system which auto updates all your accounts from a single post (such as Seesmic’s Ping.fm) or you could use the Buddy Radio.

For those who are always on the go, another gadget to bring along for the ride may be a total waste of space. But for those who really cannot bring themselves to manage their social networking sites through their mobile phones (basically, those who are too lazy), the Buddy Radio system may be of use.

The Buddy Radio is brought to us by the folks over at Sidekick Studios. The device looks exactly like a small, white radio but it is able to not only update your Facebook, Twitter or IM account statuses; it is also able to text and email your friends. This gives them an idea of how you feel on a particular day and is meant to inform your contacts of your mood.

All of this is done with the simple turn of a dial. The mood of the day is likely to be seen in hospitals wherein health care professionals are in close contact with the patients and have a need to gauge their daily mood.

The system is able to collect data to allow for an overall self analysis. It is able to give mental health care givers, family members and peers an idea for possible response or treatment.

This system was recently given a contract courtesy of the NHS London. The contract gave the Buddy the thumbs up sign to be used on a trial basis for substance abuse and mental health services by Maudsley and South London.

Martha Lane Fox has one big task ahead of her, teaching the digitally unconnected masses about the internet. It’s a big deal, because the internet can actually help people save more than anything else. It also opens up plenty of opportunities for growth, education and most importantly, employment.

It is easy to appreciate a few heart-tugging tales of senior citizens finding their re-connections to the world thanks to the internet. But the real success stories are in being able to teach the people who need the internet to live. Of course, the concept of internet access in every house is a pretty tough sell to make, instead, the real focus is in bringing internet access to the public.

Libraries and other public locations such as government buildings, job centers and even the local post office are being considered as prime locations for computer hubs that people can use.

There are already plenty of volunteers who are willing to give their time in order to reach out and teach others about how to use the internet, how to make their own email address and of course how to use the computer, mouse, keyboard and all (or in some cases, how to fiddle around with a smart phone).

The transition is expected to be slow, but this is not ideal. Technology is not waiting for anyone, and society as a whole is still not an exception. The big shift from traditional to digital will happen soon and people have to learn a lot faster.

While it may seem harsh, there is plenty of reasons to go digital. First off, digital correspondence is significantly better than using paper. According to some reports, the government alone stands to save millions if they stop using papers. The same applies to companies and even to individuals (though at much lesser and harder to notice scales).

Mobile network operator 3 mobile has recently announced that they will be offering three new devices to their already impressive lineup of mobile phones.

First up is the LG Viewty. This device comes with a 3 inch touch screen display and a 5 mega pixel snapper. It also has an FM radio (aside from the usual media playback capabilities for video and MP3), Microsoft Outlook with PC sync, and a built in photo editor. The resistive touch screen might be a little backwards in terms of technology, but at least the device has its own stylus. The Viewty is available right now.

The second device on 3’s list is the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The new 3G edition of the Pearl looks very much like the original device down to the 12 button keyboard layout but this new edition comes with a slightly larger touch screen display. 3 UK has yet to announce a specific date for the launch of the Pearl 3G.

Last on the lineup is the HTC Wildfire. This impressive Android smart phone from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has been in the headlines recently for its excellent balance of specs and more importantly, price. With the rest of HTC’s smart phone lineup being composed of really expensive high end gadgets, it is about time that they released a device for the mid range crowd.

According to the reports, the Wildfire is focused heavily on social networking features. It has a life streaming feed of social networking updates that will bring users up to date with all the latest happenings easily. The device comes with a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen, a 5 mega pixel camera, a 528 MHz CPU and of course, the latest Android OS, version 2.1 Éclair. 3 UK has announced that the date for the Wildfire’s launch will be given soon.

Microsoft’s Hotmail email service has to come a long way. Now, MS is giving new life to their old service in order to attract more users –Google has also been gaining more users and it is time that Microsoft steps up their game.

So far, the initial changes are worth looking forward to, the new hotmail features are a treat for anyone who needs to easily organize large quantities of emails that come in. Better folder and filter organization that would include possible origins and, as well as an instant email search functions.

Brandon LeBlanc has posted about the changes at the official Google blogs. His biggest favorite is the addition of the new filters:

“I absolutely love filters. And the new Hotmail brings filters front and center. I’ve since turned off automatic sorting and am now relying solely on the new Hotmail’s Social updates filter.”

He goes on to describe how the new filter automatically sorts out content in your inbox, allowing for streamlined viewing of mail that you actually want to see –no need to wade through large amounts of mail when you are just looking for a single one.

Another new addition to Hotmail is the Quick View which gives users an instant view of the content that is found in the email, allowing for users to easily which one they should be reading first –it also helps figure our which emails you should not be opening from your office computer. The best part of this is that it allows users to instant view various file formats such as images and documents from within the web browser itself. There is no need to manually download attachments on public computers that you will have to delete later on.

The new Hotmail features are part of an ongoing improvement across Microsoft’s many web services such as Silverlight and more.

It seems that the supply of virtual produce on the internet will no longer be put into jeopardy. About 75 million users on Facebook run and maintain virtual farms through the Zynga game app and this large network of farmers have produced more virtual poultry, livestock and farm goods than any other pseudo community online. However, news that Zynga could potentially leave Facebook meant that all of these farms would close, threatening the only source of virtual produce online.

Kidding aside, last week’s worrisome news that Zynga might be splitting off from Facebook has finally met a very joyous conclusion as it was recently announced that the two parties have finally come to a very private agreement.

Obviously, neither Zynga nor Facebook are willing to share with the public as to what the terms and conditions of the agreement are, but many believe that Facebook has finally backed down from its originally intended 30% cut from Zynga’s online profits through the social networking site.

The big fuss started over a week ago after Facebook announced changes in its developer policies. They have implemented a new Facebook credits system through which all transactions on the online site will be held. This places Facebook in control of user and developer transactions and also allows them better control of incoming profit. However, Facebook’s 30% cut on sales has proven to be quite the expensive price to pay and Zynga publicly announced that due to such changes, they are considering to set up their own Zynga Games network.

With Facebook’s millions of networked users and Zynga’s incredibly addictive games that keep people coming back for more, the two companies had a very strong partnership that would definitely prove to be detrimental should one factor not be present (of course, Facebook has less to lose).

When we refer to history, we often take it as a way of looking back at human society and how we have evolved throughout the years. Most museums often give us a good point of study as they hold key objects that have existed during specific eras and provide us with a glimpse of how things and life was at that time.

Now, imagine if by simply pointing a mobile phone at the barcode on that park bench, you get to catch a detailed list of all the people who have been sitting there and getting to know the things that they did (or perhaps that was not such as good example but anyway). This is the new study being undertaken by the University College London as it launches the Tales of Things program where in various objects from the Oxfam shop are barcode-d and sent to various owners.

Each item owner will be adding new data to the barcode and as such, information about various events, images and other associated data will be attached to the device –like a digital diary or blog.

It is interesting and amusing for most people, but for some specialists, the information that can be gathered and analyzed would be priceless. For many who study behavioral sciences and psychology, these bits of data that can be found are not only telling of the objects themselves, but also of the people that have held them throughout. This will allow us to understand our society better.

Of course, the technology is still new and yet to be fully implemented. Thanks to mobile phone technology however, getting this running is a simple matter of developing the 2D barcode extensively and creating an app that would allow users to instantly scan the barcode to read existing data and possibly, adding new ones.

The rest of the word is pretty much in awe with Spotify (well, there are some who are completely oblivious to what it is). For most of the folks in the UK, it is a godsend –as long as you are on the consumer end that is.

According to many music lovers, Spotify provides the best online music service, for good reason. First off, the big clincher –price. Spotify is cheap, for only £10 each month, a subscriber is able to download or stream music indefinitely, and there is plenty of music to choose from. Spotify has tied up with many music producers and publishers to boast a library of songs and tracks that easily matches that of Last FM or similar music sites.

Even iTunes has plenty to be wary about –the new Spotify features are among the most user friendly yet full featured music organization systems available. Tracks can be tagged, labeled and grouped in order to set favorites and personalized playlists. There is even a new ‘starred’ label which is similar to the labeling system used by Gmail.

Spotify even allows users to link up their accounts to the accounts of their friends bring a sense of social networking into the mix. Users can share and exchange playlists in order to recommend music tracks to their friends and contacts – a great way to expand your listening experience if you ever find yourself looking for something new to listen to.

Overall Spotify is a great service for consumers. For artists however, there is a different story to be told. There are plenty of reports that artists with songs in Spotify receive little to no earnings –with Spotify’s current business model, many expect that service will not be able to expand fully unless this issue is resolved.

Read more about the new services and features that are available on Spotify at Pocket Lint.

If there is one thing that has not changed, it is the basic concepts of marketing: “know your market, know how to get them to buy what you have”.

Thus, there is a never ending need for surveys and studies to determine market trends and social preferences. In a recent study that was held by Orange Mobile, they have found out that there is a significant difference in the purchasing and phone usage habits of men and women on the internet.

The biggest result of the study is that men are the largest market for video content downloads. This means that we can expect to see more videos being made available on the iPlayer, MSN Player and more that are catered to the preferences of men. This also means that men’s products are more likely to need advertisements that place them alongside video content or are part of the streaming data. This is also why content such as sports videos are such big hits, because the larger percentage of video content buyers are men.

Women on the other hand spend more time online communicating with friends and contacts. Whether just by sending messages or sending images, women find it a more productive use of their time. This means that preference based text ads that appear in email clients and other services will more likely be tuned to female users than men.

In terms of games, both men and women are avid players and download game content for their smart phones. Men are seen to be more likely to download games that require real time focus and immediate round conclusions or stages. Women on the other hand prefer games that require less activity such as the Sims or Monopoly.

Read more about the differences of men and women’s preferences at Softpedia.

According to Facebook, they will now be sharing the personal information of users in specific “pre-approved web sites”. The announcement has met the ire and criticism of many users, for good reason.

Facebook is ultimately a social networking website. Nobody signs on to Facebook in order to create a comprehensive web browsing experience. People simply log in so that they can connect with friends and family, share links, videos, images and the occasional poke. But nobody really wants Facebook to tell its partner site who they are, when they were born and who their friends are.

Simply put, such data is meant to be private, and if Facebook is not going to protect that privacy, then users might as well start turning every single piece of info they have into public. Despite Facebook’s assurance that the policy would only apply to specific websites, it does not make things any better. In fact, it is a complete betrayal of the trust that users have put into the site.

Even if the end user agreement page on Facebook does declare that the social networking site does have the right to use its data in the way that it is proposing that it would do, it is still unethical and something that Facebook would need to think over lest they feel like MySpace should make a comeback.

The saddest part about this is that the change might happen without many users understanding what is going on. Even worse, many users are still unfamiliar with the internet and are not yet aware of how “dangerous” having their account details logged into external sites can be. For now, many protesters are still trying hard to make other Facebook users of the major change.

Find out more about the change in the privacy policy of Facebook at Bernama.