Vodafone in new mobile Internet push

Vodafone has teamed up with leading Web brands to bring services usually associated with broadband-enabled PCs to UK mobile customers, reports BusinessWeek.

The mobile operator, the world's largest by revenues, has inked deals with a long list of big hitters, including AOL, eBay, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. In February, a tie-up was announced with News Corp's MySpace and today's announcement also covers that popular social networking brand.

The company said most customers won't need to buy a new handset - Vodafone Mobile Internet takes pages designed for a PC screen and compresses them by up to 10 times.

Sony's computer entertainment unit, responsible for the company's PlayStation gaming consoles, has laid off nearly 100 of its 1 600 US employees, located mostly at its US headquarters in California.

According to Forbes.com, the move wasn't unexpected. In April 2007, Sony's European division of the same unit announced plans for a similar slim-down of about 150 employees.

Sony said the cuts were part of an ongoing restructuring. But the company's downsizing efforts occur as the PlayStation 3, its $600 gaming console launched in November 2006, struggles in the market.

Consumers hoping to enjoy their favourite comics or Harry Potter book in digital form could soon have a flexible alternative to clunky laptop computers, says Reuters.

A group of innovative firms is developing a new generation of thin electronic displays, or e-paper, that need no added light source to read, eliminating power-gobbling backlighting used in LCDs that now dominate the notebook computing market.

Unlike LCDs, once the power is off, e-paper images remain unchanged on the screen.

Coca-Cola is creating a virtual teenager hangout like MySpace and Facebook, only on cellphones, to lure more youngsters to its sodas and flavoured drinks, starting in the US and China, reports Reuters.

Eyeing the success of mostly desktop computer-bound teen social sites run by media companies, like News Corp's MySpace, the world's biggest soft drink maker said yesterday it was creating a cellphone network under its Sprite brand where members can set up profiles, post pictures and meet new friends.

Coke, part of a growing group of advertisers putting ad campaigns on cellphones, will make the US site available to Web-ready phones on 22 June. It launched in China last week and is eyeing other markets in regions like Latin America.