Daily Marauder

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For the first time, fans of the BlackBerry Pearl smartphone can buy a flip model, a move that manufacturer Research in Motion termed “extremely important” for attracting new users. In the U.S., T-Mobile is the exclusive carrier for the Pearl 8220, which carries a 128-by-160 screen and 2-megapixel camera externally and flipped open looks just like a standard clamshell BlackBerry, but features a higher-resolution screen. Reuters (9/10) , PC Magazine (9/9)

Today, Yahoo announced that it will bring its oneConnect social address book application to Apple’s App Store to work on both the iPhone and iPod touch.  Yahoo’s oneConnect application lets users integrate contacts, send instant messages or SMS messages, and view their friends’ latest activity on social networks. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/10/yahoo-brings-oneconnect-to-the-iphone 9/10)

Comcast’s $14.55 billion deal to create a joint venture with Time Warner Cable, Intel, Sprint and Google to deliver high-speed mobile Internet access could be made final by the end of the year, according to Comcast Chief Operating Officer Steve Burke. The partnership, which will be called Clearwire, will deliver “wireless data speeds that Verizon and AT&T can’t match,” Burke said. Google/Associated Press (9/9)

Once an afterthought of an application for cell phones, video games have come into their own on handsets with the advent of faster processors and increased memory that phone manufacturers are packing into their devices. Developers have exploited the advances by building games with improved graphics and more sophisticated story lines. The Wall Street Journal (free content) (9/10)

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