Florida -- Engadget Mobile

florida posts

University of Florida students grumble over Cingular service

by Darren Murph posted Nov 11th 2006 @ 6:18PM

While Cingular has claimed that its GSM network integration with AT&T Wireless is complete (thus more reliable), and throws out a bajillion advertisements gloating about the "independent research" proving the company's lack of dropped calls, you'd probably have a hard time convincing the Florida Gators that those statements are entirely accurate. While we know that Engadget has been banned from Cingular's forums, there's no denying the bevy of complaints from UF students regarding the atrocious service around the Gainesville campus. Things got so bad that students rallied around the issue of Cingular improving its service, finally escalating it to the Student Senate, where unfortunately it was voted down after "fierce debate." The resolution called the carrier's service on campus "unacceptable," and cited problems ranging from consistently dropping calls to receiving error messages when trying to dial out. When local Cingular representatives were asked to comment on the outcry, they reportedly blamed the students "lack of reporting problems" as the culprit, curiously omitting the entire debacle that just went down. Nevertheless, we don't expect the members of the Swamp to take this subpar play laying down, but you may want to think twice about which provider to snap up if you're headed to UF next fall.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Stupid kids try to steal David Copperfield's cellphone

by Evan Blass posted Apr 27th 2006 @ 7:30PM

Not necessarily mobile news as such, we still thought you'd get a kick out of this tale of four teenage thugs, two lovely assistants, and a man who earns his living by making stuff disappear. After Sunday's show at the Kravis Center in alm Beach, Florida, illusionist David Copperfield and his female assistants were walking back to their tour bus when they were approached by a small pack of kids. Instead of requesting the world-famous magician's autograph (don't laugh, we have one), the three 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old proceeded to rob the women of their purses at gunpoint, making off with several hundred dollars and a RAZR. When it came time to jack Copperfield, however, the teens were apparently dumbfounded by his special powers, as he managed to conceal his own wallet and cellphone while appearing to completely empty his pockets in a trick he referred to as "reverse pickpocketing." Eventually all four morons were picked up in their stolen car after Copperfield took note of the license plate, and their cache of loot from the night's activities was returned to its rightful owners.

[Via mopocket and textually]

Sona BlackBerry Media Player will enable streaming video

by Evan Blass posted Apr 27th 2006 @ 6:00PM

RIM's effort to position certain BlackBerries as more consumer-oriented products received a big shot in the arm today, as Sona Mobile Holdings -- which may or may not be the same company that's supposedly developing a Star Trek-themed cellphone -- announced the first-ever dedicated multimedia player for the company's "latest generation of devices." Although very little will be known about the software until it's unveiled at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium in Orlando next month, we do know that the so-called Sona BlackBerry Media Player will be able to handle streaming video, and that the first content provider will be CanWest Media Works. CanWest's offering will come in the form of a daily Sona Mobile BerryCast (their term for a wirelessly-updated podcast), which will deliver downloadable news clips to a user's device. Not even a screenshot is available yet to show you, unfortunately, but rest assured that we'll be all over this come May 16th.

[Via BBHUB]