Sure, we've seen the local-news-on-your-handset card pulled out before, but unlike similar alternatives, this one should work with any network and on any phone capable of handling the video. A group of ten ABC-owned television stations have announced that they will be offering up "free video content" for cellphones, most of which will consist of ad-supported streaming news clips. The service will be powered by Local Wireless, and will be available to users near WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KGO-TV in San Francisco, KTRK-TV in Houston, WTVD in Raleigh-Durham, NC, KFSN-TV in Fresno, California, WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio. You know the drill: give it a go, and post your adoration / gripes below.

[Via Textually]

So, the Song ID application a bit too frivolous for your attention? If so, Verizon Wireless is hitting V CAST users up with a solid dose of local news, weather, and sports clips via the recently launched Local TV Video channel. Reportedly available to subscribers in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and nearly 50 markets across the country, the channel enables "select V CAST-enabled phones" (read: newer ones) to have easy access to news from local television station affiliates. Of course, we're sure you're eager to know if your handset is capable of tuning in, and moreover, if you're in a market where this is actually available, so be sure and hit the read link for the full skinny on the what's and where's.

[Via mocoNews]

Google world domination step #12,875: get inside their phones. In the latest attempt to filter every bit of data that could possibly hit your eyeballs, Google has introduced a mobile interface for its Google Reader RSS aggregator, so now you can get your news, read your email, and do the search thing without ever surfing away from a Google-owned domain. As long as you have a Google Personalized Homepage with the Reader Homepage Module installed, you can access Google Reader Go Mobile from any cellphone browser, giving you immediate access to the headlines from your favorite sites like Engadget and Engadget Mobile. Google's next step? Implantable RFID chips: get inside their heads.

If citizen journalists have been waiting on live broadcasts from 3G Windows Mobile phones to DVB-H receivers to begin their revolution of fair, balanced, and cute-cat-centric news, the time has come. ComVu, in conjunction with Modeo, has just announced their PocketCaster software for Windows Mobile 5.0 that uses Windows Media codecs to transmit live video to DVB-H users. Modeo hopes to provide those users, with their DVB-H smartphone and networks already in the works. Details are sparse, but we're guessing that video will have to make a stop at a central location before it gets sent out over the DVB-H infrastructure, so there's always the chance that someone might try to cut out the thirty minutes of feline napping in our latest documentary epic -- but we can feel the tides of power shifting.

[Via The Web To Go]

Features

• FCC Fridays

CTIA

• Samsung's handsets at CTIA
• Hands on with the RAZR V3m
• Modeo's DVB-H smartphone
• Hands-on with the Sony Ericsson P990
• Hands-on with Samsung's T719
• Keepin' it real fake, part XXV: You gotta have TechFaith
• Live from CTIA: Moto goes modern
• Live from CTIA: World's best Samsung booth
• LG @ CTIA, the rest: LG225, LG350, LG3400, LG5300, LG8300
• Live at CTIA: Haier's knockoff heaven

News

• A slew of Tech Faith Wireless Windows Mobile phones
• Cingular and Radio Shack get Moto SLVR L6
• Vertu intros first 2 of 6 Racetrack Legends handsets
• Sony Ericsson's W700i: just the W800i Walkman phone done-up in gold
• Moto debuts new music-centric V3m alongside colorful V3i RAZRs
• LG's LG550 musicphone
• Samsung's SGH-T509 gets official for US launch
• Disney to (finally) launch Disney Mobile MVNO
• Leaked shots of the Blackberry 7130c
• Sprint announces EV-DO router and USB dongle
• Chuck D, Tommy Lee and reggaeton groups try to add star power to CTIA
• HTC Hermes and StarTrek launch plans revealed
• Palm's Treo 700w gets its AKU2 on
• Motorola combines cellphone with DVR for place-shifting service
• Census employee discusses the HTC smartphone deployment
• Kyocera and Zeal Optics get Confidante

MVNOs

• NTL makes bid for Virgin Mobile UK buyout
• Flying J's MVNO for truckers
• Saki mobile, the poor man's MVNO
• Pantech DM-P100 for Disney Mobile
• Disney Mobile reveals more deets, adds LG DM-L200
• Jitterbug fills the void for geriatric MVNO

Rumors

• Pics of Sprint's rumored Sanyo Katana ultra-slim clamshell
• Palm set to announce Treo 700p for Sprint on May 15th

MSNBC.com and Microsoft have teamed up to provide an Action Engine-powered standalone application for mobile devices that allows for quick access to news stories, videos, and photo slideshows without to need to launch a browser. Initially available as a download for a handful of Windows Mobile devices, with support for Java/BREW-enabled phones promised in the coming months, the free applet and corresponding service are ad-supported -- with the first ad spots purchased by, you guessed it, Microsoft. We took the video component through a quick run through on our PPC-6700 (shhh, don't tell Sprint!), and found the viewing experience to be quite pleasant over EV-DO, with smooth frame rates and tinny-but-acceptable audio throughout. That's not to say we'll give up streaming real MSNBC and other unedited content over Orb (again, shhh!), but this mobile app will at least retain a place on our storage card for quick access to headlines and "Today Show" clips.

[Via Business Wire]