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rip posts

R.I.P. i-mate, we barely knew ye

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 8:24AM

Oh, global economic crisis, when will you stop claiming our favorite companies? Oh, wait, it's just i-mate folding this time? So, the company that already laid off its US staff is totally going away? We can live with that. It seems i-mate's remaining employees in Dubai Internet City were told yesterday that they had to take an unpaid two-month leave. That, apparently, was a typo, as the people were actually supposed to take an indefinite unpaid leave. Oops. The company has already been delisted from stock markets around the world, and this abrupt closing has left a number of retailers hanging as orders for the 810F are apparently still pending. Now they, just like our hopes of a Dirty Dancing sequel, will never be fulfilled.

UIQ Technology puts entire staff on notice of dismissal

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2008 @ 4:42PM

Ugh, this is just downright depressing no matter how you spin it. Sure, it's just the reality of business and all, but it's no fun to hear that 270 staffers will soon be looking for employment when UIQ Technology finishes climbing into the grave. After hacking 200 jobs in June and being coined "dead" by Sony Ericsson's Patrick Olson, All About Symbian has it that the company has put its remaining employees "on notice of dismissal." We're told that SE has agreed to "continue funding the company on a by month by month basis in order to allow it to investigate options for the future," but from the outside looking in, we'd say the outlook is bleak. Thankfully, it sounds like those affected will at least be assisted as they exit, but now would probably be an opportune time to shed a tear for UIQ as we knew it.

Sprint discontinuing Voice Command on July 1st

by Darren Murph posted Apr 27th 2008 @ 8:01AM

Sprint's not going out of its way to make a big fuss about it, but its long-standing Voice Command service will soon be no more. The service, which allowed Sprint-Nextel phones to dial two buttons and then give voice commands to place calls, will be discontinued on July 1st, 2008, meaning that all your server-based contacts will soon be inaccessible. Aside from removing the VC fee from your monthly bill, Sprint's advising users to download and print their contact lists, and better still, it's encouraging users to rely on handset-based voice-activated dialing (or pick up a new phone if their current one can't pass muster). So long, Voice Command -- we can't imagine too many folks actually missing you.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Keepin' it real fake, part XXIX: Dubya 800

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 14th 2006 @ 10:03PM

So, if we were going to rip off a phone's design, we'd probably do current-gen hardware (a la TechFaith), not played-out music phones whose successors are already starting to look a bit long in the tooth. Granted, we don't know how long Fifth Media's W800 rip has been floating around, but the last time we checked in on these cats, they were pumping out generic Windows CE 4.2 smartphones -- we'll let you decide whether they're moving up or down in the world. Specs seem about the same as the real deal, so if you're down with no-name hardware, you just couldn't justify dropping the cash on that W800 last year, and the first knockoff wasn't doing anything for you, well, here's your chance.