Verizon Wireless, one of America's most heavily advertised wireless phone carriers, has recently decided to see how much money they can make in the mobile advertising department. Considering that advertisers spent $45 million in 2005 and $150 million in 2006 on phone ads from various other carriers, mobile advertising really should take off this year. The market is predicted to be worth $1.3 billion by 2010. Verizon is working hard to find places to put that ads so that while they will still be on news, weather, sports and other internet sites, they will not be intrusive.

With Nintendo opting to use Opera for web browsing on the Wii, Samsung has now taken a similar path. Opera Software today announced that it is working with Samsung Electronics to make the mobile version of the Opera browser available on Samsung mobile phones. Opera Mobile uses Opera's small-screen rendering technology to improve the appearance of websites on mobile screens. It has not yet been announced which phones this browser will work with.

Opera Software announces its Opera Mini Web browser is shipping in most markets with selected Nokia 6300s. With the Nokia 6300 weighing in at a mere 91 grams, Opera Mini complements the phone's sleek, compact architecture by enabling fast Web browsing on all sites with little requirements needed of the device.

The Greek organization IISA (Independent Information Security Authority) has fined Vodafone for wiretapping. The IISA is accusing Vodafone of tapping the conversations of around 100 people, including Greece's prime minister, cabinet, journalists and activists. This is not the first time Vodafone has been fined for wiretapping. The last time was during the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Vodafone claimed that it found the problems (illegal software), and cleaned them. Vodafone claims that the same illegal software is to blame for the current accusations, however the alleged wiretaps happened after all illegal software was removed from Vodafone's systems.

Personalised advertising seems to be the new phase in technology, with a small number of games, namely Battlefield 2142, taking advantage of this. Now mobile TV broadcasters in Norway are giving personalised advertising a try for two months, which could soon find its way to other countries if it proves a success. It seems to work by tracking your location and sends relevant ads that may be related to local shops and services. Although some people will find it intrusive, it could potentially lead to cheaper mobile TV prices.

Bluetooth VoIP Kit HBV-100 - A high performance kit for lower cost calls via the internet.

The Bluetooth VoIP Kit HBV-100 is the perfect way to stay in touch with friends and family over the Internet. Comprising a Bluetooth headset HBH-PV705 and a Bluetooth USB Adaptor, you can get all the normal benefits of using a Sony Ericsson Bluetooth headset - freeing your hands while you talk, long talk and stand by times, excellent sound quality and comfort among others - while making low cost internet calls.

Samsung released a trio of very nice media phones. The Ultra Music F300, the Ultra Video F500 and the Ultra Messaging i600 are each branded according to their designed use. The F300 and F500 are tri-band devices.The F300 ships with a touch sensitive 2.1in, 176 x 220 screen with 262,144 colors. It also supports Bluetooth 2.0 stereo audio (A2DP), a wide variety of music formats, and FM radio. The F300 has 100MB of onboard memory and can get more through MicroSD cards.

The F500 comes with a 2.4in, 240 x 320 display, a sliding keypad and can handle all sorts of music/video formats. It has 400MB of on-board memory, and can handle more through MicroSD cards.

The F600 is more like a PDA then a phone, comes with a 2.3in, 320 x 240, 65,536 color screen and a QWERTY keyboard. It also comes with 64MB of RAM, 128MB of Flash ROM, a camera that supports video conferencing, wireless connectivity (wifi, Bluetooth 2 and A2DP), and runs it all using Windows Mobile 5.0.

Thanks to a SMS Text News story,Vodafone has discovered that it was overcharging it's pay-as-you-go customers. Vodafone's text messaging system works by charging £1.50 for the service, and then 12p a text message. A recent glitch in the server was causing pay-as-you-go customers to pay an extra 12p. Vodafone has discovered this flaw, fixed it, and is in the middle of refunding it's customers. Vodafone estimates it will be done in about a week.