12/27/10| Technology News and Gadgets Updates

Monday, December 27, 2010

Amazon says Kindle holding its own against tablets

Amazon.com Inc said sales of its Kindle e-reader were strong over the holiday season amid competition from devices such as Apple Inc's iPad, a computer tablet that also has e-reader capabilities.
Amazon, which has a policy of not divulging exact sales figures for the Kindle and digital books, said the most recent version of the Kindle was its best-selling product ever.
"We're seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet," Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement.
Analysts have said e-readers such as the Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook can withstand competition from tablets among readers who prefer a device made specifically for reading.
"Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies and Web browsing and their Kindles for reading," Besos said.
Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, said sales of digital books on its Kindle broke a company record on Christmas.
Several Barnes & Noble locations reporting selling out of the Nook this weekend.
Amazon shares were down $1.42, or 0.8 percent, at $181.16 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

European Broadband-Internet Satellite Launched

A new satellite that promises to bring broadband Internet to homes and businesses across Europe and the Mediterranean was successfully launched on Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Eutelsat's Ka-Sat is due in service in 2011 and is the third broadband Internet satellite to be launched in the last six weeks. SkyTerra-1, on which Ka-Sat's technology is based, was launched in mid-November and will provide service across North America while Hylas-1 was launched at the end of November and will target Europe. (See the Ka-Sat launch on YouTube.)
Ka-Sat will cover the continent with 80 spot beams -- focused signals that cover an area a few hundred kilometers across. Unlike traditional satellite beams that cover all or most of a continent, spot beams allow for frequencies to be effectively reused in multiple regions without interference. The result is increased capacity.
Each of the spot beams will have an overall capacity of 900Mbps, shared between all users, and the entire satellite will have a capacity of 70Gbps.
The same spot beam system is being used by the two other recently-launched broadband satellites. SkyTerra-1 covers North America with 500 spot beams while Hylas-1 covers the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe via eight regional spot beams.
Eutelsat already offers a satellite broadband service called TooWay. It was launched in 2009 and provides a two-way satellite broadband connection with download speed of up to 3.6Mbps for around £22 and £90 (US$34 and $139) per month in the U.K.
Ka-Sat will enable TooWay to boost speeds to around 10Mbps from the satellite and 4Mbps up to the satellite.
The satellite is also being eyed for other services including local digital TV and digital cinema distribution.
Prices for reception equipment and the service haven't been announced. Eutelsat said the price of reception equipment should benefit from being based on the same basic technology as SkyTerra.

Monster.com iPhone app does a great job

At this point, we are all pretty familiar with the popular job-hunting web site, Monster.com. This excellent web site is a great way to get your resume out to a lot of desks without doing a lot of legwork. If you're an iOS user (and, since you're here, let's go with: You are) this is a great app to have on the go. Monster.com, for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (iOS 3.0 or later), is the gateway to all of your resumes and job searches while on the go. You can keep track of everything Monster.com on your phone – even apply for new positions.

The interface is very easy to use. Your main page is set up very much like your springboard. All the pages of the app are accessible and easy to see. The large icons feel very web 2.0 – all colored to the tune of Monster.com. I felt very comfortable and familiar with the app, even on my first use. The app doesn't have a whole lot of layers to it, which makes you feel as though you can use it without having to deal with hassles.

The app does require your Monster.com log-in information, which, of course, allows it to sync with your persona on the web. It keeps all of your recent searches readily available, along with all of your resumes. The only thing I wish it didn't do was jump to the web to give you some special offers from Monster. I found myself on some college's web site, and almost accidentally signed up for classes because Monster filled out part of the form using the information I gave it. Hmm. Oh well!

If you use Monster.com, you'll want this app. It's free, and makes your Monster.com accessible from anywhere. I liked it, and I don't even use Monster.com – not yet, anyway.

Ceiling lights in Minn. send coded Internet data

Flickering ceiling lights are usually a nuisance, but in city offices in St. Cloud, they will actually be a pathway to the Internet.
The lights will transmit data to specially equipped computers on desks below by flickering faster than the eye can see. Ultimately, the technique could ease wireless congestion by opening up new expressways for short-range communications.
The first few light fixtures built by LVX System, a local startup, will be installed Wednesday in six municipal buildings in this city of 66,000 in the snowy farm fields of central Minnesota.
The LVX system puts clusters of its light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, in a standard-sized light fixture. The LEDs transmit coded messages — as a series of 1s and 0s in computer speak — to special modems attached to computers.
A light on the modem talks back to the fixture overhead, where there is sensor to receive the return signal and transmit the data over the Internet. Those computers on the desks aren't connected to the Internet, except through these light signals, much as Wi-Fi allows people to connect wirelessly.
LVX takes its name from the Latin word for light, but the underlying concept is older than Rome; the ancient Greeks signaled each other over long distances using flashes of sunlight off mirrors and polished shields. The Navy uses a Morse-coded version with lamps.
The first generation of the LVX system will transmit data at speeds of about 3 megabits per second, roughly as fast as a residential DSL line.
Mohsen Kavehrad, a Penn State electrical engineering professor who has been working with optical network technology for about 10 years, said the approach could be a vital complement to the existing wireless system.
He said the radio spectrum usually used for short-range transmissions, such as Wi-Fi, is getting increasingly crowded, which can lead to slower connections.
"Light can be the way out of this mess," said Kavehrad, who is not involved in the LVX project.
But there are significant hurdles. For one, smart phones and computers already work on Wi-Fi networks that are much faster than the LVX system.
Technology analyst Craig Mathias of the Farpoint Group said the problems with wireless congestion will ease as Wi-Fi evolves, leaving LVX's light system to niche applications such as indoor advertising displays and energy management.
LVX Chief Executive Officer John Pederson said a second-generation system that will roll out in about a year will permit speeds on par with commercial Wi-Fi networks. It will also permit lights that can be programmed to change intensity and color.
For the city, the data networking capability is secondary. The main reason it paid a $10,000 installation fee for LVX is to save money on electricity down the line, thanks to the energy-efficient LEDs. Pederson said one of his LED fixtures uses about 36 watts of power to provide the same illumination that 100 watts provides with a standard fluorescent fixture.
Besides installation costs, customers such as St. Cloud will pay LVX a monthly fee that's less than their current lighting expenses. LVX plans to make money because the LED fixtures are more durable and efficient than standard lighting. At least initially, the data transmission system is essentially a bonus for customers.
Pederson said the next generation of the system should get even more efficient as fixtures become "smart" so the lights would dim when bright sunlight is coming through a window or when a conference room or hallway is empty.
Because the lights can also change color, Pederson said they could be combined with personal locators or tiny video cameras to help guide people through large buildings. The lights could show a trail of green lights to an emergency exit, for instance.
While Kavehrad and Mathias credited LVX for being the first company in the United States to bring the technology to market, Kavehrad said it trails researchers and consumer electronics companies in Japan and Korea in developing products for visible-light networks.
Pederson's previous company, 911 EP, built high-powered LED roof lights for squad cars and other emergency vehicles. He said he sold the company in 2002. He said the visible-light network grew out his interest in LEDs that goes to the mid-1990s.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which pays for 24-hour lighting and replacing fluorescent bulbs on high ceilings, is considering an LVX system, said Jeffrey W. Hamiel, executive director of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
The system might include mounting cameras on the light fixtures to bolster the airport security system, but the real attraction is the savings on electricity and maintenance.
"Anything we can do to save costs is worth consideration," he said.
Michael Williams, the city administrator in St. Cloud, said the city had been considering LVX for some time.
"It's pretty wild stuff," he said. "They have been talking about it with us for couple of years, and frankly it took a while for it to sink in."

Apple, Steve Jobs hit new heights in 2010

Apple dethroned Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company in 2010 as its co-founder Steve Jobs soared to new heights with the touchscreen iPad tablet computer and the latest iPhone.

Britain's Financial Times last week named Jobs its "Person of the Year" and even US President Barack Obama joined in the plaudits to the 55-year-old chief executive of the Cupertino, California-based gadget-maker.

Jobs' appearance on a San Francisco stage in January to unveil the iPad capped what the FT called "the most remarkable comeback in modern business history."

"It wasn't simply a matter of the illness that had sidelined him for half the year before, leaving him severely emaciated and eventually requiring a liver transplant," the newspaper said.

"Little more than a decade earlier, both Mr. Jobs' career and Apple, the company he had co-founded, were widely considered washed up, their relevance to the future of technology written off," it said.

Obama, at a White House news conference on Wednesday, held up Jobs as an example of the virtues of the "free market."

"We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products," Obama said. "We expect that person to be rich, and that's a good thing."

The iPad hit stores in the United States in April and Apple reported sales at the end of September of more than eight million of the devices that the FT said offer a glimpse into a world without a computer mouse or Windows.

Other technology firms are trying to match Apple's success with tablets of their own, including South Korea's Samsung, Canada's Research In Motion , maker of the Blackberry, and US computer giants Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

But none has yet to prove capable of preventing Apple from establishing the same dominance over the tablet computer market that it exercises over the MP3 music player scene with the ubiquitous iPod, introduced in 2001.

Goldman Sachs said it expects Apple to ship 37.2 million iPads in 2011 -- "which could potentially make Apple one of the largest vendors in the global personal computing market" -- tablets plus personal computers.

The iPad wasn't Apple's only hit product in 2010.

The iPhone 4, the latest version of the touchscreen smartphone introduced by Apple in 2007, sold 14.1 million units in the quarter which ended in September, up 91 percent over the same quarter a year earlier.

Even Apple TV, a product Jobs once dismissed as a "hobby," is notching up strong sales. Apple said last week that sales of the latest model of the set-top box that can stream content from the Web had topped one million units.

The rare blemishes on Apple's record in 2010 were its continuing inability to come out with a promised white model of the iPhone 4 and complaints of lost reception due to the radical antenna design on the device.

Apple shares, worth 10 dollars at the end of 2003, gained around 60 percent this year, closing at more than 320 dollars on Wall Street on Thursday.

In May, Apple surpassed Microsoft as the largest US technology company in terms of market value. The only companies with larger market capitalization than Apple's nearly 300 billion dollars are ExxonMobil and Petrochina.

Meeschaert New York analyst Gregori Volokhine described Apple's rise as "absolutely extraordinary" and said "every analyst has an even higher target price for next year, between 360 dollars and 430 dollars."

"Apple's more than just a company," Volokhine told AFP. "It's become a cultural phenomenon. The hard part now will be not to disappoint."

Microsoft warns about flaw that makes hacking easier

Microsoft has warned about a flaw on the Internet Explorer browser that could allow hackers to take control of unprotected computers .

The bug allows hackers to inject malware onto any system if they manage to trick users into visiting booby-trapped websites. Anyone with Internet Explorer (IE) 6 to 8 is potentially affected.

The code to exploit the bug has already been published. The computer giant said there was no evidence it was being used yet by criminals but they were "investigating" and working on a permanent fix, reports the Daily Mail.

Dave Forstrom, director of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group, said: "We're currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the claimed vulnerability or of customer impact."

The bug targets how the browser manages a computer's memory when it is processing Cascade Style Sheets - which are design instructions that determine how most web pages look.

Hackers can inject their own code into the stream of instructions and in this way hijack the PC. Although Microsoft has improved how memory management is protected, it does not work when some older parts of Windows are called on.

The bug first came to light on the seclists.org full disclosure mailing list earlier this month.

Rik Ferguson, security analyst at Trendo Micro, told the BBC: "As vulnerabilities go, this kind is the most serious as it allows remote execution of code.

"This means the attacker can run programmes, such as malware, directly on the victim's computer."

"It is highly reminiscent of a vulnerability at the same time two years ago which prompted several national governments to warn against using IE and to switch to an alternative browser."

BlackBerrys' effects and counter-effects

It has a fruity, almost yummy ring to its name. Most corporate types these days swear by it. Others, well, swear at it. No other gadget in recent times has evoked such extreme and passionate feelings as the BlackBerry.

When all that the mobile phone could grow into was a clunky ‘communicator’ that the bosses carried to meetings, there quietly came a device that looked more inspired by the Palm than anything else. It didn’t quite fit your palm but was slimmer by mobile phone standards those days.

It was the honchos who first got to flaunt their pricey BlackBerrys. Others could only sneak furtive glances at this unusual phone that did zippy emails and Internet on the go. The adulation soon gave way to resentment—it was turning the boss into a 24x7 mean machine that shot off orders in the dead of the night or from some sunny locale in Europe. Why, sometimes you wondered, if the man was indeed holed up in a ‘big deal’ meeting, the emails checking on what you were up to, simply wouldn’t stop.

Then you could stand it no more. You went ahead and bought one of these devices for yourself. Well, most likely, you were given one by the company. You were now part of a hapless, yet curiously empowered, breed of 55 million BlackBerry subscribers who cannot imagine how mankind ever existed without it.

A far cry from the corporate status symbol it’s become, the BlackBerry was created by 23-year-old Greek-Turkish college dropout named Mike Lazaridis, working out of a one-room tech startup in Waterloo, Canada.

In the decade since its formal launch in 1999, it has helped spawn a generation of what’s commonly known as smartphones and the behaviours that go with them.

Its unique BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service has everyone who’s someone—from US President Barack Obama to movie stars in Hollywood and our own Bollywood—hooked and fiercely loyal. That’s 33 million of them worldwide, with 2,000 joining the ranks every hour. The US government, at 500,000 subscribers, is said to be the biggest customer for Research in Motion (RIM), the company that Lazaridis now runs with co-CEO Jim Balsillie.

The BlackBerry officially came into India in October 2004. Though the country is said to account for barely 2% of RIM’s customers worldwide, it’s hard to miss a BlackBerry owner in the corridors of India Inc. Slouched and gazing intently into its resplendent screen as if waiting for a missive from the heavens, he/she will appear considerably busier than thou.

Smartphones too smart for owners

With hundreds of thousands of applications available, smartphones allow users to do anything from checking their bank balance to booking a flight. But 71 per cent of owners use them simply to make a call, text or log on to Facebook , a new study shows.

The study by Envirofone, which recycles mobiles, revealed that a typical smartphone owner exploits only 10 percent of the phone's functions, reports the Daily Mail.

The survey of 2,000 users also found more than half had felt pressured to get the latest or most popular smartphone such as Apple's iPhone4 or a BlackBerry .

The devices, among top gadgets in this year's New Year shoping list, are really pocket computers. In addition to the capacity for the downloadable programs, known as "apps," they can also browse the internet and send and receive emails.

The research estimates there are 11 million smartphones in the UK.

While there are many useful "apps" offering train information or satellit navigation functions, others are bizarre.

A Zippo lighter app displays an animated picture to wave at concerts, while Annoy-a-teen plays a high-pitched sound that only teenagers are supposed to be able to hear.

Jon Butler, of Envirofone, said: "The latest phones have become status symbols which look flashy but aren't fully utilised."

Coming soon: do-it-yourself kit for genetic testing

A mobile phone-like device will soon rule out a patient's need to visit a pathological lab for detection of genetic disorders and also do away with the prolonged wait for a forensic expert's report to find clues about criminals.

Unlike the traditional method which requires high expertise as well as complicated equipment in an advanced laboratory, genetic analysis of a person can be done using a simple device which will be accessible and affordable to each household.
The new cellphone-like device will take less time to analyse the genetic structure from a person's blood or swab sample and reduce the cost of the entire procedure from 10 to 20 times, said Rajni Kanth Vangala, who is leading a team of five researchers working on the project at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) in Bangalore.

"Any kind of genetic tests, including those required in forensic analysis for crime detection or diagnosing diseases such as cancer, HIV, Alzheimer's and brain tumour, can be done in 15-20 minutes instead of over one to two hours," Vangala told IANS on phone.

Genetic analysis, also called DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) test, is required to trace genetic disorder or find out possibilities of the onset of any hereditary disease in an individual, including an unborn baby.

The existing method of genetic testing or DNA fingerprinting involves a complex procedure carried out by professionals in well-equipped labs.

After identifying the gene in a pathological lab, it needs to be amplified with the help of a chemical method called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) so that the defect can be traced. The procedure takes hours and costs a patient Rs.1,000-Rs.5,000.

"But the new technique will not require an expensive method like PCR. It is an unimaginable concept and once the device is available, it will bring a revolution in genetic testing," said Sheo Mohan Singh, School of Biotechnology head at International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Pune, who organised a conference on stem cells and cancer earlier this month.

"Any type of DNA test will cost not more than Rs.150," Singh told IANS on phone from Pune.

The experts are in the process of developing the prototype of the device which is expected to be available for people in a couple of years.

"Soon we are going to apply for the patent of the instrument. We are also in talks with some companies who can manufacture the device for commercial use," Vangala said after revealing his innovation at the International Conference of Stem Cells and Cancer (ICSCC-2010) held at IIIT, Pune.

He explained the new method during his presentation on the identification of novel biomarkers for disease progression and for therapy in cancers.

The instrument, he said, will prove to be a breakthrough in quick detection of gene disorders so that preventive measures can be taken as early as in foetus stage.

The four-day conference was attended by more than 60 experts from various countries, including the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia and Switzerland.

"I hope such a conference will provide a platform for academia and the healthcare industry to come together and will encourage more students to study stem cell, molecular biology and nanobiotechnology," Singh said.

Intel, AMD to Unveil Combination Chips

Chip makers soon will deliver one of biggest advances in years in the technology that powers laptop and desktop computers. But how much consumers—and the chip companies—will benefit is in question.
The design trend, expected to be the focus of announcements by Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. at the Consumer Electronics Show early next month, is based on bringing together two long-separate classes of products: microprocessors, the calculating engines that run most PC software; and graphics processing units, which render images in videogames and other programs.
Putting the two technologies on one piece of silicon reduces the distance electrical signals must travel and speeds up some computing chores. It also lowers the number of components computer makers need to buy, cutting production costs and helping to shrink the size of computers. Such integrated chips are expected to allow low-priced systems to carry out tasks that currently add hundreds of dollars to the price of a personal computer, such as the ability to play high-definition movies and videogames and to convert video and audio files to different formats quickly.
The approach "is going to change the way people build PCs and buy PCs," Paul Otellini, Intel's chief executive, predicted at an investor conference early this month.
But the benefits won't be measurable until after the CES show, when computer makers are expected to disclose their plans for using the technology. And some industry executives insist that many PC users will continue to seek even better performance by picking systems with separate graphics-processing-unit chips.
Intel, which supplies roughly four-fifths of the microprocessors used in PCs, is using the event to introduce a broad overhaul of its flagship Core product line using a design that is code-named Sandy Bridge. The products add GPU circuitry that Intel has offered in companion chipsets, as well as video-processing features and other undisclosed features aimed at improving the visual experience of using PCs—technologies Intel plans to market as part of a campaign called Visibly Smart.
Mr. Otellini said demand is "very, very strong" for the chips, which are expected to be used in hundreds of new designs for laptop and desktop PCs at various price points. Intel also is expected to offer a new version of a technology known as Wi-Di, which allows laptop users to wirelessly display images on high-definition TV sets.
The trend is at least as important for AMD, perennial underdog to Intel in the microprocessor market. AMD spent $5.4 billion in 2006 to buy ATI Technologies, one of two big makers of GPUs, and vowed then to combine that technology with its microprocessors by early 2009 in an initiative it calls Fusion.
That effort took longer than the company anticipated. AMD is using the CES trade show to introduce microprocessors with GPU circuitry that are targeted at laptops in the $200 to $500 range. But it doesn't expect to offer high-end Fusion chips that could directly compete with Intel's overhauled Core line until the middle of next year.
AMD expects the chips being introduced at the CES show to add much better capabilities for playing games and high-definition videos to a low-end portable category known as netbooks, a market Intel has dominated. "We are bringing just this incredible amount of visual and computing power to segments where it hasn't been seen before," said Rick Bergman, an AMD senior vice president who is general manager of its products group.
The third player affected by the trend is Nvidia Corp. The Silicon Valley company competes fiercely with AMD in sales of GPUs, but agrees with its rival on one point: The graphics circuitry added in Sandy Bridge—though an improvement over Intel's past efforts—still isn't adequate for many applications.
Both companies cite that the new Intel chips don't support a Microsoft Corp. programming technology called DirectX 11, needed for some popular videogames, while their products do. An Intel spokesman responded, saying that many widely used games will work fine using Sandy Bridge, which the company predicts will make GPUs unnecessary in low-end PCs.
Nvidia says many PC makers don't seem to agree with Intel's assertion, with more than 200 forthcoming models based on Sandy Bridge also including its GPUs.
"We have more design wins in Sandy Bridge than any other platform," said Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.
Mr. Huang says the new Intel chips with built-in graphics, instead of hurting Nvidia, will help the company by driving demand for PCs—largely because of other technology improvements. "I think this is the best microprocessor that's been built for quite a long time," he said.
Intel hasn't disclosed performance estimates for the new chips, which are expected to start with high-end models that have the equivalent of four calculating engines.
One person who has tested the technology is Kelt Reeves, president of the gaming-PC maker Falcon Northwest. While the graphics performance won't satisfy gamers, in Mr. Reeves's opinion, the four processors on Sandy Bridge chips top the performance of six processors on existing Intel products. The chips are "ridiculously good," he said.
Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Mobile Makers Target Rivals on Phones

Mobile-phone companies are experimenting with a new way to steal their rivals' customers: the mobile insult to the device in hand.

Their new tactic involves mobile ads that appear when a person using a competitor's phone or network launches an application or browses the Web on their phone. The basic message: Oh, you could do better than that thing.

Nokia Corp. recently targeted ads for its Nokia Twist device at users of the Motorola Inc.'s Razr phone. Razr users who surf the Web would be dealt an ad saying, "Are you really still rockin' a flip phone?" It then suggests upgrading to a Twist, says Gene Keenan, creative director of mobile at Isobar, a digital marketing agency owned by Aegis Group PLC that worked on the campaign on behalf of Nokia.

In industry jargon, the tactic is called "intercept campaigning."

The maker of BlackBerry smartphones is another one that is dabbling in intercept campaigning. Research in Motion Ltd. has been advertising its BlackBerry devices with ads that entreat users of rival devices to "See the difference," according to a person familiar with the matter. RIM also is targeting ads to people using older models of BlackBerries that read: "Do more."

RIM declined to comment. Nokia couldn't be reached for comment.

In recent years, marketers have taken advantage of online targeting to show text ads when people search for competing brands or next to editorial content about rivals, like product reviews.

With the newer technology available, however, they can target ads to certain devices or certain networks—to reach people while they are actually using their competitors' product.

"The [wireless] market is saturated, and pretty cutthroat. There's not that much room to play," says Phuc Truong, managing director of Mobext, a mobile-marketing agency owned by French ad company Havas SA. "You can go after a new segment that doesn't have mobile phones, or you could refine and search for users that just are getting out of their two-year plans."

They are turning to companies like Crisp Media to help come up with the ads and Jumptap Inc., which allows brands to buy ads targeted at certain models of certain devices on certain networks. Crisp Media says it has helped Sprint Nextel Corp. come up with an ad to promote its Android phones on the iPhone.

Mobile ad firms like Jumptap use technology to detect the small programs and data that control a user's mobile phone when it is delivering an ad. That allows the ad company to determine the exact device that a person is using, whether it is a two-year-old BlackBerry 8800 or new iPhone 4.

The mobile ad firms have traditionally used this data to determine what format of ad to show so it fits on the screen but increasingly they are using it for ad-targeting.

Savvy marketers are even targeting phones that were introduced around two years ago, on the suspicion that their users' two-year wireless contracts might be about to expire.

Mobile companies aren't the only ones starting to target their ads to users of certain devices, ad executives say. Marketers seeking to reach business travelers have bought ads to appear on a BlackBerry while a person accesses the mobile site for Weather.com, for example. But wireless-service providers and phone manufactures themselves are at the vanguard of the new targeting as they fight for new customers.

Some mobile ad networks, such as Jumptap, disclose the device targeting practices in their privacy policies.

As the tactic has grown, some operators have tried to block their competitors from advertising on their devices.

Sam Altman, chief executive of Loopt Inc., a location-based social-networking app maker, said it has been asked by two operators to not display advertising from their rivals on their phones. Mr. Altman declined to say whether he acquiesced.

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