Cellphones tackle crime

The Los Angeles Police Department says it plans to improve crime reporting by allowing callers to submit text messages, photos and video from their cellphones when seeking emergency assistance, according to Press Enterprise.

The use of technology by police is nothing new - Riverside County Sheriff's department recently installed global positioning system devices in emergency vehicles. Other police departments have let the public submit crime reports online without having to call or visit the stations.

"The quicker they can get us information, which will help us prevent crime or catch a criminal, is great," said Carl Baker, Redlands police spokesman. "They could e-mail us a picture, from their phone, of a suspect or their car rather than trying to describe it to us."

Common Voices says Broadview Networks has launched services using its NowMessage Unified Messaging platform, reports TMCnet.

The services running on NowMessage are branded as Broadspeed Message and will enable Broadview's business customers to improve productivity with advanced features, including voicemail, unified messaging and text-to-speech services.

Utilising Common Voices' NowThere technology, Broadview ported its current Broadspeed OfficeSuite hosted VOIP customers to the new platform to quickly deliver the new capabilities of Broadspeed Message to its customers.

Floridians can now receive hurricane alerts on their mobiles using a service that delivers immediate, localised weather instant hurricane updates via SMS, according to eMediaWire.

"With nine Atlantic hurricanes forecast for 2007, this service couldn't come at a better time", said David Geipel, president of CellSigns. "This is the perfect service for the Palm Beach Post, as many Florida residents want real-time information about tropical storms and hurricanes."

By texting "storm", CellSigns allow consumers to access weather information on their cellphone, receiving free mobile alerts for severe weather, tropical storms, hurricanes and potential flooding.

Ericsson has been selected by Indian operator Spice Telecom to provide push e-mail and personal information management services via its hosted enterprise solution, according to Earth Times.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will provide hosting, systems integration and day-to-day management of the service.

Mats Granryd, president of Ericsson India, says: "Operators are increasingly positioning mobile push e-mail solutions beyond the professional segment, moving into the mass-consumer domain. Hosting is a proven business model that meets operators' growing needs to quickly and cost-efficiently launch new multimedia services for both business segment and the consumer."