Office-bound workers should assume that every keystroke they type is being recorded and intermittantly audited .

At the very least, most companies - no matter what size -  scan internet page visits, length of time in programs, and what files employees save to their hard drives and shared server space. MP3’s, movies, pictures, and raw text files are tracked as a routine part of most backup and virus scan packages.

However, the content of what occured over the corporate cell phone (beyond call numbers and times) was still a place of expected privacy.

Until now.

On May 10th, Retina-X Studios, LLC, announced their application “Mobile Spy”.

It’s an activity monitoring software for Windows Mobile based smartphones. The software allows users to monitor SMS and call details online in real time.

After being set up on the phone, it records all SMS text messages and call information and uploads that information to a web-based log that can be accessed by the company from anywhere online.

Furthermore, Mobile Spy runs in total stealth mode  on the phone and is undetectable to the user.  In addition to its use as a corporate montoring tool, Mobile Spy’s press release gives other possible benefits of their package:

• This new technology gives parents the ability to remotely monitor the family’s text and call activities by logging into a web site.
• Cell phone customers can use the software as a record of all important communications.

The product is available now at http://www.mobile-spy.com.

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Sports fans rejoice. Well, rejoice if you are a sports fan that is also a Verizon Wireless user. Looks like the kind folks over at VZW decided to offer up their ESPN Mobile service for the low low price of FREE to all VCast VPak members. FREE!

Nothing is free, and that is true here, as you have to be a VCast member, but nevertheless, anyone who loves sports will love this service. According to the deal that was just brokered…“Verizon Wireless will offer ESPN MVP, an on-demand link to ESPN sports information such as SportsCenter video highlights; alerts for scoring updates and breaking news; ESPN Gamecast, with comprehensive scoreboards and play-by-play detail; and news on players, teams and leagues. ESPN MVP also offers other exclusive features including fantasy team management, select ESPN Insider content and ESPN Bottomline.”

Sweet for you. Now, imagine pairing it with the soon-to-be-released MoGo Headset. You can watch all your favorite ESPN stuff without having everyone else within a 15-foot radius hearing what you’re watching. Not too shabby right? Just think of the implications for all you college kids…wear a hooded sweatshirt, the MoGo Headset in one ear, leave the cell phone open on your desk…no more listening to lectures, watch sports instead. Not that I’m condoning that behavior.

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If you’ve been waiting for the day when you’ll be allowed to use your cell phone while airborne, you should probably stop.

Because it isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

In March, the FCC announced that it has disbanded the investigation that would have possibly resulted in changing the rules about mobile phone usage in plane cabins.

While the reason for this decision was cited as ‘lack of evidence’ compelling a review on the subject, most road warriors (yes, including me) consider this the triumph of common sense - on two levels.

There is the safety issue. More than one pilot has traced technical malfunctions over the last 15 years or so to mobile phone usage in flight. And even a one-in-a-million chance is too much when you’re talking about the possibility of a problem 10,000 feet above the planet.

But then there is the practical reality. On a coach ticket, pressed closer to your neighbor than you ever got to your spouse while dressed, there is absolutely NO WAY one of you can slip out a phone and start yapping about whatever without the other turning into a homicidal maniac.

The flight itself has remained a sacred place of apartness. Where the office, the team, the deliverables, the deadline… can not reach you. OR your neighbor.

Bravo to the FCC for preserving the peace.

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Man, I’m a pretty modern dude, I’m up with the current technologies, I know about Bluetooth and VOIP and who knows what else, but when I stumbled across this latest little blog post over at TechEBlog, I felt like I got lapped by technology. Not only did I get lapped, I felt like I got lapped in a weird race I never knew I was even racing in. Weird.

They recently had a post up that went over the Top 20 Strangest Gadgets and Accessories. Let me tell you, they are WEIRD. From Cardboard Speakers, to a gas powered blender, to a desk made out of a Mini Cooper, to, my personal weird favorite, the BriefSafe.

What is the BriefSafe, might you ask? Oh, I’m so glad you did my friends, so glad you did. Look at the picture above to get a better understanding, but I’ll explain a little anyways…It’s a pair of artificially “dirtied” underwear that is actually a safe for your money or valuables. The company believes that the minute a burgler sees these, they will turn the other way.

I guess the bottom line is, technology moves so fast that new ideas are old ideas before they even get a chance to really blossom. Head over and sees what happens when people think so far out of the box, there is no box left.

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For Blackberry users, the world is about to get a lot simpler.

Research In Motion (RIM) rolled out the “BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS)” this week.

It is an integrated enterprise solution tthat allows corporations to covert their BlackBerry smartphone users to securely authenticated members of the the company’s PBX telephone system.

The new BlackBerry Mobile Voice System comes in 3 components:

• BlackBerry MVS Client (a component of BlackBerry Device Software)
• BlackBerry MVS Connectors (a component of BlackBerry Enterprise Server)
• Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite (a software suite that interfaces with heterogeneous PBXs)

Once all three are installed, BlackBerry smartphones will become, essentially, recognized extensions. They will be able to send, receive and manage enterprise calls from their handset. Users will have a single “Reach Me Anywhere” phone number that simultaneously rings their desk phone and BlackBerry smartphone.

For those mobile warriors who live on the road or in their home office, the application of this new suite has some nice benefits. A Blackberry synched to the company’s PBX will allow them to access desk phone functions such as transfer, park, and extension dialing on the BlackBerry. Plus, outgoing calls will displayed with the corporate identity on Caller ID.

The system comes completes with the sndard security features, IT policies and system management functionality provided within the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, including the ability to automatically authenticate mobile users to the PBX to help ensure that only authorized users and devices are accessing the corporate telephony system.

“RIM’s ability to deliver a robust, feature-rich platform that securely integrates with enterprise data systems has always been a major contributing factor to the success of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The ability to now deliver the same value proposition for both voice and data systems provides another unique dimension to the BlackBerry platform and presents another major opportunity for customers to maximize their return on wireless investments.”

BlackBerry MVS will be previewed at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2007 in Orlando, Florida and is expected to be available from RIM and Ascendent Systems later this month.

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As recently as a few years ago, I had my name on cubbies in two different countries.

My position with a ranking IT firm had me assigned to several of our global customers. If it was Monday, I was in Richardson, Texas. If it was Thursday, I was in Ottawa, Ontario.

My ‘office’ was in a Chicago suburb, until a funny thing happened.    The same funny thing that is happening to thousands, and soon to be millions, of workers worldwide: I stopped going into the office.

When not on the road, I worked from home.   Cut off from the corporate high-speed network aand all it represented; gone were the ‘pushed’ security patch updates , endless data storage,   and easy access to the corporate intranet  and peripherals.

My technology needs evolved.  Like other members of this growing generation of ‘mobile workers’ .

From my hardware, I needed flexibility and durability.  My laptop, for example, became my sole processor. No longer was there a docking station connected to a beefy PC to do the heavy lifting back at the office.

My software needs evolved, too. I needed mobile real-time conferencing that included video, audio, o apresentation and whiteboarding -  all available from anywhere by anyone. Also part of the my Mobile Worker’s must-have software kit? Easily updated security software, globally available instant messaging, pack-aand-go presentation applications,  and email/intranet with web  availability.

On this  blog, I’ll be taking time out each week to talk about the technology for the Mobile Warrior - not just what works great on the road, but what also works for the home-based mobile worker. You can find these posts uner the new “Mobile Warrior” category.

And I’m inviting you to share with me - what do you want to know? What works or doesn’t work for you? What needs to get better? What wish-to-haves are we waiting for?  Drop a line,  I’m interested in what interests you…

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Today, I got into discussing some of the future applications of Bluetooth with another technophile, Jim.

Specifically about the buzz about using Bluetooth mobile phones as a sort of “Mobile Purchasing” device.

“Oh, they already do that in Germany,” Jim told me. “You can by Cokes out of the vending machine with your phone.”

The closest I’ve been to Germany lately is Belgium. Where, yes, I did buy a Coke. With money. Not my phone.

I’m not sure if using my phone was an option. The instructions were in Dutch. Not one of the languages I or my companion speak.

(Frankly, if it was, I wouldn’t have been lost outside Lille buying a Coke when what I really wanted was a long shower and a civilized drink back at the hotel. But that’s another story.)

Intrigued about the idea of using a phone as a purchasing tool, I did some research.

Turns out? Jim was right.

Asia (especially Japan) and Europe started jumping into the Mobile Purchasing pool in 2001. The US has actually been slow to to follow. Perhaps because we were all burned on the ‘Speedpass‘ concept?

The money tells the story of a business about to boom. In 2005, $65.5M US was transacted globally via Mobile Purchasing. That’s expected to jump to over $178M US by 2009. (more…)

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Guess what friends, things are getting lighter, stronger, faster, more efficient, and most of all, SMALLER.  With every day hour that passes someone somewhere is coming out with a tinier version of whatever it is you’re using right now.  I think we saw that in an extreme case last week with the Bluetooth Headset that literally fit INSIDE your ear canal.  Scary.

Nevertheless, technology certainly is catching up with the science fiction of our imaginations, and I just found a cool little article packed with Tech ideas for all you “space conscious” Road Warriors out there.  Lets face it, with airports cracking down on that 50lb rule, any extra size and/or weight we can drop without dropping the technology we know, love and desperately need, the better.

Head over, read up on some of Their tech ideas, then head back here for a daily onslaught of Our tech ideas.  I hate to toot our own horns, but folks, can you get any cooler, any more “Road Warrior-ish” than a fully operational mouse that weighs next to nothing and literally fits INSIDE your computer?  I don’t think so.

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You know, if you’re a traveler, you’ve probably heard a whole heck of a lot about noise-canceling headphones.  They claim to help reduce the amount of ambient noise fluttering around you so you can concentrate on the task at hand.  Some say it works, some say it doesn’t, some say the extremely expensive price tag makes it not matter whether it works or not.

I just found a new headset from the extremely trendy Bang & Olufsen that, I’m sure, will be up in that “extremely spendy” category when it does launch stateside (rumors have it going at north of $300-$400); much more expensive than the other headsets if I’m guessing correctly.  Heck, much more expensive than most people’s Phones.  The thing is, it might claim to offer noise canceling, but at that price, how many people want to spend that kind of money?

At any rate, I’m just waiting for the MoGo Headset.  I like things small, I like them tidy, I like them easy to use and I like them to be extremely convenient (hello, charges on the cell phone!).

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I guess you know you’ve “officially” made it when Pepsi uses you for one of their largest campaigns ever.  Britney Spears knew when she was selected for their old SuperBowl campaign, and now, our humble Bluetooth knows it too.

That’s right, the largest Bluetooth campaign to date has been officially launched and delivers “viral video clips, which went live on April 2nd, runs for two months in outdoor advertising locations consisting of bus shelters in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Denver and Orange County, and pay phone kiosks in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.”

The campaign is apparently teaming up with other businesses and manufacturers by planting the Bluetooth technology directly into outdoor furniture and apparatuses so when a person walks by with a Bluetooth enabled device, they are instantly offered the ability to download free videos on the fly.  Wow.  Welcome to the future.  Now just imagine if you had the sweet MoGo Headset in your ear, you could watch the videos and hear them crystal clear in your ear, so the rest of the street doesn’t have to hear them too!

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