Karrier Communications announced the shipment of its new IntelliGolf Birdie edition golf scoring software for Sony Ericsson P800, P900, and P910 smartphones. The IntelliGolf Birdie edition is the only golf software for Symbian OS-based smartphones to include on-course golf scoring and wagering, Windows-based desktop software, and synchronization software all-in-one.

HP Labs demonstrated a prototype plastic color LCD screen in London yesterday. Although the prototype is small, just 3cm by 4cm, the team says the technology could be scaled up to extremely large displays, with resolution comparable to that of printed material. The researchers have developed a way to eliminate the LCD’s active matrix, the silicon layer that controls the polarity, and hence the opacity, of the crystals.

Toshiba said on Wednesday it would introduce notebook computers with HD DVD technology in the last quarter of 2005 in a move to pressure rivals in the battle over formats for next-generation DVDs.

The Splashpower wireless power solution enables you to power up your mobile phone and other portable devices, simply by placing them on a mousepad-sized mat, called a SplashPad. No physical connection is required between the SplashPad and the device, power is transferred wirelessly. You can even charge different devices on a single SplashPad at the same time.

Mobile-solutions provider Symbol Technologies announced the MC50 family of handheld PCs, which it dubbed “enterprise digital assistants” because of their barcode-scanning and VoIP features. Designed for enterprise workforces, the MC50 is available either with or without a thumb-able QWERTY keyboard. Both models run the Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition operating system and include 520MHz Intel XScale processors, 128MB of memory (64MB RAM and 64MB ROM), 240 by 320-pixel TFT screens, an SDIO expansion slot, and built-in Wi-Fi radios.

Creative Algorithms announced the release of Trip Boss, travel software for the Palm OS handheld. Trip Boss is a comprehensive international and domestic travel program for both business and personal travel. The program allows the user to plan, record, and report all aspects of travel, including expenses, mileage, itinerary, journaling, budget, route planning, and ratings of places. Trip Boss also includes a built in currency converter and tip/split calculator, both of which can be accessed directly.

Reader Graham Cliff has a suggestion for those upgrading Nero6 and adding the power pack functionality. He says, “I realised the only likely fix was to uninstall ALL, I MEAN ALL NERO software. That was a time consuming nightmare in itself. Having cleared out NERO, a new, a completely new Nero6 power pack install then proceded. Believe or not this has worked.” He suggests, “Maybe ‘uninstall before installing’ should be placed within the installation instruction set!” In any case, if you’ve been struggling with a Nero install, maybe a full uninstall/reinstall will help you, too. By the way, this technique works for most software.

A Swedish research institute has released a report that links the use of analog cell handsets and a benign tumor, adding fodder to the long-running debate over cell phones and brain cancer. The Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm said Thursday that it has found that 10 or more years of cell phone use may increase the risk of acoustic neuroma, a noncancerous tumor, in humans.

A flaw that could cause denial-of-service attacks on Research In Motion’s BlackBerry handheld devices has been discovered. The vulnerability affects smart phones running RIM handheld software version 3.7, Service Pack 1, and possibly older versions. The flaw has been fixed in version 3.8 and later, the company said.

PalmSource, the developer of the Palm operating system for portable devices, announced on Friday that it has settled a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by Digeo Interactive, a subsidiary of Digeo. As part of the settlement, PalmSource has become a licensee of technology covered by Digeo’s patent, and Digeo has agreed to dismiss all legal claims.