The light from the cell phone screens allowed surgeons to complete an emergency appendix operation during a blackout in a city in central Argentina, reports said on Saturday.

“The generator, which should have been working correctly, didn’t work,” a hospital spokesman, whose name was not given, told TN television news station.

“The surgeons and anesthetists were in the dark… A family member got some cell phones together from people in the hallway and took them in to provide light,” he said.

Mobile phone companies have until Tuesday to cut by up to 70% the amount they charge customers for making and receiving calls between EU countries.

Under the new EU rules, the companies have a deadline of the end of July to offer customers anew pricing structure, with cheaper “roaming” fees.

Chapura, provider of mobile personal information management synchronization technology, has released FolderMirror 1.0. FolderMirror offers all mobile device owners, including the iPhone, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Symbian device owners, the ability to carry and stay connected to any Outlook Calendar and Contacts folders. Wireless or wired.

LTB Audio Systems has began shipping the new Magnum 5.1 True surround sound headphone system with Microphone for PC’s with analog Hi-Definition sound cards. In addition, LTB launched the wireless Q-Bass USB headphones with a true 2.1 audio with built in subwoofers and Microphone.

Fans of Lost got a first peek at a related game under development by Ubisoft. Thirty seconds of the upcoming game were shown at the Comic-Con International conference in San Diego.

The first-person action game for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and PCs will be released in February to coincide with the debut of the fourth Lost season. Gamers will be able to play as a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815, exploring familiar locations, unraveling mysteries and puzzles, and interacting with the main characters on the show.

Like Germany’s aerial assault on England in World War II, Apple’s media campaign for the iPhone was a blitzkrieg. A revolution, it was to be the first mobile phone/handheld computer that operated solely by touch-interface; only it wasn’t the first. Weeks before the iPhone’s release, HTC quietly launched their Touch mobile phone.

Read this Computing Unplugged article.

iPhone. Whether enterprises are prepared or not, it has arrived. Less than a month into its release, Apple’s multimedia, Internet-enabled phone has already received criticism regarding security, highlighted by attempts to unlock the iPhone for networks other than AT&T and a well-publicized exploit crafted by Independent Security Evaluators, Baltimore-based security testers.

It is only natural that IT organizations shiver at the thought of the iPhone endangering their networks, but they will have few options to block its entrance to the enterprise and no recourse but to prepare for it, said Andrew Jaquith, an analyst at Yankee Group.

Digitope Corporation has announced Media Digitalizer 3.2, the latest version of the all-in-one recording application that records cassette tapes or records to audio CDs or MP3 and WMA formats.

Because Media Digitalizer integrates the recorder, editor, encoders and CD burner software into the same application, the process is fast, efficient and surprisingly easy. The included tutorial and detailed instructions allow virtually anyone, regardless of computing experience, to use their cassette or record collection with iPods, CD players, or any digital audio player.

The HTC Panda/P6300 is the latest edition to HTC’s mobile business phone series. Featuring a large color touch-screen and high speed mobile communications, the HTC Panda/P6300 has been designed to meet all your business needs. Proporta, once again, has manufactured a number of custom made products, to fit the exact specifications of this device, starting with their Alu-Leather case and Advanced Screen Protector.

Oki Electric has released middleware that can add iris recognition to cell phones and PDAs. The “Iris Recognition Technology for Mobile Terminals” software reportedly uses existing cameras and currently targets handheld devices running Windows Mobile, Windows XP or Symbian OS.

For several years, Oki has been providing iris-recognition equipment, but these devices required dedicated infrared cameras. The company says its new middleware can now use any camera offering more than 1 megapixel. This permits developers to add biometric security to easily stolen mobile devices, without a fingerprint reader or other additional hardware.