Microsoft wants to reframe Windows for mobile devices. The software giant has formed a new Windows Client Mobility Marketing Team within its Windows Client Product Marketing Group and charged it with devising new marketing methods, finding new partnerships and researching more mobile-friendly features for future Windows upgrades. While small, the group’s existence signals a shift in thinking and emphasis toward mobile computing at the software giant.

Mobile phones and PDAs can now spot theaters and showtimes by how close they are to the person scouting for a movie, thanks to the first GPS-enabled movie guide offered in the US. Movies on the Move, a free download for Palm OS and Windows Mobile-powered handheld devices, is available on Earthcomber, a website that provides mapping and local data as well as personal navigation software. The detailed listings of movies, showtimes and theaters are now part of the local information that comes with maps for every region in the United States. The guide itself, which carries reviews, descriptions and images of the movies playing, is an additional download for high-capacity devices.

If you work in an enterprise that has multiple Windows Mobile devices, you will soon find that you need an easy way to setup new devices. This is especially true if you are planning to deploy hundreds or thousands of devices. This article explains different options to configure or provision Windows Mobile devices en mass.

Malibal has unveiled its new line of high-performance Intel Core Duo laptops. Available immediately, the Satori Series features the latest in dual-core technologies, high-performance graphics and wireless connectivity. The Satori Series is the first line of notebooks offered by Malibal that gives users the power and versatility of dual-core technology coupled with the heat-dissipation and battery life of a mobile chipset.

The U.S. government has 45 days to upgrade its security standards for protecting the data it holds on millions of U.S. citizens. The Office of Management and Budget, which operates under the White House, sent a “Memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies” on June 23 requesting the implementation of new security standards and practices concerning data.

Nokia has sued two Chinese competitors in its first Chinese legal action alleging illegal product copying, a spokesman said on Wednesday. A Beijing court on June 12 officially agreed to hear the case against two cell phone makers based in the south China boomtown of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Telsda Mobile Communication Industry Development and Song Xun Da Zhong Ke Electronic Shenzhen, said Nokia spokesman Thomas Jonsson.

The co-founder of one of the most popular mobile Linux platforms has predicted a “revolution” in the use of open-source software on phones and handheld devices. Trolltech’s Eirik Chambe-Eng told delegates at the Open Source Business Conference in London that Linux is set to “make a lot of headlines going forward on embedded devices and mobile phones”.

Do you ever wish for the day when you can take your personal computing environment with you wherever you go, without having to physically carry your desktop or notebook computer around? Well, that day still isn’t here. However, you can take your key programs and data with you wherever you go, and they’ll fit in your pocket. At least you can do this if you carry a U3 smart drive. To learn how well these drive works, read this article by Contributing Editor Bill Mann.

Read this Computing Unplugged article.

Wives and family members of soldiers fighting in Iraq have received telephone calls, believed to include death threats, from insurgents. The “nuisance” calls have been made with increasing frequency over the past few weeks after insurgents managed to obtain home numbers from soldiers’ mobile telephones. The document warns soldiers preparing to take part in operations that insurgents in southern Iraq have managed to obtain the home telephone numbers of soldiers by using electronic intercept devices to hack into mobile phone systems. It is understood that the threats range from claims that a husband or son is dead or will be killed fighting in Iraq, to verbal abuse. Many of those who have received calls say that they were made by people with a poor command of English or with a Middle Eastern accent.

Palm announced that it has settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Xerox Corporation nine years ago. Xerox issued a companion news release today. In April 1997, Xerox sued a predecessor to Palm, claiming that the handwriting-recognition technology marketed as Graffiti and formerly used in Palm OS handheld devices infringed a Xerox patent known as the Unistrokes patent. The agreement affords Xerox and Palm “patent peace.” Palm will pay Xerox $22.5 million for a fully paid-up license for three Xerox patents, including Unistrokes, and a seven-year mutual covenant not to sue for patent infringement within mutually agreed fields of use.