The next generation of mobile devices, called smartphones, promises to combine the calling power and convenience of a cell phone with the applications and functionality of a laptop. SearchMobileComputing.com spoke recently with Michael Disabato, an analyst with Midvale, Utah-based Burton Group and author of a research report titled Smartphones: What’s in your pocket?, about the rise of the smartphone, its implications for the enterprise market and some of the roadblocks, both technical and manmade, standing in its way.

Next week, SMC Networks will be announcing the newest in its EZ Connect g family of efficient 802.11g wireless networking products, the EZ Connect g 2.4GHz 54Mbps Wireless AP Storage (SMCWAPS-G). Designed to serve as the primary wireless network access point or as a wireless network extension, the new Wireless AP Storage makes it as easy to share files and storage as it does to share Internet access. The SMCWAPS-G provides full 802.11g access point capability including top-notch security with the addition of two USB 2.0 connectors so that users can connect USB hard disk drives and memory sticks for easy network backup or data access. The new EZ Connect g 2.4GHz 54Mbps Wireless AP Storage (SMCWAPS-G) will be available beginning in December, 2005.

Palm announced the appointment of Robert C. Hagerty to its board of directors. Hagerty is chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Polycom, a worldwide leader in collaborative voice, video, data and web applications and also conference phones.

The new Datexx Pavio Model PVR30T Portable Digital Theater packs a lot of features in a pocket sized unit. There’s a whopping 30GB storage capability, with TV viewing/recording/playback, audio recording/playback (including MP3s), picture storage and playback, and data storage/transfer using USB. This high tech recorder also stores and plays AVI files with video and mp3 sound by Dr. Divx. Pavio’s 30GB Hard Drive is coupled with a bright 3.5-inch LCD Screen, a TV Tuner, and the supplied software includes Dr. Divx and Musicmatch. Pavio also reads memory media via SD and CF slots.

Research In Motion and PGP Corporation are working together to allow BlackBerry users to send and receive PGP-secured email. The new PGP Support Package developed for BlackBerry is expected to be available later this year. This solution enables enterprises to extend PGP email security to individuals who use both laptop/desktop computers and BlackBerry wireless devices. It provides customers with sender-to-recipient email security, and thereby complements the industry-leading wireless transmission security and device protection security inherent in the BlackBerry architecture.

Three robotic vehicles cruised past the finish line Saturday in a Pentagon-sponsored race across the rugged Mojave desert, giving scientists hope that robots could one day wage battles without endangering soldiers. “The impossible has been achieved,” cried Stanford University’s Sebastian Thrun, after the university’s customized Volkswagen crossed first. Students cheered, hoisting Thrun atop their shoulders. Also finishing was a converted red Hummer named “H1ghlander” and a Humvee named “Standstorm” from Carnegie Mellon University. The Stanford robot dubbed “Stanley” overtook the top-seeded H1ghlander at the 102-mile mark of the 132-mile course.

Jun Mung-gyu remembers the throbbing pain in his head and shoulder aches from spending as many as 15 hours a day hunched over a computer keyboard battling his online foes. For others, the addiction has become all-consuming, raising concerns about the health of the millions of gamers in the world’s most wired country. The habit has even been deadly: In August, a 28-year-old man died after nearly 50 straight hours of playing online computer games.

Having dealt the Palm operating system a damaging blow, Microsoft is turning its attention toward Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform with the hope of rendering mobile middleware obsolete. Microsoft is readying updates to both its Exchange groupware and Windows Mobile smartphone operating system that will let an Exchange server push corporate email data to Windows Mobile devices without the type of middleware that RIM requires.

Nokia has entered a pact with Symantec to help secure its mobile phones from viruses that target certain kinds of handsets. Under the agreement, Nokia plans to arm its Series 60 smart phones with the Symantec Mobile Security antivirus program. The software is designed to ward off attacks that could compromise the extensive data, such as contact databases, that people store on their smart phones, the companies said.

The Bible Society in Australia launched its translation of all 31,173 verses of the Bible in the modern, abbreviated language of text messages, or SMS. The verses can be accessed over the Internet for free so that the word of God can be spread by cell phone to family and friends.