T-Mobile has a policy of banning third-party applications from accessing the Internet on their phones. This means T-Mobile users are prohibited from surfing the Web with Opera Mini, checking maps on Google Local for Mobile, listening to podcasts with Mobilcast, and using any other form of software not pre-approved by T-Mobile.

For those road warriors who actually have a need to create PDFs on their Microsoft-based device, there’s a new application from Rain Effect called FluidPDF that will allow you to do just that.

Available for Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs and Smartphones, FluidPDF allows users to scale, stretch, set dpi, and rotate images; compose, set font, set font size, and rotate text; embed voice notes with captions; embed file attachments with captions; secure a PDF document through encryption; and, according to the company, save storage and wireless data transfer costs because of the size efficiency of PDF.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, the worldwide market for converged mobile devices pushed past the 20 million unit mark during the fourth quarter of 2006, and past the 80 million unit mark for the year. Fourth quarter of 2006 shipments were up 33.5% more than the same quarter a year ago. For all of 2006, vendors shipped at total of 80.5 million devices, 42.0% more than what they shipped in 2005.

Sun Microsystems announced the availability of the Mobile Services Architecture, the next generation Java platform for mobile phones and other handheld devices. MSA is available now for mobile devices and Sun’s NetBeans development platform.

With many companies prohibiting camera-phones, Palm has added the Treo 680 to the list of smartphones available without a camera. Although it currently cannot be ordered through the Web site this way, a toll-free is available to do so by phone.

Smartphone maker Palm is consulting with investment bankers on its strategic options, including the prospect of selling the company, seeking investment from venture capitalists, or making an acquisition of its own.

Beset with growing competition in the smartphone market, Palm is discussing a range of options with bankers at Morgan Stanley. Widespread speculation that Palm is likely to be acquired by another company sent the company’s shares higher last week, rising nearly 13 percent during the week.

A humanoid robot is teaching itself to walk and eventually run around a California research lab. Dexter’s designers say their robot differs from commercially available predecessors because it can learn from its mistakes. It is the culmination of six years’ work by Anybots, an independent research group of three engineers.

Walking robots currently on the market, such as Honda’s Asimo, differ because their creators programmed their movements before they were switched on.

Apple has released updates to its QuickTime media player software to repair eight serious security vulnerabilities.

The vulnerabilities expose both Macs and Windows PCs to cyberattack, Apple said in a security alert. In all cases, an attacker could craft a malicious file which, when opened with QuickTime, could give the miscreant full control over a computer running the software.

The seemingly exponential growth of portable technology has sparked fears that people are becoming addicted or swamped by gadgets and their uses.

One major consequence of this phenomenon is that the line between work and private life is much more blurred, now that email and phones provide a 24-hour link between employers and staff.

Experts believe that even the decision-making process of the average person can be adversely affected.

Microsoft’s Live OneCare security software has failed tests which check how well it spots and stops malicious programs designed to attack Windows. OneCare was the only failure among 17 antivirus programs tested by the AV Comparatives organization.

Microsoft’s software only spotted 82.4% of the 500,000 viruses that the independent group subjected it to. The test is the second in less than a month that Microsoft’s anti-virus software has failed.