Norwegian broadcaster NRK and Swedish wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson announced what they say is the world's first test of interactive mobile television.
During the six-week test, users can download a program for watching and interacting with the Norwegian youth music program Svisj on their mobile phones.
Users can vote for the next music video by pressing a mobile phone key, and chat in writing with each other or the program leaders while watching the show.
Gunnar Garfors, director of mobile services for the state broadcaster NRK, said hundreds of viewers downloaded the free software during the first week of the test.
Viewers could already chat with Svisj program leaders by sending SMS messages from their mobile phones. With the new system, they can watch on their phones and communicate at the same time at about half the cost of each standard text message, he said.
In April, the NRK claimed another world first by broadcasting live reports from a 56-mile ski race that were transmitted with a video-equipped mobile phone.
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Anonymity lost: China will soon require all mobile phone users to register with telecom providers or face a cutoff in service.
The new rule, announced by the Ministry of Information Industry, is part of a crackdown on telephone fraud and illegal text-messaging practices, and the country's thriving trade in counterfeit and otherwise illegally obtained mobile phones.
It is also expected to help authorities control "improper political commentary."
Many Chinese mobile phone users already are registered with major telecommunications companies such as China Mobile and China Unicom. But a large share use prepaid phone cards and buy the subscriber identity module, or SIM, device that activates the phone without any form of registration. Up to 200 million of China's 377 million mobile phone subscribers use prepaid cards.
Implementation of the new requirement is expected to begin by the end of the year, with customers having to comply within six months or lose their phone services.
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RIM job: Research In Motion appears to have drawn a small boost in the BlackBerry patent battle after several setbacks as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued another preliminary rejection against one of the patents RIM was found to have violated.
The latest "non-final" ruling in the re-examination of patents at the heart of the case sided with arguments that the wireless e-mail technology patented by NTP may have been created previously by a Norwegian company.
The patent office has issued preliminary rejections of all five NTP patents that RIM (RIMM) was found to have infringed by a jury in 2002.
NTP has downplayed those rulings as largely procedural, while RIM has asserted the rejections as proof that the technology behind its popular BlackBerry handhelds and e-mail service is not stolen.
Some industry and legal analysts say RIM will likely be forced to settle the lawsuit for as much as $1 billion. Still, some also say RIM's hands aren't completely tied; it's also somewhat unlikely NTP would want to force a shutdown, a scenario that could leave it with a smaller payoff.
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Broken windows: James Gianopulos, co-chairman of 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment, defended the traditional DVD release schedule amid a push by Walt Disney to rush theatrical releases to the home video market.
Sending movies to home video markets much quicker than the average four-month exclusive that studios grant theaters could crimp growth, Gianopulos said.
"When people say 're-invent your business model because of the ubiquitous availability of pirated product,' there's a huge flaw with that," said Gianopulos. "You can never compete with free."
The window between releases would continue to shrink, but not very quickly, he said.
Walt Disney (DIS) CEO Robert Iger drew harsh criticism from theater owners in August by suggesting the entertainment industry may need to release DVDs while films are still in theaters. He has since repeated that call.
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Compiled by Keith Axline. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
