Pope Benedict XVI will text message thousands of young Catholics this July during World Youth Day (WYD) in Sydney, Australia. It is hoped this will help the pontiff communicate better with a younger audience. It is estimated that 225,000 young Catholics will attend the World Youth Day that starts on July 15 and continues for six days.

The Pope will send daily inspirational messages during the six day event. Digital prayer walls will be constructed at event sites and a Catholic social networking Web site will be made available to parishioners, so those with similar interests can meet each other.

“We wanted to make WYD08 a unique experience by using new ways to connect with today’s tech-savvy youth,” Bishop Anthony Fisher said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Australian telecommunications company Telstra will provide the electronic infrastructure necessary for the event, along with erecting the digital prayer walls at event sites. Telstra will connect 8,000 volunteers, 2,000 clergy, 3,000 media and 225,000 young Catholics to over 700 locations around Sydney.

Sydney World Youth Day 08

The digital movie provider CinemaNow announced today that customers can use their cell phones to view movie trailers and order full-length titles to watch on their home television or computer through its mobile website. The new service allows customers to buy or rent a movie while they are out and about with friends or family.

“It definitely makes discovery a little more social when you can talk about the movie and do the purchase while you’re there,” said David Cook, CinemaNow’s chief operating officer.

CinemaNow will download movies to a user’s electronic device like a personal computer. Internet downloads of movies can take over an hour, so by ordering while on the go, hopefully the title will be ready to view when the customer gets home. Online movie purchases cost around $14.99 and rentals cost about $1.99.

Full movies can’t be downloaded to handsets yet. But the company hopes to be able to download full length movies to cell phones by next year.

If you have a Web-capable phone and live in the United States, go to http://mobile.cinemanow.com and checkout the service.

Hook Mobile’s MobileHook API is now available for Web 2.0 application developers. Developers will be able to build multimedia from social networking sites, and include photos, video, audio and slideshows. This API provides open access into Hook Mobile’s MAX 2.0 platform that provides Multimedia Messaging (MMS) delivery into wireless carrier networks.

“We are embracing the openness of social media, offering our APIs to application developers so they can push the user experience out to mobile phones,” said Terry Hsiao, CEO of Hook Mobile. “It will add a level of immediacy and intimacy not easily achieved in social applications, and the result is an experience that leverages the core multimedia assets of the application while un-tethering users from the desktop.”

Hook Mobile’s REST-based API makes it much easier for application developers to use MMS. Hook provides access to the MAX 2.0 platform for mobile delivery across a variety of device types, media formats, diverse carrier network connections and user handset capabilities. The “mobile tab” code base can be integrated into any website, application or widget, standardizing the registration, cancellation, and terms and conditions for all applications.

MAX 2.0 connects application developers with social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, and delivers content to mobile devices via MMS. Hook Mobile enables the multitude of digital bits to be easily shared with family and friends, connecting them to their mobile lifestyle and offering social media developers a direct path to possible revenues.

“We’re constantly searching for ways to improve the customer’s experience on our products, and Hook Mobile’s API is a fresh approach to doing just that by pushing the media all the way to their mobile phone,” said Vikas Gupta CEO of Jambool, a leading developer of widgets on social networks.

“Integrating with the Hook Mobile API was very straightforward,” commented Naveed Ihsanullah of Thought Labs, “We were easily able to add mobile functionality into our existing code making our vision for Pic2Phone a reality.”

“Mobile has been a tough nut for Facedouble - for 2 years, no aggregator or carrier was able to provide us with the tools (or technical competence) we needed to succeed: 2 way MMS across carriers, resizing of content to fit the target phone, flexible billing, slideshows, good reporting; Hook Mobile’s MAX 2.0 platform does all these things. Bravo!” said Alex Shah Founder of Facedouble.

Hook Mobile

V-ENABLE, a local mobile search and directory assistance service, announced today that Sprint customers can get the full-featured downloadable version of FreeMobile411. Users only have to speak what they are looking for into their phone and the results will be displayed on-screen within seconds.

FreeMobile411 gives access to 140 million residential and 14 million business locations. Users can browse by category, get maps, driving instructions, see other business nearby and more. Best of all, it is free. Users can also connect with an operator if they want.

Freemobile411 works just like Mobile411, which is available on deck with carriers like Alltel and MetroPCS. With this release of the off deck JAVA version, Sprint customers can get directory information with a few vibrations of the larynx.

“There are several mobile and voice based services that can help find listings, get maps, driving directions, see what’s nearby. But none of the services bring it all together, with the touch of a live operator,” said Craig Hagopian, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of V-ENABLE Inc.

“With FreeMobile411 we are embracing the blending of man and machine to complete the search experience. We look forward to being available on even more carriers and handsets so all mobile consumers can experience the most complete mobile search solution currently available”.

FreeMobile411 won’t blend you with your phone to the extent that you become a cyborg, but it will save you from thumbing through the local phone directory. Sprint users can go online at www.FreeMobile411.com and register for the service, at which time they will be sent via SMS a link to download the application. Non-Sprint customers can visit the site and register with FreeMobile411. These users will be notified when FreeMobile411 is available for their handset and carrier. They can also use the mobile internet version of FreeMobile411 by typing on their phone’s browser freemobile411.com

Austria’s second largest city, Graz, is cracking down on cell phone use during public transport. Commuters are being ordered to keep their phones on silent mode and can’t talk on the phone while in transit.

“I know I insulted the cell phone goddess a little,” Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl said.
“But people need to know they don’t have the right to be on the telephone permanently and constantly,” he told Austrian television. “It’s just not healthy to never be able to get any peace and quiet.”

There has been a backlash against public cell phone use around the world. France’s national railway has recently created phone-free “Zen Zones” on high-speed trains. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio has filed legislation that ensures Americans won’t be subjected to cell phone talk while on airlines. New Jersey fines people $100 for talking or texting while driving. At least 21 states in the U.S. are considering legislation to ban texting while driving.

Banning cell phone use in public doesn’t always work. Last May, Sweden’s Stockholm Transport did away with cell phone free zones on subways, buses and commuter trains just 10 months after launching the spaces.

“It relied on people showing respect, but it didn’t really work,” spokesman Bjorn Holmberg said: Too many passengers wanted to use their commute to catch up on work calls, and some just felt safer with cell phones in hand.

The Graz ban is voluntary and there won’t be any tickets handed out to people who breach the ban. A recent poll in Austria shows that two out of three Austrians support the idea of getting cell phones under control in public places. I wonder if two out of three people in Graz follow the ban, or if most people don’t follow the ban; figuring their calls are just too important to ignore.

Matching smells with media has been tried in the past. There were movies that provided the audience scratch-and-sniff packets, and some experimentation with smell-o-vision. Neither became popular and the idea was dropped. But it seems the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo is giving this idea new life. New mobile phones from the company will be equipped with fragrance cartridges that release various odors.

NTT DoCoMo plans to partner its smellphones with content providers that match scent with a person’s horoscope, the weather or favorite music. Odor has been known to trigger powerful memories in some people, so this may be a gimmick that plays well to a certain demographic. If it isn’t successful for people, the smellphone might become wildly popular among dogs. Dogs will smell anything and it doesn’t seem to bother them

CrossLink Media announced yesterday at CTIA Wireless 2008 that the company was awarded an exclusive contract with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) to provide text-based mobile coupons across military installations throughout the United States. AAFES is a multi-channel retailer offering merchandise and services via retail stores, catalogs and online to active duty, guard and reserve members, military retirees and their families at low prices.

MessageLink, a proprietary software platform from Crosslink Media, will allow AAFES to communicate with military members anytime anywhere through their mobile phones. Members now have access to mobile coupons that provide special discounts and shopping incentive throughout the various military installations.

“The AAFES award is much more than a customer to CrossLink Media,” said Brad Beasley, President of CrossLink Media. “AAFES’ slogan is ‘Serving the Best Customers in the World’ and we take that to heart. It is an honor to receive this award and to help serve our military and their families,” said Beasley.

“In today’s world, virtually everyone uses their mobile phone for more than just talking”, said Chris Peterson, Senior Restaurant Business Manager for AAFES. “CrossLink Media’s mobile coupon program should provide a convenient way to distribute timely and relevant offers to our members and their families. We are looking forward to working with

V-ENABLE, a local mobile search and directory assistance service is partnering with buzzd, a location-based mobile entertainment service that provides real-time information for bars, clubs and restaurants. This partnership will combine V-ENABLE’s local search with buzzd’s (see MobileCrunch post on buzzd) user generated content and all the best listings from CitySearch, Flavorpill and Time Out Magazine. Now, when you get home from work you can change into your polyester, read MobileCrunch and go out and prove you are King or Queen of the Nightlife.

“What’s so natural about this partnership,” said V-ENABLE Executive VP and CMO Craig Hagopian, “is that both V-ENABLE and buzzd serve consumers on the go who are looking for something local.”

In the last month, the Taliban in Afghanistan have been targeting cell phone towers. Around 10 towers have been attacked causing nearly $2 million in damage. Service providers have been forced to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night. This has angered hundreds of thousands of customers who have no other telephones.

The Taliban is attacking certain towers because it believes that NATO forces are using cell phone signals to track them at night. But some Taliban fighters are asking that the towers be repaired and switched back on. According to the Associated Press, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid hinted that the group could change its tactics.

“We see that some people are having problems, so we might change the times that the networks are shut down in the coming days,” Mujahid said in an AP phone interview.

According to Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political analyst in Kabul, if the Taliban can interfere with the phone networks, the government and international forces are seen as being weak by the population.

“After the Taliban announcement, they were aware of the situation, and still they couldn’t provide security for the towers,” Akhgar told the AP. “Maybe destroying a few towers will not have any effect on the government, but the news or the message that comes out of this is very big, and all to the benefit of the Taliban.”

This story is evidence that the cell phone is here to stay until something better comes along. Afghanistan is a country that has been racked with continuing war since the late 1970’s, and yet the telecommunications miracle has reached this remote and bloody part of the world. While some people in developed countries complain about ugly cell towers, the people of Afghanistan would be happy if their towers were left alone.

According to the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the United Kingdom will soon allow passengers on UK-registered aircraft to make mobile phone calls or send text messages while flying. Ofcom has been considering the idea since last year and has been in discussions with other European countries.

MobileCrunch reported last December and this January that Air France and Norwegian Air have been experimenting with in-flight cell calls. It appears as though the European Union is getting ready to approve passenger airline mobile calls across European airspace.

Under the UK plan, passengers will be able to use their own handsets once a plane reaches a minimum height of 3,000 meters. Service will be routed to an onboard base station to make and receive calls, which will be billed through a passenger’s normal service provider. Calls won’t be allowed during take-offs and landings.

“The safety of passengers is paramount and mobile systems on aircraft will only be installed when they have secured approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK,” Ofcom said.

Being a non-European, I want to know when other countries are going to allow cell phone use on aircraft. Up to now there have been safety concerns from government agencies but I haven’t heard any concrete evidence that on-board cell phone base stations and devices cause any interference with a plane’s ability to operate. Banning in-flight calls is like banning people from swimming in the Loch Ness because a Plesiosaur might eat them. Government regulators need to stop protecting the public from nonexistent dangers and let us exercise the freedom that mobile phones give us.