By LAURA BLUE/LONDON There were a couple of strange things about the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 that taxied out along one of London Heathrow’s two main runways and took off into the bright sky late Sunday morning. First, there were only five people on board, while more than 100 watched intently from a nearby hangar. Second, the plane was the first commercial jet ever to fly on biofuel, a fuel produced from plant matter instead of petroleum or other fossil fuels. “This is the first...

The Verizon Wireless Gleam may not be smart, but it’s entertaining with a “living wallpaper” feature and customizable for access to news, sports, and weather.
«www.informationweek.com»

Verizon Wireless and Samsung on Friday introduced a thin clamshell cell phone called Gleam that’s designed to keep mobile users entertained.

The Gleam is capable of receiving music and video from Verizon Wireless’ V Cast service. Music can be downloaded wirelessly from V Cast or a personal collection can be transferred to the phone’s music player using microSD memory cards. The Gleam has a microSD card slot and offers up to 4 Gbytes of expandable memory.

It’s considered a feature phone as opposed to a «www.informationweek.com», which is defined by its mobile operating system and computer-like functionality. But like many recent feature phones, the Gleam offers more advanced capabilities.

For example, the phone is Mobile Web 2.0-capable, which means Verizon Wireless subscribers can access different content like news and weather, as well as read and send e-mail. With the service, subscribers get headline updates throughout the day and a toolbar for easier Web search, among other features. The handset also links Bluetooth wireless technology for certain profiles including Object Push Profile for vCard.

Another cool feature is the phone’s “living wallpaper,” which displays a picture of a city or country that changes with the time of day.

The Gleam costs $150 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year subscription to Verizon Wireless.

Verizon has been slowly rolling out its holiday lineup. Earlier this week, «www.informationweek.com» four other new phones for the 2007 holiday season. Among them is LG Electronics’ Voyager, which has a similar form factor to Apple’s iPhone. Those phones are expected to be available before Thanksgiving.

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