But on these islands, there will always be dead spots. In such frustrating instances, no amount of feel-good marketing and advertising can ease the subscriber’s pain and discomfort.

Loss of signal resulting to interrupted calls and unsent messages although rather unpleasant has been a thing that local subscribers have learned to tolerate and live with most of the time. Of course, cell sites have been sprouting even in the country’s less densely populated areas. Still, there will always be huge blocks of Philippine territories not covered by the mobile operators’ cellular signals.

With such a scenario, I guess there will always be a market for femtocells, or miniature cellphone base stations, in this SMS-crazy nation. Femtocells represent a new technology combining the best of broadband Internet and wireless connectivity. Designed to be connected to a home broadband or cable TV line, femtocells link mobile subscribers to their service provider’s wireless network through the Internet.

Although some aspects of femtocells still need to be improved or refined, the technology holds lots of promise and may even someday soon eliminate black holes in the wireless universe.

Remember when Nokia introduced its N-Gage mobile phone that moonlights as a portable video game console? Sony, a leading vendor of video game systems, must have never forgotten that transgression by the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer into its territory.

This might be one of the reasons for the Japanese electronics giant’s decision to come up with a portable gaming platform that comes with a telephony feature. A couple of weeks ago, Sony announced its plan to include the Skype telephone service to its PlayStation Portable game console in Japan. This Internet telephony-in-a-gaming device concept would enable users to make free or low-cost telephone calls.

This means that soon gamers will be able to stay in touch with their families and friends while slashing dragons or driving the meanest racing cars in the virtual world.

There are electronic pen-to-PC systems and there is the Mobile Digital Scribe from Iogear, a leading manufacturer of USB hubs and connectivity products. MDS, which unlike other electronic pens does not require special digital notepad, is designed to capture handwriting and images from any surface.

According to Iogear’s press release, the system has a pen and a receiver. While it writes like an ordinary pen, it also comes with an infrared sensor capable of capturing the user’s hand movements while writing.

The pen’s receiver can store up to 50 pages of writing and pictures, which can then be shared via e-mail or instant messaging. Would teachers allow the Mobile Digital Scribe inside their classrooms?

Armed with search warrants, German police and customs officials confiscated dozens of boxes of mobile phones and other electronics gadgets and devices on display during the 2008 CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany. According to an Associated Press story, the authorities were "investigating suspected patent violations."

The police did not identify the people and companies included in the raid. But according to witnesses, of the 51 exhibitors concerned, 24 or almost half were from mainland China, 12 were from Taiwan, and three from Hong Kong. The rest were from Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Korea.

What do the figures tell? You be the judge.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.