It looks like Netflix, who has taken flak in the past based on the fact that its name does not stir up images of DVDs by-mail, is finally moving into position to live up to its name. Right now Netflix users pay their subscription for access to Netflix’s tremendous library of DVDs by mail, with the bonus feature of access to streaming content thrown in. However since the launch of its partnership with Microsoft, which brought streaming content to the Xbox 360, Netflix has experienced unprecedented growth.

DubMeNow is an intriguing web startup that has only one goal in mind; to simplify the way you exchange contact information. Once you sign up for Dub, you simply fill out all the information that would normally be found on your business card.

When you meet someone that you want to share your info with, all you have to do is send them an invite via text or email. If they accept the invitation, all your data is automatically inserted into the address book of their mobile device. One big plus for Dub is that it is platform agnostic, so it works with all smartphone and dumbphone operating systems.

Recently Kogan, a small Australian cell phone manufacturer, made waves in the Android world when it announced its Agora and Agora Pro Android phones. Had they reached market, the handsets would have been the second Android phones available to the general public following T-Mobile’s G1. Unfortunately even though the pair of phones garnered significant interest in the mobile world, in January, Kogan leadership announced that production on the units would be delayed indefinitely. At the time, there was a great deal of speculation as to whether this was due to the handset displays not meeting the minimum requirements for an upcoming Android refresh.

Apple is definitely venturing out of its comfort zone with its new iTunes Pass. Essentially what Apple has done is combine the traditional album preorder, the teaser of the single, and all the bonus content usually on the deluxe addition, into a single offering for the content hungry fans. Similar in concept to a TV season pass, the iTunes Pass will include all content released by a specific artist within a set time frame.

Beginning with Depeche Mode, users will be able to buy a $19 pass that will include the bands new single right now, the album when it is released, and various other exclusive multimedia content over time. The pass will also include any videos or remixes the band puts out, until the pass expires on June 16th.

The wait is over; Microsoft has some news for all of you out there that are participating in the Windows 7 beta. Starting February 24th, Microsoft will start rolling out a series of updates for the fledgling operating system that do…absolutely nothing. You heard me correctly, these will be updates that do not add any new features or fixes to Windows 7, but simply test its ability to handle updates.

With all the announcements out of Google the last few days, including offline Gmail access for iPhone and Android, many Windows Mobile users have expressed concern over the future of Google innovation on their platform of choice. With the release of Google Mobile App for Windows Mobile, you can almost hear a collected sigh of relief from WM fanboys everywhere. Wednesday, Google, via the Official Google Mobile Blog, made known the immediate availability of the new app which aims to speed up mobile searching for Google power users.

The new application can be mapped either to a hardware key or the Start menu, and includes a handy homescreen plugin. This application mirrors functionality seen in a Google search homescreen plugin that was released in March of last year, but does make significant improvements in some areas. The new app saves your recent search history for quick access, and provides links to popular Google web apps; such as Google Maps and Gmail.

Currently, Verizon Wireless is the largest of all North American cell phone carriers and based on today’s announcement, it seems they want to keep it that way. Verizon is currently testing 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks in Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and Northern New Jersey and in Budapest, Dusseldorf, and Madrid in Europe. LTE uses more »

Today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft finally revealed its new 6.5 version of the Windows Mobile OS. Most of the revisions to Windows Mobile deal with creating a better experience for users who prefer to use fingertips to interact with the device, a shift that has definite ties to the popularity of the iPhone. Unfortunately due to multiple leaks over the course of the last few weeks, not much of what Microsoft had to show was unexpected, but the various improvements were welcome nonetheless.

For starters, we have a new honeycomb-style menu grid that is allegedly more finger friendly than a traditional grid, at least according to Microsoft. Internet Explorer Mobile has also received considerable polish, new additions include a sliding zoom bar and icons for frequently used commands. The lock screen has been updated as well, it now shows specific alerts based on incoming messages, emails, voicemails, or any other info that is time sensitive. You can also now launch directly into the application that prompted the alert, right from the lock screen.

During the Microsoft CES keynote Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, announced a forthcoming Windows Mobile application created to manage Netflix accounts. Microsoft made good on that commitment late last week when they, in partnership with Netflix, released the Netflix Mobile Manager. While Netflix has had a mobile website available for some time and several applications exist for other platforms, there has not been a dedicated Windows Mobile solution for monitoring and modifying Netflix queues; at least until now.

Google has some good news for all the road warriors and smartphone junkies out there; at least for mobile workers who are fans of the spreadsheet function of Google Docs. Google has officially added edit and filter functionality to their mobile spreadsheet application.

It was over a year ago that Google launched a mobile version of its Google Docs suite, which was met with some criticism, based on the fact that it was missing the capability to edit files. This was especially frustrating to users of T-Mobile’s G1 and the iPhone, who do not enjoy the native editing support found in Windows Mobile or third party editing capabilities that can be found for Blackberry or S60 operating systems. Google has now begun to remedy this by introducing data manipulation, entry, and sorting to their spreadsheet application.