TurboTax, a software from Intuit, enables tax preparation and e-filing directly from a mobile device. TurboTax mobile apps for Android users include Snaptax, Taxcaster, Mytaxrefund and TurboTax Card Mobile. Here’s a quick look at each of them.

SnapTax: This app is designed for taxpayers with a simple return (1040EZ). It allow users to prepare and e-file a federal and state return using iPhone or Android device. The app also allows users to take a photo of their W-2 with the phone’s camera and automatically transfer the info onto their tax return. All that users need to do then is answer a few simple questions, review their return and tap ‘File My Taxes’ to complete their e-filing process. For $19.99, SnapTax enables both federal and state preparation. “SnapTax customers pay when they are done,” the company adds.

TaxCaster: Available for Android devices as well as for the iPad and iPhone, TaxCaster is a free app that allows users to estimate a tax refund. The app scores due to its interactive elements, and allows customers to “enter information using visual icons and sliders “to see where they stand before they file.”

MyTaxRefund: This free app allows taxpayers to check the status of their federal as well as state tax returns. Available now for Android devices, the iPad, and the iPhone, the app helps address queries pertaining to filing of returns, including when their returns are accepted as well as the expected time to receive their federal tax refund (based on IRS projections).

TurboTax Card Mobile: This app is free but only to TurboTax customers who opt to receive their refund on a TurboTax Prepaid Visa Card. The app is available for both iPhone and Android devices. It allows customers to track federal refund, activate their TurboTax Card, check balance, get details of their transactions, locate ATMs and more.

In a Finnish 4G frequency auction, Sonera was awarded frequencies with which it can build a next generation ‘super-fast mobile broadband network’ in Finland.

Teliasonera has informed that the company will start building the network immediately, and aims to open the network for the first pilot customer during the first quarter of 2010.

The company also informed that the frequencies now received will enable Sonera to build a mobile network that is expected to be more than 10 times faster than current networks.

The licence is valid for 20 years. The price for five 2 x 5 MHz frequency band pairs in the 2.6 GHz band is E819,000, the company added.

Ericsson has informed that it will provide Al-Madar Al-Jadid, a mobile operator in Libya, with a convergent charging and billing solution that will enable its mobile subscribers to enjoy benefits such as flexible tariffs and full control of costs, bonuses and rewards. Ericsson will also supply related systems integration services.

Through this convergent charging and billing solution, the operator hopes to offer services across all end-user segments, something that was reportedly not possible with previous billing systems.

The solution provides a single revenue management solution for all subscribers and services and includes key features such as discount and promotion handling, real-time rating, segmentation, pricing and promotions, Ericsson said.

For consumers and business users, convergent charging and billing provides full control over all communications costs as users have one point of contact and a single invoice for all their services and gives users access to the services they want independent of their subscription type, as well as the ability to pay however they choose. End users can also be kept fully update on their bundled minutes, bonuses and rewards.

Ericsson also informed that this will be a one-year contract and Al-Madar Al-Jadid is expected to launch the new services next year.

NTT Docomo has launched a new service for movie creation, ‘Keitaide Dougawo Tsukurou’, which allows its users to compose and edit their own media content with the ability to create themes, tell stories and share with their friends by Ubitus Cloud Computing platform.

Ubitus media effects solution is an on-the-fly media cloud processing and delivery platform that automatically produces orchestrated videos using captured photos, video clips and music.

With Ubitus platform, current users can access the service portal, upload the photos or video from his and her handset, decide on a theme (for instance, Christmas, Birthday and so on), add video effects and subtitles of these pieces, and send a message to share with friends. This service presently supports effects such as comic effect, transition effect, and purikura effects.

F5 Networks, a player in Application Delivery Networking (ADN) and Quova, a provider of IP geolocation data and services, have announced a partnership and OEM agreement.

The partnership is expected to improve F5′s ability to provide intelligent context-aware application delivery solutions to IT organisations worldwide.

The Quova technology maps IP addresses and related data to geographic locations at various levels of granularity. The contextual location information solves many security problems, such as enforcing download and access restrictions based on locality, the company said.

The company believes the addition of Quova’s IP geo data will allow F5 customers to solve a new range of business networking issues at the perimeter of the network rather than down at the web application level.

Localisation functions, such as setting the default language page and customising content for a specific region, will also rely on the Quova data.

Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, a player in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services, and Telecom New Zealand International (TNZI), a division of Telecom New Zealand, a full-service telecommunications provider, have announced a new partnership for the availability of a joint IPX voice service offering.

The companies are working together to offer a voice service based on managed IP interconnects using Sybase 365′s MPLS-based GRX community, combined with TNZI’s next-generation softswitch technology, which enables VoIP interconnections in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Africa, a TNZI official revealed.

Sybase 365′s IPX service is aimed at delivering services including global data roaming, MMS, Roaming Signalling, SMS, IMS services (presence, SIP-based messaging, P2P video) in addition to voice services, partnering with TNZI.

Ericsson has completed its acquisition of substantially all of Nortel’s CDMA business and LTE assets in North America.

The acquisition includes the transfer of important CDMA contracts with North American operators including Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, Bell Canada, Telus and Leap, as well as LTE assets, certain patents and patent licences relating to CDMA and LTE.

The former Nortel staff will be integrated into the Ericsson group over the coming months and the entity will work under the Ericsson brand.

In terms of sales, North America will now be Ericsson’s largest region.

In addition to the people Ericsson gains through the combination, the company also hopes to benefit from knowledge of Nortel’s CDMA customers and their networks.

Qualcomm, a developer of wireless technologies, products and services, is sampling a new smartphone chipset family.

The MSM7x30 family lays emphasis on multimedia performance, supporting high-definition video recording and playback, improved graphics with dedicated 2D and 3D cores, and an overall chip design optimised for a responsive Web experience.

The company claims that its MSM7x30 family, which includes the MSM7230 solution for HSPA+ networks and MSM7630 solution with multi-mode HSPA+/EV-DO Rev. B and SV-DO support, is designed around “optimal data throughput and powerful multimedia functionality”.

The 7×30 has the same Scorpion CPU as previously commercialised in the Snapdragon QSD8x50 chipset. The 7×30 uses an 800 MHz to 1 GHz custom superscalar CPU based on the ARM v7 instruction set, delivering high-end processing at low power to support features that include:

- 720p high-definition video encode/decode at 30 frames per second
-Integrated 2D and 3D graphics GPUs with support for OpenGL ES 2.0, and OpenVG 1.1 industry standard APIs
- Dedicated low-power audio subsystem supporting 5.1 surround
- 12-megapixel camera support
- Integrated GPS for location-based services

The first devices based on the flagship MSM7x30 family of chipsets are expected to launch commercially before the end of 2010.

The new family of chipsets is supported by the PM8058 power management integrated circuit and the QTR8600 RF subsystem with integrated Bluetooth and FM radio. MSM7x30 chipsets will directly interface with Qualcomm’s WCN1312 WLAN solution for 802.11 b/g/n, the company informed.

Zayo Bandwidth, a provider of bandwidth infrastructure solutions for carrier, enterprise and government customers, will deploy TDM and Ethernet services to an additional 300 wireless tower sites in the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley areas of Pennsylvania in support of the current mobile platform and the upcoming transition to 4th generation technologies.

The deployment is aimed at enabling the delivery of high-speed, LTE wireless network services, and also expanding existing network capacity and bandwidth to accommodate new mobile services and applications, the company said.

Artificial Life recently announced its strategic decision to expand its business activities in China.

All iPhone and iPod touch games and applications of Artificial Life will be translated into simplified Chinese and launched in China as soon as possible, the company informed.

In addition, the company will create new and specially tailored iPhone & iPod applications for the Chinese market.