Not getting enough ? Well, if you like it acid-washed with a button fly, for you. The company is contracting with of France to make Levi's branded fashion phones. The devices are aimed at the European market, where Levi's has more brand cachet.

This is not the first experiment with technology for the venerable jeans brand, which started selling the durable trousers to miners in California. jeans with a docking port for iPods. And I still can't fit my wallet in my pocket.

As so kindly pointed to today, I am conducting some visual research into the different cultures of mobility around the world, and doing so using , as good a place as any to gather images from many authors.

I am looking for images that depict new behaviors, applications, technologies and communication about mobility across the globe, and it doesn't have to be specific to mobile phones, but entertainment, media, gaming, mapping–anything that has to do with technology while you are moving - untethered from wires.

If you are a Flickr member and have images you can contribute, stop by the group at Flickr which I manage via , where I am a futurist, and add those photos. If you can you contribute, all the better, so we can map the phenomena as well!

Please stop in and add to the collection.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this potential news. According to a report posted on , analysts Merryl Lynch are speculating that Hutchison 3G may withdraw entirely from Europe, suggesting that a sale of the company may be imminent.

Whilst Hutchison have not had a good run of it being 3G pioneers, the company's fortunes seem on the rise with recent changes to their services, and the opening up of cross-network access support, and the UK arm's See Me TV has proven particularly popular.Merrill Lynch believes that H3G has a number of exit options, including the possibility of swapping its various network and customer base assets for small stakes in the main European operators, or a sale entire to Vodafone. This would allow H3G to benefit from its tax credits and avoid crystallising a loss now, arguably near the …

that Boeing plans to pull the plug on its in-flight broadband service, Connexion. At the time, there were rumors of another provider taking over the service.

This morning I got an e-mail in my inbox from Boeing, as a past user, giving the word on the company's actual plans for the service: Connexion will be shut down no later than the end of the year by participating airlines. In its FAQ attached to the mail was this question and answer:

“Will the service be taken over by another company? Will the service be provided by someone else?

The Connexion by Boeing service will discontinue. There are currently no plans to transition the service to another provider.”

Also sneakily slipped into the mail was one bit of good news: starting October 2 until each carrier unplugs its own service, Connexion will be free of charge. That's right - all you can eat broadband in the air on long -haul flights. And lucky me, I just happen to have a need to fly on a carrier that has the service!

Helen Keegan is hosting Carnival of the Mobilists No. 48 over at . Yes, I know it's Thursday and this is late, but I just crawled out from under a rock otherwise known as work.

Yes, the headline is correct. Samsung have announced a mobile handset that includes a 10 megapixel camera. The camera also features 2x optical zoom alongside 5x digital zoom and bluetooth for direct printer connections.

The handset also include DMB support for watching satellite television, TV out, MMC card support and a QVGA display. The handset is destined only for the Korean market though, so don't expect to see these going on sale on your favourite carrier anytime soon.

Via .

Posted by

Just a quick note to let folks know that I’ll be moderating a panel at the Office 2.0 Conference in San Francisco this week and will be in town from Tuesday night through Friday evening. If you’re in the bay area and would like to meet up send me an email: oliver at mobile crunch dot c-o-m and I’ll see what I can do to accommodate you.

I’m barely back from San Francisco for 24 hours when I get back in the security queue at the airport (why do these seem longer than the flights?) to head overseas to the UK for the Symbian SmartPhone Show as well as for some meetings with a couple of companies that you’ll be hearing about here in the near future.

Again, if you want to meet up in the UK let me know. My time there is very limited as it looks like I’ll be arriving sometime Monday morning and heading back to the US on the night of the 18th so that I’ll be arriving in New York City (in time for still more meetings) on the morning of the 19th.

Vodafone has to open its own virtual island in the online virtual world of . This is certainly an interesting idea, as the ability to link in-game world communication with the outside real world could be very interesting. The technology is not difficult, and is something I by integrating a Second Life object with a .

I get the feeling that the future of mobile phones may well be full virtual, with touch-screens featuring heavily as opposed to physical buttons. Of course, with no mechanical parts, the phone buttons won't wear out through use, and using a virtual screen means the underlying OS can provide a much wider range of interface controls, and could even be updated over time.

Hopefully this type of cell phone will become a reality sooner rather than later. With touch screens already available in mainstream devices (such as Compaq's PDAs and the popular Nintendo DS), and touch-screen technology already in use on the extremely popular Chocolate handset, I think it's only a matter of time before this type of phone becomes a reality.

Via and .

Posted by

MobileCrunch has just received word that Networks,, has pulled in a hefty Fourteen Million Dollar B-Round with some top caliber sources of capital. The round, funded by a combination of venture and strategic investors includes QUALCOMM and Motorola, J and B Capital, ONSET Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures; JK&B lead the round ahd Ali Shadman, a GP at JKand B will be taking the additional board seat.

AirPlay is attempting to leverage the mobile phone to transform television from a passive experience to an interactive one by providing games that allow viewers to vote, make predictions and even play along with their favorite live television programs. With words like “immersive” being used to attempt to describe the new service it is allowing the armchair quaterback to put his mobile where his mouth is and finally get in the game.

AirPlay’s offering is bright from a number of perspectives. It engages the customer, provides an additional source of revenue …