Ericsson

STOCKHOLM -- Ericsson AB, the world's No. 3 cellular-phone maker, and rival Qualcomm Inc. agreed yesterday to share technology for wireless phones and equipment, ending a 2 1/2-year patent dispute.Ericsson will buy an unprofitable Qualcomm unit that makes cellular-network equipment, and the companies will jointly support one standard for next-generation gear that lets users send and receive e-mail, hold video conferences and browse the Internet. Analysts predict 700 million new cellular phone users in the next five years.

In a crowded field of cell phone makers, Ericsson has yet to distinguish itself (in the United States, anyway). But Ericsson is worth a second look; the company makes some great phones, with more on the horizon.The CF788 I tested ($140) was packed with features, including a phone book, caller ID, last-10-call retrieval, programmable ring tones, voice mail, Short Message Service (SMS) and lots more. It's available in red, green, blue, gray or black.The CF788 offers several key features. First, its size makes it a winner, fitting neatly in the palm of your hand.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks finished mixed yesterday after a late-day surge led by computer companies and American Express Co., which reported better-than-expected earnings.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.88, or 1 percent, to 9,028.24, after having been down 81 points.The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.47 to 1,147.27, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.27 to 1,933.26, snapping back from a 43-point loss.The rally was narrow. Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 2-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - First, divers brought back the giant propeller that made the Monitor go.Now, they've got the revolutionary toilet where the historic vessel's officers went - whenever nature called.Scholars say only one other ship might have boasted a below-the-waterline "water closet" before the Civil War ironclad, and it, too, was designed by ingenious Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson.That makes the flush toilet recovered from the North Carolina wreck a historical rarity and a major milestone in naval warfare.

Yurie Systems Inc., a Landover provider of high-speed network-access equipment, yesterday announced a resale agreement with Ericsson Inc.Under the three-year deal, Ericsson will market Yurie products worldwide under its own name. Ericsson Inc. is the Richardson, Texas-based American subsidiary of Sweden's LM Ericsson.The agreement, which goes into effect immediately, does not compel Ericsson to purchase any specific quantity of Yurie products.Kwok Li, Yurie vice chairman and chief technical officer, said, "We need a way to leverage our growth and part of the way to do that is to partner with global players.

Brand name didn't matter when John Carruth bought his latest mobile phone in early November.Features? Also unimportant. Twenty-four hours into owning his new Nokia phone, this Dallas telecom engineer saw little or no fundamental difference from his old Ericsson. Just one thing counted, Carruth said. "It was the phone that came with the special deal."Ahhh, that special deal.AT&T Wireless' flagship Digital One Rate plan, which set a new standard for how mobile phone calls are priced, has also made Finland's Nokia the hottest mobile phone manufacturer in the United States.

Once, the Oakland Raiders had a commitment to excellence. Now they've got a stranglehold on agonizing defeat.They did it again Sunday, losing in unfathomable fashion to the New York Jets. This time it was a blocked field-goal attempt that was returned 72 yards for the winning touchdown.That kick was one of five that went awry for the Raiders' Cole Ford in a numbing, 23-22 loss at the Meadowlands. In order of misses, Ford was wide left on a 44-yard field-goal try, wide right on an extra point, wide left on a 27-yarder, blocked from 35 yards, and wide left on a 47-yard kick for the go-ahead points with 3: 34 left.

SINCE someone first distinguished pink from blue, one of the mysteries and joys of pregnancy has been waiting to learn the sex of the baby.Modern reproductive technology is on the verge of making birth a bit less mysterious. It remains to be seen whether, as a result, birth will become any less joyous.For many years medicine has had the ability to determine the sex of a baby while it is still inside its mother's womb. Ultrasound technology allows doctors to use sound waves to take pictures of the developing fetus.

FORGET THE budget debate. A mere family spat. We've got a real ruckus on our hands now -- competing designs for a war memorial. Nothing so engages the visceras of our gypsy town.One faction, born to lose, wants to preserve some natural beauty and architectural symmetry in this best designed of American cities. The other wants to honor with infinite specificity the veterans of a war, in this case Korea.The commission overseeing the project selected an uncommonly lousy design and turned it over to a local architectural firm which promptly made it worse.

A Swedish communications company has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test a new, all-digital phone system for office buildings that will replace conventional desk phones with cordless models.Ericsson Paging Systems Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of LM Ericsson of Stockholm, said this new cordless phone system will give business users in the United States, for the first time, "true mobility within the confines of an office building.""A businessman or woman will be able to travel throughout a building and be contacted without having to tell his or her secretary where he orshe is going," the company stated in comments submitted to the FCC this week.

1 p.m. [Comcast SportsNet] This is a sort-of Slam, but it has the big names. That includes Rafael Nadal, who plays in the men's quarterfinals. (Sorry, the Serena-Venus match is at night.)

1 Want fries: with that dunk?: Maybe he'll be a Terp, so watch Lance Stephenson in the McDonald's All-American Game (8 p.m., ESPN). 2 World view: The U.S., leading its group, faces Trinidad and Tobago in the final round of World Cup qualifying, in Nashville, Tenn. (7:30 p.m., ESPN2). 3 Quotatious: Maybe Shaquille O'Neal (left) will get a technical for dissing a ref via Twitter during the Suns-Rockets game (10 p.m., ESPN). 4 Ace place: It's like tennis' fifth Grand Slam, and the Sony Ericsson Open from Key Biscayne, Fla., is in the quarterfinals (1 p.m., Comcast SportsNet)

Pettitte files for free agency baseball New York Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte filed for free agency yesterday after repeatedly saying he hopes to return to the club next year. Pettitte went 14-14 last season with a 4.54 ERA - his highest ERA since 1999. General manager Brian Cashman said last week that he wants Pettitte to return next season, but the 36-year-old veteran said Friday night that he hadn't heard from the team. Pettitte likely would have to agree to a cut from his $16 million salary last season, when he was 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts, and missed his last turn because of a sore pitching shoulder.

What more could you want if you're a sports fan in South Florida? The two most dominant athletes in professional sports both were in the Miami area over the weekend for major events. Tiger Woods quickly took control of the World Golf Championships at Doral, and Roger Federer cruised to victory in his first match Saturday in the two-week Sony Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne. If you were looking for a giant-killer, you were better off going to Jupiter, where the Orioles defeated the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5, yesterday.

The coolest sporting event in South Florida this week is the Sony Ericsson Open, the popular pro tennis event in Key Biscayne. The tournament has been spiced up this year with something called Night Tennis, which is basically a glitzy downtown exhibition that features players in glow-in-the-dark clothing competing under black lights on a court that will open up to an all-night party that is free to the public tonight and tomorrow. The tournament is no slouch either, featuring just about every big name in professional tennis.

LONDON -- Ericsson, the world's largest maker of mobile-phone networks, agreed yesterday to buy Redback Networks Inc. for $2.1 billion in cash to gain expertise in Internet protocol-routing technology and more directly challenge Cisco Systems Inc. Redback makes so-called "edge" routers that connect computers to the Internet and allow operators to simultaneously deliver broadband, television and telephone services over networks using standard Internet infrastructure....

The next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race has its first entry. Ericsson Racing Team, which finished fifth in the seven-boat competition that ended in June, announced yesterday that it will be at the starting line in Alicante, Spain, in the fall of 2008. Race organizers have decided to shorten the down time between the around-the-world competition from four years to three years. The Ericsson venture will again be managed by Atlant Ocean Racing, which managed the Disney-backed boat Pirates of the Caribbean in the last race.

The last of the Volvo Ocean Race yachts under sail arrived yesterday morning after a grueling slog up the Chesapeake Bay. ABN Amro Two, the sister of the winner of the 5,000-mile Rio de Janeiro-to-Baltimore leg, crossed the finish line at Baltimore Light at 10:41, for an elapsed time of 15 days, 22 hours, 31 minutes and 59 seconds. The crew of young sailors overcame a major equipment malfunction late in the race to finish under wind power. But by bringing up the rear, the second Dutch boat was pushed out of second place overall to third place.

After a dismal showing and several days of vague finger-pointing, the Ericsson Racing Team has replaced its skipper with American racing star John Kostecki for the next leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Kostecki, who won the 2001-02 Volvo race, replaces Neal McDonald, another Volvo veteran, who will remain on board as watch captain and co-skipper on the leg from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore. The Ericsson boat, built from the same mold as the Pirates of the Caribbean, has not enjoyed the same level of success as its sister.

Eighteen million bucks doesn't buy as much boat as it used to. Normally, sailing doesn't get a whole lot of space here, but with the boat show at the Inner Harbor and Annapolis being hailed as the sailing capital of the greater 410 area code, it seemed like the right time to comment on the demolition derby known as the Volvo Ocean Race. This can't be going the way organizers and sponsors, who spent millions to build and supply their boats, planned. Unless, of course, everyone envisioned a remake of The Poseidon Adventure with sails.