• Qwest is reminding its wireless customers that they have just one week to switch to a new provider before the company shuts down its wireless operations on Oct. 31. Customers who do not transition to a new wireless service provider by Oct. 31 will have their Qwest Wireless service disconnected and will forfeit their Qwest Wireless phone number. Qwest will continue to resell Verizon Wireless' service.
• Sprint has formed a new team focused on the small business market. Sprint says it intends "to capture a leading share of the segment's growth by dedicating resources, customizing products, and developing special offers for small business owners." The small business team is a smaller division of Sprint's Business Markets Group, which was formed earlier this year.
• Devicescape has launched a Wi-Fi access service that allows users to find and connect to global hot spots. The Easy Wi-Fi Network is a global network formed from a continuous process of discovery, classification and monitoring of all the Wi-Fi hot spots encountered by users.
• Broadcom has announced a fourth-generation, system-on-a-chip for Bluetooth headsets. The new technology allows headsets to charge five times faster than existing products and features new wind noise reduction algorithms and multi-language voice prompt technology. The new SoC solutions are all sampling to early access customers with pricing available upon request.
• ABI Research predicts that sales from augmented reality will grow from about $6 million in 2008 to more than $350 million in 2014 as advertisers learn to insert tags into navigation displays. The study envisions the development of global databases to store a wide variety of geo-tag information. Governments, businesses and individuals all will contribute information into such databases, so end-users will be able to view information on notable buildings, retail sales or special events, or simply to mark locations of interest.