Boston (Watertown to be exact) taxis will start offering electronic payment options including MobileLime’s pay by phone feature. Pay by phone is intriguing, but how would you like to be in line behind someone following MobileLime’s payment instructions:

1. Let the clerk know you wish to pay using MobileLime™
2. Dial 866-360-LIME (Note: we recommend settings this up as a speed dial from your phone.)
3. Enter the location ID that is displayed at the terminal + #
4. Enter your pin + # to approve the transaction.
5. Listen for new specials or rewards you’ve earned from the merchant.

Granted, one can pre-approve purchases up to one hour before making a payment. However, given that many people can’ t seem to get their cash ready while standing in line, there probably won’t be too many pre-approvals happening. The other downfall of this system is that those who like to multi-task by chatting on the phone while making purchases will need to figure out how to put those important calls on hold while they attempt to call MobileLime.

via textually

TowerStream is aiming to turn New York City into one big hotspot. According to mobilepipeline, the wireless provider has installed an antenna atop the Empire State Building and will be able to provide wireless service anywhere within a 10 mile radius. TowerStream uses WiMAX equipment to provide businesses with T1 and 100 Mbps service in NYC and other cities.

via atmaspheric

When I first heard about dodgeball, I thought it was a using location based services:

“It’s like Friendster for your mobile phone.”

We got bored with Friendster too. That’s why we built dodgeball.social.

Tell us who your friends are, tell us where you are, and we’ll let you know when your friends are within 10 blocks of you.

Excited to finally use a location based application, I looked at dodgeball’s site for more information. As it turns out, the user needs to send a text message to the service indicating their current location. Dodgeball will then send back a list of any registered friends (or friends of friends) within a 10 block area. This only works in New York City at the moment, other cities will be added in the future.

Even though it doesn’t auto-magically know where you are, this is a pretty slick idea. Actually, the idea of friends and friends of friends knowing exactly where you are at all times might be a little creepy.

Unknowingly broadcasting one’s whereabouts could certainly lead to embarrassing situations, but if the user has control of when their location is used by a service, the possibilities are exciting. Aside from AT&T’s Find Friends service,* there does not seem to be much available in the way of location based services in the US. However, if the UK is any example, we can probably expect more services here soon.

* AT&T was acquired by Cingular and it appears that the Find Friends service no longer exists.

Vonage announced that they will begin offering portable Wi-Fi phones later this year. This is in response to AT & T’s CallVantage service that is currently available in some parts of the country.

Vonage also announced that they will begin offering their VoIP service in the UK, Mexico City, Switzerland and some Pac Rim territories this year.

According to Rob Pegoraro of The Washington Post, Verizon Wireless’s EvDO service, BroadbandAccess, is quite impressive. His tests in the DC area yielded speeds that rival DSL, even from a moving Metro train. At $80 per month, the price for this service is dear, but there will be plenty of users willing pony up when the coverage area expands out of the two test markets (DC and San Diego). BusinessWeek ran an article in November that, except for sluggish logins, describes a similar experience with the service.

Unfortunately, those of us living in such backwater burgs as New York will have to wait for Verizon to bring the service to our area. Details of a national rollout have yet to be announced by Verizon.

via engadget