Mobile World Congress

The Mobile World Congress, the cellphone industry's version of the Consumer Electronics Show, kicks off in Barcelona, Spain, today. Thousands of mobile-industry professionals will converge on the city to show off new gear, announce previously secret products and try to convince one another that the sector will weather the economic downturn. Research group Strategy Analytics predicted last month that the global mobile phone market would shrink 9% in 2009.

Today, Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will introduce the company's mobile strategy to the crowd (hopefully his presentation will not contain mosquitoes like Bill Gates' at the TED Conference did). Ballmer is expected to unveil an app store for Microsoft-powered handsets -- the iPhone App Store's success has everyone scrambling to catch up.

Nokia is expected to unveil its own app store at the conference. The Finnish company may also show off a new model of its E75 phone, which has a slide-out full keyboard and will go on sale for 390 pounds (about $565) in Britain next month. Adobe Systems Inc. says it will make announcements about its Flash animation and video software for mobile phones, although the much-anticipated Flash Player for iPhones isn't quite ready.

Great Aloha Run

Great Aloha Run starts this morning at 7 a.m. The course is just over 8 miles long on fairly flat asphalt. It begins at Aloha Tower and end at the Aloha Stadium. Says the GAR website, “Ke Kukini Me Ke Aloha Pau‘ole [the Hawaiian translation of the Great Aloha Run] expresses the essence of the Hawaiian Telcom Great Aloha Run GAR.

In its 25th year, the 8.15-mile run benefits local charities including D.A.R.E, the Girl Scout Council, Hawai'i Newspaper in Education, Kick Start Hawai'i, Leeward Special Olympics, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MWR Facilities, United Cerebral Palsy of Hawai'i, the Well of Hope Foundation, the Variety School of Hawai'i, and the Kaimuki YMCA. Since 1985, the race has raised more than $7.6 million and helped more than 150 nonprofit groups.

"Runner's World" magazine has called the event one of the top foot races in the United States. The 80 people who have done all 24 races will be honored at a party at the stadium. The course record was set at 40:02 by Rachid Tbahi of Morocco in 1996. Ala Moana Boulevard and Nimitz Highway east-bound starting at 4:30 a.m. to about 8 a.m. and then west-bound to Valkenburgh, until after the race passes.