Mobile infrastructure must catch up with user needs and demands. Ubiquitous mobile computing is all around us, not only when we use smartphones to connect with friends and family across states and countries, but also when we use ticketing systems on buses and trains, purchase food from mobile vendors, watch videos, and listen to music on our phones. As a result, mobile computing systems must rise to the demand. The number of smart phones will exceed the number of PCs in 2014.
Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone: the mobile business is much bigger than the computer industry. There are now perhaps 3.5-4 billion mobile phones, replaced every two years (versus 1.7-1.8 billion PCs replaced every 5 years).It means that mobile industry can sell more phones in a quarter than the PC industry sells in a year. After some years we will end up with somewhere over 3bn smartphones in use on earth, almost double the number of PCs. The smartphone revolution is changing how consumers use the Internet: Mobile browsing is set to overtake traditional desktop browsing in 2015.
It seems that 4G has really become the new high speed mobile standard widely wanted during 2013. 3G will become the low-cost option for those who think 4G option is too expensive, not everyone that has 4G capable device has 4G subscription. How the situation changes depends on how operators improve their 3G coverage, what will be the price difference from 3G to 4G and how well the service is marketed.
Mobile data increased very much last year. I expect the growth to continue pretty much as projected in Mobile Data Traffic To Grow 300% Globally By 2017 Led By Video, Web Use, Says Strategy Analytics and Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017 articles.
When 4G becomes mainstream, planning for next 5G communications starts. I will expect to see more and more writing on 5G as the vision what it will be destined to be clears more. Europe’s newly-minted 5GPPP Association plans to launch as many as 20 research projects in 2014, open to all comers, with a total budget of about 250 million euros. The groundwork for 5G, an ambitious vision for a next-generation network of networks that’s still being defined, and the definition will go on many years to come. No one really knows today what 5G will be because there are still several views. Europe’s new 5GPPP group published a draft proposal for 5G. 5GPPP is not the only group expected to work on standards for next-generation cellular networks, but it could become one of the most influential.
The shifting from “dumb” phones to smart phones continue. In USA and Europe smart phone penetration is already so high levels that there will not be very huge gains on the market expected. Very many consumers already have their smart phone, and the market will be more and more on updating to new model after two years or so use. At the end of 2013 Corporate-Owned Smartphones Back in Vogue, and I expect that companies continue to shop smart phones well in 2014.
The existing biggest smart phone players will continue to rule the markets. Google’s Android will continue to rule the markets. Samsung made most money in 2013 on Android phones (in 2013 in West only Samsung makes money from selling Android), and I expect that to continue. In 2013 Apple slurped down enormous profits but lost some of its bleeding-edge-tech street credit, and I expect that to continue in 2014.
The biggest stories of the year 2013 outside the Samsung/Apple duopoly were the sale of Nokia’s mobile phone business to Microsoft and the woes of BlackBerry. BlackBerry had an agonising year and suffered one of the most spectacular consumer collapses in history, and I can’t see how it would get to it’s feet during 2014. Nokia made good gains for Windows Phones during 2013, and I expect that Microsoft will put marketing effort to gain even more market share. Windows Phone became the third mobile ecosystem, and will most probably keep that position in 2014.
New players try to enter smart phone markets and some existing players that once tried that try to re-enter. There are rumors that for example HP tries to re-enter mobile market, and is probable that some other computer makers try to sell smart phones with their brands. In the Android front there will be new companies trying to push marker (for example OPPO and many smaller Chinese makers you have never heard earlier). Nokia had a number of Android projects going on in 2013, and some former Nokia people have put up company Newkia to follow on that road. To make a difference in the market there will be also push on some smaller mobile platforms as alternative to the big three (Google, Apple, Microsoft). Jolla is pushing Sailfish OS phones that can run Android applications and also pushing possibility to install that OS to Android phone. Mozilla will push on with it’s own Firefox OS phone. Canonical will try to get their Ubuntu phone released. Samsung is starting to make Tizen powered smart phones and NTT DoCoMo could be the first carrier to offer a Tizen powered device. None of those will be huge mainstream hits within one year, but could maybe could have their own working niche markets. The other OS brands combined do not amount to 1% of all smartphones sold in 2013, so even if they could have huge growth they would still be very small players on the end of 2014.
As smartphone and tablet makers desperately search for points of differentiation they will try to push the limits of performance on several fronts to extremes. Extreme inter-connectivity is one of the more useful features that is appearing in new products. More context-aware automatic wireless linking is coming: Phones will wirelessly link and sync with screens and sensors in the user’s vicinity.
You can also expect extreme sensor support to offer differentiation. Biomedical sensors have lots of potential (Apple already has fingerprint sensors). Indoor navigation will evolve. Intelligent systems and assistive devices will advance smart healthcare.
Several smartphone makers have clear strategies to take photography to extremes. 40 megapixel camera is already on the market and several manufacturers are playing with re-focus after shooting options.
In high-end models we may be moving into the overkill zone with extreme resolution that is higher than you can see on small screen: some makers have already demonstrated displays with twice the performance of 1080-progressive. Samsung is planned to release devices with 4k or UHD resolutions. As we have seen in many high tech gadget markets earlier it is a very short journey to copycat behavior.
It seems that amount of memory on high-end mobile devices is increasing this year. To be able to handle higher resolutions smart phones will also need more memory than earlier (for example Samsung lpddr 4 allows up to 4 GB or RAM on smart phone as now high-end devices now have typically 2GB). As the memory size starts to hit the limits of 32 bit processors (4GB), I will expect that there will be some push for chip makers to start to introduce more 64 bit processors for mobile devices. Apple already has 64-bit A7 microprocessor in iPhone 5s, all the other phone-makers want one too for their high-end models (which is a bit of panic to mobile chip makers).
You will be able to keep your mobile phone during some flights all the time and browser web on the plane more widely. At some planes you might also be able to make phone calls with your mobile phone during the flight. Calls on flights have been theoretically possible, and United States has recently looked at mobile phone calls allow the flights.
In year 2013 there were many releases on wearable technologies. Wearable is a trend with many big companies already in the space, and more are developing new products. It seems that on this field year 2013 was just putting on the initial flame, and I expect that the wearable market will start to heat up more during 2014. The advent of wearable technology brings new demands for components that can accommodate its small form factor, wireless requirements, and need for longer battery life.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable.
Technology giants Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are about to expand their battle for digital supremacy to a new front: the automobile. The Android vs. iOS apps battle is coming to the automotive industry in 2014: car OEMs aren’t exactly known for their skills in developing apps and app developers don’t want to develop so many different versions of an app separately (for Ford, General Motors, BMW, and Toyota). I am waiting for Google’s response to Apple’s iOS in the Car. Next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Google and German auto maker Audi AG plan to announce that they are working together to develop in-car entertainment and information systems that are based on Google’s Android software. The push toward smarter cars is heating up: Right now, we are just scratching the surface.
For app development HTML5 will be on rise. Gartner predicts that through 2014, improved JavaScript performance will begin to push HTML5 and the browser as a mainstream enterprise application development environment. It will also work on many mobile applications as well.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon smartphone release date, specs, price and rumours
Updated Everything you need to know about Amazon’s rumoured Galaxy S5 rival
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2350484/amazon-smartphone-release-date-specs-price-and-rumours
ONLINE RETAIL GIANT Amazon is expected to announce its debut smartphone, likely to launch under its Kindle brand, at an event in Seattle on 18 June, with the firm looking to challenge the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Agency Aims to Regulate Map Aids in Vehicles
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/business/agency-aims-to-regulate-map-aids-in-vehicles.html?emc=edit_tu_20140616&nl=technology&nlid=64340455&_r=2
Getting directions on the road from Google Maps and other smartphone apps is a popular alternative to the expensive navigation aids included in some cars. The apps are also a gray area when it comes to laws banning the use of cellphones or texting while driving.
The measure, included in the Obama administration’s proposed transportation bill, would specify that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has the authority to set restrictions on the apps and later order changes if they are deemed dangerous, much the way it currently regulates mechanical features of cars.
The measure has the support of automakers, which already mostly comply with voluntary guidelines for built-in navigation systems, but it has run into stiff opposition from technology companies, which say that any such law would be impractical and impossible to enforce. It’s another example, they say, of federal regulators trying vainly to keep up with a rapidly changing industry.
“They don’t have the budget or the structure to oversee both Silicon Valley and the auto industry.”
Regulators maintain that they already have the authority over navigation aids and merely want it clearly written into law.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft makes billions on Android patents.
Each year, Microsoft nets you the Android devices patent on its way from 1 to 2,000,000,000 U.S. dollars.
The Chinese website has published a document that lists the total of 310 patents, which the Android device manufacturers pay Microsoft. Patents cover everything from iron to software and RF solutions for user interfaces and standards.
Microsoft in terms of the end of the list of the network is bad news. It can help businesses make decisions based on that allow them to avoid the Microsoft royalties payable.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1532:microsoft-tekee-android-patenteilla-miljardeja&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor is found in almost every smartphone.
One of the most interesting new features on mobile processors is the Chinese company Huawei Hisilicon circuit: Hisilicon Kirin 920 includes four ARM Cortex-A15 cores (1.7 GHz) and four Cortex-A7 cores (1.3 to 1.6 GHz). Kirin 920 supports high-definition displays, video recording at resolutions up to 4K, as well as the grade 6 LTE connections, with a data rate of up to 150 megabits per second.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1525:kiinalaisprosessori-kannykoihin-8-ytimella&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Cortana-gate’ ruins Satya Nadella’s Microsoft honeymoon
NO WAY are you putting it on iOS and Android, screech commentards
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/06/17/cortanagate_crushes_nadellas_microsoft_honeymoon/
Analysis It looks like Satya Nadella’s honeymoon as Microsoft CEO is over, and it happened during what’s already being called “Cortana-gate” by Redmond’s own commentards.
This began to unravel last week when a manager for Microsoft’s new voice assistant Cortana mused that the service could wash up on iOS and Android, where it would compete with other cloud-based assistants, Apple’s Siri and Google Now.
These comments were sensible, consistent and uncontroversial – so uncontroversial in fact, that most technology sites felt they didn’t merit a story. If Microsoft wants its cloud to succeed, it needs to make its best technology available to the largest number of users. Most of the mobile hardware in the world runs on iOS and Android; Microsoft has already put Office and services like Bing on the iPad and Android, so why stop there?
However, the musings caused great dismay amongst the fiercely loyal owners of Microsoft phones and tablets.
The problem that “Cortana-gate” highlights is that it shows up Nadella’s sticking plaster slogan – “Cloud First Mobile First” – as a fatally ambiguous fudge. Which is really first: cloud or mobile? The answer is always “both”, but this makes no sense when tough decisions must be made.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Edges Q’comm in New Android Test
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322776&
The Samsung Exynos has nudged ahead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, according to initial tests of the latest SoCs with a new Android benchmark released today.
AndEBench-Pro is a suite of tests measuring the performance of CPU, GPU, memory, and storage subsystems, as well as a platform test that gauges GUI rendering, XML parsing, image manipulation, data compression, and cryptography tasks embedded in actual workloads. It was the product of an EEMBC workgroup led by Ronen Zohar, a principal engineer at Intel. Members represented most application processor vendors, including Imagination Technologies and Nvidia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearable Devices and the Internet of Things
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/mouser/wearable-devices-and-the-internet-of-things/
This article presents the wearable devices technology and its contribution to the Internet of Things (IoT). The article will also discuss some of the primary functions of this device as well as its role to add more features to other devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Press release: Introducing Fire, the First Smartphone Designed by Amazon
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1940902&highlight=
Amazon today unveiled Fire, the first smartphone designed by Amazon.
“Fire Phone puts everything you love about Amazon in the palm of your hand—instant access to Amazon’s vast content ecosystem and exclusive features like the Mayday button, ASAP, Second Screen, X-Ray, free unlimited photo storage, and more,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO.
The Firefly SDK is available starting today so developers can invent new ways to use this advanced technology.
Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.2 GHz processor and 2GB RAM for excellent fluidity and image rendering.
4.7-inch HD display with an ambient light sensor and Dynamic Image Contrast that delivers better outdoor viewing.
Global LTE and connectivity with nine bands of LTE, four bands of GSM, five bands of UMTS for better voice coverage and faster data speeds, 802.11ac support, Wi-Fi channel bonding, NFC, and Bluetooth.
Fire ships on July 25 and is available exclusively on AT&T—the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network.
Fire is also available with 64GB for $299 with a two-year contract or starting at $31.25/month from AT&T
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon is first to offer free, unlimited, out-of-the-box photo storage with Fire Phone and the competition will need to follow its lead —
It’s No Longer A Smartphone, It’s A Smartcamera
The truly disruptive feature of Amazon’s Fire Phone
https://medium.com/five-hundred-words/6d3692e2a9af
A few weeks ago, I lined up to take a picture of a giant iPhone 5c advertisement in Seattle. My girlfriend’s niece, who is 4 years old, chimed in: “Why are you taking a picture of that camera?”
Exactly.
Many of us still think of the iPhone 5c and its smartphone brethren as phones. But that’s really only true for those of us old enough to remember actual phones. To a 4-year-old, the iPhone — name aside— isn’t a phone at all. It’s a camera. “Phone” is just another app — and an increasingly rarely used one at that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharp’s new ‘free-form’ display could bring non-rectangular screens to consumer tech devices
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/06/18/sharps-new-free-form-display-bring-non-rectangular-screens-consumer-tech-devices/
Sharp is showing off a ‘free-form’ display technology that it believes could break consumer tech devices out of the rigid convention of using rectangular and square shaped screens.
That system has necessitated rectangular displays until now — Sharp believes its technology enables a wide range of new design types.
The company believes that the benefits of free-form displays will be of particular significance to the automotive industry, as well as wearable technology and digital signage. We’ve already seen LG and Samsung manufacture curved smartphones, while curved TVs have been mainstream for some time, but Sharp may just have open the door to more innovation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple last year presented by the iOS system, kill switch has reduced the iPhone and iPad devices against theft significantly. For example, in New York on iOS devices thefts fell by 19 per cent early in the year, when the total number of thefts dropped by only 10 percent.
At the same time Samsung devices reported the theft of up to 40 percent more. Samsung’s devices, it is not installed by default the corresponding function. A similar phenomenon was also observed in San Francisco and London.
Among the major manufacturers including Google and Microsoft are planning to bring their systems similar kill switch feature.
“These statistics confirm that a technical solution to prevent wireless users falling into a victim,”
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/iphonevarkaudet+romahtivat+nain+apple+karkotti+rosvot/a994821
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel releases Pocket Avatars, a chat app that maps your facial expressions onto silly characters
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/06/19/intel-releases-pocket-avatars-chat-app-maps-facial-expressions-onto-silly-characters/
When you think of Intel, you normally think of PC chips, but the company is bucking expectations today with the release of a social app for iOS and Android called Pocket Avatars. The app offers video-like mobile messaging, but it relies on cartoon avatars to relay your facial expressions.
Pocket Avatars uses your front-facing camera to record your message, then it combines your voice and expressions with one of over 40 characters, including Lego figures, Care Bears, Annoying Orange and Gumby. Roughly half the characters are available for free, while the others can be purchased in-app for $0.99 each. Messages can be sent via SMS, email and Twitter.
“It’s not like a video chat where people are worried how they look.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Health and Fitness Apps Finally Take Off, Fueled by Fitness Fanatics
http://www.flurry.com/blog/flurry-insights/health-and-fitness-apps-finally-take-fueled-fitness-fanatics#.U6PFDXZQO9I
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android to drop Dalvik VM for high-performance ART in next version
Code changes proclaim death of OS’s original code runtime
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/20/dalvik_dead/
The next version of Google’s Android smartphone OS may ship with a new code execution engine that improves performance and battery life, if a new report is to be believed.
The current engine, Dalvik, is getting long in the tooth, and developers have long grumbled that it doesn’t run their code as efficiently as it could.
Google’s answer is the Android Runtime, or ART for short, a drop-in replacement for Dalvik that brings performance-enhancing features such as ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation and improved garbage collection to the Android platform.
The online ad-slinger snuck ART into Android 4.4 “KitKat” as an experimental feature, but it could only be enabled from an Android device’s hidden developer options.
In fact, the ART developer homepage explains that “Dalvik must remain the default runtime or you risk breaking your Android implementations and third-party applications,” and adds that “some techniques that work on Dalvik do not work on ART.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taiwan’s Quanta to start mass production of Apple’s smartwatch in July: source
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/19/us-apple-smartwatch-idUSKBN0EU2AU20140619
Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc 2382.TW will start mass production of Apple Inc’s AAPL.O first smartwatch in July, a source familiar with the matter said, as the U.S. tech giant tries to prove it can still innovate against rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
The production will be a boost to Quanta, given that its work for Apple till now has focused on laptops and iPods, product lines that are in decline.
The source said Apple expects to ship 50 million units within the first year of the product’s release, although these types of initial estimates can be subject to change.
The device will only be compatible with gadgets running Apple’s iOS, like its flagship iPhone, one of the sources said.
Apple’s move will follow on the heels of releases of similar devices by Samsung, Sony Corp, Motorola and LG Electronics Inc – gadgets that tech watchers say haven’t been appealing or user-friendly enough to ignite a wave of mass adoption.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Social media users are going mobile; Classical online media usage is declining
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Computer_Systems/Standalone_Mobile/Social_media_users_are_going_mobile_Classical_online_media_usage_is_declining.aspx#.U6PVvkBklG0
Mobile devices play an increasingly huge role in our everyday media consumption, and social networking was one of the first activities to become mobile-first. According to the infographic above from online statistics portal statista.com, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter are used almost exclusively on mobile devices in the U.S., while Facebook usage is more evenly distributed across devices.
According to a recent report published by eMarketer, time spent on digital media use among U.S. adults surpassed time spent with TV for the first time in the last year. Time spent on smartphones and tablets in the U.S. is predicted to jump to 23.2% by the end of 2014. Statistics show that mobile has become so popular that the classical online media usage has been on the decline since 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
People Invested $1 Million In An App That Just Says ‘Yo’
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/18/3450334/yo-app-tech-bubble/
It only took 8 hours to build the app, and the only thing it does is allow you to send the word ‘Yo’ to your friends. To many, it seems like a joke. But its inventor, Or Arbel, is totally serious.
Arbel, who built the app three months ago, has quit his job and moved halfway around the world — from his native Israel to San Francisco — to work on Yo full time. He’s opening an office, hiring staff and seeking “strategic partners.” And oh yeah: He’s already raised $1 million from investors.
So is Arbel right? Is Yo, which he calls “context-based communications,” the future of messaging? Or is investor interest in Yo an unmistakable sign that we are in the midst of another internet bubble?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung to launch Android Wear smartwatch at Google I/O
http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-to-launch-android-wear-smartwatch-at-google-io/
The wearable will be one of several new devices built around Google software, sources tell CNET. LG and Motorola are also expected to show off new gadgets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Preps Multiple Smartwatches
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322828&
Apple plans to enter the wearables market with a smartwatch as soon as October. The company may debut more than one such device, which will carry as many as 10 sensors for tracking the wearer’s movements and vitals. Apple has lined up manufacturers, and production is expected to kick off in several months.
Wearables may be hot, but none of the devices on store shelves hits all the right marks. Perhaps Apple’s wearables will change that. According to unnamed sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Apple’s wrist device will “address an overarching criticism of existing smartwatches that they fail to provide functions significantly different from that of a smartphone.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s New Web Starter Kit Is A Boilerplate For Multi-Screen Web Development
http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/19/google-launches-web-starter-kit-a-boilerplate-for-multi-screen-web-development/
Tomi Engdahl says:
THE INSIDE STORY OF YO: How A ‘Stupid’ App Attracted Millions Of Dollars And Rocketed To The Top Of The App Store
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-inside-story-of-yo-there-isnt-actually-1-million-in-the-bank-2014-6?op=1
He envisioned a simple app with large buttons that, when pressed, would send a one-word notification to another person: “Yo.” The “Yo” would let the person know they were needed or being thought of.
Yo launched quietly on April Fools Day, but Apple rejected its App Store application. Yo lacked substance, Apple argued. The pair fought back and defended Yo’s simplicity. Eventually, Yo was published.
“Everyone became addicted,” Hogeg says of the beta-testing employees. Within one month, 20,000 people around Tel Aviv were Yo-ing each other.
Hogeg explained there was no “team” behind Yo. Both he and Arbel were focused on Mobli, and Yo was a goofy side project. But when the inquiries kept coming, Arbel and Hogeg revisited Yo’s numbers. The engagement was unlike anything either entrepreneur had ever seen before.
“We asked ourselves, ‘If we didn’t know what Yo was or what it did, and if we just examined the data and the usage numbers like it was any other startup, would we invest in it?’” says Hogeg. “The answer was, ‘Hell yes.’”
The app, they agreed, was dumb. But somehow, they’d captured lighting in a bottle.
Hogeg and Arbel know the future of Yo is uncertain. “Gimmicks don’t survive,” says Hogeg. “Only products that create value do.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Firefox OS-powered streaming stick is Mozilla’s answer to Chromecast (exclusive video)
http://gigaom.com/2014/06/20/this-firefox-os-powered-streaming-stick-is-mozillas-answer-to-chromecast-exclusive-video/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple said to team up with pro athletes to test iWatch fitness capabilities
http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/20/apple-said-to-team-up-with-pro-athletes-to-test-iwatch-fitness-capabilities/
Tomi Engdahl says:
BlackBerry Back In Profit
http://beta.slashdot.org/story/203653
BlackBerry has been fighting an uphill battle to stay relevant in the world of mobile devices.
Last month, the company launched its Project Ion, an initiative to develop more connected devices … a trend dubbed the Internet of Things. On Wednesday, BlackBerry reached a deal with Amazon that will let users of BlackBerry’s newest operating system access Android apps in Amazon’s appstore later this fall.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Preps Multiple Smartwatches
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322828&
Apple plans to enter the wearables market with a smartwatch as soon as October. The company may debut more than one such device, which will carry as many as 10 sensors for tracking the wearer’s movements and vitals. Apple has lined up manufacturers, and production is expected to kick off in several months.
Wearables may be hot, but none of the devices on store shelves hits all the right marks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
#YO_NO! Messaging app ‘Yo’ gets hit by hackers
Well, at least someone found a use for the thing…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/20/yono_messaging_app_yo_get_hit_by_hackers/
Just days after the Yo app debuted to much fanfare (and head-scratching), the mono-message social tool has fallen prey to hackers.
A group of students from Georgia Tech University claim via TechCrunch to have accessed the application’s entire user database, and gained the ability to obtain the phone number of anyone currently using the one-word messaging platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Launches the Galaxy S5 Broadband LTE-A: First Snapdragon 805 Phone, First 20nm Modem
by Joshua Ho on June 19, 2014 10:47 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8190/samsung-launches-the-galaxy-s5-broadband-ltea-first-to-s805mdm9x35
While this launch is Korea-only, Samsung recently announced a new version of their Galaxy S5 smartphone, dubbed the Galaxy S5 Broadband LTE-A.
Qualcomm also notes that this phone integrates the WTR3925 transceiver, so carrier aggregation is done on a single chip instead of the WTR1625L/WFR1620 dual-chip solution that was previously needed. Samsung also integrated a QHD (2560×1440) OLED display into this model at the same 5.1″ display size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Tracker, I/O edition—what Google is working on before the big show
Before its big event, we run down the list of current projects going on at Google HQ.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/google-tracker-io-edition-what-google-is-working-on-before-the-big-show/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia reborn: Nokia’s new Android launcher is wonderfully simple and shockingly innovative
http://bgr.com/2014/06/19/nokia-z-launcher-download-android/
Nokia is no longer a cell phone maker.
Nokia on Thursday took the wraps off of Z Launcher, a truly novel home screen replacement for Android phones.
Android launchers often get lost in trying to differentiate. They also sometimes attempt to pack too much onto each screen. Z Launcher takes the exact opposite approach, stripping away all the noise and displaying only a few key items.
Z Launcher is constantly learning and evolving based on your usage patterns. It remembers the apps you use most frequently and monitors what times of the day you use different apps. The same holds true for contacts and web pages. The launcher then displays the content you’re most likely to use at any given time.
Nokia just made the smartest Android launcher around
http://www.slashgear.com/nokia-just-made-the-smartest-android-launcher-around-19334372/
There’s a new Android launcher out this week by the name of Z Launcher, created by Nokia for the public to work with Android in a new intelligent way. Nokia’s hardware division may have been purchased by Microsoft, but their software teams are still in full swing, creating oddities like Z Launcher for the public to use and enjoy.
Z Launcher replaces your normal homescreen launcher on Android.
To download Z Launcher, you’ll have to go to ZLauncher.com with your smartphone or tablet and follow their instructions. You’ll have to sign in with Google+, press OK a few times, and download an APK file.
Z Launcher
https://www.zlauncher.com/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone SEX APPS will give you CUPID’S MEASLES – study
You’re better off finding partners in, er, meatspace
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/13/users_of_find_hookup_apps_less_healthy/
Have you fondled your slab in the hope of finding sex with a handsome stranger? Then you may want to get down the clap clinic pronto, because people who seek sex using smartphone apps are more likely to catch a nasty STD.
That’s the key point from a new study of hookup apps like Tinder and Grindr.
Horny handset holders were 23 per cent more likely to be infected
“Technology is redefining sex on demand. Prevention programmes must learn how to effectively exploit the same technology, and keep pace with changing contemporary risk factors for sexually transmitted infections and HIV transmission.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cross-platform design unification
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/google-tracker-io-edition-what-google-is-working-on-before-the-big-show/2/
In an interview at the Accel Design Conference, Matias Duarte, the head of Android UX and an influential designer at Google, hinted at big changes in the way the company thinks about design. “We need to stop thinking of ‘mobile’ as a distinct category,” he said. After mentioning desktop, mobile, car, and wearable devices, he stated that “all of these should be considered as one design problem—as one product.”
Getting a similar design on the Web, phone, and watch would require a ton of changes to Google’s products, and we’ve been seeing a slow trickle of leaks that give us an idea of what a solution might look like.
Design is a huge focus at I/O this year, so there’s a good chance we’ll actually see what Google’s been working on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Fit to curate steps, calories, heart rate, other biometric data
A report suggests Google is planning a HealthKit and Sami competitor.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/06/google-fit-to-curate-steps-calories-heart-rate-other-biometric-data/
Google is planning to release a new product called Google Fit that will aggregate health data from various devices and apps, according to a report Thursday from Forbes. Fit will use available APIs to pull biometric information together into one place, but it’s unclear whether it will be a standalone app or part of the Android OS.
Reports of Fit come on the heels of Apple’s announcement of HealthKit in iOS 8, a system that also interacts with apps and APIs to curate and present health data like steps walked, calories consumed, and heart rates logged. Fit also follows the announcement of Sami, Samsung’s health platform for culling health-related info.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hate phone games that make you buy in-app gumble? Congrats, you’re a niche player
Meanwhile, mobe devs will be coining it in ‘$30bn’ market
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/18/make_mobile_games_get_rich/
The mobile games sector will swell in value by more than a third over the next two years, a new report from Juniper Research has claimed.
According to its figure, the sector will be worth a mammoth $28.9 billion, up almost 38 percent on the $20.9bn it is apparently worth now.
As this exodus gathers pace, developers are realising they can milk players in different ways. Mobile gamers are far more likely to make in-app purchases, for instance, and can be sold content or new games over and over again.
Slab fondlers tend to spend the most on games, outspending phone users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Goodbye Dalvik. Hello ART. Google is making Android faster, energy efficient.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/8874/20140621/goodbye-dalvik-hello-art-google-is-making-android-faster-energy-efficient.htm
Google is dropping the Dalvik runtime for ART, which will make the Android system work faster and become more energy efficient.
Google introduced the experimental Android runtime, or ART, in Android KitKat 4.4, with the company explicitly stating that it will soon replace the old Dalvik runtime.
While ART will be faster and provide a better Android experience than Dalvik, it came with compatibility issues with some apps and services during its preview stage, including WhatsApp and several games. The apps were easily fixed to be compatible with ART, though Google did say that they wanted to make ART backwards compatible so that developers are not forced to make changes in their existing apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Withings Activité hides a fitness tracker inside a gorgeous watch
It’s not just a screen on your wrist — it’s a fashion statement
http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/23/5834836/withings-activite-hides-a-fitness-tracker-inside-a-beautiful-wristwatch
The Withings Activité isn’t a smartwatch. Not in the notifications-on-your-wrist, Android Wear sense, anyway. But it’s not just a watch, either. The $390 device that was announced on Monday and will be available this fall exists somewhere in between: it’s one part high-end, Swiss-designed watch, and one part activity tracker, able to monitor your steps and sleep in the process. As Withings CEO Cédric Hutchings tells me, “it’s the first in a new category: a premium, high-end watch that happens to have these cool features.”
It looks mostly like a watch.
The Activité’s accelerometer can track both steps and sleep, and connects via Bluetooth to your phone (iPhone-only for now) to sync with Withings’ apps and other devices. It can also work as a smart alarm clock
If the Activité’s features aren’t groundbreaking, Withings’ approach to building a smarter watch certainly is. Hutchings tells me the company’s goal was always to be different from the Moto 360 or LG G Watch, to make something other than the standard screen-on-your-wrist design.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Play Quarterly App Revenue More Than Doubled Over Past Year, Thanks To Games, Freemium Apps
http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-play-quarterly-app-revenue-more-than-doubled-over-past-year-thanks-to-games-freemium-apps/
How well the Android app marketplace on Google Play is performing is the subject of a new report from recently expanded app analytics firm App Annie, out today ahead of this week’s Google I/O 2014 developer conference. The report indicates that the past year has been significant for Android app publishers, as Google Play apps, downloads, and revenue have all seen what the firm referred to as “phenomenal” growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xamarin 3 review: Making cross-platform mobile development painless
We take a closer look at Xamarin’s latest mobile platform and like what we see.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/05/xamarin-3-review-making-cross-platform-mobile-development-painless/
Xamarin 2 opened up Visual Studio to support the development of iOS and Android apps using the C# language and .NET library when it arrived on the scene last year. Today, Xamarin has released Xamarin 3, the newest version of its cross-platform mobile development framework
Tomi Engdahl says:
It seems like every day there’s a new mobile game that takes the world by storm. Whether it’s Flappy Bird or Candy Crush, there’s something about simple games that appeals to our need for quick, instant gratification
Source: http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/android-candy-im-sorry-2048-times
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glass is now available in the UK for £1,000
Get ready for Glassholes with British accents
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2351505/google-glass-is-now-available-in-the-uk-for-gbp1-000
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yahoo! Bids! To! Own! Your! Smartmobe! Home! Screen!
Need to wake up for a big meeting with an important client? Aviate’s got your back
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/24/yahoo_aviate/
Yahoo! is continuing its search for relevance, launching an Android environment that would let the ad-farmer run your smartphone’s home screen.
Pitched as a convenience thing, the app, called Aviate, was debuted in this Tumblr post.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google I/O: Qualcomm Celebrates Launch of Adreno 420 GPU for Android Gaming
by Ryan Smith on June 23, 2014 1:00 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8194/google-io-qualcomm-celebrates-launch-of-adreno-420-gpu-for-android-gaming
With Google’s annual I/O developers’ conference taking place this week, this should end up being a busy week for Android news. The conference itself doesn’t officially start until Wednesday the 25th this year, but several partners are already chomping at the bit to get going. First among these will be Qualcomm, who will be using the backdrop of the I/O conference to celebrate the launch of their latest high-performance SoC-class GPU, the Adreno 420.
For Qualcomm the Adreno 420 in particular is an especially big deal since it is the first GPU to ship based on the Adreno 400 architecture.
Meanwhile on the OpenGL ES side of matters, while ES 3.1 is not as expansive as Direct3D 11, this none the less means that the Adreno 400 architecture brings with it ES 3.1 functionality along with a number of its Direct3D-derrived features as extensions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cell phone camera lies in the risk of memory
Are you getting this holiday trips all possible? Do you give a mobile phone and shoot every day? Not be feasible, because the experiences are when settling down.
Precious moments may be lost if the lives of viewing through the camera.
Cell Phone Cameras now receive high-quality photos. Cell phone is always included, so the different situations Recording is easy. Photographs will be taken tremendously.
It is estimated that the world will be this year, 800 billion photos. Facebook uploaded every minute more than 200 000 pictures, and most of them are selfie pictures.
Cell Phone Cameras now receive high-quality photos. Cell phone is always included, so the different situations Recording is easy. Photographs will be taken tremendously.
It is estimated that the world will be this year, 800 billion photos. Facebook uploaded every minute more than 200 000 pictures, and most of them are selfie pictures.
The truth is, however, different. Psychologist Linda Henkel in the American Fairfeldin the University’s research shows that if you are viewing in their lives all the time taking photographs, it might be as a result of the loss of important moments. When a person looks at the world all the time just through the camera lens and the focus to be present and pay attention to what is happening around them, the moments do not press any long-term memory.
Source: http://www.iltalehti.fi/elintavat/2014062318432144_el.shtml
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yo Plans Expanding Notifications to Businesses
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/23/yo-plans-expanding-notifications-to-businesses-other-apps/
Or Arbel, the founder of the Yo app, on Monday talked about future plans for the one-word messaging app and a possible business model for his rapidly growing company, Life Before Us, LLC.
“We’re meeting a lot of people here [in Silicon Valley] who are interested in Yo, not as an application that sends and receives Yo’s, but as a new way of getting notifications,” Arbel said.
“Our aim is to develop the ecosystem around Yo.”
The Yo app has already been hacked, and has received an inordinate amount of media attention, much of it of a sarcastic nature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study of Brit students finds TXTING doesn’t ruin your writing
UzN abbreviations w yor M8s not a gateway 2 lousy wrk @ OPIS o skul
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/25/study_of_brit_students_finds_txting_doesnt_ruin_your_writing/
Parents and teachers can relax just a bit more after a study found that kids – and adults – who use the wacky abbreviations so common when using short message service doesn’t spill over into writing performed at school or work.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cyanogen Expands Team in Push for Open Android
June 24, 2014, 10:13 AM PDT
http://recode.net/2014/06/24/cyanogen-expands-team-in-push-for-open-android/
Cyanogen has quietly expanded its executive ranks to transform its open source Android project into a serious player in the phone business.
The company has tapped former Amazon, Microsoft and Hulu executive Dave Herman as VP of product and hired former HTC engineering director Tyler Carper to serve as VP of engineering. The company also has hired former MediaTek and Broadcom executive Vik Natarajan as VP of global partnerships and distribution. It plans to announce the hires later on Tuesday.
Cyanogen is a for-profit business built around the CyanogenMod project, which is used by hobbyists to unlock their phones in order to get quicker updates and remove the types of interfaces installed by their device maker and carrier. It offers its own flavor of Android — one designed to offer users more choice while at the same time remaining fully compatible with the official Google version.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Sundar Pichai Is the Most Powerful Man in Mobile
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-24/googles-sundar-pichai-king-of-android-master-of-mobile-profile
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glass gets 2GB of RAM. Think about that. Two gigs of RAM
Updated techno specs’ new viewfinder makes it even easier to frame stealth photos
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/25/glass_ram_upgrade/
Just ahead of its annual I/O developer conference, Google has announced some changes to its Glass Explorer program, although it’s not clear which participants will reap the benefits.
Most notably, Google announced via the Glass team’s official Google+ page that future headsets will ship with 2GB of RAM, up from the 1GB they’ve been shipping with since they first launched. The 16GB of flash storage will remain unchanged.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you go to Europe next week? Now you can leave the data connection on
On the first day of July data transmission costs in another EU country will not exceeding 0.2 Euros per megabyte. The current maximum has been within the EU of € 0.45.
Maximum price per minute of calls made to EUR 0.19 (previous 0.24) and received EUR 0.05 (previously 0.07). SMS messages maximum is EUR 0.06 per piece (previously 0.08 e). Prices are net of tax, so the actual limit is higher.
The EU’s ultimate goal is to roaming charges to zero by the year 2016.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/menetko+eurooppaan+ensi+viikolla+nyt+voit+jattaa+datayhteyden+paalle/a995434
Tomi Engdahl says:
Helpshift raises $10M to help mobile game companies (and others) deal with the customer-service hordes
http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/24/helpshift-raises-10m-to-help-mobile-game-companies-and-others-deal-with-the-customer-service-hordes/
Helpshift has raised $10 million in venture capital funding to finance its expansion as the help desk for mobile app publishers. The company helps mobile game publishers like Supercell deal with millions of customer-service queries by intercepting more than 90 percent of those queries before they ever reach a real person.
San Francisco-based Helpshift, which was the winner of last year’s Innovation Showdown at our MobileBeat 2013 conference, has created a platform for customer service on mobile devices. It can be used to create frequently asked question (FAQ) documents that are easily searchable, even when the user it tapping away with thumbs on a mobile device. The search is context-sensitive and it delivers a suggested solution to the customer even as they finish typing a query for help.
Supercell, the maker of popular games like Clash of Clans, uses the platform to deal with tens of millions of customers. When a customer needs help, they often contact the company for help, filing a customer service ticket that can be very expensive to answer. But Helpshift intercepts those tickets before they become really expensive and cause the startup to hire a bunch of customer service representatives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smarter Sensor Hub Tops Off Android
Satisfying all KitKat specs puts SENtral-K at head of hub line
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322874&
The smallest, smartest, lowest power sensor hub implementing the complete set of “sensor.h” functions mandated by Google for the latest 4.4 “KitKat” version of its Android operating system for smartphones and tablets is claimed by PNI Sensor Corp. (Santa Rosa, Calif.). In a tiny 2-by-2 millimeter package consuming only 200 microAmps, PNI has implemented all the KitKat functions without the need of an external processor, greatly extending the battery live of Android devices even with all their 24/7 functions running.
“The other choices Android device manufacturers have is to write their own sensor fusion software running on, say, an Atmel or ARM Cortex 0 or Cortex 4 or license the sensor fusion software from others,” Becky Oh, president and CEO of PNI, told EE Times. “Or they could buy smart sensors that implement some of the KitKat functions on-chip and run the rest on the application processor or a programmable sensor hub — both of which will consume up to 10-times the power of our solution.”