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:
The Great Smartphone Massacre: Android bloodbath gathers pace
Samsung, Sony and HTC’s pain is your gain
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/04/android_bloodbath_gathers_pace/
The bloodbath continues for smartphone vendors, results from the leading Android vendors have confirmed in the past week. While it’s a great time to be a buyer, in saturated Western markets, only LG can show black ink on its earnings statements.
Sony, Samsung and HTC also reported and the pages were awash with minus signs, parentheses and red ink.
The only profit growth can be found in expanding markets, particularly India and China, which haven’t reached saturation yet. There, tens of millions switch from featurephones to their first smartphone – or straight from no phone to a cheap ‘Droid.
LG shipped 16.8 million smartphones
But much of that was achieved by shipping L series devices – which never appear in the West: they are archaic “landfill” devices that running Ice Cream Sandwich or even Gingerbread versions of Android.
Sony Mobile replaced its chief, Kunimasa Suzuki, last week after posting a ¥180 billion (roughly £1.1bn) loss. It had tried to compete against Apple with high margin, premium designs
HTC squeaked a narrow operating profit – it has its costs under control – but revenue was down 36 per cent from the previous quarter and 11 per cent from last year. This despite having the most universally lauded flagship, the One M8. With an operating margin of 0.4 per cent, it barely makes money on each phone shipped.
Samsung’s crash caught the most headlines, since the giant is clearly No 2 in the overall market – by some distance – and has the furthest to fall. It’s been the only vendor to consistently make profits from Android’s march to world domination. Samsung’s crash looks like a BlackBerry-shaped nosedive: mobile revenue is down 20 per cent sequentially, and down 34 per cent in a year.
Who saw this coming? Oh, you all did
But this has been a long time coming – it just takes one week of concentrated earnings to hammer home the point. Two huge market trends are colliding.
One is Western market saturation, where Android has matured nicely but hardware vendors lack a compelling differentiation. Flagships from Sony, HTC and LG all boast lovely design – but are they really £300 better than a OnePlus One?
For Sony, Samsung and HTC, their phone strategy now resembles Sony’s PC strategy: put a lovely case around a commodity software platform, and charge a high price. There’s a niche for this – but most punters will opt for the one with the lower price, figuring it does just as good a job.
I wouldn’t bet against the Top 3 Android vendors in three years looking something like: 1. Lenovo (Motorola) 2. Huawei and 3. Xiaomi – in fact, that would make a decent each-way bet.
Google clearly anticipated this trend when it devised its Silver program – making a Google-owned brand the hallmark of quality, rather than OEM’s brand.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huge Potential Recall
Technical Defects of iPhone 6+ Raise Questions about Controller IC
- See more at: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/7084/huge-potential-recall-technical-defects-iphone-6-raise-questions-about-controller-ic#sthash.f8h65nli.dpuf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glassholes haven’t achieved ‘social acceptance’ – report
And this is why smartglass sector IS A FLOP… for now
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/05/no_safety_in_numbers_for_google_glass_wearers/
Google Glass and other smart specs are proving to be a flop with sceptical consumers, the analysis firm Juniper has claimed.
Juniper insists the “lengthy time-to-market and lack of a key consumer use case” is to blame for the lack of interest, which we think means that no company has managed to produce enough silicon specs, and even if they had, the public hasn’t got a clue why anyone would wear them.
The research company also pointed to a “slow path to social acceptance” for smart peepers. Again, if we can add our own explanation here, this means that currently only the arsiest of Glassholes are comfortable wearing the things.
As for the rest of us, well, we’re a bit uncomfortable with having cyborgs for dinner guests.
At the current rate of adoption, smart spec sales will only reach 10m users by 2018.
“Smart glasses continue to raise privacy and safety concerns from many consumers and government bodies,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do not throw your iPhone 4 into the trash – do this
iPhone may be infected, even if from loading apps from Apple’s official App Store. In IOS 7 there are several well-known and serious vulnerabilities that have been corrected only in the newer iOS version 8.
For iPhone 4 the newest available OS version is iOS7. The iPhone 4 was not yet be thrown in the garbage:
“It is good to be aware that there is a risk. In this case, it is worth thinking about, for example, the links to e-mail or social media to open, because these are the typical methods to get the user to open a harmful site. Also, for handling confidential information of such a device should be avoided.”
http://summa.talentum.fi/article/tv/uutiset/106597
Source: http://summa.talentum.fi/article/tv/uutiset/106597
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Is The Onyx, A Real-Time Wearable Communicator Inspired By ‘Star Trek’
http://www.businessinsider.com/onbeep-onyx-is-a-real-time-wearable-communicator-inspired-by-star-trek-2014-11?op=1
OnBeep, a year-old startup based in San Francisco, raised $6.25 million earlier this year to build a dedicated piece of hardware that would allow groups of people to talk to one another with the press of a button, without needing to look at a watch or smartphone display.
The company finally unveiled its first hardware product on Wednesday. It’s called Onyx.
The device is a small, black, lightweight circular piece of durable plastic with an LED ring around the center button, which is the main interface of the device. You push the button, wait for the beep, and start talking.
In a group, Onyx can support up to 15 people with their own Onyx devices — but you can create as many groups as you want. You manage your groups directly through OnBeep’s companion app, which is free for iOS and Android devices, and connects to your phone via Bluetooth. OnBeep ensured Onyx was not limited to Bluetooth 4.0, as to not exclude any older devices.
As a wearable device, you can clip the Onyx onto clothing, straps or bags, but it’s also small enough to simply throw in your pocket.
Robbins says he could’ve made the Onyx smaller but that would’ve sacrificed the audio quality and intelligibility of the device. Audio quality is paramount, Robbins says, especially when you’re in a noisy environment or outside.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NXP Gives Android Its Apple Pay
NXP launches module for secure NFC mobile transactions
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1324531&
NXP, having worked with Apple on Apple Pay, now launches its PN66T module for secure NFC mobile transactions — for Android.
In the past few weeks Apple Pay has been making the news as the new way to easily implement mobile payments with the iPhone 6 and the upcoming Apple Watch.
What Apple did — apparently with a lot of help from NXP — is bring the best of both worlds together: a mobile device with a hardware secure element (not the SIM card) that can be easily provisioned over the air by the issuing bank or credit-card company.
Users only need to snap a picture of any payment card supported by Apple Pay and, after a security check, the SE is provisioned over the internet with the right credentials. Apple used the NXP 65V10 NFC module, which probably contains the PN548 Secure Element. The solution has been jointly developed by NXP and Apple.
Now NXP is launching the PN66T, a single solution to implement the same functionality of Apple Pay but for Android devices. While NXP claims that the module is OS independent, the features clearly indicate that Android devices are the likely recipients of the SoC.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek Aims for Fast Entry Into China’s LTE Market
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324520&
MediaTek, Taiwan’s largest chip designer, said it will launch 4G LTE products in China more quickly than the company did in the 3G business to capture strong demand in the world’s largest handset market.
“China’s LTE market growth has been strong,” MediaTek President Ching-Jiang Hsieh said during an announcement of the company’s third-quarter earnings for this year. MediaTek will be “faster with LTE than with 3G” in market entry, he said.
The chip designer aims to pare Qualcomm’s lead in China’s 4G smartphone market with the launch of a new octa-core processor in the first quarter of 2015. MediaTek earlier this year started sampling its MT6795, a new 64-bit LTE True Octa-core SoC, part of a product lineup of LTE chips aimed next year at matching Qualcomm’s existing range of high, medium and low-end products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Makes Office Mobile Editing Free As in Freemium
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/11/06/2245211/microsoft-makes-office-mobile-editing-free-as-in-freemium
Microsoft today announced a significant change to its Office strategy for mobile devices: creating and editing is now free. The company also released standalone Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for the iPhone, as well a new preview of these apps for Android tablets. Starting today, whether you’re using an Office app on Android or iOS, you can create and edit content without an Office 365 subscription.
Microsoft makes Office mobile editing free, launches separate iPhone apps and preview for Android tablets
http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/06/microsoft-makes-office-mobile-editing-free-launches-separate-iphone-apps-and-preview-for-android-tablets/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Project Ara gets a competitor in modular phone startup ‘Vsenn’
http://www.androidcentral.com/project-ara-gets-competitor-modular-phone-startup-vsenn
It looks like Project Ara isn’t the only modular phone project on the block anymore. Vsenn, a company co-founded by a former Nokia Android X program manager, is getting in on the game as well.
Details are pretty light on what we can expect from the company. However, its website, which is little more than a splash page for now, does claim a modular smartphone running vanilla Android, and promises updates for a full 4 years after release. In addition, the company details that the phone will carry ‘maximum security,’ which it will accomplish through triple layer encryption and free access to a VPN network and secure cloud.
As far as the modules themselves are concerned, Vsenn says it will allow customers to switch out three modules: the camera, battery, and processor/RAM.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vsenn
http://www.vsenn.com/
Our mission is to give everyone the power to create their perfect smartphone by using modular and upgradable hardware
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek Aims for Fast Entry Into China’s LTE Market
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324520&
MediaTek, Taiwan’s largest chip designer, said it will launch 4G LTE products in China more quickly than the company did in the 3G business to capture strong demand in the world’s largest handset market.
“China’s LTE market growth has been strong,” MediaTek President Ching-Jiang Hsieh said during an announcement of the company’s third-quarter earnings for this year. MediaTek will be “faster with LTE than with 3G” in market entry, he said.
The chip designer aims to pare Qualcomm’s lead in China’s 4G smartphone market with the launch of a new octa-core processor in the first quarter of 2015. MediaTek earlier this year started sampling its MT6795, a new 64-bit LTE True Octa-core SoC, part of a product lineup of LTE chips aimed next year at matching Qualcomm’s existing range of high, medium and low-end products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm quietly dominates mobile: every major smartphone in the US contains its hardware
This is Qualcomm’s world and we’re all just living in it
Guess who puts the turbo in the Droid Turbo’s name
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/5/7159559/qualcomms-world
Qualcomm is the mobile industry’s equivalent of a god: omnipotent and omnipresent, yet invisible to the naked eye. The company that was founded on the premise of building “Quality Communications” can now be found inside every major smartphone in the US. Even the fiercely independent Apple, which designs its own mobile processors, has no choice but to use Qualcomm’s LTE modems. The same is true of Samsung, whose Exynos chip is replaced by a Qualcomm Snapdragon for the US and other markets. But Qualcomm’s influence spreads much wider and deeper still.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HTC’s Desire Eye is a killer mid-range smartphone
But don’t expect much from those cameras
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7166953/htc-desire-eye-camera-review
HTC’s marketing its new phone all wrong. The newly launched Desire Eye — available exclusively on AT&T in the US — is being positioned as the ultimate selfie phone. In reality, the pictures you’ll get from it are just okay. But everything else about the Desire Eye is pretty fantastic. In HTC’s lineup, the Desire Eye sits beneath the flagship One M8. But in many ways, it’s a better buy for plenty of people.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why you probably won’t understand the web of the future
http://qz.com/292364/why-you-probably-wont-understand-the-web-of-the-future/
The giants of the connected world are finally waking up to one of the biggest obstacles in their stated missions of connecting billions more people to the internet: The language barrier.
This week alone, Google announced the “Indian Language Internet Alliance,” which aims to get half a billion Indians online by 2017 by serving them content in local languages, and there are indications Facebook is already defaulting to local languages in India. Facebook’s head of internationalization and localization published a long piece about “The Internet’s Language Barrier” in Innovations, a quarterly journal from MIT; and Mozilla and GSMA, a trade body of mobile operators, published a white paper titled “Unlocking relevant Web content for the next 4 billion people.”
Language barriers in globalization are hardly a new issue. So why the sudden drive for polyglotism? It’s simple: As mobile operators and web giants try to expand their markets by bringing more people online, we have reached a tipping point where the imbalance of content on the internet has become too stark to avoid.
80% of the web remains dominated by just 10 languages.
Today, some 80% of the web remains dominated by just 10 languages. If Facebook, Google, and GSMA are serious about their professed goals to connect vast numbers of people to the internet (everyone in the case of Facebook and Google, another billion by 2020 in the case of GSMA), a good starting point is to give the speakers of the other 6,990 languages something to do when they come online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Project Ara gets a competitor in modular phone startup ‘Vsenn’
http://www.androidcentral.com/project-ara-gets-competitor-modular-phone-startup-vsenn
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft had to
A simple headset could help millions through the art of sound
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7164623/microsoft-3d-sound-headset-guide-dogs
Microsoft blindfolded me and led me around several streets before leaving me on the ledge of a freezing cold canal in London yesterday. Not in the interest of torturing me, or product secrecy; it was simply the best way to transport me to a reality that 39 million people face daily: blindness. For millions of blind and visually-impaired people, venturing out of the house can be a dangerous and daunting task. Microsoft is aiming to change this with 3D Audio technology and a smart headset the software giant is trialling in the UK.
Microsoft’s system works by creating a 3D-soundscape of audio that’s transmitted through your jaw bone. You wear a bone conduction headset that pairs to a smartphone that can pick up nearby beacons and guide you around. The bone conduction here is key, as it means you can still hold conversations with people or hear the environment around you because you’re not wearing headphones that cover your ears, which is crucial if you’re visually impaired and rely on sound as a primary sense. Microsoft has created a clever system of audio cues for nearby stores, points of interest, and journey details, alongside regular GPS instructions and a unique audio ping that keeps you straight on track when you’re navigating. Like Oculus’ Rift, it’s a technology you really need to try to fully experience, so I did.
Microsoft is now working on a second phase of the headset, integrating the technology more deeply instead of just bolting it onto the back of an off the shelf AfterShockz headset. I had to push hard to find what technology was involved here, and Microsoft seemed reluctant to discuss it, focusing on its benefits instead. This small gadget, backed by complex algorithms, cloud data, and new technology could just change the world of 285 million visually impaired people. That’s the sort of challenge you expect the new Microsoft to be working on, and it’s exactly what we’re going to see a lot more of with Nadella at the helm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
French railway company Idtgv try Google smart glasses for train tickets for checking according to Tivi and Computer Sweden magazines.
Now the company has introduced four Google Glass smart glasses tickets inspection. Glasses that inspectors to ensure validity of the ticket and on the number, and it justifies a ticket to eat on the train.
Snfc’s IT boss says for Computer Sweden, the company had great difficulty in getting hold of the glasses. Google’s French-workers could not help, so the windows had to acquire the UK through.
The company’s plan is in the future for another manufacturer smart glasses.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/ranskassa+tarkastetaan+junalippuja+googlen+alylaseilla/a1026898
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple releases web tool to deregister phone numbers from iMessage
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/9/7183507/apple-tool-deregister-imessage-phone-numbers-released
Apple has quietly released a new tool to make switching between iOS and other smartphones a bit easier. The new web tool lets you instantly deregister your phone number from Apple’s iMessage system. The site, first spotted by a poster on Reddit, should solve the problem of disappearing text messages.
Many former iPhone users have reported for years that they were not receiving text messages from their friends. The issue stemmed from Apple continuing to route texts through iMessage even after users had moved on to other devices. Since iMessage is proprietary to Apple’s platforms, users who switched away from iOS but didn’t disable iMessage first would no longer be able to see messages sent from friends with Apple devices. Most users who experienced the problem only had one solution: they had to entirely deregister the old device from their Apple accounts.
But with the recently-released web tool, all you need to do is enter the phone number you wish to uncouple from Apple’s iMessage system. Apple will then send you a confirmation code over SMS — type it into the browser window and you’ll be home free.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BlackBerry CEO sees fewer new devices, focus on profitability
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/09/us-blackberry-ceo-idUSKCN0IT0ST20141109
BlackBerry, which has completed the first phase of its two-year turnaround plan, is now focused on profitability and will not spread itself thin by attempting to launch too many new devices, its chief executive said.
John Chen, who took the reins at the struggling mobile technology company in November 2013, has moved rapidly to try to get the one-time investor darling back on track. The company has sold assets, struck partnerships to lower manufacturing costs and broaden app offerings, and raised cash via the sale of real estate holdings in its hometown of Waterloo, Ontario.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple: NEW iMessage STUPENDOUSNESS! Now it WON’T lose your texts
Cupertino turns on decoupling service
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/10/apple_fixes_imessage_smskiller_bug/
People getting rid of an iPhone to date have often struck a rather troublesome problem: Apple’s iMessage service assumes that all SMS texts to their phone number should use the over-the-top iMessage app. Texts intended for an iPhone have therefore failed to land when folks move to rival phones, as they disappear into the bowels of Apple.
Cupertino has now recognised the problem and popped up a Deregister iMessage tool.
Cupertino’s hardly jumped on this problem: a class action regarding the issue which itself dates from May says Apple knew about it back in 2011.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensors for Wearables Market to Double in 2015
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324363&
Market analysis and forecast organization IHS thinks that Apple’s Watch, will stimulate and set a standard for fitness and health monitoring features on wearable electronics devices.
As a result the market sensors in wearable electronics is set to double in 2015, in terms of units shipped. This will likely benefit STMicroelectronics NV (Geneva, Switzerland), the market leader in sensors for wearables, IHS said.
The strength of user demand for wearable gadgets is such that shipments of sensors used in wearable electronics will rise by a factor of seven from 2013 to 2019, IHS added. So that’s 67 million units shipped in 2013 followed by about 85 million units in 2014. And next year the market will double to 175 million units before continuing its rise to 466 million units shipped in the year 2019, as presented in the figure below.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Owes Us, Qualcomm Says
OEMs failed to report 100M+ in sales, it claims
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324510&
The world’s largest maker of cellphone chips and the China government appear to be eyeball-to-eyeball in a patent dispute, waiting for someone to blink.
Qualcomm turned up the heat in its quarterly financial report today, saying it believes phone makers in China are not reporting hundreds of millions in cellphone unit sales to avoid royalty payments. The news was part of the company’s one sore spot as it reported another quarter of solid growth and upbeat guidance for its coming fiscal year.
Qualcomm believes 1.3 billion handsets were sold using its intellectual property this year and 1.5 billion will be sold next year. But handset makers are on track only to report sales of 1.04 to 1.13 billion devices this year, leaving a gap of 170 to 260 million devices unreported, the company claims.
Tomi Engdahl says:
There isn’t a reason for developer edition phones to exist
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/164875-there-isnt-a-reason-for-developer-edition-phones-to-exist
The phone market works in a very peculiar way in North America when compared to the rest of the world. Most consumers have no idea how much their phone actually costs because they’re accustomed to only seeing carrier-subsidized prices. This approach to selling devices gives the carrier a lot of power over device makers, and that has resulted in locked-down devices becoming the norm.
However, there is a shining beacon of openness in this otherwise dark and depressing world — the developer edition phone. But do these devices really matter?
A developer edition phone usually has the same hardware as the non-developer edition device. The main difference is in the software that is flashed by the OEM. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon usually insist on locked bootloaders, which prevent (or at least reduce) software modification. In this context, locked doesn’t just mean locked — virtually every Android device ships with a locked bootloader, even Nexus devices. The difference here is that some devices cannot be unlocked at all, barring an exploit.
Buying the developer edition of a device allows you to unlock the bootloader, usually after jumping through some hoops. This is of value because an unlocked bootloader means custom software
Developer editions aren’t subsidized, so the cost is usually $600 to $700. There are people willing to pay that much, but by all accounts most of them are not developers — they’re enthusiasts. With a developer edition phone, you get an unlockable device that works on your carrier of choice
For someone who’s serious about software development, there are international versions of devices that don’t have locked-down bootloaders to start with.
Releasing a developer edition phone makes an OEM look benevolent, but there may also be a strong profit motive. You see, developer editions are very expensive, and that means more profit for the OEM.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Modular mobile phone design from Finland:
PUZZLEPHONE
http://www.puzzlephone.com/
MEET PUZZLEPHONE, THE MODULAR PHONE THAT…
THE FINNISH OPEN SOURCE LEGACY
Android runs on Linux’s kernel, both created by Linus Torvalds, a well known Finnish programmer. It is time to Open Source the most popular hardware in the world and it has to be done in a supply chain friendly way to ensure its quick spread and adoption. The PUZZLEPHONE, Designed in Finland.
Article in Finnish:
http://www.itviikko.fi/ihmiset-ja-ura/2014/11/11/espanjalaismies-muutti-suomeen-puhelinta-tekemaan/201415606/7?rss=8
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces its first non-Nokia Windows phone, the Lumia 535: 5″ display, 5MP front camera, 1GB RAM, single/ dual SIM, for $130
Microsoft’s first Lumia defines Windows Phone’s future
No more Nokia
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/10/7190117/microsoft-lumia-535-first-lumia-hands-on
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung’s next big thing: Gaining street cred in Silicon Valley
http://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-next-big-thing-gaining-street-cred-in-silicon-valley/
The Korean electronics giant has been making a big push in California over the past couple years. CNET lays out its successes — and what it still needs to do.
There’s a reason for that urgency — and the bet. Even though Samsung is the world’s biggest maker of TVs and mobile devices (nearly one in four smartphones sold today is made by the company), it largely remains a mystery. Most people can’t tell you the businesses it’s in (it makes everything from toasters to tablets), and its executive team doesn’t have any household names like Apple co-founder Steve Jobs or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Walk down any street in the US and ask a tech worker to name the CEO of Samsung and you’ll get a blank stare.
Tomi Engdahl says:
More candy-matching fun with freemium road blocks
http://www.cnet.com/au/news/more-candy-matching-fun-with-freemium-road-blocks/
Candy Crush Soda Saga launched this morning adding another freemium game to King’s arsenal. It’s a lot of fun with new challenges, but if you don’t want to spend your money, you’ll have to wait.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The last PC replacement cycle is about to start turning
When even senior sysadmins work on an iPhone connected to an Apple TV, the end is nigh
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/12/the_last_pc_replacement_cycle_is_about_to_start_turning/
The material culture of computing moves so rapidly – and so disposably – we very rarely glimpse such side-by-side comparisons of past to present. In IT, the past is junk: too slow, too big, and too hard.
Almost my entire presentation consisted of video clips
In the classroom, I took my brand new iPhone 6, plugged it into the lecture theatre’s HDMI port, and ran the whole presentation – in high definition, complete with nicely animated transitions – off my phone.
This new iPhone is the second most powerful computer I own, only surpassed by the top-of-the-line MacBook Air I type this on, and far more powerful than my first MacBook Air, purchased in the long-ago days of 2011.
Something has happened, right under our noses, so close we still can’t quite see it.
“Need it for work,” he replied. “Gonna see if I can dump my laptop.”
My friend runs the IT infrastructure for one of Australia’s most successful online retailers. It’s his job to make sure the customer-facing systems ringing up sales are available 24×7. Always on call, getting texts advising him of the status of his servers, services, and staff, he keeps a laptop close at hand, in case something ever needs his personal attention. Something always does.
“Got a little Bluetooth keyboard to go along with it,” he continued. “When I’m in the office I’ll AirPlay it over to an Apple TV connected to a monitor. What’s the difference between that and a desktop?”
The desktop has been dead for some years, resurrected to an afterlife of video editing and CAD. Laptops keep getting smaller and more powerful, but we’ve now reached a moment when they’re less useful than our smartphones.
The computer as we have known it, with integrated keyboard and display, has lost its purpose in a world of tiny, powerful devices that can cast to any nearby screen (Chromecast & AirPlay), browse any website, and run all the important apps. Why carry a boat anchor when you can be light as a feather?
Many of will continue to sit before keyboards and monitors, physical affordances that interface us with the digital world. But the place where the magic happens, that keeps moving – once lugged over the shoulder, then tucked under the arm, and now stowed away in a pocket.
Over the next decade, all of IT will reorient itself around this reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung’s review of its own Gear S concludes that it’s ‘awesome’
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/11/7192585/samsungs-review-of-its-own-gear-s-concludes-that-its-awesome
Samsung Tomorrow is Samsung’s version of Nokia Conversations: it serves as the official blog for the company and is managed by its Corporate Communications team. It is also, apparently, a technology review site.
Posted today, this Gear S analysis is the latest in a running series of Samsung Tomorrow “unofficial reviews” of the company’s latest hardware.
What it doesn’t disclose anywhere is whether the self-identified “most average editor” authoring the piece is employed by Samsung, or that he’s writing for a website owned by Samsung. This leaves ample room for misinterpretation, as readers might stumble upon the review and believe it to be the work of a keen Samsung fan rather than a company employee. The actual content of the review is thinly veiled marketing copy, regurgitating the features of the Gear S and decorating them with a few flourishes of approving commentary.
As flawed as human reviews of electronic gear can be, the best way to make them useful for others is to identify any existing biases and try to mitigate them. Or at least try to be upfront and transparent about them.
Samsung’s only following in Nokia’s footsteps here
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blackberries are not valid to anyone – the wife of the manager even refused to take even for free
The BlackBerry smartphone manufacturer has shown a serious image problem from a surprising source. The company’s CEO John Chen’s wife refuses to use a new BlackBerry Passport from her husband. His wife encountered tried in the Passport with the same challenges as the device assessed by the editors: Multi-device, for example, felt to be difficult to deal with.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/blackberryt+eivat+kelpaa+kenellekaan++toimitusjohtajan+vaimokaan+ei+suostunut+ottamaan+edes+ilmaiseksi/a1028032
Tomi Engdahl says:
Symbian is dead??
Symbian Actually Gained Share in the U.S.
Fri, 11/07/2014 – 10:25am
http://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2014/11/symbian-actually-gained-share-us
Although incremental, Symbian actually gained share among smartphone platforms in the U.S., according to Comscore’s latest numbers.
After holding steady with 0.2 percent market share for most of the year, Symbian fell to 0.1 percent in Comscore’s study for the three-month period ending in July. But now it’s back up to 0.2 percent.
Aside the possible Symbian anomaly, Comscore’s latest numbers show Windows Phone up 0.2 percent to 3.6 percent market share and BlackBerry continuing its slide, now down to 2.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone OS market.
At the top of the leaderboard, Android pulled away from second-place iOS, adding 0.2 percent to bring its market share total to 52.1 percent. Meanwhile Apple fell 0.4 percent to 41.7 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android 5.0 Lollipop, thoroughly reviewed
Android’s biggest update ever revamps nearly every part of the OS.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/11/android-5-0-lollipop-thoroughly-reviewed/
Android updates don’t matter anymore—or at least that’s what many people think. Back-to-back-to-back Jelly Bean releases and a KitKat release seemed to only polish what already existed. When Google took the wraps off of “Android L” at Google I/O, though, it was clear that this release was different.
Android 5.0 Lollipop is at least the biggest update since Android 4.0, and it’s probably the biggest Android release ever. The update brings a complete visual overhaul of every app, with a beautiful new design language called “Material Design.” Animations are everywhere, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a single pixel from 4.4 that was carried over into 5.0—Google even revamped the fonts.
5.0 also brings a ton of new features. Notifications are finally on the lock screen, the functionality of Recent Apps has been revamped to make multitasking a lot easier, and the voice recognition works everywhere—even when the screen is off. The under-the-hood renovations are just as extensive, including a completely new camera API with support for RAW images, a system-wide focus on battery life, and a new runtime—ART—that replaces the aging Dalvik virtual machine.
Android 5.0 will power Android Wear, Android TV, and Android Auto. The OS has turned into Google’s de-facto operating system, serving as the basis for Google Glass and the Chromecast. Even Chrome OS has started running Android apps now. Nearly every physical thing Google sells runs Android or supports Android apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Proximity’ is Samsung’s equivalent of Apple’s iBeacon, coming to a mall near you
http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/12/samsung-proximity/
Tired of only seeing adverts 99 percent of the time? While Apple’s already announced intentions to take over the final one percent with iBeacon, Samsung’s just today getting in on the action. The Korean electronics giant has a website introducing Samsung “Proximity,” a “mobile marketing platform that connects consumers with places via cutting-edge Samsung location and context-aware technology.” As nakedly awful as that sounds, the “marketing platform” described sounds a lot like Apple’s iBeacon — technology that enables communication between your mobile device and the places you go.
That information could be helpful (clothing match suggestions), it could be nonsense (“spend over $1,000, get 15 percent off!”), and it could be somewhere in-between.
The difference between Apple’s iBeacon and Samsung’s Proximity is how the service functions on your mobile device. With Apple, iBeacon is enabled through the App Store software; with Proximity, it functions on a system level.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google releases standalone Messenger app for Android
http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/12/google-messenger-app-android/
But what about Hangouts, you ask? Well, that application isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, it would seem. Yet, Google isn’t doing it any favors by outing a standalone version of Messenger, an app with very similar messaging features to the aforementioned. Messenger does come pre-installed on Android Lollipop, alongside Hangouts
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Newkia’ smartphone brand to launch ‘within a year’ with eye on emerging Asian markets
http://www.mumbrella.asia/2014/11/newkia-launch-within-year-eyes-emerging-asian-markets/
“Newkia”, the working name given to a new brand that was announced on the day Nokia’s mobile division was acquired by Microsoft, is to launch “within a year”, its co-founder says, who has set his sights on emerging markets in Asia for the “dressed down” smartphone.
Singapore-based Fin Thomas Zilliacus, Nokia’s former APAC boss, announced the launch of Newkia last year through a press release that drew considerable interest. He has been in Hong Kong this week to meet with potential investors.
The Newkia phone is to run on an Android operating system and built “on the same principles that made Nokia a great brand – user-friendly, durable and with a long battery life. Less is more,” Zilliacus told Mumbrella.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Search adds third-party app support and improved email scanning
Google Now can now nag you about plans you didn’t know you made
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2381215/google-search-adds-third-party-app-support-and-improved-email-scanning
GOOGLE IS STILL in the midst of updating its Android apps to play nicely with Lollipop
Google Keep, the company’s Evernote rival, has been given the treatment and now has the added bonus of Android Wear support. The upshot of this is that you can now ask Google Now to take a note for you from your shiny new watch.
But the big news comes with the latest version of Google Search, the backbone of Google Now. Along with its Material appearance, it also makes a better job of scanning your email account and offering to create events in your calendar.
In the demo example, it recognised an email saying: ‘I’m in town on Friday, do you want to meet for drinks?’ as a potential event and offered a reminder.
There’s better handling of to-do lists and reminders, and for the first time there is support for searching in third-party apps, so you can specify ‘Search for five star reviews in Trip Advisor’ for the first time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android 5.0 ‘Lollipop’ vs. iOS 8: More Similar Than Ever
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/14/11/13/1534258/android-50-lollipop-vs-ios-8-more-similar-than-ever
With the debut of Android 5.0 (also known as Lollipop, in keeping with Google’s habit of naming each major OS upgrade after a dessert), it’s worth taking a moment to break down how the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system matches up against Apple’s iOS 8. After years of battle, the two are remarkably similar.
Google Android ‘Lollipop’ vs. iOS 8: Battle Royale
http://news.dice.com/2014/11/13/google-android-lollipop-vs-ios-8-battle-royale/
Aesthetics
This year, Google is pushing a visual language it calls “Material Design,” which it claims “synthesizes the classic principles of good design with innovation and possibility of technology and science.” Sweeping mission statement aside, Material Design is bold and graphics-focused, with an emphasis on animations and the sense that all actions take place within a unified environment:
Like the new Android, Apple’s iOS 8 places a premium on boldness and color, with effects such as translucent overlays giving the software an added feeling of tangibility.
So while nobody would ever confuse Android and iOS, both Google and Apple seem determined to go “flatter” (and more brightly colored) than ever. Whether or not you agree with their choices, they’re the cutting edge of mobile UX design.
Android 5.0 features a variety of backend tweaks meant to improve performance and battery life (and it comes with a Battery Saver feature, for those who have problems charging their phones consistently); Google’s also tweaked core apps such as Gmail, added the ability to set up Guest accounts, and instituted automatic updates—all of which places Android either on par (re: auto updates) or ahead (re: guest accounts) of iOS.
Apple remains determined, meanwhile, to keep its users in a walled garden: although iOS 8 features more customization options than ever—you can deploy third-party keyboards, for example—users still can’t do much to alter the system’s look, feel, or functionality.
For years, Google and Apple have been locked in a war over smartphone features. One side will add a new and interesting app or function, only to be imitated by the other during the next upgrade cycle. That perpetual battle has reached a climax of sorts with Lollipop and iOS 8: both offer their own version of an NFC-powered e-wallet (Apple Pay vs. Google Wallet), a health app (Apple’s Health app vs. Google Fit), car-dashboard control (Android Auto vs. CarPlay), and home automation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sexting Is Perfectly Normal Behavior, Cracking Silicon Valley’s Whiteness and More #Mustreads
http://recode.net/2014/11/12/sexting-is-perfectly-normal-behavior-cracking-silicon-valleys-whiteness-and-more-mustreads/
The Internet is a damp and winding tunnel, far below the Earth’s surface. Here’s a lantern and a map, brought to you by Re/code:
So long as there are two people with camera-equipped phones and a cellular connection, there will be sexts. There’s no use in staking out a moral high ground about it, that’s just the way it is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PC software makers are making the same utilities for smart phones as well:
CCleaner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.piriform.ccleaner
Piriform, the makers of the world’s most popular PC and Mac cleaning software bring you CCleaner for Android.
Remove junk, reclaim space, monitor your system and browse safely. Become the Master of your own device with the ultimate cleaning app for your Android!
Tomi Engdahl says:
BlackBerry, Samsung Join Forces on Mobile Security
Partnership Could Help Both Companies Win More Enterprise Customers
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/blackberry-samsung-partner-on-mobile-security-1415898091-lMyQjAxMTI0NTEwMzAxMTMwWj
BlackBerry Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. agreed to sell each other’s mobile-security technology in an effort to win more enterprise customers.
The deal was the highest-profile of several partnership and distribution agreements BlackBerry announced Thursday to drive sales of its new mobile-security software—dubbed BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12. BES12 is the anchor of the company’s strategy to double revenue from software sales to $500 million and return to profitability in its next fiscal year by winning back corporate and government business.
In an interview, Mr. Chen also said more than 90% of BES12 licenses will sell as subscriptions to ensure a source of recurring revenue. “I want a business that is not only growing but predictable,” he said.
Samsung, meanwhile, stands to benefit from BlackBerry’s stronger reputation for mobile security. That could help the South Korean electronics company accelerate its efforts to expand in the enterprise market, where it has struggled to gain traction.
Samsung and BlackBerry are often characterized as rivals in the enterprise market, but their security technologies can be complementary. Samsung’s security platform, Knox, comes embedded in certain Samsung Galaxy devices, allowing users to separate personal and work data to ensure corporate security and employee privacy. Meanwhile, BlackBerry’s technology allows companies to remotely manage devices to prevent security breaches and data loss as content and applications move between those devices and corporate networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
INRIX signs multi-million dollar deal with Samsung to put traffic info on Gear, Note devices
http://www.geekwire.com/2014/inrix-samsung-gear/
will allow Samsung to provide real-time traffic and travel time information into its pre-loaded apps like “Car Mode,” and “Morning! Smart Alarm Clock,” in addition to the “My Places” widget.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook’s New Privacy Rules Clear the Way for Payments Push and Location-Based Ads
http://recode.net/2014/11/13/facebooks-new-privacy-rules-clear-the-wear-for-a-payments-push-and-location-based-ads/
Facebook is updating its privacy policies and adding tools that are supposed to make it easier for you to understand them and to opt out of certain kinds of ad targeting.
It’s very likely that if you use Facebook, you don’t care.
At some point you accepted, consciously or not, that Facebook is interested in turning your attention and personal information into advertising dollars. And if you didn’t like that idea, you stopped using Facebook.
If you’re interested in tracking the evolution of Facebook as a business, though, it’s worth noting two things that Facebook itself is highlighting in its new text: Language that spells out its ambitions to sell you stuff and to serve you ads based on your location.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BlackBerry comeback: BES12 server revealed – it will manage ALL THE THINGS
Windows Phone, iOS, Android… oh, and BlackBerry 10
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/14/blackberry_comeback_bes12_revealed_will_manage_absolutely_every_thing/
Turnaround artiste John Chen marked one year as BlackBerry boss with an avalanche of enterprise software news related to the firm’s new BES12 server, which can manage enterprise mobe devices running Android, iOS, Windows Phone – and of course, BB’s own mobile OS.
BlackBerry wants to manage absolutely everything: PCs, Macs, sensor-based M2M devices in the mythical “Internet of Thingies” and more… and the firm is even making nice with Samsung.
Chen wants to grow the $250m software side into a $500m business, and claimed carriers will be selling BES12 as a hosted deal.
Of note to businesses is tech that allows an enterprise to give employees a work phone number on their own BYOD device. So, for example, a new starter can keep the phone they already acquired personally, and run a virtual company phone number alongside it. All usage from this virtual number, including data, will be billed to the company.
The company made much of the security threats out there: even the US government’s security screening contractor has been hacked, said COO Marty Beard. These threats are only likely to worsen as poorly secured embedded devices begin to access corporate clouds.
BlackBerry is also making friends with Samsung, which 18 months ago announced its Knox security stack for Android, going after BlackBerry’s core proposition very aggressively.
Knox partitions an iOS or Android device into secure and non-secure partitions – something BlackBerry does out of the box on its own BB10 devices with its Balance feature. BES12 will manage Knox – and also Salesforce sites, but the pricing for the connector wasn’t revealed at the event.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why can’t a mobile be more like a cordless kettle?
Power without plugs
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/12/wireless_charging/
When Dick Powell, ace designer and co-founder of SeymourPowell, designed the Tefal Freeline, the world’s first cordless kettle, it wasn’t for the likes of you and me. The thinking behind it was that while most people could cope with a power lead, those with restricted mobility could not.
The ease of use that it delivered, however, made the Freeline a huge hit and pretty soon plenty of people who were more than capable of unplugging a mains lead started buying cordless kettles too.
Powell’s work is the poster child for Inclusive Design, the idea that if you design something that is easy to use for people with limited cognition or dexterity you make it better for everyone.
Today, plugging a micro USB connector into a phone is another one of those things that desperately need improving. Just knowing which way round the nearly-but-not-quite-reversible plug is needs careful examination.
Then the insertion has to avoid damaging the connector. If you do it wrong and are lucky you will just break the charger lead; if you are unlucky it is the connector inside the phone.
The Austrian company Emporia has an interesting solution which adds a pin to the lead so that the location and insertion is made easier.
There is a part of the mobile connector standard that allows for a barrel connector, although everyone seems to have ignored that; but alleviating the problem is not as good as making it go away.
We have covered the two wireless charging factions – the Alliance for Wireless Power and the Wireless Power Consortium – and their competing standards before but things seem to be setting down. Even Samsung has defected from AWP to WPC, the home of Qi.
OK, you can make lots of faux-green claims that having a standard charger means you don’t need to buy a new one when you upgrade your phone, but it is not really about that. It is about not peering and fiddling constantly, and not worrying about breaking charging leads – or the phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile Pwn2Own 2014: Windows Phone’s sandbox resists attack
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17640
The Mobile Pwn2Own 2014 hacking competition, held at the PacSec Applied Security Conference in Tokyo, Japan, was concluded on Thursday, and not one of the targeted phones has survived completely unscathed.
Competitors were encouraged to come at the phones from a variety of sides – via the mobile web browser, through mobile app and OS holes, via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC, messaging services or, in limited cases, via baseband.
More details about the exploits can be expected in the coming weeks, as the vendors patch the bugs and the contestants are given leave to discuss their attacks publicly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Glass’s future clouded as consumer launch slips to 2015, key employees depart, and many developers abandon projects on the platform
Google Glass future clouded as some early believers lose faith
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/14/us-google-glass-insight-idUSKCN0IY18E20141114
fter two years of popping up at high-profile events sporting Google Glass, the gadget that transforms eyeglasses into spy-movie worthy technology, Google co-founder Sergey Brin sauntered bare-faced into a Silicon Valley red-carpet event on Sunday.
He’d left his pair in the car, Brin told a reporter.
But Brin’s timing is not propitious, coming as many developers and early Glass users are losing interest in the much-hyped, $1,500 test version of the product: a camera, processor and stamp-sized computer screen mounted to the edge of eyeglass frames. Google Inc itself has pushed back the Glass roll out to the mass market.
While Glass may find some specialized, even lucrative, uses in the workplace, its prospects of becoming a consumer hit in the near future are slim, many developers say.
Of 16 Glass app makers contacted by Reuters, nine said that they had stopped work on their projects or abandoned them, mostly because of the lack of customers or limitations of the device.
Plenty of larger developers remain with Glass. The nearly 100 apps on the official web site include Facebook and OpenTable, although one major player recently defected: Twitter.
“If there was 200 million Google Glasses sold, it would be a different perspective. There’s no market at this point,” said Tom Frencel, the Chief Executive of Little Guy Games
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone 6 accounts for 68% of all iPhone sales in first 30 days of availability in US, iPhone 6 Plus takes around 24% —
iPhone 6 outselling iPhone 6 Plus by 3-to-1 margin in US – report
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/11/14/iphone-6-outselling-iphone-6-plus-by-3-to-1-margin-in-us—report
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Reveals Details of MICA Smart Bracelet
http://blogs.wsj.com/personal-technology/2014/11/17/intel-reveals-details-of-mica-smart-bracelet/
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich visited New York’s Fashion Week festivities in September to drum up interest in MICA, a smart bracelet the chip maker developed with fashion label Opening Ceremony. But he revealed few details about the device’s capabilities. The Silicon Valley giant filled the gap on Monday.
The new entry into the crowded wearables category, which goes on sale for $495 in early December, doesn’t require a smartphone nearby, Intel says. It has its own cellular connection, and two years of AT&T service are included in the hardware price.
MICA, which the companies pronounce like “meeka,” comes with built-in GPS and sapphire touchscreen. It displays short-form communications such as text messages and calendar notifications from Gmail and Facebook, as well as alerts of an “it’s time to go” sort, Intel said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Teases “Something” That Either Is, Or Comes In, A Black Box
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/17/nokia-black-box-hardware/
Nokia is getting back into hardware after selling its handset division to Microsoft, but its re-entry into the gadgets market doesn’t look like it’s going to be a phone. The Finnish company tweeted out a teaser for an announcement it’s making November 18
Nokia can’t put its brand on smartphones until the end of 2016, however, and for almost another decade on feature phones, so we can rule out those as potential candidates for this announcement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fitbit Data Now Being Used In The Courtroom
http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/11/16/fitbit-data-court-room-personal-injury-claim/
Personal injury cases are prime targets for manipulation and conjecture. How do you show that someone who’s been in a car accident can’t do their job properly, and deserves thousands of dollars in compensation? Till now lawyers have relied on doctors to observe someone for half an hour or so and give their, sometimes-biased opinion. Soon, they might also tap the wealth of quantifiable data provided by fitness trackers. A law firm in Calgary is working on the first known personal injury case that will use activity data from a Fitbit to help show the effects of an accident on their client.
The lawyers aren’t using Fitbit’s data directly, but pumping it through analytics platform Vivametrica, which uses public research to compare a person’s activity data with that of the general population.