Smartphones
Android 4.2’s Most Promising Features
Android 4.2’s here with a spate of welcome improvements for users and developers alike. Here’s my list of the most important. Multiple-User Support for Tablets Now users can customize their home screen, widgets and apps. Seamless switching enables a quick change for multiple users of the same device. This feature is made possible by the creation of a dedicated user space on the SD card where Google Play helps determine which APKs need to be downloaded. If an app is… continue…
4 Ways to Stay Out of Trouble When You’re Multitasking
Ever face an obnoxious co-worker texting during your killer presentation on your latest deep-dive data analysis? You’re likely not alone. It turns out that 64 percent of CIOs are encountering breaches in workplace etiquette because of cellphones, tablets and other mobile multitasking-enabling devices, up from 51 percent three years ago. The numbers come from Robert Half Technology. Though they make use more productive, mobile devices can also be a “round-the-clock distraction,” observed John Reed, a senior executive director with Robert… continue…
Get Ready for the Next Wireless Revolution
If you’re a developer, you’ll want to keep a close eye on the hardware side of mobile, because I think we’re on the cusp of an even bigger revolution. Today’s external devices that cable-connect to your mobile are just an interim step. A whole range of new devices is coming that will add power to your smartphone — wirelessly. The Potential’s Visible Just last week, I got both a Square and a PayPal reader. These are those little dongles that… continue…
BlackBerry CEO Heins: Tablet Market is Kaput
BlackBerry CEO Heins: Tablet Market is Kaput (via slashdot) BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins believes that tablets will be dead within the next five years. “In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” he told an interviewer at the Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe a big screen in… continue…
Iceland: This App Will Keep You From Dating Your Cousin
“She’s my sister. She’s my daughter. My sister. My daughter. She’s my sister AND my daughter.” Those classic lines from Chinatown, uttered by Faye Dunaway’s character Evelyn Mulwray, have been oft parodied since the film’s 1974 release, but who’d think that one day there would actually be an app to prevent such awkward familial relationships from occurring? There is in Iceland, where “bump the app before you bump in bed” may become the catch phrase for a generation who really… continue…
Are Phablets Really a Fad?
How significant is the phablet? If we are to take a report released by app analytics firm Flurry at face value, the answer would be a resounding, “not very.” They ought to know. Flurry sources its data from somewhere in the vicinity of a billion devices. And sometimes statistics reveal more than meets the eye. Flurry went as far as to suggest that phablets are so insignificant in terms of user base that they don’t justify support. What’s a phablet?… continue…
Did Tech Websites Exploit the Boston Marathon Bombing?
Did Tech Websites Exploit the Boston Marathon Bombing? (via slashdot) These days, when something in the world goes very wrong, it seems as if everybody learns about it first on Twitter and Facebook. In the minutes after homemade bombs turned the finish line of the Boston Marathon into a crime scene, terms such as #BostonMarathon shot to the top of Twitter’s Trends… continue…
Make Smartphones Smarter With SendEmail
Gathering data and automatically sending email to your smartphone is simple with the tiny Linux machines BeagleBone or Raspberry Pi, with the help of a little program called sendEmail. It’s small, doesn’t take many computing resources and is easy to implement. BeagleBone and Pi are perfect for many hobbyist/entrepreneur/Maker-type Internet of Things projects. They work great from the command line. Another cool feature is the ability to read and set inputs and outputs at the hardware pin level. Suppose you have a magnetic… continue…
How Do You Manage 10,000 WiFi Mice?
I recently downloaded the WiFi Mouse application for my Samsung Galaxy S3. As you might guess, it lets you control a desktop PC from your phone. The app is jammed full of features, supporting regular cursor control, left and right buttons, on-(phone) screen keyboard input and even speech-to-text input. That last capability actually worked amazingly well. Perhaps I’ll try writing a story with it next time. You’ll also understand that I was unable to resist trying out the app while… continue…
Ubuntu News: Chinese Tools, Touch Interface and TV OS
A lot has happened with Ubuntu over the past couple of years as the community has tried to tap into a bunch of different markets. Showing my bias, I’ve always thought it made sense to run Linux on everything, though putting that concept into practice has certainly been challenging for the Linux community. Will they do it? Here’s a quick rundown on Ubuntu’s current activities. UbuntuKylin China’s Kylin Linux OS has combined forces with Ubuntu to produce UbuntuKylin. The project… continue…
C.S. Magor
Cat Miller
Dale Reynolds
David Brumbaugh
Dawn Kawamoto
Don Willmott
Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Lekan Oguntoyinbo
Leslie Stevens-Huffman
M Noivad
Mark Feffer
nick kolakowski
Stephen Lahanas
Susan Hall
