Why it’s unlikely we’ll see multiple Nexus devices this year
Since the early days of Android, the loyalists in the Google ecosystem have hoped that one day Andy Rubin would descend from the Googleplex with a series of devices that were stock Android with unlocked bootloaders. In other words, the simultaneous release of multiple “Nexus” type devices is the dream of a large part of the Android community.
The core problem with the current Nexus system, in a nutshell, is that it is designed to be a reference device. It is the first device on the latest version of Android, and as such the rest of the Android OEMs will deliver vastly superior hardware to that product a month or two later. Take the recent Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which was recently thoroughly trounced by the Snapdragon S4-powered HTC One X in every way but the pure Android experience. Read more...
Nokia’s 808 PureView promo quite literally speaks for itself
I often believe that one of the best adverts for a device is when its maker is able to showcase its features using images or footage produced directly by it.
With its 41MP image quality, Carl Zeiss lens, and PureView imaging technology, Nokia demonstrates the imaging capabilities of the device front and center, but also shows off its social capabilities, really appealing to those who want the very best optics in their smartphone device. Read more...
7 smart toys for today’s connected kids
The price of admission to this year's hottest toys list is a touch of tech. Not that old double-A battery and an on-switch kind — today's toys come equipped with capacitive screens, augmented reality, and the assumption that you already have an iPad, an iPod touch, or an iPhone in the family. You know what that means? There's a good chance our youngsters are (or will soon be) more tech-savvy than we are.
The good news? Many of these toys will do more than just suck those little brains in and get them glued to yet another screen. Choose right, and their favorite new tech toy could help teach them about math, science, physics, digital photography, computer programming, or even motivate them to go outside and learn more about good ol' Mother Nature. Here are some of the best teaching toys that I've seen and tested so far this year. Read more...
Verizon Wireless will charge you $30 to upgrade starting April 22nd, even when you’re already eligible
Verizon Wireless has announced plans to start charging customers a $30 upgrade fee, even when they’re already eligible to upgrade under the terms of their contract. This makes Verizon the final major U.S. carrier to do so, as AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all do as well.
AT&T doubled its upgrade fee to $36 in February after Sprint did the same last year. T-Mobile charges an $18 fee, but that’s not likely to stay that low. Verizon was the final holdout, charging $35 to new customers, but no upgrade cut. Read more...
Hungry Hungry Hippos for The iPad: An April Fools’ gag that everybody wants to be real
Every year, ThinkGeek comes up with some of the most far-out (fake) products for April Fools' Day. In the past, several of these fictional items would be met with great enthusiasm by the masses that the retailer of odd devices would actually make them. And that's what a lot of people hope to happen with this year's runaway favorite April Fools' product: the iPad version of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Read more...
Extreme mobility: Tools and tips for smartphone-only travel
After more than 20 years of dragging a notebook computer around whenever I traveled, I finally told myself that enough is enough. On two recent business trips, I joined the small but growing number of travelers who eschew a laptop in favor of a smaller, lighter device.
I could have opted for an iPad or an Android tablet, which would have lightened my load somewhat while providing a 7-to-10-in. screen. But that's an intermediary approach that would still require carrying a phone in addition to the tablet, probably shaving only a few pounds off my travel weight. I decided to go all the way to the light side and see if I could travel with just a smartphone. Call it extreme mobility. Read more...
How IBM manages 80,000 bring-your-own devices
IBM CIO Jeanette Horan has plenty of IT projects and systems to worry about, but perhaps one of the most pressing and timely is Big Blue's ongoing BYOD (bring your own device) rollout, which is aimed at including all of the company's 440,000 employees over time.
The IBM workforce is "hugely mobile," with many working at client sites, home offices, and other locations outside corporate buildings, Horan said in a recent interview at IBM's office in Cambridge, Mass. IBM has long had a corporate managed mobile phone plan that historically has focused on BlackBerrys, she said. Read more...
Google’s Schmidt says devices, apps need to be friends
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told an audience at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the future of technology will be getting all the electronics in our lives to friend each other.
Schmidt, speaking before a standing-room-only crowd at the show in Las Vegas Tuesday afternoon, said devices aren't living up to their full potential unless they're connected. That ecosystem includes devices, operating systems, applications and content.
"Computing devices without a network are lonely," he said. "You really want to be able to walk into your house and, through your Android device, have all the devices in your house adjust because you've walked in. The TV should know that you've come in and turn on to your favorite show."
And the growth of that digital ecosystem is the future that Schmidt envisions.
"Think of these as peer-to-peer devices that talk to each other," he added. "It should become seamless." Read more...
FCC approves first white spaces database, device
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved the first database of unlicensed wireless spectrum that can be used by new so-called white spaces devices.
The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology on Thursdat also approved a device from KTS (Koos Technical Services) that can operate in the white spaces, which are unused bands in the area of spectrum used by television stations. The KTS device will operate in conjunction with the approved white spaces database, from Spectrum Bridge.
KTS makes a broadband transmitter device designed to operate in the white spaces. Read more...
Microsoft: We can remotely delete Windows 8 apps
Microsoft will be able to throw a "kill switch" to disable or even remove an app from users' Windows 8 devices, the company revealed in documentation released earlier this week for its upcoming Windows Store.
Kill switches -- so called because a simple command can deactivate or delete an app -- are common in mobile app stores. Both Apple and Google can flip such a switch for apps distributed by the iOS App Store and Android Market, respectively.
In the Windows Store terms of use, Microsoft made it clear that it can pull the kill switch at its discretion. Read more...
Intel, Micron double density of NAND flash memory
Intel and Micron Tuesday announced that their joint NAND flash manufacturing venture will begin using a more dense circuitry that will allow a terabit of data, or 128 gigabytes, to fit on a fingertip.
The joint venture, IMFT (IM Flash Technologies), said today it has created the world's first 20nm (nanometer), 128Gbit MLC (multilevel-cell) NAND flash die.
The new 20nm chips have the highest capacity for their form factor of any in the market today and are targeted for use in tablets, smartphones, and other consumer electronic devices.
The die doubles the capacity of the venture's 25nm lithography process, which has been used to make the 64Gbit dies used in today's SSDs (solid-state drives), tablets, and smartphones. Read more...
Plan your vacation: Androidland opens in Australia
For all of its technical geekiness, the Android is fun. There is always an exciting new phone around the corner that trumps the last one and if you’re tech-savvy, you can have a different phone every day by flashing new ROMs and installing new launchers. It’s only fitting that now Android has its own playground. Androidland, the world’s first Android-themed store, has opened in Australia.
The store is the result of a collaboration between Australian carrier Telstra, Google, and device manufacturers Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and LG. Androidland is technically a single department in Telstra’s flagship store, rather than a stand-alone shop, but we won’t hold that against it. Read more...
Cyanogenmod 7 port coming to Kindle Fire this weekend
That d
idn’t take long: over two weeks after its release, the Kindle Fire will be running Cyanogenmod 7 this weekend. Official CM7 support will have to wait, but an independent developer, JackpotClavin, has nearly completed a fully functional CM7 ROM for the Kindle Fire. He has been running the (almost) bug-free firmware for several days, and expects a public release by this Sunday.
Cyanogenmod, from Cyanogen and Team Douche, is a popular Android custom firmware. Cyanogenmod ROMs are built straight from Google’s source code; the software lets owners of manufacturer-skinned devices run a more pure version of Android. It is among the most stable of custom Android ROMs, with extra performance-boosting and power-conserving options. Cyanogenmod 7 is the team’s version of Gingerbread. Read more...