Just two days before Samsung's launch of the Galaxy S8 on Wednesday, the company announced it will consider using some recalled Galaxy Note7 smartphones for re-sale as refurbished or as rental phones.One analyst bashed the plan as "disastrous," while another said Samsung is performing a "balancing act" following the Note7 fallout when some units overheated and caught fire.Samsung also said in a statement on Monday that it could detach salvageable components from the Note7s for reuse. It may also extract metals like copper, gold, silver and nickel from the devices using environmentally friendly methods.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nearly three-quarters of Android devices on the five biggest U.S. carriers are running on security patches that are at least two months old, putting them at greater risk of being hacked.That finding was made in an analysis released Thursday by Skycure, a mobile threat defense vendor. The report also found that the city of Boston has had the biggest recent increase in smartphone and other wireless device threats — including malicious attacks — among 11 major U.S. cities. Incidents in Boston climbed by 960% in the fourth quarter of 2016. The analysis is based on millions of readings from network sensors that Skycure monitors globally.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The two biggest cities in the U.S. -- New York City and Los Angeles -- continue to rank well below many smaller U.S. cities in overall wireless performance, according to millions of field tests performed by RootMetrics in the second half of 2016.The New York metro area, with 18 million people, ranked just 66th in the latest round of tests of the nation's largest 125 metro areas. Meanwhile, L.A., with 12.1 million people, ranked 49th. In testing done by RootMetrics in the first half of last year, New York finished 59th, L.A., 99th.[ Further reading: The votes are in: Which mobile data provider is best? ]
L.A. improved in two of six measurements: call and data performance. New York's drop was largely driven by a "steep decline" in network speed and data performance, RootMetrics said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Another sizeable payment card data breach has been discovered at a U.S. restaurant chain.In the latest example, several high-end eateries run by Select Restaurants in Cleveland were the victims of fraudulent cards used by customers at its restaurants, according to a report posted Thursday on KrebsOnSecurity, a reliable site written by reporter Brian Krebs. Krebs said he learned about the case from anti-fraud teams at multiple financial institutions investigating "a great deal of fraud on cards used at a handful of high-end restaurants around the country."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Another sizeable payment card data breach has been discovered at a U.S. restaurant chain.In the latest example, several high-end eateries run by Select Restaurants in Cleveland were the victims of fraudulent cards used by customers at its restaurants, according to a report posted Thursday on KrebsOnSecurity, a reliable site written by reporter Brian Krebs. Krebs said he learned about the case from anti-fraud teams at multiple financial institutions investigating "a great deal of fraud on cards used at a handful of high-end restaurants around the country."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Augmented and virtual reality are catching on, even if it is still early days for both.While some analysts at Strategy Analytics worry there aren't enough engaging 360-degree VR movies and other content on the market, IDC analysts on Thursday said there are plenty of early business-focused rollouts of AR to justify optimism.[ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ]
IDC pointed to medical, industrial and marketing applications already in use and predicted a bullish, 10-fold spike for AR and VR headsets by 2021.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The question of how the electronics industry recycles or disposes of old batteries came up again due to a Greenpeace protest of Samsung at Mobile World Congress this week.Greenpeace protestors appeared at a Samsung press event in Barcelona on Sunday carrying and erecting banners outside the venue; the group urged reuse and recycling of old batteries.Greenpeace said in a statement that it was demanding Samsung reuse and recycle the 4.3 million Galaxy Note7 batteries that were recalled last year after reports that some of the lithium ion batteries overheated and caught fire.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Venerable smartphone brands Motorola, Nokia and BlackBerry got new life at Mobile World Congress 2017, but that was primarily due to the influence of Chinese and Finnish manufacturers that have licensed the names.One new Android smartphone, the BlackBerry KEYone, was launched by TCL Communication, based in Huizhou, China. The phone has both a touchscreen and a physical keyboard, with 52 keys that can be used as shortcuts to find apps and functions. It goes on sale in April for $549.HMD Global of Espoo, Finland, launched three budget Android phones under the Nokia brand — the Nokia 3, 5 and 6, starting at $147 with screens ranging from 5 inches to 5.5 inches in size. A 2000 classic handset was revised — the Nokia 3310 — but with a slimmer size and a color screen.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Moscow has rolled out new technologies to make the city safer, including 160,000 outdoor cameras focused on traffic and areas of possible crime.The effort is one of the largest municipal camera installations in Europe. Moscow, with 12 million residents, has installed enough cameras in the last 18 months to rival the number of traffic and public cameras used in London. There, the use of CCTV cameras ignited a public outcry over privacy invasions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Homeowners worried about cybersecurity attacks on IP-connected devices like lights, baby monitors, home security systems and cameras, will soon be able to take advantage of a $200 network monitoring device called Dojo.The device was shown at Mobile World Congress here this week and will go on sale online in April. While the Dojo device isn’t intended to provide enterprise-level security, it could be used to help, in a small way, in warding off massive attacks like the one that used the Mirai botnet which took advantage of unsecure, consumer-grade cameras and other devices last October.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Homeowners worried about cybersecurity attacks on IP-connected devices like lights, baby monitors, home security systems and cameras, will soon be able to take advantage of a $200 network monitoring device called Dojo.The device was shown at Mobile World Congress here this week and will go on sale online in April. While the Dojo device isn’t intended to provide enterprise-level security, it could be used to help, in a small way, in warding off massive attacks like the one that used the Mirai botnet which took advantage of unsecure, consumer-grade cameras and other devices last October.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Mobile payments made in different parts of the globe were an important theme at Mobile World Congress this week, with leaders Visa and Mastercard announcing new services.Visa on Monday announced one of the most unusual approaches, one that relies primarily on older QR code technology through its mVisa payment service. It went live Monday for merchants and customers in India, Kenya and Rwanda and will soon be available in Egypt, Pakistan and a few other developing countries.The service allows merchants and consumers to make payments via a mobile phone and a QR code kept at each merchant's store location. Visa said the flexible nature of QR codes means that merchants do not need to invest in costly point-of-sale infrastructure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- LG on Sunday introduced the G6 smartphone with a 5.7-in. display in a new 18:9 aspect ratio that is designed to enhance videos and game play.
The phone also comes with a bigger 3300 mAh battery -- 500 mAh more than the LG G5 -- that includes heat pipes to dissipate heat, similar to the way some laptops disperse heat. Battery heat is a current concern of smartphone makers, especially after Samsung Note7 Lithium Ion batteries overheated last year, prompting a worldwide recall of the devices.
The G6 looks to solve the dilemma of smartphone users who want both a large screen and a small enough handset to be used with one hand, LG officials said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- BlackBerry phones with their physical keyboards were around years before the iPhone emerged in 2007. Yet, BlackBerry devices today command less than 1% of the world's smartphone market.Under a licensing deal with BlackBerry of Canada announced last year, TCL Communication of China on Saturday announced another physical keyboard smartphone model called the BlackBerry KEYone.In a bid to recall the glory days of BlackBerry, the KEYone features a 4.5-in. touchscreen as well as 52 raised physical keys in four rows at the bottom and a speedy SnapDragon 625 processor.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- Samsung promoted its smartphone device testing and upgraded safety review processes during a major press event prior to Mobile World Congress on Sunday, almost without mentioning the disastrous Galaxy Note7 by name.That was the infamous smartphone that Samsung recalled globally -- to the tune of 3 million devices -- after lithium ion batteries inside some units short-circuited, overheated and even caught fire. Samsung instituted an 8-step battery safety check process in January in reaction to the recall.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BARCELONA -- The big themes of Mobile World Congress (MWC) so far center around the internet of things, artificial intelligence and 5g wireless.
But you can add in more than 35 new smartphones and a smattering of products and services related to just about anything in wireless communications and mobility.
There are 100,000 visitors at MWC this year and thousands of vendors. Something, it seems, for everybody.
Major companies like Samsung have mega-booths, but there are some thematic exhibits too, like the GSM Association's Innovation City, which focuses heavily on smart city-related tech.
AT&T has set up an exhibit also showing off smart city tech, including a light pole equipped with sensors that can communicate to public safety and traffic officials about road, parking and pedestrian conditions. Sensors can also be installed to monitor air pollution, weather or the sound of gunshots.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon was named the "undisputed leader" for U.S. wireless coverage and network reliability for the second half of 2016 at the city, state and national levels, based on millions of field tests conducted by RootMetrics.Verizon benefited from its LTE-Advanced service started in summer of 2016, which provided a significant boost to Verizon's download speeds, RootMetrics said in a report released Thursday.Separately, Verizon announced on Wednesday that it will deliver 5G wireless service to pilot customers in 11 cities by mid-2017. Those cities include Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Seattle and Washington.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon was named the "undisputed leader" for U.S. wireless coverage and network reliability for the second half of 2016 at the city, state and national levels, based on millions of field tests conducted by RootMetrics.Verizon benefited from its LTE-Advanced service started in summer of 2016, which provided a significant boost to Verizon's download speeds, RootMetrics said in a report released Thursday.Separately, Verizon announced on Wednesday that it will deliver 5G wireless service to pilot customers in 11 cities by mid-2017. Those cities include Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Seattle and Washington.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Several new high-profile Android smartphones are expected to launch this weekend in advance of Mobile World Congress, which opens Monday in Barcelona.Analysts and published reports have said these new Android smartphones will include: the BlackBerry DTEK70 (through a license with TCL); the LG G6; Moto G5 (the Motorola brand is owned by Lenovo); Nokia 8/P1 ( HMD holds the Nokia brand); Sony Xperia X2; the Huawei P10; and at least one model from HTC.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Unlimited data plans, like the one announced this week by Verizon, are mostly irrelevant to large businesses that negotiate lower prices with carriers for large pools of data, voice and text for hundreds of workers.But smaller businesses -- say, those with fewer than 50 workers -- could benefit from an unlimited plan, especially if they don't have an assigned telecom manager who manages wireless contracts."Smaller organizations that don't have the staff or capacity to manage their mobility budgets could benefit" from an unlimited plan, said Michael Nziolek, vice president of strategic consulting at Tangoe, a telecom expense management consultancy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Matt Hamblen