Given that Apple sold 61 million iPhones in its most recent quarter and that the iPhone 6 Plus now dominates the U.S. market for phablets with 5.5-inch screens or bigger, you might think Apple could coast for a spell, and that rumors of the iPhone 6S or iPhone 7 would be overkill. But no, the rumor mills cranks along.Your Brain on iPhone 7
Noka Productions
Some people are really into the iPhone, and the filmmakers at Noka Productions think the iPhone 7 could literally be into you.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
You’re sitting in your office (or cube) and it’s kinda drab. You need something to brighten it up and I have just what you might want: Lamps. But these are no ordinary lamps, these are LED lamps called Notti and Dotti produced by Witti Design which you can program from your smartphone and they are kind of eccentric.
The Notti is a white truncated prism (100mm high by 75mm wide by 60mm deep) with rechargeable batteries. It can be programmed via an iOS or Android app and connects via Bluetooth BLE. The Notti can continuously change color, change color according to the music being played on your smartphone, stay on a fixed color, gradually brighten in alarm mode to wake you up, or light up when your smartphone receives a message or you get an incoming call. The battery lasts 720+ hours in notification mode (off until a notification event occurs) or 5+ hours in continuous mode.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There's been talk for years of a more accurate Global Positioning System. The current GPS system tells you roughly where you are, but it's only accurate to within a few feet. That vagueness means that although it's fine for mapping, it isn't good enough for narrowly targeted proximity or geo-fencing that can be used in e-commerce.Existing GPS has been used in toll-road billing, and has been fine-tuned for surveying with large, expensive antennas, but it's currently not much good for tracking customers as they choose a concert seat, for example.Galileo
The European Space Agency is building a new, highly-accurate system called Galileo that they say will be fully functional by about 2020.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
While Google is known for a multitude of technologies, including search and cloud services, it's the Android mobile development platform that will take center stage at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco the last week in May.Sessions at the conference will spotlight a multitude of topics related to Android, including Android application architecture, the Android Backup feature for backing data, Android Wear wristwatches, Android Auto, and TV technologies and application testing.[ Get the best office productivity apps for your Android device, and explore 12 great Lollipop APIs every Android developer will love. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Computing newsletter. ]
"One of the reasons over a billion users love Android is that they get to pick the device that's just right for them," reads one conference session description. "This can make it harder to test on all of your users' devices before release. Apps that are tested thoroughly get better reviews and make more money (fact!). We're here to help -- hear about the new ways Google can help maximize the success of your next app launch with cheaper and easier testing strategies."To read this article Continue reading
This week when ZTE launched its latest phone, the Z9, the Chinese company wasn’t embarrassed to reveal its high price.The cutting-edge device will retail in the country starting at 3499 yuan (US$574), which is far more than the cost of low-end handsets that have flooded store shelves, and turned China into the world’s largest smartphone market.For years, Chinese handset vendors have been competing in the local market by offering cheap products that most people can afford. Prices have continually gone down, as rival companies have sought to undercut one another with Android phones at 599 yuan or even lower.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nintendo expects that its new games for smartphones, built in partnership with Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA, will help boost sales of its consoles, as users “become familiar with the charms of video games.”The Japanese gaming console maker expects smartphones users will want to explore more premium experiences on its dedicated game systems, President Satoru Iwata said in a presentation posted to the company website Friday.To aid that shift, the company is working on an integrated membership service that aims to provide a bridge between smart devices and consoles, including the upcoming game system code-named NX, by allowing a consumer to access multiple devices and services with a single ID, Iwata said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fitbit, the maker of wearable activity trackers, has filed to go public and revealed some strong sales numbers in its pitch.The company seeks to raise as much as US$100 million, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday, though the amount is subject to change. Fitbit plans to list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIT.”The filing reveals what seems to be a healthy business. The company sold roughly 10.9 million devices in 2014, more than double what it sold in 2013 and more than eight times as many as it sold in 2012.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It will be one of the largest gatherings of flying WWII aircraft in history as 56 famous vintage warbirds will fly through restricted airspace over the National Mall Friday in remembrance of the 70th anniversary of VE-Day or Victory in Europe Day.The huge flyover, dubbed the “The Arsenal of Democracy,” of so many different types of aircraft – from seaplanes to fighters and the only flying B-29 Superfortress – was no easy undertaking. Reuters
P-38 Lightning (right); P-51 (left)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Lyft is looking to better compete against larger rival Uber through a partnership with Verizon Wireless.Lyft’s ride-hailing app will now come preloaded on select Verizon Android smartphones, under a national partnership with the carrier that Lyft is announcing Thursday. The change will go into effect immediately for the newest Android smartphones, Lyft said. It didn’t specify which handsets are included. The partnership does not change the way Lyft’s app works.The deal, the first of its kind between the companies, will get Lyft’s app in front of more potential users. Lyft’s service, which lets people request rides through their smartphones, is currently available in 65 cities across the U.S. Uber is active in more than 300 cities and nearly 60 countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With Apple offering its own tool for developers to see how their apps are selling, pressure is on specialist vendors to improve their offerings. On Wednesday, App Annie announced it had acquired mobile measurement company Mobidia to do just that.Last week Apple started sending out invites to test a beta version of its App Analytics tool.Even if Apple isn’t competing directly with paid services and tools from the likes of App Annie, Appsee and Yahoo-owned Flurry, the company’s entry will have an effect on the market.The features Apple offers are pretty basic, covering app installs, retention and in-app revenue, and are only compatible with iOS.However, Apple’s entry shows how the app analytics market is maturing and becoming a more integrated part of smartphone OS developer portals. As products from Apple and Google improve, stand-alone tools have to become increasingly advanced to remain relevant.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Chinese authorities visited an Uber office in the country on Wednesday, just a week after another company office faced a local police raid over its ride-hailing service.Local authorities came to Uber’s office in the Chinese city of Chengdu, Uber confirmed in en email. But the visit was “routine,” it added.“There are no disruptions to the Uber platform, and it’s business as usual,” the company said.Chengdu authorities have opened an investigation against Uber, but its office has not been closed, according to local media. Uber did not elaborate, and Chengdu’s Transportation Committee could not be immediately reached for comment.The visit follows a police raid of an Uber office in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, reportedly for letting private drivers use the ride-hailing service without proper qualifications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The National Football League's long-awaited Investigative "Report Concerning Footballs Used During the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015" concludes it is "more probable than not" that New England Patriots personnel violated league rules and that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was not in the dark about it."Based on the evidence developed in connection with the investigation and summarized in this Report, we have concluded that it is more probable than not that New England Patriots personnel participated in violations of the NFL Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate attempt to circumvent those rules," the so-called Wells Report concludes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Japan has a problem. In a nation of 120 million people and falling, 33 million people, one-quarter of its total population, are over 65. Many of these elderly are disconnected from family or just want to maintain their independence, but Japan doesn't have anywhere near enough healthcare workers to tend to these ageing people, and given its xenophobia, the government isn't keen on letting in foreign workers to fill the gaps.The solution? An iPad with some IBM apps. Company CEOs Tim Cook and Virginia Rometty met in New York City along with the CEO of Japan Post Group to announce the initiative to help Japan's seniors better deal with everyday issues and connect with healthcare providers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Will bezel-less phones be the next big thing?China’s ZTE certainly thinks so. On Wednesday, the company’s Nubia brand unveiled the Z9, a product that comes without the black border found on so many smartphone screens.I had a chance to try out the device, and found both pros and cons with the product. On the plus side, the Z9 truly is a bezel-free device. The 5.2-inch screen extends across the glass surface from edge to edge, where it curves down to meet the phone’s protective metal frame.As a result, the phone does feel a bit more compact in terms of its width, which measures 68.3mm (2.7 inches). Some might be concerned that the lack of bezels will make the phone hard to use. Touchscreens, after all, tend to be sensitive, and any over-gripping could be misread as actual inputs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
NASA this week said it would look to the public for cool ideas on how to build a sustainable environment on Mars with the best plan earning as much as $5,000.With the Journey to Mars Challenge, NASA wants applicants to describe one or more Mars surface systems or capabilities and operations that are needed to set up and establish a technically achievable, economically sustainable human living space on the red planet. Think air, water, food, communications systems and the like.+More on Network World: 15 reasons why Mars is one hot, hot, hot planet+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The 90's nostalgia bubble is actually producing something useful – the return of Snake, the classic game made popular on some of Nokia's earliest popular cellphones.The Verge reported today that the mobile game's original creator, former Nokia design engineer Taneli Armanto, has partnered with Finnish video game studio Rumilus Design for Snake Rewind, which will feature updated graphics and gameplay, including a new feature that seems like heresy – "the ability to rewind if you crash your snake," according to the report. Where I come from, if you crash the Snake, you're out.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tech pundits and Apple fanboys/fangirls have shared their views on the new Apple Watch in recent weeks, but The Fine Brothers bring you the only review you really need to see: A seven-and-a-half-minute YouTube videos in which kids have their say.This is a twist on the usual Fine Brothers videos, as they usually try to stump today's youth with yesterday's technology, as they did here with Walkmans ("Video makers torture kids with unexplained Walkmans"). One kid says he's speechless upon identifying the Apple Watch, but the rest are certainly not....To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
With Apple gearing up to launch a revamped Beats music service at WWDC, The Verge is reporting that Apple is already aggressively trying to defeat some longstanding competition.Specifically, Apple is supposedly trying to convince music labels to stop supporting Spotify's free tier of streaming music. As a quick refresher, Spotify Premium members can pay $9.99 for unlimited on-demand music streaming while the free tier offers users a more limited offering with ads.What's more, Apple has reportedly gone so far as try and persuade music labels to drop their support for YouTube's music licensing program. To sweeten the deal, Apple has allegedly offered "to pay YouTube's music licensing fee to Universal Music Group of the label stopped allowing its songs on YouTube."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Around Mars the space traffic really isn’t all that bad – five spacecraft vying for hundreds of miles or open cosmos around the planet – but serious space traffic control is still necessary to prevent a collision.NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which controls the airspace around the red planet this week said it implemented formal collision-avoidance technology that will keep the current and future orbiters a safe distance from each other and warn the scientists if two orbiters approach each other too closely.+More on Network World: Graphene is hot, hot, hot+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Sprint held on -- barely -- as the nation's third-largest carrier in the first quarter of 2015, with T-Mobile continuing in fourth place.Sprint said today it had 57.1 million total connections to its network, compared to 56.8 million for T-Mobile, as reported last week.T-Mobile was expected to edge ahead of Sprint, given T-Mobile's aggressive growth in the past year.Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a conference call that T-Mobile CEO John Legere had spoken "prematurely" in statements he made last week about T-Mobile's improvement compared to Sprint.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 12 most powerful Internet of Things companies
Claure called out Sprint's addition of 1.2 million net customer in the quarter, up from 967,000 in the prior quarter, and net losses of 383,000 in the same quarter in 2014. He said those additions were the highest in nearly three years, while churn (losses) among postpaid customers dropped to 1.84% and network performance improved, "all of which will position the company for profitable growth."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here