E-commerce giant Alibaba Group hasn’t given up on its mobile OS, and is taking the software to China’s rural markets through a series of low-cost phones.The company has partnered with mobile carrier China Telecom to sell the YunOS handsets. The eight phones will be built by lesser-known Chinese brands, and will range from 299 yuan (US$49) to 699 yuan.Although Alibaba has its own Android apps that connect to its popular e-commerce stores, the Linux-based YunOS comes with a whole suite of company-developed services.The software, however, hasn’t gained much share in the market. In 2012, Google claimed it was a variant of its Android OS, sparking a clash that threatened to derail Alibaba’s effort to popularize the mobile OS.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It was a marriage of convenience for two industry giants whose past successes weren’t helping them win in the red-hot smartphone market. One year later, it’s hard to say that Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s device business has produced the results its backers envisioned.In the wake of the US$7.2 billion acquisition, Lumia smartphones and the Windows Phone OS are still running into many of the same market roadblocks.But Microsoft isn’t throwing in the towel, and has high hopes that its phone business will get a major boost from Windows 10, which is meant to create an environment where users can move easily between desktops, tablets and their smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It was a marriage of convenience for two industry giants whose past successes weren’t helping them win in the red-hot smartphone market. One year later, it’s hard to say that Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s device business has produced the results its backers envisioned.
In the wake of the US$7.2 billion acquisition, Lumia smartphones and the Windows Phone OS are still running into many of the same market roadblocks.
But Microsoft isn’t throwing in the towel, and has high hopes that its phone business will get a major boost from Windows 10, which is meant to create an environment where users can move easily between desktops, tablets and their smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
ZenbookAt first glance, you might mistake the ASUS ZenBook UX305 as a dark-gray edition of the 13-inch MacBook Air. It shares nearly the same design cues and size, but is thinner than the Apple notebook is at its thickest point, and weighs less. It also beats many of the current 13-inch MacBook Air’s hardware specs. And it costs less -- a whole lot less – at $699, compared to $999 for the MacBook Air.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.CudaEye Local+Key features – CudaEye is a cloud-managed IP surveillance solution that offers many choices to fit the needs of customers. CudaEye delivers quality real-time and archived video directly to browsers and mobile devices. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ever since the Apple Watch was unveiled, back in September, there's been a lot of discussion surrounding how the device might withstand water. In the months leading up to the actual Apple Watch release, there were a few reports indicating that the device was not waterproof, but rather water resistant. Which is to say, getting a few splashes of water on the device won't ruin it but it's not something you'd want to go swimming with.Now that the Apple Watch is on store shelves, or available for pre-order to be more exact, the inevitable wave of amateur Apple Watch durability testing has begun. And, as luck would have it, Apple Watch users will be glad to know that their new wearable is much more water friendly than anyone initially assumed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Ever since the Apple Watch was unveiled back in September, there's been a lot of discussion surrounding how the device might withstand water. In the months leading up to the actual Apple Watch release, there were a few reports indicating that the device was not waterproof, but rather water-resistant. Which is to say, getting a few splashes of water on the device won't ruin it, but it's not something you'd want to go swimming with.Now that the Apple Watch is on store shelves, or available for pre-order to be more exact, the inevitable wave of amateur Apple Watch durability testing has begun. And, as luck would have it, Apple Watch users will be glad to know that their new wearable is much more water-friendly than most initially assumed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Apple Watch's sensor may hold more health monitoring functions than Apple has revealed, including measuring blood oxygen levels, a feature that's not enabled on the device and that Apple hasn't talked about.That's one of the findings from iFixIt, which disassembled an Apple Watch Sport Edition on the day the wearables started shipping to customers.U.S. government regulations may prevent Apple from allowing the watch to capture blood oxygen data, according to iFixIt, whose website lets people offer each other advice on how to fix a variety of things, including computer hardware. The site is also known for breaking apart Apple's new products as soon as they go on sale.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Just in case you've been curious about Google's new Project Fi wireless service but haven't wanted to get on yet another Google list, I've done the dirty work for you and asked for an invite for myself.After I sent along my gmail address and zip code to ensure Google Fi would be offered in my area (and yes, apparently I'm in 4G heaven), Google was quick to reply, within a few minutes. Below you can see what the invite reply looks like, and if you'd like to apply, here's where to go on the Google Fi site.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I am sure there are dozens of time/project management apps out there for iOS, but for me, there is only one - OmniFocus. In fact, I am sure there are many cheaper ones out there too. OmniFocus needs to be purchased for your Mac and iPhone/iPad separately, but I have discovered it is worth every penny. And admittedly, you could certainly try and proceed with only the app on only of your platforms. OmniFocus follows the GTD method for project management, which is simply Getting Things Done. This is a perfect system for me since I am one of those who is doing an awful lot over three major areas in my life: family/personal, work, and extra income. Of course, OmniFocus allows me to setup projects across these three major areas. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Project Fi, Google's Wi-Fi and cellular network service announced Wednesday, can variously be described as low-cost, disruptive, cutting edge, tantalizing, confusing, even awesome.Google is offering the lowest entry-level wireless price plan in the U.S. at $30 a month. That sum includes $20 for talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering and international coverage in 120 countries plus $10 for 1 GB of data. The plan adds $10 a month for each additional 1 GB of data thereafter. Google is partnering with Sprint and T-Mobile for the cellular service.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Comcast: Let’s call the whole thing offJust one day after a U.S. regulator was said to be calling for hearings on the proposed $45 billion merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable come reports that Comcast is ready to abandon the tie-up, and may make an announcement on Friday. The combined companies would control more than half of the broadband Internet access market in the U.S.—a market where customers already grumble about their lack of choice, and pay more for less than people in virtually every other developed country. The omens for gaining regulatory approval have been darkening: not only did the Federal Communications Commission want hearings on the matter, but the Department of Justice, which monitors antitrust issues, was also apparently not a fan of the deal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you feel like you need eyes in the back of your head, there’s a crowdsourcing app for that.Zensors is a smartphone application that can monitor an area of interest by using a camera, crowdsourced workers and artificial intelligence.Developed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Rochester, the idea behind Zensors is to use any camera in a fixed location to detect changes in what’s being monitored—for instance whether a pet’s food bowl is empty—and automatically notify users.The developers say it’s a cheap, accessible way to add sensors to the environment, part of the move toward building smart homes and smart cities.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This week's unveiling of Google's Project Fi, the search-messaging-phone-collaboration-broadband company's effort to shake up the wireless market in order to encourage people to use more of its services, has generated widespread reaction even though relatively few people will be eligible to use the service out of the gate.The general consensus seems to be that Google's latest experiment isn't revolutionary (for example, "Meh: Google launches disappointing Project Fi MVNO"). No, it isn't the first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to let you pay only for the data you use or bop between WiFi and cellular. But it still has the potential to mess with the biggest wireless service providers' status quo.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Enterprise software vendors are betting the Apple Watch will find a use in the business world and this week announced apps for the smartwatch, which will become available to consumers on Friday.While many of the initial Apple Watch business apps carry out the same functions of their iPhone counterparts, companies emphasized that glancing at your wrist to obtain information is easier than reaching for a smartphone.Blue Jean Networks created an app that reminds people about upcoming meetings and shows them their meeting schedule. The app, which works in conjunction with the company’s cloud-based video conferencing service, also has features that are designed specifically for the watch, like a function that counts down the time until a person’s next meeting and the ability to access a meeting by pressing the watch’s face. Like all Apple Watch apps, Blue Jeans’ app, which was announced today, must be paired with an iPhone to work.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If there are any overriding trends at work in the enterprise-software market today, consumerization and mobile would have to be among the biggest. Vendors large and small have been racing to add such features to their products, and Thursday brought a fresh example: Salesforce for HR, a new tool that aims to give employees a personalized experience via mobile and social capabilities.Built on a foundation of cloud, social, mobile and data-science technologies, Salesforce for HR taps Salesforce’s Customer Success Platform and is designed to complement existing HR-focused systems with a number of tools designed to help companies and employees connect.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Almost all current or perspective users of smartwatches and other wearable technologies want to use them for work, according to a Harris Poll survey commissioned by MDM vendor MobileIron.The survey, which covered 3,500 workers who use mobile devices for work in the U.S., western Europe and Japan, found that 94% of those who either owned or were planning to own a wearable would want to use them for work tasks.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Review: Docker Swarm soars, and the sky's the limit | Insider threats force balance between security and access +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
For prospective borrowers who have no credit history, a common problem for immigrants whose credit starts anew when they move to the U.S., economists and startups are using metadata from smartphones to see how reliable a borrower is in other areas of their lives to help determine their likelihood of paying back a loan.A recent article in the New Scientist cites research conducted by Brown University economist Daniel Björkegren and the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab which involved combing through cellphone data of 3,000 borrowers from a Haitian bank to identify such trends as how often they pay their cellphone bills, how quickly they return important phone calls, and travel behavior based on location data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
An elegant new iPhone 7 design concept blends an advanced Apple smartphone with a key component of the new Apple Watch, resulting in something of a Brangelina of tech gadgets.Italy's Antonio De Rosa contributed his iPhone 7 design concept to the Behance portfolio site, where he takes on the challenge "to improve something that is already perfect" in the iPhone. + MORE: Why the gold Apple Watch costs $10K +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As Apple ships its first pre-order smartwatches to customers this week, a new people-analytics survey indicates that more than half of workers would consider wearing an enterprise-supplied smartwatch if it provided a better work environment.PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, surveyed over 2,000 adults in the UK and found that 40% would wear technology supplied by their employer.However, the number rose to over half, at 56%, if the information gathered was used to make the work environment better.Big Brother
As one might imagine, trust was a big sticking point for the idea of an enterprise-supplied smartwatch. There was resistance to sharing data, in part because employees think the data will be used against them "in some way." A significant 41% of respondents said they were worried about this.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here