Research In Motion's Co-CEOs Stepped Down Last Night, New CEO Named

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 23, 2012 02:28PM
Author: bp9801

Last night, while some of us were watching the NFL conference championship games came some rather huge news from the world of cell phones. Research In Motion (RIM), creator of the BlackBerry, announced its co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazardis, stepped down from their positions. Balsillie and Lazardis also stepped down from being co-chairman of RIM's Board of Directors, and announced COO Thorsten Heins will be the new CEO. This is a major shake up for RIM and should be a necessary step to return the company to its former glory. Many people had been calling for Balsillie and Lazardis to step down, especially when RIM no longer seemed committed to innovating in the smartphone segment. Apple and Goggle have both completely reshaped what mobile phones can be, and even though RIM purchased QNX in 2010 to improve its BlackBerry software, the implementation has taken far too long.

New RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has a tremendous task in front of him, and must steer the company back into the area it once held sway over. There have been some claims RIM would be acquired by another company, and considering RIM's impressive patent portfolio, could be an attractive option. Whatever happens with RIM, a new CEO is just the first step to turning things around.

ASUS Unveils B23E Laptop

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 22, 2012 09:22AM
Author: Nick Harezga

ASUS has unveiled a new laptop with a 12.5" screen, the B23E. The B23E is part of the ASUSPRO Ultraportable line, and its magnesium alloy and aluminum body give it strength while keeping it light. It will be powered by either an Intel i5 or i7 CPU, and will boast a resolution of 1366x768. It will also house 8GB of RAM, 750GB of hard drive space, a two megapixel camera, a DVD player, Express Card slot, and a finger print reader. The laptop that is geared toward the business user is expected to retail around $1000 for the i7 version.

Big Changes for Research in Motion?

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 17, 2012 05:05PM
Author: Nick Harezga

Research in Motion (RIM) has been a big presence in the smartphone market ever since it introduced the BlackBerry. However, the emergence of the iPhone and Android has been eroding its market share for years. Reports have RIM exploring a number of different possibilities to help weather the storm, including licensing its software, selling part of the company, or even selling the whole company. Samsung is rumored to be interested in purchasing the whole company, but a spokesman has said that Samsung isn't looking to purchase the whole company, but made no comments on buying part of the company or licensing its software. BlackBerry has a number of enterprise features and BlackBerry Messenger that give appeal to several options, especially for companies that may be looking to differentiate themselves in the crowded Android market.

iPad 3 Production Ramping Up

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 16, 2012 01:46PM
Author: Nick Harezga

According to Bloomberg, the manufacturing partners for the iPad 3 have begun to ramp up production this month, in anticipation for an expected product launch in March. The production should reach full volume at some point in February. The iPad 3 is expected to have an HD screen, faster processor, and be compatible with LTE networks. Apple wouldn't comment on the information, but several unnamed sources appear to have confirmed this information. The iPad 3 is being produced by Foxconn Technology Group, the same company that builds the iPhone, and factories have been running 24/7 in China.

The SpareOne: A Cell Phone Powered by One AA Battery

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 12, 2012 10:03PM
Author: edwardquilo

While that newfangled smartphone of yours might be able to do dozens of useful stuff like locate places, get the latest movie schedules, run games and access your social networks, constantly running all of these apps takes a huge toll on your phone's battery life. Enter the petite SpareOne phone: it's a no-frills, back-to-basics power efficient device that does what mobile phones were made for in the first place - make phone calls. Developed by the folks behind PowerSkin and Energizer, the single AA battery-powered phone reportedly maintains its charge for 15 years! Although that's going to be actually lower, considering that you are going to use the phone, after all. 

With a reported talk time of 10 hours and a $49.99 price, you might not be using the SpareOne phone for an Angry Birds playtime session, but you'll definitely appreciate the phone's power efficiency and affordability.

Samsung Series 7 Gamer Laptop Landing in the US

Category: Mobile
Posted: January 10, 2012 08:35PM
Author: bp9801

Samsung has never exactly targeted gamers with its laptop families, though its Series 7 Gamer laptops ended up changing that idea. The problem was, the Series 7 Gamer laptops were never available in the US, until now. During CES, Samsung announced its Series 7 Gamer laptops would be coming to the US, though it will only have one configuration at launch. The Series 7 Gamer will have an Intel Core i7 CPU, an AMD Radeon HD6970M GPU with 2GB of RAM, a 17" 1080p display, backlit keyboard, and JBL speakers. The European model also sports a Blu-ray drive and up to 16GB of RAM, though no word on exactly what the US version will have for either one. There will also be the usual USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet jack, and a card reader, plus there is an analog dial above the keyboard to let you switch between different power modes. The WASD cluster lights up as a different color to help you better distinguish it while gaming, but folks who use a different configuration will have to just make do.

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer laptop will be available in April for $1,799.

Cooler Master Releases Mobile Accessories

Category: Mobile
Posted: December 6, 2011 03:14PM
Author: Nick Harezga

Cooler Master is broadening its reach into a new market, mobile accessories, to go along with current markets such as cases and cooling. The Wake Up Folio is a cover for the iPad 2, and will protect both the screen and the case from scratches and other marks. Closing the cover will also put the iPad to sleep, providing an interesting power saving feature. The Wave Stand is an aluminum stand able to accommodate a multitude of tablets for a variety of viewing angles. The Power Fort 5600mAh is a mobile battery pack that can be charged through a USB connection. The Power Fort will then be able to charge your smartphone or tablet while on the go when you find yourself unable to get to a wall outlet. All of these accessories are available for purchase at the Cooler Master online store.

AT&T Withdraws FCC Application to Acquire T-Mobile

Category: Mobile
Posted: November 24, 2011 06:27PM
Author: bp9801

Earlier this year, AT&T announced its intentions to acquire T-Mobile to help expand its cellular coverage. T-Mobile and AT&T are both GSM carriers while Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, so the T-Mo/AT&T merger made sense from a logistics standpoint. The problem is that those four carriers are the four major carriers in the US, and the elimination of one could be seen as the creation of an AT&T monopoly, something it had had before that lead to it being broken up. There has been some opposition to the merger, but AT&T sent its application to the FCC for approval. Well, on Tuesday, the FCC sent the merger to an administrative law judge for review and ordered AT&T to prove acquiring T-Mobile is in the public's best interest. Now, AT&T has withdrawn its application to the FCC, but intends to resubmit it later when it is more practical. AT&T is also fighting off an antitrust lawsuit brought on by the Department of Justice, so it looks like the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile is on thin ice.

Treating a Burn – There’s an App For That

Category: Mobile, Science & Technology
Posted: November 17, 2011 01:23PM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

After being burned, it is very important for a patient to take in the correct amount of fluids. Often doctors will try to do the math involved on a piece of paper, but they have to be quick for best results. Together these two factors make errors very likely. Now from the University of Manchester comes Mersey Burns, an iPhone and iPad app that will do the math for you. By coloring in the burned areas on a virtual torso and entering the age and weight, the program will quickly give the value of fluids the burn victim needs. In testing the app, errors were reduced by one third, compared to traditional pen and paper technique.

Flash Player is Dead for Mobile Devices

Category: Mobile
Posted: November 10, 2011 04:52PM
Author: bp9801

It looks like Flash Player's run on one platform has come to an end, as Adobe has announced Flash Player is officially dead for mobile devices. The news should not be a terrible surprise to many, as the switch to HTML5 is slowly taking over everything Flash can do. Adobe says it will "aggressively contribute" to HTML5 since HTML5 can do everything Flash can and then some. The company will also push developers to work with Adobe AIR for a "more native experience," which should hopefully mean an easy transition to HTML5. Adobe will still work on Flash for computers, but there is no telling how long Flash will stay around. At this rate, with Flash no longer existing for mobile devices, the platform as a whole could be cooked.

NVIDIA Announces Quad-Core Tegra 3 Mobile Processor

Category: CPU's, Mobile
Posted: November 9, 2011 10:00AM
Author: Dale Shuck

NVIDIA has announced the world's first quad-core mobile processor designed to bring PC-class performance to mobiles devices such as phones and tablets. Formerly known by the code name 'Kal-El', the Tegra 3 processor provides up to three times the graphics performance of the predecessor Tegra 2 processor while also offering up to 61 percent lower power consumption.

Based on the ARM Cortex A9 CPU, the Tegra 3 implements Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing technology with four main cores designed for high-performance, 'heavy-lifting' tasks, with a fifth companion CPU core for the easy tasks which require little power. The four main cores also generally consume less power than dual-core processors. Uses where the companion core comes into play include listening to music and video playback. During these tasks, the Tegra 3 completely shuts down the four main cores.

All of this processing power is accompanied by a 12-core NVIDIA GeForce GPU that delivers more realism with dynamic lighting and high-resolution environment so the gaming experience on mobile device can be comparable to playing on a console. Tegra 3 also supports NVIDIA's 3D Vision technology so you can experience 3D when connected to a big screen TV via HDMI 1.4. Over 40 games are expected to become available by the end of 2011, with 15 Tegra 3 games now under development for Tegra Zone, the free Android Market with games optimized for the Tegra processor.

NVIDIA says the Tegra 3 is currently in production and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the first tablet to be developed using the Tegra 3 quad-core processor.

 

Additional YouTube content on the Tegra 3 can be found here:

NVIDIA Tegra 3: Fifth Companion Core
NVIDIA Tegra 3: Glowball Part 2
NVIDIA Tegra 3: Behind the Next-Gen Mobile Games

Sony Buys Out Ericsson's Stake in Joint Partnership

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 27, 2011 01:29PM
Author: bp9801

For the past ten years, Sony Ericsson has been making mobile phones as a mainly a creator of feature phones. Recently, the market has shifted towards smartphones, and Sony Ericsson has been one of the last major mobile companies to make that switch. Today, Sony has announced it has bought out Ericsson's stake in the joint partnership in order to better focus on smartphones. Sony plans to better integrate the smartphone aspect into the tablet, laptop, and gaming divisions, meaning a more unified approach can be applied to all. Ericsson will receive €1.05 billion in cash in exchange for its 50% stake of the company, and will work with Sony to set up a wireless connectivity initiative to "develop the market's adoption of connectivity across multiple platforms." The buyout will not finalize until January 2012, but basically means Sony will now focus more heavily on its Xperia line of Android smartphones.

Nokia Announces Lumia 800, its First Windows Phone

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 26, 2011 07:23AM
Author: bp9801

Earlier today, Nokia held its annual Nokia World event in London, and announced its first Windows Phone device. Dubbed the Lumia 800, this is the "first real Windows Phone" that will really show us what the platform can do. The Lumia 800 bears a striking similarity to the recently released N9, which runs on the ill-fated MeeGo OS, but the internals set it apart. It features a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and 25GB of SkyDrive storage. The Lumia 800 has a curved ClearBlack AMOLED screen running at 800x480, and has an eight megapixel camera on the rear with a Carl Zeiss lens. Nokia has included Nokia Drive, Nokia Music, and ESPN Sports Hub with the OS, which will be Windows Phone Mango. The phone will come in a few colors, but won't launch in the US until sometime next year.

The Nokia Lumia 800 will launch first in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and the UK in November. Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India will get it before the end of the year, while other markets, like North America, will get the phone starting next year. It will be priced at €420 (around $585) when it launches.

Introducing the Samsung Galaxy Nexus - The First Android 4.0 Device

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 18, 2011 07:48PM
Author: bp9801

Today, Samsung and Google held a press conference in Hong Kong to unveil a new smartphone. This smartphone would be the first device to use Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the OS build that would combine the 2.X smartphone and 3.X tablet builds into one cohesive system. The first smartphone running Ice Cream Sandwich has been revealed as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. It features a 4.65" Super AMOLED HD display running at 1280x720 that is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. The Galaxy Nexus features a curved design, like the Nexus S, but this time on a much larger scale. It is also running Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with no physical buttons below the screen. Instead, there are three digital buttons that can rotate with the display or even disappear altogether to not impede your view of that 4.65" screen. The phone has 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, a five megapixel rear camera (with LED flash) capable of 1080p video recording, a 1.3 megapixel front camera for video calls, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and Bluetooth 3.0. There is also an NFC chip for quick and easy payments, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, USB 2.0, an accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass, and a barometer. The battery is a 1,750mAh model, plus the Galaxy Nexus is capable of HSPA+ and LTE.

Android 4.0 really changes the game, as it brings a new look and feel to the Android experience you know and love. There is a redesigned user interface, improved multitasking and notifications, full NFC support, and a new People app to let you better browse and connect with your friends, family, or coworkers. Android 4.0 also offers Face Unlock, which will unlock the handset only when your face is detected by the front-facing camera. Android Beam makes use of the NFC chip to let you share websites, YouTube videos, contact information, games, and more simply by touching two phones together. Everything has been rethought concerning Android 4.0, which should promise an easier user experience no matter how technologically inclined you are.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be available in November for the US, European, and Asian markets. The US carrier is expected to be Verizon. More information, including price and a solid release date, will be revealed later.

Motorola Announces Droid RAZR, Exclusive to Verizon in US

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 18, 2011 05:30PM
Author: bp9801

Motorola held a press conference earlier today, where it revealed a new Android phone. Now, the phone may have leaked a little early last night, but that doesn't make the unveiling any less impressive. The new phone will be the Motorola Droid RAZR, and like the preceding phones to carry the RAZR name, this Android device is shockingly thin. It measures in at only 7.1mm thin, though the top part of the rear has a bump to hold the camera. The Droid RAZR is wrapped in Kevlar and features a 4.3" qHD Super AMOLED display coated in Corning Gorilla Glass, a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor, and 1GB of RAM. It also has 16GB of onboard storage and an included 16GB microSD card, an eight megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p video, a front-facing HD camera for video calls, and a 1,780mAh battery. The Droid RAZR is compatible with the Motorola Lapdock 100 and 500 Pro, granting you a larger screen and keyboard to better write documents on your phone.

The Droid RAZR runs on Android 2.3.5, though presumably it will be able to upgrade to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich later on. You will be able to stream Netflix on the Droid RAZR in HD, making it the first smartphone capable of that feat. Those TV shows and movies should look really spectacular on the qHD Super AMOLED screen, another first for a smartphone. MotoCast is included on the phone, which is a new personal cloud feature. You can stream videos, photos, documents, and music directly from a computer to the Droid RAZR, while business-minded folks will be able to use Citrix Receiver, Motorola Webtop, and videoconferencing abilities to keep up with employers and employees.

The Motorola Droid RAZR is a 4G LTE device, meaning it will be exclusive to Verizon in the US. It will also arrive in Canada on Rogers, but it will drop the LTE in favor of HSPA, which has a 14.4Mbps maximum. The Droid RAZR will ship with a ton of accessories and docks, and you will be able to pre-order it starting October 27th. The phone will arrive later in November.

Micrographs and Spectroscopy: There are Apps for That

Category: Mobile, Modding, Science & Technology
Posted: October 12, 2011 10:08AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

With their incredible abilities and world-wide data connection, smartphones are of great interest to researchers, especially in medicine. Presented at the Optical Society of America’s Annual Meeting are methods to use the camera on an iPhone to perform medical tests that can save lives in poor nations and emergency situations. Using a simple ball-lens to increase the light falling on the sensor, the camera can resolve detail down to 1.7 microns, which is enough to distinguish kinds of blood cells. Though such a lens normally costs $30-40, mass production would reduce the cost. Also developed, though still being perfected, is a spectrometer accessory, also for the camera, which may have the ability to determine the oxygen concentration within the blood and identify disease chemical markers. Any images collected this way in the field, can also be wirelessly sent to an expert for further analysis. These new tools could also be used in classrooms, to demonstrate to enrich science lessons.

Sprint to Offer Unlimited Data to iPhone Users

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 5, 2011 06:35PM
Author: bp9801

The iPhone 4S was just announced yesterday, and with it came the news that Sprint would be getting both it and the older iPhone 4. Many wondered if Sprint would also offer its unlimited data to iPhone users, especially since both Verizon and AT&T started off with unlimited data but then moved to a tiered structure. Well, today Sprint has confirmed that iPhone users on its network will get unlimited data, something I am sure many will be happy about. The $69.99 a month plan will include 450 minutes and unlimited data, meaning the iPhone will not be any different than any other 3G or 4G phone on Sprint. With this announcement, Sprint is the only carrier to have an iPhone and an unlimited data plan, which could mean people dissatisified with tiered data on the other two iPhone carriers may end up switching to the Now Network. The iPhone 4S will launch on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint October 14th.

Apple Kills Old App for New iPhone

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 5, 2011 08:07AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

At yesterday’s Apple press conference, one of the main items was the voice-control system called Siri. For those of you who do not follow iOS apps, Siri is not a new product but dates back over 18 months and was available for every iOS device. Apple bought Siri and then stopped releasing updates to it, but yesterday, before the end of the press conference, they took it offline. Siri uses servers to perform some of its functions but those were shutdown, making the app useless to those who already own and use it. The message which comes up when trying to use Siri states a newer, better version of the app is coming to the iPhone 4S. Until the release of the new phone though, it appears no one will have access to some of the wonderful functionality Apple stressed yesterday, and even then, the next form Siri takes may require the hardware found in the iPhone 4S.

Kindle Touch 3G Still Dependent on Wi-Fi

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 4, 2011 02:54PM
Author: Nick Harezga

The recently announced Kindle Touch 3G from Amazon will feature some basic web browsing capabilities. However, the 3G aspect will only be good for downloading purchased books and documents and browsing Wikipedia. This is likely due to the fact that Amazon subsidizes the 3G access, and any further capability would likely cost them more. Anyone that is looking to do any further browsing on their new Kindle will need to be on Wi-Fi. The 3G version of the Kindle Touch will set you back $149, while the Wi-Fi only version costs only $99. Potential buyers will have to decide if the ability to download books anywhere they have 3G is worth the price premium before the November 21 release date.

Apple iPhone Press Conference Reveals the iPhone 4S

Category: Mobile
Posted: October 4, 2011 10:59AM
Author: bp9801

In September, Apple announced it would be holding a press conference on October 4th. Well, today is that day and that means the Apple press conference is going strong, with new CEO Tim Cook handling the announcement duties. Cook started off by talking about the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. The Mac userbase has grown by 23% since last year, with 60 million people worldwide using a Mac. For the iPod, over 300 million iPods have been sold since it launched in 2001. The iPad is the number one tablet in the world, with 74% of the time a tablet is looked at, an iPad is purchased. For all iOS devices, Apple has sold over 250 million of them. That is a ton of market share.

This event, however, is all about the iPhone. The iPhone holds 43% of the US share of smartphone sales, plus customers have downloaded over 18 billion apps from the App Store. Yes, 18 billion apps and now the number sits at about one billion downloads a month. Next up was talk of iOS 5, which finally adds a notification system that allows new messages to appear in the upper left, similar to Android. There are several new features also announced for it, like iMessage, which is similar to BlackBerry Messenger, and new camera abilities. iOS 5 drops on October 12th, something I am sure many are looking forward to. Finally, we come to the heart of the announcement, and that is a new iPhone.

The new iPhone will be called the iPhone 4S, and it is twice as fast as the iPhone 4 thanks in part to the new A5 chip. It even has dual-core graphics that are said to be seven times faster than the previous iPhone. To illustrate how powerful the new graphics are, Epic Games' president Mike Capps was on stage to demo Infinity Blade II. The game is using several new enhancements that were first seen in the God of War series on the PS3, and Capps said that Infinity Blade II will only be playable on the iPhone 4S. The game will be available on December 1st. Back to the hardware, the iPhone 4S will feature eight hours of 3G talk time, six hours of 3G browsing or nine on WiFi, ten hours for video playback and 40 hours for music playback. The antennas have been improved, now featuring download speeds that are theoritically twice as fast as the iPhone 4. It has both a CDMA and GSM chip, meaning it will work on any cellular network in the US and the world.

The camera on the iPhone 4S has been improved and it is now an eight megapixel sensor. That enables it to compete with other recent phones as well as some digital cameras. It features a backside illuminated CMOS to allow in 73% more light, a hybrid IR filter for better colors, and a five element lens for sharper pictures. It features a mere 1.1 seconds to take your first photo and 0.5 seconds in between shots, making it the fastest smartphone camera around. The iPhone 4S can even shoot 1080p video with image stabilization. The iPhone 4S also features AirPlay Mirroring, letting you use an HDTV to view the action during a game. The iPhone 4S also features a much improved voice control system dubbed Siri. It basically lets you control and access content on your iPhone 4S just by speaking.

The Apple iPhone 4S seems like it will be an impressive device when it launches later this month. The iPhone 4S will be available on October 14th, with pre-orders starting on the 7th. US carriers receiving the iPhone 4S will be AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Even though those three carriers all have a 4G network in some way, the iPhone 4S is still just a 3G device.

Apple Feeling the Economic Pinch?

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 26, 2011 05:48PM
Author: Nick Harezga

Reports from the electronic manufacturing services team of JP Morgan out of Hong Kong are claiming that Apple has reduced iPad orders by 25 percent. According to JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, the move shouldn't affect his projected third and fourth quarter estimates for iPads sold. The move may have more of a negative effect on suppliers of the parts for the iPad, including Hon Hai, though a full list of manufacturers wasn't listed. The stock price of Apple took a small hit at the market opening, but it still hovers right around $400. A combination of economic pressure, and an anticipated announcement from Amazon regarding its own tablet could cause Apple to lose some market share in the tablet market.

Apple Launching Multiple iPhones? Al Gore Thinks So

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 21, 2011 10:55PM
Author: F13Bubba

Al Gore is famous for being one of the founders and most ardent supporters of the green energy movement, as well as being the former Vice President of the United States. He also happens to be a board member for tech behemoth Apple, which makes this bit of news particularly interesting; the former VP let slip that next month’s rumored iPhone launch may include more than one model. While speaking at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in South Africa, Mr. Gore said "Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month." This little slip gives us two important bits of info; the iPhone launch is definitely coming next month, which is less important than the fact that the word "iPhones" was plural. While it is entirely possible that Gore’s grammar needs work, the errant comment has spun the Apple rumor mill back into full swing. Either way, it will be interesting to see exactly what’s coming next month from Apple, and the direction its flagship handset is going.

Rental Books Coming to Kindle

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 20, 2011 03:33PM
Author: Nick Harezga

The Amazon Kindle has been immensely popular since it was released, and you may even know someone that owns one. I have one, and it is awesome. However, one of the major complaints has been the lack of support for borrowing books. Amazon is looking to change that, and is working on a new system that will enable users to borrow books from their favorite libraries. It is currently in beta in a few libraries in Seattle, so people in other areas will have to wait for now. Have any of our users been able to try out this service yet?

Making Idle Listening More Idle

Category: Mobile, Science & Technology
Posted: September 20, 2011 11:37AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

When a wireless device is not in use, it will enter an idle mode to save power, but still monitor wireless signals. The monitoring is to keep aware of any incoming information, such as a phone call, and switch to other wireless frequencies if needed. Unfortunately, devices will spend between 60% and 80% of their idle time actively monitoring wireless signals, almost making the idle mode draw as much power as being active. From the University of Michigan comes the Energy-Minimizing Idle Listening, E-MiLi, system to reduce power consumption by as much as 44%. When a device enters idle mode with E-MiLi, the WiFi card will underclock itself to save power and only respond to header information. This is similar to how a human will wake up and respond to someone saying their name, even when they are 90% asleep.

The E-MiLi system will be demonstrated at the ACM International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking on September 21. Before it can be adopted in commercial devices, companies will have to create new firmware, as this system cannot be accomplished with software alone.

NVIDIA Demonstrates Kal-El Tablet at Build 2011

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 14, 2011 03:39PM
Author: Nick Harezga

NVIDIA confirmed last week that tablets featuring its next generation quad core Tegra 3 chips, code named Kal-El, would be available sometime this year. The Kal-El reference tablet has made its way to the Microsoft Build conference, and it is running Windows 8. Unfortunately, the tablet was sitting behind a plexiglass case, and there weren't many details revealed. NVIDIA does feel that this tablet could change the game, hoping to get battery life measured in days instead of hours.

Apple Set to Release iOS 5 in Late September, iPhone 5 in Mid October

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 12, 2011 10:45PM
Author: F13Bubba

According to an analyst, Apple is set to send the final version of iOS 5 to its iPhone assemblers late this month. A note obtained by MacRumors reports that Foxconn and Pegatron are going to receive the golden master version of iOS 5 between September 23rd and 30th, which will then be flashed onto iPhone 5 units that have started to be produced. This means that the next generation of Apple’s popular mobile phone will be ready by mid-October, lining up with some previous release timeline reports. The same analyst also stated that his supply chain checks haven’t revealed any evidence of a new form factor, suggesting the next gen iPhone is simply an update to the iPhone 4, much like the iPhone 3GS was to the 3G model.

HTC May Purchase its Own Mobile OS

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 12, 2011 10:21PM
Author: F13Bubba

Mobile device manufacturer HTC has made some interesting remarks this week, indicating that the company may be interested in purchasing a mobile operating system to call its own. HTC makes devices using both Android and Windows Phone operating systems, but chairwoman Cher Wang told several reporters that the company has indeed held internal meetings about the possibility of obtaining an operating system to run exclusively on HTC devices. She said her company’s understanding of how a mobile OS works was one of its greatest strengths, but was also quick to say that didn’t mean it had to build its own. This report happens to coincide with HP looking for buyers or licensees for its mobile platform, webOS, causing many to speculate that HTC may take that burden off of HP’s hands.

Google Gives HTC Some Patents to Keep Fighting Apple

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 8, 2011 10:55AM
Author: bp9801

Apple is currently suing every phone manufacturer on the planet it seems, but now it is being sued by a company. HTC is now suing Apple with some patents that were previously held by Google until a few days ago. HTC has already sued Apple previously, but these new patents should help to strengthen its defense. Some of these patents were even acquired by Google when it purchased Motorola Mobility, so these are some very recent patents HTC has to use. Google transfered nine patents to HTC on September 1st, four of which came from the Motorola Mobility acquisition. Those ones are being used against Apple in the courts of Delaware, while the other five come from OpenWave and Palm. Those five will be used to battle Apple in an amended complaint to the US ITC, which is filed in Washington, D.C. One of those patents in the ITC case concerns a realtime API, something that Apple claims to own. That API is used widely in the Android OS, so if HTC now owns it, the Apple claim will be bunk. Google knows that if HTC were to lose that case, the effect would hit every Android device, hence the patent gift. Maybe Google can step in on behalf of Samsung's case against Apple next.

Google's Eric Schmidt Says Android Ice Cream Sandwich will Launch in October or November

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 7, 2011 06:06PM
Author: bp9801

Google's Android OS has taken the world by storm since its launch just a few short years ago. Many people are eagerly awaiting the newest implementation, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, since it will combine the Honeycomb tablet version with the Gingerbread phone version. We've known that Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) will be launching by the end of the year, but now we have a more definitive date. Google's Eric Schmidt says that we can expect devices running ICS to launch this October or November. This coincides with rumors saying we can expect the Nexus Prime phone, the first device running ICS, to launch in October. Hopefully both of those pan out since it should start the beginning of the end for the fragmentation of Android. It will have to be seen just how many current devices can be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, since I am sure there will be certain hardware requirements that have to be met. In any case, we are getting closer to the unified Android OS.

Surprise! webOS Isn't Dead... Yet

Category: Mobile
Posted: September 6, 2011 07:13PM
Author: F13Bubba

After HP announced that it was ending its support of the webOS platform, and the subsequent fire sale of the HP TouchPad, many people took to the web to beg for a pardon on behalf of the troubled platform. Today, it seems that they have gotten their wish. Some internal memos discovered over the long weekend indicate that HP is separating webOS from the hardware division it intends to sell. The company is moving the OS into the Office of Strategy and Technology, suggesting they plan to keep the platform alive, even if they only license it out to other mobile manufacturers. Many people had speculated this might happen after HP announced it was making another run of TouchPads, citing the huge demand created by the price cut. There is an old saying that goes “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”, and that certainly seems to be the case for the TouchPad and webOS.