Why Big Companies Are Investing in a Service that Listens to Phone Calls
A startup that converts conversations to text so it can offer instant information gets financing from Telefónica, Samsung, and Intel.Would you give your wireless carrier permission to listen in on your...
View ArticleHow a Cheap Plastic Film Can Give Your Smartphone a 3-D Screen
A plastic smartphone screen cover patterned with tiny lenses could help mobile 3-D take off.Last week, a company in Singapore began shipping $35 plastic screen protectors for the iPhone 5. These are no...
View ArticleA Motherlode of Cell Phone Data-Mining Research
At conference starting Wednesday, huge trove of research papers point to enormous possibilities, but privacy issues remain.Cell phones generate tremendous amounts of human mobility and other data that...
View ArticleApps for Finding New Tunes, with a Little Help from Your Friends
Twitter #music, EQuala, and Piki help you share and discover new music with friends, but they’re not all winners.I’ve been stuck in a music rut for a long time, listening to the same bands and songs...
View ArticleQualcomm Proposes a Cell-Phone Network by the People, for the People
Mobile network speeds in urban areas could dramatically increase if consumers connected small, public base stations to their home broadband.Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm and some U.S. wireless carriers are...
View ArticleFacebook Will Make the Most Popular App for Google Glass
Facebook’s CEO has signalled interest in Google’s wearable computer, and the social network’s app would likely be as popular as it is on other devices.There are lots of unknowns about Google Glass, the...
View ArticleGlimpses of a World Revealed by Cell-Phone Data
An examination of simple cell-phone records reveals maps of poverty levels, ethnic divides, and the movements of sports fans.Around the world, some mobile carriers have been releasing anonymized...
View ArticleFacebook Reacts to Criticisms of “Home” App; Promises Upgrades
A month after the release of Home, Facebook is working to answer criticisms with improvements.Facebook Home—an app for Android smartphones that provides users with a constant stream of images,...
View ArticleWith Personal Data, Predictive Apps Stay a Step Ahead
Apps that proactively help people with their lives represent a significant departure from earlier approaches to software.A new type of mobile app is departing from a long-standing practice in...
View ArticleHow to Mine Cell-Phone Data Without Invading Your Privacy
Researchers use phone records to build a mobility model of the Los Angeles and New York City regions with new privacy guarantees.Researchers at AT&T, Rutgers University, Princeton, and Loyola...
View ArticleBroadcast Video Will Soon Be Packed into Smartphone Signals
Putting broadcast signals within LTE mobile network technology could open up bandwidth and disrupt business models.If you want to watch video on your phone or tablet, you’ll find that many networks...
View ArticleGoogle Wants to Help Apps Track You
Google will help people who build Android apps follow their users around without draining too much battery life.Google is giving mobile app creators more ways to tap into people’s activities and...
View ArticleSmartphone Tracker Gives Doctors Remote Viewing Powers
Here’s the smartphone technology that alerts a doctor when patients are headed for trouble.At the Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, nurses can see into the lives of some diabetes...
View ArticleThe Impending Headache of Google Glass Apps
Glass apps will require people to create new content filters. Maybe that’s just a losing battle.Would you want your daily horoscope beamed to your right eye? That’s the vision of the future I saw when...
View ArticleWhat 5G Will Be: Crazy-Fast Wireless Tested in New York City
Samsung’s technology for ultrafast data speeds currently requires a truckload of equipment.The world’s biggest cell-phone maker, Samsung, caused a stir last week by announcing an ultrafast wireless...
View ArticleClawing From the Wreckage of Nokia Research
Jolla Mobile, formed by Nokia refugees, launches a phone with interchangable back panels and the Sailfish OS.Almost one year after Nokia’s bloodletting, in which it cut 10,000 jobs and closed research...
View ArticleWanted for the Internet of Things: Ant-Sized Computers
A computer two millimeters square is the start of an effort to make chips that can put computer power just about anywhere for the vaunted “Internet of Things.”If the Internet is to reach...
View ArticleLife and Death of Tweets Not so Random After All
Researchers have created a model to quickly predict how many times a tweet will be retweeted.For many people that use Twitter–myself included–it’s impossible to tell which carefully crafted tweets will...
View ArticleDoes Motorola’s X Phone Pack a Better Battery?
The Moto X phone will constantly monitor its position, motion, and more to track its owner’s activity. Will its battery life suffer?Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside spoke yesterday at the D11 conference...
View ArticleA Password So Secret, You Don’t Consciously Know It
Researchers work to develop passwords so secret that only your unconscious mind knows them.Some efforts to replace traditional letter-and-number passwords rely on gestures, wearable devices, or...
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