Meet The 22-Year-Old Inventor Helping Marketers Read Your Mind
How Robots Are Revolutionizing Our World [Sponsored Post]
Today’s industrial robots have incredible dexterity to match their brute strength, and can actually learn on the job. And then there’s an entirely new breed of robots—some in humanoid form, and others that take highly practical forms all their own—that can walk, talk, save lives, and perform critical jobs in extreme environments, or simply take care of mundane tasks at home while we’re out enjoying our lives. Continue reading →
Crowded Hong Kong Is Planning To Build Datacenters Deep Inside Caves
Companies have made data centers–those big warehouses full of servers–into creative, even beautiful, spaces before. But, short on available land, Hong Kong is looking into where to put new data centers, and they’re thinking caves might be the ticket. Continue reading →
Location Data Can Uniquely Identify Cellphone Users
A new study demonstrates how easy it is to identify people from the location-tracking data on their cellphones. Continue reading →
Can You Crack The NSA’s Top-Secret Crossword Puzzles?
The National Security Agency just released archive editions of its in-house magazine, Cryptolog. Check out the crosswords. Continue reading →
Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, And Even The New T-Mobile Are Trying To Screw You
T-Mobile announced its new “Uncarrier” strategy–no more two-year contracts, pay for the phone up front. It’s a step in the right direction, but not enough. Let’s ban all smartphone subsidies and contracts. Continue reading →
Top 5 HD smartphone displays
We shortlist some of the best displays we’ve come across on smartphones of late. Read on to find out who made our list… Continue reading → Read More & Comment Sony Xperia: Models Cyber-shot and Walkman are being prepared Filed under: tech — Leave a comment Sony Xperia: Models Cyber-shot and Walkman are being prepared Do you remember the time when Sony and Ericsson had produced sets of phones like the famous models of the Sony Ericsson W or K? At the time, they came regularly signed Walkman phone and Cyber-shot. And we must admit that these devices offered the best made either picture and audio in their time. Continue reading →
Information about packages that 4G will land in Orange from April 4
From 4 April, 15 cities will benefit from the offer 4G Orange. There will be Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Lille, Paris (Opera), Bordeaux, Chartres, Orleans, La Rochelle, Dunkirk, Nancy, Metz, Grenoble, Annecy and Clermont-Ferrand. Orange catches well the delay in offering the largest 4G coverage in France. Continue reading →
New test for autonomy for HTC One
There are a few days of this, we have already shown the first tests done by our colleagues on the HTC battery One. The results were more than convincing and in general, the device showed good endurance in terms of autonomy. This time, we will focus on that which has been done by GSMArena . Recall that the HTC One has a 2300 mAh battery and is equipped with a Quad Core processor Snapdragon S600 from Qualcomm. Continue reading →
Mobile Payments Remain Fragmented as Industry Waits for a Breakthrough
Despite years of hype, mobile payments in early 2013 were still far from mainstream. Services like Google Wallet and the carrier-backed Isis (later rebranded Softcard) struggled to gain traction, largely because few retailers had upgraded their point-of-sale terminals to support near-field communication (NFC). Consumers were also wary of storing card details on their phones, citing security concerns that were not entirely unfounded.
Industry analysts pointed to a classic chicken-and-egg problem: without widespread merchant acceptance, users saw little reason to adopt mobile wallets, and without a critical mass of users, merchants hesitated to invest in new hardware. Some hoped that the rumored entry of major tech players would finally tip the scales, but for now, plastic cards remained king. (See our February 2013 coverage for more on early mobile wallet experiments.)
The Second Screen Experience: How Mobile Devices Are Changing TV Viewing
As smartphones and tablets became ubiquitous, broadcasters began experimenting with "second screen" apps designed to run alongside live television. These apps offered supplementary content—like actor bios, trivia, and real-time polls—that viewers could access without looking away from the big screen. Social media integration allowed audiences to share reactions instantly, turning solitary viewing into a communal event.
One notable trend was the rise of "social TV" platforms that aggregated tweets and Facebook posts about specific shows, allowing fans to follow conversations even if they weren't watching live. Networks embraced these tools as a way to boost engagement and measure audience sentiment in real time.
Cloud Storage Providers Battle for Your Files with Free Space and Features
The cloud storage market heated up in early 2013, with major players offering increasingly generous free tiers. Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and others competed not just on capacity but on collaboration features and cross-platform integration. Users could now edit documents in the browser, share folders with granular permissions, and sync photos automatically from their smartphones.
For many consumers, the cloud was becoming the default backup for irreplaceable data like family photos and personal documents. However, privacy advocates warned that storing sensitive information on third-party servers carried risks, especially after revelations about government surveillance programs later in the year. Still, the convenience was hard to ignore.
Biometric Security: From Science Fiction to Smartphone Feature
Fingerprint scanners had appeared on laptops for years, but they were often clunky and unreliable. In early 2013, rumors swirled that upcoming smartphones would integrate more advanced biometric sensors, possibly even fingerprint readers built into the home button or screen. Facial recognition software was also improving, though it still faced challenges in low light or with changes in appearance.
The appeal was clear: passwords were a weak link in security, easily forgotten or stolen. Biometrics promised a seamless way to unlock devices and authenticate payments. Yet experts cautioned that biometric data, once compromised, could not be changed like a password, raising long-term privacy concerns.