The coming smart-thing apocalypse

The coming smart-thing apocalypse:

Bad Password is a hacking and security column by Violet Blue. Every week she'll be exploring the trendy new cyberhysteria, the state of the infosec community and the ever-eroding thing that used to be called "privacy." Bad Password cuts through the...

Mercedes Vision Tokyo Concept is a minivan for millennials

Mercedes Vision Tokyo Concept is a minivan for millennials:

Mercedes-Benz believes that the next generation of drivers would much rather interact digitally with their machines than actually be behind the wheel. To satiate the desires of these tech-obsessed passengers, the company re-imagines the minivan as...

China tablet makers turn production lines to entry-level notebooks

China tablet makers turn production lines to entry-level notebooks: A number of China-based white-box tablet makers have switched their production lines to notebooks and showcased a bunch of entry-level models at the recently concluded Global Sources Mobile Electronics trade fair. The move by the tablet makers is expected to heat up competition in the entry-level notebook segment, according to industry sources.

Worldwide smartphone shipments up 6.8% to 355.2 million in 3Q15, says IDC

Worldwide smartphone shipments up 6.8% to 355.2 million in 3Q15, says IDC: Global smartphone shipments grew 6.8% sequentially to 355.2 million units in the third quarter of 2015, marking the second highest quarterly shipments on record, according to the latest data compiled by IDC.

LG's mobile business just lost $67.8 million

LG's mobile business just lost $67.8 million:

If you were under any doubt that companies will struggle to make a profit from the smartphone business, you won't after today. LG has updated its financial results to reveal that the firm's mobile division lost $67.8 million in the last three month...

Is the iPad Pro Apple’s last real chance to revive slumping iPad sales?

Is the iPad Pro Apple’s last real chance to revive slumping iPad sales?:

With each passing quarter, it's getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that the iPad might be on the verge of becoming a has-been product just as quickly as it became a bona-fide success. There's simply no getting around it: the iPad is in trouble.

The iPad has been in a precarious position for some time now, with sales trending downward over the course of a number of consecutive quarters. In other words, this isn't a seasonal issue nor a temporary phenomenon. Yesterday, Apple revealed that it sold 9.8 million iPads during its most recent quarter, representing a 20% drop in year over year sales and a corresponding 20% drop in year over year revenue. In fact, Apple's most recent quarter marks the first time that iPad sales have checked in below 10 million units since mid-2011.

Clearly, something is amiss.

Continue reading...

Original enclosures:

ipad-pro1.png?w=150

a08c0dcac3ec92ffa9d568eb622ff6ad?s=96&d=identicon&r=G

Samsung takes on the iPad Pro by launching a massive new tablet of its own

Samsung takes on the iPad Pro by launching a massive new tablet of its own:

After teasing it for several days, Samsung finally unveiled the Galaxy View on Wednesday — a massive tablet with an 18.4-inch display built for consumers who want to consume their media on the move without sacrificing screen size.

Continue reading...

Original enclosures:

samsung-galaxy-view.jpg?w=150

71f664774c52a65e18df9f76fe247179?s=96&d=identicon&r=G

Huawei hires a former Apple director to design its phone software

Huawei hires a former Apple director to design its phone software:

Huawei has been kicking up the quality of its hardware design as of late (see the Mate S and Nexus 6P as proof), but software? Not so much, unless you believe that knuckle gestures are the pinnacle of ease of use. However, it might be close to im...

Rumor drops early hints about possible iPhone 7 display specs

Rumor drops early hints about possible iPhone 7 display specs:

A new report from South Korea says that Samsung has managed to win some of Apple’s screen orders for the Apple Watch. More interestingly, Apple is said to consider using the same kind of screens on future iPhones, maybe as soon as with the iPhone 7.

Continue reading...

Original enclosures:

iphone-6s-vs-iphone-6-video.png?w=150

c0ae30df5f6e0347fe49a94f992d7869?s=96&d=identicon&r=G

Samsung’s Project V foldable phone coded as SM-G929F, screen size and launch countries leak

Samsung’s Project V foldable phone coded as SM-G929F, screen size and launch countries leak:

Things are happening, people, and we might indeed see Samsung's first truly foldable phone with flexible display be released for the retail crowd in the not-so-distant future. If anyone asks you what's the hubbub - well, a real foldable device will let you fit a large display in a small pocketable footprint for carrying around.

We already learned that Samsung's Project V (for Valley) is being tested for January release, and now even the countries where it might appear first have leaked out. Apparently, the phone (coded SM-G929F) will hit most of Europe at the beginning, ...

The Surface Pro 4 Has the Most Accurate Tablet Display Ever Made

The Surface Pro 4 Has the Most Accurate Tablet Display Ever Made:

Microsoft’s Surface Pro series has now had four chances to iron out all the wrinkles in its ambitious tablet/laptop hybrid. Although its still striving to be an all-around laptop killer , it seems Microsoft got one thing very right with the new Pro 4—it has one of the most accurate displays ever created.

Read more...

Apple sells 48.04 million iPhones in fiscal Q4, falling just short of estimates

Apple sells 48.04 million iPhones in fiscal Q4, falling just short of estimates:

Apple has just released its fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, and the number that everyone was waiting for was 48.04 million. That is the number of iPhone units that the company sold in the quarter. While higher than the 39.27 million iPhones sold in the same period last year, the number fell short of the 48.72 million units that Wall Street was looking for. Apple might get a pass on this however, because its new models, the Apple iPhone 6s and Apple iPhone 6s Plus, were sold for only two business days during the period.



Apple CEO Tim Cook said that 30% of iPhone buyers this past quarter ...

Motorola DROID MAXX 2 hands-on

Motorola DROID MAXX 2 hands-on:

Verizon isn’t just getting one exclusive from the land of Motorola, but rather two phones with big batteries. While the DROID Turbo 2 may have stolen Verizon-Motorola’s event earlier today in New York City, we shouldn’t overlook the DROID MAXX 2 either at the same time. And why’s that? Well, partly because it’s a phone that’s all about “max value” in the mid-range category.



Design

Holding the DROID Turbo 2 and DROID MAXX 2 side-by-side, it’s really hard to differentiate the two, mainly because they employ nearly the same design language. What set the DROID MAXX 2 apart, however, ...

Asus is the top brand in Taiwan; Acer is fourth and HTC sixth

Asus is the top brand in Taiwan; Acer is fourth and HTC sixth:

According to a list released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, Asus is the leading brand in the country, valued at $1.78 billion USD. The company has hit a home run with the globally offered Asus ZenFone 2, the first smartphone to be offered with 4GB of RAM. The next mobile company on the list is Acer, valued at $580 million.



Sixth on the list with a value of $453 million is HTC. The beleaguered manufacturer has just released the HTC One A9, which might not have what it takes to help HTC turn things around. Chipmaker MediaTek takes the ninth spot on the list, valued at $354 ...

Let there be light - here are 2015's smartphones with the brightest displays

Let there be light - here are 2015's smartphones with the brightest displays:

You certainly know the pain of having to use your smartphone in bright daylight. There's hardly a display that can easily cope with these harsh conditions in a perfect fashion. After all, it's impossible to wage a brightness war on a celestial body that has a mass 330,000 times that of the Earth.

Still, this doesn't mean that the smartphone scene brings a toothpick to the gunfight. There's only so much a display can achieve in the brightness department, but there already exist many devices that perform decently and make it quite easy for the user to interact with the display.

Lots ...

Motorola is still Thinking Different and we should all be grateful

Motorola is still Thinking Different and we should all be grateful:

It's very hard being an Android smartphone OEM right now but I'm really glad to see Motorola is still around and kicking. Even more important, I'm happy to see that Motorola hasn't lost its enthusiasm for creating truly useful new innovations that push smartphones forward.

Continue reading...

Original enclosures:

bgr-moto-x-111.jpg?w=150

5336a674178087fe17311cb340af70be?s=96&d=identicon&r=G

A Tiny Silicon Disc Is the World's Fastest Nanoscale Optical Switch

A Tiny Silicon Disc Is the World's Fastest Nanoscale Optical Switch:

With the future of computing looking increasingly likely to become light-based , it pays to work out how to make the switching of light as efficient as possible. Enter tiny silicon discs, which have now been shown to be the fastest ever optical switches at the nanoscale.

Read more...

Samsung Electronics may post first profit growth in two years, but it wasn't Galaxy S6 sales that did it

Samsung Electronics may post first profit growth in two years, but it wasn't Galaxy S6 sales that did it:

It looks like Samsung Electronics is about to unveil some financial results for the third quarter (starting July, ending September) soon, which is always a point of interest in the Android smartphone realm, as Samsung is the biggest player in the business. As it's the way it goes, early forecasts are already up, and they happen to be optimistic! Polling five analysts, Wall Street Journal came up with an earnings forecast of $5.3 billion (6 trillion Korean won), representing an approximate 42% increase over year. Interim, revenue is expected to total $44 billion (50 trillion ...

WSJ: Citigroup is testing iris-scanning ATMs from Diebold

WSJ: Citigroup is testing iris-scanning ATMs from Diebold:

The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigroup Inc is testing a pair of newfangled ATM formats from Diebold that will scan customers' eyeballs with smart phones rather than require PINs. The first concept, dubbed "Irving", uses the customer's phone...

Digitimes Research: Global notebook shipments to decline 17.5% on year in 4Q15

Digitimes Research: Global notebook shipments to decline 17.5% on year in 4Q15: Global notebook shipments (not including detachable 2-in-1 products), are expected to drop 17.5% on year and 5.3% sequentially in the fourth quarter as most notebook vendors already completed their inventory preparation for the year-end holiday sales in the third quarter and are still conservative about overall demand in the fourth quarter, according to the latest Digitimes Research quarterly notebook report.

Watch the First Film From InVisage's Quantum Dot Smartphone Camera

Watch the First Film From InVisage's Quantum Dot Smartphone Camera:

Five long years ago, a company called InVisage showed off a new kind of smartphone camera sensor called QuantumFilm, which used quantum dots for improved sensitivity. Now, you can finally see a short film shot using the technology.

Read more...

Harvard creates a material that lets light go 'infinitely fast'

Harvard creates a material that lets light go 'infinitely fast':

Researchers at Harvard University announced recently that they had successfully developed a means of manipulating light at the nanoscale, which could lead to photonic-based (rather than electronic) telecommunications. Think, ubiquitous fiber optics...

Huawei becomes top smartphone vendor in China in 3Q15, says Canalys

Huawei becomes top smartphone vendor in China in 3Q15, says Canalys: Huawei ranked as the top smartphone vendor in China in the third quarter of 2015, while Xiaomi Technology fell to second place, according to an estimate by Canalys.

Apple’s latest invention could ensure your iPhone display never cracks again

Apple’s latest invention could ensure your iPhone display never cracks again:

We've seen dozens of innovations throughout the lifespan of the iPhone line, but many users would forego 3D Touch, Touch ID and even an extra gigabyte of RAM if Apple could just stop their screens from cracking when they hit the ground.

Continue reading...

Original enclosures:

iphone-cracked-screen.jpg?w=150

71f664774c52a65e18df9f76fe247179?s=96&d=identicon&r=G

Watch this iPhone screen protector heal scratches within a second

Watch this iPhone screen protector heal scratches within a second:

The folks who came up with the self-healing iPhone case is now back with something a lot more impressive. Innerexile's earlier technology could repair light scratches within about half a minute (given the right temperature, that is), but the latest...

Samsung's latest batteries make unusual wearables possible

Samsung's latest batteries make unusual wearables possible:

Samsung's latest battery prototypes could lead not only to more powerful wearables, but also to unusual ones. The first model called Band is meant to be attached to smartwatch straps, as its name implies, to add as much as 50 percent of the device'...

Middle East shaping up to be a hot-bed for smartphone growth

Middle East shaping up to be a hot-bed for smartphone growth:

While it is widely observed and accepted that Eastern Asia and India are the largest and the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, eventually growth rates will begin to plateau.



Then eyes will seek the next best thing for wireless growth, and that may very well be the Middle East. This region is not well known for making huge industrial advances, but consumer growth and mobile services across the Middle East and parts of Northern Africa are forecast to grow by more than two-thirds over the next four years.



According to a study by the GSM Association, there will be over 350 ...

How long does it take for employees to be security conscious?

How long does it take for employees to be security conscious?:

The U.S. Postal Services received some frustrating news in early October from the Office of the Inspector General on the effectiveness of its security awareness training program.

An internal USPS phishing simulation campaign found that more than 25 percent of the 3,125 employees who were tested clicked on a phony link. What’s more, 93 percent of the baited employees didn’t report the incident to the USPS Computer Incident Response Team, according to the report.

The testing came less than a year after a USPS data breach that compromised the personal information of 800,000 employees, as well as some customers who contacted the government. The November 2014 cyber intrusion appeared to be caused by a phishing email attack, according to the report. USPS already had annual security awareness training available to all employees with network access.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Original enclosures:

Sony to open its first new smartphone factory in 20 years, selling off mobile business clearly not in the plans

Sony to open its first new smartphone factory in 20 years, selling off mobile business clearly not in the plans:

Despite being stuck with a small market share as it struggles to drive profits, Sony Mobile is adamant about fighting to stay alive in the business. Perhaps a little background is in order, so there you go — by the end of the company's first fiscal quarter, June 30, Sony Mobile suffered an operating loss of $188 million and revenue decline by 16.3%, caused by "significant decrease in smartphone unit sales", among other problems. Sony actually considered the option of selling its unprofitable mobile business, like it did with the VAIO line of laptops.



But, following the storm of "Sony Mobile ...

Notebook brand vendors strengthening high-end product lines

Notebook brand vendors strengthening high-end product lines: Seeing that Microsoft plans to push Surface Book into the high-end segment, first-tier notebook brand vendors have started strengthening the quality and design of their high-end product lines, looking to expand their competitiveness in the segment, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Dell launches new threat protection products for the enterprise

Dell launches new threat protection products for the enterprise: The company has ramped up its portfolio with new end-to-end security solutions.