Average U.S. smartphone user has 41 apps on their device
Nielsen has some interesting new data out today about Americans' smartphone usage. The big takeaway: Americans love their mobile apps. Read more
The big question: Does Google really know how to make an Android device better than anyone else?
The Wall Street Journal today reports that Google is planning to release a slew of Nexus-branded devices from a host of different manufacturers.
Tab syncing highlights the latest Google Chrome update
The good news: The latest version of Chrome allows you to sync up tabs on your desktop PC with tabs on your smartphone and tablet. The bad news: Chrome for Android is still in beta testing, meaning that it's only available on a limited number of devices. Read more
Samsung lists T-Mobile phones due for Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade
Good news for T-Mobile Android fans -- Samsung will upgrade (some of) your devices to Android 4.0 ("Ice Cream Sandwich") after all!
Over the past few weeks, Samsung released a list of Android devices that were slated to receive ICS on Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, but none for T-Mobile. Today that changed as Samsung announced that the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will all get Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future. Hooray! Read more
The Tablet Claw promo video shows just how boring our lives have become
I get an insane number of PR pitches over the course of the day. Most of them go straight into the trash, some of them are followed-up on and made into stories, and some occasionally catch my eye for reasons that their senders probably weren't expecting. In the case of the Tablet Claw -- a tablet holder that you can use to stand up your tablet on your kitchen counter, desk, etc. -- it was the promotional video they sent along:
Facebook's proposed app store: I think this could actually work
As if we didn't have enough places to buy mobile apps on our devices, it seems that Facebook is going to jump into the game with a mobile app store of its own. Let's go to VentureBeat, which got the scoop this morning:
Facebook is launching a new App Center, “a place to find social web, desktop, and mobile apps” — and not just Facebook apps.
Read more
CTIA 2012: AT&T Wireless chief slaps down T-Mobile's comically misleading new ad
One of the more ironic moments of this afternoon's wireless CEO session at CTIA came right after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse had just finished chastising his fellow carriers for producing ads that mislead consumers about the speeds of their assorted "4G" networks. T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm strolled onstage, said a few words about the state of his company and then... showed the crowd a misleading ad about "4G" network speeds! Take a look:
First impressions of the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE
If you bought an HTC Droid Incredible two years ago and were happy with it, you might consider getting the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE when you're due for an upgrade since it's by and large the same device. Read more
Hands on with the Samsung Focus 2: You could do a lot worse for $50
Going to AT&T's special pre-conference event in New Orleans today gave me a chance to play around with the Samsung Focus 2, the latest and cheapest ($49.99 with a two-year service agreement) Windows Phone device to hit AT&T's network. It has to be said: There need to be more phones like this. Read more
Samsung Galaxy S III launch sets new standards for bombast and pomposity
Win or lose, at least RIM is taking its time to get things right
Research in Motion has been a pretty easy company to bash in recent years (I've done my fair share of it myself), but the initial reports I've read about this year's BlackBerry World conference leave me optimistic that RIM's next line of products will at the very least be of the high quality that used to be its calling card. Read more
Hands on with Google Drive: It can face-recognize Cthulhu!
As you might have heard, Google released its Google Drive online storage service today. One of the cooler features in the new service is its ability to scan your pictures for text and frequently-used images to help you identify data that you may have mislabelled. So if you forgot to change a picture of Kanye West from its original file name of "000032213.jpg" to "kanye.jpg" before uploading it onto Google Drive, you can simply do a search for "Kanye" and Drive will scan around until it finds West's hugely egotistical mug in your library. Read more
For better or worse, Google is now at the epicenter of tech and the law
There have been three major stories surrounding Google over the past couple of days and all of them show how intertwined Google has become with tech-related laws in the United States and elsewhere. Let's start with the biggie, which is that the FCC has fined Google $25,000 for allegedly impeding its investigation of whether Google's Street View project violated privacy laws by illegally collecting Wi-Fi data with its roving Street View cars. The Washington Post has a pretty good summary and shows that the FCC isn't mincing any words here:
What privacy controversy? Google still the top-rated tech brand
Given all the hubbub surrounding Google's recent changes to its privacy policies, you might have thought that the company would take a significant hit in the court of public opinion. Read more
Sweet new Chrome feature lets me read what I was reading on my smartphone on my PC (does that make sense??)
Have you ever glanced at an article on your smartphone and then said to yourself, "I don't have time to read this now, I'll have to look at it later?" And then you get to work and you forget what the heck you were reading in the first place? Well for information junkies such as myself, this is a actually something of a problem. That's why I'm pleased as punch that Google is now integrating Chrome browser tabs on both desktop and mobile versions of the browser. Hurrah! Read more
Highlights from Google CEO Larry Page's "State of the Company" address
Google CEO Larry Page published something of an open letter to Google users today outlining where the company is right now and where he wants to see it go in the near future. For those of you who don't want to read the whole thing (it is rather long), here are some highlights.
-On why the company is integrating Google+ further into its search capabilities:
Google posts first "Google Glasses" video
Well, well, well! It looks like the team at Google [X] has indeed been busy working on the so-called "Google Glasses" project (now known as Project Glass) after all! And even better, they've been kind enough to post a video of their early efforts:
OK, so I know this is a demo video and I know demo videos are designed specifically to make a product look awesome, but... holy cow, this is awesome. Read more
Instagram, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion highlight a busy day for Android news
Today was one of Those Days where a whole bunch of little news items popped up that related to Android and I didn't have time to write stories on all of them. So instead, for your benefit, I've decided to round them all up in one pithy blog post. Enjoy! Read more
New "bootkit" Android malware infects more than 50 apps, 1600 devices
Another week, another story of potentially major Android malware out in the wild. The latest batch comes to us courtesy of Dr. Xuxian Jiang a professor at North Carolina State University and the chief scientist for NQ Mobile. The new malware strain is known as "DFKBootkit" and is described by Jiang as "the closest attempt by malware authors to create a full-fledged bootkit on Android." NQ says the malicious code has already infected 1,657 Android devices in the past two weeks and has appeared on at least 50 different mobile apps. Read more
Will RIM ever recover? Prognosis: Negative.
Well, it looks as though Research in Motion has now officially entered the "fire-everyone-and-hope-for-the-best" phase. Former co-CEO Jim Balsillie was the biggest head to roll today but he was hardly alone. Via Crackberry, here's the full scope of the carnage: Read more
-
Network World, Inc
The Connected Enterprise