Tag: Mobile

Not Just StuffIt! At Smith Micro

Posted by Andrew at 1:11 AM on February 6, 2012

Smith Micro is best known for its Mac software and StuffIt! in particular but the company’s portfolio is much wider than that. Andy and Don chat to Carla of Smith Micro Software to find out what else the company does.

Smith Micro has a portfolio of products in the mobile wireless space, delivering solutions for telcos and cable operators. As Carla points out, if you’ve ever connected your laptop to a 3G network, you’ve probably used some of their software.

Sprint chose Smith Micro’s Mobile Network Director to intelligently manage traffic between 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi connections. A software client on the smartphone works with the carrier’s systems to select the connection technology that will give the best performance in the particular situation. For example, in a very congested 4G area, the software will transfer the data connection to a quieter and consequently faster 3G network.

From the interview, it sounds like Sprint has learnt from the CarrierIQ debacle and while the software on the smartphone works transparently, the owner can override the connection selection manually. Good.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and RV News Net and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Tags: 3G, 4G, application, ces, Mobile, smartphone, Smith Micro, sprint, wi-fi

Posted in ces, Interview, mobile, smartphone, Special Media, sprint

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GNC-2012-01-27 #737 Shame on Hawaii Legislature!

Posted by geeknews at 12:44 AM on January 27, 2012

Going to be implementing some Studio upgrades in the next couple of weeks should be fun. I go after a couple of my state legislatures pretty hard tonight on two idiotic bills that they introduced. Also hope I was not to punchy on the last show notes. I am feeling much better by the way and although the voice is not a 100% I feel a 100% better.

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Tags: ACTA, Apple TV, Crime, hacking, Law, Mobile, netflix, p2p, Podcast, Twitter, wi-fi, xbox

Posted in Podcast

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Three Reports Jump In Data

Posted by Andrew at 3:00 PM on January 9, 2012

Squeezing among all the CES news, UK mobile telco Three reports a huge jump in smartphone data over the past year. On New Year’s Eve, smartphone traffic was up nearly 600% in the UK compared with the same evening a year before. On 31st December 2010, 14 TB of data was transmitted. For the same date in 2011, it was 80 TB.

A similar pattern emerged on New Year’s day, with 74 TB in 2012, compared with 14 TB in 2011. Facebook seems to have become the place for New Year’s wishes with a 20% rise in traffic between midnight and 1am.

I sometimes think people should look up from their phones a bit more often. Now I know I’m right!

Tags: 3, 3G, Data Usage, Mobile, mobile telco, smartphone, Telco, three

Posted in Information, smartphone

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Atari’s Greatest Hits for Android

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 7:04 PM on November 28, 2011

If you grew up in the era of Atari then you probably still get nostalgic for it once in a while. Thankfully, there are still ways to get your Atari fix. I occasionally fire up an emulator on my computer from time to time and play a game of Centipede or Asteroids. But, if you don’t want to sit in front of your desktop or laptop, you can now take your Atari addiction mobile.

Atari’s Greatest Hits is now available in the Android Market. The app itself is free and comes with Missile Command. Additional games packs are available for $0.99 each, or you can purchase all 100 games for $9.99. The game packs can only be purchased from within the Atari’s Greatest Hits app, and are sold through the Amazon Android App Store.

Atari requires you to be running Android 2.2 or newer. If you’re looking for a fun way to waste some time and take a stroll down memory lane then this is a must-have app for a reasonable price – and, hey, if you just like missile Command, it’s even more reasonable at the price of free. You can check out the brief intro video below.

Tags: Android, Atari, Games, Gaming, Mobile

Posted in Android, Gaming, mobile

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EA Releases Need for Speed Hot Pursuit for Android

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 5:48 PM on November 5, 2011

EA, one of the most popular game makers, has been in the mobile market for some time now. Thanks to a deal with some handset makers, like Motorola, preview editions of their games come pre-installed. That’s great but, of course, to get the whole game you have to pay up. Also, in some cases the games are not even an option for uninstall. That’s bad, but here’s what is not so bad – EA makes some really good games. Their flagship racing game, Need for Speed, has been a best-seller in the Android Market with the “NSF Shift” version.

Now NSF Shift has been surpassed by EA’s latest release, which hit the market a couple of days ago. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is now available with a host of cool features. You can choose from a variety of sports cars that will make the average male drool. There’s the Porsche, Pagani, Bugotti, and Lamborghini Murcielago to name just a few. Or, if you choose to be the cop in this game, you can get the rarest of them all – the Lamborghini Reventon.

Before you get too excited though, there’s one key thing you need to know. To get the hottest cars you will need to unlock them. Unlocking a car requires a certain amount of points. With each point level reached another vehicle becomes available. Once you get a car you can choose to use it or any of the ones you have already unlocked. You can also customize its color by using sliders to choose the way you want your vehicle to look. Like the previous NSF Shift, it uses your phone’s accelerometer to control the car.

The game is available for $6.99 from the Android Market. It’s not a small download, being around 500MB when it’s all said and done, but it will entertain any mobile gamer. In the first 24 hours my son is up to a Porsche Cayman, but I would really like my Droid back…

Tags: Android, Gaming, Hot Pursuit, Mobile, Need for Speed, NSF

Posted in Android, Gaming, Microsoft

Comments 1 Comment

Stats on 60 Seconds of Mobile Use in October 2011

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 4:16 PM on November 3, 2011

Did you ever wonder what everyone around you is doing with their constantly-out smartphones? Well, Mobclix did some research about what cell phone users are clicking and came up with a snapshot of what goes on in a single minute of usage. Some of the results may surprise you – like 4,111 ads were clicked on. Some may not – like that Angry Birds is simply in a category of usage all by itself. You won’t believe how many people are looking for song lyrics or slicing fruit in Fruit Ninja.

All of this data was put together into one cool infographic. It’s posted below, so have a look and see what you think. Does it reflect what you expected? Do you find anything really surprising? What would an infographic of your usage reflect?

Source: Mobclix

Tags: Apps, data, Mobile, Smartphones

Posted in mobile

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Mobile Telcos – Phone Company or ISP?

Posted by Andrew at 1:42 AM on November 3, 2011

If you ever needed evidence that mobile telcos (MNOs) are moving their business focus from telephones to data, then look no further than a recent post on Three’s blog. Phil Sheppard, the company’s Director of Network Strategy, revealed that 97% of the traffic flowing through Three‘s network was data. Only 3% was voice.

Also staggering was the growth in smartphone data use which grew 427% in 14 months. Yes, over 400% in slightly more than a year. It’s clear that in the last year, lots of people have upgraded to smartphones and are now actively using them online. There’s probably a combination of reasons for the explosion but the wider choice of handset models at a range of price points will be the main reason.

Three has always paid attention to data, being the first mobile company to offer 3G in the UK back in 2003, but with figures like this, it would be a fair assumption that every mobile telco is now shifting more data than voice traffic and that means these companies are more like mobile ISPs (Internet Service Providers) than phone companies. Whenever you hear an announcement by one of these companies, think about it in these terms.

Tags: Cell Phone, isp, MN, Mobile, mobile phone, mobile telco, smartphone, three

Posted in mobile, Phone, smartphone

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Pogoplug Mobile Lets You Put Your Cloud on Your Desk

Posted by MikeBaine at 12:40 PM on October 19, 2011

pogoplug-mobile

In this day and age, we talk about Cloud like a car dealer talks cars. We put stuff in the cloud and take it down. We don’t even know where this cloud is – but a lot of us trust it for our photos, music, movies and more.

Now we can put a cloud on our desks, and share media through our mobile device. All through Pogoplug.

Pogoplug is a device you plug into your network, plug in your USB drives, then share the contents across the web. You can set access to private or public viewing on desktop, iPhone, iPad, Android or other mobile device. You can also set permissions so your workmates can collaborate on files.

Today, Pogoplug announced their newest product in the line of devices. Pogoplug mobile is a version of Pogoplug geared at taking all the media off your smartphone and keeping it on your personal cloud.

“Pogoplug Mobile is the perfect companion to your mobile phone or tablet.” says CEO Daniel Putterman. “Not only can you stream the media from your hard drives straight to your mobile device over WiFi or your cellular connection but you can also automatically back up your camera roll to your Pogoplug.That means, no matter where you are, the photos and videos you take on your mobile phone are automatically backed up to your Pogoplug.”

Pogoplug Mobile lets you attach USB drives and now SD cards into the device. You configure the drives up on my.pogoplug.com, then download an application for your PC, Mac or mobile device. When configured, you can access your mobile data through your own cloud.

Prices for Pogoplug Mobile start at $79.99 (£59.99 in the UK). For more information, go to Pogoplug Mobile site (http://www.pogoplug.com/mobile/). It is also one of the 5 Backup Cloud Solutions I reported on back on September 21st. You can also check out the video we did with Pogoplug at CES2010.

Tags: Android, application, CEO, cloud, daniel putterman, desktop, devices, drive, IPAD, iPhone, Mobile, PogoPlug, sd card, USB

Posted in cloud, Gadgets

Comments 1 Comment

No 4G in the UK until 2013…at the Earliest

Posted by Andrew at 10:23 AM on October 18, 2011

Ofcom, the UK’s regulator for the telecommunications industry, issued an update on its plans for the auctioning off of the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum bands. These are the frequencies that will be used for the delivery of 4G services.

There has already been one consultation on the auction of the frequencies but based on the responses received, Ofcom has decided to carry out an additional second consultation at the end of 2011 which will run for around 8 weeks. The outcome of the consultation and auction proposals will be published in the summer of 2012, with a delayed frequency auction expected in Q4 2012. More likely Q1 2013, based on their track record.

Ofcom think that this delay to the auction is quite acceptable because the frequencies involved won’t be available until 2013. The last region to turn off the analogue TV signal will be Northern Ireland on 24 October 2012, freeing up the 800 MHz spectrum. The digital switchover programme was announced in 2005 and started in 2008, moving by region until 2012. I don’t know what it takes to achieve this technically, but it seems rather slow. It’s not as if the UK is a big country.

Looking back historically, Ofcom awarded the 3G spectrum in 2000. Mobile telecoms company Three was the first to offer 3G services in 2003, so it took 3 years to move from award of spectrum to service availability. I’m really hoping the that telecos can move a bit faster than they did with 3G but frankly I’m not holding my breath. The whole digital TV changeover and 4G auction has been a farce here in the UK with the US and other parts of Europe well ahead. I won’t be surprised if us Brits are still waiting for 4G in 2015.

Tags: 4G, Cell, Mobile, ofcom, smartphone, Tablet, wireless

Posted in mobile, smartphone

Comments 1 Comment

GNC-2011-10-17 #714 All the News

Posted by geeknews at 1:38 AM on October 18, 2011

You will love the rack overheat alarm going off in the middle of the show. Adds for some comedy and bewilderment by me as I have never heard that alarm coming out of the rack. Lots of great tech news and the show goes way long tonight. Will get that back in check as I do not have to report on “All the News”

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