Google’s annual I/O developer event will be heavy on Chrome and light on Android based on the event schedule. While Google execs suggest that this year I/O is less about devices, that could be a smokescreen for what’s to come. Read more »
Amazon has acquired Samsung’s color screen display technology, Liquavista. The technology could be used to create low-power color screens for Kindles. Read more »
Is the free game worth your time, or is it just a bare-bones experiment aimed to help Betaworks better its other products? Well, as it turns out, it can be both. Read more »
Task management app Any.DO surprised many by launching first on Google’s Android platform and finding success. An iOS version followed and it’s proving popular too. Now the Any.DO team has $3.5M in seed funding to keep expanding. Read more »
Research from McKinsey seems to suggest that print-based media still commands a large proportion of time spent by consumers of news — but that is just part of the larger picture media companies have to understand. Read more at paidContent »
From phones that can take pictures underwater to handsets with larger screens in a small phone body, the quality of design in current Android flagships is at an all-time high. Read more »
Samsung has become the latest company to play fast and loose with 5G. It may have produced some impressive technology but it’s doing itself a huge disservice by conflating its accomplishment with technology that doesn’t yet exist. Read more »
British privacy advocates have reacted with horror to the idea of EE and market research firm Ipsos Mori selling anonymized customer data. On balance, they shouldn’t worry so much. Read more »
After working on its PureView camera technology for some time, is Nokia finally ready to bring it in full to a new Windows Phone Lumia? Based on this teaser video, the camera bump could be the biggest clue. Read more »
ItsOn started out selling mobile plan customization tools to carriers as a cloud-based service. Now it’s becoming a carrier, using its own cloud service to show what the world can do with individually tailored voice and data plans. Read more »
Amazon’s virtual currency, Amazon Coins, launched Monday. It can be used to buy apps and games and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire and in Amazon’s app store. Read more »
Plenty of haters have taken Google Glass to the woodshed, but they’re missing the bigger picture: Google solved the big technical problems, and even made wearable tech look cool. Glass’s transition to the mainstream is a when not an if. Read more »
Catch up on our recent podcasts: Chrome users can get some new tips and extension recommendations while farmers — yes farmers! — can benefit from the Internet of Things. Plus, YouTube subscription news and thoughts on Google cracking the iOS walled garden. Read more »
Just as SaaS has emerged as a dominant new force in enterprise software, mobile apps will offer innovative new capabilities and business models – and disrupt many old ones. Read more »
In advance of Google I/O more Nexus 7 refresh thoughts hit the web this week. Will Google move to a 1080p or better display? Android @Home could be a surprise feature at I/O, while Google’s X Phone may have been FCC tested Read more »
The U.S., Japan, Korea and Australia are the foci of LTE activity, accounting for 90 million of those subscribers, according to Wireless Intelligence. Read more »
Google has reportedly abandoned plans to launch a physical Google Wallet card. The company’s mobile payment system has been slow to take off. Read more »
Something Amazon is really good at and something Apple is not: the cloud. Amazon hones in on its competitors’ cloud-based photo territory on Apple’s own platform with a new app. Read more »
ESPN is reportedly in negotiations with Verizon to exempt its content from the carrier’s data caps. Such a deal would set a precedence for a very different mobile internet than the one we know today. Read more »
Boxfish’s new Android app lets you search in real time for topics on TV. The data used to power the app could one day also make your DVR smarter. Read more »
The aerospace and defense firm wants to beef up its commercial business by picking up Axell, whose technology is used to improve mobile broadband capacity for businesses and public safety systems. Read more »
The expectations of a new Nexus 7 keep rising. This week an analyst notes that Google will use a 1920 x 1200 display and Snapdragon 600 chip for an updated small tablet. Read more »
Nokia finally has a flagship phone to offer Verizon Wireless customers and it’s aggressively priced: the Lumia 928 costs $99 with contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Read more »
When Apple says it sold 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads this is often interpreted as Apple declaring that 37.5 million iPhones and 19.5 million iPads have been purchased by customers. That’s not quite the whole story. Read more »
The FCC has identified 500 MHz of airwaves that could be used to deliver broadband connections to aircraft. The plan could make in-flight Wi-Fi accessible, cheap, and — most importantly — fast to all airline passengers. Read more »
Facebook has responded to some low reviews of the Facebook Home app, announcing a few planned changes to the app in the coming months to address user concerns. Read more »
Despite myths of Chrome OS as only running web apps, there is now software that can be installed and used offline on a Chromebook. This particular game supports an Xbox 360 controller too. Get ready for the second coming of Chrome OS. Read more »
MVNO Karma is trying to seed its social broadband mesh network throughout New York, so it’s starting with food trucks. Thirty mobile restaurants are now offering free Karma Wi-Fi. Read more »
News reports out of Israel say Facebook is in talks to acquire traffic-information service Waze for as much as $1 billion, but Google will be making a big mistake if it doesn’t try to top that offer. Read more »
AIO Wireless, a new pre-paid services company that is an AT&T subsidiary, launches today. The plans are simple and you can even get an iPhone, but you won’t get LTE data. Read more »
Microsoft already has a stake in Nook Media, and now it is reportedly seeking to buy out the entire company. In Nook, Microsoft sees a shot at competing against Amazon and Apple — in a way it might not be able to do from scratch. Read more at paidContent »
ShoreTel Mobility enables iPads and iPhones with a unified communications solution to give users a productivity tool supporting their own work rhythm. With ShoreTel Dock, workers can click their device into the dock to gain benefits of a desk phone including a handset, keypad and speakerphone. Read more »
While it’s just a promotion that could end at any time, AT&T is now discounting the HTC First to under a buck with contract. Something tells me that Facebook’s phone is a solution in search of a problem. Read more »
Path is announcing a partnership with Sprint that will make it easier for users to download the app on certain Android phones, potentially giving the social network a needed boost in adding new members. Read more »
Relying on the smartphone’s built-in camera, the app for last-minute, day-of bookings is looking to enhance its curated hotel choices with photo-oriented user reviews. Read more »
The Lumia 928 hasn’t been announced yet but a demo of the phone’s low-light camera performance is already throwing down the gauntlet against the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S 3. Read more »
A gain in prepaid customers offset a loss in T-Mobile’s postpaid subscriber base, bringing a branded net add of customers for the first time since early 2009. But the iPhone and LTE network is more likely to help in the future. Read more »
The Kobo Aura HD has a great screen, but its deficiencies should make consumers look twice at the $169.99 price tag. Read more »
What does the future look like for Hipstamatic, the original darling of mobile photo shutterbugs eclipsed by Instagram? It’s embracing the social nature of the photo wars with Oggl, a new app. Read more »
This week’s all-Chrome podcast kicks off with two newsbits about Intel and Asus for future Chromebooks. We share several Chrome tips — including where to buy a Chromebook on the cheap — and discuss the newest features found in the Chrome OS Dev channel. Read more »
