Our site — and the content on it — now adapts to whatever device you’re reading. The first phase of our site redesign, which went live today, also includes more curation, easier sharing and a crisper display. Read more »
Better sensors could change the way consumers diagnose and monitor their physical ailments. So maybe your smartphone becomes an EKG monitor, or perhaps you buy a device that measures 5 vital signs at once as opposed to a digital thermometer. We learn more in this video. Read more »
For the 1.4 billion people on the globe who don’t have access to electricity, solar’s potential is less about fighting global warming than it is about accessing electricity where there isn’t even an electric grid to be “off of.” Read more »
It was only a matter of time before a major operator abandoned its territorial notions about mobile voice and adopted a true ‘softphone’ service, and that operator appears to be Rogers Communications. It’s severing the bond between the mobile phone number and the mobile phone. Read more »
With no fear of federal regulation, carmakers are pursuing their “infotainment” strategy of packing cars with the latest consumer electronics. But it’s not clear that the states — which are already fighting distracted driving by cell phone users — will go along for the ride. Read more »
Apple’s huge iPhone sales numbers from its latest quarterly results helped it grow its mobile phone business by 128.4 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new report. That makes it the third-largest mobile phone maker by volume. Read more »
The Pew Internet and American Life Project shed light on one of the biggest challenges for retailers: more than half of U.S. adult cell phone owners used their mobile phone during the recent holiday season to get in-store help for their purchases. Read more »
How ubiquitous is Nokia’s iconic ringtone? An easy but inadvisable way to find out is to leave your phone’s ringer on during a concert recital and see what happens when a call comes in. See how Slovakian violinist Lukas Kmit deftly handled the situation. Read more »
What if consumers actually enjoyed signing contracts? What if carriers just gave away phones — all of them — for free? John S. Wilson of Policy Diary imagines a world where carriers could entice consumers into signing four- or five-year contracts, with the right perks. Read more »
Asian chip manufacturers and NTT DoCoMo will create a joint venture to build mobile phone chips. The joint venture poses a threat to Qualcomm, but the subtext here is that as mobile phones rise in prominence, chip making is turning on its head. Read more »
“Cloud first” markets — those where companies’ first serious engagements with information technology are in the form of cloud computing — are beginning to emerge. For the BRIC economies in particular, this might mean a chance to adopt low-cost solutions that will give companies a clear ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
What kind of amazing new things are going to happen in tech over the next 365 days? Digital design agency Fjord got out its crystal ball and let us have a preview of its annual prediction of the most important themes in tech next year. Read more »
This infographic, courtesy of Savings.com, brings together historical datapoints showing the decreasing cost and size of mobile devices, in conjunction with more capable hardware and services. Can you imagine (or remember) buying a phone for $4,000 in 1982 just for a few voice calls? Read more »
Startups in the long-simmering QR code market are hoping that the change in season, along with what they say is a “critical mass” of smart phones, will finally bring QR codes, barcodes that lead to URLs or information when scanned, into the mainstream. Read more »
A few years ago it would’ve been only the insane and the insanely prescient who were predicting that Apple would replace RIM in terms of world mobile phone market share. Now it doesn’t seem that outlandish, but the question of how soon we’ll actually see it […] Read more »
