Tag Archives: mobile

Why are US cell carriers suddenly pushing you to upgrade faster? For the money

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So why is this happening all of a sudden? Put simply, the American mobile market is highly saturated—there are fewer and fewer new customers for these carriers. Only 1.1 million Americans got mobile phones for the first time in the first quarter of 2013—the lowest ever growth for that market. Q1 2012 saw around 1.83 million new additions, which shows a quarter-over-quarter loss of 60 percent this year. Meanwhile, there was a modest quarter-over-quarter gain in prepaid customers.

via Why are US cell carriers suddenly pushing you to upgrade faster? For the money | Ars Technica.

Why mobile web apps are slow

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At some point it will occur to you that keeping 30MB buffers open to display a photo thumbnail is a really bad idea, so you will introduce 6) the buffer that is going to hold a smaller photo suitable for display in the next screen, 7) the buffer that resizes the photo in the background because it is too slow to do it in the foreground. And then you will discover that you really need five different sizes, and thus begins the slow descent into madness. It’s not uncommon to hit memory limits dealing just with a single photograph in a real-world application.

via Why mobile web apps are slow | Sealed Abstract.

Serval Mesh

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Serval Mesh is an Android app that provides voice calls, text messaging and file sharing between mobile phones using WiFi, without the need for a SIM or any other infrastructure like mobile cell towers, WiFi hotspots or Internet access.

Via The Serval Project Wiki

Motorola Is Listening

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Most subsequent connectivity to both services (other than downloading images) is proxied through Motorola’s system on the internet using unencrypted HTTP, so Motorola and anyone running a network capture can easily see who your friends/contacts are (including your friends’ email addresses), what posts you’re reading and writing, and so on. They’ll also get a list of which images you’re viewing, even though the actual image download comes directly from the source.

via Motorola Is Listening – Projects – Beneath the Waves.

Where interactive fiction authors and games stand today

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The rise of the iPhone and mobile platforms in general, along with developer-friendly app stores, has made the idea of commercializing interactive fiction possible again. In the age of Infocom, the crude graphics on top-end hardware meant the potential market for text-only games for personal computers was in the millions, and this was enough to fund a whole company of developers. Today, people aren’t likely to pay money to sit down at a PC to play a text adventure game, but enough of them might want to play such a game on their mobile device to fund teams of one or two independent developers.

via Heirs of Infocom: Where interactive fiction authors and games stand today | Ars Technica.

Mobile Grabs $813.6M in February Funding

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TruPhone: This London-based company develops low cost voice-over-IP software. The company got $118 million in February from the Russian business tycoon Roman Abramovich, who is currently worth over $10 billion, according to Forbes.

via Light Reading – Mobile Grabs $813.6M in February Funding.

From: http://www.truphone.com/en-GB/Business/

Truphone is the mobile phone network specially designed for international businesses.

  •  Save between 30-90% on voice, text and data compared with major UK operators
  •  Enjoy price plans that cover usage in the UK, plus Europe, the US and Australia
  •  Experience business-class coverage in 220 countries
  • Multiple international numbers on a single handset

    • Facebook Hacks Points to Much Bigger Threat for Mobile Developers

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    In this case, the website of a legitimate mobile developer was targeted, with the attackers knowing the people they were really targeting (Facebook, Twitter etc) would sooner or later come to visit the site, allowing them to infect the computers of these organisations.

    This type of attack allows hackers to infiltrate systems otherwise closed off to them as Facebook’s own security would spot a straight forward attack.

    via Facebook Hacks Points to Much Bigger Threat for Mobile Developers – IBTimes UK.

    The article mentions how many app developers on Mac platforms are operating with a false sense of security.  Interesting read.

    Sullivan has this advice for mobile app developers:

    “Any developer who has Java enabled in his browser, has visited mobile developer websites in the last couple of months, and finds evidence his computer is compromised – probably should use his source code versioning system to check recent commits.”

    Start-Up Tawkon Rides Radiation Scare To Build Phone Coverage Maps

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    It also gives other data. According to the findings, Latin Americans tended to answer their calls significantly quicker than the rest of the world. In Panama, the average time the phone is left ringing before an answer is 6.42 seconds, while in Libya it’s almost double that – 11.16 seconds.

    via Start-Up Tawkon Rides Radiation Scare To Build Phone Coverage Maps.

    Data is the new currency.

    Huawei shows off phone with monster 6.1-inch screen

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    Running Android 4.1 with a custom Huawei user interface, the phone is dust- and water-resistant, as was demonstrated on stage when Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, poured water over the phone’s screen with no apparent problem. He also dropped it on stage, on purpose, to demonstrate toughness.

    via Huawei shows off phone with monster 6.1-inch screen – Huawei Technologies, CES, mobile – PC World Australia.