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CDC: Nearly half of American homes no longer have landlines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new survey Tuesday, showing that nearly half of all American households now use only cell phones rather than older landlines. In total, 47 percent of the 21,000 households queried were cell-only, 41 percent use both, just 8 percent use just a landline, and 3.4 percent have no phone at all. Accounting for demographics, the results are even more staggering -- 71 percent of 24-34 year-olds use only their cells. Additionally, renters were far more likely to not have landlines than landlords and people living with non-family members went cell-only 85 percent of the time.
Hackers control connected cars using text messages
It's not only Chrysler drivers that have to worry about hackers taking control of their cars from afar. UC San Diego researchers have found that you can control features on cars of many makes by exploiting vulnerabilities in cellular-capable dongles that are sometimes plugged into the vehicles' OBD-II ports, such as insurance trackers and driving efficiency tools. In the example you see above, the security team compromised a Corvette touting a Mobile Devices dongle (one of the most common varieties) through everyday text messages -- they could turn on the wipers or even cut the brakes. That same device is also set to allow remote tunneling using a universal 'private' key, making it easy for an intruder to get complete control over the adapter and its unfortunate host car.
Priceline says mobile flight bookers like taking it easy
Priceline.com is one of the most well-known flight- and hotel-booking sites out there, and the company recently shared some information with TUAW about how its mobile device-based users tend to set up travel. The company identified three trends for the people booking flights from mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, presumably through the company's iOS app. First, those who booked air travel on mobile devices tended to be younger than the average purchaser of a flight ticket on a desktop. The average age for a mobile booker was around 32, about six years younger than desktop users. That still seems old to me, but it makes sense that the people booking flights tend to be older, as they're most likely to have the money for traveling this way. Mobile air bookers also tend to book things closer in advance, says Priceline, and about half of those booking flights by mobile device only booked one-way tickets, which the company says means those users like to make plans on the move rather than far ahead of time. Finally, mobile bookers had one big advantage: They tended to pay less for their tickets, with an average price of $283 as compared to desktop users' $315. I'm not sure that means mobile bookers have a nose for deals necessarily; maybe it just means that people tend to book pricier flights on the desktop in general. No matter what the reason, it's definitely interesting that there are such clear differences between Priceline's mobile users and those on the desktop.
Samsung creates F2FS file system for NAND flash storage, submits it to the Linux kernel
Has the lack of NAND flash storage-optimized file systems been bugging you? Then you've got something in common with Samsung, which has developed F2FS (or "Flash-Friendly File-System") for the memory of choice for mobile devices and its specific "internal geometry." It's based on a log-structured method, but tackles problems associated with older file systems intended mainly for retro, spinning-disk storage. The company isn't keeping its hard work behind lock-and-patent either -- it's gone open-source and submitted the file system to the Linux kernel, meaning you could see it implemented in Android hardware of the future. It's nice to see Sammy contributing code for the greater good, and if you've got the skills to understand it, a low-down of F2FS is available at the source below.
This is the Modem World: I hate passwords
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. I get it: The Internet is a dangerous place. People want my stuff. There are bad people out there, yadda yadda yadda. But the password requirements and security verification processes in place are Kafkaesque, mind-bending, and straight-up annoying. Every time I need to access my online mortgage account, I am forced to reset my password because, without fail, I enter the wrong one three times. I couldn't tell you what my Apple ID is because it has an even itchier verification trigger finger, especially when you have more than one device accessing the same account. Get it wrong on one, and all your devices are borked.
Insert Coin: Rowdy Robot creates Bluetooth 4.0 beacons that activate automatic alerts
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. It's no secret that Bluetooth 4.0 is energy efficient, but now a startup called Rowdy Robot wants to use it for something rather less predictable than monitoring heart palpitations during your Tour de France training. A network of little beacons ("tōds") interacts with your iPhone or iPad and lets you receive movement-triggered alerts: like when your kid wanders too far, or when they finally return home after hanging out with the corner cartel. Many uses will be similar to NFC tags, but with the advantage of a vastly greater range of up to 500ft -- plus a single beacon can last for years on a single battery. Of course, it could also work with location-based services, triggering automatic updates as you pedal past the Arc de Triomphe -- but none of this will happen unless you check out the video after the break and help Rowdy Robot meet their $50,000 target.
Apple, Sony, others sued by Graphics Properties
Apple and a few other big electronics companies are facing yet another lawsuit, this time from a company called Graphics Properties, formerly known as Silicon Graphics. These patents target a process that turns text and images into pixels for display on mobile screens, and Silicon Graphics is claiming that Apple, Sony, HTC, LG, and Samsung are all infringing on its patent rights. The company already filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago, but its filings with the court say that unless these companies stop selling devices using technology it claims to have developers, it will "suffer irreparable harm." Obviously, neither Apple or any of the other companies had a comment to share, as they all prefer to let this play out in court. But we're guessing if Apple did have a comment, it would be something along the lines of, "Not this nonsense again."
Apple devices dominate airport Wi-Fi
Anyone who has spent time around an airport recently has probably noticed that Apple devices -- particularly the iPhone and iPad -- seem to be everywhere. Ina Fried at the Wall Street Journal reports that Wi-Fi hotspot provider Boingo has the stats to prove that Apple devices are now dominating mobile device Wi-Fi connections at airports. The figures from June, 2011 show that the iPhone makes up 42.1 percent of the mobile device connections to Boingo's airport hotspots, while the iPad is second at 23.5 percent. Don't count out the iPod touch -- it's the third most popular device at 17.5 percent. For mobile devices, that means that Apple products make up a whopping 83.1 percent of all of the connections to Boingo's hotspots. Android? It's taking a very small back seat to iOS at 11.5 percent. Fried notes that the figures reflect a trend that inflight Wi-Fi provider Gogo has also noticed. In a recent report, Gogo said that the iPad (a device that didn't even exist two years ago) now accounts for one-third of all inflight Wi-Fi connections, with Macs near 20 percent and Windows PCs leading at about 41 percent. Boingo states that mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad have come to dominate the connections at airports, accounting for 60 percent of total traffic with the other 40 percent coming from traditional laptops.
Microsoft patent application details pico projected shared workspace, sounds vaguely familiar
"Combined Surface User Interface" is a cool little patent application filed by Microsoft back in 2010, detailing the creation of a shared workspace stitched together by pico projectors attached to mobile devices. Users can interface with the projected area through motion captured on a camera. If the whole thing sounds a bit familiar, don't worry, you're not crazy. Earlier in the month, a patent application from Apple surfaced carrying the "Projected Display Shared Workspaces" title, detailed a fairly similar scenario. Interestingly, the two applications were filed a week apart, Microsoft's on February 3rd, 2010, and Apple's on February 11th of that year. It's important to note, before jumping to any conclusions, of course, that the granting of patents in a case like this doesn't hinge on the filing date.
Report: Not much has changed in the growing smartphone market
It's that time of the month again -- another report is out from Millenial Media about advertising on the smartphone platforms, with more conclusions about what the market's been up to lately. This month, the big news is... that there's not a lot of big news at all. Apple continues to sit on top of the manufacturers list, Android tops the list of operating systems, and the smartphone market continues to grow, increasing its impressions shares 6 percent month-over-month in the mobile device market as a whole. In fact, for the first time in the history of the report, the top 20 list of devices doesn't list any feature phones at all; it's all smartphones, all the way down. Apple's own share continues to grow. Overall iOS impressions on Millenial's network have increased 47 percent since January, probably due to the release of the white iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Across all of the advertising revenue collected, iOS accounted for 50 percent, a 6 percent growth month-over-month. This means that even though there are more Android users out there, iOS continues to be more profitable. In general, this hasn't been a very surprising month in the smartphone advertising market. But all of the trends we've seen lately continue to develop in their various directions -- Android keeps getting more users, but Apple's still the one making most of the profits.
Microsoft becomes official ARM licensee, could an MS microprocessor be next?
ARM processors are so hot right now, especially in the mobile space, where they power many of the greatest smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices coming down the turnpike. Microsoft is apparently looking to merge in on that action, becoming an official ARM licensee. It's unclear exactly what MS will be doing with its new found technical rights, but General Manager KD Hallman said "With closer access to the ARM technology we will be able to enhance our research and development activities for ARM-based products." This likely means Microsoft will be better optimizing Windows Embedded and Windows Phone for the processor architecture, but also opens the door for Ballmer & Co. to create their own magical microprocessor and, ultimately, use it to rule the world with an iron fist. Terms of the agreement were not given, but hopefully nobody in Redmond had to lose any appendages to seal the deal.
Entelligence: Context is the killer application for mobile
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. We live in a world of diverse mobile devices. Laptops, smartphones and everything in between define the mobile experience of the 21st century. But what is the killer application for mobile computing? We all know the theory of killer apps -- they're the reason and the purpose people invest in new devices. The killer app in the early days of PCs was the VisiCalc spreadsheet. PageMaker and the creation of desktop publishing were the killer apps for the GUI-based PC, most notably the Macintosh. But for mobile, it's not as clear; some people think the killer app for mobile is email, while other say it's the mobile web. Personally, I don't think there's one specific killer application -- I think the killer app for mobile is simply context.
ARM-based processors to overtake x86 competition in netbooks and MIDs by 2013?
We suppose industry analysts must be paid on account of just how grand their prognostications are. ABI Research know-it-alls have come out with their own spectacular claim today by asserting their expectation that x86 processors -- still dominant the world over -- will be swept aside in the rapidly developing "ultra-mobile device" space by the ascension of ARM-based processing architectures. That the Cortex CPUs have grown in popularity (and power) is undeniable, but who realistically expects Intel to sit back and watch all this happen? The x86 patriarch has even gone and created an Atom SDK, so we hardly expect the forecast table above to become reality. We're just happy to see that ARM's lower power profile is attracting investment -- it's always good to see a threat to Santa Clara's chokehold on the CPU market, and AMD's sleepwalking through the past few months hasn't helped things. Now if only those Tegra 2 smartbooks were on retail shelves instead of inside prototype shells, we could get started on this supposed revolution.
Samsung's new mobile DDI promises better daylight viewing
Samsung has just revealed a new mobile display driver IC (DDI) which claims to deliver clearer images in broad daylight, and while this sounds like a promising development, we're gonna wait to see it in action before passing judgment. What makes this so-called "intelligent" DDI different from the ones currently driving LCD screens is that it contains a built-in photo sensor that detects 32 levels of ambient light and uses a proprietary algorithm developed in conjunction with the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology to adjust properties such as brightness and saturation at the individual pixel level. Basically, the new DDI promises to optimize display viewing in direct sunlight while at the same time reducing power consumption by ramping down the brightness in lower-light environments. Our skepticism stems from the fact that this tech doesn't sound like it really does anything to combat sun glare, and since we always keep our brightness maxed out anyway, we're not sure how much benefit we'd get from an auto-adjusting screen. Like we said, though, we'll wait until we see one of these Samsung-powered displays in action before completely dismissing its effectiveness, and it sounds like we won't have to wait too long, either -- mass production of the new mobile DDIs is scheduled to begin before the end of the year.[Via Digital World Tokyo]
SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows out of beta
The honeymoon is over, folks, so if you aren't already among the proud army of Slingbox owners you're gonna need to shell out $30 for the mobile client software if/when you decide to become a Sling Media customer. As of today, the company's SlingPlayer Mobile app has officially transformed from a beta into a commercial product, although this means little to customers who purchased their 'box prior to April 26th, as they are entitled to a free copy of the current Windows Mobile version, the upcoming Windows Smartphone version, and, according to Sling's website, versions for "additional mobile platforms and operating systems" when they become available. In case you're not a semi-frequent reader of this site, or another excellent destination called Engadget, SlingPlayer Mobile is a bit of software that allows Slingbox owners to watch and listen to both live and recorded content from their home theaters on any broadband-enabled, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition- or WM5-powered device.[Via Zatz Not Funny]
Official iPod Emmy Awards announced
I had to read that a couple of times myself. The National Television Academy has announced the very first Emmy award for the internet, cell phones and iPods. According to the press release, the award will be "...presented for original entertainment programming created specifically for non-traditional viewing platforms, including computers, mobile phones, iPods, PDAs and similar devices."Are you wondering just who the nominees are? Wonder no more: 24: Conspiracy by Fox Mobile Entertainment It's Jerrytime! produced by Ozone Inc. Live 8 on AOL produced by America Online mtvU Stand In produced by MTV Networks' mtvU Sophie Chase produced by CBS Films, Inc Stranger Adventures "Helem Beaumont." Since the award is intended to recognize "...original entertainment content" created for mobile devices, will independent productions be considered? We shall see. Now pass the popcorn.[Via Cult of Mac]
