Mobile

Last week, Apple created a huge stir by unveiling its iPhone 5 smartphone. Already analysts are predicting the company will sell 48 million of the handhelds by the end of 2012. But Motorola is hoping to steer some consumers away from Apple with its ... RAZRi, which the company showed off in a public demonstration on Tuesday, September 18. With the new device boasting the fastest processor ever in a smartphone, Motorola called the RAZRi release the "biggest launch since the original RAZR." Super-Fast Processor Could Give RAZRi the Edge At the demo, the company proudly highlighted the RAZRi's ... (view more)

A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that police and other law enforcement officials have the right to use Global Positioning System (GPS) data from a suspect's cellphone without a warrant. The judges decided a technicality in existing law means ... such actions do not violate the Fourth Amendment, which forbids unreasonable search and seizure by the federal government. The Appeals Court ruling came in the case of convicted drug dealer Melvin Skinner, who was tracked down by GPS after an investigation. The investigation involved acquiring a cellphone number used by Skinner. Drug enforcement ... (view more)

A Congressional agency has told regulators it is time to review the rules governing cellphone radiation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said existing rules might not be doing an effective job of measuring the risk to users. The GAO acts ... as support staff for Congress and also carries out audits to check that government departments are spending money effectively. Three members of Congress recently asked the GAO to look into the way the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates public safety with respect to cellphones. Cancer, Health Risks Not a GAO Concern The GAO's year- ... (view more)

Most city-dwellers have had at least one scare while crossing the street or riding a bicycle through traffic. But General Motors now believes it can prevent pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities with a new smartphone application. According ... to GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2010 more than 4,000 pedestrians and more than 600 cyclists lost their lives after being struck by a moving vehicle. Clearly, something needs to be done to prevent such tragedies from occurring. (Source: csmonitor.com ) WiFi Tech: Vehicles, Smartphones Interact GM has been working for ... (view more)

Given the amount of media attention paid to the financial calamity currently facing Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry, the troubles of other smartphone producers have gone relatively unnoticed. But perhaps that's no longer the case. ... Nokia Corp. has also been confronted with narrowing profit margins, and has responded to a lack of consumer interest by slashing the price of its Lumia 900 Windows phone device. The Lumia 900, which runs Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, first hit the market in April, 2012. Available exclusively through AT ... (view more)

British researchers are working on an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation that will function when GPS fails. They say the GPS satellite system might not last forever, and could be damaged by a freak space incident or even a ... military conflict. The new system comes from BAE systems, a defense company in the United Kingdom. BAE has for some time been trying to find alternatives to GPS, which works by comparing a device's location to multiple satellites in space. Solar Flare Could Destroy GPS Satellites While GPS functions well for now, it is vulnerable to satellite ... (view more)

It has been another tough week for employees at Research in Motion (RIM). The company behind the ground-breaking BlackBerry smartphone has continued its major restructuring campaign with thousands more layoffs. At the same time, new reports are ... suggesting the Waterloo, Canada-based firm could soon split in two, in which case big-time tech firms like Amazon or Facebook might move in to acquire a half. It has been rumored for several months that RIM would make significant layoffs after the failure last year of several key products. The most notable disappointment was the company's PlayBook ... (view more)

Many people are pegging 'tap sensitivity' as the next untapped technology in the race to make smartphones even smarter. Now, a new set of programmable tags working alongside the next generation of Samsung and HTC smartphones seem ready to put this ... idea into practice. The hope is that everyday routines can one day be controlled with the simple tap of a mobile device. In addition to rolling out its new flagship Galaxy S III smartphone (set to launch in June or July, 2012), Samsung will also release its first batch of smart tags called "TecTiles". Basically, these are tags in the form of ... (view more)

Verizon is scrapping its existing phone plans and replacing them with completely new ones. The new options will be much simpler, and could help people who use a lot of data save a good deal of money. Under the new strategy, people using cellphones ... rather than smartphones will simply be offered a single $40 per month plan with restrictions on the number of calls and texts. That suggests Verizon expects the current trend towards upgrading to smartphones will continue, or at least that the company doesn't expect to generate much profit from customers who won't pay for mobile Internet access. For ... (view more)

Things aren't getting any easier for BlackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM). With its new products experiencing repeated delays, the Canadian firm continues to struggle to maintain a viable presence in the mobile market. Now, there's ... word the company has decided to lay off 2,000 of its workers worldwide. This is the second time RIM has been forced to execute significant lay offs. Last summer the company cut about the same number of workers, most of whom were based at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Executive Restructuring Fails to Stop Bleeding RIM's ... (view more)