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FCC Encourages Exploration of VoIP Networks
BitCoin operated Arcade Mixes Future And Past Together
Apple Looks Into Induction, Motion and Solar Charging for iWatch
How Lenovo’s Purchase of Motorola Changes the Android Scene
Dell’s Future Mood Sensing Computers Resemble ‘Her’

FCC Encourages Exploration of VoIP Networks

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST

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Telephone technology hasn't changed much since Alexander Graham Bell dialed the first call in 1876, but some US carriers are finally prepared to jump forward.

The advent of the cell phone was a big change in telecommunications, but at the end of the day, the infrastructure was basically the same analog transmission across copper wiring. There are some innovations and changes, such as digital compression methods that became more popular with the advent of 2G cell phones, which now sent a compressed digital signal across the same infrastructure.

This technology is dated and may finally have an expiration date in sight. The Federal Communications Commission is encouraging carriers to test the replacement of typical phone services with voice over IP service, which would mean transmitting voice calls as data and using something like an IP address or email address in place of antiquated phone numbers.

This is something many cellular providers, such as Sprint have been experimenting with for a while now as it would enable users to place calls over LTE or WiFi, so the cellular carriers would only need to maintain a single data network instead of separate networks for data and voice as they currently do.

VoIP or VoLTE services would not only make things such as simultaneously talking and using data an easier feat (something that isn't available for some phones and some carriers), but it will also enhance current features with better video chat support and HD voice compatibility.

Enabling all traffic to go over a single data network also allows all traffic to be sent over more advanced fiber networks—such as Google Fiber or Verizon FiOS—which would decrease the cost of maintaining the current infrastructure and—hypothetically—see reduced costs passed on to the consumer on their monthly bills. At the very least, it will drastically cut the cost of long distance dialing, although roaming agreements will still be another matter.

It'll take years to complete testing and even longer to convert networks and update all the lagging consumers to the new generation of hardware, but this is the first step towards a new paradigm where your carrier doesn't distinguish between texting, voice, and data, because it's all data in their eyes.

Service could be purchased from your preferred provider for the sole purpose of transporting your data from point A to B. That data could be strictly web browsing, or messaging via whatsapp, Google Voice, or iMessage, and phone calls could be conducted through your service of choice, be it Skype, Viber, or FaceTime. Instead of plans being based on minutes, texts, and MB used, they would only need to be priced per MB, or be unlimited data and priced by speed tier (in the same way many home internet services work now).

It's a small step to start a long process, but we're already overdue for an update to a 138 year old technology.

Sources: Engadget, GigaOM

BitCoin operated Arcade Mixes Future And Past Together

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:00 AM PST

If you think about this, it makes sense: it’s usually geeks who are into cryptocurrencies, and who is more likely than them to end up at an arcade, reliving the glory days?

Collecting quarters to spend in the arcade is about to become even more of a thing of the past! Not that there’s many arcades left outside of Japan anyways, but now, the machines are gonna have an alternative: using BitCoin. Liberty Games are the company behind this idea, and while it makes the whole process more complex than it needs to be, it’s at least pretty fun: by combining a Raspberry Pi and a PiFace add-on to create a payment interface, now it’s your Bitcoins what will give you those needed credits to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong.

Source: Technabob

Apple Looks Into Induction, Motion and Solar Charging for iWatch

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:30 AM PST

The latest rumors surrounding Apple’s yet to be officially announced iWatch refer to the charging options this smartwatch could come with.

Not long ago, it was rumored that Apple hired a team of medical tech experts to work on a health-focusing Fuelband-inspired iWatch. Now, the company is reportedly analyzing the ways their smartwatch could charge, and the options include induction, motion and solar charging. If these rumors were true, it would mean that Apple is finally bringing something revolutionary to the table. All of these charging methods take a turn from the traditional ways that typically involve cables and power sockets, and suggest that Apple could be thinking of a waterproof design.

Battery life is indeed one of the greatest concerns of anyone buying a mobile product, be it a smartwatch or a tablet. From this point of view, Samsung Galaxy Gear turned out to be a disappointment, and maybe this is exactly what Apple stakes on. Pebble’s e-Ink display is at the other end of the specter, but I doubt that such a fancy company as Apple would ever make a smartwatch with an e-Ink display. Still, considering last year’s patent application, it’s pretty certain that the iWatch will have a curved screen. Knowing how power hungry todays gadgets are, minimizing the power consumption of the display would be a great deal that could help Apple differentiate itself from the competition.

Inductive, motion and solar charging would mean that people could actually forget about charging their iWatch. On top of that, data collected by the motion sensors would be entered in Healthbook, an app that Apple is reportedly working on. This means that the iWatch could determine our fitness levels by the way we move our hands. Rumor has it that this app will be integrated in the next mobile operating system made by Apple, iOS 8.

Considering that back in 2008, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told The Telegraph that “Apple’s future could lie in an ‘iWatch’,” and six years later that product has yet to materialize, I’d say that this company is moving at a snail’s pace. In April 2013, a board member brought up the word “watch”, but I’m pretty certain that the context was something among the lines: “Man, look at that [insert name of tech company that launched a smartwatch here] watch!”

If you liked this post, please check the initial rumors about the iWatch and the VACHEN app powered Android smartwatch.

How Lenovo’s Purchase of Motorola Changes the Android Scene

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:00 AM PST

After two years, 17,000 patents, and $12.5 billion, Google is calling it a day with its experiment in Motorola Mobility after announcing its sale to Lenovo.

Many people assumed from the beginning that all Google wanted from Motorola Mobility was their treasure trove of 17,000 patents and are first in line to say "I told you so," but that is only partially true.

Google's deal to sell off Motorola to Lenovo for $2.9 billion actually provides many benefits for both companies as Google is maintaining ownership of "the vast majority" of patents acquired in the previous deal as well as the advanced research division of Motorola.

This deal could have far reaching implications, not just for Google and Lenovo, but for all players in the Android landscape.

Lenovo may be the biggest beneficiary. Many people in the United States have no idea that Lenovo even makes Android phones, but they are in fact the 4th largest smartphone manufacturer in the world—behind Apple, Samsung, and Huawei—they just have a basically non-existent footprint in the US. Through this deal they acquired not just licensing for the rights to use Motorola's patents (which will remain in Google's portfolio), but the rights to use Motorola's branding for their products.

This gives Lenovo a major foothold to previously untapped markets besides access to one of the richest patent portfolios and ownership of the Moto-X, which has become one of the best reviewed phones ever.

Whether or not Lenovo decides to stick with Motorola's current lineup and strategy remain to be seen, but it would be a smart move to continue what Google started. Lenovo doesn't claim any initial intentions to make any drastic cuts in employees or programs. Lenovo Group Ltd. Chairman and Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that they intend to grow the Motorola brand "not just in the U.S. and Latin America, where [the brand] is strong today. We will also introduce the Motorola brand in other markets so we can have decent growth." If this is handled anywhere similar to the way they handled their acquisition of IBMs "Think" brand, then we can expect Motorola to see a prominence it hasn't had for quite some time.

Many people are calling Google the loser in the deal, since they are re-selling the company just 2 years later for $9.6 billion less than they purchased it for originally, but this is not a clean cut parting of ways. First of all—as I already mentioned—Google is keeping most of the patents they acquired in the original deal as well as Motorola's advanced research division, which is where many of Google's crazy ideas have come from, such as the modular modifiable smartphone—project Ara—and a plethora of fancy security devices such as passwords that are ingestible or tattooed. This section will feel right at home under the mysterious and bizarre Google X program.

We also can't discount the impact of the Moto-X and Moto-G. Google was able to use Motorola to prove that low cost, bloat free, Android phones could be a big sensation. We can’t ignore the impact of the statement made by these devices when we look at the insane 10 year patent sharing agreement Google recently arranged with Samsung. Google effectively proved that their way was best for Android, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more OEMs following suit.

The biggest loser in this whole situation may be HTC. The Taiwanese company has been fighting to establish branding and gain market share for the past few years, but now that the Motorola brand is buffeted by the well-oiled assembly lines of Lenovo, that uphill battle may have gotten a lot more vertical. Not to take all the wind out of their sales, though. The HTC One was widely considered the Best smartphone of 2013 in a close battle with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Moto-X. 2014 will be their last chance to gain what competitive advantage they can, because the market is about to get a lot less forgiving.

As always, we will wait and see how things develop, but it’s undeniable that this could be considered an earthquake in the ever shifting terrain in the world of Android manufacturers.

Sources: CNET, WSJ, Mashable

Dell’s Future Mood Sensing Computers Resemble ‘Her’

Posted: 02 Feb 2014 12:00 PM PST

The movie ‘Her’ doesn’t seem to be very far fetched, at least from Dell’s viewpoint. The company’s new research lab works on technologies that might change the way we interact with computers.

Besides mood sensing computers, Dell’s new R&D labs also work on a new type of cloud security based on homomorphic encryption. The company’s goal is to turn these technologies into viable products as quickly as possible. Dell isn’t the only one working on these, as Microsoft is also looking into gesture control and mood sensing computers, while IBM manifested an interest in that type of encryption.

Jai Menon, the head of the new R&D unit, explained in an interview with Business Insider that “Thought-controlled input is a project we started 6 months ago. The notion here is that through some sort of device that you put on, by measuring alpha [brain] waves and so forth, you can actually be able to tell your mood for example: whether your happy or sad. That can then drive the device to, for instance, play music. If you’re sad, it can choose music to cheer you up, for example.”

He also went on to exemplify how the homomorphic encryption would work: “Think about cloud security. What if you want some service done on the cloud, but you don't want the service to provider to see your data. For instance, a tax computing service. Can they compute your tax without seeing your salary? Well, no. You can encrypt it as you send it on the wire [over the Internet], but the tax provider must see your salary. What if I could encrypt the data in a way they don’t get to see your salary but all of their tax computations still work? I send them encrypted [salary numbers] and they do the addition and send back to you, and you decrypt, only you can. And magically you see [the tax number that you owe.]”

Menon pointed out that Dell’s labs are planning to turn both of these technologies into tangible things that we can all use. Given how quickly they progress, it shouldn’t take long till we’ll have access to thought controlled computers, just like the one Joaquin Phoenix’s character fell in love with in the movie ‘Her’. As far as the new encryption is concerned, adding a new layer of security to our cloud data is always a welcome thing.

If you liked this post, please check the GER mood sweater that provides a visual interpretation of your feelings and this ambient sound lamp.