Motorola Under Google: 3 Possible Futures. Now that Google has officially and completely swallowed up Motorola Mobility, the question becomes: What now? It's a good question. When Google announced it was acquiring the company that built the iconic RAZR phone in August last year, it caught many by surprise. Until then, Google seemed to be content to be the chief architect of the Android mobile operating system, leaving hardware manufacturing to, well, hardware manufacturers. But the buy made sense as straight-up purchase of intellectual property.
However, besides the IP, Google also got a hardware company for its $12.5 billion. In his announcement Tuesday, Google CEO Larry Page says Motorola will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, suggesting the company's operations will remain at arm's length from Google proper. But in the same note, Page says it's replacing Motorola's CEO with a "longtime Googler" and several other key executives will be replaced as well. 1. There's also the side note of Motorola's cable-box business. 2. Project Glass Augmented Reality Specs Spotted on Larry Page's Face | Gadget Lab. Google seems determined to outfit all of its top brass with Project Glass augmented-reality glasses. In April, co-founder Sergey Brin was spotted at a party in San Francisco sporting the glasses, and now it looks like CEO Larry Page just made his first public appearance wearing the Project Glass headset -- well, the first appearance that's been photographed and shared on the internet.
Google's other co-founder was photographed wearing the glasses at Google's Zeitgeist event in the United Kingdom. The shots were taken by Google employee Jason Mayes, who posted the images on a personal blog, but has since removed the photos. The glasses have also shown up on the faces of other top Google employees. Project Glass researcher Sebastian Thrun wore the headset during a recent interview with Charlie Rose.
Unfortunately, no one has been able to convince the Google top brass to let others wear the glasses. Via TechCrunch. Why You Need Mobile Marketing Now! [Research. Mobile phones and particularly the increasing adoption of smartphones, continue to change how people receive information, consume content and engage with others. To take advantage of the opportunities presented by these mobile devices and their expanded functionality and create an effective mobile marketing strategy, marketers must understand how consumers use them and what the implications are for content marketing, promotions, communications and purchase channels. Here are twenty-five charts of the latest research sourced from a variety of organizations to enable you to better understand how the mobile landscape has evolved so you can incorporate these changes into your marketing plans.
US Smartphone penetration To put this information in perspective, mobile phones account for 5.2% of the device traffic or about 1/20 of the US connected marketplace, which also includes computers and tablets according to comScore. Traditionally late adopters, the US switched to smartphones in 2011. Samsung introduces Galaxy Beam, an Android smartphone with built-in projector. It's only 4AM in Barcelona, but the Mobile World Congress news is already popping — Samsung just took the wraps off the Galaxy Beam, an Android 2.3 smartphone with a built-in HD projector.
Outside of the projector, the phone's other specs are fairly pedestrian. There's a 4-inch display with an 800 x 480 resolution, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5MP back camera with flash plus a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and 8GB of storage onboard (plus a microSD slot). As for connectivity, it'll run on GSM networks thanks to quad-band HSPA+. While the specs are unexciting, the projector is the real draw here. It's rated at an "ultra-bright" 15 lumens and can project onto surfaces in HD up to 50 feet wide. There's also some custom software on board — Samsung calls it a "project dedicated" application to let users share specific pieces of content like photos, video, or games. Update: Check out our hands-on first impressions here! Samsung Galaxy Beam press photos Previous Next View full Gallery. Product reviews and prices, software downloads, and tech news - CNET. Apple planning America's largest solar panel farm.
Apple is planning on building America's largest solar panel farm -- taking up a whopping 100 acres. That's it up there, as seen on Google Maps. The company aims to use the site in North Carolina to power its online operations, including iTunes, the Evening Standard reports. Once built, the 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will provide 42 million kWh of clean, renewable energy every year. We knew it was big back when we first heard about the facility , but not quite this big.
"Our goal is to run the Maiden facility with high percentage renewable energy mix, and we have major projects under way to achieve this -- including building the nation's largest end user-owned solar array and building the largest nonutility fuel cell installation in the United States," Apple said. Without pausing for breath. It made the announcement in its Facilities Report 2012 Environmental Update. Further from home, however, Apple may not look quite so ethical.
Tech 2011: Biggest News Stories of the Year | Gadget Lab. Five big things to watch out for in 2012. We’re mere weeks from the dawn of a new year, and yes, it is definitely the time to be thinking about 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 an early preview of its annual rundown of what it sees as the breakout themes in tech next year.
What they see is that a lot of what’s to come is going to be a continuation of trends or ideas that have started to gather steam in 2011. Fjord is headquartered in London (it’s the team behind BBC iPlayer’s mobile app and Flickr’s Windows Phone 7 app, to name a few). Each year they brainstorm and research the future of digital services, interfaces and design. We’ve cherry-picked the list a bit to bring you a quick rundown of a few of next year’s next big things to watch out for, courtesy of Fjord, and what they mean for startups and entrepreneurs: Consumer apps capitalize on the corporate market The wearable tech gold rush Banking 2.0. Engadget. NYT: Google to sell Android-based heads-up display glasses this year. Mashable.
The Android-Powered Smart Watch Marries Luxury and Tech. The Designer Tech Series is supported by the exquisitely crafted, new 2013 Lincoln MKS with Lincoln Drive Control. Now it gets interesting. Smart technology in watch form has captivated the world since the days of Dick Tracy, but since the turn of the decade, we've inched closer to having the entire world on our wrists.
The best-selling Kickstarter project in history was a vessel to turn a watch-defaulted iPod nano into a wrist-worn super-device. That is, until now. "Given also our brand's Italian roots, we naturally do give an extreme emphasis on elegant design, since we profoundly believe that sight and touch deserve an equally important share, just like the more technical aspects," says Eleonora Cazzaro, press manager at i'm. Now on the market in Europe — but with a burgeoning office in Silicon Valley and a vendor slot at CES 2012 — an aluminum-bodied i'm Watch will run a minimum of €249 (approximately $322). Prime Ergonomics Pairing Smart Tech with Smart Luxury. Internet Explorer Still on Top, But Chrome Is Winning the Browser War. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the world's most popular browser, but it and Mozilla's Firefox lost a lot of market share to Google's Chrome in 2011, which is now firmly in second place. According to StatCounter's 2011 data, Internet Explorer currently has a 39% market share, Chrome is at 27%, while Firefox holds 25% of the market.
Safari and Opera follow with 6% and 2% market share, respectively. These numbers alone don't tell the whole story, however. Internet Explorer started 2011 with a 46% share of the market, and Firefox was over 30%. Net Applications' numbers for 2011 are very different, with Internet Explorer having a much bigger lead (52%), but the trends are similar: Chrome was the only clear winner in 2011, having jumped from 10% to 19% market share.
Interestingly, Net Applications sees Firefox' current market share almost exactly where it started 2011: at 22%. [via The Verge] Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl. Say Goodbye to User Name and Password Logins and Hello to 'OneID' Apple Patent Suggests iPhones to Become Universal Remotes. Apple is rumored to be working on its own Apple-branded HDTV, and a new patent filed by the company suggests it may also be working to turn your iPhone or iPad into a universal remote for that television and a whole lot more. According to Patently Apple, the patent suggests a remote that could control an upcoming Apple television as well as potentially other televisions already on the market. The patent shows your iOS device becoming a universal remote, capable of controlling not only an Apple-branded television, but also a DVD player or DVR.
The patent suggests a remote that could automatically look up the code for connecting to your television, and could create a virtual version of your existing remote for a device by simply taking a photograph of it. The photo would be sent to iCloud for analysis, then allow you to use the virtual version to control your device while also taking advantage of additional features offered by Apple. Kids Think Technology is Fundamentally Human. Growing up with the Internet gives today’s children a very unique view on the way the world works — one that is vastly different from that of older generations.
These kids, the ‘digital natives,” are raised with modern technology deeply embedded into their lives, and form a natural understanding of its benefits. This deeply rooted acceptance gives kids a unique perspective on how technology can be further used to make our lives easier, and helps researchers predict future needs for innovation. What can we learn from the digital natives? We asked this question back in September, and it’s one that research firm Latitude sought to answer with its KIDS – Kids Innovation Discovery Series initiative. Now, Latitude is back to find out how technology, specifically robotics, can be used to inspire new opportunities for learning and creativity.
Education and learning are moving, at least in many children’s eyes, beyond acts of knowledge transmission toward acts of exploration and creation.”