Techno-News Blog

By: Wayne Rash, eWeek

For those of us who write about the wireless industry, 2011 was a busy, and sometimes annoying, year. We got to read hundreds of pages of court documents and FCC pleadings for the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile, which fortunately never happened. We got to see 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology finally get rolling, at least with Verizon Wireless. And of course we got to see LightSquared claim, with an apparently straight face, that it’s perfectly OK for them to destroy the entire GPS industry just so they could sell LTE to carriers. But will 2012 be any better? Of course not.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Top-10-Wireless-Industry-Predictions-for-2012-815533/

By eWEEK

Telework initiatives are taking a firmer foothold as proponents leverage organizations’ increasing adoption of cloud solutions as the technological backbone of new or expanded telecommuting programs. Many studies have shown the benefits teleworkers deliver: Reduced costs, improved morale, productivity gains, an expanded and motivated workforce, employee budget-boosters, and environmental benefits. In this video, you’ll see how organizations can use cloud technology to support remote workers, including home-based employees and remote-office workers, and how teleworkers benefit their organizations’ bottom line.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Features/Cloud-Technology-Brings-Home-the-Benefits-to-Organizations-Teleworker-Initiatives/

BY Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOm

Will 2013 see carriers eyeing their Wi-Fi offload strategies with suspicion? As consumers turn more to ubiquitous Wi-Fi networks, will that threaten carrier’s data revenue, and if so, what will carriers do about that? Expect a subtle war to control Wi-Fi in the coming year.

http://gigaom.com/2012/12/26/2013-the-year-carriers-choose-whether-wi-fi-is-friend-or-foe/

By eWEEK

Organizations have extraordinary opportunities to differentiate themselves today through analytics. That’s the findings of the 2011 New Intelligent Enterprise Global Executive Study and Research Project. The study, a joint venture between the MIT Sloan Management Review and the IBM Institute for Business Value, interviewed and surveyed 4,500 managers and executives from more than 120 countries. It found that 58 percent of organizations now use analytics to create a competitive advantage within their markets or industries. And perhaps the most telling statistic from the study is that the organizations that do apply analytics are more than twice as likely to substantially outperform those who do not.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Features/The-Widening-Divide-of-Analytics/

by the BBC

The 80-year-old US current affairs magazine Newsweek has revealed the image that will grace the cover of its last-ever print edition. A black and white photo of the publication’s Manhattan headquarters takes pride of place, with the strapline #lastprintissue. The nod to Twitter is regarded as a backhanded compliment. The death of the print edition was caused by falling advertising revenues, as audiences moved online. In this new year, Newsweek will be a digital-only publication. Editor Tina Brown described it as “a new chapter” for the magazine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20837502#

by the BBC

A man is being sued for keeping Twitter followers that he attracted while working for a US mobile news website. Noah Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog as @Phonedog_Noah, but later changed his username when he left the company – taking 17,000 followers with him. The company is now seeking damages of $2.50 (£1.60) per user, per month – a total of $370,000. Mr Kravitz said his former employer had given him permission to continue using the account after he left. He told the New York Times that Phonedog had allowed him to make the account personal as long as he agreed to “tweet on their behalf from time to time”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16338040

by the BBC

Google was the most popular website with US users in 2011 but Facebook was not far behind, according to market researchers. Nielsen suggests more than 153 million visitors clicked onto Google branded pages each month, as Facebook attracted close to 138 million visitors. Yahoo came third with about 130 million visitors each month. But analysts warned Yahoo’s tally might be at risk if young people continued to turn away from web-based email. The study is based on data collected between January and October and included visits from home and work computers. It involved a sample from a global panel of 200,000 people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16356066

by Dave Lee, BBC

Orangutans at a Milwaukee zoo could soon be video-calling their primate friends via tablet computers. The hairy tech fans have been playing with iPads since they were first introduced to them in May. Conservationist Richard Zimmerman said the next step would be to provide wi-fi access – meaning the apes could watch orangutans in other zoos. He hopes the experiment will raise awareness and funds to support the wild animals facing extinction. Mr Zimmerman, from the US-based charity Orangutan Outreach, said he had wanted to give the device to the animals ever since it was launched back in January 2010. “The original idea came literally when Steve Jobs gave his opening presentation introducing the iPad,” he said. “Independently, one of our supporters in Milwaukee was at the zoo showing the orangutan his iPad, and they were fascinated by it. We started to put things together.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16354093

by FRED DELVENTHAL, ToolZeit

This is the year-end show that highlights the top educational apps and programs that were introduced in 2012. Lots of great tools for use by teachers and students.

http://edreach.us/podcast/toolzeit-end-of-the-year-top-picks/

by The Next Web

I caught up with Thinglink CEO Ulla Engeström and COO Cyril Barrow (who joined from social and mobile gaming giant Digital Chocolate last summer) to discuss some of the company’s recent new and what they project next year to be all about. Barrow said 2012 was all about adding social features to the Thinglink platform, and 2013 will be about more of that, although the biggest thing on the roadmap is to expand to – of course – mobile platforms.  Engeström declined to go into detail about the upcoming move to mobile, but says the company basically wants to make the creation and sharing of rich, interactive images on the go really simple.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/12/25/a-chat-with-image-tagging-startup-thinglink-2012-was-about-social-2013-will-be-about-mobile/

by the BBC

Smartphones are eating into sales of basic cameras and camcorders in the US, according to market researchers. The NPD Group said the point-and-shoot camera market sold 17% fewer units over the first 11 months of the year compared to the same period in 2010. It said the pocket camcorder market fell by 13% over the same period. Its online survey of adults and teenagers suggested users were also more likely to opt for their phone camera to take footage “on the fly”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16318267

by the BBC

The eagerly anticipated Raspberry Pi home computer is about to go into production. The $25 (£16) machine is being created in the hope that it will inspire a new generation of technology whizz kids. The Pi uses an Arm chip similar to that found in mobile phones and is intended to run a version of the Linux open source operating system. Test versions of finished devices are being checked and if all is well volume production will start in January. The idea for Raspberry Pi came from video game veteran David Braben who was searching for a way to inspire young people to start a career in technology.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16316439

by the BBC

The activist hacker group Anonymous says it has stolen thousands of emails, passwords and credit card details from a US-based security think-tank. The hackers claim they were able to obtain the information because the company, Stratfor, did not encrypt it. They say Stratfor’s clients include the US defence department, law enforcement agencies and media organisations. The Austin-based company says it has now suspended the operation on its servers and email.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16330396