This week, mashable.com reported on the 5 big consumer tech trends at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). These include:
Dual-Core Smartphones: LG and Motorola announced that they will introduce phones that run 1GHz dual-core processors as smartphones take a major leap in power and functionality. Users are demanding more and more multitasking capabilities from their handheld devices.
Android: The best devices at the show all ran on Google's Android Operating System platform. Companies like Samsung, Motorola and LG see Android as the industry's only alternative to Apple.
Seeking the iPad Challenger: 2011 will be the year of the tablet as companies rush to find a competitor for Apple's iPad. The Motorola Xoom has emerged as the best option to give Apple a run for the money.
TVs Get Smart: New TVs revealed this year can connect to the web and run apps. But will people really use their TVs to browse videos on YouTube?
Apple Casts a Giant Shadow: Although Apple does not attend CES, they still try to steal the spotlight. This year, Apple launched the Mac App Store and announced the Verizon iPhone at venues other than CES.
To learn more about the Consumer Electronics Show, click here.
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What's Green, Made of Corn and Has Buttons?
Sprint has introduced a cell phone made from corn . The case is made of a corn-based "bioplastic" and the box is made up of recycled material. Sprint will donate $2 of every phone sale to the Nature Conservancy.
The $50 Samsung Reclaim is Sprint's entry into the hottest segment of the cellphone market this year: cheap phones with full keyboards. The ecological features are a bonus.
Did Twitter Save A Life -- Again?
While driving home recently, Atlanta Councilmember Kwanza Hall came upon an unconscious woman who needed medical attention. He asked those around the woman if they had called 911 – the emergency number. They had, but were unable to get through.
So Counselor Hall turned to Twitter to help summon aide. Here’s the story, as reported by Wired:
Did Twitter help save a life? In this instance – as in the instance when actress Demi Moore’s tweeted a fan’s suicide message – it is impossible to tell for certain. But it is clear that Twitter has not only leapt past email but is challenging the phone as a real time communication tool.
So Counselor Hall turned to Twitter to help summon aide. Here’s the story, as reported by Wired:
Did Twitter help save a life? In this instance – as in the instance when actress Demi Moore’s tweeted a fan’s suicide message – it is impossible to tell for certain. But it is clear that Twitter has not only leapt past email but is challenging the phone as a real time communication tool.
Cell Phone Only Homes Surpass Landline Only Phones for the First Time
Remember not too long ago, when “cordless” phones were big, ugly, and good for a sight-gag on a television comedy show? Well, those phones have gotten their revenge:
The number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines. Twenty percent of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey recently released. This compares with 17% of homes with landlines but no cells.
That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3% of households were wireless only, while 43% stuck with only landlines.
Six in 10 households have both landlines and cell phones. Even so, industry analysts emphasized the public's growing love affair with the versatility of cell phones, which can perform functions like receiving text messages and are also mobile.
"The end game is consumers are paying two bills for the same service," said John Fletcher, an analyst for the market research firm SNL Kagan, referring to cell and landline phones. "Which are they going to choose? They'll choose the one they can take with them in their car."
About a third of people age 18 to 24 live in households with only cell phones, the federal figures showed, making them far likelier than older people to rely exclusively on cells. The same is true of four in 10 people age 25 to 29.
The data was compiled by the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC. The latest survey involved in-person interviews with members of 12,597 households conducted from July through December 2008.
[via Yahoo News]
The number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones has for the first time surpassed those that just have traditional landlines. Twenty percent of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey recently released. This compares with 17% of homes with landlines but no cells.
That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3% of households were wireless only, while 43% stuck with only landlines.
Six in 10 households have both landlines and cell phones. Even so, industry analysts emphasized the public's growing love affair with the versatility of cell phones, which can perform functions like receiving text messages and are also mobile.
"The end game is consumers are paying two bills for the same service," said John Fletcher, an analyst for the market research firm SNL Kagan, referring to cell and landline phones. "Which are they going to choose? They'll choose the one they can take with them in their car."
About a third of people age 18 to 24 live in households with only cell phones, the federal figures showed, making them far likelier than older people to rely exclusively on cells. The same is true of four in 10 people age 25 to 29.
The data was compiled by the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the CDC. The latest survey involved in-person interviews with members of 12,597 households conducted from July through December 2008.
[via Yahoo News]
166 Million Text Messages in Great Britain on New Year's Eve
As Vonda Shepard croons in that memorable episode of Ally McBeal, “What are you doing new year’s eve?”
If you are like many people in Great Britain – and, presumably, the United States – you were text messaging.
According to a recent post in engadgetmobile.com, O2 UK – a large, British provider of mobile phones – recorded 166 million text messages over its network between 7:30 a.m. on December 31, 2008, and 7:30 a.m. on January 1, 2009. That’s about 1,900 messages per second. Or, put another way, three messages for every man, woman, and child in the country.
Though no numbers have been released for the comparable period of time in the States, some analysts say we send twice as many text messages as those in Britain.
Any cures for thumbs with text hangovers?
If you are like many people in Great Britain – and, presumably, the United States – you were text messaging.
According to a recent post in engadgetmobile.com, O2 UK – a large, British provider of mobile phones – recorded 166 million text messages over its network between 7:30 a.m. on December 31, 2008, and 7:30 a.m. on January 1, 2009. That’s about 1,900 messages per second. Or, put another way, three messages for every man, woman, and child in the country.
Though no numbers have been released for the comparable period of time in the States, some analysts say we send twice as many text messages as those in Britain.
Any cures for thumbs with text hangovers?
Networked Families
The Internet and cell phones are now central components of modern family life, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in its recent study, Networked Families.
According to the study, the traditional nuclear family – two parents and minor children – has the highest rate of technology use, higher than other household types – such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children.
In these networked families, 76% of the spouses use the Internet, as do 84% of their children under age 18. Almost 60% of married-with-children households own two or more computers, and 88% own multiple cell phones.
Such wired families feel more connected with each other through cell phone use and shared Internet experiences. A majority of adults say technology allows their family life today to be as close, or closer, than their families were when they grew up. Part of this may be due to the fact that 25% of those interviewed says that the Internet has diminished the importance of television in their lives.
The connectedness felt by these families is different than in the past, however: Technology-using families are less likely to share meals and less likely to report satisfaction with their leisure time.
In addition, 20% of those interviewed say that that being wired has blurred traditional lines between “work” and “home,” and has resulted in them doing more work from home. And, as people spend more time working, they are less satisfied with the amount of time they can spend on their hobbies or relaxing.
To read the entire Pew report, go to Networked Families.
According to the study, the traditional nuclear family – two parents and minor children – has the highest rate of technology use, higher than other household types – such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children.
In these networked families, 76% of the spouses use the Internet, as do 84% of their children under age 18. Almost 60% of married-with-children households own two or more computers, and 88% own multiple cell phones.
Such wired families feel more connected with each other through cell phone use and shared Internet experiences. A majority of adults say technology allows their family life today to be as close, or closer, than their families were when they grew up. Part of this may be due to the fact that 25% of those interviewed says that the Internet has diminished the importance of television in their lives.
The connectedness felt by these families is different than in the past, however: Technology-using families are less likely to share meals and less likely to report satisfaction with their leisure time.
In addition, 20% of those interviewed say that that being wired has blurred traditional lines between “work” and “home,” and has resulted in them doing more work from home. And, as people spend more time working, they are less satisfied with the amount of time they can spend on their hobbies or relaxing.
To read the entire Pew report, go to Networked Families.
Text Messaging Outpaces Cell Phone Calls
According to Alex Mindlin, in the September 28 New York Times:
In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.Not only has text messaging replaced email, apparently it is replacing cell phone use.
Nicholas Covey, director of insights for Nielsen Mobile, attributed the spike in messaging to the spread of QWERTY-style keypads, whose users send 54 percent more text messages than those with ordinary keypads. He also said that phone companies had encouraged users to text by offering large or unlimited text-messaging bundles.
Teenagers ages 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month, according to Nielsen Mobile. By contrast, 18-to-24-year-olds average 790 messages. A separate study of teenagers with cellphones by Harris Interactive found that 42 percent of them claim that they can write text messages while blindfolded.
