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Posts Tagged ‘Mobile Device’

Those Facebook QR Codes Are Part Of Their Location Plans

A few days ago, we noted that Facebook was testing putting links to QR codes on their main profile pages. Now we know why. Apparently, Facebook is doing some testing ahead of their location feature roll-out, which will use these codes.

A source with knowledge of Facebook’s plans tells us that the QR codes will be used with an upcoming version of Facebook’s mobile app. More specifically, businesses could potentially print out a QR code and put it on a wall or a counter in their venue to allow users to scan it to check-in at that store, we’re told. Facebook is expected to unveil its location plans at its f8 conference in late April.

For those unfamiliar, a QR code (short for “quick response”) is a sort of barcode that stores information which can be captured and interpreted by a mobile device by way of the camera on the device. Google, Microsoft, and others have been experimenting with their usage recently, and now Facebook is hoping on board.

But Facebook’s idea is particularly interesting because it’s based around the hot check-in space right now. While services such as Foursquare and Gowalla are quickly gaining popularity, both still have under 1 million users, while Facebook has over 400 million users. Recently, the social network has been testing out pulling in data from both of those networks, rather than trying to build its own location network from scratch.

That said, with a feature like this, it appears that you could use Facebook to check-in, then perhaps send it back out to someplace like Foursquare. The problem with Gowalla is that their API is currently read-only, so checking-in would have to be done through their own app, and not Facbeook.

While the QR code links spotted the other day didn’t work yet, it was clear that one would link to the actual profile page, while the other would link to a particular status update. It seems that Page owners will get the option to view them soon as well.

Facebook’s location plans continue to unfold.

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40% of Blackberry users willing to trade in for an iPhone

BlackBerry users may be ready to move on to other smartphone platforms, suggesting that RIM isn’t keeping up with consumer demand in its efforts to combat growing encroachment from the likes of iPhone and Android. In fact, two in five BlackBerry owners plan to swap their current device for an iPhone when it’s time to upgrade, according to market researcher firm Crowd Science.

The iPhone has had a lasting effect on the smartphone market, changing the conception of what a smartphone should be almost overnight after the launch of the original iPhone in 2007. Despite RIM’s entrenchment among business users, however, the iPhone platform has grown at a faster rate than the BlackBerry over the last year.

Perhaps the trend can be explained by Crowd Science’s findings that many are using their smartphones for both personal and business use. Nearly a third of iPhone owners use their device for strictly personal use, versus just 16 percent for BlackBerry users. Just one percent of iPhone owners use their device for business only—no surprise there—so two-thirds are using an iPhone for business and personal use. And, while the BlackBerry has a reputation as the best enterprise mobile device, a scant seven percent of BlackBerrys users dedicate the device to business use only. That leaves over three-quarters of BlackBerry owners using their device for dual purposes.

The iPhone isn’t the only platform attracting the attention of BlackBerry users, though. Interest in Android-based devices has grown since the introduction of Google’s Nexus One, with 32 percent of BlackBerry users surveyed saying they would swap their current device for a Nexus One.

“These results show that the restlessness of BlackBerry users with their current brand hasn’t just been driven by the allure of iPhone,” John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science, said in a statement. “Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems.”

About 90 percent of current iPhone and Android users plan to stick with their current platform for their next phone upgrade.

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German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone

Continue reading German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone

German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home

We talk about the FCC a lot here, but usually the ways ye olde Commission affects our lives are indirect. A little extra spectrum here, a nice leaked image there, that kind of thing. Not this time, though, as the FCC is getting involved directly with its own Consumer Broadband Test app, designed to probe network latencies and download speeds on your home connection or mobile device. Part of the hallowed National Broadband Plan, this will furnish the FCC will useful data to show the discrepancy between advertised and real world broadband speeds, and will also — more importantly perhaps — serve as a neat way for users to directly compare network performance in particular areas. It’s available on the App Market and App Store right now, with versions for other operating systems coming up, so why not get with the program and give it a test drive?

FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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eBooks outnumber games in the App Store

Filed under: App Store, iPad

TUAWeBooks outnumber games in the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple tops Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Surveys and Polls, Apple, iPad

For the third year in a row, Apple has topped the list of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies. The list was based on a poll of 4,200 executives across the world’s top companies, and by the highest margin ever, they picked the Cupertino-based “mobile device company” as the world’s most admired brand. Obviously the millions of MacBooks, iPhones, and iPods played a factor, but it sounds like the iPad sealed the deal this year. BMW’s CEO is quoted waxing poetic about Apple’s brand power: “The whole world held its breath before the iPad was announced. That’s brand management at its very best.”

GE has actually had the most appearances at number one on the list, and Apple needs to stay high for two more years to take that record. But it’s certainly possible — if the iPad is as popular as expected, and Apple follows it up next year with an updated version and the kind of software revolution that the iPhone brought to handheld computing, they probably will nail down the top spot yet again.

TUAWApple tops Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony plans new mobile initiative to take on Apple

Perhaps stirred by Apple’s claim of being one of the biggest mobile device companies in the world, Sony is planning a number of new devices and services to compete with Apple’s iTunes Store, iPhone, and iPad. That strategy will revolve around what’s currently being called Sony Online Service, along with smartphone and tablet-like devices meant to connect to it, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

Sony plans to launch its online media platform, aimed squarely at Apple’s iTunes Store, later this month. The iTunes Store includes the App Store (which offers apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad) and iBookstore (which will offer books for the iPad later this month) in addition to music, TV, and movies. Sony Online Service is expected to offer much of the same music and video content, as well as Sony’s back-catalog of PlayStation games.

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Novatel prepping WiMAX-based MiFi, signs up for Qualcomm’s Wearable Mobile Device modules
We haven’t been shy about expressing our undying love for the MiFi, and now Novatel is playing catchup with the Sierra Wireless-built Sprint Overdrive and bringing WiMAX into the fold. Novatel has completed and tested a WiMAX MiFi prototype, achieving 18Mbps throughput in testing. The unit relies on a Beceem WiMAX chip and has 30Mbps down / 10Mbps up theoretical speeds. No word on when the 4G MiFi might actually hit the market, but Novatel can’t be content for long to let Sierra eat that ever-widening WiMAX lunch all by itself. Meanwhile, Novatel has also picked up Qualcomm’s Wearable Mobile Device modules for an as-yet undefined purpose. The units integrate a radio (CDMA 1x or EV-DO), Bluetooth, GPS, an accelerometer, and USB 2.0 plug. We don’t know what sort of shenanigans Novatel will get up to with such integration at its disposal, but we’re sure we’d love to find out.

Novatel prepping WiMAX-based MiFi, signs up for Qualcomm’s Wearable Mobile Device modules originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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