Seriously, Samsung, what the heck is with the scented cellphone patents? This isn’t the first, or even the second time you’ve thought to put pockets of perfume in a handset. This latest patent is slightly different from earlier concepts, we suppose. We see this one has a scent refilling station built into the charging dock. So, when you set the phone down to charge the battery, it also “charges” the aromatic sponge in the body. It’s also notable that this isn’t a passive scented strip or a spraying mechanism. Instead the “absorbant material” is heated, either by the battery directly or by circuitry triggered as part of an alert. So, every time your hippy buddy calls, your phone could blast Phish and fill the air with the scent of patchouli (or, something else…).

SOURCE via Unwired View

Despite the added risk brought on by Apple’s Find My iPhone feature, the iOS handset remains a frequent target for smartphone thieves, thanks to the device’s resale value and compatibility with networks around the world. There’s not much you can do to deter sticky fingers short of keeping your iPhone or MacBook in view at all times, but the issue does appear to have crossed the desks of Apple’s design team, which was just granted patent number 8,217,792 for a sophisticated anti-theft scheme. The acceleration-based system would detect a “known theft condition” based on acceleration characteristics, sounding an alarm and disabling the device. The smartphone or laptop would ignore vibrations from passing cars or those caused by items being dropped onto a nearby surface, instead focusing on undisclosed scenarios that likely involve direct movement. The device owner would use a GUI to configure and disable the system, at which point the handset or computer would return to its pre-disturbed mode. Overall, it sounds like a fairly straightforward hardware/software solution, with the added benefit of a technique to filter out regular motion in an attempt to reduce the number of false alarms. You’ll find the full patent at the source link below.

SOURCE via USPTO

If the HTC Status’ dedicated Facebook button fell shy of satisfying your obsessive social networking needs, sit tight: the house of Zuckerberg may be building a slab of tech just for you. According to the New York Times Bits blog, those old Facebook phone rumors are making a comeback. A handful of Facebook employees and engineers familiar with the matter reportedly say that the firm is collecting former Apple engineers, specifically, ones that worked on the iPhone and iPad. Like Zuckerberg said, mobile is the company’s top focus, and one employee says the man at the top is afraid of getting overlooked in a sea of apps. “Mark is worried that if he doesn’t create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms.” Facebook has focused on deep integration with other devices for some time, but a dedicated handset could take the freshly public company in new directions. Reports suggest that the rumored device is still in its infancy, and there’s no word on form factor or OS, of course. Up for some speculation? Check out the source link below for Bits’ full take.

SOURCE via New York Times

Microsoft has updated its SkyDrive cloud storage and sharing app for Windows Phone — you know, the one that offers more free storage than a certain competitor. New features include a batch-select tool to make moving files around easier while on the go, the ability to directly manage folder permissions and the quick sharing of files with approved recipients in your People Hub. Version 2.0 is currently available for download in the Marketplace — even for low-end Windows Phones.

In other news, Microsoft has revealed pricing for its just-launched Skydrive app on Windows desktops, setting you back $10, $25, or $50 a year for an additional 20GB, 50GB or 100GB. Scrapped in the process is the 25 gigs of free storage that Microsoft once offered to new users, now dropping that pro-bono capacity to just 7GBs, save for the lucky few that opted in before the company announced its new pricing structure.

The upgrade from the new 7GB limit to the previous 25GB for existing users is a limited time loyalty offer, so be sure to manage your storage as soon as possible to avoid the new limits.

SOURCE via Microsoft

With iOS now offering business-friendly security features, the shift away from BlackBerry is well underway, and the transition hasn’t exactly played out well for RIM. Now, the company even appears to be embracing the recently established competition, by launching BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. Beginning today, the new enterprise management tool will support not only BlackBerry devices and PlayBook tablets, but also Android and iOS tablets and smartphones, through the Universal Device Service. Business customers will be able to use Mobile Fusion to configure devices with email and calendar access, create groups, establish security policies, manage lost phones, detect rooting and jailbreaking, and even control roaming to help curb pricey fees. RIM is offering the service with a free 60-day trial, with full pricing info likely to roll out before that two-month e-taste dissolves. You’ll find more details at the BlackBerry for Business Blog by clicking through to the source link below.

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We heard last year that China was approaching 900 million mobile phone subscribers, and it looks like it’s now finally hit the big one. The country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed today that, as of the end of February, there were more than a billion mobile subscribers in the country (1.01 billion, to be specific). As the AFP notes, that’s individual subscriptions, which includes users with more than one phone, but any way you slice it that’s a whole lot of cellphone users. Of those, 144 million are on 3G networks, which is fully double the number from April of 2011. Not surprisingly, much of that growth comes at the expense of landline phones, which have dropped a further 828,000 in the first two months of the year to 284.3 million. Internet use also continues to be on the upswing, with more than half a billion people having internet access of some sort, and 154.96 million having broadband access (up nearly five million during those same two months). Read more…

If you’ve ever used a cell phone while moving, then you’ve probably experienced the depressed network connectivity that becomes more of an issue as you move further away from any given tower. Some of us are even unfortunate enough to reside or work right at the edge of a cell, forced to live with poor connectivity for much of every day. A new feature called HSPA+ Multiflow may offer some relief, “delivering double the data speed and up to 50 percent faster response compared to existing HSPA+ networks,” according to Nokia Siemens, which will be demonstrating the technology at Mobile World Congress later this month. Essentially, Multiflow allows compatible devices on the edge of a cell to connect to two sites simultaneously, letting your device send and receive data between two base stations at once. Multiflow will be available as a software update for Single RAN systems, so it could make its way to a cell site near you just after Nokia Siemens flips the switch during the second half of 2013.

SOURCE via Nokia Siemens Networks

With every state looking to enact (or having already passed) legislation that makes it illegal to operate a mobile phone while behind the wheel, researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology and Rutgers in New Jersey are taking it one massive step further.

A team led by Drs. Chen Stevens, Marco Gruteser and Richard Martin have created a system that utilizes a phone’s Bluetooth connection and a vehicle’s speakers to detect if the driver is using their handheld while driving. The algorithm-based system measures the acoustic signals emitted from the stereo and the proximity of the phone to the Bluetooth receiver, essentially pinging both systems to determine where the phone is being operated. If the signals are coming from the driver’s seat, it can shut down the phone with 95 percent accuracy, or around 80 percent if the phone is stashed in a cupholder or cubby.

Obviously, the system is designed to allow passengers to use their phones while the vehicle is in motion, but the biggest hurdles to overcome include the amount of road, wind and background noise interfering with the acoustic signals and a general lack of Bluetooth connectivity in most vehicles. Now the doctors just need an automaker to partner with…

SOURCE via CNET

It’s become a rite of passage for any major smartphone — a few hours under the knife (read: dozuki saw!), for the good ‘ol iFixit teardown. Today’s victim is the Motorola Droid RAZR. The teardown revealed that most of the key components are on one side of the motherboard, where you’ll find the Toshiba THGBM4G7D2GBAIE 16GB EMMC flash memory module, Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC1 4GB LPDDR2 RAM, Qualcomm MDM6600 dual-mode baseband/RF transceiver, Motorola T6VP0XBG-0001 LTE processor and other goodies like the combo Bluetooth/WiFi/GPS receiver. Wondering what else Motorola was able to pack neatly below that 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display? Hit up the source link for the full iFixit teardown.

SOURCE via iFixit

It’s been a very long ongoing debate regarding cellphone-cancer, and perhaps a freshly released scientific review might just do the trick. In the paper, published Friday, a panel of experts from Britain, Sweden and the US conducted a thorough survey of previous studies, before concluding that existing literature is “increasingly against” the theory that cellphone use causes brain tumors in adults. The researchers also questioned the biological mechanisms underpinning this hypothesis, while acknowledging some lingering uncertainties, since data on childhood tumors and longer-term research are still lacking.

The results come just a few weeks after the World Health Organization released its own literature review, in which it claimed that cell phones should be considered “potentially carcinogenic.” But Anthony Swerdlow, a professor at Britain’s Institute of Cancer Research and leader of the most recent investigation, said his group’s work doesn’t necessarily contradict the WHO, since the latter was simply seeking to evaluate cancer risks according to its own “pre-set classification system” — under which things like pickled vegetables and coffee are also considered “potentially carcinogenic.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the debate will die down anytime soon, though Swerdlow expects more definitive conclusions within the next few years — assuming, of course, that all of our brains haven’t turned to oatmeal by then.

SOURCE via Reuters