TREND REPORTS
(PDF) Understanding 5G : Perspectives on Future Technological Advancements in Mobile
[Business]
2015/01/08 12:55
Study Explores Technical Requirements, Use Cases and Implications for Ecosystem.The GSMA has released a major new report at the GSMA Mobile 360-Europe event being held in Brussels today, outlining its perspectives on the development of 5G. The new GSMA Intelligence report, ‘Understanding 5G: Perspectives on Future Technological Advancements in Mobile’, provides an overview of network technolo...
Harman Breaks Car Audio Into "Individual Sound Zones (ISZ)"
[Tech]
2015/01/08 12:55
Harman's new system is designed to break the car's cabin up into sound zones for each passenger.Harman has announced a new in-car setup that allows drivers to create "individual sound zones," each of which can play different sounds with minimal interference from other zones ? potentially eliminating the age-old argument over who gets to choose the music.Harman's individual sound zones (ISZ) bre...
Amazon Bought This Man's Company. Now He's Coming for Them
[Business]
2015/01/08 12:55
The historic downtown commercial district of Montclair, N.J., is known for its restaurants, antique shops, and art-house movie theater. It’s not usually home to lavishly funded attacks on the entrenched giants of global e-commerce. Yet on the second floor of a three-story red-brick building on Bloomfield Avenue, across a parking lot from a fancy pizza joint and up an unmarked stairwell, are th...
(PDF) The Global Language Network and its Association with Global Fame
[Consumer]
2015/01/08 12:55
HOW would you rank “important” languages? If asked to rattle them off, many people start with English, but after that are reluctant to go further. Important how, they ask. One approach would be to look at people and money: surely a language is important if it is spoken by lots of people, in countries with great wealth (and presumably, therefore, power).But in December came a new approach. A g...
Shopping, Productivity and Messaging Give Mobile Another Stunning Growth Year
[Consumer]
2015/01/08 12:55
In the six years that Flurry has been reporting on our mobile app usage, and in some cases addiction, we’ve seen stunning growth. This last year was no different. According to Flurry Analytics, in 2014 overall app usage grew by 76%. In this context, Flurry defines app usage as a user opening an app and recording what we call a session. In 2014, Shopping, Utilities & Productivity, and Messa...
Why US Egg Prices Have Nearly Doubled Since September
[Investing]
2015/01/08 12:55
In 2014, Americans consumed nearly 260 eggs each on average, more than in recent years but fewer than in 1945, when consumption peaked at 402 eggs per person.The recent uptick in consumption has been attributed to soaring meat prices, which make eggs a comparatively cheaper and more attractive protein source, plus new awareness that eating an egg a day won’t harm your health. A sudden abundanc...
Insurance Company Rewards Customers for Every 10,000 Steps
[Business]
2015/01/08 12:54
Oscar Insurance is encouraging frequent, gentle exercise by offering gift vouchers as rewards to customers in New York and New Jersey.Regular readers of Springwise will have no doubt noticed a growing wave of insurance and finance companies using tracking technology and monetary incentives to encourage healthier lifestyles from their customers.We’ve already seen Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s...
(Video) Mobile Audio Player Concept
[Design]
2015/01/08 12:54
Why fuss over the defunct iPod Classic when we have refreshing new ideas like the Mobile Audio Player Concept to toy with. This music player specialized in streaming services like the iTunes Radio, Spotify, etc. Designed with a simple and intuitive user interface, the player is slick and easy to use. Mobile Audio Player Concept from SPECT DESIGN on Vimeo.Designer: Kizuku Kitada ? SPECT DESIGNWa...
Can Apple Do for Wearable Ads What Facebook Did for Mobile ?
[Business]
2015/01/07 11:40
Marketers predict brands will latch onto smartwatches.TapSense this week unveiled what its programmatic ads for the soon-to-be-released Apple Watch will look like, exhibiting a buy-one-get-one-free mock offer from Starbucks. It's at least the second tech company to reveal a programmatic offering for wearables in the last few months, coming on the heels of FitAd's debut with Amtrak.This will be...
(Video) Why Mercedes's Self-Driving Car Is So Much More Tempting Than Google's
[Design]
2015/01/07 11:40
MERCEDES-BENZ JUST DREAMED UP THE FIRST TEMPTING SELF-DRIVING CAR. AND IN THE PROCESS, THEY SHOW US ALL WHAT GOOGLE WAS MISSING.A man pulls his cellphone out of his pocket and hits a button. A glowing vehicle pulls up that looks like it was carved from a single block of silver. The door opens automatically, and the empty seat turns its driver, beckoning him with a tacit "get in." Who could resi...
(Patent) Apple Wins Patent for Foldable, Flexible iPhone with Force Gesture Controls
[Tech]
2015/01/07 11:40
Apple on Tuesday was granted a U.S. patent for a portable device made almost exclusively from flexible components, allowing for force-based gesture input and perhaps larger displays that fold up like a trifold wallet. As awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,929,085 for "Flexible electronic devices" describes a portable device, like an iPhone, that can be fl...
(M&A) Facebook Acquires Wit.ai, a Startup That Helps People Talk to Robots
[Investing]
2015/01/07 11:40
Facebook has acquired Wit.ai, a startup focused on natural language processing that is intended to let users talk to their phones (or their robots), according to a Wit.ai blog post.Wit.ai builds technology that understands voice commands, allowing users to vocally communicate with machines. The 18-month-old startup currently operates what is called an “open platform,” meaning it works with mo...
