We were then just drooling, sad that we can’t outfit our own cribs like that. Well, in a few short years, the field of home automation (HA) received a significant boost, the technology is within the reach of many, and now smartphone owners have the perfect tool to carry the control unit with them at all times.

Home automation can be divided into a few broad categories, depending on what you are trying to control – lighting, HVAC, appliances, security, entertainment or others, like sprinklers or a cat feeder. We won’t be delving into the hundreds of brands and ways to adjust your home environment from afar, since there are currently more than 10 competing standards, but barely a thing you can get from Home Depot on the cheap and drive home to install yourself – we are just looking at how HA relays to your smartphone or tablet…

Read the full article at PhoneArena

Of course, you can message friends by using the various Facebook apps out there, but you’re generally limited to interacting with one specific individual at a time. Well, that’s where their brand new Messenger app comes to mind as it simplifies how messaging is accomplished – while making the task of contacting multiple people very simple.

Specifically, the Messenger app delivers messages through notifications and texts – meaning, there’s more of a chance that they’ll see the message right away. Not only are you given a threaded conversation view, but you can chit chat with multiple contacts as well, which means that everyone included in the conversation will be aware of what’s being talked about.

Additionally, it features the ability for you to coordinate your plans more effectively seeing that locations can be attached to conversations – thus, keeping everyone in the loop if your plans on going out change constantly. Not only that, but you can even attach photos to reduce the hassle of sending it individually to everyone.

For those drooling at the chance of checking out the new app, it’s available for both iPhone and Android right now, however, there’s no word about any additional platforms getting it.

source: Facebook Blog

Actually, an Italian company called Blue Sky is aiming to perk up the attention of smartphone users with their Android-based “I’m Watch.” As you can probably infer from its name, it’s a cool looking watch that offers some limited Android functionality – yet, it doesn’t seem or sound as gimmicky as others in the past. Naturally, some people are going to be interested in a little toy like this one, especially when it’s starting price point is at 249 euros ($350), but you’re not going to treat it like one if you happen to pick up higher models that pack luxuries such as jewels, diamonds, and other faces.

In terms of functionality, it features a 1.54” touchscreen that allows for some limited tasks like sending text messages, accessing your email, and viewing photos. Also, its built-in 3.5mm headset jack will allow you to connect headphones and jam out to some tunes. And with Bluetooth on board, it allows just about any smartphone, even the iPhone, to connect to it – so that you can inconspicuously screen phone calls.
But seeing that it’s powered by a Freescale IMX233 processor with 64GB of memory, in addition to the 4GB of flash storage for content, it’s not going to be replacing any dedicated gadget any time soon. Nonetheless, it’s one accessory that we’re sure some people will appreciate. So if you’re in interested in one, you can place a pre-order now, but don’t expect to arrive soon seeing that Blue Sky intends to ship them out starting in November.
source: I’m Watch via The Droid Guy & PC Magazine

HTC has also announced plans to buy Dashwire, a Seattle-based company focusing on delivering content from the cloud to various web-connected devices, for $18.5 million. The acquisition will help the Taiwanese company to widen its cloud offerings as Dashwire could bring valuable insight on syncing devices, but the move could also be seen as muscling up HTC’s innovation efforts and might help the company in its court struggles as Dashwire has licensed patents from Intellectual Ventures.

“People want access to all of their important content wherever they are on any device. The addition of Dashwire’s cutting-edge sync services and deep mobile cloud experience strengthens our ability to deliver these services,” HTC commented. Dashwire’s cloud syncing services will be built in to extend HTC’s Sense UI.

source: HTC via Reuters

Discussing a 2013 OMAP release would seem to put the kibosh on rumors that TI would be selling the line after the launch of OMAP5 in 2012. Speculation was centered on a bidding war between Intel and NVIDIA that would have brought some big megabucks to the Dallas based semiconductor giant.

Currently, TI’s OMAP4 processors can be found on high end phones like the Motorola DROID 3, and the chip is expected to be on the Motorola DROID Bionic. Earlier this year, as we reported, TI announced the quad-core OMAP5 with 2 cores running up to 2GHz each with 2 others acting like go-fers to fetch the coffee and donuts to save battery life and run things quickly and smoothly. With the OMAP5, 3D video can be captured in HD. The OMAP5 also improves upon current picture taking technology allowing adjustments for a shaking camera, and motion blur. Augmented reality will also get a boost from this chip thanks to better object and text recognition. The TI OMAP5 is expected to have 3 times the performance and 5 times the graphics power of the current chip. But when it comes to improving battery performance, we will have to wait for 2013.

source: TechCrunch

On the same date, the roadmap tells us to expect the Samsung Stratosphere. This phone is expected to replace Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S variant, the Fascinate. This is expected to be a LTE enabled phone, launching with Gingerbread aboard. September 8th also promises to bring the Motorola XOOM 4G LTE to Big Red. It’s the tablet you all know with 4G connectivity.

Leaked Verizon roadmap shows September 8th launch for Motorola DROID Bionic

The Samsung Illusion is penciled in for a September 29th launch. A low to mid-end device, this should launch with 3G connectivity and Android 2.3. Also on September 29th, the women get their phone as the HTC Bliss is expected to be launch. Designed for the fairer sex, the Bliss will be powered by Android 2.3.

Moving into October, the 6th of the month should see the release of the HTC Vigor. Rumored to have an impressive 720 x 1280 hi-res display, the Vigor is supposed to have a 1.5GHz processor under the hood. The roadmap says that October 20th will be the launch date for the LG Revolution 2 which is the sequel to the, well, you can figure it out. The original is LTE enabled so we wouldn’t expect less for the follow-up.
In November, we are told to expect the Samsung Galaxy Tab P8 which is probably the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. Finally, in January will come the Samsung Plato. This was originally expected to launch before the beginning of the new year, so it is possible that this will have Ice Cream Sandwich running the show.

No Samsung Galaxy S II? That probably means that we will see the August launch of the phone that we have reported. Or perhaps the Samsung Stratosphere, due out the same date as the Motorola DROID Bionic, is the hottest smartphone on earth. What a decision Verizon customers would have to make on September 8th if that is the case!

source: IGN via DroidLife

In fact, Suzanne Michel recently authored a report for the FTC, which gave an overview of the current patent system in the U.S. and what needs to be overhauled to actually promote innovation, instead of patent trolls.

Speaking of those little creatures, Samsung has supposedly been approached to entertaining a bid for InterDigital, which is another exemplary wireless patents holder. InterDigital’s CEO recently issued a memo that its collection of patents related to the wireless industry is even stronger than Nortel’s one, which received the largest ever patent portfolio payout of $4.5 billion.

We doubt that Samsung will be willing to spend north of $5 billion, as the rumored InterDigital asking price is, not to mention that Google, Apple and others are reported to also sniff around the company. A Google/Samsung combo, however, might do the trick. It’s good times for wireless patent holders – InterDigital had $17.2 million net income last quarter, and $5 billion for its patents surely sounds like a princely sum to the CEO.

Samsung is supposedly in the process of examining what exactly InterDigital keeps, so it might be willing to pick and choose some of the 8800 patents. In any case, the little green robot is apparently lining up a patent defense, which has to go a long way fending off the established competition.

source: Bloomberg & LATimes

While some of the patents listed involve databases and search queries, which is connected to Google’s bread-and-butter search business, a lot of those will no doubt be used to fend off the number of lawsuits by Apple and others against El Goog’s Android mobile OS, after the saga with the failed bid for Nortel’s patents.

Microsoft already made HTC pay it $5 for each Android handset they make, and is on the way to bend the N1 Android maker Samsung as well. Should Apple succeed with its HTC lawsuit, it could actually earn a pretty good chink of cash from that stream as well. Cupertino already had a preliminary decision that HTC is infringing on two of its patents, and is engaged in a neck-and-neck battle with Samsung over the same patents, so Bernstein’s analyst Toni Sacconaghi thinks Apple stands a viable chance to cash in on its IP property:

• “We anticipate that Apple will push its legal claims hard and unrelentingly and believe that the company’s key goal is to upend Android’s momentum by forcing a work around on key essential features which, if successful, could have huge, positive financial implications for Apple. Given that Apple appears to have more to lose in any one legal case than they might gain (since Apple ships a much higher value of smartphones than any other player), logic suggests that Apple feels confident in its odds of winning patent disputes it initiates. Should Apple prevail in forcing Android to rework some of its functionality, resulting in market share shifts, it could have huge, positive financial implications for Apple: we note that a 10 percentage point shift in smartphone market share from Android to Apple (the current run-rate smartphone market share is 46% for Android vs. 18% for Apple) in 2013 is worth an estimated $30B+ in annual revenue and $10+ in annual EPS to Apple.

• Apple appears to have the strong upper hand in its legal battle with HTC, but we see the current rulings as only a warm up bout. A second Apple suit against HTC – as well as separate suits against key Android vendors Samsung and Motorola – involves its iOS multi-touch patents, which we believe are the key pieces of IP that Apple ultimately seeks to reaffirm at all costs, given their potential to undermine Android. While HTC (specifically, its recent acquisition – S3 Graphics) and Apple recently won preliminary judgments against each other at the US ITC, we view S3’s victory as limited in scope (unlike Apple’s claims against HTC) and not posing a credible threat to Apple. More importantly, however, Apple recently launched a second case against HTC claiming infringement of its key multi-touch patents. We believe this is the much more important battle, and one which courts have yet to rule upon. Apple’s legal suits against other key Android OEMs (Samsung and Motorola) also include claim violation of such patents. Consistent with the importance of this IP, Apple’s recent settlement of its patent dispute and accompanying licensing agreement with Nokia does not appear to involve these patents.“

Looks like Nokia might have made a wise decision to go with Windows Phone, after all, since going with Android might have invalidated the nice cash outlay and ongoing royalties it won against Apple recently, for infringing on its own patents – this kind of money is no small change for the troubled N1 cell phone maker.

via SEObytheSea & CNN

Now the Taiwanese want to seriously talk it out and move along with life, as per Winston Yung, HTC’s Chief Financial Officer: “We have to sit down and figure it out. We’re open to having discussions. We are open to all sorts of solutions, as long as the solution and the terms are fair and reasonable. On and off we’ve had discussions with Apple, even before the initial determination came out.”

HTC is already paying royalties to Microsoft for their mobile patents, to the tune of $5 per each Android handset it makes, and it might now have to throw some cash the Apple way too, unless these two tit-for-tat violations mutually destruct in court. If HTC has to pay, we don’t know if this will be significant enough to affect HTC’s handset prices in some way, or the difference will be negligible enough for the Taiwanese to absorb in their profit margin.

source: Bloomberg

The mobile chipset maker says it will introduce the gesture recognition technology in the next generation of its system-on-a-chip Snapdragon family. We’ve seen some gesture-based navigation demoed by XTR and rival Texas Instruments way back last year, but things should have advanced even more by now.

We are curious what will Qualcomm come up with here. In the case of a cell phone or tablet, the front-facing camera should be the standard gesture-recognition tool involved. The next Snapdragons based on the ARM Cortex-A15 “Eagle” architecture will certainly be powerful enough to read any hand or finger movement you throw at them, so we can finally stop smudging our precious touchscreens with finger grease and ketchup.

Have a look at the XTR gesture navigation demoed on TI’s OMAP4 mobile development platform in the video below, for a hint at what’s to come with Qualcomm’s next Snapdragons. GestureTek has fitted its technology for mobiles running Android and Symbian, but knowing that Qualcomm should be powering the Nokia Windows Phone handsets, we might see gesture-based navigation implemented there as well.

source: Qualcomm