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Smartphone security: To ‘kill’ or not? 0

The installation of a “kill switch” in mobile devices to deter theft, first proposed by California legislators, now has the attention of federal lawmakers.

lockedphone_artFour U.S. senators introduced legislation to require carriers to install a security feature on smartphones that would remotely and permanently disable the devices if stolen. The legislation follows California’s first-in-the-nation bid to make the so-called “kill switch” mandatory on all mobile devices, including tablets.

Theft is a serious problem confronting owners of mobile devices. In major cities like New York and San Francisco, smartphone theft accounts for half of all robberies. There’s even an informal and diabolical name for it: “Apple picking.” U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, one of the bill’s sponsors, estimates the cost of these thefts to consumers is more than $30 billion a year.

The idea is for the disabling technology to be an effective deterrent by making the smartphones worthless to thieves.

But not everyone is on board. The wireless trade group CTIA has come out against the federal legislation in a position paper, citing potential hacking and privacy risks that could affect entire groups of smartphone customers. A lost smartphone reported stolen could cost the consumer hundreds of dollars to replace it, the CTIA says. The group does support criminal penalties for tampering with a smartphone.

“There is a far better way to do this, but it would actually require that criminals are captured, smartphones are returned to the owners, and justice is served, PCMag.com’s John Dvorak writes in panning the federal legislation. “It also means providers and police have to do more than sit around hitting a kill switch and having a doughnut.”

This recent CNET article goes into depth about the security devices already employed in most smartphones, and what the wireless industry is doing — and not doing — to deter thieves.

 

 

 

Hotwire poll details mobile use in bookings 0

More than a third of young adults who book travel plans are likely to do it with a smartphone or tablet, a Hotwire.com survey reveals.

hotwire_artThe discount travel site released today the findings of its third annual American Travel Behavior Survey. Harris Interactive, which conducted the online poll for Hotwire, surveyed over 2,000 U.S. adults 18 and older in October.

The survey found that 18 percent of adults who have ever booked travel plans have done so using a mobile device. The results revealed 37 percent of adults 18 to 34, and 25 percent of adults ages 35 to 44, are significantly more likely to book their trips using a smartphone or tablet.

Also, 12 percent of those who have booked travel with a mobile device used a smartphone, while 10 percent used a tablet.

The survey also revealed that 48 percent of adults say they’re more comfortable with last-minute bookings, done within seven days of checking in. Not surprisingly, this is where Hotwire says it’s done a lot of business, with 80 percent of its bookings on smartphones and 70 percent on tablets are made the day before or day of arrival.

Currently, nearly 20 percent of Hotwire’s booking occur on mobile devices.

Why ‘Work from Home’ no Longer Means Staying In 0

Once considered a perk of employment, working from home (now referred to in most job descriptions and tweets from people who aren’t in the office simply as “WFH”) is increasingly becoming a way of business life.

The numbers have risen dramatically in recent years, based on statistics gathered by globalworkplaceanalytics.com. The number of employees of companies who worked from home at least some of the time rose 70.4 percent from 2005 to 2012, the last year statistics are available. For people who worked with nonprofit organizations, the increase was 87.6 percent during that period.

The report “The State of Telework in the U.S.”, which is based on Census Bureau statistics, says regular telecommuters will total 4.9 million by 2016.

With so many people telecommuting some, or even all of the time, taking advantage of advances in mobile technology, communications and believing that they can be more productive, it is a trend that is likely to continue.

It makes a lot of sense, reducing wasted time spent commuting to the office, decreasing congestion at rush hour on the roads and on public transportation, and helping workers balance their family responsibilities with the job.

Of course, some workers who spend a large amount of time in a WFH scenario do report that they miss the social interaction they get at work, and find they get a bit bored with spending all of their time in the home office.

Thanks to improved access to WiFi networks in some cities, many restaurants and coffee houses, working from home is increasingly changing in meaning to simply “working anywhere I like, as long as it’s not the office. Whether you choose to hang out in Starbucks or you are lucky enough to live in one of the many coastal cities in places that now have WiFi enabled beaches, remote workers can now choose the location they feel most comfortable and inspired, pick up their laptop, smartphone, tablet and whatever else they need, and head out for a relaxing but productive day.

Delivery.com’s challenge to mobile app makers 0

Delivery.com is issuing a challenge to app developers to come up with new and creative ways to place local online orders.

The New York-based company has launched a competition deliverycom_artfor developers to come up with original mobile apps that create new ways for consumers to place local online orders. There’s $65,000 in prizes, plus a share of order revenues, for the best apps that drive new users and orders to local restaurants, wine and spirits stores and laundries, dry cleaners and tailors.

Delivery.com has created a niche for itself with a platform where consumers can order prepared food, groceries and services from neighborhood merchants. Now it is encouraging app developers to come up with their own ideas for an ordering platform that is locally focused, and benefits the local economy.

As we said before in a recent post, online commerce is surging as overall mobile retail sales topped $60 billion last year.

ChallengePost, the competition’s administrator, is accepting submissions through June 10. Winners will be announced the week of July 16.

Veggie Tales launches as mobile app 0

The company behind the children’s program Veggie Tales is making one of its most popular programs available as a mobile app.

Big Idea Entertainment produces children’s and family programming and is best known for the Veggie Tales series, a faith-based brand with millions of videos, books and CDs sold. “God Made You Special,” one of the most recognizable Veggie Tales episodes, has been launched on the PlayTales mobile app as an eBook for iOS and Android platforms.

Created for children ages 2 to 7, the story features rhyming text, original music, sound effects and narration, as well as different reading modes to choose from. It is available in both English and Spanish and features interactive elements on every page of the story.

VeggieTales adds to the PlayTales catalog of popular children’s brands and characters such as Sesame Street and Pocoyo.

Dinner’s less a chore, thanks to apps 0

So, what’s for dinner?

There’s always takeout from the Chinese restaurant or your favorite pizzeria. You’ll find the menu from the last order, make a phone call, pickup in 20 minutes and dinner is ready to be served.

Technology can help out with this task. Dinnertime planning can be as easy as tapping the app of the mobile device in the palm of your hand.

Most popular restaurants offer apps as part of their overall customer engagement strategy. You can check a menu, download a coupon, share your experience on social media. A growing number also let you place an order for pickup without waiting in line.

If you’re looking for more variety in cuisine, if you’re looking for takeout or delivery options close to home, there are apps for that as well.

Apps for sites like Seamless, Eat24 and Grubhub list hundreds of restaurants that can be filtered by location, distance, cuisine, delivery charges and estimated pickup time.

You’ll find many of them in the App Store and Google Play store.

 

 

Tablet use for mobile commerce surges 0

We’re using  our tablets in growing numbers to buy merchandise, as tablet payments comprise almost half of all mobile commerce.

This comes out of a new study released this week by Javelin Strategy & Research on the mobile shopping market. The use of tablets for online purchasing and commerce is surging as overall mobile retail sales topped $60 billion last year, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Javelin says; tablets were responsible for $28.7 billion in mobile online commerce — purchases, payments and the like. It was slightly more than for smartphones. In 2012 tablets accounted for $5.1 billion in commerce.

Javelin says the devices are expected to become more dominant as a purchase channel as tablet device ownership grows. Tablet-optimized shopping experiences, such as apps, should be a top priority for merchants and businesses looking to capitalize on the growth of mobile online commerce.

You can read more about this here. Tell us what you think.

Hoarding your old phone? You have options 0

You’ve seen the TV ads from the wireless companies: trade in your smartphone and get an upgrade for the latest, coolest device. Or, from one of a growing number of companies offering top dollar for your old iPhone.

The chances are, though, that you’ve stashed your old smartphone is a drawer somewhere or tucked it away in some unmarked box. A new study says you have plenty of company.

Almost 50 percent of the people surveyed by the research group OnePoll say they keep their old smartphones. OnePoll, which did the poll for resale site SellCell.com, says that’s down from the 55 percent who were asked the same question a year earlier.

The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch estimates that the trade-in value of the stashed and hoarded handsets is about $47 billion, including $13 billion in old iPhones.

So what are your options?

The resale market for the devices continues to grow through companies like SellCell, NextWorth, iPhonesintocash.com and Gazelle. But it’s mostly for iPhones, less lucrative for Android or Blackberry devices.

Most wireless retailers, including Verizon, AT&T and Apple, collect old cellphones and smartphones for environmentally responsible recycling to keep them out of landfills.

Donating the phone to charity is also an option. Verizon uses the old phones it collects for its HopeLine program, which gives the devices to domestic violence prevention organizations. The organization 911CellphoneBank.org collects working, non-valued phones for donation to shelters and charities for use as 911 emergency phones.

Finally, before getting rid of that excess smartphone, follow these guidelines by the wireless industry trade group CTIA to remove your personal information.

Tell us: What do you do with old smartphone?

 

Tips to delete racy mobile content 0

The initial story was interesting enough: A youth group creates an app to educate students about expunging old juvenile offenses from their records.

But in bringing up the app for a Chicago TV news segment, the demonstrator inadvertently showed a link to a porn site on the mobile device’s browsing history. Some sharp-eyed viewers couldn’t resist bringing it up. And the adult-themed site has some advice for mobile users who want to keep their viewing history discreet.

The demo for WGN-TV’s segment on the student-created app, called Expunge.io, did not belong to any of the people interviewed or anyone from WGN, station news director Greg Caputo tells AOL Jobs.  The demonstrator’s typed search on the smartphone revealed links to the owner’s previously visited websites, among them an adult website called Pornhub.

A chastened WGN took the story down from its own site and off YouTube, though you can see the segment here on Mediaite.

Pornhub has taken notice and its tech team has some suggestions. Says company vice president Corey Price in a statement:

“We have had the pleasure of watching the WGN debacle make headlines around the country, and while we wholeheartedly appreciate the exposure as a result of the demo phone in question, we’d like to offer up a little help to users looking to hide their dirty laundry a bit better moving forward.

That said, we’ve had our tech team devise the following steps to give unbeknownst surfers some first-hand knowledge about how to delete their mobile browser history in the spirit of keeping things discreet, and perhaps a bit less embarrassing for mobile enthusiasts.”

For iPhones:

  • Ensure your phone is powered on – head into the “Settings” menu on the home screen
  • Scroll down and tap on “Safari”
  • Scroll down into the subsequent menu and you’ll find two options: “Clear History” and “Clear Cookies”
  • Tap on all of these to clear them out

For Android phones:

  • Ensure your phone is powered on – open the mobile browser
  • Press the “Menu” key, followed by “More”
  • Continue on to the ‘Setting’ button and scroll down to ‘Privacy Settings’
  • Click on “Clear History”
  • Press “OK” (repeat for “Cache,” “Cookie History” and “Form Data”)

 

 

 

 

 

Mikva Challenge decided to create an app to “educate young detainees and parents” and help them understand a process called expungement, under which juveniles can petition the courts to clear their records. The app is called Expunge.io.

Smartphone shipments surpass 1 billion worldwide 0

The number of smartphones shipped worldwide surpassed 1 billion for the first time in 2013, according to a new report.

Android and iOS continue to dominate the market, accounting for 93.8 percent of all smartphones shipped last year, Framingham, Mass.-based analysts International Data Corporation says. Android was the clear leader in operating systems, with Samsung comprising nearly 40 percent of all Android device shipments for the year.

IDC notes that smartphones are getting cheaper. Worldwide marketing campaigns continue to stay focused on flagship devices like the iPhone 5S, Galaxy Note 3, and the HTC One, yet in 2013 the market for smartphones under $200 grew to 42.6 percent of global volume.

Count on seeing more of these phones in the lower price range as the year progresses.