There is something compelling about the walkie-talkie interface: push a button, talk, release, listen. Simple and instant. Public safety workers -- cops, firefighters, EMTs -- love it, and they still mourn their old Nextel phones. Now, a couple of guys with a background as emergency medical technicians (and some impressive big data cred) are reinventing push-to-talk (PTT) for … [Read more...]
MWC Day 3: Flat Bendable Components from ST
We saw interesting stuff at Mobile World Congress ranging from as small as 1mm square to as big as minivan-sized power backups for cell sites. The small stuff held our interest better, particularly the components from STMicroelectronics. Unless you're in the business of putting together electronic systems, it's unlikely you know ST; if that's your line of work, you almost … [Read more...]
MWC Day 2: Wearables to Gain a Sense of Smell
There is such a thing as an electronic nose: technology that can detect gases and specify aromas. They can detect dangerous conditions of the "canary in a coal mine" variety, find hidden dead bodies, and analyze tastes. But the technology is bulky, expensive, and slow. Environmental analysis of that sort is one of those things that would be an obvious application for … [Read more...]
MWC Day 2: ANT+ Wants to Supplant Bluetooth in Home Control
If you've heard of ANT+ at all, you almost certainly know it as a way for your fitness equipment to communicate -- probably your chest strap to your treadmill or high-end fitness watch. But Garmin-owned ANT+ wants to be, oh, so much more: it wants to be how devices in your home are controlled and communicate. That's a field with no lack of standards, of course. WTI sat down … [Read more...]
MWC Day 1: Good Technology Brings Wearables Into the Enterprise
Corporate IT directors tend to be control freaks, and for good reasons. The "bring your own devices" movement is driven primarily by users who want to be able to unify the same technology in their business and personal lives; IT directors, who are responsible for the security of corporate data, have had to suck it up as best they can. Good Technology has made a nice business … [Read more...]
MWC Day 1: ams and ST Team Up on Payment Chip Systems
If you follow the sensor and microelectronics business, you may know that ams and STElectronics are top-flight companies and strong rivals. But they announced at Mobile World Congress that they've teamed up for just this one thing: mobile payments. ST has a secure element that stores and encrypts payment data. ams has a lot of skill in antenna and NFC technology. So they … [Read more...]
MWC Day 1: Voice over IP on a Smartwatch
This falls into the category of "harder than it sounds," but an Israeli company at Mobile World Congress is demonstrating a functional VoIP stack running on a generic smartwatch. Business phone systems that used to be handled by PBXs or Centrex systems have mostly migrated to Voice over IP systems, putting voice communication on corporate data networks instead of more … [Read more...]
MWC Day 0: HTC Wristband Driven by UnderArmour
HTC makes very nice smartphones that somehow never quite find traction in the United States and now they're entering the health tracking business, joining the UA Record ecosystem. The water-resistant (1 meter for 30 minutes) Grip uses a curved 1.8-inch PAMOLED display and will last more than two days using normal tracking tools. When the integrated GPS is turned on, battery … [Read more...]
MWC Day 0: Huawei Joins the Smartwatch Hunt with Android Wear and Jawbone
Chinese tech giant Huawei announced a stainless steel smartwatch at Mobile World Congress that runs Android Wear and relies on Jawbone's UP software ecosystem. Huawei, the world's third largest cellphone maker, is very little known in the United States consumer market -- although it is no stranger to the enterprise world -- but has been working hard to raise its … [Read more...]
MWC Day 0 Brief: Withings Adopts Android
The Withings Activé fitness monitor watches will now work with the Android operating system. Previously, the company's support of Android had been spotty; some products were iOS only, others supported both products. The Activé Pop, announced at CES in January, is already shipping in Europe and will hit the United States within a month, the company said. … [Read more...]