trends

Hot mobile app trends out of CTIA

Some important and interesting trends in mobile software came out of CTIA 2009. At the center are online content management, integrated communications, and mobile VoIP calling.

Remote management

On the all-in-one mobile in-box front, Skydeck and RocketVox introduced variations on the theme of the online in-box where you can manage and store some combination of text messages, visual voice mail (transcribed voice-to-text), VoIP, and an address book. The free soon-to-be Google Voice will be the service to beat, or to at least outwit as this area develops.

Microsoft also showed the beginnings of its online MyPhone Mobile backup and syncing service, in beta. Voice mail isn't yet part of the plan, but contacts, calendars, tasks, photos, and document back-up and management will be.

Sharpcast launched a refurbished remote access application for BlackBerry phones. SugarSync for BlackBerry now lets you open, edit, and save documents if you have office software. The previous version worked with photo viewing only.

Communications

On the visual voice-mail-only side of the spectrum, YouMail was showing its rich management applications for BlackBerry and iPhone (yet to be released). Movius, which sells solutions to carriers, was displaying a low-tech method for owners of mass market feature phones like the Motorola RAZR to receive an SMS with the name of the contact that left a voice mail, and a callback number to dial.

Emoze peddled its straight-to-consumer application for Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Java phones that pushes text and rich format, HTML e-mail to cell phones, compressing messages at 80 percent. For lower end Java phones in particular, this freemium app focuses on boosting a basic phone's feature set without draining battery life or tying up the phone.… Read more

Podcast: Conficker worm dissected

Millions of computers worldwide have already been infected with the Conficker worm.

So far, it hasn't done any major damage, but it is replicating itself. And on Wednesday, it's apparently programmed to "phone home," possibly getting instructions from some master computer to start causing real problems.

Most experts don't expect anything dramatic on Wednesday, but Windows users are being advised to make sure to apply the latest Microsoft security patch and to be sure they're using up-to-date antivirus software. In this podcast, I discuss the worm with David Perry, education director of Internet security … Read more

What to expect at SXSWi, part 4: The big picture

This is part four of a four-part series. Here are part one (the launches), part two (the panels), and part three (the parties).

So there are just a few hours left before I have to head to the airport and hop a flight to Austin for this year's South by Southwest Interactive Festival, and I wanted to take up just one more blog post to talk about what the week's big trends are going to be. Remember last year when everyone kept asking, "So what's this year's Twitter?" and then it didn't happen? … Read more

Analysts see bright spots in dark photo market

LAS VEGAS--The bad economy has hurt the photography business, but there are a few areas of growth amid the gloom.

Among the bright spots are digital SLR cameras, photo books, memory-keeping moms, and Web sites adapted for mobile phone use., concluded InfoTrends analysts sharing research results at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show here Wednesday.

Overall, though, the mood is grim.

"It sure feels different at this year's PMA. There's not so much booth space, not so much traffic. The energy level is down. This recession feels different from back in '01 (which was) somewhat contained to the tech sector," said InfoTrends President Jeff Hayes. "Now it has become an issue of a consumer confidence crisis and has become a lot more broadly based. The photo industry is feeling this." … Read more

Generation G: Wired to care, wired to share

Trendwatching gets it right (again): "Giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving." That's the key assertion in this month's trend briefing, which describes the characteristics of Generation G (for generosity) and offers eight ways for brands to join: from Tryvertising to Brand Butlers to Random Acts of Kindness (RAK).… Read more

Podcast: Beware of Valentine malware

Valentine's Day, like other holidays, is a time when malicious software writers and hackers like to trick people into clicking on links that could deliver a malicious payload to their PC. CBS News and CNET Technology Analyst Larry Magid talked about the threat with David Perry of security company Trend Micro. Perry isn't terribly worried about the threat but does say that web users need to be aware. He says that certain Valentine's Day search terms are more likely than others to lead to infected websites.

Is that '25 Things' meme driving Facebook growth?

Unless you have been inhabiting the underground bunker formerly occupied by Dick Cheney, you've probably seen loads of press coverage over a "25 Things About Me" Internet meme that was spreading on Facebook. Basically, members would create a Facebook "note" containing 25 facts about themselves, and then "tag" 25 friends encouraging them to do the same.

Yes, it was a bona fide phenomenon, but I avoided writing about it, because I thought the whole thing was...dumb. Internet memes of that nature have been around since goodness knows when. Breathless press hype over … Read more

Google search helps provide inauguration subtext

Itzhak Perlman? Isabel Toledo? Simple Gifts? Huh?

During Tuesday's inauguration of President Barack Obama, people curious about unfamiliar references used Google to supply the footnotes for the ceremony. The phenomenon was visible on Google Trends, a service that shows which search terms are rapidly rising in use.

According to the U.S. results, Toledo, who designed First Lady Michelle Obama's dress, bubbled up to fifth place on the list earlier in the day. Once the ceremony began, up came violinist Perlman (ninth place), cellist Yo-Yo Ma (12th place), composer John Williams (26th place), and the variation on the … Read more

CES 2009 wrap-up: What killed in the monitor category

If you've been keeping up with my monitor blog posts from CES 2009, there's one term you've probably heard tossed around more any other: "Full HD."

Yes, Full HD was the buzzword for monitors this year. Full HD basically means a monitor has a 16:9 aspect ratio screen--as opposed to a 16:10--and either supports 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution natively or is at least compatible. All of the monitor vendors I covered this year had either their full lineup moving to 16:9 or at least the majority of it.

The reason for moving to … Read more