phone

How to set up your Fitbit Flex

Fitbit recently launched the Flex, the company's first wrist-worn activity monitor that syncs with your smartphone. The Flex uses Bluetooth 4.0 to sync with compatible smartphones (more on this in a minute), keeping your current activity stats updated.

When you first get the Flex, you'll need to do some work to get it set up, but don't worry -- it won't take you any longer than it does to wait in line at Starbucks.

Upon opening the Flex, you'll notice the actual tracker is inserted into the large wristband. Remove the tracker and use … Read more

San Francisco finally kills cell phone radiation law

As expected, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a settlement with the wireless industry over a controversial law that would have required city retailers to inform customers about the possible dangers of cell phone radiation.

By a 10-to-1 vote, the Board agreed to a permanent injunction against the "Right to Know" ordinance and promised that it will refrain from further litigation. In return, the CTIA, the wireless industry's trade association, will waive any claims to attorney's fees. Supervisor John Avalos was the lone dissenting vote.

Ellie Marks, the director of the California Brain Tumor … Read more

Ford cars now sync with Amazon Cloud Player on iOS

Amazon's Cloud Player for iOS is now available in Ford Sync AppLink-equipped cars, a few months after the Android version hit the market, the Internet giant said Wednesday.

Ford owners can wirelessly connect the Amazon MP3 app on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to the Sync connectivity system to access their entire music library using voice commands or dashboard controls.

Android users have been able to use the app in Ford cars since February.

Carmakers have pushed infotainment as one way to attract new buyers, and it allows app makers to reach consumers in more locations. Ford earlier … Read more

Verizon Wireless CEO gives props to BlackBerry, Windows Phone

Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said on Wednesday that there remains an importance place for both Windows Phone and BlackBerry, the two aspiring mobile operating systems trying to eat into the dominant positions of Apple and Google.

On Windows Phone (which he mistakenly referred to as Windows Mobile 8), Mead said he has been encouraged with what he has seen, noting that the OS has gotten good engagement from the handset manufacturers.

Likewise, there's a vital role for BlackBerry, he said during an investor conference today.

Both Windows Phone and BlackBerry are attempting to stage their respective comebacks, and … Read more

Future iPhone could sport invisible buttons

The iPhone could one day come with buttons and controls that blend right into the background, effectively making them invisible.

Granted to Apple on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent dubbed "Disappearing button or slider" describes how various controls on the iPhone and other devices would normally stay hidden and fully appear only when needed.

A button would be made of the same material as the housing of the phone, so it would blend in seamlessly. But it could be selectively backlit through small holes to pinpoint its location, or the backlight itself … Read more

Nokia takes on iPhone 5, Galaxy S3 in latest Lumia video

Nokia is taking the fight to Samsung and Apple in a new video posted to YouTube.

Dubbed "The Hurricane," the video follows a roller coaster going around its track as it's being filmed by Nokia's new Lumia handset, the Lumia 928, as well as by Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3. Thanks to the handset's 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, Nokia argues, Lumia's visuals will be much better than those of its rivals when recording video.

After showing the roller coaster moving around the track, Nokia's video compares frames to those … Read more

'Next' iPhone display production to begin, says Japan report

A Japan-based report indicates that production of at least one key component for the next iPhone will begin next month.

Sharp will begin volume production in June of the display "panel" for the "next" iPhone model at its Kameyama plant in Mie prefecture, according to a report in Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, a major Japanese industrial newspaper.

Sharp's Kameyama plant has not been operating at anywhere near full capacity but production of the next iPhone's display is expected to bring the plant to "full production," the report said.

The specifications for next iPhone … Read more

Microsoft revamps YouTube app for Windows Phone 8

The appearance of a new app suggest that Microsoft and Google have made progress in resolving their feud over YouTube.

Microsoft announced Tuesday the release of an overhauled YouTube app for Windows Phone 8 to make the most of the mobile operating system's features. While the previous iteration of the app was rather bland -- a situation Microsoft blamed on Google compatibility issues -- the new app is "completely redesigned" to take advantage of the platform's live tiles presentation.

Microsoft claimed that Google, which bought YouTube in 2006, had been blocking Windows Phone 8 access to … Read more

Four iOS weather apps that exude elegance

It wasn't very long ago that for a developer to make a successful weather app, it had to have the most information possible. This meant developers would compete to pack tons of graphs, maps, diagrams, written forecasts -- and even forums where people could talk about weather -- into busy, confusing apps that tried to cover it all. But what you ended up with were long, listlike menus when the only information you probably wanted was what the weather might be like for the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, the feature-packed weather apps have their place, particularly when … Read more

Pizza Compass provides a "tool for sliced success"

You're exploring a new city when time slips away. Darkness now falls and a chill settles in your bones. The growing rumble in your stomach is starting to scare small children who pass by. But don't even think about the neon-tinted, lowest-common-denominator fast food chains--what you need is a hot slice of pizza from a local joint that's still open. The new Pizza Compass app for iPhone and iPad from swaggering (and most assuredly apocryphal) "creator" Zeus Gorham Munkist and small development shop Oak Studios aims to get you there ASAP.

The Pizza Compass app … Read more