Category: Current and Future Trends

Article

KFC Puts Keyboards In Trays So Greasy Chicken Fingers Can Keep Texting | Gizmodo

My Comments

The fast-food industry are always working on ways to promote their wares and one way they have always used is the “tray-mat” which is a sheet of paper with promotional material printed on it that is placed on the serving trays. In some cases, especially with McDonalds, this is also used as part of a sweepstakes or competition where you can win prizes and, of course, these end up as a take-home collectable or souvenir.

But the KFC franchises in Germany have taken this further by integrating a Bluetooth keyboard in one of these tray-mats. Here, they pitch the idea of keeping your greasy fingers off the smartphone screen while you type out replies to SMS, social-media or other messages. This exploits the standard Bluetooth HID Device Profile supported by the mobile operating systems and pairs with the host device when powered on.

Do I see this as being more than a promotional gimmick or toy? It can be an alternative to various’”laser-projector” ideas that project the keyboard to a surface like a table or desk and could have appeal for wherever you have to enter text in a dirty environment. It is also a way to prove that Bluetooth can be integrated in paper, flexible plastic, cloth and similar materials and can be implemented with these materials as a human interface device.

In this context, the flexible Bluetooth keyboard could work well as a “roll-up” keyboard or as part of a loose-leaf folder system whether as a binder, divider or a leaf. Use of different layouts could come in handy like a piano keyboard for music input or a group of buttons that work with particular apps.

Article

Telstra Go Mobile Sharing Plans: Everything You Need To Know | Gizmodo

From the horse’s mouth

Telstra

Product Page

Go Mobile Data Sharing

Go Mobile Plans And Rates (new tariff charts for mobile services)

My Comments

Most of the telecommunications companies are offering data-sharing plans for their mobile-telecommunications product lines. But what are these data-sharing plans?

These are plans where you can share data allowance and, perhaps, call and messaging value, between multiple handsets on the same account. They are appealing to people who maintain multiple mobile-broadband devices like USB modems, “Mi-Fi” router or tablets / laptops with integrated mobile-broadband modems and allow them to connect to mobile broadband without the need to tether a device to a smartphone that has the main allowance. The plans that share call and messaging value appeal to most couples and families who work on “one household one account” for telecommunications needs and want to have a household-wide mobile telecommunications plan.

Telstra have just launched to the Australian market a new set of data-sharing plans to coincide with their latest mobile-telephony tariff charts that have the “L” (AUD$95/month) and “XL” (AUD$135/month) 24-month subsidised-equipment plans offering 6Gb and 10Gb of data respectively.

Rather than the worrisome extra-data charges that are accounted by the megabyte, Telstra have adopted a new way of accounting and charging for excess data. Here, you now pay AUD$10 per 1Gb for the excess data. They have even allowed customers who are on older plans to switch to this new way of charging for extra data used.

Here, you can purchase and annex to these plans a data-only SIM for use with tablets, “Mi-Fi” devices and USB modems for AUD$5/month or a full-service SIM with unlimited voice and messaging in Australia for another smartphone for AUD$40/month. These SIM packages assume that you have a device that you can bring to these plans and don’t allow you to buy and add in a new device.

Optus is offering a similar service for cheaper but this package is worth it for those of us who place value on a reliable mobile-telecommunications service. This is of importance for those of us who head out to the country and want to he sure of the ability to use the mobile handset or mobile-data device there and are what I would recommend for use with “connected-vehicle” setups.

The plans can be improved on by supplying supplementary devices like USB modems, tablets or Mi-Fi devices on special subsidised-equipment deals for customers who are annexing them to existing data-share mobile plans. This is more so for those of us who want to run a USB mobile-broadband modem with a router that has dual-WAN functionality set up to use Telstra’s mobile network as a failover service.

But with mobile telephony, it is still about you get what you pay for and you will pay a premium for reliable service and increased coverage especially when you are in the bush.

Article

BT’s new home phone is as smart as your Android mobile | Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

British Telecom

Press Release

My Comments

There have been some attempts by device manufacturers and established telecoms companies to provide an advanced home telephone to justify to residential customers the idea of keeping an existing landline phone service. It was something we used to do before the availability of cost-effective mobile phones especially smartphones and was the main business for these phone companies.

Examples of these phones include the Telstra T-Hub series which had a separate handset and a separate tablet which ran on a proprietary operating system along with various Android phones that didn’t have mobile connectivity but could work with a Wi-Fi home network.

BT used to offer an Android home phone but this didn’t have access to the Google Play Store which had all of the apps available for the Android platform. Rather this relied on the Opera Browser app store as a place to purchase these apps. Now they have just launched to the UK market the Home SmartPhone SII which has some interesting features.

The BT Home SmartPhone II is based on a fully-fledged Android 4.2 phone with integrated 2Gb memory which can be expanded like most Android smartphones. As well, you can download apps from the Google Play app store which has a large plethora of apps. You could even do things like load one of the many casual games like Candy Crush Saga or even install some of the “over-the-top” communications solutions like Viber,Skype or WhatsApp which are also supported with a front-facing camera for videocalls.

There is also the ability to filter out nuisance calls like “unidentified”, “number-blocked” or “payphone” calls so there is less risk of receiving unwanted calls  But this phone may be a hard sell with younger people who are sold on the idea of a mobile-phone-centric household but would appeal to older households who still place value on the traditional telephone handset in the home, especially as a common “catch-all” solution.

Article

An example of the trend being observed for 12″-14″ ultraportable computers

Lenovo’s super-light LaVie Z laptop is now available | Engadget

My Comments

I have observed that one of the premium points in a computer manufacturer’s portable-computer product lineup are the 12”-14” ultraportable notebooks like the Ultrabooks which command some rather princely sums of money. These have a strong appeal to people who are “on the go” due to them offering a lightweight chassis yet having a screen and keyboard of a minimum size that plays well for content creation and, as I have experienced for myself, they fit well on that economy-class airline tray table with room to spare for that coffee.

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook – suits air travel very well

Another key feature that is being pushed for this class of computer is them being designed to run for a long time, typically a workday, on their own batteries when you are engaging in normal computing activities. Some manufacturers are even pushing the envelope further for longer batter runtime incase you forget the laptop’s charger when you head off for that business trip in a hurry.

This is even though tablets are still being considered part of the computing equation and there are some of these units being available as convertible or detachable “2-in-1” computers so that they can become a large-screen tablet. This can come in handy if you are viewing material with someone else for example.

When most of the companies like HP and Sony released a convertible or detachable “2-in-1” computer, they initially ran these models in the 11” subnotebook size. Then they ran with a 13” model as part of the line-up of “follow-up” products that had the same form-factor. Similarly, the Ultrabook form factor like the Acer Aspire S3 I previously reviewed in 2012 was defined in response to a similarly-sized Apple MacBook Air computer that was released close to the time.

But in response to Apple premiering their latest iteration of the MacBook Air computer which has the USB-C connector, some other companies are offering similarly-light ultraportable computers. Enter Lenovo who are fielding their newer LaVie Z (US product page) range of Ultrabooks that come close to the new MacBook Air’s dimensions and weight. Here, these computers maintain that ultralight requirement for increased portability and have a spec sheet comprising of Intel i7 horsepower, 8Gb RAM and 256Gb solid-state drive. But they also inserted in to their range the LaVie Z 360 (US product page) which is a convertible unit in the same vein as the Yoga 3 Pro that I previously reviewed.

Personally, I would find that each and every computer manufacturer would offer one of these lightweight notebooks as part of “refreshing” their 12”-14” ultraportable product line or to build out this line further. Here, they could make this product lineup include models that suit different user classes and budgets with some that are purely “secondary computer for typing up copy” models while others are geared towards performance computing.

Article

LG G4: hands on with the new leather-clad smartphone

LG Promotional Video

My Comments

Time to play some smooth-sounding yacht rock! Personal electronics devices are coming on the market that show a style that doesn’t look out of place in that hotel room at Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto or in that nice BMW or luxury yacht.

How is this coming about? Here, manufacturers are paying attention to how a device looks in order to make that premium device stand out. For example, Harman-Kardon had released the Esquire range of Bluetooth speakers that are finished with the leather trim on a beautiful metal finish.

Then Apple launched their Apple Watch which conveys the look of their personal-computing products and has the Edition premium variant that has that look of luxury with even a model in that variant having a gold finish. LG came up with their Watch Urbane which is the latest in a run of smartwatches offered by different vendors that have the look of a dress watch that you could wear when you want to dress to impress. This has been brought on by Swiss watchmakers like TAG Heuer considering connected watches as part of their luxury watch product lines.

Now LG has raised the bar for how a smartphone looks with their G4 Smartphone that has a lot of attention paid to its looks. One feature that has been added for some variants to have leather trim on the back of the device. Along with this, there is a carbon-fibre look on the front as part of maintaining that luscious look. Previously, one would look around for accessory cases that make a phone have that desireable look. Now this is an effort to make these devices special.

Who knows what will come about for other big-name smartphones, tablets and notebooks that will make them look the part in that C-suite office or premium hotel room. As well, it will be a chance for manufacturers to make sure that these personal-electronics products aren’t just drab and ordinary but are highly special.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

DisplayLink

Press Release

My Comments

DisplayLink has extended its reference design for a “video-over-USB” setup to USB-C and designed a dock that can work with all notebooks and tablets just by having them connect to the device via a USB-A or USB-C cable.

This is hot on the heels of Apple announcing their latest MacBook Air and Google announcing their Pixel 2 Chromebook, both of which implement the new USB Type-C connector. Here, the dock will support multiple-screen video using DisplayLink technology. They also underscore the ability to use the dock (and multi-screen setup) with existing equipment courtesy of the DisplayLink standard and the legacy USB Type-A plug.

One way I see this progress is that the dock could be equipped with the USB Type-C socket and equipment that has this connection is hooked up using a Type-C cable while legacy equipment is hooked up using a Type-C-to-Type-A cable. I also see it as a way to innovate with these devices especially if we are thinking of desktop docks that come in to play when you are using a portable computer at your office.

The idea can be taken further with the dock having MHL software abilities so as to work with Android phones and serve as a simple external-screen device for all computing devices.

What I see of this is the ability for the standard to be raised when it comes to the design of “single-connect” docks or expansion-modules that make it easer to engage in desktop-portable or “work-home” computing.

Article

The smartphone as a companion to one’s TV watching

The Couch Potato is Extinct | The Digital Den (Seagate)

My Comments

When we watch TV or video content, we keep our smartphones or tablets with us and, in some cases, use them. A very common time when this happens is during the commercial breaks on real-time TV, which isn’t just a time to go to the kitchen or bathroom.

Why do we do this?

Communications with other people

We would use the smartphone to check on email or social-network activity; or place one or more phone calls. This may be including the idea about giving our friends a running commentary about what we are watching, something that would happen a lot with reality TV or a drama series.

A resource to verify facts

Check out which other movies or TV shows they starred in

During a sportscast, we could use a scoreboard app to verify sports scores or use apps like that scoreboard app, Google or Wikipedia to chase down facts about the contestant who is participating in the game itself or facts simply about the game. This may include the rules of the game, where everyone stands in the game or the league itself.

During other entertainment, one could use Google, Wikipedia or IMDB to find out more about an actor such as what other TV shows or films they appeared in. This may be a way for one to settle an argument with someone who thinks they are the armchair expert on the particular kind of content. You may also want to know more about a particular concept that is being featured in the show. For example, you may want to use Wikipedia to find out about a legal concept that is applied in the country where the show is but isn’t applied locally or applied in a different manner, or a medical condition or procedure highlighted in that TV drama.

How did that match go?

Even during the advertisements, we may want to check the veracity of an offer that is being advertised. This may include finding out where there are better offers or learn more about the products and services that are being touted by the barker on the commercial.

In a lot of cases, some of us may want to “make hay while the sun shines” in relation to the advertisements. This could be to claim a coupon, enter a sweepstakes that is part of the advertising campaign or simply take up on the offer being advertised.

How is this trend being capitalised on by the TV industry?

Shazam now used by some TV advertisers as a gateway to offers

Increasingly the TV industry is exploiting the mobile device as a “second-screen” to provide varying levels of interactivity in relation to the content. This is because most TV-viewing setups aren’t conducive to interactive-TV because of factors like inconsistent implementation or restriction of users’ control experiences.

One path that the TV industry are using to capitalise on us using mobile devices while watching TV is to interlink social media with TV shows. This is typically with public affairs shows, panel shows, reality TV and the like where selected comments from one or more social-media feeds are read out by the compere or shown on screen either as a dedicated slide or, more often, as scrolling text at the bottom.

Another path that is being exploited by cooking-themed TV shows, whether they be magazine shows of the “Better Homes And Gardens” ilk or competitive reality shows of the MasterChef ilk is to make the recipes and other information available on the show’s website. Here, people can then read further on that show or obtain the recipe’s details so they can cook whatever tantalised their tastebuds.

Other shows exploit this by providing such resources as extended-length interviews, factsheets, resource lists and the like to benefit the viewers who want to follow up on the show and what it was talking about. Even drama and comedy shows make use of their Webpages to provide a way for users to become familiar with the show’s characters and main storyline or simply for fans of these shows to link with it.

Some advertisers are exploiting Shazam and similar software as a tool to link the mobile display to the ad they are running at the moment. It would include such things as access to downloadable resources related to that campaign or simply a persistent “show-more-details” Webpage. This is to ascertain the effect of their campaign and which market segments it is touching. This may also be used be people who are watching broadcast content that is recorded on a PVR and may choose to act on certain campaigns that were recorded as part of the TV show.

Conclusion

The smartphone and tablet are now considered as companion devices for your TV viewing even if you are viewing it on the big screen.