Healthcare is the next big thing in wearables, and nowhere was this more evident than on the show floor at CES last month. DCIA’s Cloud Evangelist Michael Elliott interviewed me in this follow-on to my USA TODAY column on the topic. The market for fitness wearables is still “healthy,” but healthcare in wearables will “dwarf” it. But … “the ante is a lot higher for that bigger pot.”
If you’re having trouble with the link, you can watch the video HERE.
Millions of us have busted our smartphone displays, and then suffered through the unconnected days that followed until we could replace our screens or phones. But there aren’t many who crash the screen on the eve of a critical week of back-to-back meetings. Which is what I just did – the night before the start of CES early this month. But guess what? I managed to stay connected. I was already wearing what I needed to get by, just like Dorothy. But my pair of ruby-red slippers was a smartwatch, which I used as a portal into the phone. You could do it too – and with a little planning, fare better than I did. Here’s how.
Privacy and security have been hot buttons of mine, as regular readers no doubt have picked up. As a consequence, I’m asked to check out authentication apps nearly as often as I’m asked if I want fries with that.
Authentication technologies that restrict access to smartphones and tablets are becoming an increasingly important tool for IT in the unending quest to protect valuable digital assets. More employees are using mobile devices as portals into company data, which makes them tempting targets for hackers. The challenge for IT is to find authentication software that is both secure enough to be an effective gatekeeper and convenient enough that employees won’t mind using it.
That combination has proven to be elusive. Most of the apps out there employ the device’s rear-facing camera for face recognition, which is cool when it works. But it can be downright infuriating when it doesn’t. And you can rest assured that, sooner or later, it won’t work. Lighting can challenge the apps, as can glasses, hats, haircuts, scarves and sunburns.
Face recognition isn’t alone in that regard; just about every biometric authentication source invariably confronts challenging environments that confound the algorithms. One weekend a few months back, for example, I painted my little boat trailer with Rust-Oleum and the fingerprint scanner on my Samsung Galaxy S5 didn’t know it was my hands for three days.
Late last year, I got the first pitch I’ve heard that acknowledges that face recognition does not perform well in all situations. Sensory, which develops voice and vision biometric technology for consumer products, approached me about its new authentication app called AppLock. AppLock, which is available beginning today on the Android Play Store, leverages the smartphone’s microphone as well as the camera to employ both voice and vision to authenticate users. (If you’re having trouble with the link on your smartphone or tablet, just search the Play Store for “Applock Sensory.”)
That’s a critical distinction. When you challenge the app by wearing a Stetson at dusk, AppLock doesn’t get stuck. It quickly moves onto Plan B and summons voice recognition. And if you happen to be in a place where it’s inconvenient or embarrassing to cite your passphrase aloud, AppLock will always let you enter a PIN, pattern or password.
One cool thing is that the app learns from those situations. If you unlock an app with your voice or pass phrase, AppLock figures out that the last view of you was a good one. So it incorporates it into its decision-making smarts. I’ve been using AppLock for a few weeks now, and have watched it get progressively more adept at identifying me. I haven’t tried the Stetson, but AppLock now knows what I look like with sunglasses.
If convenience takes a back seat to security, you can change the settings so that AppLock requires both face and voice recognition. It also lets you choose which apps you want AppLock to guard.
AppLock is more of a demonstration vehicle than an end-game for Sensory, which licenses technologies to a wide variety of companies, including smartphone makers, wireless carriers, PC manufacturers and even toy companies. AppLock is built around its latest biometric recognition technology, called TrulySecure. Thus far, the Sensory has only released AppLock as an Android app. But it has TrulySecure SDK’s for iOS, Windows and Linux as well as for Android.
With its dual biometric factors, AppLock comes closer to the security-and-convenience ideal than I’ve ever seen. And with its ability to learn from its mistakes, it’s getting closer to that ideal all the time. That’s a critical piece of the puzzle. Take it from me: the last thing you want to do when you wake up is comb your hair into place just so you can read email on your phone.
** This is an updated version of the original, which was published in USA TODAY. **
Qualcomm announced here at CES that a dozen audio hardware and service providers are hopping onto the AllPlay bandwagon. They’re planning new products that connect to each other over WiFi to create instant sound systems, and music apps and services that take advantage of the systems.
Assuming my math is correct, the news will bring the number of hardware brands under the AllPlay umbrella to 15, and 18 music streaming apps and platforms. Building momentum by adding new supporters is vital at this stage of this white-hot market, because there is a sizable stable of competing wireless plug-and-play platforms all trying to build critical mass.
The alternatives fall into two camps, those that offer open approaches like AllPlay and Play-Fi from DTS, and closed systems such as those from Apple, Bluesound, Bose and Sonos. Sonos is the clear incumbent in the space, though I expect an interoperable platform to play a dominant role as well.
I’ve been playing with a pair of AllPlay speakers for the past couple of weeks. More precisely, I’ve been playing with two speakers: the compact PlayLink 4 speaker from Lenco and its big brother, the PlayLink 6. The speakers, which were announced late last year, can be configured as left-and-right stereo speakers – each one can play either role – or as a pair of multi-room systems. In the latter mode, the speakers can play the same song or separate streams. You can play music from your tablet or smartphone, and select songs stored on your device or streamed from the growing list of services.
The speakers also underscore the need for a better home network. I tried the devices using an older 802.11g router that was also supporting a few other devices. One speaker worked just fine. But when I added a second, I experienced gaps and delays that signaled the old router was sucking wind.
At home, with a comparatively more sophisticated 802.11n router that sports some quality-of-service features – but also supports far more devices than the 802.11g network – the system had no trouble playing songs in stereo through the speakers. There were a few annoying gaps when each speaker played independent music streams.
The jury is still out on which standard will prevail. But in addition to gaining some momentum with new hardware and services, AllPlay has something going for it that none of the others do: it’s part of the broader AllJoyn framework for the Internet of Things. That means services can tie more than just speakers and players together over the WiFi network. They could also use the living-room TV to display album cover art, for example. Or they could tap motion sensors so it could let your music follow you throughout the house.
So if you haven’t tried configurable WiFi music systems like the Lenco AllPlay speakers, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it can be to put the music you want in the place you want it. The software is just as plug and play as the hardware. But be forewarned: make sure you’ve got a wireless router that’s beefy enough to support it. The more speakers – and the more streams you want to play over those speakers – the more network performance you’re going to need.
In 2014, fitness dominated the wearables scene. This year, however, the name of the game in wearables and Internet of Things is healthcare – and it will dwarf fitness.
There’s nothing worse than that sinking feeling when you realize that your NFL team will be fighting for its post-season life during a holiday party you’ve committed to attend. At least it feels that way.
But with a little preparation and some creativity, you can keep tabs on The Most Important Game Ever. Find out how. Read my column in USA TODAY.
The flashlight app on your phone may be reporting your GPS location. Seriously. Here’s what you can do to keep nosy apps like that from overrunning your smartphone. Without actually doing what you should.
Have I really fallen and can’t get up? Or am I just starting my sit-up regime? If you’re in the room with me, that would be an easy call to make. It’s a different matter entirely for a smart device. It has a stable of sensors feeding it light, motion, temperature, pressure and other environmental inputs.
So how to turn that into actionable data? That’s the focus of a new industry initiative.
Watch my interview with Ian Chen, a manager in FreeScale’s sensor business unit, HERE.
Are you tired of listening to your uber-healthy co-workers comparing calories and steps at the office? Those of you with chronic conditions can now take heart. Thanks to a new wave of wearables, soon it will be your turn to annoy the crap out of them. Provided companies can clear regulatory hurdles, that is.
Augmented reality is about to get real. I mean, really real. Digital eyewear will make it happen. And it’s happening sooner than you think.
Taller than a Galaxy S5. Tougher than Gorilla Glass. Softer contours than the iPhone 5. But it’s what’s inside that really counts.
When the first tablets bounded onto the scene four years ago, everyone wanted one. They sold quickly and immediately snagged our time and attention away from our smartphones and laptops. No wonder: They were more responsive than our laptops, and the no-keyboard design made them easier to read, watch videos, and scan social networks. The screens were much larger than our smartphones, so they were easier on the eyes and more pleasant to navigate. And every time we picked up our tablets, we were saving precious battery on our go-to devices.
It’s a very different story today, however. Smartphones continue their ascension. And notebook PCs are resurgent. But after growing 52% in 2013, according to IDC, tablet shipments are expected to expand just 6.5% this year. Demand is even more anemic when you consider that a major growth driver this year is tablets that aren’t even sold as tablets: low-cost 7-inch and 8-inch models with cellular capability. They’re being billed as big, cheap smartphones for consumers in emerging markets.
What’s happening here is that we’re returning to what I call personal device equilibrium — one in the pocket and one in the bag — which is something I predicted would happen from the get-go. Consumers are finding that they just don’t need tablets anymore, because ever-more capable smartphones and 2-in-1 notebooks are squeezing them out of their personal quivers.
The smartphone has been siphoning more of the tablet’s load recently, for a couple reasons. First, smartphones are much easier to view for long periods than they were when the first iPad shipped in 2010, primarily because displays are much larger — and growing larger still. Shipments of so-called phablets — smartphones with displays measuring at least 5 inches — are growing more than three times as fast as the overall market this year. Total units are now approaching tablet shipments. Apple, one of the last phablet holdouts, is expected to announce a 5.5-inch iPhone 6 on Sept. 9.
Second, battery life is improving dramatically. Part of that is simply because vendors can fit a much larger battery into a smartphone with a larger display. But the suppliers are also paying more attention to power management because they understand that consumers want to rely on their smartphones more — but only if they’ll still have enough juice to take a call at the end of the day.
Battery life, in fact, has been one of the greatest areas of advancement in 2-in-1 notebooks — and a big reason tablets aren’t needed anymore. There was a big leap in battery life late last year — at about the time tablet shipments began slowing, interestingly enough — and another impressive boost is coming with the new fifth-generation Core M processors. The new chips boast twice the battery life with a battery only half as large as laptops that were selling when the first iPad arrived. And they run cool enough for PC makers to produce full-fledged 2-in-1 PCs that are as thin and quiet as traditional media tablets. The first of these systems will be unveiled Friday, ahead of the Intel Developer Forum.
Some of the new 2-in-1s actually adopt the tablet form factor and come with detachable keyboards. I prefer a few of the hinged clamshell-type models that fold into what the PC makers call “tablet mode.” It might be a little heavier and thicker than the tablet-first implementations. But I never have to worry about losing the keyboard or being without it when I need it. For many — me included — 12-inch and 13-inch 2-in-1s offer the best mix of tablet portability and productivity. I do know plenty of people who still prefer 15-inch displays, and there are 2-in-1s coming that fit the bill for them, too.
Travel tip: Airlines nowadays allow only smartphones and tablets to be used during taxi, takeoff, and landing. But I’ve found that as long as the keyboard is detached or tucked away, flight attendants won’t stop you from using a 12-inch or 13-inch 2-in-1.
That’s just another in a long list of reasons we don’t need tablets anymore. Smartphones have picked up some of the slack. But the transformation in the laptop that’s happened over the short life of tablets is truly amazing. Many of the new 2-in-1s are thinner than the disk drives inside a four-year-old laptop, with far more capability and battery life.
If you’re reading this on a four-year-old laptop, then I don’t have to tell you. You’re living it. So you probably don’t need a big incentive to go out and snag one of these sleek new systems. But just in case you do, consider this: There may not have been another four-year period in the history of the PC where it’s changed so much.
Plus, if you’ve been saving up for tablet, there’s another few hundred dollars you can put toward a 2-in-1. Because, as I’ve said, there’s no reason to buy a tablet. Not anymore.
** Updated version. Original published in Information Week. **
It should come as no surprise that Steve Ballmer is out as Microsoft CEO. The company’s vision for client computing is miserably off base, and that’s on him. How could he have blessed such a misguided strategy for client devices?
On Ballmer’s watch, Microsoft rolled out Windows 8, a product that is destined to go down as one of the most colossal missteps in computing history. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it morph one day into a verb for undermining your own product. Like, for example, “the way they eight their core product like that, it’s no wonder they went belly up.”
Any first-year b-school student would tell you that Microsoft disregarded the basic tenets of business expansion with Windows 8. Find out how and why HERE.
Regardless of whether it decides to spin off PayPal, what’s left for eBay, a company that matched the perfect item with faraway buyers now that consumers are demanding it here and now?
The titans of technology have spent lavishly for your eyeballs. Now they’re opening their checkbooks to scoop up services to get you to lend them your ears. Here’s why. What’s coming. And how to spot the winners.
The titans of technology went on a shopping spree in the first half of 2014. Here’s a look at why they spent so much, what they are really after, who won and who lost.
Also: What to expect in the second half.
Read the Information Week column HERE
And here’s the video:
Midyear Report: Tech Titans Winners & Losers from Mike Feibus on Vimeo.
Forget about orange. In the high-stakes world of mobile e-commerce, gunning for Google is the new black. Three industry stalwarts have all taken aim this month to neutralize Google. If it wants to fight fire with fire, then here are four points the internet titan should nail at Google I/O this week.
Check out my new video HERE.
And my Information Week column HERE.
After days of rumor-chasing and breathless anticipation, Amazon unveiled its new smartphone. Called the Amazon Fire Phone, it’s got some pretty cool features. And as expected, it is first and foremost a “buyPhone.” It takes shopping to a whole new level here.
Given how much Amazon stands to gain by getting this phone in our hands, the price is head-scratchingly high. At $199, it’s competitive. But it’s not an offer we can’t refuse.
Watch the full video HERE.
Watch for Amazon’s long-rumored device to usher in a new era of commerce-optimized smartphones. Call it the industry’s first sell phone. With the Amazon-tailored shopping device in your back pocket, however, you just might be tempted to call it your first buyPhone.
Read the entire column on InformationWeek.
This week, Verizon added to NetFlix’ frustration, apparently adopting Comcast’s throughput-throttling negotiation tactics. Check out my new video here to find out what NetFlix might learn from AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV.
Is there really a tech bubble?
If Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion didn’t settle it for you, then Apple’s decision to buy Beats audio for $3 billion should do the trick.
Fact is, Apple needed to buy Beats. Even if it meant shelling out $3 billion to do it. Check out my video to find out why. And what might lie ahead.
Apple gave developers an awful lot to work with today at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), and many left happy – or at least happier than they were when they got up this morning. But much of what Apple announced on-stage was designed either to keep the other Titans of Technology off their turf, or to add a new feature to attract consumers from the other Titans’ platforms.
Indeed, these are just the latest volleys in a high-stakes match for consumers’ hearts and minds – and, ultimately, their wallets. The chart above summarizes some of Apple’s moves today, and who they impact most. As well, I’ve thrown in some speculation on what might happen next as a result.
A year or so ago, clients first started asking me what I thought of the prospects for Chrome OS. What I told them was this: if you want to know about Chrome’s chances, then find out what Microsoft is up to. After all, it was Microsoft’s missteps that gave Google’s cloud-centric PC platform the gaping hole in the desktop market to drive through. And it is the software giant that has the power to mute Chrome’s outlook by righting the badly listing Windows ship.
Clients still ask the question today. I still answer the same way, though the range of possible outcomes is better for Chrome than it was last year — and worse for Windows. A healthy Windows would still pinch the spread, but it could no longer eradicate Google’s upstart OS like it could in 2012.
In a year, I might still be giving the same answer. But the clock is ticking.
Read the full column on TechPinions …
Qualcomm conducted a hyper-dense small-cell trial deployment at the NASCAR Sprint Cup race this past weekend, delivering 43 times more capacity than what Sprint currently deploys at events.
Qualcomm said it chose the Sprint Cup event at Phoenix International Raceway because it’s such a challenging RF environment with high demands on capacity from the nearly 70,000 fans as well as racing teams and PIR personnel. Hurdles such as battling reflection from the bevy of hauler trucks added to the typical challenges of providing coverage to a highly attended outdoor event.
Sprint typically supports wireless data capacity needs at NASCAR events with Cell on Wheel units, or COWs. For this event, Qualcomm deployed 31 small-cell base stations. In addition to dramatic capacity improvements, there could be cost advantages to Sprint in deploying compact small cells rather than COWs as well.
Many believe that small cells will play a critical role in solving the impending data capacity crunch, as demand for wireless data continues to grow many times faster than 4G alone will be able to provide. Qualcomm calls this the “1000x Challenge,” as it forecasts that data demand will multiply 1000-fold by the end of the decade. You can find my white paper on topic HERE.
Are wearable fitness trackers really a game-changing phenomenon? Or are they just the latest in a long line of gimmicks designed to snag money from the wallets of people who really want to get in shape but never seem to?
I’ve been of the mind that an awful lot of the devices will be sitting with the Shake Weight on the treadmill-cum-clothesline in the study. But I’m starting to change my tune.
I’ll submit that my position may be colored at least in part by the wearables hangover I’ve been nursing since CES last month. The manic rush to strap sensors onto body parts and embed them into other connected devices at times felt more like parody than plan. It reminded me of the days before the dot com bubble burst – on a much smaller scale, of course – when all you needed was a PowerPoint deck and a sock puppet to secure enough funding to run Super Bowl ads.
By the time I flew out of Vegas, I’d coined a new acronym: IoC, or Internet of Crap.
No doubt, there is an awful lot of IoC out there. But it’s not all IoC. There are Amazon.com’s out there with the Pet.com’s of the wearables era.
So which is Fitbit? Read my entire column HERE.
Hackers recently pried their way into customer data at Target and SnapChat. It’s a costly proposition for both, to be sure. But while one company’s wings may be permanently clipped, watch for the other to dust itself off and continue on as before.
Why are consumer reactions to the two heists so pronounced? Because they view the Target hack as a security breach. And even though thieves got less information per SnapChat customer, consumers see that breakin as a violation of their privacy.
Find out why HERE.
Autographs? Now that’s how you get fans to share their location and other personal information with you!
Last Sunday, Qualcomm and the Dolphins lit up proximity beacons around Sun Life Stadium in Miami, and gave a group of fans a taste of location-aware discounts, inside information and other benefits delivered to their smartphones. Like notifications that the food line one section over is much shorter than the one you’re standing in now. Or coupons as you pass the team store.
And an alert that players are signing autographs at the loyalty tent. What loyal fan wouldn’t want their favorite player’s autograph? Right?
There’s a good lesson here for anyone planning contextually aware apps. That is, if you want their information, you have to follow these three steps:
Read my entire column on the subject HERE.
The MarketsofOne TechSummit welcomes Qualcomm as Charter Sponsor. MarketsofOne is the first industrywide forum dedicated entirely to contextual awareness. Digital Sixth Sense, which is Qualcomm’s vision for contextual awareness, is closely aligned with the concept for the summit.
The conference will be held April 10th, 2014, at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto, CA. Learn more HERE.
