Also - See photos and comments from CTIA
2009
CES & ICCE
2010 and
Showest 2010 |
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LiveWire has a most innovative business model. Sign up
for their service (photo shows one of their partners that
sells it) and your phone can make you money anytime someone
calls you. Of course, the caller has to now listen to
an advertising message for a few seconds (~5 to 10s) before
your phone rings. They've recently added charity
messages, so you don't have to sound so bad. Meantime,
you make about 4 cents a call. |
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Services like SMobile Systems's Parent Controls are
starting to show up. This one lets a parent (or
someone) spy on their kid's phone activities. View
their photos, texting, calls, etc. for just $30/year. |
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Navteq is behind many of the navigation maps you may be
using. Here is one of their first mobile surveying
systems for mapping out 3D images of city streets.
Unlike Google's simpler camera system, Navteq uses a LIDAR
to get a 1.5 billion point 3D profile, along with two sets
of 360 degree cameras, a mil-grade Inertial Measuring unit
(IMU) and enhanced GPS to get a more complete survey.
Microsoft software blurs faces, etc. for privacy, even
though resolution is fine enough to read the menu on hanging
on restaurant windows. Surveying of major cities
starts this year. |
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Another location-based service for your iPhone.
Poynt makes this available for free and makes their
money by listing partner's (e.g. Yellow Pages) business
listings. |
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The device in the hand is a (somewhat bulky) keychain that
has a directional antenna in it - press the button and it
lights up when you point it at your car. A device in
your car that runs for over 1/2 year on 3 AA batteries sends
out the finder signal. Finder Technologies sells it
for $100. |
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UNA Group sells what they call the iGugu. This is
a system that displays whatever is on your PC onto your
TV (concept has been around for years, but now HDTV
makes it a bit more readable). What caught my eye
was their remote control. $200 for the
system. |
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Novatel and others showed their WiFi access point that connects to a cellular
data network. Novatel's was perhaps the most practical for its small size.
The other common service showing up is cloud storage. Novatel and others
are offering unlimited storage for about $50/year. |
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Ever watch a TV show where the good guys are tracking
the bad guys on a map in real time? FreightWatch
easily lets any business do this with their GeoF2
tracker that is small enough to fit into a pill box.
Assisted GPS and motion detection based, with probe or
caller initiated tracking. |
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One is not supposed to have a phone in prison. This
device from Berkeley Varitronics Systems will tell you if
anyone has one within 50ft. Its directional antenna
points to the culprit. $1800. If the price
goes down, will theaters start to use it? |
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Never satisfied with the artwork on those phone covers?
Think you can do better? Trexta will sell you 3
covers that you can draw on yourself for $24.95. |
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Zagg, which might be better known for their screen protectors, now has leather
backings for your phones. They are under $30 each. |
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If you want to really distinguish yourself with your
phone cover, go to Luxmo and buy a custom iPhone cover
made with Swarovsky crystals. You can even give
them a photo to convert. Custom covers take a week
or two and can cost between $250 to $600. |
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Cellet has a cute Bluetooth-linked speaker that uses the
surface it is sitting on to project the sound from your
phone or iPod. Has a magnetic base so it can be put on
a steel surface. The small think on the left is a microphone
for handsfree. $89. |
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Umundo offers a way to turn your phone into an RSS feed
to other phones and even to TVs. It is called
Tvider, which sounds like another company when said
fast. Take a photo or video and anyone that has
subscribed to your feed gets it. The link to the
TV works via BD-Live on your Internet-connected Blu-ray
player. In the U.S. it is currently free, but will
soon be about $9.99/year. |
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Cel Linx will give your phone a 45dB signal boost while you are driving in your
car (can be used in the home, too). The phone doesn't have to be in the
cradle, but should at least be near it. $299. |
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Nokia is enhancing their Wikitude (iPhone, Andoid,
Symbian) app to let you point your phone in a direction
and see icons of businesses and other points of interest
show up as if you were looking at a virtual reality
display. Poke a Starbucks icon and find out how far away
it is. Lonely Planet and Red Bull are working on
branded versions that will have a customized database. |
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LG is about to introduce (in Japan) a few phones with mobile
DTV built in. Mobile ATSC is just starting in the
U.S., so expect versions here later. The model shown
is the VX10KM. A charge will last 2.5 - 4 hours when
watching TV - OK for commuter train rides in Japan. |
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This is the Motorola Backflip phone. The top photo
shows it configured as a clock (recommended that the
charger is plugged in if you use it all night).
The bottom photo shows a screenshot from their MotoBlur
service. MotoBlur blends several social networking
services (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.) together onto
one screen so you don't have to log into each one
separately. |
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Docomo will be offering their Separable phone in Japan in April. What you
see in the photo are the two halves of the phone when separated (with the
keyboard side expanded). You can thus view things on the screen while
talking on the phone with the other half.
The bottom photo shows the two halves put together. |
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UNA Group, mentioned earlier, also has a phone watch.
The cell phone watch has been seen before, but this is
the Kempler & Strauus wristwatch that has a touch
screen, as well as a remote control Bluetooth earpiece.
This is available for about $200. |
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Yes, you read the sign correctly - these are Docomo's
"Eye-Controlled Earphones". Sensors in the earphones
can detect what you are doing with your eyes and based on
certain actions, you can do things like answer the phone or
skip a song in your song playlist. While they said it
might be handy for when your hands are full, this feature
might have practical use for the handicapped. |
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Fox will soon be offering what might be described as
Hulu for the mobile phone with a service they will call
BitBop. $9.99/month, starting soon. |
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Not to be outdone, Qualcomm is making their FloTV service available on the
iPhone.
FloTV has colaborated with Mophie to develop a multi-purpose iPhone cradle. The
cradle is actually a FloTV receiver that will transmit live video programming to
the handset via WiFi (since Apple prohiits a direct connection to their
proprietary interface) |
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Coupons.com has a tricky goal - making coupons available
on your phone. Checkout clerks aren't likely to
scan your barcode and product companies don't want to
give you a discount after you've already decided to
purchase. One solution, let your phone associate
your affinity card (e.g. your grocery discount card)
with the coupons, but delay it by 30 minutes.
Coupons.com gets a cut when you do so, and when you make
a purchase. |
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NearVerse wants to make it easy for you to transfer your
photos, music and stuff to anyone
near you. In fact, you don't even give permission.
They equate it to being seen in public. If someone can
see you (within ~300 feet), they can grab your stuff.
Privacy? Sort of like your Facebook page set to wide open
access. |
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4G is coming! 4G is coming! Lets see how much we can
pack into one phone. How about a 1 GHz Snapdragon
processor with 3G and 4G (10 Mbps WiMAX) service, with an 8
Megapixel camera, another camera (1.3MP) for video
conferencing, HDTV camcorder (that can output to your HDTV
set), mobile WiFi hotspot for 8 devices, 3D navigation with
turn-by-turn instructions, compass, visual voicemail, full
suite of Google Android apps, kickstand (left photo), TV,
radio, music, integrated Facebook & Twitter. Available
later this year. Now, about battery life... |
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Bluestreak was showing off how well Adobe Flash video (Divx)
works under on Android smartphones.
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Samsung made a big splash during the morning keynote when they anounced this big
(4.3") "super" AMOLED Android smartphone. |
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Kyocera is planning to introduce a low cost Android
smartphone to compete in the U.S. market |
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