Mobile Devices

She spends "like half the day" on her phone, 14-year-old Abigale Wolfe said with a laugh when asked about her cellphone use. Abigale, a local student who was visiting the Mall with her parents recently, isn't the only one. Today's teens spend more than 7 1 / 2 hours a day consuming media — watching TV, listening to music, surfing the Web, social networking, and playing video games, according to a 2010 study of 8- to 18-year-olds conducted...

GOING MOBILE: Google is becoming even more dominant in the rapidly growing mobile advertising market than it has been on personal computers. A forecast from eMarketer predicts Google will sell more mobile ads this year than its rivals combined. IN THE DUST: The report predicts Google's mobile ad revenue will total nearly $8.9 billion. Google's rivals will sell a combined $7 billion in mobile ads this year. APPING SUCCESS: Google's success in mobile advertising stems from its ability to...

Last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook took the stage and announced the new iPad in San Francisco. Even though the device looks and acts like the previous version, there's a lot that's new under the surface. For starters, the new iPad boasts a magical 9.7-inch "Retina Display" screen with 2048-by-1536 resolution. That's a million more pixels than an HDTV. The tablet also offers a greatly improved camera on its back (a 5 megapixel shooter with technology similar to the one...

THE PROMISE: With TV Everywhere, customers who pay for packages with hundreds of television channels are supposed to be able to watch them on mobile devices and computers as well for no extra charge. THE REALITY: Four years into the industry's effort, network executives readily admit: TV isn't everywhere. WHAT HAPPENED: Many rights deals still haven't been worked out. More important, audience measurement firms have been slow to count viewing on mobile devices, so advertisers have...

You're heading to London for the first time, and you couldn't be more excited — so excited, in fact, that you plan to share your adventures in real time with all your friends back home. But besides missing the scenery, there's at least one other reason to take your eyes off your electronic devices when you're overseas. That Facebook update with the picture of you trying to make the Queen's Guard blink could end up costing you. It's easy to estimate how many minutes you might use for phoning home when you're traveling abroad . Figuring...

A PEDESTRIAN, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is "any person on foot, walking, running, jogging, hiking, sitting or lying down. " As a recent NHTSA analysis of 2010 data shows, 4,280 of them were killed in traffic accidents across the country. "On average," the report says, "a pedestrian was killed every two hours and injured every eight minutes in traffic crashes. " What's especially worrying is that the 2010 data reveal a 4 percent increase in pedestrian...

Zoho, the creators of a web-based software suite made up of document, project and invoicing management tools, has launched the availability of its comprehensive webtop productivity products on mobile devices. Zoho previously had basic mobile support for its applications on iPhone and some limited capability on Windows Mobile but now fully integrates Zoho Applications with several mobile devices. Zoho Mail, Calendar, Writer, Sheet, Show & Creator are now available for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry,...

Imagine tapping out text messages on a device the size of an index card and as flat as a piece of paper, then folding it in thirds to hold it to your ear and make a phone call. Refold it in a slightly different shape and wrap it around your wrist, where it becomes a watch and also communicates with an ear bud that lets you talk hands free. Nokia researchers, along with researchers at the University of Cambridge in England, have created an animated video describing such a vision for mobile devices, which could come...

The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it will consider new rules to protect information stored on mobile devices, extending the reach of the nation's telecom and cable cop to include some oversight of smartphones and tablets. The FCC's proposal would require carriers to safeguard calling information on mobile devices and prevent that data from being shared without a consumer's permission. The data include phone numbers from calls placed or received on a device, the duration of calls and the...

Yahoo Axis Taking search from PC to mobile devices Yahoo is trying to revive its fortunes, and one way the company has sought to help its turnaround is to reach out more on mobile devices. Yahoo Axis tries to accomplish this by letting users sync their search experiences across computers, phones and tablets. Search results appear as thumbnail images instead of links, which is supposed to make it easier to see what your results are. The app is slick and works well for iPad browsing, although it...

The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it will consider new rules to protect information stored on mobile devices, extending the reach of the nation's telecom and cable cop to include some oversight of smartphones and tablets. The FCC's proposal would require carriers to safeguard calling information on mobile devices and prevent that data from being shared without a consumer's permission. The data include phone numbers from calls placed or received on a device, the duration of calls and the...

Students are getting a new weapon to fight back against bullies: their cellphones. A leading education technology company announced last week that it would give schools a free and confidential way for students to tell school officials by text that they are being bullied or are witnessing bullying. "Kids have cellphones. They have mobile devices," said Blackboard chief executive Jay Bhatt, whose 9-year-old daughter sends digital messages to her friends. "They're constantly interacting with their mobile devices.

Facebook's quarterly earnings announcement Wednesday included good news and bad news for investors. The social media company's subscribers and advertising revenue on mobile devices increased, but profits during the last quarter did not meet projections : Revenue increased to $1.46 billion, a 38 percent jump from the same period last year but lower than the 40 percent increase the company reported in the previous quarter. The firm reported net income of $219 million,...

Analysts will be eyeing the results of Facebook's new ad revenue programs and counting its user base on the Web and on mobile when the company reports its earnings Wednesday. Facebook is expected to report $1.4 billion in revenue. Profit estimates are around $308 million, with analysts heeding Facebook's warning that its expenses will rise by 50 percent in 2013 as it hires engineers, develops new products and acquires new companies for technology and talent. But the real numbers to...

Walking through the halls of federal buildings was a distinct change for Steven VanRoekel, who had started at Microsoft right out of college and spent three years as Bill Gates's assistant. Federal employees had very simple cellphones and Blackberrys — if they had them at all — and many buildings weren't equipped with wireless, recalled VanRoekel, who joined the government in 2009 and became the federal chief information officer in 2011. He's now spearheading an effort to modernize the...

Jobseekers using their smartphones to look for work are likely to find frustration instead. Recent studies have shown that many large employers have not adapted their job application Web sites for smartphones and tablets, a decision that analysts say could put them at a disadvantage for landing new staffers as an increasing volume of Web traffic comes from mobile devices . The lack of a mobile-friendly job-application process may be especially...

Stuck in standstill traffic? Starting today, gamers will be able to take channel their aggression against the steady stream of brakelights ahead of them on the cars of Grand Theft Auto III through their mobile devices. (Just kidding, of course. Drivers shouldn't ever play video games while driving. Ever.) Rockstar's third installment of the popular series has been ported to Android and iOS, with touch controls. The controls take a bit of time to get used to, but the graphics from the 2001 game look great on the mobile...

If you've read about Mark Cuban, chances are you know that he's a poster guy for connectivity. (You know all the boilerplate, too: owner of the Dallas Mavericks; co-owner, 2929 Entertainment, HDNet, Magnolia Pictures, Landmark Theatres; co-founder of Broadcast.com, etc.) Here's Mark's take on the potential for mobile devices replacing his laptop and desktop, reprinted with his permission from Blog Maverick . The punctuation is all his; the formatting is ours. More after the jump ... ...

The ongoing battle between Samsung and Apple over intellectual property continues, with the news that a U.S. trade agency judge has sided with Apple on a dispute over a text-selection patent . The preliminary ruling was made on March 26, but publicly released late Thursday. Reuters reported that the decision must be reviewed by the full ITC commission and that a final ruling is expected in August. If the judgement is upheld, the ITC could order infringing devices be blocked from being imported into the United States.