smartphone

A prototype car offers self-driving technology with a twist: valet-style parking. The Nissan vehicle, which is codenamed NSC-2015, can also foil thieves by streaming live footage of a potential break-in. This new model was recently shown off by ... Nissan at a tech conference in Tokyo. Several companies are already working on driverless cars. However, in the few locations where their use is or will be allowed, laws say a driver must be inside the vehicle to take over in case of a malfunction. Nissan could circumvent these laws if the feature is used only on private land, such as driveways and ... (view more)

PayPal has unwrapped a new device that allows anyone with a smartphone to accept credit card payments. Unlike some other systems, "PayPal Here" doesn't require any special chips be installed in the phone itself. The idea is to tackle two existing ... problems for merchants who want to take credit and debit card payments: First, card payments usually require the merchant to have a device with telephone connectivity, to allow instant bank verification of the customer's identity and account. Second, taking such payments often entails hefty fees from the card-issuing bank, the merchant's ... (view more)

Samsung has unveiled a new, Google Android-based smartphone that not only records movies, it features an integrated projector capable of displaying a 50-inch high-definition (HD) image. The phone improves on an earlier Samsung product launched a ... couple years ago. This innovative projector smartphone is called the Samsung Galaxy Beam. Those who follow the mobile market closely enough will probably recognize the name. That's because Samsung first gave the Beam idea a spin back in 2010, but scored only modest results. This time around, however, the company says in the last two years it has ... (view more)

Just when you thought you understood the difference between notebooks, netbooks, tablets and smartphones, Samsung has come up with a totally new device: it's a phone with a 5.3-inch display, which may make it the biggest smartphone ever released. ... The Samsung Galaxy Note bridges the gap between smartphones and tablets. To put its size into perspective, most smartphones have a 3.5-inch screen, most tablet computer screens range from the RIM (Research in Motion) PlayBook's 7-inches to the Apple iPad's 10-inch display. The new "phablet" (phone / tablet) will be sold in the same way as a ... (view more)

Security software company Symantec has sent out a warning about what it believes to be the largest-ever malware campaign launched against Android smartphone owners. Called "Android.Counterclank," the malware was discovered hidden within 13 different ... apps (smartphone applications) released by three different publishers. Of the enticing titles, "Sexy Girls Puzzle" and "Counter Strike Ground Force" were among the most prolific in duping from one to five million people into downloading the infected software through Google's legitimate app marketplace. (Source: computerworld. ... (view more)

Have you ever dropped a smartphone or other handheld digital device into a toilet or sink? It's a horrible, gut-wrenching feeling knowing that you may have accidentally destroyed your phone and all of its information in an instant -- but a new ... scientific breakthrough may help to change that. A new nano-coating procedure offered by three different companies is said to prevent such accidents from ruining your expensive smartphone. The price: only $60. Not surprisingly, the technology aroused a lot of interest at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Plasma Gas Creates ... (view more)

A hardware manufacturer has revealed that applications designed for smartphones running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system (OS) will work on PCs running the next edition of Windows. It's believed that this could encourage developers to ... turn their attention to the phone OS. At the moment, there are an estimated 30,000 applications available on smartphones running Windows Phone 7. That may sound a lot, but it's only around one-eighth of the number available on Android phones, and less than one-tenth of those available for Apple's portable devices. Chicken and Egg Situation This ... (view more)

For years, volunteer doctors and missionaries have worked to test and treat malaria cases in developing countries. The infectious disease continues to run rampant throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and parts of the Americas. Now, a doctoral student ... at the University of California is building an efficient testing and treatment system that will feature Windows Phone 7. In parts of Africa, where 90 per cent of malaria death occurs, health workers test patients with a diagnostic assessment tool that works in a similar manner to that of a home pregnancy test (a blood sample on a small plastic ... (view more)

A pair of summer interns at Microsoft have collaborated on a project to create an Android application capable of interpreting photographs -- complete with the identities and activities of the individuals involved -- via a smartphone camera without ... any human input whatsoever. 'TagSense', as it's called, is the brainchild of Microsoft Research interns Chaun Qin and Xuan Bao. The software works by utilizing Android's accelerometers to determine the exact physical activity the person in the photograph is involved in. This is supported by built-in microphones that can determine whether the ... (view more)

According to reports, gadget gurus Sony are currently developing a smartphone and a portable computer to compete with Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. Sony is hoping to woo consumers by releasing a smartphone that will capitalize on what some ... experts might call its biggest strength: video gaming. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Sony is working on a phone that will play PlayStation Portable, or PSP, titles. Given that the level of development involved in the average PSP game tends to be more significant than that associated with an iPhone game/app, it's possible Sony's ... (view more)