Cellular providers and phone makers don’t always have the best relationships, but things are getting particularly sour between T-Mobile USA and Huawei. The UnCarrier is suing Huawei for trying not just to copy its phone testing robot technology, but to steal it. The phone maker’s staffers reportedly took illegal photos of the testing gear, and then swiped components; they even tried to break in when banned from the premises. T-Mobile insists that it spent “tens of millions” of dollars to switch to other phones as part of the breaches, and that Huawei may have earned “hundreds of millions” in ill-gotten profit. You would expect many companies to fight such allegations tooth and nail, but Huawei isn’t. It agrees that there’s at least some merit to claims that its workers were “acting inappropriately, ” and notes that the employees involved were fired. While it’s planning to protect itself in court, it “respects” T-Mobile’s right to sue over the thefts and plans to cooperate. Those kind words probably aren’t going to placate Magenta’s lawyers, but they suggest that the two telecom giants won’t be fighting to the bitter end. Filed under: Cellphones , Robots , Wireless , Mobile , T-Mobile Comments Via: TmoNews Source: Seattle Times

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T-Mobile sues Huawei for stealing parts from its phone testing robots

Do you remember Ringly? The idea behind it was that people would use a vibrating ring to alert you about incoming calls, emails or text messages. If you can imagine that same concept, albeit in a smaller and less gendered package, then you have the starting point for the MOTA Smart Ring. Silicon Valley design outfit MOTA believes that in order to stop people checking their phone during conversations, notifications need to be buried somewhere even less obtrusive (and visible) than on a smart watch, and hey, it’s pretty easy to look at your hands, right? The idea, very simply, is that the screen of the device would face in toward your palm, and whenever you received a call, it would vibrate to let you know. When you got an email or text message, the text would be scrolled across a small OLED touch display that you could read simply by looking at your hands. Once you’ve digested the contents, you can dismiss it with a swipe and continue to go about your day, and most importantly, not stopping to check your smartphone. Additionally, the SmartWatch will last 36 hours on a single charge, but in order not to compromise its water resistance, would replenish its reserves of power on an inductive charging plate. I’ll admit, that when I first saw the renders and promo video for this device, I was skeptical that squeezing the required technology into a such a small piece of hardware would be possible. After all, if these displays were easily achievable, plenty of other smart wearables would have shaved plenty of heft from their sizes already. Then there’s our wariness about how a battery would sit inside this hardware, given that there doesn’t seem to be enough space. Unfortunately, while the company does have finished dummy units to show, the working prototype is a little less powerful. In fact, the one model that actually has any technology inside it looks more like this. So far, the device can only light up one of four different-colored lights, depending on the type of message that you receive. Those wires that are coming out of the back, for your information, are running to the battery terminals, which remains outside of the hardware itself. Given that the company is hoping to have the SmartRing manufactured and mass-produced by January, there isn’t a lot of time to resolve these fundamental issues. Then, there’s my objection to the idea that staring at your hand while a ticker-tape scrolls slowly across your finger is somehow less rude than checking your watch or phone. Of course, being distracted and looking at other things during a conversation is rude, no matter the medium, but I’d imagine that reading every word slowly scrolling out would take far more time than a quick glance at a 2-inch display located on your wrist. Still, we’re at such an early stage in the SmartRing’s life that we can only be hopeful that MOTA can demonstrate some real innovation here. If you’d like to get on board, then the device will retail for $100, but if you pledge to the company’s $150, 000 Indiegogo campaign, you’ll get a SmartRing for $75. The clever jewelry will be available in “Midnight Black” or “Pearl White, ” and if you’re worried about the one-size-fits-all approach, don’t be: the company promises that a sizing accessory will enable all shapes and sizes to wear the device. Filed under: Wearables Comments Source: Indiegogo

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MOTA’s vibrating jewelry promises more subtle notifications

In response to the loads of info leaked on government surveillance , a number of ultra-secure handsets have popped up to elude prying eyes. One such option is the CryptoPhone 500 from ESD that’s built on a regular Galaxy S III frame. In a recent report from Popular Science , that company says that its customers discovered 17 fake cell towers across the US — just in the month of July. It’s unclear who’s running the so-called “interceptors, ” but back in June police departments in 15 states admitted to using similar devices known as “stingrays.” ESD CEO Les Goldsmith says that it’s unclear who’s responsible, but “a lot of these interceptors are right on top of US military bases.” On a basic level, the phony towers are really radio-capable computers that can bypass a devices built-in encryption. To test out how different handsets react, Goldsmith and Co. took an iPhone, Galaxy S4 and CryptoPhone on a drive past a government facility this summer. While the two regular handsets barely displayed any change (switching from 4G to 3G), the encrypted device “lit up like a Christmas tree.” It could be quite a while before we get any detailed info on who’s behind the intercepting, but according to this report and others, it’s quite clear that said means of gazing at cellphone use have increased significantly as of late. [Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images] Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile Comments Via: Business Insider Source: Popular Science

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Fake cellphone towers hiding in plain sight, intercepting your phone calls

If you’re frustrated that many cars still don’t have internet-savvy software built-in, take heart: AT&T just gave its Drive connected car platform a big boost with the addition of six big-name apps. Automakers who put Drive in their infotainment systems can now easily give you forecasts on the road through AccuWeather, as well as customized listening through iHeartRadio , Stitcher or Tribune’s Newsbeat. You can also share your whereabouts through Glympse, and find that all-important parking spot using Streetline’s Parker . You’ll have to wait for manufacturers to roll these apps into their vehicles before you see the benefit, but don’t be surprised if your next ride is that much smarter. Filed under: Transportation , Wireless , AT&T Comments Source: AT&T

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AT&T’s connected car tech can now give you weather, radio and parking help

Indisputably, the star of this year’s IFA show is going to be wearables: round ones, flashy ones, head-covering ones. After that, though, you’re also going to see a lot of super-thin tablets and 2-in-1 PCs, many of them made possible by Intel’s new low-power Core M chips. Intel first teased these processors earlier in the summer, in the form of a 7.2mm-thick tablet that was even thinner than the iPad Air. Now many such systems are about to go on sale, which means it’s time for Intel to fully explain what these new chips are capable of. To be clear, although these CPUs fall into the ” Broadwell ” family — the one that comes after the current Haswell line — these are not the replacements for Intel’s fourth-generation Core processors, the ones inside most new high-end laptops. Those won’t come until sometime next year. Rather, Core M is the follow-on to the current ” Y series ” of Haswell processors, which are already used in some 2-in-1 PCs, like this one . Indeed, Core M is also meant for 2-in-1’s (plus super-thin notebooks); it just promises faster performance and longer battery life. You know, like you’d expect on a new chip. Because Intel moved from a 22-nanometer process with Haswell to a 14-nanometer one with Broadwell, this new crop of PCs will be both thinner and lighter than was previously possible for a full-fledged PC. In particular, Intel says some of these devices will measure as little as 7mm thick, though the company has warned from the beginning that not every Core M device will be as thin as that iPad Air-like tablet we mentioned earlier. Again, all this is possible thanks to some significantly shrunken components. The motherboard alone is 25 percent smaller and is now about as wide as a dime and slightly taller than a quarter. In total, the die size is now 37 percent smaller. As for power consumption, the power draw can go up to 6W, though Intel says the typical TDP for systems on the market will be 4.5W. As a result, the company claims you can expect up to 1.7 hours more battery life versus Haswell-Y depending on the use case, with the biggest gains coming from local 1080p video playback. These systems should run cool enough, too, that just about all of them will be fanless. (You could technically do this with a 4.5W-TDP Haswell CPU, though most PC makers chose not to.) Additionally, Intel says CPU performance is up to 50 percent faster, with Intel’s integrated HD 5300 graphics notching a 40 percent performance improvement. Other features of these processors include Wireless Display 5.0; Intel’s Smart Sound technology, which allows the device to wake on voice; and native support for PCIe storage disks. Core M chips will eventually support the WiGig wireless docking standard as well — just not at launch, according to Intel. That last bit is important, as it’s a key step in Intel’s plan to one day enable PCs with zero cables or ports. All told, more than 20 models with Core M are on the way, according to Intel. For now, Intel is shipping three different processor skus, the specs of which you can find in the table below. More CPU options will follow early next year, including some vPro-enabled chips for corporate-issued machines. Eventually, too, Intel still says prices will drop as low as $599 — just don’t count on seeing anything that cheap right away. Everything you’ll see here at IFA is likely to be a bit more pricey. Filed under: Laptops , Tablets , Intel Comments Source: Intel

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Intel’s Core M chips will boost PC battery life by nearly two hours

When does a fitness band become a smartwatch? We’d argue that an e-paper display is one feature you can use to make that distinction, which is exactly what Sony’s added to its “lifelogging” SmartBand. A display isn’t the only thing new about the SmartBand Talk, because as the name suggests, you can also make/take calls on the wearable thanks to an embedded microphone and loudspeaker. There’s an ARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor to power the whole thing with 2MB of flash memory and that 1.4-inch black and white display to keep you updated on progress. As you might expect, Sony’s Core is at work here as well with edge-mounted volume and menu buttons to round out the on-board controls. The IP68 waterproof and dustproof wearable connects to an Android 4.4 (and above) device via NFC and Bluetooth to wrangle tasks for up to three days before needing a charge. If you’re looking to get a bit more active, €160 (around $210) will be the cost of admission when the SmartBand Talk arrives this fall in four different color options. Filed under: Wearables , Sony Comments

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Sony outfits the SmartBand Talk with an e-paper screen and voice calling

Watch out, ASUS: you’re not the only one with an extremely fast WiFi router these days. Netgear has just released the Nighthawk X4 , the latest version of its sinister-looking flagship hotspot. The X4’s four antennas let it deliver 802.11ac wireless as quickly as possible on any frequency; it offers the same speedy 1.73Gbps as its ASUS rival on the 5GHz band, and a still quick 600Mbps on 2.4GHz. You shouldn’t have to worry about your devices starving for bandwidth just because they have to use a less-than-ideal network, in other words. There’s also a relatively brawny 1.4GHz dual-core chip inside to keep traffic flowing smoothly, and you can plug hard drives into the eSATA and USB 3.0 ports to share storage throughout your home. This latest Nighthawk is the antithesis of cheap at $280, but you probably can’t find a more capable home router right now. Besides, who doesn’t want a network box that can masquerade as a stealth fighter ? Filed under: Networking Comments Source: Netgear (1) , (2)

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Netgear’s ultimate WiFi router gives you full speed on any frequency