New IoT Group to Get Devices Talking Among Themselves

The new Open Interconnect Consortium believes "a common, interoperable approach" to the Internet of Things "is essential, and that both a standard and open source implementation are the best route to enable scale," said Wind River's Ido Sarig. "To fully realize the vision of IoT, devices should be able to discover, connect and interoperate regardless of who makes them."





Half a dozen companies this week announced a new organization to ensure that the billions of devices that will be added to the Internet in coming years will be able to communicate with each other.

The Open Interconnect Consortium was launched to define the connectivity requirements and improve the interoperability of some 200 billion devices expected to make up the Internet of Things by 2020.

The consortium will focus on defining a common communications framework based on industry standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently manage the flow of information among personal computing and emerging IoT devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider.

Founding members are Intel, Samsung, Dell, Broadcom, Atmel and Wind River.

The consortium's members aim to make IoT interoperability an open source project.


"Open source is about collaboration and about choice," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux Foundation. "The Open Interconnect Consortium is yet another proof point how open source helps to fuel innovation."

Let There Be Order

The group also wants to bring some order to a fragmented universe.

"Today, there are multiple forums driving different approaches to solve the challenge of device-to-device connectivity and interoperability," said Ido Sarig, vice president and general manager for the IoT Solutions Group at Wind River.

"Currently, we don't see one single effort that addresses all the necessary requirements. The companies involved in the Open Interconnect Consortium believe that secure and reliable device discovery and connectivity is a foundational capability to enable IoT," he told LinuxInsider.

"The companies also believe that a common, interoperable approach is essential, and that both a standard and open source implementation are the best route to enable scale," added Sarig.

The consortium plans to take the lead in establishing a single solution covering interoperability across multiple vertical markets and use cases, he explained. It'll do that by creating an industry standard specification and an open source project, to drive both interoperability and innovation.


"To fully realize the vision of IoT, devices should be able to discover, connect and interoperate regardless of who makes them," Sarig said. "The goal with OIC is to enable interoperability wherever we can."

Babble Removal

The consortium's members see interoperability as a key area that's not been addressed so far in the development of the Internet of Things.

"The connectivity portion of IoT is taken care of," Gary Martz, a wireless marketing product line manager at Intel, told LinuxInsider. "Devices talk to the cloud all the time. The connectivity challenge has been solved."

However, while device-to-cloud connectivity is on a solid foundation, device-to-device connectivity is not. That may be a looming problem for the IoT.

"A lot of the connectivity that is going to be required is going to be device to device," Martz said.

Many of the devices in the market have capable radios for communication, but they're forced to communicate with each other through some kind of cloud service, he pointed out.

"If I'm sitting at a conference room table, it's much more efficient if I can use the radio in my device to beam stuff directly, device to device," Martz explained.

Moreover, many of the devices in the IoT -- wearables, watches and such -- will need help performing some functions through the cloud.

"These devices aren't going to have the power to communicate directly with the cloud," Martz said. "In those instances, the devices are going to want to proxy through other devices -- whether it be PC, smartphone, tablet or some sort or gateway."

Those devices, too, will want to talk with each other.

"For developers, that's a huge challenge," Martz observed.

It's a heterogeneous environment with multiple operating systems, multiple architectures, and multiple forms of radio transport -- WiFi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, WiGig, 3G, 4G," he noted.


"That developers' challenge is what we're trying to solve," said Martz. "We're addressing how you integrate all these wireless technologies for peer-to-peer communication within applications in a secure manner."

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Apple Fails to Get Little I Robot Off Siri's Back

Apple's did its best to persuade a Chinese court that a Chinese company's patent for a Siri-like digital assistant was invalid. However, the court took Zhizhen's side, ruling that the patent it obtained in 2006 for Little I Robot was clean as a whistle. That means Zhizhen's lawsuit against Apple for infringement of its IP rights can proceed -- and that means Little I Robot may get a big payday.


The Beijing First Intermediate Court ruled against Apple in a case that pitted it against a Shanghai-based firm and the country's State Intellectual Property Office's Patent Review Committee.

The court found that the intellectual property rights of Zhizhen Internet Technology, a company that holds several voice recognition patents, were valid.


Zhizhen previously alleged that Apple's Siri product was based on some of its intellectual property. It sued in 2012.

Siri's Chinese Doppelganger

In this particular case, though, Apple had seized the initiative, suing Zhizhen and the Patent Review Committee. It asked the court, in a filing at the end of last year, to determine that Zhizhen's patent for a voice-controlled digital concierge called "Little I Robot" was invalid. Zhizhen received the patent in 2006.

Apple intends to appeal this ruling to the Beijing Higher People's Court.

Meanwhile, the earlier suit Zhizhen filed against Apple in a Shanghai court is proceeding, and a ruling is expected in a few months.

Apple has maintained it was not aware of Zhizhen's patent and did not believe it was infringing the company's intellectual property rights.


It has said it is open to "reasonable discussions" with Zhizhen. Translation: It would be happy to pay a license fee to make this go away.

Leverage for Royalty Discussiona

"That is where this is headed, no doubt," said Trip Chowdhry, managing director of equity research at Global Equities Research.

"Apple will simply settle with this company and pay them royalties," he told the E-Commerce Times. The question will only be how much, given Siri's cash cow status at Apple.

No doubt Apple had been hoping to win the case for several reasons. Chief among them, though, was that it would have given it some leverage in future licensing talks.

Apple has had its share of defeats and setbacks in various courtrooms across the globe in recent years. The battle for mobile market supremacy has been harsh, and Apple is often the aggressor in suits in which it alleges its IP has been infringed.


This time, though, it might have found the playing field was tilted too much against it, Peter Toren, a partner with Weisbrod Matteis & Copley, told the E-Commerce Times.

The Home Field Advantage

"The perception has been for years, and continues to this day, that Western companies do not get a fair shake in Chinese courts when it comes to intellectual property rights," Toren told the E-Commerce Times.

"I think the perception is that when the Chinese company is the plaintiff it is something of a lock," he said. "It is a great home field advantage for Chinese companies."

Whether this fits the particulars of Apple's case is an open question. Apple has been on the receiving end -- many times and in many courtrooms -- of complaints that Zhizhen is now hurling, namely that it infringed a patent in order to develop a wildly popular product.


Still, China has not won any merit badges from the U.S. government for its IP protection. In its most recent "Special 301" Report, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative included China on its Watch List.

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Your Abandoned Smartphone May Betray You

That phone you so callously turned over to another may be harboring some of your secrets -- and it may be all too willing to spill its guts. An examination of 20 used phones purchased on eBay turned up more than 1,500 family photos of kids, 750 photos of women in various stages of undress, and more than 250 selfies of men's nether regions, according to Avast.




Doing a factory reset to wipe the data off smartphones does not work, and the data can be recovered, warned Avast.

The company recovered tons of data, including more than 40,000 stored photographs, from 20 used Android phones purchased from eBay.

Device owners need to overwrite their files to make them irretrievable, Avast said, touting one of the applications it offers.


"I am not at all surprised because RAM-based memory still uses the same file system as hard drives, and ... PC files do not really get deleted either," Stu Sjouwerman, CEO at KnowBe4, told TechNewsWorld.

What About iPhones?

Avast did not analyze iPhones, but "in general, on iOS, recovery is much more complicated," Tomas Zeman, its mobile product manager, told TechNewsWorld.

"It depends on the version of iOS, the version of the device, and whether files on the device are encrypted," he continued.

Both Android and iOS are based on Unix-like operating systems, and both use NAND flash storage, "so it's highly likely" that data on both can be retrieved after it has been deleted, Dave Jevans, founder and CTO of Marble Security, told TechNewsWorld.


Tablets are just as vulnerable to data retrieval.

Avast's Rich, Sometimes X-Rated, Harvest

More than 1,500 family photos of kids, 750 photos of women in various stages of undress, and more than 250 selfies of men's nether regions were among the photos Avast recovered.

The identities of four previous owners of the devices, one completed loan application, more than 250 contact names and email addresses, more than 750 emails and text messages, and more than 1,000 Google searches also were recovered.


One phone had another vendor's security software installed -- but that device gave up the largest amount of personal information gleaned, Avast said.

How the Data Was Obtained

Avast used the program FTK Imager to mount the image of a partition containing user data. Devices whose users did not store data on removable micro SD cards or internal storage could be connected by a USB cable to a computer, which mounted the storage as removable storage.

Devices that don't support mass storage had to be rooted and a mass storage application such as Media Transfer Protocol was used to transmit media files.


In some cases, the cellphones were backed up using Android Debug Bridge and the data was converted to a .tar archive using an Android Backup Extractor.

The Numbers Tell the Story

More than 80,000 people list their smartphones on eBay daily, Avast said.

The market for used smartphones is growing, with Apple, big box stores such as Walmart and Best Buy, and carriers all running phone buyback or trade-in programs. Also, carriers have leasing programs that let users get a new device at regular intervals.

Companies like Gazelle, which buy used smartphones, erase and resell them. In May, Gazelle accepted its 2 millionth device and hit its 1 millionth customer mark.

That makes things more dangerous for smartphone owners.

Smartphone Recovery Pro and Recovery-android.com, are among the companies offering Android smartphone data recovery software.


Easus, which offers free and paid versions of its MobiSaver Android data recovery software, also offers something similar for iOS.

Solutions to the Problem

Smartphones, whether owned by an enterprise and provided to staff or owned by consumers, must be wiped before they are reissued, discarded or sold, KnowBe4's Sjouwerman said.

"Use encryption in corporate applications for BYOD phones," Marble's Jevans suggested.

Enterprises may not wipe the hard drives of smartphones they own before reissuing them to other staff.

NAND flash "only has a limited lifetime for reads and writes before it wears out," Jevans said.


Erasing the contents of files "is not only slow, but would reduce the life of the memory considerably," he continued. "That's why it's generally not done."

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BlackBerry Squares Up for a Fight

BlackBerry is fighting for its life -- but seriously, who wants a square smartphone? Well, perhaps people who prefer to watch movies in full-screen instead of letterbox box format. Perhaps those who lock their phone screens to keep them from rotating. Perhaps people who work with spreadsheets. Perhaps people who love having a physical keyboard on a phone but wish it could be a little bigger.





BlackBerry's Passport smartphone, which reportedly is due to be launched in September, is creating a buzz because of its shape.


The Passport is square, unlike the rectangular form of conventional smartphones.

Its 4.5-inch screen offer the same viewing space as a rectangular 5-inch screen, but the greater width allows a better experience, according to the company.

BlackBerry is positioning the device's shape as a break from convention.

What the Heck Is That?

The Passport "is different than the 256 varieties of rounded rectangles that make up the smartphone market today," Carl Howe, a research vice president at the Yankee Group, told TechNewsWorld.

It's "the kind of device that makes people go 'What the heck is that?' which is what BlackBerry needs," he said. "The last thing BlackBerry wants at this point is a me-too device."

Vendors in the highly competitive smartphone market attempted to differentiate their products by offering bright colors, but that is pretty much the norm these days. The Passport's shape "will make the phone easier to recognize without BlackBerry having to resort to bold colors," Michael Morgan, an independent mobility consultant, told TechNewsWorld.


Consumers likely will be attracted enough to pick up a Passport, and "if the hand feel is good and people start to try out the phone, they may find it solves a lot of the issues other phones have with their rectangular form factors," Morgan suggested.

The Problem With Rectangles

One of the issues the Passport will resolve is the need to turn smartphones on their side to better view content such as PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, and in some cases, videos, Morgan pointed out.

Content "can be displayed in a more consistent manner, and application developers could spend less time worrying about landscape mode design for this device," Morgan remarked, adding that the Passport "is extending the phablet concept beyond just a large screen as in the Samsung Note devices."

The Passport is the ideal device for reading e-books, viewing documents and browsing the Web, according to BlackBerry.


There will be plenty of content: BlackBerry will tap the Amazon Appstore's 240,000 apps for its devices.

Let's Hear It for the Keyboard

The Passport's square shape makes the keyboard always available, Morgan said. When smartphones are turned on their side, their keyboards become almost unusable, because there isn't enough screen space.

"The key to this device is not the screen, but the hard keyboard," the Yankee Group's Howe said. "Hard tactile keyboards have a small but devoted following among consumers."

Fifty-one percent of respondents to the Yankee Group's 2014 U.S. Consumer Survey, conducted in June, rated a full QWERTY keyboard as an 8, 9 or 10 in importance in their choice of a smartphone.


The Passport's wide form factor will make its keyboard even better, and "that by itself is likely to create a niche, especially among diehard BlackBerry fans," Howe suggested.

BlackBerry's Passport to Success?

However, whether the hard keyboard is enough to support BlackBerry's revival remains open to question, Howe cautioned.

BlackBerry is targeting the professional and corporate markets with the Passport, pointing to its usefulness for architects, mortgage brokers, writers, executives, and healthcare and finance professionals.

"This is BlackBerry's experiment, and I think it's a great idea," Ramon Llamas, a research manager at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.

The company "is trying something they haven't done before," he continued. "If you stick to one design and one design only, chances are you'll be left behind."

BlackBerry phones are deeply embedded in government, Llamas pointed out, but "those devices are growing old, and hopefully [the Passport] could move people within the government and professional market segments away from antiquated devices to something new."

BlackBerry's share of the global smartphone market has been falling steadily, slipping to 0.5 percent in Q1, compared to 2.9 percent during the same period a year ago and 13.6 percent in Q1 2011, IDC reported.


If the Passport does help BlackBerry gain or maintain market share, Morgan suggested, "it will be through the people who love QWERTY more than Angry Birds and Candy Crush."

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LG G Watch Rides In on 1st Android Wear Wave

The LG G Watch has the distinction of being one of the very first devices to incorporate the bells and whistles of Android Wear. That's the good news. On the other hand, being on the bleeding edge in technology typically comes with the disadvantage of being pricey and having some kinks to work out. The G Watch is getting good reviews, though, and early adopters may take the plunge.



LG has launched its Android Wear-powered G Watch around the world.

The smartwatch can be ordered from Google Play and purchased at retailers in the United States, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan and South Korea.


In 15 other countries -- including Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Singapore and New Zealand -- the device will be available only from retailers.

The LG G Watch is selling for US$229 in the U.S., Pounds 159 in the UK, and CA$249 in Canada. In the U.S., consumers also can order it from AT&T's website.

Along with the Samsung Gear Live, the LG G Watch has the distinction of being an Android Wear device. Android Wear is a version of Google's Android operating system created with smartwatches and other wearables in mind. Motorola's Moto 360 is set to follow later this year.

Always-On Function

The LG G Watch is compatible with smartphones running Android 4.3 or higher, using the Android Wear app. The always-on model is designed to allow wearers to view notifications and other information without having to press buttons or otherwise wake the display.

There's a degree of customization with the smartwatch, since consumers can swap out the band for any standard 22mm strap. It's available in two colors: Black Titan and White Gold.

The LG G Watch uses a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, with 4 GB of storage and 512 MB of RAM. The LCD IPS display measures 1.65 inches and has a resolution of 280 x 280. It has 9-axis sensors, with a gyroscope, accelerometer and compass.

The dust- and water-resistant device measures 37.9 x 46.5 x 9.95mm and weighs 63 grams. It includes a 44mAh battery, which LG claims is the largest among Android Wear devices to date. It has Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.


In terms of features, Android Wear organizes user information and attempts to present it when it's most pertinent using Google Now, Google's intelligent personal assistant system. For instance, it may display weather forecasts in the morning and flight information before wearers depart for the airport.

Voice Recognition

The LG G Watch also uses voice recognition to answer questions and carry out tasks, such as creating reminders or sending messages.

"Today, most wearables aren't necessarily designed to be smartphone replacements. Instead, they're primarily used as an extension of existing mobile technologies," said Ryan Martin, associate analyst on the Yankee Group's mobile and connected devices team.

"While this dynamic is likely to change in the future, LG's G Watch -- and other devices running Android Wear for that matter -- is consistent with current market trends," he told LinuxInsider.

"LG's G Watch is an attractive option for Android users due to the wide range of smartphones with which it's compatible," Martin continued.


"This is particularly true when compared alongside other devices currently in the market," he pointed out, "but this also means consumers' focus will likely turn to the physical qualities of the device rather than the user experience -- from a software/OS perspective -- when evaluating purchasing decisions."

Android Wear Advantage

Having Android Wear as the basis for the device could give the LG G Watch a leg up over the competition.

"I played with the Samsung Galaxy Gear, version one and two, and they're good watches, but because they don't have Android Wear, it says to me that these are devices that focus on history, and not your current context, and those same devices are lacking in that third-party application story," Ramon Llamas, mobile phone research manager at IDC, told LinuxInsider. "Android Wear is setting itself up to do exactly just that."


In terms of unique functionality the G Watch holds over the competition, it's the ability to note information about its wearer that may help it stand out from the pack more than anything else.

'Contextual Information'

"Right now, it's really just the contextual information it can gather about the user," Llamas suggested. "We know that's going to be coming up later on the Samsung Gear Live watch and the Motorola device. If you look at some of the early reviews, they say 'it's a good watch, but you might want to wait until the next one.' That says to me that you're accepting this smartwatch, warts and all, and there are potentially some bugs and shortcomings that need to be hammered out in future versions and that's OK.""

Yet the device may struggle to find a broad audience in the market because of its price point, which exceeds the upfront cost for many smartphones.

"The price point is something I'm a little wary about," Llamas said, "mainly because how are you going to be able to explain a watch whose price point is on par with or even more expensive than the smartphone that it attaches to? In order to fully realize the strength and utility of this device, you've got to attach it to a smartphone. That being the case, do you want to end up paying more for this than for your smartphone? I would argue that most users probably would not.


"There really has to be something incredibly compelling about this to justify that higher price point," he emphasized. "Could this contextualization of the user experience be part of it? Absolutely. The same thing with third-party applications, but we don't know how robust those are just yet."

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TSA Kills Dead Devices' Ticket to Ride

Just when you thought the TSA was easing up on security precautions comes the news that it's adding another hurdle to getting on a plane. Passengers now may have to power up their laptops, tablets, e-readers, cellphones or other electronic devices they may be carrying to prove they're not gutted and packed with explosives. Battery-dead gadgets won't be allowed past the checkpoint.





In a move that's bound to raise the power management consciousness of air travelers, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Sunday announced a ban on electronic devices that won't power up before they're carried onto a plane.

During the security examination conducted by TSA officers before passengers board a plane, travelers may be asked to power up some electronic devices, the agency said.

Powerless devices will not be permitted on board the aircraft, and travelers may undergo additional screening.

The TSA's parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, last week warned that new security measures were in the works.


"DHS continually assesses the global threat environment and reevaluates the measures we take to promote aviation security," said DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. "As part of this ongoing process, I have directed TSA to implement enhanced security measures in the coming days at certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States."

Battery With a Bang

Johnson mentioned the ban in an appearance on Sunday's Meet The Press: "Our job is to try and anticipate the next attack -- not simply react to the last one. This is not something to overreact to or overspeculate about, but it's something we felt was necessary."

If an explosive were placed in a device, a bogus battery would be a good way to do it, noted Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. "The battery is this plastic-wrapped thing of chemicals that's one of the largest things in the device," he told TechNewsWorld.

"You don't know what's inside a device unless you open it up, which is why I think they're requesting you boot it up," he said. "If someone is just using the case and taking out the innards, then it won't boot up when you turn it on."

At some point in the future, more subtle techniques may be used to identify lethal devices.

"With Big Data analytics, instead of having a TSA agent inspect hundreds of iPads in order to find the one with explosives in it, you could use a machine to compare each iPad to an exact set of criteria, and if there's any deviation, that iPad is removed from the line," Castro suggested.


"We're far away from that right now," he added.

Expect Delays

Although the TSA pledged "the highest levels of aviation security conducted as conveniently as possible," the new inspection measure is likely to slow down plane boardings.

"It's really going to slow down lines if everyone has to power on their devices," said Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst with IT Harvest.

"There are going to be a lot of irate travelers, especially if they're traveling with four or five devices," he told TechNewsWorld.

"A lot of people travel with multiple devices, so that's going to slow things down," added Castro. "The good thing is that devices start up a lot faster than they used to."

Although the TSA has x-ray machines and other instruments to detect threats to the safety of airline passengers, those technologies are sometimes ineffective against explosive devices, according to Robert Strang, CEO of the Investigative Management Group.


"Some of the chemicals used in the explosives don't always show up in x-rays or other machines," he told TechNewsWorld. "

Tightening Reins

Prior to this latest boost in restrictions, the TSA had been letting out the reins on airport security.

"The trend has been to loosen security, especially for frequent flyers," Stiennon said. "They're getting better at knowing what to look for."

They're also better at attributing risk by geographic location.

"They're taking the intelligence information they have and connecting it to the geographic area you're flying to, so people that don't need to be inconvenienced are not, and people that need to be inconvenienced are, " Strang said.

However, that trend may be headed in reverse. There are reports from passengers of new, less- publicized measures being implemented, such as swabbing laptops, cellphones, tablets and shoes for explosives.

New kinds of explosives also may be encouraging the trend reversal. For example, there are whispers of a kind of nonmetallic explosive that can be implanted surgically into a traveler's body for later detonation.

"The threat of terrorism from al Qaeda, its affiliates and those inspired by them is constantly evolving and we know they continue to target our aviation sector," said U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.


"Aviation security is only as good as the weakest link," he added, "and it is essential that our allies, the airline industry, and airports that serve as last points of departure to the U.S. strengthen and then maintain enhanced security measures."

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Tiny Spectrometer Tells You Exactly What You're Eating

"The use of chemicals and genetically modified ingredients has led to the increase of medical problems and food allergies over the past few generations, especially in the U.S.," said tech analyst Jim McGregor. "I believe this technology will help those that have food limitations, push for healthier ingredients in foods, and hopefully improve the diets and health of consumers overall."






For all those who have wondered about the ingredients in their lunchtime burrito, Consumer Physics is gearing up to release a handheld device designed to provide the answer. Dubbed "SCiO," the device is a tiny spectrometer that can scan food, medicines and plants to determine their molecular composition.

When used to scan foods such as cheeses, fruits, vegetables, sauces, salad dressings and cooking oils, SCiO delivers data describing nutrient values -- calories, fats, carbohydrates and proteins -- as well as produce quality, ripeness level and spoilage analysis.

The device also can identify and authenticate medication in real time by cross-checking a pill's molecular makeup against a pharmaceutical database.

SCiO also can analyze moisture levels in plants and tell users when to water them.

Real-time results are delivered to an accompanying mobile application via Bluetooth LE.

"Smartphones give us instant answers to questions like where to have dinner, what movie to see, and how to get from point A to point B, but when it comes to learning about what we interact with on a daily basis, we're left in the dark," said Dror Sharon, Consumer Physics' CEO. "We designed SCiO to empower explorers everywhere with new knowledge and to encourage them to join our mission of mapping the physical world."

Near-IR Spectroscopy

Powering SCiO is a low-cost, mass-produced version of near-infrared spectroscopy. Enabling its capabilities is the fact that light shining on any sample excites the sample's molecules and makes them vibrate in a unique way. That wavelength-dependent light absorption creates optical signatures based on an object's chemical composition.

When SCiO collects the light reflected from a particular sample, it breaks it down into spectral components for analysis. Those components are then sent to the cloud via Bluetooth, and SCiO translates the results within a matter of seconds, delivering relevant information about the sample's molecular makeup to the user's smartphone.

"SCiO began as a conversation over three years ago," Sharon told TechNewsWorld. "My cofounder Damian and I had been discussing the possibility of starting a new venture together and creating a handheld device that could tell you more about the physical world around you."

The two focused initially on demonstrating that they could build a small, low-cost optical spectrometer that it could handle meaningful applications, Sharon said. "Since then, we've gone through several generations of SCiO prototypes and have started to ramp up our production line."

Cosmetics, clothes, flora, soil, jewels and precious stones, leather, rubber, oils, plastics, and even human tissue and bodily fluids are all among the materials SCiO can analyze.


Following a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than US$2 million, SCiO now can be preordered for $249 for delivery in March. An application development kit is on the way.

Huge With Consumers

"This is a great topic and some really cool technology," Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst with Tirias Research, told TechNewsWorld. "I think that this technology will eventually be huge with consumers, and something used in grocery stores and restaurants as an added service or differentiator."

While the initial implementation is targeted at dietary information, "I think later versions will likely provide more information, such as the presence of nitrates, chemical food colorings, genetically modified foods and other things that are known carcinogens and the source of other medical problems, as well as common allergens such as wheat, nuts and corn," McGregor added.

"The use of chemicals and genetically modified ingredients has led to the increase of medical problems and food allergies over the past few generations, especially in the U.S.," he explained.


"I believe this technology will help those that have food limitations, push for healthier ingredients in foods, and hopefully improve the diets and health of consumers overall," McGregor said. "It will take at least a generation of consumers, but technology like this will help lead the way."

Developers, Developers, Developers

SCiO's $250 price is "near the high end of the consumer electronics price range for a peripheral device," Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "Users will have to have a compelling reason to shell out for it."

It could be useful in military applications, he suggested.

In fact, "I wouldn't be surprised if this is a consumer adaptation of existing military technology," Kay said.


It will be up to developers, however, to embrace the platform to popularize it, he added.

Fear Factor

A small, handheld scanner like SCiO eventually could be used in any area that requires quick chemical analysis, Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle noted.

"Say if your kids or pet eat or drink some unknown substance and you wanted to know whether you needed to rush them to get medical help," he said. "I expect it will change how people look at what they eat, because folks will suddenly discover that some of the things they consume are more unhealthy than they thought."

One limitation of the technology, however, is that "it measures surface material -- not what is out of range of the laser -- so liquids that are mixed will be accurate, but measuring the outside of something with a soft center won't give you what is in the center unless you break the object open," Enderle pointed out.

In any case, the technology could become pervasive if enough discoveries are made, Enderle predicted.


"Let's say someone discovers carcinogens in bottled water, for instance, and some people get cancer as a result," he said. "The fear could drive the technology into broad use."

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Reading Rainbow Finds Pot of Gold

The widespread appeal of the Reading Rainbow project had much to do with its success, given the huge number of people who participated at the $5 contribution level, noted Nikki Braziel, cofounder of Octa. Nearly 20,000 people -- a fifth of total backers -- pledged $5. That alone was enough to drive Reading Rainbow to the top of Kickstarter's Popular pages and secure visibility and media coverage.




Reading Rainbow's Kickstarter campaign hit a significant milestone last week: It not only raised the US$1 million it originally sought to create a Web version of the popular children's television show within the first 24 hours of the campaign, but also wrapped the 35-day effort with an additional $4.4 million for a grand total of $5,408,916 in donations.


The project, organized by actor LeVar Burton, host of the original series, set a new fundraising record on Kickstarter, thanks to the 105,857 backers it drew, besting the number that supported development of the Veronica Mars TV show.


Reading Rainbow was a PBS show for children that ran between 1983 and 2006. The Kickstarter proceeds will be used to enhance the show's mobile app, which launched in 2012 with new weekly content including materials for teachers.

Not Much Money in Educational Television

Nonprofit educational television is not exactly a money magnet in the best of times, and it seems that PBS operates in a chronic state of underfunding. How, then, did Reading Rainbow not only get the money it needed but far exceed its goal? Indeed, how was it able to become the most-supported project in Kickstarter history?

Burton, according to the website, attributes it to a mix of affection from the young adults who grew up with the program a few decades ago to society's realization that more needs to be done to improve childhood literacy.

Certainly, nostalgia had much to do with it, said Dan Farkas, an instructor of strategic communication at Ohio University.

"Reading Rainbow wasn't about a financial transaction or donation," he told TechNewsWorld. "It was about taking us back in time when things seemed simpler, and being able to show that to a future generation."


The takeaway for other companies seeking funds on Kickstarter is this: "Successful campaigns work best when they're about more than the campaign itself," Farkas said. And the very best ones "are about improving the world, one local victory at a time."

The Value of Small Backers

The widespread appeal of the project also had much to do with its success, given the huge number of people who participated at the $5 contribution level, noted Nikki Braziel, cofounder and COO of Octa. "Nearly 20,000 people, or one-fifth of the campaign's total backers, pledged $5."

That alone was enough to drive Reading Rainbow to the top of Kickstarter's Popular pages and secure visibility and media coverage.


Another 55,000 people, or half of the campaign's total backers, pledged between $10 and $50, Braziel said -- and they didn't pledge $50 for the coffee mug. "They pledged to be part of something. Reading Rainbow just rewrote the book on viral crowdfunding success."

How to Succeed on Kickstarter

This is a subject of acute interest to Braziel, a two-time project creator on the site, who has been tracking the dramatic changes in how Kickstarter projects gain traction.

"It's more important than ever to drive your own visibility on Kickstarter," she told TechNewsWorld. "The sheer volume of projects is growing exponentially, so creators can lean less and less on Kickstarter's Discover pages to do the work for them."

There has been a dropoff in Kickstarter's internal referral traffic of 75 percent between Octa's two tablet accessory campaigns, which were spaced only 15 months apart, Braziel noted.

"The dilution of the Kickstarter platform affects every touchpoint. Where projects used to be featured on the Recently Launched page or the Ending Soon page for a few days, a campaign might now only show up for one day, or for a few hours, because of higher numbers of live projects," she said.


"The number of backers it takes to reach the Popular page is an increasing threshold," added Braziel. "I think we'll see more blockbuster campaigns replicate the Reading Rainbow model, combining celebrities, low-cost rewards, and a cause to create a campaign that becomes more than a project. It becomes a movement."

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Microsoft Paddles Nokia Lumia 635 Downstream

Microsoft could be implementing a canny marketing strategy by offering a device that has moderate features at a moderate price, suggested IDC analyst Will Stofega. "If you take a niche, you get people that start to understand your ecosystem and change things a bit so the next time you have a better device, they may have you in mind. Microsoft is laying the groundwork now."

Microsoft-owned Nokia created some fireworks over the holiday weekend by making the Lumia 635, sporting Windows Phone 8.1 , available with T-Mobile's Simple Choice prepaid plan over the Home Shopping Network.

The first device to feature personal digital assistant Cortana, it will be available directly from T-Mobile this Wednesday and from its MetroPCS subsidiary later this month.

The 635's "advanced features, functionality and design -- combined with its amazing price point -- make this an absolutely screaming deal," enthused Jason Young, senior vice president of marketing at T-Mobile.

He's at least half right -- the price is good. However, Microsoft is targeting an audience for whom "features aren't as important as price, distribution and ease of use," Carl Howe, a research vice-president at the Yankee Group, told the E-Commerce Times.

HSN is offering the phone for $US119.95, which can be divided into as many as four payments. It will become available on Wednesday from T-Mobile's website for zero down and $7 a month for 24 months with a postpaid T-Mobile Simple Choice Plan. For those willing to wait a little longer, it can be had on July 16 at T-Mobile brick-and-mortar stores, and on July 18 from MetrooPCS for a promotional price of just $99.

The Lumia 635 "would shine where price sensitivity and quality of response for that price is an issue," remarked Will Stofega, a program director at IDC.

What the Lumia 635 Offers

The phone has a quad-core CPU, but the processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, which was released last year and runs at 1.2 GHz, which doesn't make it a road racer.

The 4.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive multipoint touchscreen has a resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and is made from Gorilla Glass 3. It offers a wide viewing angle and uses ClearBlack technology.

The phone has an accelerometer and GPS.

It comes with a micro SIM port and a micro USB charging port. It supports USB 2.0, as well as Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi and LTE.

The phone has a 5 MP main camera with 4x digital zoom and autofocus. The front camera captures 760p HD video.

It comes with a ton of apps from both Nokia and Microsoft, including Microsoft Office, OneDrive and Skype.


Perhaps most anticipated is the inclusion in Windows Phone 8.1 of Cortana, Microsoft's personal digital assistant.

What OEMs and Carriers Want

"At the end of the day, a lot of OEMs and carriers are trying to capture that portion of the market that can't afford high-end phones," IDC's Stofega told the E-Commerce Times.

"The OEMs are trying to price the device very affordably for first-time phone owners or people who already have a phone and don't want to spend that much money on another device," he continued.

"This is a movement we're seeing, particularly in saturated markets," Stofega pointed out. The low end "is very important in both post-paid and prepaid."

Further, mobile operators want inexpensive devices like the Lumia 635 because "subsidizing high-end devices is a huge cost," Stofega said.


Further, consumers "may have a hunger for devices that won't cost them an arm and a leg."

The Thin Edge of the Wedge?

Microsoft could be implementing a canny marketing strategy by offering a device that has moderate features at a moderate price, Stofega suggested.

"If you take a niche, you get people that start to understand your ecosystem and change things a bit so the next time you have a better device, they may have you in mind. Microsoft is laying the groundwork now," he explained.

"I think Microsoft realizes that their best shot at capturing market share is [targeting] people who used to buy feature phones but are now upgrading to smartphones," Howe said.


It's not clear whether other carriers will get the Lumia 635 or when.

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Rumor: Microsoft's Smart Band Will Play Well With Others

It is not clear why Microsoft appears to be opting for a wristband over a smartwatch, but with the wearables market growing quickly, it's perhaps more important for Microsoft to push into the market sooner rather than later. "It's always tough to predict whether users will choose one device type over another," said tech analyst Laura DiDio, but "give Microsoft credit for getting into the game."

Microsoft is said to be preparing the launch of a wearable fitness device that will be compatible with the iOS and Android platforms, as well as Windows Phone.

While the device likely will display the time, along with notifications from the user's smartphone, the form factor is a wristband rather than a smartwatch, according to Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows.


The band reportedly will function mainly as a fitness tracker, recording the number of steps the wearer has taken, calories burned, heart rate and so on. Microsoft already has fitness-oriented apps available, such as Bing Health & Fitness and Healthvault, though the band apparently will work with third-party apps as well.

Uncertain Branding

The band will be announced in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Thurrott, and will hit the market in the same period.

The pricing will likely be similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Gear, which sells for US$300. It's not quite clear how the device will be branded, though Thurrott speculated it would be either a Nokia/Lumia or Surface-branded wristband.

It is the opening of the wristband to platforms outside of Microsoft's own Windows Phone ecosystem that perhaps is the most notable aspect of Thurrott's report.

"It's no secret that Microsoft has lagged behind in the mobility market and is playing catch-up to competitors," said Laura DiDio, principal at ITIC.

"This is a very significant move on Microsoft's part to launch a pan-platform product/application. While some might view this as a me-too effort, this is exactly the type of initiative that Microsoft needs to take if it is to have any chance of being a major player in the mobile device and application market," she told TechNewsWorld.


"Today's digital consumers are not nearly as interested in the application brand as they are in the functionality of the application," continued DiDio. "Today's digital consumers also want cross- platform capabilities, and that's what Microsoft is doing. I see this as a positive for Microsoft and consumers."

Walled Gardens

Other manufacturers stick within their own confines: Samsung's smartwatches work only with its own smartphones. Android Wear devices function only with newer Android phones, and the smartwatch Apple is rumored to be working on presumably will work only with the iPhone or iPad.

Apple's rumored device is said to combine the functions of a smartwatch and a fitness-tracking band. The company last month revealed a new app, Health, intended to track users' health and fitness stats. That bolstered rumors Apple would release a device to track movements and fitness data to feed into the application.

Several third-party wearable devices are compatible with multiple mobile platforms. Fitbit has apps for both iOS and Android, and recently announced it was developing an app for Windows Phone 8.1.


Jawbone Up has Android and iOS apps, but not one for Windows Phone. The same holds true for the Nike+ FuelBand SE.

Company Strategy

Indications that Microsoft is taking a stab at a wearable fitness device, and the plan to make it compatible with mobile platforms other than its own, reflect the company's strategy under its new chief executive, Satya Nadella, which puts "less emphasis on Microsoft-exclusive platforms and more on heterogeneity," suggested Roger L. Kay, principal at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

"With the exception of the Xbox, though, Microsoft hasn't had much luck with consumers," Kay told TechNewsWorld. "Typically, it has a wooden ear with regard to market tastes. Perhaps driven by its research orientation toward customer types rather than usage models. However, it's early days in the wearables, Internet of Things, multipoint connection era, and Microsoft wants a piece of it. No reason why it can't win at least some share."

It is not quite clear why Microsoft appears to be opting for a wristband over a smartwatch, but with the wearables market growing quickly, it's perhaps more important for Microsoft to push into the market sooner rather than later.


" It's always tough to predict whether users will choose one device type over another. Microsoft's offering is a later entrant to this market," ITIC's DiDio noted. "On the other hand, as the saying goes: 'To win it, you've got to be in it,' so give Microsoft credit for getting into the game. Marketing, pricing and cross-platform support will hold the key to their success."

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Samsung's Galaxy S5 Mini Sashays on Stage

With the Galaxy S5 mini, Samsung is highlighting the features of its flagship brand, but it has "a lower-cost chip set, display and camera system, along with less RAM," said IHS analyst Wayne Lam. "They're leveraging the Galaxy S5 so consumers know about it, with its water resistance, heart-rate monitor and great AMOLED display, but they're trying to cost-optimize other features."

Roughly three months after the launch of its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone, Samsung on Tuesday debuted the device's smaller sibling: the widely anticipated Galaxy S5 mini.

Featuring a 4.5-inch HD 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED display, the Galaxy S5 mini comes equipped with a Quad Core 1.4-GHz processor and 1.5 GB RAM, along with 8-MP rear-facing and 2.1-MP front-facing cameras.

Although compact in size, the mini preserves many of the flagship S5's key features, including IP67 dust- and water-resistance, Ultra Power Saving Mode, a heart-rate monitor, a fingerprint scanner, and connectivity with the latest Samsung wearable devices.

'It's All There'

The Galaxy S5 mini also supports LTE Category 4 for ultra-fast downloads of movies and games on the go. Android 4.4 (KitKat) is the device's operating system.

"It's all there," independent mobile industry consultant Mike Morgan told TechNewsWorld. "This is literally like they just put the S5 in the dryer and shrunk it."


The Galaxy S5 mini will be available in Russia starting in early July, with plans for global expansion after that. Color options at launch include charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold. Pricing was not disclosed.

'A Lot of Appeal'

Samsung has a history of offering downsized options for its Galaxy devices, Wayne Lam, a senior telecom electronics analyst at IHS, told TechNewsWorld.

It did something similar with its Galaxy S3 and S4 smartphones, he pointed out.


In general, miniature versions have a lot of appeal in Europe and emerging markets, said Lam, not only because of the smaller size, but also the reduced cost. "Usually the mini models tend to have wider global distribution."
Part of the reason for that is that carrier subsidies typically are baked in within the United States, he explained, so "carriers are more incentivized to push flagship devices."

Globally, those subsidies are not the norm, however, and consumers tend to purchase their devices at full price. As a result, "people tend to gather at mid-tier or even lower-level devices," Lam said.

'They're Being Very Market-Specific'

As for the Galaxy S5 mini's specs, Samsung is "trying to keep the features that reflect that Galaxy S5 brand," Lam said, including its water-resistance.

Still, "if you dig into the specs, you'll see a lower-cost chip set, display and camera system, along with less RAM," he noted. "They're leveraging the Galaxy S5 so consumers know about it, with its water resistance, heart-rate monitor and great AMOLED display, but they're trying to cost-optimize other features."

At the other end of the spectrum is the Galaxy S5 LTE-A version, Lam pointed out, which is a higher-end offering targeting the Korean market.

"The story for Samsung is to have a flagship device and iterate on that -- a small one for emerging markets, a premium for the home Korean market -- and we might see other iterations coming down the line," he suggested.

Samsung has "the scale and scope to do that," Lam observed. "They're being very market-specific with the designs, as opposed to someone like Apple, where all they do is create one premium device and sell it into different markets."

'Why Start in Russia?'

"It's a well-understood strategy," noted Morgan. "They have the Galaxy, and it comes in untold variants. It has been very successful for them.

"The part that perplexes me is, why start in Russia?" he wondered. "Don't get me wrong -- it's a huge market and there is definitely a large enough base of those with expendable income, but I don't know why that's their first choice."

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Despite Apple's Aperture Fumble, the Photos for OS X End Goal Could Win It All

Apple has effectively turned its back on professional photographers. This is either intentional -- in order to foster a sense of anger and frustration that could lead to a wealth of information posted online about what professional photographers or prosumers really care about -- or Apple just dropped the ball. Either way, Apple pulled a textbook move on how to come off as cold and uncaring.

There's a lot riding on Apple's new Photos for Mac OS X app. At WWDC, Apple briefly showed off an early version of its upcoming Photos app, which will integrate with iCloud and the iOS 8-based Photos app with the iCloud Photo Library service.

Naturally, this plan raised some questions about Apple's iPhoto and Aperture products.

Late last week, Apple revealed that it has stopped developing new features for Aperture and iPhoto. Instead, the company is focusing on Photos for OS X. The move away from iPhoto makes sense -- why have multiple consumer storage and editing apps? -- but the death of Aperture was an outright blow to professional photographers who took the plunge and invested in it.

By investment, I don't mean the US$80 the app costs: Professionals and prosumers have put thousands of hours into learning the app, and they have amassed untold numbers of photos and gigabytes of data using it.

They're not happy.

Meanwhile, What About iPhoto?

Consumers, on the other hand, are less likely to be in love with iPhoto. I believe most Mac customers use it because it's Apple's built-in solution and it works as a storage locker and editing app reasonably well, with reasonable cohesion with iPhones. Again, reasonably well. My iPhoto library is 111 GB with more than 21,000 photos. It was clunky and slow until I upgraded my MacBook Pro's hard drive from the standard disk drive to a solid state drive. Now it's just clunky.
Why? Here's one example. Getting into and out of the edit mode requires you to constantly pay attention. First, you have to find the Edit button, which is in the bottom right corner. Next, you have a clunky editing sidebar with three tabs that goes back and forth between quick fixes like crop or straighten, a few sad little effects to choose from, and the ability to adjust exposure, contrast, saturation, etc.

None of them are awful, but they lack a cohesive feel. Plus, the right side column takes up way too much valuable screen real estate. What's worse is that every time you try to go back to your Events to get a new photo, you leave the Editing feature behind. It's not persistent unless you remain within a particular event. That's maddening.

How about iPhoto -- the iOS app -- for your iPhone or iPad? Does anyone actually use that thing? I briefly tried it out but could not come up with any reason I should bother with it when the Camera Roll contained my photos, and all sorts of nifty third-party apps let me edit and enhance them quickly and easily enough.

So Apple has a fractured photo-management problem. By coming up with a Photos app for iOS 8 -- with iCloud Photo Library storage and syncing capabilities -- alongside a new, similarly functioning Photos for OS X app, Apple has the potential to fix its problem with photo cohesion for its consumers.

Will Apple Turn a Cold Shoulder to the Pros?

It already has. When Apple announced the cessation of development of Aperture, it was through a bland statement to The Loop, which naturally caused a ruckus with Aperture fans, which led to a vague statement to Ars Technica assuring the community that Photos for OS X would include professional-grade features like image search, editing, effects, and support for third-party extensions.

Vague, no?

Meanwhile, customers will have to wait until early 2015 to get the new Photos for OS X app. With so little real information, Apple has effectively turned its back on professional photographers. This is either intentional -- in order to foster a sense of anger and frustration that could lead to a wealth of information posted online about what professional photographers (or prosumers) really care about -- or Apple just dropped the ball in favor of supporting the masses.

Either way, Apple pulled a textbook move on how to come off as cold and uncaring. Apparently, fabulous customer experiences are now focused on the least common denominator of its customer base.

I'm sure it all makes perfect business sense -- and therein lies the opportunity.

Apple Can't Compete with Adobe Lightroom Anyway

Adobe Lightroom has been gaining a following of appreciative customers. They might not like buying it as part of a subscription service with Adobe's Creative Cloud or as a licensing deal that requires an annual commitment, but customer satisfaction seems very good. Maybe Aperture sales have been lackluster, and maybe Apple just can't truly break into the prosumer market with Aperture or with enough professionals to make Aperture successful.

If Apple can't create a separate professional-grade product that it can convince people to buy, why have it? Why not double-down on rethinking and rebuilding photo editing, management and sharing?

That's the good that can come out of all this. Hundreds of millions of Apple customers are taking photos like never before. They're editing them, saving them and sharing them. Making it easy to find, edit and share photos is a very big deal. Potentially, it's far more important than satisfying the Aperture-grade pros.

Why?

Photos speak to humans in personal and inspiring ways. If Apple gives the right photo-management solution to hundreds of millions of customers, they'll become even more embedded with Apple products. If Apple creates photo management that gets out of the way, the customer satisfaction gains will be enormous.

Better Yet, Apple Is Opening Up

The key to Apple's massive photo retooling, though, is in how Apple has opened up its own apps to third-party app developers. With iOS 8 -- and Photos for OS X next year -- app developers can create awesome extensions. These extensions will essentially give you custom controls, offering special filters and effects -- or even professional-grade tools.

Sharing and integration with other apps will feel more seamless. This is actually a big step forward for Apple. The company is relinquishing a good bit of user experience control in favor of customization and third-party extension of capabilities.

It has the potential to unleash a new wave of creativity from developers -- and consumers.

Will Photos for OS X be enough to placate the professionals? Will developers create extensions that will serve their needs? Maybe -- maybe not. However, the big win for Apple will be with most everyone else -- prosumers on down to foodies who just want to pin a pretty plate of lobster for their friends to drool over.

Two Sad Things Remain

What's really sad through all this "opportunity" is two-fold: First, for a company that's having a hard time figuring out what to do with $150 billion in cash, why couldn't Apple give its Aperture customers a bit more love by enhancing the application? Why not win them over to the new Photos for OS X app with awesome extensions when the app was released? I'm just surprised at the fumble -- it's like Apple picked its head up to look at the goal and forgot about the ball.

The second bit of sadness? We've got to wait until 2015 before the new Photos for OS X comes out.

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