Smartphones

Shots leaked of Galaxy S4 Active

If you've ever described yourself or any of your favorite activities as "hard core," you may want to hold off on buying the Samsung Galaxy S4 until its rumored ruggedized sibling debuts.

GSMArena apparently got its hands on some leaked shots of the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active edition. As I've reported in the past, this Galaxy S4 variant is meant to be resistant to dust and water, which is fortunate for those times when you feel compelled to tweet while rolling down a sand dune into a rushing river. … Read more

Teen's science project could charge phones in 20 seconds

My high school science project looked at how row covers could help plants grow in cold weather. Not a bad idea, but not nearly as cool as high school student Eesha Khare's science project, the creation of a supercapacitor that could potentially be used to fully charge a cell phone within 20 to 30 seconds.

Khare, an 18-year-old from California, won the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and $50,000 for her participation in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair run by the Society for Science & the Public. Think of it as the world's largest science fair. Khare took home one of the top prizes for "a tiny device that fits inside cell phone batteries, allowing them to fully charge within 20-30 seconds."… Read more

Zap your pet's blues away with Petcube laser pointer

If you feel bad about leaving Fluffy home alone, consider giving her the laser treatment.

Petcube is stylish box that lets you play with your pet when you're away. It beams leasers around the room while you control it from afar via smartphone.

Connected to your home Wi-Fi network, Petcube is a 4-inch cube that has a wide-angle camera, microphone, and low-intensity laser pointer.

The prototype is made of glass and aluminum and is being developed by robot enthusiast Alex Neskin, along with Yaroslav Azhnyuk, and Andrey Klen. The Ukranian startup recently showed it off at Seedcamp Week Berlin. … Read more

Delete Foursquare check-ins using the Android, iOS app

After a rough night out on the town, looking at your Foursquare history is a good way to figure out where you were (assuming you were coherent enough to use your phone). Sometimes you may not like what you see and want to delete any trace of where you were as fast as possible.

Or you could have innocently checked into the wrong venue and need to delete the error from your history.

Well, you can delete any check-ins directly from your Android or iOS device. I'm not sure when the feature was added to either app, but previously … Read more

Getting started with Schemes for Android

Being able to schedule an SMS, tweet, Facebook post, or Gmail is extremely useful. An SMS can be used to wish a distant friend or relative a happy birthday. A tweet or Facebook post can help your small business, or remind friends about a local event. And lastly, scheduling a Gmail message is useful when the recipient lives in another time zone and you don't want to disturb them.

The Schemes app for Android lets you schedule all of these message types, at no cost. Furthermore, you can send these scheduled messages without needing to create any … Read more

Four time-saving iPhone tips

Whether technology saves more time than it squanders is an open question. Some of us may dream of a life off the grid and out of range, but by choice or necessity, we spend much of our waking life connected to the world through some electronic device or another.

If your network device of choice is an iPhone, these tips will improve the quality and perhaps reduce the quantity of the time you spend online. (Note that many of the tips also apply to the iPad.)

Bypass the lock screen to control music or take a picture In last month'… Read more

Sprint buys Handmark, OneLouder to boost ad service

Sprint Nextel has acquired Handmark and its unit OneLouder Apps to boost its Pinsight Media+ advertising service, the wireless carrier said Monday.

The deal for the mobile app developer and advertising company immediately gives Sprint an experienced advertising team, an ad platform, and top-rated mobile apps that serve millions of customers each day. Handmark and OneLouder will continue to operate under their current brand names and will remain in their current Kansas City location, Sprint said. OneLouder President Evan Conway will lead the company. Handmark founder and CEO Augie Grasis will join a new advisory board to provide direction to … Read more

LG to demo bendable, unbreakable smartphone screen

LG Display is preparing to demonstrate a new, flexible smartphone panel that promises to be unbreakable.

The new screen is set to pop up at the Society for Information Display's annual exhibition, Display Week 2013. The event, which showcases display products, is taking place this week in Vancouver, Canada.

The OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology used in the LG screen is apparently thinner, lighter, and more flexible than conventional LCD displays.… Read more

Jolla smartphone lets fly with Sailfish OS

The first phone running Sailfish, the open-source operating system from the people who tried to get MeeGo going, is the Jolla, it'll cost you 399 euros ($512), and it's coming by the end of the year.

Jolla -- pronounced "yo-la," not "joller" or "holler" -- is the name of the phone and the Finnish company that makes it. It has a 4.5-inch screen, a dual-core chip, 16GB of storage expandable via microSD, 4G, an 8-megapixel camera and a battery you can replace yourself.

Verizon Galaxy S4 may be shipping early

Verizon looks to be pushing harder to get Samsung's new Galaxy S4 into the hands of customers.

Some Verizon customers have begun to report receiving notifications from the carrier that their new Android superphones have shipped earlier than expected.

While I've yet to see video footage, I can only assume that many happy dances have followed receipt of these emails. … Read more