Mobile

EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) collected data from 209 higher education institutions to explore the use of mobility in higher education. ECAR publicized their analysis of this study and recommendations. Although a small number of institutional services offer mobile access, many think mobility will become essential.  Learn more about the ECAR mobile IT study.

View larger “Mobile IT in Higher Education, 2011″ infographic >

ECAR’s Mobile IT in Higher Education, 2011

Image Credit: Educase

Carrier IQ is cell phone software that has been the center of headlines lately. Installed on 141 million mobile devices in the U.S., this software records the cell phone activity of users. The activity ranges from web browsing, text messaging, and key strokes. The software then sends this information to wireless carriers. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of this software.

For Android users, first find out whether this software is installed on your mobile device by downloading the Logging Test App. For $1 you can remove the app from your phone.

For the iPhone, open “Settings,” “General,” “About,” and then select “Diagnostics & Usage.” From there you will check off  ”Don’t Send.”

To learn more about Carrier IQ, check out Mashable.com’s article Carrier IQ and Your Phone: Everything You Need to Know

Image Credit: TechCrunch

Recently, Adobe announced that it was ending further development of its Flash Player on mobile devices. The company announced to ZDNet:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.

The company plans to redirect its resources to HTML5. On Adobe’s blog, vice-president Danny Winokur said HTML5 was “the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.”  Also stating that, Adobe is excited to “work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and RIM.”

Image Credit: Blogspot, W3

This is the time of the year when all of the hottest smartphones are released for the holiday season. We’ve decided to share with you some of the latest smartphones that been are soon to be released.

iPhone 4S

Having the same look and feel of its predecessor, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S has been received much buzz from the tech industry on its amazing features. The most exciting and important feature on the iPhone 4S is Siri. Siri is an interactive voice activated assistant, which is able to perform countless functions on the iPhone 4S. Some of the most popular requests that users ask Siri according to mashable.com include:

• Siri, Wake Me Up.
• Siri, Find Coffee.
• Siri, Do You Know The Way to….
• Siri, Play a Random Song
• Siri, Send a Text to…
• Siri, Will it Rain Today?
• Siri, Remind Me to Do This Everyday.
• Siri, Remind Me When I Come Back Here to…
• Siri, Settle Our Argument.
• Siri, Send a Tweet.

Some other popular features of the new iPhone 4S include:

• iCloud
• iOS 5
• iMessage
• Reminder Bar
• Newstand

BlackBerry Porsche P’ 9981

This soon to be released limited edition Porsche designed BlackBerry has a stainless steel body and leather-covered back. Other than its sleek style, not much has dramatically changed except it’s out of this world price tag of $2,000. While most of us can only go in shock over this device, the BlackBerry Porsche P’ 9981 is the perfect item for the super tech savvy businessman.

Motorola Droid Razr

An upgrade from its original flip-phone version, the Motorola Droid Razr has taken on a new look. Staying true to its slim and sleek purpose, the Motorola Droid Razr is 7.1 mm-thick, making it one of the thinnest smartphones to be put on the market. Some of the features of this new smartphone available on Verizon’s 4G LTE network this November include:

• A Kevlar backing, designed to protect again everyday wear and tear.
• 4.3-inch display.
• 8.1 megapixel rear camera
• 1080p video

Nokia Lumia 800

The Nokia Lumia 800 has simply shocked just about everyone. Currently unavailable in the U.S., rumors flood the Internet with a release in early 2012. The Nokia Lumia 800 has been known as  Windows best phone device yet. Along with the Lumia 800, Nokia also released three other smart and feature phones; Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia Asha 200, and the Nokia Asha 300. Only the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 both run Windows Phone Mango, the simple, modern operating system.

Image Credit: Blogspot, Zer customs, Pop Sci, 

A recent study conducted by Danish research team at Copenhagen’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health suggests that cellphone usage has no direct link to cancer within the brain or central nervous system. For years the public has been faced with the fear of radio-frequency energy being absorbed into the tissues within the brain. This study however counteracts this statement along with disproving many others from previous studies. Stan Schroeder explains in his article how Cellphones Don’t Cause Cancer:

A new extensive study finds no evidence to link cellphone use with cancer.

Over the past couple of years, reports have suggested that cellphones may cause cancer or claimed the opposite. However, the interesting thing about this latest study is that it’s sample size is the entire adult population of Denmark.

Researchers from Copenhagen’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health divided Danish adults (30 years of age and over) born after 1925 into subscribers and non-subscribers of mobile phones before 1995. The study found that occurrences of cancer among the two groups were nearly equal.

Furthermore, among mobile phone subscribers, the study didn’t find an increased number of occurrences of glioma in the temporal lobes of the brain, the part of the body most directly exposed to cellphone radiation.

The study, of course isn’t without flaws — one doesn’t need to have a subscription plan to use a cellphone. The authors of the study recognized this. “Subscription holders who are not using their phone will erroneously be classified as exposed and people without a subscription but still using a mobile phone will erroneously be classified as unexposed,” the study says.

This prompted the authors to do an additional analysis of the study’s results which reduced the number of cases but also minimized the possibility for misclassification, but the results were very similar.

“In this update of a nationwide study of mobile phone subscribers in Denmark we found no indication of an increased risk of tumours of the central nervous system,” the authors conclude. However, the authors warn that “a small to moderate increase in risk for subgroups of heavy (cellphone) users” cannot be ruled out, which calls for further studies on large populations.

While every study has its flaws and limitations, this appears to be the most convincing and exhaustive report indicating that cellphones do not cause cancer.

Check out the entire study here.

Folks are accessing more content, more often using mobile devices. Christina Warren published an interesting article, 5 Reasons You’re Consuming More Mobile Content, on Mashable.com. She mentions comScore, an internet marketing research company. The company reported the 2010 Mobile Year in Review earlier this year and found that smartphones, 3G penetration, and unlimited data plans are big causes for such an increase in content use. She states, “3G is now nearly ubiquitous in many parts of the world, which means that the overall mobile content experience offers users fewer compromises.” Because of the 3G penetration, Wi-Fi hotspots are expanding. This makes the internet available in more places, such as airports. Read more about why we are consuming so much mobile content…

5 Reasons You’re Consuming More Mobile Content

Whether it’s listening to the latest album using a subscription streaming service on your phone or reading the newest issue of a magazine on an iPad, users are spending more time consuming content on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

Read the entire post…

 

What did you think of the article? Is there anything that you would add to the list?

Welcome back! Since it’s the first week of classes, we thought collecting and sharing some mobile tips and apps may benefit you. We also threw in some iPad apps that look good on that 9.5“ screen.

iPhone Keyboard

Become more productive with your iPhone by using these shortcuts from Mashable.com. You may not exceed Melissa Thompson’s world record for the speed of texting (one sentence in 25.94 seconds), but there’s always room for some improvement. Check out the article… 10 Useful iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips, and Tricks. Please, let us know if you have any of your own!

iPhone and iPod Touch Apps

CNBC Real-Time

The free business app gives you quotes from NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) in real-time. Quickly get breaking business news and alerts!

ESPN ScoreCenter

Get information on hundreds of sport leagues! This free app informs you of goals, pitches, touchdowns, and made baskets. You can get live details such as plays and boxscores.

Foursquare

Ready to explore the city! Use the foursquare app to find your friends and places around the city. Read more about Foursquare…

Remote

During your downtime, use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote controller for music. The app works with wi-fi connections for your computer or Apple TV.

Acrobat.com Mobile

You are able to access your acrobat.com account from any location. What can you do with the documents? View, share, and even fax them. Using the iPhone camera, you can scan up to 5 pages. You are able to fax up to 2 pages at no cost.

iPad Apps

Apple iBooks

This free application allows you to download books and PDFs for reading. Read samples to help you decide if you want to download the book. You may find it useful that you can order your books or browse by title, author, or category. You can change the font size, type face, and choose the color of the page (between white or sepia).

NPR

Read and listen to the top NPR stories on your iPad. Enjoy features such as the playlist, hourly newscasts, station finder, and sharing. I found being able to navigate while listening to a story was a great feature.

Dragon Dictation

This application allows you to talk to your computer! Say your message, see your text or email message, and then send it out to your social networks. If you are on the go, take notes using your voice instead of typing.

Tell us about your experience with these apps!

Image Credit: iTunes

Interested in privatizing and controlling more of your location updates? Rally Up is a recently released location-based network that uses a different approach than Foursquare and Gowalla. This social network aims to privatize your microblogging updates.  You are given the option to share everything with your closest friends or family members. You can also choose to read friends’ microblogs while hiding your location.  Avoid constant communication with an acquaintance by “muting” them so you will not see one another’s updates. Read all about Rally Up’s features and options on Mashable.com. Below, is an excerpt of the article:

Rally Up Is a Location-Based Network For People Who Like Privacy

from Mashable’s Christina Warren

To this end, Rally Up takes a very different approach to friends lists and friends management from other social applications. For instance, Rally Up doesn’t integrate with Twitter. What?! I hear you gasp. As the saying goes, “It’s not a flaw, it’s a feature.”

The point of Rally Up isn’t to create or tap into yet another social network, it’s to be able to be selective about who you share information with.

For instance, when you add a user as a friend, you have different options that control how information is shared and received by them. This “slider” can be changed at will.

Read more…

Does privacy matter to you when it comes to social networking?

Image Source Unkown

In December, I posted about Foursquare, a mobile application to locate friends and explore restaurants or other places in cities. Another mobile app continuing to improve for exploring cities is Loopt. This app has been around for a while and may be familiar to you, but loopt is now available for the iPhone (3G) and Blackberry (also available for the Android). Supported networks include AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS, Nextel, Boost Mobile, and T-Mobile. Download loopt to use the interactive map and lists for locating places and friends. Indecisive about what to do and where to go? Check location ratings of places with food, company, and events. So, if you can’t decide on whose pizza is better, check out the ratings of the most popular places. Let everyone know what you chose so they can join you (relayed on Facebook and Twitter). You may find some restaurants offer coupons as well. Find where Happy Hour may be taking place and where there may be live music. So, this is pretty convenient for you fast-paced folks.

Website Screenshot

Loopt is based on the GPS (global positioning system) which provides positioning, navigation, and timing so you may be alerted when a friend is nearby. Visually see your friends’ location spots looking at a particular map. You can tag places and even blog about them using Loopt. Send messages to your friends in chosen areas. Make your mobile pictures available for your Loopt friends.

Improvements

If you have tried Loopt and were not impressed, check out the video for recent features.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPu9HQ162fQ[/youtube]

Loopt Mix App

Are you new to the area? Another mobile app that may be good for newcomers is Loopt Mix. It introduces you to people to whom you can chat and view their profile. Get together for game day! Here are the features mentioned on the website:

Free messaging with people around the country on Loopt Mix!

Browse profiles of interesting people near you.

Real-time, in-app chat with push notifications.

Post multiple photos and status updates to introduce yourself.

Use likes / tags and search filters to connect in the real world.

Is anyone using this already? Remember to be careful out there when meeting new people!

Check out the Loopt Blog for more information…



Loopt Blog

Update: The Foursquare App is now available in Morgantown. Try it out!

I read an interesting post by Mashable about a mobile application game called Foursquare. Supposedly, the game is very addicting and fun to use because it not only lets you inform your friends where you are but you can also get bargains from local businesses that you visit. The good news is that they are releasing Foursquare to more cities. Here is the Mashable post:

Foursquare Goes Global With Launch in 50 New Cities

by Jennifer Van Grove

Right on the heels of Foursquare’s API release, the location-based mobile application and game is announcing another big rollout to cities across the world.

Just one month after releasing Foursquare to 15 new cities in the US and Canada, Foursquare is ready to bring their highly addictive game and business-friendly service to 50 more cities. That’s actually twice as many cities as the service was in before today, bringing the total to 100 different cities worldwide.

We’ve included the full list of new cities below, but perhaps the most significant part of today’s push is that it brings the application to a multitude of cities across the world in the places like South America,Australia, Asia, Africa, all over Europe, and even the Middle East.

Read the list of new cities…

This is a good announcement! What types of phones can download this? This application is available for the iPhone and Android. They are working on a Blackberry application but there is a mobile site present. Seeing that they plan to make it available worldwide, we will benefit when traveling and wandering around cities.