Can HTC build on the success of the One with a new team of executives?
Troubled smartphone maker, HTC, is looking to take the initiative back by introducing a new department.
The new department, called 'Emerging Devices', will reportedly focus on developing new products that can catapult it back into the lead of the smartphone war, as well as ""global distribution strategies".
The man heading up the new department is the current President of HTC North America, Mike Woodward, according to the Wall Street Journal, which claims to have seen an internal email.
HTC: The New Class
There's no indication of what new products are being worked on, but other changes are happening over at HTC towers. Jason Mackenzie, current head of Global Sales, will be heading up the entire US operation, alongside his current role.
HTC is looking to rebuild its backroom operation after a number of very public high-profile walkouts earlier this year, including; Lennard Hoornik, CEO of HTC Asia, Jason Gordon, Vice President of Global Communications, Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera, Rebecca Rowland, Global Retail Marketing Manager, John Starkweather, Director of Digital Marketing and Eric Lin, Product Strategy Manager.
The new executives will have a good platform to build from after decent sales and rave reviews of the HTC One, which TechRadar gave 5 stars.
Gaming luminary and former Xbox man Peter Molyneux has challenged Apple to show off games and not spreadsheets when it announces products.
Molyneux - who is now focused on app gaming after leaving Lionhead, the company he founded and then sold to Microsoft - believes that the touchscreen is still lacking a defining gaming moment, and he believes there is more to come from Apple and its flagship devices.
"When Steve Jobs got on stage and showed me that device that was a moment of near orgasmic excitement," Molyneux told Pocket-Lint in an interview.
"It should be the games that Apple show off on stage, not a spreadsheet. We should be able to give people a little window into a world, which they have created. I would love that."
Interesting things
"The interesting thing about the iPad is that it has done incredible things for music...but there hasn't really been a computer game that really represents gaming on the go," he added.
Molyneux is currently working on Godus, a god game that owes plenty to, perhaps, his most famous hit in Populous, but brings a healthy slice of Black and White.
"My plan for what it is worth, is to take everything that I've done in the past 20 years and remove all the rubbish...and create an absolutely amazing delightful world that people will be able to interact with in a relaxing and playful way for many, many months."
The HTC One mini availability and pricing info for Europe is trickling in – first the UK, now Germany and Austria. The phone will cost €450 off-contract when it starts shipping in August.
Phone House lists the Stealth Black color version as available on August 12, while the Glacial Silver version will have to wait until September. Cyberport will deliver both on September 19 at the same price, €449.
On contract with O2, the One mini starts at €90 with €15 a month monthly fee for two years or €30 for one year. Vodafone will have it in early August and charge €30 a month on contract. T-Mobile is expected to carry the phone too, but there's nothing on the site just yet.
In Austria, A1 will offer the HTC One mini for free on contract, €28 a month, in 4-6 weeks.
The SIM-free price is the same as it Germany - €455 in September for the both color version from Cyberport and Fonmarkt. If you want it earlier, Alternate will it for €480 in August.
According to leaked information from Samsung R&D in India, Samsung is simultaneously developing Jelly Bean 4.2.2 and 4.3.0 updates, and the former could be dropped altogether if Jelly Bean 4.3 is officially announced this week by Google.
These rumors from last week garnered a whole lot more credibility thanks to the provided leaked image which allegedly shows a Galaxy S III running on a 4.3.0 Jelly Bean test build.
Word is that development of the 4.3.0 update is also underway for the Galaxy S4 flagship, as well as another yet unannounced device, possibly the Galaxy Note 3.
It's still unknown what kind of features the 4.3 Jelly Bean update will to bring - or when, for that matter - but if the above leak is any indication, the announcement is imminent!
The Firefox web browser is known for pushing out updates quickly and it looks like Firefox is committing to the same release schedule for its new mobile OS.
In outlining the company's strategy this weekend, Alex Keybl, Mozilla's Manager of Release Management promised significant quarterly updates to the Firefox mobile OS.
Now version 1.0 of the would-be iOS and Android contender is out of the gate, the company said it also plans security updates every six weeks.
In a post on the Mozilla blog Keybl said: "Now that we have our v1.0 behind us and we're moving forward with even more partners, we're going to do our best to bring Firefox OS back into our heartbeat and will make quarterly feature releases available to partners along with six-weekly security updates for the previous two feature releases."
Emerging
He added that the strategy will easily outstrip other OS-makers in the mobile space: "As far as I know, that's the most aggressive mobile OS release strategy out there (and may still require some tweaking).
"This sort of alignment across multiple browser products, and now an OS, is unprecedented at the pace we're moving. Keep it up, Mozillians."
Handsets running the Firefox OS are now rolling out in emerging markets, with 16 countries targeted for launch this year. It is unlikely to be available in the U.S. or the U.K. until 2014.
We already know that, Motorola X will be officially unveiled on August 1 in New York. The press image and specifications of the upcoming device from Motorola has already been leaked and we now have another press render, which shows the smartphone in a white paintjob.
Additionally, a new image from evleaks shows the side profile of the Moto X and reveals the presence of power button and the volume rocker there.
Meanwhile, the Motorola Moto X is rumored to sport a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and the smartphone is said to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960DT chipset with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.7 GHz and 2 GB of RAM. There's going to be a 10.5 megapixel rear camera, 2.1 megapixel front camera and 16 GB of inbuilt memory.
The upcoming smartphone from Google owned company will run on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and the juice for the device will be provided by a 2,200mAh non-removable battery.
We will be bringing you all the latest news from the Motorola event live, so do check back with us for more information on the Moto X.
The future of live events is digital, and soon, your ticket, the way you pay for drinks and even your ability to share the experience on social networks, could all be done with a tap of the wrist.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) wristbands are set to feature at many festivals and events this summer as an alternative to the NFC smartphone.
Most RFID wristbands contain short-range - typically 3-5cm - passive tags and don't require batteries, but instead, are powered when placed near or 'tapped' against an RFID reader.
When detecting an RFID wristband, the reader 'agitates' a magnetic field created by a coiled antenna within the tag. The tag then uses this kinetic energy to 'power-up' and send data (held within the tags' memory), back to the reader.
The tags in RFID wristbands can either be personalised with someone's profile (e.g. data is held directly on the chip itself) or they can be used as an access 'key' to a secure database of personal data.
What else can RFID wristbands do?
ID&C is the UK company behind the wristbands at many major festivals including Isle of Wight. The company has also worked with brands such as Adidas.
More than 40 festivals around the world have used RFID wristband technology to offer fast-track entry, cashless payments and perhaps the most exciting bit - integration with social media.
Yes – after buying a ticket online, you'll have the option to link your RFID wristband to your Facebook or Twitter account, enabling you to post, Tweet, share and like all your favourite parts of the festival.
RFID bands are also being used for posting to social media
Footage from last year's Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee, show's how RFID wristbands helped generate 1.9 million Facebook likes.
In the UK, wristbands were used at some festivals last summer including the Isle of Wight, Wireless and Wakestock. An estimated 3.5 million festivalgoers around the word have now used them.
What about using NFC smartphones instead?
The problem with using NFC smartphones instead of wristbands is that not everyone has one. This alienates ticket-holders and brings contactless participation down from an achievable 100 per cent if you issue every attendee with an RFID wristband.
Then there's the fact phones run on batteries, and unlike RFID wristbands, will run out at some point during a multi-day festival. And, with limited (sometimes non-existent) ways to re-charge your phone in a field, your e-wallet, e-ticket and the ability to brag to your friends on Facebook, will vanish.
To say there's no place for NFC at festivals is wrong though. The Samsung Galaxy S4 for example, has been used as an RFID reading device and it's a perfect hand-held scanner for smaller events.
RFID bands are relatively low cost
It's not just the practical issues mentioned above that affect festival-goers though, but the data integrity and security of any RFID system at a festival crumbles when the contactless device isn't locked to your wrist, synced to your profile and made non-transferable.
You might not see RFID wristbands at every festival this year, but with a reported three million Facebook likes and a billion cashless transactions already made with them, it won't be long until they're everywhere.
