mobiletrends

Heed warnings on overuse of smartphones Experts say more and more people are suffering from neck pain, spinal injuries and other problems as a result of excessive use of mobile devices People are so hooked on smartphones these days that they appear oblivious to the outside world. Be it lazing in bed, eating in restaurants, travelling on the MTR or crossing the street, there are always those who are glued to their phones, busily texting, browsing the internet, watching films or playing video games. Chances are that you are also one of them and are now hunching over your gadget as you read this. Such habits are likely to give you a real pain in the neck. Public hospitals in Central Kowloon receive some 25,000 new physiotherapy cases a year, 20 per cent of which are related to neck pain. The Hospital Authority warned that such patients were getting younger, with those aged 40 or under making up 30 per cent of the cases. The so-called text neck syndro...

Research suggests that parents who continually check their mobile phones may be disrupting family life. In a poll of 2,000 11 to 18-year-olds in the UK, more than a third said they had asked their parents to stop checking their devices, with almost half of them saying it makes no difference when they do. However, fewer than 10% of the 3,000 parents that took part in the survey thought their time spent on devices was concerning their children. The research was carried out by Digital Awareness UK and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). In a press release published yesterday, the two organisations said the aims of the survey were to "better understand attitudes and behaviours relating to mobile device use and further improve support given to young people in and out of school." Dr Bex Lewis, who is a christian and author of, "Raising children in a digital age," welcomed the survey's results and told  Premier ...

Updates to the Uber smartphone app released in November have been criticized by users for the amount of data they harvest—but the ride-hailing company ran afoul of Apple for invasive data-collection practices well before that, according to a new report. In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook threatened to have the Uber app removed from Apple's App Store when the company learned Uber had deployed software that could track individual iPhones even after they deleted the app,  The New York Times  reported in a profile on Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.  Uber tried—and failed—to hide this software from Apple. Tracking individual iPhones, a practice known as "fingerprinting," is prohibited by Apple. But Uber tried to get around this by geo fencing the tech giant's Cupertino, California, headquarters. Any iPhone brought within the Apple campus was supposed to hide the software, in theory shielding it from inquisitive Apple employees.  But the company found out an...

5 Ways to Maximize Your Mobile Marketing Strategy BRETT RELANDER During the holiday season, it became apparent that mobile is now the leader of marketing. Consumers in all sectors opted to use their mobile devices to review products and then make purchases. For instance, according to MarketingLand, Target reported that 60 percent of traffic from November through December came from mobile devices. The report went on to say that Black Friday purchases made via mobile devices were twice as high last year as the previous year. If your brand’s  mobile strategy could use a boost, the tips below can help ensure that your brand is optimally positioned. 1. Use proper keywords.                                      ...

The mobile device market is growing at a frantic pace and it won't be long before these digital gadgets outnumber the human population. By the end of 2013, there will be 5.9 billion mobile phones and tablets in use, according to CCS Insight's new market forecast. That's not enough to eclipse the human race, which currently sits at about 7.09 billion strong, but by the end of 2017, combined mobile devices will skip ahead of the human population in number. Mobile phones alone will number 6.6 billion units by the end of 2017, two-thirds of which will be smartphones . At present, mobile phone sales are nearly split right down the middle between smartphones (53 percent) and feature phones. Smartphones have the slight edge, exceeding "dumb" phone shipments for the first time ever during the first three months of 2013. All of this is good news for both Google (Android) and Apple (iOS), though neither company can afford to be complacent. "H...

Thanks to the invention of an 18 year old scientist    Imagine getting your mobile phone fully charged just half a minute! That was the thinking drove a teenage Californian girl to create a new technology which allows smartphones to be fully charged in 30 seconds or less. This invention was her response to the Intel-sponsored International Science & Engineering Fair 2013 (IISEF) Eesha Khare, a Student from Saratoga, California, won the second prize with a prize money of $50,000 at the Intel Science Foundation award for developing and showcasing the miniscule device which can be fitted inside mobile phone power cells to aid ultra-fast charging. Dubbed a 'super-capacitor', the component was exhibited at last week's IISEF and shown to power an LED light. The invention could potentially have further reaching applications including that of more efficient smartphone charging and within car battery technology. Khare's energy storage device can repo...